Murderous Mom, Toolboxes, Burning Vehicles, and Witches Everywhere!
Review of April 2025 episodes
Hello my spooky friends! We had a very busy April with a bunch of interesting shows. The first was about Mary Ann Cotton, who is considered to be the first female serial killer in British history. Researching for this show showed a lot of interesting facts, like most mothers who kill their children suffer from depression, psychosis, and suicidal ideation. The other one that stuck in my mind is that there are usually only five motives for a mother to kill: the mother had a psychotic break, they believe that killing their child is in the child’s best interests, the child’s death was not intended at all, or the mother thinks of her child as a burden and hinderance. I think that the last motive does come in play concerning Mary Ann Cotton, but for the most part was because of money.
But it wasn’t just her children she killed. Mary Ann likely murdered her friend, a couple husbands, and her mother as well. It seems to me the reason she killed was directly for money, or killed people she thought was blocking her path to get money. It doesn’t surprise me that what Mary Ann was up to did not make anyone suspicious. I am positive that today, she wouldn’t have killed so many without being caught. Between DNA testing and CTV all over the place, if the cops don’t get you…a true crime podcaster will.
Back in Mary Ann’s time; it seemed like poison was everywhere. Arsenic for example was used as a dye and medicine for thousands of years. It was used to colour things green, was a cheap alternative to tallow in candles, and was also used to preserve the dead. Now the last one would be enough to convince me not to ingest arsenic, but for most people it was an every day thing to come in contact with arsenic. This gave historical murders and advantage. It was easy to get, people were accidentally poisoning themselves all the time, and in the time of Mary Ann Cotton - it was almost undetectable.
On top of this, autopsies were not standard procedure. This was due to it was considered to be desecrating a corpse, which was a huge tabu. That would make it very hard to discover that a person was poisoned. Another advantage Mary Ann had was that she was a woman and a mother. Most thought that a woman would not have the cruelty in themselves to commit murder, and if they did, they were often acquitted. Why? It was believed that the woman must have been severely mistreated to stoop to the level of manly violence.
Speaking of violence, our next episode had a lot of it. Lawrence Bittaker and Roy Norris, aka: the Toolbox Killers proved one point - that evil perpetuates evil. In the case of Lawrence, I believe that that the killing gene was in him since birth. I know many children that moved repeatedly in their childhoods, and it didn’t result in them murdering a bunch of people. For most, it makes them resilient. But in Lawrence’s case it didn’t, and resulted in his parents disowning and never seeing him again. Roy was different though. He claimed his childhood was filled with chaos when his parents would lie to authorities to have him placed in various foster homes. He also claimed to have been abused in these homes. He grew up to feel unwanted, but this is not an excuse for him to sexually assault or murder anyone. I think that these two would have teamed up for their murder spree even if nothing bad happened to them at all.
The next case we covered was about Lyle and Marie McCann. This story stuck in my head, since it happened. I had just moved to the city of St. Albert in Alberta, Canada. When it hit the news that two elderly people drove away from a Superstore where I always would get gas at - I immediately couldn’t help thinking how terrified their children must be. But when I heard that Lyle and Marie’s motorhome was discovered far from their destination on fire - I knew that something bad must have happened to this loving couple.
I remember how both me and my co-workers were obsessed by this trial. We would all check the news for updates, hoping that Travis Vader goes to jail for the rest of his life. But that didn’t happen. Travis used the legal system to his advantage, made a lot of excuses, and claimed that he was the real victim in this story. And it seems that Travis is still pulling the same crap today. What I pray for is that someday someone finds Lyle and Marie’s remains, so their loved ones could lay them to rest. I also pray that Travis never gains the parole he longs for, and that he truly pays for what he done.
Our next three episodes were ones I wanted to do for a while. Then when I went to the town of Salem, I wanted to do an episode on the witch trials much more. But the question I was struggling with was: How do I do a single episode on the witch trials. Just like our Jack the Ripper episodes, I decided I wanted to tell why it is believed the trials happened in the first place. I wanted to tell you why the people who were targeted were accused, and to tell what convicted them. I also wanted to tell the story of what happened to the accusers as well as the accused. But lastly, I thought that telling these tale would make you better understand why Salem is said to be quite the haunted place. I think I achieved my goal, but the ghosts of Salem is in May…so…stay tuned.
As for the first two episodes; we learned that many different things converged to let the Salem Witch trials happen: religious beliefs, traditions, crop failures, legal failings, mass paranoia, social rules, economic and political uncertainty, as well as a little bit of mold may have caused one of the most famous witch hunt in history. But the thing is my spooky friends; the message of these two shows is this…just because people may be different does not mean they are bad.
If you missed any of these spooky episodes, be sure to check them out by following Horrifying History in your favourite podcast provider. Another way to listen is by going to our webpage:
https://horrifying-history-shop.fourthwall.com
And while you are there; be sure to check out all the spooky merch in our store. It’s the place to be for everything Horrifying History, and if you become a member of our fan club you will get a permanent discount in our store as long as you are a member, as well as a new bonus show each week. After all - membership has its benefits!
…and until next time…