Episodes

  • The St. Valentine's Day Massacre
    Feb 5 2024

    On February 14th 1929, a gruesome murder scene was uncovered - 7 associates of the North Side Gang had been riddled with bullets while inside a garage. The crime horrified the people of Chicago, a city already beleaguered by years of gang wars that had begun in the wake of Prohibition. Considered an unsolved murder, the massacre will forever be remembered as the quintessential example of mob violence in the 1920s.

    THANKS TO OUR TO PATREON SUBSCRIBERS! We couldn't do this without you. Extra special thanks to the following patrons for their exceptional support:

    Jack Canfora

    Jill Cohen

    Lauren Stephenson

    Rob Emmett

    Tristen Pearson

    Become an official Morbuddy: patreon.com/themorbidmuseum

    Follow us on IG: @themorbidmuseum

    Email us at themorbidmuseum@gmail.com

    Artwork: Brittany Schall

    Music: "Danse Macabre" by Camille Saint-Saens, performed by Kevin MacLeod

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    1 hr and 5 mins
  • Hart Island: New York City's Public Cemetery
    Nov 27 2023

    For 150 years, Hart Island has been the final resting place for New York City's unclaimed, forgotten, and unknown dead. We review the history of this potter's field discussing its recent turnover to the city Park's Department and new chapter of open access.

    THANKS TO OUR TO PATREON SUBSCRIBERS! We couldn't do this without you. Extra special thanks to the following patrons for their exceptional support:

    Matthew Aronoff

    Dennis Barette

    Rob Emmett

    Haley Lamp

    Tristen Pearson

    Lauren Stephenson

    Become an official Morbuddy: patreon.com/themorbidmuseum

    Follow us on IG: @themorbidmuseum

    Email us at themorbidmuseum@gmail.com

    Artwork: Brittany Schall

    Music: "Danse Macabre" by Camille Saint-Saens, performed by Kevin MacLeod

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    59 mins
  • Necropolis Part II: New Orleans | A City of Cemeteries
    Nov 20 2023

    In part II of the series we will delve more deeply into the history of NOLA's death culture, funerary and burial practices by exploring it's cemeteries.

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    1 hr and 4 mins
  • Necropolis: New Orleans | City of the Dead
    Nov 6 2023

    New Orleans is a beloved and complex city that has a reputation for being obsessed with joy and death in equal measure. Haunted by alleged ghosts and it's very real past, the morbid history of NOLA is endlessly fascinating. This series will focus on how it first gained it's reputation as "a city of the dead."

    • The New Orleans Cemetery Database
    • "How Yellow Fever Intensified Racial Inequality in 19th-Century New Orleans" By: Karin Wulf | April 19, 2022 | Smithsonian Magazine
    • Epidemic in New Orleans | American Experience | Official Site | PBS
    • The Cemetery Under The French Quarter | WWNO
    • "New Orleans’ Grave Traditions Unearthed : Customs: The many elaborate sculptures and unusual layouts of the city’s cemeteries make them an interesting tourist attraction." | BY CHARLES HILLINGER | Los Angeles Times
    • "How Yellow Fever Turned New Orleans Into The 'City Of The Dead'" Code Switch : NPR
    • "In the late 1800s, devastating yellow fever epidemics forced New Orleans to confront its sanitation problem" | The Historic New Orleans Collection

    THANKS TO OUR TO PATREON SUBSCRIBERS! We couldn't do this without you. Extra special thanks to the following patrons for their exceptional support:

    Matthew Aronoff

    Dennis Barette

    Rob Emmett

    Haley Lamp

    Become an official Morbuddy: patreon.com/themorbidmuseum

    Follow us on IG: @themorbidmuseum

    Email us at themorbidmuseum@gmail.com

    Artwork: Brittany Schall

    Music: "Danse Macabre" by Camille Saint-Saens, performed by Kevin MacLeod

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    45 mins
  • Controversy at the Mütter Museum: A Repatriation Conversation Part II (Patreon Preview)
    Oct 30 2023

    Note: As of the release of this episode, the Town Hall meeting has been released and is watchable at: https://youtu.be/Da0uML0BPy4?si=12pHRR1_abEaJ6EF

    In recent decades, museums and historical sites all over the world have been engaging in the incredibly important and difficult conversation of repatriation, especially when it comes to human remains. The ethical questions are numerous, and each case is complex and, at times, highly nuanced. How do you find provenance for remains that are over 150 years old? What is the appropriate resting place for unclaimed, unidentified remains? Who decides that? Is the answer to ban all human remains from being on display? One institution that is currently undergoing massive scrutiny for how it is handling the question of displaying or repatriating human remains is the Mütter Museum in Philadelphia. To aid us in this discussion, Katie interviewed members of "Protect the Mütter ," a campaign devoted to challenging the current decisions being made around removing human remains from public view. ONLY AVAILABLE ON PATREON!

    For more information on "Protect the Mütter" you can check out their linktree: https://linktr.ee/protectthemutter?fbclid=PAAaaJ_jHZvgyUNsxQWTrND8LZENQedtQW1jGneEBc34WS296L5AObLooEOuM_aem_AZTCUoIoWTgHM0gQkV4qTX1cotfWkFzqWjFrXj26YmYVVs4VI4Lye43Stya6bAJ7h-A

    THANKS TO OUR TO PATREON SUBSCRIBERS! We couldn't do this without you. Extra special thanks to the following patrons for their exceptional support:

    Matthew Aronoff

    Dennis Barette

    Rob Emmett

    Haley Lamp

    Lauren Stephenson

    Become an official Morbuddy: patreon.com/themorbidmuseum

    Follow us on IG: @themorbidmuseum

    Email us at themorbidmuseum@gmail.com

    Artwork: Brittany Schall

    Music: "Danse Macabre" by Camille Saint-Saens, performed by Kevin MacLeod

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    17 mins
  • Controversy at the Mütter Museum: A Repatriation Conversation
    Oct 23 2023

    In recent decades, museums and historical sites all over the world have been engaging in the incredibly important and difficult conversation of repatriation, especially when it comes to human remains. The ethical questions are numerous, and each case is complex and, at times, highly nuanced. How do you find provenance for remains that are over 150 years old? What is the appropriate resting place for unclaimed, unidentified remains? Who decides that? Is the answer to ban all human remains from being on display? One institution that is currently undergoing massive scrutiny for how it is handling the question of displaying or repatriating human remains is the Mütter Museum in Philadelphia. To aid us in this discussion, Katie interviewed members of "Protect the Mütter ," a campaign devoted to challenging the current decisions being made around removing human remains from public view.

    For more information on "Protect the Mütter" you can check out their linktree: https://linktr.ee/protectthemutter?fbclid=PAAaaJ_jHZvgyUNsxQWTrND8LZENQedtQW1jGneEBc34WS296L5AObLooEOuM_aem_AZTCUoIoWTgHM0gQkV4qTX1cotfWkFzqWjFrXj26YmYVVs4VI4Lye43Stya6bAJ7h-A

    THANKS TO OUR TO PATREON SUBSCRIBERS! We couldn't do this without you. Extra special thanks to the following patrons for their exceptional support:

    Matthew Aronoff

    Dennis Barette

    Rob Emmett

    Haley Lamp

    Lauren Stephenson

    Become an official Morbuddy: patreon.com/themorbidmuseum

    Follow us on IG: @themorbidmuseum

    Email us at themorbidmuseum@gmail.com

    Artwork: Brittany Schall

    Music: "Danse Macabre" by Camille Saint-Saens, performed by Kevin MacLeod

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    1 hr and 2 mins
  • Eastern State Penitentiary
    Oct 16 2023

    In Philadelphia, a hulking ruin of one of America's largest prisons is now a historic site and famed attraction. Eastern State Penitentiary illustrates the changing cultural mores around crime and punishment, and the mass incarceration crisis today.

    Thank you, Patreon Subscribers! We couldn't do this without you. Extra special thanks to the following patrons for their exceptional support:

    Matthew Aronoff

    Dennis Barette

    Rob Emmett

    Haley Lamp

    Become an official Morbuddy: patreon.com/themorbidmuseum

    Follow us on IG: @themorbidmuseum

    Email us at themorbidmuseum@gmail.com

    Artwork: Brittany Schall

    Music: "Danse Macabre" by Camille Saint-Saens, performed by Kevin MacLeod

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    1 hr and 18 mins
  • The Legend of Sweeney Todd
    Oct 9 2023

    For at least two centuries, the tale of Sweeney Todd has delighted and terrified us to our very core, but has left us with some questions. How did this legend begin? Was Sweeney Todd a real person? Join as we dive deep into the mysterious and thrilling history of the most famous barber of all time.

    • Collection of dime novels and penny dreadfuls - Stanford Libraries
    • Barry Ono collection of Penny Dreadfuls - The British Library
    • PBS - Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street
    • The Wonderful and Surprising History of Sweeney Todd by Robert L. Mack
    • BBC - Press Office - Sweeney Todd Man or Myth?
    • Robert Pickton Case | The Canadian Encyclopedia
    • Human remains from Pickton farm may have reached food supply - The Globe and Mail
    • The demon barber of Calais, a 17th century Sweeney Todd

    THANKS TO OUR TO PATREONS! We couldn't do this without you. Extra special thanks especially to the following patrons:

    Matthew Aronoff

    Dennis Barette

    Haley Lamp

    Become an official Morbuddy: patreon.com/themorbidmuseum

    Follow us on IG: @themorbidmuseum

    Email us at themorbidmuseum@gmail.com

    Artwork: Brittany Schall

    Music: "Danse Macabre" by Camille Saint-Saens, performed by Kevin MacLeod

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    1 hr and 3 mins