This is a bonus content episode available exclusively for our Housekeeper and Butler tier Patrons. Thank you so much for supporting the podcast! My name is Kim, and to accompany episode 43 about Blanche Monnier, I am going to tell you about some more messy situations Victorians found themselves in when they wanted to marry the “wrong” person.

These are four Victorian marriage and divorce scandals.

Tonight’s story is one that left people wondering, “Was there even a crime committed here?” But I think you’ll agree, there most certainly was.
As one source describes the case, “She disappeared from one of the busiest streets on earth, at the sunniest hour of a brilliant afternoon, with thousands within sight and reach, men and women who knew her on every side, and officers of the law thickly strewn about her path.”
This is the story of missing socialite, Dorothy Harriet Camille Arnold.

Tonight’s story was actually a listener request from a while back. I did not document where this request came in or who sent it, but it’s a good one. It’s got a love triangle, sex scandal and murder, and it was the first execution of a husband and wife in England in nearly 150 years. So thank you to the listener who recommended this case. If you have a case request you can contact me on my website or any of my social media channels.

This is the story of the Bermondsey Horror.

What we’re covering tonight is a highly publicized Victorian era sex scandal involving a hot-shot minister, a prominent author and abolitionist, and his high society wife. This is the story of the Beecher - Tilton Scandal.

Tonight’s story is a love triangle that ends in murder! This is the story of Mary Pearcey.

When they make up a rhyme that goes, “Lizzie Borden took an axe, And gave her mother forty whacks, When she saw what she had done, She gave her father forty-one.” Well, someone ought to be caught red handed for that crime, right? But no one ever was. This is the case of Lizzie Borden.

While researching stories for this podcast, I wanted to make sure I was bringing a variety of topics to the table, and that is when I came across the story of a Victorian doomsday sex cult. Please settle in for the story of the Agapemonites.

One of my favorite things about the Victorian era is that you could just up and decide to change your name, make up a new story for yourself, and you could be who ever you wanted. This is the story of Cassie Chadwick.

The subject of tonight’s story is sometimes referred to as “the female Sweeny Todd.” This is the story of Kate Webster.

For our first episode, I thought we’d start with a case that has a little bit of everything. A scandal within the upper echelons of Scottish Victorian society, a salacious affair, and of course, a poisoning. This is the case of murderess Madeleine Smith.