Morbid

On the evening of January 27, 2001, Roxana Verona arrived at the Etna, NH home of her friends Half and Susanne Zantop for a dinner the couple had planned with friends that night. When no one answered the door, Verona entered the home and found the brutalized bodies of Half and Susanne, both dead from multiple stab wounds. The murder of the Zantops shocked the tiny community of Etna and the faculty and students of Dartmouth College, where the couple worked at the time of their deaths. The murder baffled local police, who had very little experience with violent crime, much less murder. The first few weeks of the investigation were hampered by an overwhelming number of unhelpful tips from the public and considerable time was wasted on chasing false leads. When investigators finally caught up with the killers nearly a month later, their identities were not at all what anyone was expecting, and their motive for the murder made even less sense. Resources Belkin, Douglas, and Lois Shea. 2001. "Slayings cast pall over Dartmouth." Boston Globe, Janaury 30: 1. Belkin, Douglas, and Marcella Bombardieri. 2001. "A faculty couple at Dartmouth slain." Boston Globe, Janaury 29: 1. —. 2001. "Officials won't discuss motive or how evidence led to pair." Boston Globe, February 18: 1. Bombardieri, Marcella, and Tom Farragher. 2001. "1 NH suspect to be arriagned today." Boston Globe, February 21. Butterfield, Fox. 2002. "Teenagers are sentenced for killing two professors." New York Times, April 5. Eddy, Kristina. 2001. "Town jholted by death of two professors." Concord Monitor, January 29: 1. Hookway, Bob. 2002. "Zantop killing was randon." Valley News, February 20: 1. Lehr, Dick, and Mitchell Zuckoff. 2003. Judgment Ridge: The True Story Behind the Dartmouth Murders. New York, NY: Harper Collins. Mooney, Brian, and Kathleen Schuckel. 2001. "Bid for a ride via CB trips up NH suspects." Boston Globe, Febraury 20: 1. New York Times. 2002. "Youth dreamed of adventure, but settled for killing a couple." New York Times, May 18. Storin, Matthew. 2001. "To our readers." Boston Globe, February 21. Tillman, Jodie. 2001. "Dartmouth College reacts." Concord Monitor, Janaury 29: 8. Zuckoff, Mitchell, and Shelley Murphy. 2001. "Love affair eyed in NH killings." Boston Globe, February 16. —. 2001. "Love affair eyed in NH killings." Boston Globe, February 6. —. 2001. "Vt. youth sought in NH killings." Boston Globe, February 17: 1. Zuckoff, Mitchell, Marcella Bombardierri, Douglas Belkin, and Rachel Osterman. 2001. "Zantops were close, but a study in contrasts."  Boston Globe , February 16: 1. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com [https://pcm.adswizz.com] for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Weirdos! Today we are joined by legendary crime novelist Patricia Cornwell, the mastermind behind the Kay Scarpetta series and one of the pioneers of the forensic thriller genre! Whether you’re a longtime Scarpetta stan or newly forensic-curious, this episode is packed with morbid stories, writing wisdom, and bone-deep passion for the truth! Looking to Preorder SHARP FORCE, the 29th installment of the Scarpetta series? Click HERE [https://linktr.ee/SharpForce] or find it at your favorite bookseller on 10/7/25! Would you like a sneak peak to the Scarpetta Television show? Click Here! [https://www.brit.co/scarpetta-prime-video/] Want to read A Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Ruben? Find it here! Join us for our NEXT Morbid Bookclub by starting the first Scarpetta book, Post Mortem! Find it here! [https://www.patriciacornwell.com/the-scarpetta-series/postmortem]   Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com [https://pcm.adswizz.com] for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On the evening of November 30, 1989, Linda Napolitano awoke in her lower Manhattan apartment to find herself unable to move. She felt as though she was in the presence of other individuals, then she began to lift off her bed and was transported, as though by unseen hands, out her bedroom window several floors up, before being abducted into an unidentified aircraft.  Linda Napolitano is one of countless people who claim to have been abducted and experimented on by extraterrestrials; however, she is one of very few whose abduction was witnessed by nearly two dozen strangers in one of the busiest cities in the world. According to ufologist Budd Hopkins, Napolitano’s abduction has produced irrefutable evidence of extraterrestrial life, but more importantly, he believes Linda’s case is proof of a larger and more insidious plan to eradicate humanity altogether. The Manhattan Alien Abduction case is among a small number of heavily researched and well-documented cases of supposed alien abduction in American history, but it is not without its critics. In the years following Linda’s abduction, a dramatic story has unfolded, pitting skeptics and believers against one another in surprising and deeply personal ways. Thank you to the Amazing Dave White (of BRING ME THE AXE PODCAST) for research and writing assistance! REFERENCES Hopkins, Budd. 1996. Witnessed: The True Story of the Brooklyn Bridge UFO Abductions. New York, NY: Pocket Books. Lowe, Lindsay. 2024. ‘The Manhattan Alien Abduction’ controversial true story: Why the star is suing Netflix. November 1. Accessed September 27, 2025. https://www.today.com/popculture/manhattan-alien-abduction-true-story-rcna178005. 2024. The Manhattan Alien Abduction. Directed by Vivienne Perry and Daniel Vernon. Sheaffer, Robert. 2011. "Abductology Implodes." Skeptical Inquirer 25-27. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com [https://pcm.adswizz.com] for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On February 4, 1941, Bronx police officers were called to the home of John and Catherine Pappas for a report of a homicide. Based on the evidence, detectives theorized that someone had been invited into the Pappas apartment while Catherine was home alone and that same someone had strangled her to death, then ransacked the apartment looking for valuables. To investigators the scene resembled a fairly straightforward robbery-homicide; however, to detective Ed Burns, there were elements of the crime scene that bore a striking similarity to another assault and robbery case he’d been assigned to just two weeks earlier in another part of the Bronx.  What followed was an investigation that exploded in size from a single robbery-gone-wrong that resulted in a murder to a sprawling serial sexual assault case that would eventually involve more than eighty victims in eight states, all victimized by the same man. The hunt for the Aspirin Bandit is among the more remarkable cases in New York criminal history, not only because of the number of victims, but also because of the tremendous effort and coordination put forth to catch the killer—effort and coordination that, in 1941, was virtually unheard of. Thank you to the Amazing Dave White (of BRING ME THE AXE PODCAST) for research and writing assistance! REFERENCES Brooklyn Eagle. 1941. "Papas slayer, faced by victims, confesses." Brooklyn Eagle, March 4: 1. Connor, Christine, and Elise Greven. 2017. "Gentleman Killer." A Crime to Remember. Janaury 3. Dillon, Edward, and Howard Whitman. 1941. "Cigarets, aspirin clues to woman's strangler." Daily News (New York, NY), February 6: 4. New York Times. 1941. "Alarm for burglar sent in Pappas case." New York Times, February 8: 32. —. 1941. "Cvek found guilty of Pappas murder." New York Times, May 20: 46. —. 1941. "Cvek tells court he killed in anger." New York Times, May 16: 24. —. 1941. "Mystery cloaks woman's murder." New York Times, February 6: 15. —. 1941. "Pappas strangler admits 15 crimes." New York Times, March 5: 1. —. 1941. "Slayer of woman 'rebukes' press." New York Times, March 8: 34. —. 1941. "Sun lamp halts trial." New York Times, April 22: 23. Rice, William. 1941. "Cvek a killer? No surprise to his relatives."  Daily News (New York, NY) , March 5: 4. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com [https://pcm.adswizz.com] for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Weirdos, REJOICE! It’s that time that's brought to you, BY you, FOR you, FROM you and ALLLLL about you! This week, Ash & Alaina enter their villain era, and  focus on tales from the early oughts! We’ve got haunted plants! We’ve got stories about a break in! We’ve got ghostly babysitters! So sit down, grab a cup of ambrosia and join us as we say farewell to September! LISTEN to this (nearly)Nicholas-free version on all podcast platforms OR WATCH the Nicholas version on Youtube on 9/25/2025! If you’ve got a listener tale please send it on over to Morbidpodcast@gmail.com [Morbidpodcast@gmail.com] with “Listener Tales” somewhere in the subject line- and if you share pictures- please let us know if we can share them with fellow weirdos! :) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com [https://pcm.adswizz.com] for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.