True Crime Campfire

01/17/2025

Benjamin Franklin wrote, “Money has never made a man happy yet, nor will it.” To which I think a lot of people would say, yeah, try being poor, Benny. A couple thousand dollars would make me plenty happy right now. But, once you’re beyond the stage of having enough wealth to be comfortable and free from fear of destitution, I think his point mostly stands. We’ve seen a lot of cases involving very wealthy people, and I don’t think you could say they were any happier than the average Joe. If anything, just the opposite. That’s definitely true in this week’s case, which involves a staggeringly wealthy family with a whole collection of messy, grasping lives that culminate in tragedy.

Explosive: the Benson Family Murders is out now.

Listen: https://open.spotify.com/episode/65SgnoSmGXl2jcldDSYf3c?si=YfR0M5_US7GWUx6wbkagKw

01/10/2025

Most people love getting a peek behind a fellow human’s carefully managed facade. We’re delighted when we see the local magistrate gettin’ wrecked at a dive bar two towns over. We catch a glimpse of our married coworker making out with a guy who’s not her husband behind the building, and we can’t wait to tell somebody. We love a hot mic moment, when a news anchor or politician drops the mask for a second and acts like the flawed human they are. I think that’s one of the reasons we love hit-man stings on this show. A recording of somebody offering money in exchange for murder—it's the most authentic peek behind the curtain you could possibly get. A person making an inexplicable, evil choice, dropping the face they normally show to the world to show the darkness underneath. This week we have two cases for you: One where a career fraudster and general snake in human form stays exactly true to his character, and one where a respected member of the community does something light-years out of hers.

Lust, Lies, & Audiotape: Two Failed Murders for Hire is out now.

Listen: https://open.spotify.com/episode/18matwGKjaYcZMutF2baxi?si=LhqeyAE6RYqZzHupWclEgQ

01/03/2025

I have vivid memories of the night of March 22, 1997. Part of it has to do with, y’know, young dumb love—but most of it has to do with the Hale-Bopp Comet, also known as the Great Comet, which was brilliantly visible from my hometown that night. I had a huge crush on this guy, and he invited me to watch the comet with him. We climbed up on the rooftop of this neighborhood bar with a bottle of screw-top wine, and we watched the sky—and suddenly, there it was, a bright silvery ball with a long glowing tail. Magic. I’ll never forget it—wrote some bad poetry about it later that night. And then a couple mornings later, I woke up to the strangest news story of my life. A group calling themselves Heaven’s Gate had taken their own lives en masse out in California—and they’d left behind a video explaining why. They were catching a ride on the comet, with the full certainty that it would take them to paradise. They were leaving their human bodies behind, chasing the pure perfection of enlightenment. These were smart, educated people with families who loved them. What led them to this? Join us for the story of one of the deadliest cults in American history: Heaven's Gate.

Away Team: The Story of Heaven’s Gate is out now.

Listen: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0TH9EIFGVSxDoOlaICpf4r?si=pdh4FhSoRRmJq_FmF48Itg

12/25/2024

Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah for all who celebrate! We hope you have the best day. 🎄🕎

12/22/2024

Don’t forget to tune in or set your DVRs TONIGHT at 9pm EST to Very Scary People to see our very own Whitney discuss the Sun Gym Gang on Investigation Discovery

Donnie Wahlberg looks at some of the most frightening killers in history. Stream now on discovery+.

12/20/2024

As Abe Lincoln once said—or possibly some guy named Peter Drucker, depends on who you ask—the best way to predict the future is to create it. But for a lot of us humans, that’s a little too loosey-goosey. We’re not big fans of the unknown, and we tend to seek out people who claim they can tell us what to expect from the future. Americans, for example, spend billions a year on psychics. A lot of these are legitimate businesspeople who genuinely want to provide counseling and comfort for their clients. But there’s also a bustling trade in psychic fraud—run by people who have no qualms about taking advantage of you at your most vulnerable and desperate. Today we’re gonna tell you about two of those cases. Case 1: The Mysterious Death of Seth Tobias. Case 2: Psychic Scammer Gina Marks

Bad Fortune: Two Tales of Psychic Scammers is out now

Listen now: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5NlXVCzba6zWFegA9XbWa1?si=0W88MgrpQb6HhOMvbcPtfw

Art is the Crystal Ball by John William Waterhouse

12/13/2024

Some of the easiest people on the planet to fool are those who have a real high opinion of their own brains based on very little evidence. A classic con-artist trick is to make the mark think they’re the one in charge, they’re the one making the decisions. They don’t realize they’ve been taken until their bank balance is empty and they’ve signed away the deed to granddaddy’s farm. Sometimes they won’t even see it then, because that would mean facing up to some unpleasant realities about themselves. In this week’s story, the consequences of gullibility and manipulation are a lot heavier than financial ruin—three generations of a family have their lives torn to pieces over greed and a web of the darkest lies imaginable. “Fool Me Twice: The Murders of James and Virginia Campbell” is out now!

Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4Ts0VwZy66W1ibQzfodRdj?si=37fBqnjcRGicQnCvchj5tg

Artwork is Southern Gothic by Blackbirdmotel, DeviantArt

12/10/2024

Y’all might enjoy tuning in to Very Scary People on Max, Discovery Plus and ID. You might especially enjoy the Dec. 22 episode. Because WHITNEY’S IN IT, woohoo! Making her TV debut, talking about the Sun Gym Gang. Here’s the series trailer, which Whitney didn’t make it into, sadly. 😭

Subscribe to ID:https://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=investigationdiscoveryJoin Us on Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/InvestigationDiscover...

12/06/2024

When we left you at the end of Part 1, fourteen year old Steven Stayner had escaped from seven years of captivity and abuse at the hands of child predator Kenneth Parnell—and he’d rescued Parnell’s next intended victim, a little boy named Timmy White. The story made international headlines, and Steven Stayner became his hometown’s living legend. It was March 1980, both boys were back home safe and Kenneth Parnell was behind bars where he belonged, waiting to go to trial. It seemed like a happy ending. But the story doesn’t end there. The second half of the Stayner saga is even darker than the first. Justice is denied. Secrets come to light. And another member of the family lets his most depraved fantasies cross over to real life.

Big thanks to Mike Moran of Mike Moran’s Confessional Podcast for doing much of the work/research on this one and last week's!

Listen: https://open.spotify.com/episode/17EckqEsoEXPxS6od2kNDM?si=-sATAcLrT8ObizMjvI5_Dg

Art is: Translucent Fragments of a Broken Family Painting by Kenneth Agnello

11/29/2024

In classic literature—and in soap operas, too—there are a lot of families who become lightning rods for misfortune. Sometimes it really strains your suspension of disbelief—like, come on, one family could never go through this much tragedy. But every now and then, a family just seems to be haunted by something sinister. From February through July of 1999, the bodies of four women turned up around Yosemite National Park in California—all brutally murdered and mutilated. The killer was a handsome, likable guy named Cary Stayner, who confessed to the four murders once they had him in custody, and is suspected of quite a few more. And during his confession, the investigators realized why his name had seemed familiar to them. Cary was the brother of Steven Stayner, kidnapped by a pe*****le in 1972, forced to change his name to Dennis and held captive for years, until one night in 1980 when he walked into a police station and said, “I know my first name is Steven.” That case captured the world, with books and documentaries covering Steven’s years-long ordeal and the courage of his escape. Now, nearly 20 years later, the Stayner family was once again in the throes of a nightmare. Would Cary have become a serial killer if his brother had never been kidnapped, or was that evil always lurking inside him? It’s a Shakespearean tragedy of a story, and we’ll be telling it in two parts. This is part one--the abduction of Steven Stayner.

I Know My First Name is Steven: the Abduction of Steven Stayner is out now.

Big thanks to Mike Moran of Mike Moran’s Confessional Podcast for doing much of the work/research on this one!

Listen: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6ShvYJx9Vm3Z29YbqvKuWD?si=hO2MnyNUSkGOsw49zz1Lpg

11/28/2024

Happy Thanksgiving to everybody celebrating. We’re so thankful for you. Go get you some pie! 🥧

11/25/2024

Want to have a virtual coffee date with Katie and me, AND benefit a great cause at the same time?? Katie and I are one of the experiences you can bid on in the TENET Holiday Auction! Proceeds benefit TENET, a wonderful early-music vocal ensemble. You can bid on all kinds of other great stuff too. Auction ends Dec. 1. Check it out here, and we look forward to hanging out with the winning bidder! https://givebutter.com/c/c8t5Cd/auction

11/24/2024

Revisiting favorite episodes: The story of Amy Bishop—or as she insisted on being called, “DOCTOR Amy Bishop, Harvard trained.”

Podcast Episode · True Crime Campfire · 02/05/2021 · 52m

11/22/2024

In Part One, we met high-powered millionaire Ted Ammon and his…let’s say “eccentric” soon-to-be-ex-wife Generosa. When we left off, the Ammons were embroiled in a vicious divorce and a struggle over Ted’s wealth and custody of their twin children. Generosa, staying at the ritzy Stanhope Hotel, was renovating a townhouse and had just met a young electrician by the name of Danny Pelosi. Join us for part 2 of Payback: The Murder of Ted Ammon.

Listen: https://open.spotify.com/episode/71yxd9UaHhPz1AgXCjSKd6?si=3ATrjtRRT-mQE49lnwMUlw

Art is John William Waterhouse, La Belle Dame sans Merci, 1893

11/15/2024

As much as most of us might try to live easy, conflict-free lives, sometimes you just can’t avoid an uncomfortable interaction. Maybe an unpleasant neighbor gets in your face about nothing at all, maybe someone behind a counter gives you all kinds of attitude, it’s more or less inevitable that sooner or later, someone will throw some grit into the smoothly turning gears of your life. And most of us just deal with it and forget about it. Most of us don’t have actual “enemies,” but the main character in this week’s story made enemies like it was her full-time job. She would burn down years-long friendships over the smallest imagined slight, and if there were an actual, real betrayal—well, she’d burn down your whole life. Join us for part 1 of a story of explosive rage and revenge, set in one of the richest neighborhoods in the world.

Payback: the Murder of Ted Ammon, pt 1 is out now.

Listen: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0qCpxjbKRBlXZRCE0dZ7B9?si=w5tbjh9cRsKMBMpjhW4bqQ

Art: Frank Dicksee, La Belle Dame sans Merci, 1902

11/08/2024

Taking the week off, campers—we’ll be back next week! ❤️❤️

11/04/2024

Patreon subscribers, we made you a special Halloween episode! Come and get it!

Get more from True Crime Campfire on Patreon

11/01/2024

Monsters in folklore are easy for us to comprehend. You can only kill a werewolf with a silver bullet, to stop a zombie for good, you have to destroy its brain, and vampires can’t enter your home without your permission. They also have pretty straightforward motivations. Werewolves: Animalistic rage. Zombies: Brains. Vampires: Blood. Human monsters have motivations that are a lot more opaque. What would possess someone to kidnap a woman in broad daylight? To break into a home in the middle of the night to kill the strangers inside? What if no one saw anything? How do you catch a ghost?

Case 1: The Murder of Ethel Kidd
Case 2: The Miyazawa Family Murders

Let the Right One In: A Halloween Special is out now.

Listen: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4EN3Kf40j2EFPX6hNfjdw5?si=YLESKLDxQ7KZnp4j6sRQNg