CLEWS The Historic True Crime Blog

Carnival of the True Crime Blogs #49

All right, now that the bloodshed is over in the arena of American politics, we can get back to our favorite subject: true crime stories. Here is a lineup of Clews picks for doozy crime news from the past week by the folks who make up the True Crime Blogroll.

Some of the local crime blogs and police blogs are mystifying. I see some of the mug shots posted on Crime in Charlotte and wish I knew the stories behind them. Whew. What a set of faces. What a set of charges!

Crime is so bad in Baltimore that video cameras have been put up around the city. Here’s the incredible and bizarre story of a kidnapped girl that had the folks at Baltimore Crime saying, “And now we can never again say what a waste of money those cameras were.”

Bonnie's Blog of Crime brings us the lowndown on the Chicago Mafia, with a twist -- it's the tale of her uncle (!) Rocky Infelise.

Trench continues his intrepid reporting on school violence -- now requiring multiple posts some days just to keep up with the sheer scale of it -- and this week came news of an ugly incident at a swanky New York school.

If you don't already read Crimeblog.US, the latest obsession reflected on its pages is the Villisca Axe Murder Mystery, the obsession that's infected more than one crime blogger.

Nene Adams shares with us the story of "A Meaningless Massacre" -- and the defendant who hastily got "a rope around his neck, and a sudden short stop at the end of it."

From Whispers to Roars reports on a case in which a man’s computer linked him to the disappearance of a pretty redheaded young girl whose body was recently found. Prosecutors will seek the death penalty. He has murdered before…. Why, why?

Parents Behaving Badly is a well regarded blog, inspiring commentary by MagZ at Southern Sass on Crime Today.

Meanwhile, P.B.B. relays a fascinating family story:

Cheryl Athene Miller was living in San Francisco when her brother, racked with guilt after decades of silence, informed police that his sister had killed four of her six children between 1965 and 1970. When police confronted Miller, she unburdened herself by confessing…

That's another tale I'd like to hear.

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And finally here are some bonus links for the Free Father Robinson Club.

A blog written by the editors of Touchstone Magazine, a Christian publication, sheds light on the story behind the reopening of the Sister Pahl murder case and draws a historical parallel to the scandalous satanic Affair of the Poisons in Louis XIV's France.

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"'Priest Accused of Satanic-tinged Murder of Nun'? Now THAT'S a tabloid title! Weekly World News, listen up!"

“Yes, this epidemic of Satanic-influenced-priests-murdering-nuns must be stopped. When will Catholics put their collective foot down and say, no more!”

--Comments left on author Amy Wellborn's blog

Carnival of True Crime No. 44

The Carnival of True Crime just gets better and better.

Or maybe I just like using the cool graphics that Harding creates for each occasion.

Every week, on a rotating basis, the true crime bloggers -- who are united via the true crime blogroll, which, as far as I'm aware, includes absolutely everybody who regularly blogs in English about some aspect of crime -- put together a list of the best posts of the past week.

There's a lot of true crime content on the internet. But we don't make you wade knee-deep through advertisements.

This 44th edition of the Best of the TCB, True Crime Blogroll, includes a cornucopia of crime stories. MagZ did a terrific job assembling everything for this interesting edition.

Enjoy!

True Crime Carnival #41

This week's edition of the best in true crime blogging is hosted by J.D. Chandler.

He's one of my favorite historic crime storytellers.

You can check out all the great crime bloggers' stories of the week here, and be sure to bookmark J.D.'s site for more amazing true crime.

And I will try, try, try not to mention Nancy You Know for at least a week....

Enjoy!

Carnival of the True Crime Blogs No. XL

About a year ago, four people called themselves "true crime bloggers." The list has grown more diverse by the week, and now the blogroll is so large that it trails right off my front page. Here's the 40th collection of the most interesting posts of the past week or so from ever-expanding True Crimedom.

One-Man Jury A New England murder case that's wagging a lot of tongues is the killing of Barry James by patent attorney John Edington, who stabbed James to death after learning that James may have molested his two-year-old. Stephen McCaskill of the Crime Scene Blog is following the story in CT Father Kills Suspected Molester. I suspect we'll hear a lot more surprising news about this case before it all shakes out.

Ice for Blood Trench continues his intrepid blogging on troubled teens and the amazingly cruel things they do to themselves, their families, and their schools. This week, he's following the case of Alvaro Castillo, who murdered his father -- and then got out the video camera. Home Sweet Home reminds us that a bad boyfriend can be a danger to the entire family in Four Generations Present, Three Shot. Steve Huff is covering a breaking story from New England about a murder spree that took four lives in Murder on Sunday River Road.

From Filthy to Fatal The duo behind Southern Sass on Criminal Activity Today report that the interest in the case of Isaac Lethbridge has been almost overwhelming. Payned's heartbreaking tale of a child removed from his home because it was filthy -- only to die in a foster home, the apparent victim of severe abuse -- is unfortunately not the only example of late.

Ontario's Heavenly Creatures "The simplest method of obtaining a university degree in Canada? Kill your mother." That's the lead on Harding's best piece of the week; read the rest of this head-shaker at Magna Cum Laude.

No Body Blog And I thought Clews was a tightly focused blog. No Body Cases is devoted strictly to murder cases that were prosecuted despite the fact that the body was never found. From the first post:

I'm a total newbie to the blogosphere but I thought I'd give it a shot. My chosen hobby is quite odd. I collect information about trials, cases and investigations into murders where the victim's body has never been recovered. Quaint, eh? Not exactly quilting but hey, everyone's gotta' have a hobby right? My interest in the topic began about 18 months ago when I began investigating a "no body" case myself. I am a prosecutor in DC and was always fascinated by these cases. (Famous "no body" murderers include Thomas Capano and Charles Manson.) As I did the research for my own case (which went to trial this past January) I was astonished to find how many "no body" cases exist. I'm currently compiling a table of cases from throughout the U.S. (I'll post that soon.) I hope to track current cases, comment on pending cases and investigations and look at the history and the legal implications of "no body" cases. If you know of cases, let me know by leaving a comment. No Body Guy.

So far, the prosecutor behind the blog has found dozens of examples, both recent and historic -- more than a hundred in the United States alone.

She Doth Protest Too Much Nene Adams writes terrific historic crime stories, and she has an amazing true crime library. This week she presents CRIME FILE #5 - Little Black Bag: Catherine Webster & the Richmond Mystery.

Pseudologia Fantastica We can't close this True Crime Carnival without some references to the most infamous name in true crime today. Something is obviously wrong with John Mark Carr. Dr. Deborah Serani explains the pathology that was displayed on our TV sets for days on end in Factitious Disorder: John Mark Karr and the Ramsey Case.

Meanwhile, there's a lot more to the story of the professor who was in the middle of all the curious events in Colorado. A shocking guest post on the Crime Rant blog takes on Tranny and the Professor: Money and Lies in Boulder. Be sure to read the comments, too.

And on a related note, I have to mention a post by ShadoWraiths, who remarks on those who have "made an enterprise out of putting forth their particular hypothesis."

Though if any of us are going to continue to write about John You-Know-Who, we've got to reach a consensus on how his last name is spelled. His false confession might end up being the most infamous of our century -- or one would hope.

History Carnival XXXVI

Alone in the archives lately? Hopefully they’re air-conditioned. For this, the 36th edition of the History Carnival, your hostess received exactly zero nominations. Much of the citizenry of the history blogosphere seems to be -- if not standing in front of the television, hands over mouths -- downloading reruns of Gilligan's Island from YouTube.

Since it’s left entirely to my discretion, I first offer you a handful of posts on the issue of the day, based entirely on whim and by no means balanced. Of all the posts using the phrases “failed state” and “non-state actor,” Dr. Daniel Nexon’s comparison of the failed states of today to early modern Europe stood out as oddly encouraging. Zenpundit continued the discussion along those lines. Meanwhile, Daniel Pipes noticed that White House Spokesman Tony Snow, in speaking of Syria, shows he is doing his historical homework. Martin Kramer provokes thought with his notes On Israel vs. Hezbollah. Jim Davila of the PaleoJudaica Blog notes field work turned battlefield work – archaeology sites on the border between Israel and Lebanon. And from Juan Cole – yes, that Juan Cole – comes strong coverage of recent events of the Middle East at his blog, Informed Consent.

Which brings up another subject. We’ve seen this headline before, notably around this same time last year, but it might be time to revisit the question – is blogging dangerous, and did blogging derail Juan Cole’s career? The Chronicle of Higher Education asked seven academic bloggers to weigh in on Cole's case and on the hazards of academic blogging.

The internet certainly can hold hidden dangers for historians. Look no further than the encyclopedia. Kooks, vandals, editing wars ; like many academic institutions, Wikipedia is plagued by the ridiculous while trying to develop itself into a good history source. In this article, Can History Be Open Source? Wikipedia and the Future of the Past, recently posted on the website of the Center for History and New Media, Roy Rosenzweig (George Mason U.) meditates on the Wikipedia phenomenon, finds some good examples of bad history, and wonders whether the enthusiasm of amateurs could be a benchmark for collaboration by professional historians. (But Professor McKenzie Wark – who posted a draft of his book online for public dissection -- might be ahead of everyone else.)

Entirely undeterred by the Chronicle report, blogging historians also offered us these varied posts during the past fortnight:

• Jonathan Edelstein, the Head Heeb, monitoring news from Africa, tells us that the whole world seems to be falling apart this month with several recent posts, including And Now Sri Lanka.
• The World History Blog has been banned in India! No kidding -- along with all the other Blogspot and Typepad blogs, apparently.
• Rob MacDougall of Cliopatra offers a collection of online exhibits in Things Illustrated Here and There, featuring links that are "word-light and picture-heavy, in case your brain is in summer semi-vacation mode."
• Forget blogging -- can a degree from "AMU" (Average Midwestern University) really hurt your career? Derek Catsam worries about The Credentials Gap.
• From the blog African History by Alistair Boddy-Evans comes the story of Mary Henrietta Kingsley, an Englishwoman who traveled to Africa and reported back to Europe in voluminous and influential travel writings.
• Timothy Burke (Cliopatra) experienced The Pleasures and Possibilities of Archival Research on a recent trip to South Africa and captures the experience of perusing a peculiar pile of letters.

And to end on a light note, I offer some tidbits from academics who are funny [sic]. Over at the Positive Liberty Blog, Jason Kuznicki shares The Funniest Stuff I've Read All Week. The Little Professor also offers this little piece of academic satire. "Academic bloodsport” has been on the mind of the bloggers at Savage Minds, who share some historical debates turned nasty and also manage to engage in a little video game warfare.

Thank you for reading this edition of the History Carnival; all misjudgments and messed-up links are obviously my fault alone. To nominate a post for the next carnival on August 15 -- and please do -- contact the next host, Caleb McDaniel.

An addendum -- There were many submissions. Something somewhere did not work properly; none of the nominations made via the automatic submission form actually came through to my email address as they should have. And thus some excellent posts were overlooked, and I add them here to flesh out this edition.

In a post entitled Ben Gurion's Limited Vision, the blogger behind Shiloh Musings argues: Israel's present problems can be easily traced to its "founding fathers." The socialist-Zionists were more "socialists" than Zionists or Jews....

In a post that is too well researched to worry about it being a tad bit stale, Hieronimo of Blogging the Renaissance tackles the significance of the number 666 and June 6, 2006: Today is a day to make people crazy; no doubt across the country Christian fundamentalists are anxiously worrying about world government, the U.N., UPC symbols tattooed or microchipped into our hands, and other impending signs of the Apocalypse, the Rapture, the Millenium of Christ's reign on earth, and the end of time....

At Grant Jones' The Dougout Blog appears a guest editorial by Edward Cline entitled Sparrowhawk: Observations of a Book Signer: During my numerous booksignings at Colonial Williamsburg, I have made countless observations and acquired sales skills which I did not know I had the patience and fortitude to develop (I am not naturally an extrovert)....

American history scholar John McClymer tackles "teaching in a 'collaborative, interactive, multimediated, networked, nonlinear, and multi-accented' environment" at The Future of the Book; it's already called "an excellent article about the nature of teaching history, online."

Andrew Israel Ross presents Where is the line that shall not be crossed? posted at air pollution, saying, "Part of a conversation between me, Alun Salt, and Another Damned Medievalist." Another interesting post on the same blog, When is it Not History?, offers meditations on the relevance of history, and has engendered a lot of commentary.

On Cliopatra, Timothy Burke offers a post on The Historian As Snoop.

Joe Kissell of the blog Interesting Thing of the Day offers Radio Call Letters: Minding your K's and W's, in which he explains: In the U.S., radio stations west of the Mississippi have call letters starting with K, while those east of the Mississippi start with W. Except for the ones that don't. The story behind the rule and its exceptions involves a surprising number of unknowns....

Derek Catsam has not been idle; his blog offers posts on Dukakis and Mondale: In Praise of Competence, Honesty, and Responsibility; on The Congo (On Sunday the Democratic Republic of Congo is supposed to hold an election. This is not a small matter...) and on the Ephblog also offers Garfield Reconsidered (If you are like me (pity for you) you know little about the life and career of James Garfield beyond the received wisdom that all good Ephs garner in the form of trivia-cum-school-pride....)

I should have known that a glitch was more likely than a lack of nominations. Thanks to all who submitted them.

Last Call for the History Carnival

The August 1, 2006 edition of The History Carnival, the twice-monthly collection of the most interesting internet essays relating to history, will appear here.

If you have read (or written) any interesting posts about history, please nominate it for the carnival by sending me an email at Laura4991 at prodigy Dot Net.

For more details, see The History Carnival Home Page.

Carnival of True Crime No. 34

This week's true crime carnival is at a site called Slabtown Chronicle from blogger J.D. Chandler, who writes with a brilliant pen about historic true crime.

I noticed the quality of his writing as soon as he started the site. I'd bookmarked J.D.'s recent post about the murder of a young girl and then noticed that Steve Huff had snatched that baby and posted it on his http://www.crimeblog.us/, the site that rounds up the best true crime on the internet. We all have good taste for it's quite the story. So bookmark Slabtown Chronicle while you're over there; you might see this fellow's name on a dustjacket soon.

Carnival of the True Crime Blogs No. XXXII

Writers of book reviews, sixty to eighty times a year, begin their articles with the grave inquiry: Why do people like to read about murder? After a discussion, in language that at least seems to be the result of profound thought, they come to the conclusion that people like to read such books because they like to do so.

--Edmund L. Pearson

This edition of the True Crime Carnival is a day late because Typepad was down. (I also own the URL http://www.laurajames.com, but I can't figure out what to do with it. Yeah, whatever.) Today I offer a collection of interesting links straight from the ever-growing True Crime Blogroll : it's True Crime Carnival No. 32 for your mid-week enjoyment.

The latest word in true crime on the internet: Steve Huff is starting something new -- he's optioned the site http://crimeblog.us and plans a group blog. It will be interesting to see which direction this project takes.

From the blog called "From Whispers to Roars" comes this challenge: Think you can spot a sex offender at the [beach / zoo / party] by the way he looks? Think again -- this sicko is on the loose in Texas. Don't look like a sicko, though, does he?

Are the rich really different from the rest of us? Yeah -- when they decide to murder their families, they manage to accomplish it without getting their hands dirty. Read the details at Mark Gribben's post, Pure Greed, Part 2.

The ShadoWraiths blog has a new post, Blogging the thin blue line, which has quotes and notes about the 39 blogs out there about law enforcement, both departmental blogs and personal blogs, along with a blogroll listing them all.

It boggles the mind to think about it, but every year, thousands and thousands of people go missing. They just - poof !  - disappear. And they're never, ever seen or heard from again. On the blog entitled "Where are the missing?" appears the story of a beautiful young woman whose last voluntary act was going to the beach... the answer feels close on this one. Can you parse these clues to help find Heather Teague?

Over on "Assorted Babble" is coverage from day one of the child-murder trial of sex offender John Couey, whose confession was thrown out by the judge.

Documents relating to the two murderers behind the Columbine massacre were released only days ago. Trench of the Trenchcoat Chronicles -- who has measured the fallout from that criminal enterprise for years -- offers his take on the revelations, saying they "should put the final nail in the coffin of the bullying myth." Jim Greenhill, an author who has recently added his site to the True Crime Blogroll, offers his thoughts on the Columbine papers here.

Over at the Slabtown Chronicle, J.D. Chandler has posted the first part of the story of a devastating fire in 1996 and the many lives it left in ruins in Playing With Fire, part one.

Home Sweet Home continues its coverage of domestic violence -- the literal gender wars that erupt daily everywhere. Most interesting are the details behind a divorce turned deadly -- a split so ugly that the husband blew up himself and his townhouse, wounding many others in the process, and inspiring still others to rethink the state divorce laws.

If called for jury duty, could you sit in fair judgment of a pedophile? Lilo of Lost in Lima Ohio says the subject is Open for Debate.

From Payned at Southern Sass on Criminal Activity Today comes a post entitled Loving Grandma or Foster Care? And to think that there are thousands of cases like this every month....

Harding, who writes the crime blog T.O. Crime, did something different in June with amazing results. He blogged about the World Cup, and his blog was "hugely successful. I garnered 6 main stream media interviews without sending out a press release." How? By focusing on the excitement in his hometown. "...the emotional swell that Toronto undergoes every four years, when our multi-ethnic communities come to life to cheer on the biggest soccer tournament on earth." The lesson for the rest of us: "The heart of a blog is at its most powerful when it engages people on a focused topic." Read the rest of "Power Blogging."

That's a wide swath of crime and blogging for true crime fans of all stripes. Enjoy!

Call for the History Carnival - Murder, anyone?

Hey all bloggers and true crime writers and crime historian types, why not submit something you've written about an old case to the History Carnival? The next host is Sepoy at Chapati Mystery, email: sepoy AT chapati mystery DOT com.

It would be fun to have a "famous murders" themed edition.

History Carnival Time Again

The History Carnival is one of the most popular carnivals on the web. Sharon Howard of the University of Wales, who nursed it to popularity, is off for the summer as she takes a new job and moves.

Clews is happy to coordinate the next two carnivals (June 15 and July 1) and after that, it will be handled by a blogger who calls herself Another Damned Medievalist at her site, called Blogenspiel. (An interesting word -- supposed to sound like glockenspiel? I only know the reference because everyone in Michigan has downed fried chicken and beer in the shadow of the Frankenmuth glockenspiel.)

Eventually Sharon will be back at the wheel. Meanwhile, the new job she is taking will involve putting thousands of historical crime records on the internet. Additional records of London's Old Bailey court are being digitized. They won't be online for a few years, but what a treat awaits~!!

The next edition of the History Carnival will be posted on Thursday, June 15 at the American Presidents blog. If you have read an interesting blog entry in the last week or two on an historical subject, please submit it to Jennie Weber, at coppertop67 AT hotmail DOT com or use the form.