Episode #17-Nancy Wake, "The White Mouse"

She parachuted out airplanes, bicycled 500 km. through opposition-held territory, and killed Nazis using just her bare hands! But, what led this spunky, teenage run-away to become an “Inglorious Bastards”-style Nazi killer? Check-out, Nancy Wake, “The White Mouse,” to find out.

Episode #17-Nancy Wake, "The White Mouse" (Show Notes)

She parachuted out airplanes, bicycled 500 km. through opposition-held territory, and killed Nazis using just her bare hands! But, before Nancy Wake, nicknamed “The White House,” became landed on the Gestapo’s most wanted list, she was a spunky girl from a broken home, growing-up in New Zealand.

Nancy Grace Augusta Wake was born August 30, 1912 in Roseneath, Wellington, New Zealand. After the collapse of her parents’ marriage, and a childhood lacking maternal affection, she ran-away to explore the globe. Residing in London, Nancy smooth-talked a newspaper executive into employing her, and was dispatched to Paris as a roving correspondent.
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Episode #16-Mata Hari

From disenchanted, favorite child she escaped to become a hopeful, teenage bride. From business-savvy show woman and courtesan she fell to become a convicted spy. From birth to death, Mata Hari’s life was defined by transformation. Charged with aiding Germany while deceiving France, Mata Hari was executed for her supposed crimes at 41. But, was she guilty?

Episode #16-Mata Hari (Show Notes)

From disenchanted, favorite child she escaped to become a hopeful, teenage bride. From business-savvy show woman and courtesan she fell to become a convicted spy. From birth to death, Mata Hari’s life was defined by transformation.

Born Margaretha Zelle in Leeuwarden, Netherlands, her girlhood was characterized by wealth and extravagance, until her spendthrift father went bankrupt, throwing the family into poverty. She was pawned-off to relatives following her parents’ divorce and mother’s death, and trained to become a kindergarten teacher. But, after her first brush with scandal, she was again sent packing. Now residing in the Hague, Margaretha met Rudolph MacLeod, her future husband. Engaged after just 6 days, the pair became acquainted via a matrimonial advertisement he’d taken out in a newspaper. Yet, despite his aristocratic pedigree, Rudolph was no gentleman. His drinking and womanizing, and Margaretha’s free-spending, overtaxed the marriage, and they eventually divorced.
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Episode #15-Phillis Wheatley (Mini-cast)

She overcame her subjugated status to become America’s first black published poet, yet she died in abject poverty. How could Phillis Wheatley soar to such great heights, only to plummet so far? Tune-in, and find out.

Episode #15-Phillis Wheatley (Mini-cast) Show Notes

The Phillis Wheatley Monument
in Boston, Massachusetts

You've probably heard of Phillis Wheatley, but chances are you’re not quite sure who she is, or why she’s famous. If you’re nodding your head, keep reading…

Phillis Wheatley, the first African-American to publish a book of poetry, was probably born in 1753 or 1754, somewhere in western Africa. At roughly 7 years old, captured by slave-traders.
 Considered too sickly for hard labor plantations in the Caribbean or Southern U.S. colonies, she became a domestic servant for the Wheatley family in Boston.  Though they kept slaves, the Wheatley’s were relatively progressive; after witnessing Phillis copying the alphabet in chalk, instead of punishing her, they decided to cultivate her academic interests. During a period when some states outlawed teaching slaves to read, Phillis was studying Alexander Pope and John Milton. Actually, the education she received from the Wheatley’s was superior even to most Caucasian males’.

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Episode #13: Abe Sada, Part 2

Some considered her living proof of the hazards of female sexuality; others esteemed her for revolting against the patriarchy. Tune in for Part II as Brittany and guest-host Farron unravel the legend and legacy of Abe Sada.

Episode #13: Abe Sada, Part 2 (Show Notes)

A newspaper piece regarding Abe’s crime;
Kichizo is pictured, too

Before Abe connived to murder her lover, Kichizo Ishida theirs was just your run of the mill “married supervisor embarks on love affair with comely employee” story. Roughly two months after meeting, the couple absconded for a prolonged tryst. The money ran out two weeks later. Kichizo returned home; Abe stayed with friends. During the separation, Abe became noticeably agitated. After seeing a play during which a geisha attacks her lover using a knife, she hatched a plan.

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Episode #12: Abe Sada, Part 1

She perpetrated the crime of the century; after cutting her name into her murdered lover’s thigh, Abe Sada left her brand on Japanese history, too. Tune-in to discover how our latest subject transformed from impetuous school-girl to love-struck killer.

Episode #12: Abe Sada, Part 1 (Show Notes)

She perpetrated the crime of the century; cutting her name into her murdered lover’s thigh, Abe Sada left her brand on Japanese history, too. Born during a period when girls and women were compelled to obey patriarchal social customs, she revolted against the archetype.

Born in Tokyo’s Kanda neighborhood to a bourgeois family of tatami mat makers, Abe flouted conventions early. Throughout her youth and teenage years, she was infatuated by the glamorous, yet mysterious world of geishas. It was a scandalous preoccupation for a genteel, upper-middle class girl. Unsurprisingly, after her matrimonial prospects were seemingly doomed she utterly embraced the part of misfit.

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Episode #11: Twisted Sisters

They're selective mutes, murderous housemaids, and twins possessed by “folie à deux.” Tune-in to discover what makes June and Jennifer Gibbons, Christine and Léa Papin, and Sabina and Ursula Eriksson “twisted sisters!”

Episode #11: Twisted Sisters (Show Notes)

The Grady sisters from director Stanley Kubrick’s
horror masterpiece, The Shining (1980).

 Everybody knows the scene; it’s iconic. Little Danny Torrance is cruising on his tricycle through the corridors of the Overlook Hotel. Then, unexpectedly, he’s stopped by the appearance of the Grady sisters. Everything about them is unsettling, from their robin’s egg blue frocks and black Mary Jane shoes, to their ghostly entreaty to “Come and play with us...” I'm creeped-out just writing about it. Nevertheless, this episode’s subjects- June and Jennifer Gibbons, Christine and Léa Papin, and Ursula and Sabina Eriksson-could give those girls a run for their money!

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Episode #10: Lavinia Fisher (Mini-cast)

Was Charleston’s Lavinia Fisher America’s first woman serial killer? Tune-in to hear the grisly legend and discover the shocking truth.

Episode #10: Lavinia Fisher (Mini-cast) Show Notes

It’s doubtful this commonly-used
portrait actually depicts Lavinia Fisher

Google Lavinia Fisher and you'll likely come across references to her as America’s first woman serial killer. Though it’s not fact, the real story of Lavinia’s criminal escapades is just as scandalous.

Here’s the legend:

Lavinia and husband John operated a lodge, Six Mile House, outside of Charleston, South Carolina. The Fishers preyed on male customers travelling by themselves. Furtively, Lavinia would poison guests’ supper or tea using laudanum; later, when the man nodded-off, John would butcher them with his axe. Ultimately, one fortunate would-be victim named John Peoples got away; he alerted law enforcement. Searching the Fisher’s roadhouse, police unearthed many decaying corpses. Subsequently, Lavinia and John were arrested, tried for robbery and murder, and condemned to hang.

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Episode #9: Ada "Bricktop" Smith (Show Notes)

Discovering Bricktop’s story was like flipping through a yearbook belonging to the most popular girl on campus; everybody knew her. When a young Jelly Roll Morton couldn't decide if he should take-up pimping or piano-playing, she advised that he could do both! When Duke Ellington was playing small-time clubs in D.C., Bricktop secured his first gig in New York City. And when Josephine Baker rocketed to stardom overnight, Bricktop showed her the ropes.

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Episode #9: Ada "Bricktop" Smith

F. Scott Fitzgerald said his real claim to fame was not penning “This Side of Paradise” or “The Great Gatsby,” but rather discovering Bricktop before Cole Porter. Tune-in to discover more about Ada “Bricktop” Smith, “Cabaret Queen of Paris and Rome.”

Episode #8: Mabel Stark (Mini-cast) Show Notes

Though her name is relatively unfamiliar today, during the early ‘20s Mabel Stark ruled the big-top as the world’s first woman tiger trainer. Like the cat’s she adored, many aspects of her life are mysterious. She was born around 1889, maybe in Princeton, Kentucky. Her parents died before she reached adulthood, and when she turned eighteen, Mabel started nurse’s training.
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Episode #8: Mabel Stark (Mini-cast)

Selina Kyle ain’t got nothin’ on Mabel Stark! The world’s first women tiger trainer, she was the original Catwoman. Tune-in to discover more about Mabel’s 9 lives.

Episode #7: Bessie Stringfield (Mini-cast) Show Notes

Regularly, I stumble across women in history that are fascinating, but there’s not enough information to create a full-length podcast. So was born the “mini-cast,” a five minute version of the show. The first mini-cast subject is Bessie Stringfield, the “Motorcycle Queen of Miami.”
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Episode #7: Bessie Stringfield (Mini-cast)

She rode solo coast to coast eight times during the peak of racial discrimination in the U.S, established the Iron Horse Motorcycle Club, and owed 27 Harleys. Bad mamma-jamma? You bet your ass! Tune-in to discover more about the original “Easy Rider,” Bessie Stringfield.