Shane L. Waters, Wendy Cee, Gemma Hoskins
349 episodes listed below
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Foggy gaslit streets. A quiet courtroom. And crimes that history tried to bury. Foul Play is a historical true crime podcast that investigates the most chilling murder cases from the 1800s and early 1900s across the United States and the United Kingdom. Hosted by investigative crime journalists Shane Waters — who pioneered crime podcasting in 2008 — and Wendy Cee, each season unravels one complete criminal case through original research, court records, and primary source material. This isn't sensationalized true crime. Every season of Foul Play puts victims first — their names, their stories, their humanity — before examining how murder investigations unfolded in an era befo...
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Foul Play pairs historical case reconstruction with close attention to victims whose names and lives were diminished or erased by official records.
Foul Play: A Historical True Crime Podcast reconstructs historic murder cases through scene-led narration, then follows the evidence into investigations, confessions, and trials.
A missing nightgown costs a detective his career; you get more than a tidy Victorian reveal.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A measured inquest account that makes one witness's certainty the central question.
The piece builds an inquest around whether Jane Cannon Cox's testimony can really hold a suicide narrative together. She returns to the stand, while Sir John Holker picks through the night of Charles' collapse minute by minute, weighing what she says she heard against what…
A barrister dies by poison, and an open verdict leaves everyone without a satisfying answer.
Charles Bravo's final three days make this single episode less a tidy poisoning mystery than a close study of uncertainty. A 30-year-old barrister lies dying at the Priory while doctors, including Queen Victoria's physician Sir William Gull, fail to identify the poison or get a…
A poisoning case where the missing poison matters as much as the proof that is found.
Set in a London laboratory and courtroom, this account builds a poisoning case around what cannot be shown. Dr. Alfred Swain Taylor examines the stomach, intestines, and blood, finds traces of antimony, and still cannot detect the poison that matched John Parsons Cook's…
A Victorian murder shadows a ruined detective and follows Constance Kent into decades of silence.
The episode traces the Roadhill House murder from the crowded gallery of July 21, 1865, where 21-year-old Constance Kent stands in the prisoner's dock, into the quieter life that follows.
A grim Victorian murder story built from domestic detail, dread, and patient investigation.
The episode traces the Road Hill House murder with a calm eye for setting and consequence. The Victorian household feels closed in by manners, routine, and the kind of respectability that can hide a lot.
A lonely-hearts promise leads to a missing hotel record, a garage search, and an arrest warrant.
A lonely-hearts case turns into a clear study of how letters can make hope feel personal, and how that feeling can become access. The episode starts with a widow and her three children in Park Ridge, Illinois, then moves into newspaper personal ads and matrimonial services,…
A shoemaker's workshop in 1906 Marrakesh becomes the center of a grim, carefully told true-crime case.
The episode traces a grim 1906 Marrakesh case from a shoemaker's workshop to the bodies found under the floor, and it does the most useful thing a true-crime story can do: it keeps the human scale in view.
A grim study of how respectability hid a methodical poisoner.
The episode keeps its focus on Maria Swanenberg as a caregiver who used ordinary routines of trust against the people around her. Its strongest contrast lies between her public life, with regular church attendance and charitable work, and the violence that kept unfolding in…
Retired detectives and victims' families walk through Australian murder cases with host Meshel Laurie.
A dark calendar of consequential cases.
True crime with blunt questions and rough edges.
Appalachian case files, told from the record.
Southern cases, sharp context, steady storytelling.
Historical mysteries built from the smallest clues.
On February 19, 1842, Hugh Tinney is driving his team to market near Ironstone Bridge when a dingo's digging turns up a shallow grave.
On July 16, 1860, Detective Inspector Jonathan Witcher travels from Paddington to Wiltshire with a notebook full of the Kent family, the house, and a police inquiry that has gone nowhere.
The episode follows a murderer in postwar Wrocaw/Breslau who drew men into his apartment with small payments and meals.
Francis Saville Kent's murder leaves Constance Kent under a shadow that hangs over her for years.
A historical true crime podcast investigates a 1863 murder of a gold prospector in Idaho Territory.
Jane Cannon Cox returns to the inquest.
This episode details the final three days of Charles Bravo's life in 1876 as he dies from a mysterious poison, the conflicting testimonies about a possible deathbed confession, and the initial inconclusive inquest that failed to determine if his death was suicide, accident, or murder, setting the stage for a major reinvestigation.
This episode introduces the 150-year-old unsolved murder of Victorian barrister Charles Bravo, who was poisoned at his home, The Priory, in Balham.
Guy’s Hospital toxicologist Dr.
A young woman in Victorian court rejects her insanity defense and confesses to murdering her 8-year-old brother with one word: guilty.
Foul Play: A Historical True Crime Podcast covers the 1860 Road Hill House murder in Rode, Wiltshire, where three-year-old Francis Saville Kent was found dead in an outdoor privy after being taken from his nursery.
This episode tells the chilling story of Béla Kiss, also known as Harry Powers, a serial killer in the early 20th century who used lonely hearts ads and matrimonial services to lure vulnerable widows.
Foul Play: A Historical True Crime Podcast traces the Marrakech case of Hajj Mohamed Mesfoui, a shoemaker who murdered women who came to his shop for shoe repair or writing help.
This episode investigates Maria Swanenberg, a 19th-century Dutch serial poisoner who murdered at least 27 people, including her own parents, by administering arsenic while posing as a compassionate caregiver.
On January 8, 1895, a guard opens Cell 47 in Turku Provincial Prison and finds Matt Hapuja dead.
On a warm June afternoon in 1868 at the Pinchion des Azenez boarding house in Geneva's Plainpalais district, Marie-Catherine Fretz accepts lemonade from a new friend, the nurse Marie-Gina Ray, and is soon hit by hallucinations, tremors, and a frightening loss of control.
In 1826, the parish house of San Bartolome Church in Magalang, Pampanga sits under tropical heat.
This episode explores the history of the Thuggee cult in 19th century India, focusing on its most infamous leader, Thug Behram, who is considered the world's most prolific serial killer.
A caretaker finds a buried infant on a spring night near Coimbra.
Episode four of the Charles and Jennifer Cha case examines evidence and investigative facts, featuring retired detectives Alan Fox and Ron Dreher.
The episode returns to the story of Charles and Jennifer Cha in episode three, “Remains.” It follows Alan and Shane out to Plumas County, where the children’s bodies were later found.
This episode continues the story of Charles and Jennifer Cha, a historical murder case from the 1800s or early 1900s.
A historical true crime podcast investigating murder cases from the 1800s and early 1900s using original research and primary sources.
A panel discussion on common signs of deception and behavioral analysis in criminal contexts.
This episode introduces a season on the Casey Anthony case, with a sponsor segment for Mood.com cannabis products.
Hosts discuss an upcoming episode about Gerard Coombe, a subject of a recent investigation by Baltimore Banner reporters.
The host discusses the Maryland Attorney General's report on child abuse in the Archdiocese of Baltimore, reflecting on the daunting length of the document and how it might deter readers.