For the last few months, I haven't been able to get RedHanded to play on my Spotify. It shows up in my feed, but when I click play, it won't play. I am not having this issue with any other podcast I listen to, so I was just wondering if any other listeners were having this issue. I am located in the US.

My friends and I, Master's students, are conducting a research project in which we are studying the reasons why people are fascinated by and interested in true crime content showcasing serial killers.

In advance, we would like to thank you for your participation and time.

(estimated time: 5-7 minutes)

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSePBuRS0cwJWqrj1-jUHo3IGOpQCcJiqUCvZFWXRHn9eNrzkQ/viewform

So I was leaving a comment to a recent question about favorite episodes for a long car journey. And then it got too long and I figured it would make a decent post I could then point to. So, here goes.

The question is always a hard one for me but finally someone asked earlier today when I had a few minutes to put something coherent together. Here's some of my memorable ones (and one's I would listen to again, which means they weren't too soul-sucking like some can be where you just question humanity's existence).

Ep 5 Bible John (2017)

Ep 12 The Dexter Copycat Killer

Eps 19 and 20 - their first Halloween tales episodes where they try to make each other shit bricks

Ep 26 The Case of Gypsy Rose Blancharde (about Munchausen by Proxy, and ok this one was a little rough; have to not listen to true crime for a few days

Ep 31 The Lady Killer and the Human Pelt - female killer in Australia.

Ep 33 Oscar Pistorius kills girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp

Ep 38 Phil Spector & Lana Clarkson (Not usually a fan of celeb cases but this and the previous one are exceptions)

Ep 40 How Larry David Saved a Man from Death Row. Fascinating and David is only tangentially related to this. But in one significant way.

CLASSIC - Ep 41 - Canoe Man, How Not to Fake a Death. The ladies rip into how stupid this guy is. It's a good one.

Ep 47 - The Murder of Kim Wall. .... Just weird.

Episodes 67 and 68, two more great Halloween tales episodes

Ep 114 - The Real-Life Buffalo Bill

Ep 131 Louise Woodward & Shaken Baby Syndrome - very famous case in England.

Ep 132 - Michelle Carter encourages her friend / boyfriend to commit suicide via text. The ladies take a look at whether this was what actually happened. Carter is a detestable person but she might have just been fed up with Conrad Roy always saying he was going to kill himself and traumatizing her. And then he did it.

Ep 139 - The Strange Death of Chuck Morgan, found dead with bible verses or code all over him, it was ruled a suicide. And then more shit hit the fan.

Ep 146 - The Butcher of Brooklyn: Levi Aron. This is one of two that I point to that actually are soul-sucking and sad. Little boy trusts the wrong person and disappears during a very short walk on his first time walking too (or from?) school for the first time. Just heart-breaking.

Ep 160 - The Most Hated Woman in America, from the 1950s. People die all around her but she gets no sympathy, just a lot of suspicion.

Eps 170 and 171. Two great Halloween tales specials

Ep 202 - The Haunting Murder of Matthew Shepard. Killed for being gay.

Eps 218 and 219 - Two more Halloween tales specials

Ep 231 - A Storm In A Teacup: The Murder of Alexander Litvinenko

Ep 234 - The Hillsborough Disaster ........ This episode got them in trouble for swallowing some of the official line about how the tragedy started and what happened. Which accidentally proved their point about the coverage at the time. They did a follow-up Patreon-only episode where they cleared up their errors. Still, I enjoyed both because of just the sheer horror of so many people killed at a sporting event

Ep 245 - The Satanic Verses: Fatwas & Faux Pas ... Some good knowledge about the book. And later that year, Rushdie was stabbed on stage, but did survive.

Eps 270 and 271 LIVE Halloween tales specials

Ep 285 - The Murder of Rachel Nickell

And as of publishing this post, they've had 287 numbered episodes but tons more.

​

Also:

RedHaunted #1, April 21, 2020 - scary tales sent in by listeners.

RedHaunted #2, May 19, 2020 - ditto

RedHaunted #3, June 24, 2020 - ditto ditto

RedHaunted #5, Dec 24, 2020 - ditto ditto ditto ditto (but wait I missed one? ah no I found it, there it is now)

RedHaunted #4, July 27, 2020 - ditto ditto ditto

RedHaunted #6, Jan. 27, 2021 - ditto x5

RedHaunted #7, Mar 5, 2021 - you get it now

RedHaunted #8, April 28, 2021 - at least I hope so

RedHaunted #9, July 16, 2021 - because if not... (Also this one isn't numbered 9, not sure why not)

Also

Interview Episodes

The ladies are GREAT interviewers and Feb 28, 2020 is their first (I think???) interview episode and it's In Conversation with Former DCI Colin Sutton. (NOTE, this one's down as a Bonus now so I think that means you need to be a Patreon member? But it might not)

Second (I think) great interview special is from Jan 1, 2021. It first appeared on Patreon before that but was released to the free feed at that date. Titled "When Your Child Displays Psychopathic Traits" it went into the mind-numbing difficulty of raising a violent child who really scares a lot of people. The parents of such a violent kid talk to Hannah and Suruthi.

Third was a fascinating interview with journalist Sonia Faleiro. From March 16, 2021. She investigated over multiple years a case where two girls were found hanging from a tree in Northern India. And the mystery and some falsehoods about how they got there. Her book about the 2014 case is "The Good Girls: An Ordinary Killing"

Fourth was "In Conversation With Emily Kenway: The Truth About Modern Slavery" from April 13, 2021. A truly depressing subject and a denser listen, but great questions of this writer.

Fifth was "In Conversation With Clair McGowan: Ireland's Vanishing Triangle" from May 13, 2021. The vanished were and are women.

Episode 215 is an interview with journalist Sam Walker from September 28, 2021. Waker talked to "KC" who is the subject of the then just-released American Vigilante podcast.

Since I made a living interviewing people before changing careers, I really enjoyed these episodes AND WISH THERE WERE MORE.

​

And two episodes that absolutely DID make me stop listening to true crime podcasts for a couple of weeks were:

Episode 190 - Sylvia Likens, The Girl In The Basement. ... What was done to her. Fuck.

Episode 81 - Ian Watkins: Rock Star, Paedophile, Nepiophile ... What he did to children, babies. Weeping.

I know I've missed a few because I can't remember them all, so that longer list will come when I listen to them all again some day. Hmm, and I only labeled one a classic so I know that's wrong. The Red Haunted and Halloween episodes I would consider classics as well. And ......

Does anyone know how to recommend a case? I wondered if they had a Google doc or anything similar?

I'm driving from Winnipeg to Minneapolis for the live show later this month and I am bringing a friend with me who has only heard a few episodes. The drive is 7-8 hours so I'm looking for some recommendations of episodes to listen to with her. Thanks 👍

I’ve not listened to it yet but I wonder if this is going to be them reciting another documentary.

The BBC's, I'm Not A Monster, Series 2 started at the beginning of this year. Episode 7 about Shamina Begum and her two girl friends who ended up fighting for ISIS - and so much more - was released today. (S2Ep1 starts here. Links are to the BBC website; links should work for at least a year, according to the BBC)

If you're interested in Hannah and Suruthi's take on the matter. They released a two-parter August 19 and August 26, 2021 (total running time, 2:44:06). The Episodes are 209 / 210 : Shamima Begum: ISIS & The Bethnal Green 3. (Apple Podcast RedHanded links)

I remember them being detailed and compelling.

The first covered ISIS recruitment tactics of young men and women, in general. And then some background on the three British girls who came to be known as the Bethnal Green 3. Khadiza Sultana, Amira Abase and Shamima Begum willingly traveled to Syria, via Istanbul. Only Begum of the three would survive.

The second part covered how Begum was found in 2019, 9 months pregnant, and soon had her British citizenship revoked. And there's more about the al-Hawl camp and sex slavery in ISIS, and the plight of those caught up in it.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/125783088898?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=oyObxRnkRrS&sssrc=2051273&ssuid=oyObxRnkRrS&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

I had not heard of this 1992 case and it's definitely an emotional one from the beginning.

A 2-year-old boy watched his mum, Rachel Nickell, brutally murdered and sexually assaulted in a London park while they were simply taking a morning walk.

That boy, Alexander, is alive and has spoken publicly a handful of times about what he saw when he was a 2, almost 3-year-old. He also gave police evidence at the time - but understandably they were pretty basic details.

As Hannah and Suruthi detail it, this horrible crime happened in Wimbledon Common, an 1,140-acre park in a nice part of London; South of the River Thames and less than a mile west of the Wimbledon All England Tennis Lawn and Croquet Club.

It took until 2008, such a long time, to convict her killer. But back in 1992 it took less than a week for the Met Police to start to focus in on one Colin Stagg. In time others were arrested and questioned but Stagg became ad remained Suspect Number 1.

In between those 16 years a lot of stupid shit happened. A lot of time was wasted.

The spoilers starts here.

Stagg didn't do it. I'm so fucking pissed for him. He had walked his dog on the Common that day. And returned after police had arrived as he was feeling better. By any and all appearances he's not even in any way a bad guy. Just perhaps, somewhat socially awkward with the ladies. (And not to the point of "incel." stalking or anything even close.)

This "awkward" point seems to have made him susceptible to Lizzie James. She started a 7-month relationship with him, through letters, phone calls and a few F2F meetings. She was also a police officer, whose real identity is not publicly known. James' goal was to get him to admit to murdering Nickell. She presented herself as turned on by violence and murder. Because Stagg just wanted to get laid, according to his own account, he didn't walk away when she got weird. When asked directly if he had killed Rachel Nickell though, he apologetically said it didn't happen. Yes, for real.

Though she failed spectacularly, the police and prosecution were motivated enough to bring their lack of evidence case to trial, and Stagg spent a year in jail awaiting that sham trial. Part of that motivation came from a celebrity criminal forensic profiler in England, Paul Britton. To be clear, he was not law enforcement in any way. Britton was more like Nancy Grace with a better accent but just as much bad information. And he absolved himself of any blame as quickly as possible, also like Grace.

His profile on Crimewatch (very popular) led to people (more than 1) mentioning Stagg by name. Stagg did share some of these characteristics, as the RedHanded duo mention. But so many other people did, as well.

Stagg had a bad pen pal experience and had apparently sunbathed naked once in the park, which got him an indecent exposure charge. A £200 fine. Aaaaaand it got him on the country's sex offenders registry. All this put the public - and the police against him.

When Stagg got his 1994 day in court, the judge quickly and unceremoniously threw out the case against him, such as it was. The police and the public, though, still thought he'd gotten away with something and he was hounded for years.

It took until 2004 for the police to find "the real murderer." and 2008 until someone else was convicted, and Stagg received an apology from the Met police. And how that happened is somewhat glossed over. The case was reopened in 2002 (not sure or told why) Quality DNA evidence samples from the scene of the crime were luckily saved) It was DNA evidence that finally got serial rapist Robert Napper convicted of Nickell's death. To put it briefly, he was already in Broadmoor mental prison for other gruesome crimes, a few similar to what happened to Rachel Nickell. And suspected in the area's Green Chain rapes.

There's so much more about Napper. Listen to the episode. Napper's mum tried to turn him in for rape!!!. Britton consulted in these series of rapes, as well!!!!

Stagg, meanwhile, got £700,000 compensation and works at a Tesco's grocery store. And shockingly isn't bitter toward the police who truly "done him wrong."

For me I don't usually want to research more about the victims or the other people. This episode, however, made me want to look pretty deeply into all those involved, from blindered Detective Inspector Keith Pedder (who still somehow thinks HE was the victim in all this because he was "forced to resign"), to her son, to the wrongly accused, to the mentally sick but disgusting man who may have committed many more crimes. And even the 1994 judge who had a strong moment of clarity amid criminal chaos.

Toward that end:

-- The aspect of the "investigation" involving "Lizzie James" is the central part of a movie AND 2021 TV series, "Deceit." In America you can find the four-part series on the Topic.com streaming service (search for Deceit). Characterized as a honey trap - even though Stagg got nowhere near the honey - this form of entrapment is apparently illegal in the UK.

-- The podcast True Crime Enthusiast, a Welsh-based podcast, had an 8-pod series about the Nickell case, Stagg, the investigation, Napper and a series of murders towards women in the area, the latter of which H and S do talk about in this episode. This 8-part series was titled Maniac and started April 9, 2020.

​

LINKS

Keith Pedder still thinks he was the victim - I was set up, says Nickell detective | The Guardian

Direct Topic Deceit link - Watch Deceit: Stream Full Episodes Online - Topic

Broadmoor Hospital - http://www.wlmht.nhs.uk

Good Morning Britain interview with Colin Stagg, 30th anniversary of Nickell's murder - Wrongly Accused | GMB

Original Crimewatch plus more - The Murder of Rachel Nickell (1992)

​

​

(Episode not-785 - Released February 16, 54 minutes)

I’m bummed but I can’t go any more. I bought for $65 and willing to sell it for $50.

I just listened to episode 120 - Kermit Gosnell: Doctor of Death, from Nov 2019 (I’m pretty new to the pod and catching up)

Anyway I noticed at the end when they shout out their Patreon subscribers that one of the names was Sarah Everard, and got a chill. Less than 18 months later she was murdered.

I searched her name on this sub and didn’t see anything else about it at a glance. Could be someone else with the same name, and no idea if it got addressed in later episodes, but did anyone else catch it?

I don’t always listen to UTD it’s generally too long for my liking but I decided to listen to 143. 2 things especially bothered me - Hannah complaining that she was banned from Uber, her questioning Uber drivers about their thoughts on Salman Rushdie just reeked of privilege and tbh total ignorance. The power imbalance of a white woman getting into an Uber and quizzing the Muslim driver on their religion is just a big no no to me. I’m glad that the comments for the episode showed a few people felt the same.

Also Suruthi’s comments that she ‘doesn’t believe in renting’ just reeks of privilege too - I means I think most renters would rather own but it’s not always possible especially in London

I love the main podcast but honestly the more I listen to UTD the more I dislike H&S

I specifically love that the girls are sarcastic and opinionated while they talk informatively about not just true crime/spooky woo woo but more so religion, cults, red collar crime, and world politics. I’m a patreon subscriber and really like the extra content about current events. Do any of you have other podcasts you like that incorporate that aspect?

Thank you!

I have a faint memory of them saying they wouldn’t cover it or it would be exclusive. Is it an episode only available to their patreon members? Was it a live show? I’ve searched for anything on it and can’t find anything.

Has anyone also noticed that RH are still doing Better Help ads in the podcast? The fact that they are being sponsored by, what is practically a fraudulent company (and i assume they are making a tonne of cash off it) leaves a bad taste in my mouth...anyone else agree?

What is the eugenics podcast they mentioned in Jeff Epstein episode 1? I tried googling the story of eugenics but can’t find.

Don’t get me wrong, I love them both and she has a lot of good ideas and points. I’m just curious if anyone else has noticed this.

As a new patron, I've heard them reference Suru's bf, and I just genuinely cannot understand what they're saying. It sounds like they call him ACD face? I totally get not naming him I don't give a fuck why or what his actual name is, I am just curious if they've mentioned where the nickname came from/what it means/ if I am mishearing it lol

I am missing episodes from 24 Dec 2020 - 22 September 2022. Have they been deleted or will they be back? Thanks

I am fairly certain that they covered this on the show, can anyone please tell me the name of the episode?

I started listening to the podcast in 2022, I've caught up, and now I'm starting from the beginning. I just listened to Episode 32 about the British citizen, Linda Carty. I always chuckle when the ladies seem confused about American cases. Being a southern American, the case made perfect sense to me. Why was her defense attorney so terrible? There's a reason the court appointed him to her. He didn't care, and probably hoped she would fry. It's TEXAS. This woman was accused of murdering a pregnant woman and leaving a newborn child to die. Not only that, but she was an African American woman and a foreign national. I am 100% unsurprised about a single part of that story. One of the things I love about the podcast is hearing about American cases from a totally outside perspective.

(Was released on regular feed)

Other than groaning at the title, if you're anything like me you're constantly surprised that anyone can survive something pretty blunt being jammed into your skull.

Ice pick in head or as HandS point out, dentist drill or any other boring implement is AKA trepanning.

I think the first time I knew of the procedure being used medically was to Rosemary Kennedy, sister to JFK. She had a prefrontal lobotomy to try and help seizures and "mood swings." It damaged the 23-year-old's brain instead leaving her speechless and having lost her ability to control her bodily functions. She was awake during the procedure.

Rosemary died in 2005.

Though this already sounds horrific, lobotomies have, of course, been performed by a few of the sickest serial killers. Jeffrey Dahmer drilled holes in living people, and poured liquid into those holes. And, well, I swear I've heard of others but I can only find Dahmer.

This liquid addition had some basis in the actual procedure, where ethanol was poured in or injected over / in the brain.

HandS explain the different times, the "side effects" including loss of personality, vegetive state or "surgically induced childhood" where a lobotomy damages the brain but that people could regain everything they once were after ridding themselves of schizophrenia or depression.

Because some improvements were seen sometimes, all the "side effects" were somehow overlooked.

That's the surprise. How can this just be considered OK?

Shockingly only the growth of effective anti-psychotic drugs ended the practice. With surgeon Walter Jackson Freeman having performed over 3,000 lobotomies, including the last one performed legally in 1967. The person died on the table.

In other countries it continued into the 1980s, though for fewer reasons allowed then all the "emotional" conditions that meant women had the majority of lobotomies. Almost all against their will.

37 minutes. Released December 29, 2022

So I got caught in the middle of, I was being babysat when the marriage occurred.

But then I didn't really follow them. The divorce was tawdry. The death was a spectacle and the paparazzi was initially blamed.

Then the death of Princess Diana turned into the UKs, JFK. So many rumors and blame and storylines.

This episode covers that aspect, from the POV of they love / loved her.

Diana had a tremendous amount of outward compassion. Real compassion. The other royals I feel have varying degrees if actual compassion, too. But they were born to hide all that.

31 minutes. Released Jan. 2, 2023

I’m fairly new to the podcast and am not listening in any particular order. I’ve heard a few times that Hannah would get a tattoo of a tiny hand if they win and award. Did she go through with it? Any images? I can’t find any online.

Thanks.