Time & Tales Podcast

Prague's Cursed Clocktower: The Orloj

In Prague’s Old Town Square, a skeleton pulls a cord, the apostles pass behind tiny doors, the rooster crows, and one of Europe’s most famous clocks marks another hour. This episode follows the dark history and folklore of the Prague Astronomical Clock, or Orloj: a medieval marvel tied to legends of a blinded clockmaker, ghostly warnings, broken gears, and the belief that Prague will suffer if the clock ever stops. We trace the Orloj from its construction in 1410 through war, religious upheaval, fire, WWII damage, restoration, and modern controversy—asking why this beautiful mechanical wonder has been linked for centuries to curses, disaster, and blood in the square below it. ............................... Links: timeandtalespodcast@gmail.com [timeandtalespodcast@gmail.com] timeandtalespodcast.com [http://timeandtalespodcast.com] https://www.youtube.com/@LMRiviere [https://www.youtube.com/@LMRiviere] ................................ Sources: * Prague City Tourism. “The Astronomical Clock.” * Prague City Tourism. “Old Town Hall with Astronomical Clock.” * CzechTourism. “Prague Astronomical Clock Returns After Restoration.” * Radio Prague International. “Prague’s Astronomical Clock Removed for Repairs.” * Radio Prague International. “Was the Reconstruction of Prague’s Famous Astronomical Clock Botched?” * Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Prague.” * Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Hussite.” * Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Thirty Years’ War.” * Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Battle of White Mountain.” * Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Austro-Prussian War.” * Charles University. Historical materials on Jan Šindel and medieval Prague. * Prague City Archives. Materials on Old Town Hall and the Prague Astronomical Clock. * “Prague Astronomical Clock.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia, Wikimedia Foundation.

Eliot Ness and The Mad Butcher: PART THREE

In the final chapter of this three-part series, Time and Tales examines the leading suspects in the Cleveland Torso Murders, including Dr. Francis Sweeney, Frank Dolezal, and Willie Johnson. LaNae and CJ break down Eliot Ness’ investigation into the Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run, the evidence tied to the murders, the links between victims Florence Polillo and Rose Wallace, theories involving morphine trafficking and organized crime, and why the case remains one of Cleveland’s most infamous unsolved serial killer mysteries. ........................................... Links: timeandtalespodcast.com [http://timeandtalespodcast.com] timeandtalespodcast@gmail.com [timeandtalespodcast@gmail.com] LaNae's Books: lmriviere.com [http://lmriviere.com] .............................................. Sources: Cleveland Police Museum. Torso Murders. Encyclopedia of Cleveland History. Torso Murders. Encyclopedia of Cleveland History. Ness, Eliot. Federal Bureau of Investigation. A Byte Out of History: Eliot Ness and the FBI. Cleveland Historical. Ness’ Burning of Kingsbury Run. Collins, Max Allan, and A. Brad Schwartz. Eliot Ness and the Mad Butcher: Hunting America's Deadliest Unidentified Serial Killer at the Dawn of Modern Criminology. William Morrow, 2020.

Eliot Ness and the Mad Butcher: PART TWO

By August 1938, the Cleveland Torso Murders had left bodies across Kingsbury Run, the Cuyahoga River, the lakefront, and the city’s industrial edges. In this second part, the case escalates when two more victims appear near the East 9th Street lakefront dump, practically under City Hall’s nose, and the pressure on Eliot Ness becomes impossible to ignore. This episode follows the investigation as it broadens into medical conferences, dead-end suspects, and the growing belief that the killer knew Cleveland’s poorest districts intimately. It also traces Ness’s most infamous response: the Kingsbury Run raid, the burning of the shantytown, and the desperate attempt to disrupt a murderer who always seemed one step ahead. ................................................................ Links: LaNae's Books: lmriviere.com [http://lmriviere.com] Request an Episode: timeandtalespodcast@gmail.com [timeandtalespodcast@gmail.com] Visit our website: timeandtalespodcast.com [http://timeandtalespodcast.com] .................................................................. Collins, Max Allan, and A. Brad Schwartz. Eliot Ness and the Mad Butcher: Hunting America’s Deadliest Unidentified Serial Killer at the Dawn of Modern Criminology. William Morrow, 2021. “NESS, ELIOT.” Encyclopedia of Cleveland History, Case Western Reserve University. “TORSO MURDERS.” Encyclopedia of Cleveland History, Case Western Reserve University. “The Torso Murders.” Cleveland Police Museum. Schwartz, A. Brad. “How Eliot Ness Wound Up Hunting a Serial Killer in Cleveland.” CrimeReads, 6 Sept. 2022. Wikipedia Encyclopedia Britannica

Eliot Ness and the Mad Butcher: PART ONE

In 1930s Cleveland, bodies began turning up in places most of the city tried not to see: Kingsbury Run, the river flats, rail lines, and waste ground crowded with poverty during the Depression. In this episode, we begin the story of the Cleveland Torso Murders—also known as the Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run case—and the nightmare that landed on Eliot Ness’s desk when victims started appearing decapitated, dismembered, and, in some cases, never identified at all. This first part follows the early victims, the panic building around the killings, and the impossible position Ness found himself in: a famous lawman brought in to clean up a city where corruption, class prejudice, and chaos were already working against the investigation. It’s the start of one of the darkest unsolved serial murder cases in American history. ............................................... Check out LaNae's books: lmriviere.com [http://lmriviere.com] Request and episode: timeandtalespodcast@gmail.com [timeandtalespodcast@gmail.com] Sign up for our newsletter: timeandtalespodcast.com [http://timeandtalespodcast.com] .............................................. Sources: Collins, Max Allan, and A. Brad Schwartz. Eliot Ness and the Mad Butcher: Hunting America’s Deadliest Unidentified Serial Killer at the Dawn of Modern Criminology. William Morrow, 2021. “NESS, ELIOT.” Encyclopedia of Cleveland History, Case Western Reserve University. “TORSO MURDERS.” Encyclopedia of Cleveland History, Case Western Reserve University. “The Torso Murders.” Cleveland Police Museum. Schwartz, A. Brad. “How Eliot Ness Wound Up Hunting a Serial Killer in Cleveland.” CrimeReads, 6 Sept. 2022.

Mercy Brown & the New England Vampire Panic

In 1892, in Exeter, Rhode Island, a grieving family exhumed the body of nineteen-year-old Mercy Brown in a desperate attempt to save her dying brother. This episode follows the real story behind one of America’s most famous vampire legends: tuberculosis, winter graves, folk belief, and the New England vampire panic that turned a family tragedy into a permanent piece of American folklore. We trace Mercy Brown’s death, the exhumation in March 1892, the medical reality of consumption, and the wider fear that the dead could drain life from the living. It’s a story of grief, disease, and superstition in nineteenth-century New England—and why Mercy Brown still haunts American dark history more than a century later. ................................................................... Website: timeandtalespodcast.com [http://timeandtalespodcast.com] Email: timeandtalespodcast@gmail.com [timeandtalespodcast@gmail.com] Read LaNae's New Book: A Vow For Breaking [https://www.lmriviere.com/shop/p/a-vow-for-breaking-signed-copy] ................................................................... Sources: Auerbach, Nina. Our Vampires, Ourselves. University of Chicago Press, 1995. Bell, Michael E. Food for the Dead: On the Trail of New England’s Vampires. Carroll & Graf, 2001. Bell, Michael E. “Vampires and Death in New England, 1784 to 1892.” Anthropology and Humanism, vol. 31, no. 2, 2006, pp. 124–140. Brown, Mercy Lena. Obituary notice. Providence Journal, 20 Jan. 1892. Brown, Edwin Atwood. Obituary notice. Providence Journal, 7 May 1892. “Exhumation of the Brown Family.” Providence Journal, 19 Mar. 1892. Rhode Island Historical Society. “Have Mercy…” 31 Oct. 2016. Stetson, George R. “The Animistic Vampire in New England.” American Anthropologist, vol. 9, no. 1, 1896, pp. 1–18. Tucker, Abigail. “The Great New England Vampire Panic.” Smithsonian Magazine, Oct. 2012.