Missouri & North Carolina : Love Songs and Death

Missouri & North Carolina : Love Songs and Death

Author: Shane L. Waters, Wendy Cee, Gemma Hoskins April 28, 2026 Duration: 35:22

July 1877. A dirt road in rural Missouri. A fifty-eight-year-old woman named Martha Parrish is shot dead by her own son-in-law while trying to rescue her daughter from an abusive marriage. Fifteen years later and five hundred miles east, an eighteen-year-old maid named Ellen Smith is shot behind a luxury hotel in Winston, North Carolina — and someone writes a song about it. Two historical murders. Two women killed by men who claimed to love someone close to them. One ended in a double coffin. The other became a folk song you may have heard without knowing it was real.

Season 40: Twin Portraits — double-feature true crime episodes exploring two historical murders from different American states, connected by a single theme. In Episode 3, the theme is love that kills — and the songs that outlive the dead.

This episode contains discussions of domestic violence, murder, suicide, and public execution. If you need to skip this content, support resources are listed at the end of these notes.



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Step back into an era of flickering gaslight and whispered secrets, where justice was often as murky as the London fog or as stark as a frontier town’s saloon. Foul Play: A Historical True Crime Podcast exhumes long-forgotten criminal cases from the 1800s and early 1900s, meticulously piecing together stories that newspapers sensationalized and time nearly erased. Hosts Shane Waters, a veteran whose work helped shape the genre, and Wendy Cee, alongside researcher Gemma Hoskins, guide you through each meticulously researched season. They focus on a single, complete narrative, building the tension from the crime itself through the investigation and into the courtroom’s hushed drama. You’ll hear more than just the facts; you’ll get a sense of the societal pressures, the legal limitations, and the human lives entangled in each historical moment. This isn't about quick summaries-it's a deep, immersive audio experience that treats the past with the gravity it deserves. The podcast connects the dots using original documents, period accounts, and a clear-eyed analysis that separates legend from truth. It’s for anyone who wonders about the real stories lurking in the shadows of history, told with a journalist’s precision and a storyteller’s care for the victims and the complexities of their times. Listen to Foul Play for a compelling journey where every clue matters and history itself is the most important character.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

Foul Play: A Historical True Crime Podcast
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