October 22, 2024 • 32 mins
Mary Blandy was desperate to marry, but none of her suitors met the stringent standards set by her father -- until she met William Cranstoun, son of a Scottish peer. But her engagement to him turned out to be her downfall; William was already married. When it was divulged, her father did not approve the engagement, but William "had a method of conciliating [her father's] esteem" -- and it involved feeding her father a 'love powder' to soften him up a bit. The love powder turned out to be arsenic, and Mary killed her father by administering it. Though she claimed she didn't know, there were clues she maybe did. The question remains: Was she a partner to this crime, or wasn't she?
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Criminalia, a production of Shondaland Audio in partnership
with iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
A girl falls in love. The man she loves is
married and has a child, but still promises the girl
they will marry and gives her a pouch of arsenic
with which to poison her father, who did not approve
of the engagement. The girl stirs the powder into her
father's tea as instructed, and he dies, But the girl
(00:32):
claimed she thought it was quote love powder that would
soften her father up to her suitor, not a poison
with which to kill him. This is an interesting story
because centuries later, it continues to divide people. And here's why.
Was she an innocent victim of a con artist who
used her an attempt to get to her significant dowry
(00:54):
and then abandoned her to undue punishment when things turned bad.
Or was she complicit with her fiance and the murder
of her father and rightfully punished for it. There's a
lot to unpack here. Eighteenth century gender rules and female agency,
social mores, and coercion all have parts to play. People
have feelings about this one, so let's talk about how
(01:16):
it played out, and you can draw your own conclusions.
Was she a partner to this crime? Or wasn't she
welcome to criminalia? I'm Maria Tremarky and.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
I'm Holly Frye. Mary Blandy was born to Francis Blandy
and his wife Mary Stevens in the summer of seventeen twenty.
He was a gentleman and an attorney, and his wealth
was legendary. The family lived in Henley upon Thames in Oxfordshire, England,
and Francis was well known and well liked among his neighbors.
(01:48):
He acted as needed as steward for many local families,
and he served as town clerk for many years as well.
The Blandy's door was open to all. Their table quote,
whether filled with company or not, was every day plenteously supplied.
Mary was educated at home by her mother, and she
(02:08):
grew up to be an intelligent, accomplished and charming young woman.
She was an only child, and her parents were so
quote excessively fond of her that they could quote scarce
bear her out of their sight. Her father's quote whole
thoughts were bent to settle her advantageously in the world,
and he hoped of marrying her quote into opulence.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
Her dowry was, as we mentioned earlier, substantial, ten thousand pounds,
which is nearly three million pounds today. That kind of
money attracted all kinds of suitors asking her father for
her hand. None, it was determined by Francis, was good enough.
Mary tried everything she seasoned in Bath and London to
(02:54):
try to attract a husband, but none came to pass.
Twenty six was the average age of marriage for women
in England at the time, and Mary and her family
were concerned she would have the life of a spinster
or old maid, as unmarried women were called back then.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
In the summer of seventeen forty six, Captain William Henry Cranston,
the titled son of a Scottish family, turned his attentions
to Mary upon hearing of her dowry. Francis really got
the word out. William is described as having been quote
remarkably ordinary, his face freckled and pitted with the smallpox,
(03:33):
his eyes small and weak, his eyebrows sandy, and his
shape no ways genteel, his legs clumsy, and he had
nothing in the least elegant in his manner. He had
a turn for gallantry, but nature denied him the proper gifts.
He was fond of play, but his cunning always rendered
(03:53):
him suspected.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
Mary too, had survived smallpox in childhood, and it had
scarred her face, a feature that would have left her
sadly unappealing to suitors in those days if it wasn't
for her wealthy background, which made her very attractive. None
of her suitors met the stringent standard set by her
father until she met and became enamored with William Cranston,
(04:17):
who courted her for about six years. At first, the
Blandies were impressed. After all, William's father was Lord Cranston,
a Scottish peer. Francis was said to have hoped of
someday becoming quote grandfather to a lord.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
But her engagement to William turned out to be her downfall. William,
you see, was already married and was a father to
an infant daughter, and that was not common knowledge to
the Blandies. Francis unexpectedly received a letter from Anne Murray,
who was William's wife, in which she'd enclosed a copy
(04:53):
of the decision of the Commissary Court in Edinburgh. The
court decreed William Cranston and Anne Murray were married. The
court document also noted that he had been ordered to
financially support Anne and his young daughter. Upon discovering this deception,
Francis met with William, demanding to know the truth about Anne.
(05:13):
William assured him that Anne had wilfully misrepresented their circumstances
and the proceedings in the Scottish court, he continued, were
an attempt to blackmail him. He was confident he told
the Blandies that the Scottish legal action for an annulment
would go in his favor. He had also written to
Anne requesting her to disown him for a husband, which
(05:36):
she did in a letter, but she wouldn't agree to
an annulment of their marriage. Mary was absolutely convinced William's
appeal to the court was going to be successful, and
she stood by her man despite what her family thought.
(06:16):
Welcome back to Criminalia. When Francis Blandy learned of William
Cranston's deception, he was pretty hot under the collar. He
renounced the engagement and he sent William away from their home.
The failed suitor returned to Scotland to allegedly sort out
his affairs. William told Mary that he quote had a
(06:36):
method of conciliating her father's esteem, and that when he
arrived in Scotland he would send her some powder for
that purpose. He explained, he would write on the package
quote powders to clean the Scotch peebles. A little side note,
Scotch peebles or Scottish pebbles as they're commonly called, are
(06:57):
decorative stones that are extracted from Old Glee glacial deposits
in Scotland. And because those decorative stones were very popular,
this package, if intercepted, would draw no suspicion. Why worry
about suspicion, you may wonder. Haha, We're going to get
into that. He continued to correspond with Mary, continuing to
(07:17):
assure her that they would marry, and he promised that
his powder would help change her father's mind about their engagement.
In the summer of seventeen fifty one, William sent Mary
the powder, calling in an ancient quote love filter a
love potion. Love powders were nothing new at this time.
You could buy love powder or even love drops for
(07:40):
about five shillings a bottle in town. Recipes from the
eighteenth century list ingredients such as herbs and honey, but
these powders from William had very different ingredients.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
William instructed Mary to add the love powder to her
father's food and tea. She incorporated the powder into her
father's meals. It's unclear whether Mary realized that the love
powder was actually arsenic. She later tried to hide it,
and evidence of it, such as residue at the bottom
(08:14):
of a teacup, suggesting that she at some point likely
knew what she was doing. She was seen in the
act by the family's domestic workers, who were suspicious of
what she was stirring into her father's drinks and his porridge,
but didn't ask her about it.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
One morning, a personal attendant to her father, Susan Gunnell,
casually drank the tea that he hadn't finished, and she
became violently ill for the next few days. Another morning,
not long after, the Blandy's housekeeper, a woman named Anne Emmett,
also drank his leftover tea, and she became so ill
that she later stated that she feared she would die.
(08:53):
When Mary heard that Anne was ill, she sent her
a gift of white wine way and broth. It's a
local folk remedy used at the time to counteract arsenic poisoning.
But it's another instance where no one knows for sure
if Mary was caring for a friend or trying to
cover up her own poisonous secret.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
In July, Mary wrote to William that the love powders
weren't working and wouldn't mix properly. So here's another question.
Did she mean they hadn't made her father love William yet?
Or had she expected her father to die more quickly
from the arsenic she was feeding him. Now we don't
have that answer, Actually, no one does. When William wrote back,
(09:34):
he instructed her to use more and to add the
powders to anything where they would not float on the top.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
Francis was growing suspicious that his daughter might be poisoning him,
mainly because his domestic help was very loyal to him
and they did not keep secrets such as, Hey, your
daughter is adding something to your tea. One morning in
the Blandy kitchen, he stated Mary, who was also in
the room, quote, it is my fortune to be poisoned
(10:05):
at last. Mary in response, later through the powders and
letters from William onto the kitchen fire. And this is
another instance that's often questioned. So was this an act
to destroy evidence she knew could be used against her
or against her lover. We don't know that answer, but
we do know that attempts to conceal what she had
(10:27):
been doing were not successful. The suspicious domestic workers in
the Blandy home rescued what they could from the fire,
including pieces of correspondence and a packet labeled quote powder
to clean the peeples with to give to authorities.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
William sent more powder to Mary in early August. Francis
fell seriously ill, and he lingered close to death for
over a week. He was in great pain, and frankly,
this man had a horrendous death. He slipped in and
out of delirium and consciousness, and his face was quote ghastly.
(11:05):
One afternoon, together with his daughter, he told her he
forgave her, and soon thereafter fell into a coma. He
died the afternoon of August fourteenth, seventeen fifty one.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
The day before her father's death, Mary was acting a
little bit funny. She asked her footman to take her
immediately to France, and he refused. She asked a domestic
worker in the home, Betty Binfield, if she would go
away to London with her that day. Betty also refused
(11:38):
whether it was true or not. Word that Mary had
poisoned her father was spreading at a tavern near the
Blandy Home. Proprietors Mister and Missus Lane said following Francis's
death that they'd heard Mary confess quote, oh, that damned villain.
But why should I blame him? For I am more
to blame than he, for I gave it to him
(11:59):
and the consequence. They would both later testify against Mary
in court.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
She wrote to William to tell him her father had died.
From the beginning of their acquaintance until the death of
her father, Mary and William had exchanged letters, and authorities
and friends of her father advised her that she could
prove she had not known the powders for poison by
producing those letters William had written to her, But Mary replied, quote,
(12:27):
I am afraid I have burnt that which would have
brought him to justice. My honor to him will prove
my ruin.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
Urged to account for her father's death, She instead and
repeatedly told the tale of her love for William Cranston,
and that he had sent her love powders that would
help facilitate her father's approval of their engagement. She stated
that she was unaware of any deadly nature of the
powders that he'd given her, and that her sole objective
(12:57):
in administering them was to gain her father's affection for
her future husband. She was arrested.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
Forensic science was in its infancy and was quite limited,
but with the seriousness of the suspected crime and in
regard to such a prominent person, authorities tried everything to
prove what everyone suspected that Francis had been poisoned. Doctor
Anthony Addington, leading this medical investigation, had previously done work
(13:26):
based on testing residue for traces of arsenic Though that
would be rudimentary by today's standards, it was groundbreaking in
the eighteenth century. He had also called on Francis during
his final days, where he'd witnessed symptoms of poisoning in
his patient. He recorded his observations both before and after
Blandie's death in detail. He and other medical experts, including
(13:50):
a doctor Lewis, as well as the apothecary mister Norton
and surgeon Edward Nicholas, performed an autopsy.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
According to their reports, they have observed that Francis had
quote a livid back, loose, fat muscles, pale and flaccid,
call yellower than his natural heart, variegated with purple spots,
lungs blotted most with black ink, liver and spleen, much discolored, gallstone, stomach, bowels, duodenum, pericardium.
(14:22):
All were inspected. Doctors Addington and Lewis presented their findings
to the coroner. They concluded that the cause of Francis
Blandy's death was arsenic poisoning. In addition, the coroner also
had taken statements from the domestic workers in the Blandy
home and from them concluded that Mary quote did poison
(14:43):
and murder him. According to Alan Jamison, a forensic scientist
based in Scotland today, quote nowadays we would call this
type of testing presumptive. That is, the substance could be
the material in question, but the tests are not definitive.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
But in seventeen fifty one they were definitive to authorities.
Mary was taken to Oxford Castle to await her trial,
and with her she took possessions for a lengthy stay,
including her tea Caddie. Her imprisonment at least initially, quote
was more like a retirement from the world than the
(15:21):
confinement of a criminal. She could walk in the gardens,
drink tea, play cards. She also continued to protest that
she did not know the powder was poison.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
It was while Mary was at Oxford Castle that she
learned that her father could never have paid that ten
thousand pound dowry he advertised for her when he died.
His whole fortune only amounted to four thousand pounds, which
was nothing to sneeze at. It's roughly equivalent to one
million pounds today, but it still wasn't what he said
(15:52):
he would pay her future husband. After authorities heard rumors
of a plan for her to escape her holdings at
the castle, the jailer riveted double sets of irons around
her ankles, and the put an end to those walks outside.
Her only visitor after that was the Reverend John Swinton.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
Mary wrote letters stating her account of her relationship with
William Cranston and the events leading up to her father's death,
hoping a reprieve would come, or that the King would
show mercy and pardon her. Locals petitioned against her, feeling
the crime of poisoning one's father was too much for
a pardon. She was not given a reprieve.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
We're going to take a break here for a word
from our sponsors. When we're back, we'll talk about Mary's
trial and execution and William's lack of trial and execution.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
Welcome back to Criminally, Let's go to trial.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
On March third, seventeen fifty two, during the Oxford Assizes,
Mary's trial began before two judges, Pennyage Leggy and Sir
Sidney Stafford Smith. Because Mary's family didn't want to prosecute,
the nobleman and gentleman in the neighborhood of Henley petitioned
the Duke of Newcastle, Secretary of State, requesting that the
(17:23):
government bear the costs of the prosecution. The Lord Chancellor
Hardwick agreed and advised that if there were sufficient grounds
to proceed against Mary for her father's murder, the prosecution
should be carried out at the expense of the Crown.
It was agreed and three lawyers were appointed to prosecute
the case.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
The prosecution asserted to the court that the very idea
Mary gave her father the powder quote to make him
love William, was quote incredible. They continued that she knew
what affects the food and drinks produced when she stood
in the powder, yet she continued to do so, and
instead of telling her family's physician what she had done,
(18:07):
a move that might have saved her father's life, she
tried to destroy the powder in the kitchen fire. The
prosecution also commented on the letters to William recovered by
the domestic workers as being quote wholly inconsistent with her innocence.
Twelve witnesses were called against Mary. Workers in the Blandy
(18:28):
home told the court similar stories that they had seen
her administer the powder to her father's food and drink
and try to destroy the evidence of doing so. Some
also testified to hearing Mary curse her father, calling him
quote a rogue, a villain, a toothless old dog whom
she wished dead and at hell. Friends of her father,
(18:50):
as well as neighbors were called to the stand, as
were those who were intimate with Francis on a daily basis,
including his clerk and personal attendance. Professional doctor and members
of the jury of the Coroner's inquest were also called
to the stand by the prosecution to speak about the
effects and symptoms of arsenic and Francis's post mortem results.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
The evidence for murder by arsenic poisoning was strong, but
the evidence against Mary was circumstantial. Mary addressed the jury,
repeating her now well told story of innocence. According to
court reports, she spoke at great length and her speech
was reportedly quote impassioned, and delivered with zeal. During her testimony,
(19:32):
Mary admitted she did mix powder into her father's porridge
and tea, but as a love potion. She denied administering
poison and stated the powder had been given to her
quote with another intent. She fought her case with the
help of a mister Ford, her defense counsel. Having a
defense attorney was not common at this time, and typically
(19:55):
Mary would have stood for herself. Eight witnesses were caught
in Mary's defense. They included domestic workers from the Blandy home,
but also included friends of the Blandy family. The defense
focused on Mary's kind character. Thomas Colley and Thomas Staverton,
friends of Frances Blandy for more than twenty years, testified
(20:18):
to the happy relationship that Francis had with his daughter.
Edward Hearn, a former suitor of Mary's, described her as
an affectionate and dutiful daughter. He testified that he was
in the house sometimes as often as four times a week,
and never heard her speak a disrespectful word of her father.
In cross examination, however, he admitted that Mary had told
(20:42):
him William Cranston had put powder in her father's tea.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
Her trial lasted one very long day, roughly thirteen hours.
She was convicted of murder, and she received the mandatory
sentence that went along with that death. The judges sentenced
her saying, quote, you are convicted of a crime so dreadful,
so horrid in itself, that human nature shudders at it,
(21:09):
the wilful murder of your own father, a father, by
all accounts, the most fond, the most tender, the most indulgent,
that ever lived. That father, with his dying breath forgave you.
May your heavenly Father do so too. Nothing now remains
but to pronounce the sentence of the law upon you,
which is that you are to be carried to the
(21:31):
place of execution, and there hanged by the neck until
you are dead. And may God of his infinite mercy
receive your soul.
Speaker 1 (21:38):
Mary was executed outside of Oxford Castle Prison, on November thirtieth,
seventeen fifty two, she made her way to the gallows
with black paduis soy ribbons tying her hands and arms.
Paduas oy, in case you've never heard, that word refers
to a rich, thick corded fabric. It's reported that Mary
(21:59):
was very day. Thousands of people attended her execution, and
she addressed the crowd that had gathered with a retelling
of her narrative that she had administered a powder yes,
but emphasized again that she had absolutely no idea that
powder was poison.
Speaker 2 (22:17):
When her end came, she paused and said, with modesty, quote, gentlemen,
do not hang me high for the sake of decency.
Even as the hangman passed the halter around her neck,
Mary never shed a tear that day. She went to
the gallows quote with such serenity and composure, and greatly
surprised and charmed many of the spectators, many of whom
(22:40):
shed tears. She prayed and then signaled the executioner.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
Many pamphlets claiming to be the air Quote, Genuine account,
or Genuine Letters of Mary Blandy were published in the
months following her execution. Of all the confessions attributed to Mary,
there's one that stands out. After her trial, but before
her execution, Mary dictated a confession to Reverend Swinton, who
(23:08):
wrote it at her request and with her approval, and
within it tells of a young woman following the orders
of an older man she loves, admitting to administering a
powder to her father, but never knowing it was a poison.
When William read this confession after her death, he reportedly
stated that he would pray for Mary's soul because he
(23:31):
was sure she had gone to God telling the most
fallacious lies.
Speaker 2 (23:36):
And what of William Cranston. As for William, for many,
the real villain in this story, he never stood trial
for his role in any of this, though he'd supplied
the arsenic, duped his fiance into murder, and then abandoned her.
The government issued a warrant for his arrest, and the
mayor of Henley sent a messenger to apprehend him, but
(23:59):
he had already fled.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
After Mary's execution, her family and the people who'd believed
her story wanted revenge on William. They saw him as
the real murderer, but he was adamant. Mary, according to William,
was as much a part of their love affair as
he was, and she was as much a part of
the poisoning affair as he. He'd claimed that she knew
(24:22):
the effect of the powder, and had since they'd first
talked about administering it. He admitted that he had proposed
the plan and stated that she readily accepted it. He
also declared that he and Mary had secretly married roughly
two years before her father's death. Whether that's true or not.
Even if they had, that marriage was illegal while she
(24:44):
was alive, and after her death he continued to try
to gain her family's fortune.
Speaker 2 (24:50):
When he died in Flanders in December of seventeen fifty two,
inside his wardrobe were letters from Mary sent to him
the summer Francis was poisoned. He had kept three letters.
In the first, dated June thirtieth, seventeen fifty one, Mary
wrote that the powders would not mix properly. She also wrote,
quote the old woman that charged sometimes in the house,
(25:12):
having drank a little liquor in which I put some
is very bad, and I am conscious of the affair
being discovered. When you write, let it be as mystically
as you please. She also wrote of her personal distress
whenever she quote thought of the affair in hand.
Speaker 1 (25:27):
In her second letter, dated July sixteenth, seventeen fifty one,
Mary's writing is a bit more cryptic. She references polishing
the quote Peebles and confirms that she will let William
know when she finds quote the good effects of the scheme.
The third letter, dated August first, seventeen fifty one, two
weeks before her father's death, contains an admission that she
(25:51):
is quote going forward with all convenient speed in the business,
and is quote sometimes in the greatest frights, there being
constantly about me so many to be kept insensible of
the affair.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
The contents of these three letters appear as evidence to
many historians and armchair historians too, that Mary knew the
powder was arsenic, and that she knew exactly what she
was doing.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
Many people at the time found it unlikely and perhaps
even impossible, that someone as accomplished and educated as Mary
could have been foolish enough as to mistake arsenic for
a love potion. The reaction among the press, too, was mixed.
From the day of Mary's arrest right to her execution.
Some believed her version of the story was absolutely the truth,
(26:41):
but most people thought that she was lying. The debate
over whether or not she was morally culpable for her
crime of poisoning her father continued for years after her death.
In the nineteenth century, a Victorian reassessment of her case
made her appear in a more sympathetic light. With time,
some people began to focus on the romance of her
(27:02):
story and her as a quote poor love sick girl
rather than a patricidal daughter in cahoots with her married lover.
More than two hundred years later, her crime and her
case still aren't settled in the court of public opinion.
Speaker 2 (27:17):
Big case of did she or didn't she?
Speaker 1 (27:19):
Right? Listen, do you want to make it a double?
Speaker 2 (27:23):
Yes? I do?
Speaker 1 (27:24):
Okay, Look, I'm going to be so frank right up front.
This drink is all about confirmation bias for me, because uh,
I started looking for things that people advise putting in
love potions today, and of course it's lots of ingredients
I love to put in a drink. So I'm sorry,
this is a very very holycentric drink. If you don't
(27:46):
have the same taste as me, you may be out
of Look, this is one that I don't want to
call it the love potion, because I just don't, so
I'm calling it love and poison. I thought about love
or poison. I don't know. Maybe if you don't like
these flavors, you'll think it's poison. We're gonna call it
love and poison. Okay, this is a very easy one
to put together. It is gonna start with just a
(28:09):
quarter ounce of lemon juice, and we're keeping that small
amount for a reason. You'll see in a moment, a
half ounce of rose syrup, a half ounce of honey syrup,
a half ounce of lemon cello, and two ounces of gin.
So this is a little bit like a bee's knees,
but with a little extra kickup. There's more lemon, there's
(28:30):
more alcohol, and there's a rose note. And you are
just gonna shake that in your shaker with some ice,
and then you will strain it into a chilled glass,
a chilled martini or coop, you know, any cocktail glass. Really,
whatever you like to drink out of is fine, and
then that is your cocktail. It is very spirit forward, yes,
(28:51):
and very delicious. And I will once again, as I
always tell people, honey syrup. Don't just use straight honey, right,
you want to do a one to one of honey
and water, you can either simmer it together or combine it.
We talked about this on our last episode two. If
you just use honey, it's never going to incorporate into
the drink. It will get to globby and it will
(29:12):
stick to the bottom of your shaker and not come
out or become part of the drink. How do you
think I know that experience. Sometimes I try to take
a shortcut and that's bad. Don't do it. I'm making
the mistakes. So you don't have to the mocktail for
this I really really love, which is that first you're
going to make some lemon and rosebud tea. So you're
(29:33):
going to start with two cups of water with a
lemon tea bag. And this is one of those things
where I was at my grocery store earlier today kind
of sussing out how wide the range of lemon options
is really, and there are quite a few. So if
you like a lemon ginger tea, great get that is fine.
If you like a lemon singer, great get that. It's fine.
That hibiscus note isn't going to hurt anything. There are
(29:53):
a lot of other lemon teas on the market, like,
whatever one you love that you will keep drinking is
the one you should get. We don't want you to
buy ingredients you're never going to use again. And then
a handful of culinary roast buds or roast tea if
you find that somewhere, and like I said, two cups
of water. You're gonna simmer with these for you know,
(30:15):
five to ten minutes. Let it cool, strain it off.
Cool that additionally in the fridge if you're meat, because
you wanted a little cold to begin with. And then
you're gonna only use two and a half ounces of
that tea. The rest of the measures of the same,
So you'll use a half ounce of honey syrup, a
half ounce of roast syrup, and a quarter ounce of
lemon juice and shake that all together, put it in
(30:37):
your chilled cocktail glass. Here's the thing with the tea.
It's so good, and you have two cups of it.
If you want to make this like a taller something
in a pint glass with ice, totally good. You can
either bump up all of your proportions a little bit
or make this as written and then add club soda
or a ginger ale on top of it, and that
(30:58):
is also super.
Speaker 2 (30:59):
Delicious that the ginger ella is lovely on it.
Speaker 1 (31:01):
I really like the mocktail in this one a whole bunch,
and for either of them, whether you're doing cocktail or mocktail,
I recommend a little garnish of roast buds. It's just pretty.
It's pretty.
Speaker 2 (31:11):
I like it pretty.
Speaker 1 (31:13):
And that is the love and poison which will not
give you our snake poisoning. Unless somebody is poisoning you.
That's not you. We hope nobody does that.
Speaker 2 (31:22):
Have a drink yourself.
Speaker 1 (31:24):
Right, Always make the drink yourself. We are thankful and
love that you spend this time with us. We will
be right back here next week with more stories and
more drinks. Criminalia is a production of Shondaland Audio in
(31:58):
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visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen
to your favorite shows.
Welcome to Criminalia, a production of Shondaland Audio in partnership
with iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
A girl falls in love. The man she loves is
married and has a child, but still promises the girl
they will marry and gives her a pouch of arsenic
with which to poison her father, who did not approve
of the engagement. The girl stirs the powder into her
father's tea as instructed, and he dies, But the girl
(00:32):
claimed she thought it was quote love powder that would
soften her father up to her suitor, not a poison
with which to kill him. This is an interesting story
because centuries later, it continues to divide people. And here's why.
Was she an innocent victim of a con artist who
used her an attempt to get to her significant dowry
(00:54):
and then abandoned her to undue punishment when things turned bad.
Or was she complicit with her fiance and the murder
of her father and rightfully punished for it. There's a
lot to unpack here. Eighteenth century gender rules and female agency,
social mores, and coercion all have parts to play. People
have feelings about this one, so let's talk about how
(01:16):
it played out, and you can draw your own conclusions.
Was she a partner to this crime? Or wasn't she
welcome to criminalia? I'm Maria Tremarky and.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
I'm Holly Frye. Mary Blandy was born to Francis Blandy
and his wife Mary Stevens in the summer of seventeen twenty.
He was a gentleman and an attorney, and his wealth
was legendary. The family lived in Henley upon Thames in Oxfordshire, England,
and Francis was well known and well liked among his neighbors.
(01:48):
He acted as needed as steward for many local families,
and he served as town clerk for many years as well.
The Blandy's door was open to all. Their table quote,
whether filled with company or not, was every day plenteously supplied.
Mary was educated at home by her mother, and she
(02:08):
grew up to be an intelligent, accomplished and charming young woman.
She was an only child, and her parents were so
quote excessively fond of her that they could quote scarce
bear her out of their sight. Her father's quote whole
thoughts were bent to settle her advantageously in the world,
and he hoped of marrying her quote into opulence.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
Her dowry was, as we mentioned earlier, substantial, ten thousand pounds,
which is nearly three million pounds today. That kind of
money attracted all kinds of suitors asking her father for
her hand. None, it was determined by Francis, was good enough.
Mary tried everything she seasoned in Bath and London to
(02:54):
try to attract a husband, but none came to pass.
Twenty six was the average age of marriage for women
in England at the time, and Mary and her family
were concerned she would have the life of a spinster
or old maid, as unmarried women were called back then.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
In the summer of seventeen forty six, Captain William Henry Cranston,
the titled son of a Scottish family, turned his attentions
to Mary upon hearing of her dowry. Francis really got
the word out. William is described as having been quote
remarkably ordinary, his face freckled and pitted with the smallpox,
(03:33):
his eyes small and weak, his eyebrows sandy, and his
shape no ways genteel, his legs clumsy, and he had
nothing in the least elegant in his manner. He had
a turn for gallantry, but nature denied him the proper gifts.
He was fond of play, but his cunning always rendered
(03:53):
him suspected.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
Mary too, had survived smallpox in childhood, and it had
scarred her face, a feature that would have left her
sadly unappealing to suitors in those days if it wasn't
for her wealthy background, which made her very attractive. None
of her suitors met the stringent standard set by her
father until she met and became enamored with William Cranston,
(04:17):
who courted her for about six years. At first, the
Blandies were impressed. After all, William's father was Lord Cranston,
a Scottish peer. Francis was said to have hoped of
someday becoming quote grandfather to a lord.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
But her engagement to William turned out to be her downfall. William,
you see, was already married and was a father to
an infant daughter, and that was not common knowledge to
the Blandies. Francis unexpectedly received a letter from Anne Murray,
who was William's wife, in which she'd enclosed a copy
(04:53):
of the decision of the Commissary Court in Edinburgh. The
court decreed William Cranston and Anne Murray were married. The
court document also noted that he had been ordered to
financially support Anne and his young daughter. Upon discovering this deception,
Francis met with William, demanding to know the truth about Anne.
(05:13):
William assured him that Anne had wilfully misrepresented their circumstances
and the proceedings in the Scottish court, he continued, were
an attempt to blackmail him. He was confident he told
the Blandies that the Scottish legal action for an annulment
would go in his favor. He had also written to
Anne requesting her to disown him for a husband, which
(05:36):
she did in a letter, but she wouldn't agree to
an annulment of their marriage. Mary was absolutely convinced William's
appeal to the court was going to be successful, and
she stood by her man despite what her family thought.
(06:16):
Welcome back to Criminalia. When Francis Blandy learned of William
Cranston's deception, he was pretty hot under the collar. He
renounced the engagement and he sent William away from their home.
The failed suitor returned to Scotland to allegedly sort out
his affairs. William told Mary that he quote had a
(06:36):
method of conciliating her father's esteem, and that when he
arrived in Scotland he would send her some powder for
that purpose. He explained, he would write on the package
quote powders to clean the Scotch peebles. A little side note,
Scotch peebles or Scottish pebbles as they're commonly called, are
(06:57):
decorative stones that are extracted from Old Glee glacial deposits
in Scotland. And because those decorative stones were very popular,
this package, if intercepted, would draw no suspicion. Why worry
about suspicion, you may wonder. Haha, We're going to get
into that. He continued to correspond with Mary, continuing to
(07:17):
assure her that they would marry, and he promised that
his powder would help change her father's mind about their engagement.
In the summer of seventeen fifty one, William sent Mary
the powder, calling in an ancient quote love filter a
love potion. Love powders were nothing new at this time.
You could buy love powder or even love drops for
(07:40):
about five shillings a bottle in town. Recipes from the
eighteenth century list ingredients such as herbs and honey, but
these powders from William had very different ingredients.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
William instructed Mary to add the love powder to her
father's food and tea. She incorporated the powder into her
father's meals. It's unclear whether Mary realized that the love
powder was actually arsenic. She later tried to hide it,
and evidence of it, such as residue at the bottom
(08:14):
of a teacup, suggesting that she at some point likely
knew what she was doing. She was seen in the
act by the family's domestic workers, who were suspicious of
what she was stirring into her father's drinks and his porridge,
but didn't ask her about it.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
One morning, a personal attendant to her father, Susan Gunnell,
casually drank the tea that he hadn't finished, and she
became violently ill for the next few days. Another morning,
not long after, the Blandy's housekeeper, a woman named Anne Emmett,
also drank his leftover tea, and she became so ill
that she later stated that she feared she would die.
(08:53):
When Mary heard that Anne was ill, she sent her
a gift of white wine way and broth. It's a
local folk remedy used at the time to counteract arsenic poisoning.
But it's another instance where no one knows for sure
if Mary was caring for a friend or trying to
cover up her own poisonous secret.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
In July, Mary wrote to William that the love powders
weren't working and wouldn't mix properly. So here's another question.
Did she mean they hadn't made her father love William yet?
Or had she expected her father to die more quickly
from the arsenic she was feeding him. Now we don't
have that answer, Actually, no one does. When William wrote back,
(09:34):
he instructed her to use more and to add the
powders to anything where they would not float on the top.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
Francis was growing suspicious that his daughter might be poisoning him,
mainly because his domestic help was very loyal to him
and they did not keep secrets such as, Hey, your
daughter is adding something to your tea. One morning in
the Blandy kitchen, he stated Mary, who was also in
the room, quote, it is my fortune to be poisoned
(10:05):
at last. Mary in response, later through the powders and
letters from William onto the kitchen fire. And this is
another instance that's often questioned. So was this an act
to destroy evidence she knew could be used against her
or against her lover. We don't know that answer, but
we do know that attempts to conceal what she had
(10:27):
been doing were not successful. The suspicious domestic workers in
the Blandy home rescued what they could from the fire,
including pieces of correspondence and a packet labeled quote powder
to clean the peeples with to give to authorities.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
William sent more powder to Mary in early August. Francis
fell seriously ill, and he lingered close to death for
over a week. He was in great pain, and frankly,
this man had a horrendous death. He slipped in and
out of delirium and consciousness, and his face was quote ghastly.
(11:05):
One afternoon, together with his daughter, he told her he
forgave her, and soon thereafter fell into a coma. He
died the afternoon of August fourteenth, seventeen fifty one.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
The day before her father's death, Mary was acting a
little bit funny. She asked her footman to take her
immediately to France, and he refused. She asked a domestic
worker in the home, Betty Binfield, if she would go
away to London with her that day. Betty also refused
(11:38):
whether it was true or not. Word that Mary had
poisoned her father was spreading at a tavern near the
Blandy Home. Proprietors Mister and Missus Lane said following Francis's
death that they'd heard Mary confess quote, oh, that damned villain.
But why should I blame him? For I am more
to blame than he, for I gave it to him
(11:59):
and the consequence. They would both later testify against Mary
in court.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
She wrote to William to tell him her father had died.
From the beginning of their acquaintance until the death of
her father, Mary and William had exchanged letters, and authorities
and friends of her father advised her that she could
prove she had not known the powders for poison by
producing those letters William had written to her, But Mary replied, quote,
(12:27):
I am afraid I have burnt that which would have
brought him to justice. My honor to him will prove
my ruin.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
Urged to account for her father's death, She instead and
repeatedly told the tale of her love for William Cranston,
and that he had sent her love powders that would
help facilitate her father's approval of their engagement. She stated
that she was unaware of any deadly nature of the
powders that he'd given her, and that her sole objective
(12:57):
in administering them was to gain her father's affection for
her future husband. She was arrested.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
Forensic science was in its infancy and was quite limited,
but with the seriousness of the suspected crime and in
regard to such a prominent person, authorities tried everything to
prove what everyone suspected that Francis had been poisoned. Doctor
Anthony Addington, leading this medical investigation, had previously done work
(13:26):
based on testing residue for traces of arsenic Though that
would be rudimentary by today's standards, it was groundbreaking in
the eighteenth century. He had also called on Francis during
his final days, where he'd witnessed symptoms of poisoning in
his patient. He recorded his observations both before and after
Blandie's death in detail. He and other medical experts, including
(13:50):
a doctor Lewis, as well as the apothecary mister Norton
and surgeon Edward Nicholas, performed an autopsy.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
According to their reports, they have observed that Francis had
quote a livid back, loose, fat muscles, pale and flaccid,
call yellower than his natural heart, variegated with purple spots,
lungs blotted most with black ink, liver and spleen, much discolored, gallstone, stomach, bowels, duodenum, pericardium.
(14:22):
All were inspected. Doctors Addington and Lewis presented their findings
to the coroner. They concluded that the cause of Francis
Blandy's death was arsenic poisoning. In addition, the coroner also
had taken statements from the domestic workers in the Blandy
home and from them concluded that Mary quote did poison
(14:43):
and murder him. According to Alan Jamison, a forensic scientist
based in Scotland today, quote nowadays we would call this
type of testing presumptive. That is, the substance could be
the material in question, but the tests are not definitive.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
But in seventeen fifty one they were definitive to authorities.
Mary was taken to Oxford Castle to await her trial,
and with her she took possessions for a lengthy stay,
including her tea Caddie. Her imprisonment at least initially, quote
was more like a retirement from the world than the
(15:21):
confinement of a criminal. She could walk in the gardens,
drink tea, play cards. She also continued to protest that
she did not know the powder was poison.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
It was while Mary was at Oxford Castle that she
learned that her father could never have paid that ten
thousand pound dowry he advertised for her when he died.
His whole fortune only amounted to four thousand pounds, which
was nothing to sneeze at. It's roughly equivalent to one
million pounds today, but it still wasn't what he said
(15:52):
he would pay her future husband. After authorities heard rumors
of a plan for her to escape her holdings at
the castle, the jailer riveted double sets of irons around
her ankles, and the put an end to those walks outside.
Her only visitor after that was the Reverend John Swinton.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
Mary wrote letters stating her account of her relationship with
William Cranston and the events leading up to her father's death,
hoping a reprieve would come, or that the King would
show mercy and pardon her. Locals petitioned against her, feeling
the crime of poisoning one's father was too much for
a pardon. She was not given a reprieve.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
We're going to take a break here for a word
from our sponsors. When we're back, we'll talk about Mary's
trial and execution and William's lack of trial and execution.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
Welcome back to Criminally, Let's go to trial.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
On March third, seventeen fifty two, during the Oxford Assizes,
Mary's trial began before two judges, Pennyage Leggy and Sir
Sidney Stafford Smith. Because Mary's family didn't want to prosecute,
the nobleman and gentleman in the neighborhood of Henley petitioned
the Duke of Newcastle, Secretary of State, requesting that the
(17:23):
government bear the costs of the prosecution. The Lord Chancellor
Hardwick agreed and advised that if there were sufficient grounds
to proceed against Mary for her father's murder, the prosecution
should be carried out at the expense of the Crown.
It was agreed and three lawyers were appointed to prosecute
the case.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
The prosecution asserted to the court that the very idea
Mary gave her father the powder quote to make him
love William, was quote incredible. They continued that she knew
what affects the food and drinks produced when she stood
in the powder, yet she continued to do so, and
instead of telling her family's physician what she had done,
(18:07):
a move that might have saved her father's life, she
tried to destroy the powder in the kitchen fire. The
prosecution also commented on the letters to William recovered by
the domestic workers as being quote wholly inconsistent with her innocence.
Twelve witnesses were called against Mary. Workers in the Blandy
(18:28):
home told the court similar stories that they had seen
her administer the powder to her father's food and drink
and try to destroy the evidence of doing so. Some
also testified to hearing Mary curse her father, calling him
quote a rogue, a villain, a toothless old dog whom
she wished dead and at hell. Friends of her father,
(18:50):
as well as neighbors were called to the stand, as
were those who were intimate with Francis on a daily basis,
including his clerk and personal attendance. Professional doctor and members
of the jury of the Coroner's inquest were also called
to the stand by the prosecution to speak about the
effects and symptoms of arsenic and Francis's post mortem results.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
The evidence for murder by arsenic poisoning was strong, but
the evidence against Mary was circumstantial. Mary addressed the jury,
repeating her now well told story of innocence. According to
court reports, she spoke at great length and her speech
was reportedly quote impassioned, and delivered with zeal. During her testimony,
(19:32):
Mary admitted she did mix powder into her father's porridge
and tea, but as a love potion. She denied administering
poison and stated the powder had been given to her
quote with another intent. She fought her case with the
help of a mister Ford, her defense counsel. Having a
defense attorney was not common at this time, and typically
(19:55):
Mary would have stood for herself. Eight witnesses were caught
in Mary's defense. They included domestic workers from the Blandy home,
but also included friends of the Blandy family. The defense
focused on Mary's kind character. Thomas Colley and Thomas Staverton,
friends of Frances Blandy for more than twenty years, testified
(20:18):
to the happy relationship that Francis had with his daughter.
Edward Hearn, a former suitor of Mary's, described her as
an affectionate and dutiful daughter. He testified that he was
in the house sometimes as often as four times a week,
and never heard her speak a disrespectful word of her father.
In cross examination, however, he admitted that Mary had told
(20:42):
him William Cranston had put powder in her father's tea.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
Her trial lasted one very long day, roughly thirteen hours.
She was convicted of murder, and she received the mandatory
sentence that went along with that death. The judges sentenced
her saying, quote, you are convicted of a crime so dreadful,
so horrid in itself, that human nature shudders at it,
(21:09):
the wilful murder of your own father, a father, by
all accounts, the most fond, the most tender, the most indulgent,
that ever lived. That father, with his dying breath forgave you.
May your heavenly Father do so too. Nothing now remains
but to pronounce the sentence of the law upon you,
which is that you are to be carried to the
(21:31):
place of execution, and there hanged by the neck until
you are dead. And may God of his infinite mercy
receive your soul.
Speaker 1 (21:38):
Mary was executed outside of Oxford Castle Prison, on November thirtieth,
seventeen fifty two, she made her way to the gallows
with black paduis soy ribbons tying her hands and arms.
Paduas oy, in case you've never heard, that word refers
to a rich, thick corded fabric. It's reported that Mary
(21:59):
was very day. Thousands of people attended her execution, and
she addressed the crowd that had gathered with a retelling
of her narrative that she had administered a powder yes,
but emphasized again that she had absolutely no idea that
powder was poison.
Speaker 2 (22:17):
When her end came, she paused and said, with modesty, quote, gentlemen,
do not hang me high for the sake of decency.
Even as the hangman passed the halter around her neck,
Mary never shed a tear that day. She went to
the gallows quote with such serenity and composure, and greatly
surprised and charmed many of the spectators, many of whom
(22:40):
shed tears. She prayed and then signaled the executioner.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
Many pamphlets claiming to be the air Quote, Genuine account,
or Genuine Letters of Mary Blandy were published in the
months following her execution. Of all the confessions attributed to Mary,
there's one that stands out. After her trial, but before
her execution, Mary dictated a confession to Reverend Swinton, who
(23:08):
wrote it at her request and with her approval, and
within it tells of a young woman following the orders
of an older man she loves, admitting to administering a
powder to her father, but never knowing it was a poison.
When William read this confession after her death, he reportedly
stated that he would pray for Mary's soul because he
(23:31):
was sure she had gone to God telling the most
fallacious lies.
Speaker 2 (23:36):
And what of William Cranston. As for William, for many,
the real villain in this story, he never stood trial
for his role in any of this, though he'd supplied
the arsenic, duped his fiance into murder, and then abandoned her.
The government issued a warrant for his arrest, and the
mayor of Henley sent a messenger to apprehend him, but
(23:59):
he had already fled.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
After Mary's execution, her family and the people who'd believed
her story wanted revenge on William. They saw him as
the real murderer, but he was adamant. Mary, according to William,
was as much a part of their love affair as
he was, and she was as much a part of
the poisoning affair as he. He'd claimed that she knew
(24:22):
the effect of the powder, and had since they'd first
talked about administering it. He admitted that he had proposed
the plan and stated that she readily accepted it. He
also declared that he and Mary had secretly married roughly
two years before her father's death. Whether that's true or not.
Even if they had, that marriage was illegal while she
(24:44):
was alive, and after her death he continued to try
to gain her family's fortune.
Speaker 2 (24:50):
When he died in Flanders in December of seventeen fifty two,
inside his wardrobe were letters from Mary sent to him
the summer Francis was poisoned. He had kept three letters.
In the first, dated June thirtieth, seventeen fifty one, Mary
wrote that the powders would not mix properly. She also wrote,
quote the old woman that charged sometimes in the house,
(25:12):
having drank a little liquor in which I put some
is very bad, and I am conscious of the affair
being discovered. When you write, let it be as mystically
as you please. She also wrote of her personal distress
whenever she quote thought of the affair in hand.
Speaker 1 (25:27):
In her second letter, dated July sixteenth, seventeen fifty one,
Mary's writing is a bit more cryptic. She references polishing
the quote Peebles and confirms that she will let William
know when she finds quote the good effects of the scheme.
The third letter, dated August first, seventeen fifty one, two
weeks before her father's death, contains an admission that she
(25:51):
is quote going forward with all convenient speed in the business,
and is quote sometimes in the greatest frights, there being
constantly about me so many to be kept insensible of
the affair.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
The contents of these three letters appear as evidence to
many historians and armchair historians too, that Mary knew the
powder was arsenic, and that she knew exactly what she
was doing.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
Many people at the time found it unlikely and perhaps
even impossible, that someone as accomplished and educated as Mary
could have been foolish enough as to mistake arsenic for
a love potion. The reaction among the press, too, was mixed.
From the day of Mary's arrest right to her execution.
Some believed her version of the story was absolutely the truth,
(26:41):
but most people thought that she was lying. The debate
over whether or not she was morally culpable for her
crime of poisoning her father continued for years after her death.
In the nineteenth century, a Victorian reassessment of her case
made her appear in a more sympathetic light. With time,
some people began to focus on the romance of her
(27:02):
story and her as a quote poor love sick girl
rather than a patricidal daughter in cahoots with her married lover.
More than two hundred years later, her crime and her
case still aren't settled in the court of public opinion.
Speaker 2 (27:17):
Big case of did she or didn't she?
Speaker 1 (27:19):
Right? Listen, do you want to make it a double?
Speaker 2 (27:23):
Yes? I do?
Speaker 1 (27:24):
Okay, Look, I'm going to be so frank right up front.
This drink is all about confirmation bias for me, because uh,
I started looking for things that people advise putting in
love potions today, and of course it's lots of ingredients
I love to put in a drink. So I'm sorry,
this is a very very holycentric drink. If you don't
(27:46):
have the same taste as me, you may be out
of Look, this is one that I don't want to
call it the love potion, because I just don't, so
I'm calling it love and poison. I thought about love
or poison. I don't know. Maybe if you don't like
these flavors, you'll think it's poison. We're gonna call it
love and poison. Okay, this is a very easy one
to put together. It is gonna start with just a
(28:09):
quarter ounce of lemon juice, and we're keeping that small
amount for a reason. You'll see in a moment, a
half ounce of rose syrup, a half ounce of honey syrup,
a half ounce of lemon cello, and two ounces of gin.
So this is a little bit like a bee's knees,
but with a little extra kickup. There's more lemon, there's
(28:30):
more alcohol, and there's a rose note. And you are
just gonna shake that in your shaker with some ice,
and then you will strain it into a chilled glass,
a chilled martini or coop, you know, any cocktail glass. Really,
whatever you like to drink out of is fine, and
then that is your cocktail. It is very spirit forward, yes,
(28:51):
and very delicious. And I will once again, as I
always tell people, honey syrup. Don't just use straight honey, right,
you want to do a one to one of honey
and water, you can either simmer it together or combine it.
We talked about this on our last episode two. If
you just use honey, it's never going to incorporate into
the drink. It will get to globby and it will
(29:12):
stick to the bottom of your shaker and not come
out or become part of the drink. How do you
think I know that experience. Sometimes I try to take
a shortcut and that's bad. Don't do it. I'm making
the mistakes. So you don't have to the mocktail for
this I really really love, which is that first you're
going to make some lemon and rosebud tea. So you're
(29:33):
going to start with two cups of water with a
lemon tea bag. And this is one of those things
where I was at my grocery store earlier today kind
of sussing out how wide the range of lemon options
is really, and there are quite a few. So if
you like a lemon ginger tea, great get that is fine.
If you like a lemon singer, great get that. It's fine.
That hibiscus note isn't going to hurt anything. There are
(29:53):
a lot of other lemon teas on the market, like,
whatever one you love that you will keep drinking is
the one you should get. We don't want you to
buy ingredients you're never going to use again. And then
a handful of culinary roast buds or roast tea if
you find that somewhere, and like I said, two cups
of water. You're gonna simmer with these for you know,
(30:15):
five to ten minutes. Let it cool, strain it off.
Cool that additionally in the fridge if you're meat, because
you wanted a little cold to begin with. And then
you're gonna only use two and a half ounces of
that tea. The rest of the measures of the same,
So you'll use a half ounce of honey syrup, a
half ounce of roast syrup, and a quarter ounce of
lemon juice and shake that all together, put it in
(30:37):
your chilled cocktail glass. Here's the thing with the tea.
It's so good, and you have two cups of it.
If you want to make this like a taller something
in a pint glass with ice, totally good. You can
either bump up all of your proportions a little bit
or make this as written and then add club soda
or a ginger ale on top of it, and that
(30:58):
is also super.
Speaker 2 (30:59):
Delicious that the ginger ella is lovely on it.
Speaker 1 (31:01):
I really like the mocktail in this one a whole bunch,
and for either of them, whether you're doing cocktail or mocktail,
I recommend a little garnish of roast buds. It's just pretty.
It's pretty.
Speaker 2 (31:11):
I like it pretty.
Speaker 1 (31:13):
And that is the love and poison which will not
give you our snake poisoning. Unless somebody is poisoning you.
That's not you. We hope nobody does that.
Speaker 2 (31:22):
Have a drink yourself.
Speaker 1 (31:24):
Right, Always make the drink yourself. We are thankful and
love that you spend this time with us. We will
be right back here next week with more stories and
more drinks. Criminalia is a production of Shondaland Audio in
(31:58):
partnership with iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from Shondaland Audio, please
visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen
to your favorite shows.
Hosts And Creators
Holly Frey
Maria Trimarchi
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Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
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If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.