60 acast.com The Poison Ledger https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/the-poison-ledger en Peter Bell true crime, historical true crime, Victorian crime, poisoners, poison, arsenic, serial killers, British history, murder, trials, forensic science, Mary Ann Cotton, William Palmer, Victorian England, crime history Peter Bell Each episode of The Poison Ledger opens one name from Britain's history of poisoners and follows it through the evidence, the trial and the verdict: the nurse who buried her families, the doctor whose case changed where a man could be tried, the Brighton woman who poisoned chocolates. Every case is true, every one is built from contemporary newspapers and trial records, and each one leads to the next. Episodes run under fifteen minutes, so you can binge them.


Written and produced by Purpose Made. AI-generated voice (ElevenLabs).

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> Each episode of The Poison Ledger opens one name from Britain's history of poisoners and follows it through the evidence, the trial and the verdict: the nurse who buried her families, the doctor whose case changed where a man could be tried, the Brighton woman who poisoned chocolates. Every case is true, every one is built from contemporary newspapers and trial records, and each one leads to the next. Episodes run under fifteen minutes, so you can binge them.


Written and produced by Purpose Made. AI-generated voice (ElevenLabs).

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> false Peter Bell info+6ad28b75e039ee8e85122abe@mg-eu.acast.com 6ad28b75e039ee8e85122abe the-poison-ledger https://assets.pippa.io/users/62a6593a041b33a11c1a9a2e/pre-show-covers/1792182963604-59597254-63d2-4bcb-9d98-c138e7f68b4e.jpeg https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/the-poison-ledger The Poison Ledger The Woman Who Buried Her Families The Woman Who Buried Her Families Fri, 16 Oct 2026 20:59:17 GMT 13:13 6ad290033dc1c1be4a1aa12f false https://shows.acast.com/the-poison-ledger/episodes/the-woman-who-buried-her-families 6ad290033dc1c1be4a1aa12f 6ad28b75e039ee8e85122abe the-woman-who-buried-her-families Mary Ann Cotton, West Auckland, 1872 full 1 1 West Auckland, County Durham, 1872. A seven-year-old boy is dead of what the doctor calls gastric fever. The village grocer remembers what the boy's stepmother told him only days before, and he won't let the certificate rest. A surgeon tests what he kept back, and finds arsenic.


This is the case of Mary Ann Cotton: a nurse, a wife four times over, and a mother who buried child after child across the coalfield. It goes from the burial clubs that paid out on every death, to the graves opened one by one, the trial at Durham, and the gaol yard on 24 March 1873.


Every detail is drawn from contemporary newspaper reports and trial records.


Sources:

The Northern Echo archive (1872–73)

The Durham County Advertiser

The Darlington & Stockton Times

Capital Punishment UK

Wilson, D., Mary Ann Cotton: Britain's First Female Serial Killer (2013)


Written and produced by Purpose Made. AI-generated voice (ElevenLabs).

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> West Auckland, County Durham, 1872. A seven-year-old boy is dead of what the doctor calls gastric fever. The village grocer remembers what the boy's stepmother told him only days before, and he won't let the certificate rest. A surgeon tests what he kept back, and finds arsenic.


This is the case of Mary Ann Cotton: a nurse, a wife four times over, and a mother who buried child after child across the coalfield. It goes from the burial clubs that paid out on every death, to the graves opened one by one, the trial at Durham, and the gaol yard on 24 March 1873.


Every detail is drawn from contemporary newspaper reports and trial records.


Sources:

The Northern Echo archive (1872–73)

The Durham County Advertiser

The Darlington & Stockton Times

Capital Punishment UK

Wilson, D., Mary Ann Cotton: Britain's First Female Serial Killer (2013)


Written and produced by Purpose Made. AI-generated voice (ElevenLabs).

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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