Who Killed Charles Francis Hall? The Polaris Expedition's Arctic Whodunnit (with Jad Abumrad)
episodePreviously titled “Jad Abumrad and the Charles Francis Hall Whodunnit” — renamed by the publisher on Aug 5, 2026
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What is the main mystery surrounding Charles Francis Hall?
He's got like a, he's seen you in your underwear or something. He's got a piercing gaze. I don't know. I don't know what I was saying, but okay. This is obviously him pre-murder. Yes, this is not a picture of his corpse. This is Charles Francis Hall pre-murder. I should have said that.
No, no, no.
I was just, I'm just, I was just time stamping, you know.
This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed human. Ten, ten shots fired in City Hall building. How could this have happened in City Hall? Somebody tell me that. A shocking public murder.
This is one of the most dramatic events that really ever happened in New York City politics.
I screamed, get down, get down. Those are shots. A tragedy that's now forgotten. And a mystery that may or may not have been political, that may have been about sex. Listen to Rorschach, Murder at City Hall on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Laurie Siegel, and this is Mostly Human, a tech podcast through a human lens. This week, an interview with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. I think society is going to decide that creators of AI products bear a tremendous amount of responsibility to the products we put out in the world. An in-depth conversation with a man who's shaping our future. My highest order bit is to not destroy the world with AI. Listen to Mostly Human on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Hey, I'm Jay Shetty, host of the On Purpose podcast. My latest episode is with Noah Khan, the singer-songwriter behind the multi-platinum global hit, Stick Season, and one of the biggest voices in music today.
Talking about the mental illness stuff, it used to be this thing that I was ashamed of. Getting to talk about this is not common for me. Right now, I need it more than ever.
Listen to On Purpose with Jay Shetty on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Welcome to Snafu, the podcast about history's most epic failures, face plants, and fiascos, and more importantly, what those blunders tell us about us as a species. I'm Ed Helms, and today I'm joined by a true goat podcaster. You might know him from the iconic show he started, Radiolab, or perhaps one of his many other audio accomplishments, More Perfect, Dolly Parton's America, or his newest show for Audible, Fela Kuti, Fear No Man, which covers the life, music and activism of the Nigerian Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti. He's an audio creator whose shows have been downloaded more than one billion times, which is making my head explode. He's won three B-Body Awards, and he's also my good pal from way back when at Oberlin College.
Welcome to SnapFu, Jad Abumrad. Ed, so good to see you. Thank you for having me on. I'm excited to go on whatever journey you're about to take me on. I'm going to take you on a very wild and wacky journey. But yeah, it is so good to see you. And I have to say, as someone who's known you for... Gosh, like 30 years. I am insanely proud of everything you've done and accomplished. And I just wanted to express that. Ed, that's so nice to hear from you. I mean, look, mutual admiration society, my friend. Thank you. Let's get into it. Yeah. I was just at our alma mater, Oberlin College. Oh, cool. So crazily, my son, who is about to turn 16, he's really into Oberlin and he might go to Oberlin. So we went there and they gave a presentation and you were all over the presentation.
What? Yeah. You are a big selling point now of Oberlin College. Yeah. Not just you doing movie things, but you appearing at various places in the campus playing banjo. Of course. It was really, I felt like I was hanging out with you as I was walking the land there. Yeah, it's an extraordinary music conservatory, and yet somehow they let me play banjos there. Which is... Which doesn't really go with the whole vibe, but no, it's an incredible place and really informative place. I also remember moving from Oberlin after we graduated, there was just like a whole huge mass of students that moved straight to New York City.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the main mystery surrounding Charles Francis Hall?
0:01–4:45
2
How did Charles Francis Hall's early life shape his expeditions?
4:45–11:25
3
What challenges did Hall face during his Arctic expeditions?
11:25–16:03
4
What led to the mysterious death of Charles Francis Hall?
16:03–17:26
5
What were the circumstances of Hall's burial?
17:26–20:56
6
How did modern science uncover clues about Hall's death?
20:56–24:56
7
What role did jealousy and rivalry play in Hall's story?
24:56–27:25
8
Who are the key suspects in the potential murder of Hall?
27:25–1:10:09