Sword and Scale

Episode 126

11 Nov 2018

Contributed by Lukas

On Tuesday September 13th, 2016 a 911 call police responded to 363 Covert Court Ashland, Ohio, an abandoned house near a laundromat. Minutes earlier, ...

Episode 125

28 Oct 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Chris and Cameron Ervin felt neglected and under-loved. In a life of increasing pressures, they numbed their minds with recreational drugs and shucked...

Episode 124

13 Oct 2018

Contributed by Lukas

In 1997, Shannon McCrossan moved with her two daughters, 8-year-old Kirsten Hatfield and 3-year-old Faith to a home on Jet Drive in Midwest City, OK. ...

Episode 123

30 Sep 2018

Contributed by Lukas

In the early morning hours of February 5th, 2015, a man wearing a mask and black tactical gear burst into the bedroom of Lisa Trubnikova. Eventually, ...

Episode 122

16 Sep 2018

Contributed by Lukas

51-year-old Ruth Pyne is found beaten and stabbed to death in the garage of her home in Highland Township, Michigan. Her immediate family members beco...

Episode 121

02 Sep 2018

Contributed by Lukas

On July 21st, 2006, an entire family seemingly disappeared from their home in Hopkinton, Massachusetts. When police searched the residence, there were...

Episode 120

19 Aug 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Everyone loves the idea of having the perfect family and keeping everyone close together. Go to work, come home, play with the kids, eat dinner togeth...

Episode 119

05 Aug 2018

Contributed by Lukas

We all love to talk about all of the things we’re going to do to better ourselves… all of the changes we want to make. Maybe we’d like to focus ...

Episode 118

22 Jul 2018

Contributed by Lukas

When you have a problem, you hire someone to fix it. That's what you do. Sometimes you don't have the benefit of Yelp reviews though...Get instant acc...

Episode 117

17 Jun 2018

Contributed by Lukas

During the early morning hours of September 22nd, 2010, 13-year-old Alexis Mitchell awoke to the sight of her father looming over her and wearing a Ha...

Episode 116

04 Jun 2018

Contributed by Lukas

On Sunday, October 4th 2009, Milford Police Sgt. Kevin Furlong was dispatched by 911 to 4 Trow Road in Mont Vernon. There had been a home invasion. In...

Episode 115

20 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

31-year-old Nicole VanderHeyden was substitute teacher and mother of three. She lived with her boyfriend and father of her infant son, Doug Detrie, in...

Episode 114

12 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Some crimes are so extreme that they defy the laws of nature. Ending the life of your very own mother, for example, is so unfathomable to most that it...

Episode 113

29 Apr 2018

Contributed by Lukas

This will be, BY FAR, the most frustrating podcast you listen to (perhaps ever). We here, at Sword and Scale, have had some pretty frustrating interac...

Episode 112

14 Apr 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Some tales of human depravity are just unimaginable. Are they the actions of a monster, or simply a monstrous act? Sometimes the lines are not quite s...

Episode 111

01 Apr 2018

Contributed by Lukas

What exactly is "God's Plan?" Do you know? Some people think they do. Jonathan Hearn and Sabrina Limon thought "God's Plan" included having an illicit...

Episode 110

17 Mar 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Part 2 of the Natalie Bollinger Murder...Get instant access to all episodes, including premium unreleased episodes, commercial-free at swordandscale.c...

Episode 109

04 Mar 2018

Contributed by Lukas

A teenage girl is stalked by a homeless man and suddenly goes missing two weeks later.Get instant access to all episodes, including premium unreleased...

Episode 108

18 Feb 2018

Contributed by Lukas

When Jane Bashara was found strangled to death in the back of her SUV nobody knew what to make of it. Things like this simply didn't happen in Grosse ...

Episode 107

04 Feb 2018

Contributed by Lukas

The human mind can go to such depths of depravity that, for the average well-adjusted person, it’s hard to even imagine. Kevin Ray Underwood’s min...

Episode 106

21 Jan 2018

Contributed by Lukas

So many leaves...It doesn't happen often, but the intersection of Psychosis and Psychopathy is a scary place. A place where all things that are good, ...

Episode 105

10 Dec 2017

Contributed by Lukas

"CENTAUR... you have awoken. Don't let them kill you." The bath salts epidemic has reached new proportions in the state of Florida, as more and more s...

Episode 104

27 Nov 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Love is often expressed with gifts such as flowers and chocolates, but those same gifts can be used to manipulate, control and threaten in the hands o...

Episode 103

12 Nov 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Nothing quite says fear like a machete. In this episode we bring you to distinct stories of some of the most barbaric and utterly inexplicable attacks...

Episode 102

30 Oct 2017

Contributed by Lukas

The death of a little girl named Jodi Parrack send a small town into a spiral of shock and disbelief. Everyone goes looking, but when a reserve police...

Episode 101

15 Oct 2017

Contributed by Lukas

We conclude with Part 2 of the Scrivo Murder Case, a story which deals with elements of mental illness, grief and the relationship between a mother an...

Episode 100

01 Oct 2017

Contributed by Lukas

For our landmark hundredth episode we cover a story that has all the elements our listeners love to hear. A graphic and gory case of body parts being ...

Episode 99

16 Sep 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Underreported and underdiscussed, male sexual child abuse is a topic that is often brushed under the rug due to social norms and the child's fears of ...

Episode 98

03 Sep 2017

Contributed by Lukas

"We lock our doors at night to keep the outside world, to keep evil out, right? ...but what happens when evil has a key?" Those were the words spoken ...

Episode 97

20 Aug 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Becoming a parent can be one of the most joy-filled experiences in one's life. It has been a long-standing tradition for friends, family and neighbors...

Episode 96

06 Aug 2017

Contributed by Lukas

There's a lot that can go wrong in this organ we call the human brain, which we don't fully understand. It's important for all of us to be much more a...

Episode 95

23 Jul 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Escapism is something most of us are guilty of. We retire to our TV shows, video games, podcasts... One would not assume that even the most esoteric e...

Episode 94

09 Jul 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Randy Stair secretly identified as a female for years. She ditched her given name for the pseudonym Andrew Blaze and also ditched the YouTube channel ...

Episode 93

02 Jul 2017

Contributed by Lukas

The highly polarized political climate we're living in colors our view of the world in one way or another. Sometimes it's hard to see the big picture ...

Episode 92

19 Jun 2017

Contributed by Lukas

The love of a mother is something many of us take for granted, but when it's not present during the early formative years the results can be disastrou...

Episode 91

04 Jun 2017

Contributed by Lukas

We kick off this week's episode with some much needed updates about what's been going on behind the scenes, fist of which is Sword and Scale Rewind, h...

Episode 90

21 May 2017

Contributed by Lukas

When Pulitzer Prize-nominated journalist Claudia Rowe, author of The Spider and The Fly, decided to write to a serial killer, she wasn't prepared for ...

Episode 89

07 May 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Matthew Hahn is bright, eloquent, friendly and just generally the kind of person you like immediately. He's the kind of person that will tell you ever...

Episode 88

24 Apr 2017

Contributed by Lukas

When a 14 year old boy named Philip Chism goes missing in the middle of a school day, his mother thinks the worst and calls 911. Little does she know,...

Episode 87

08 Apr 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Over the course of a normal school day, a mystery unravels. At first there is chaos, confusion and much worry, but soon all of that anxiety melts into...

Episode 86

26 Mar 2017

Contributed by Lukas

The 20 year anniversary of one of the strangest tales in modern American religious history is quickly approaching. On March 26th, March 26, 1997 Marsh...

Episode 85

12 Mar 2017

Contributed by Lukas

There are few things more horrifying than the idea that your children can be taken from their beds, from their own home, while there's an adult sleepi...

Episode 84

26 Feb 2017

Contributed by Lukas

There is a place that humanity has created where the rules of society mean nothing. This place is a void of laws and social norms. The scariest thing,...

Episode 83

13 Feb 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Love can be a wonderful thing. It can make the world around you seem like a magical place. But sometimes, love can go wrong. Very wrong. In this seaso...

Episode 82

17 Dec 2016

Contributed by Lukas

When you dial those three numbers on your phone, you expect that someone will help you. However, as with all matters involving humans, sometimes thing...

Episode 81

01 Dec 2016

Contributed by Lukas

This is the PARTAY episode! People love parties. Some people love parties so much that they're willing to do just about anything to have one. Tyler Ha...

Episode 80

20 Nov 2016

Contributed by Lukas

The stories we like to tell the most here are those of serial killers and homicidal maniacs. Those archetypes can be somewhat predictable, if not down...

Episode 79

05 Nov 2016

Contributed by Lukas

You've been pulled over by a bevy of police cars and taken to an interrogation room. What happens next? In this two-part story, we'll first examine wh...

Episode 78

23 Oct 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Halloween is a fun time of the year when we dress up like ghosts and goblins and attempt to scare each other with haunted houses and horror films. How...

Episode 77

09 Oct 2016

Contributed by Lukas

The idea of leaving the hustle and bustle behind, and disappearing into the woods to live off the land, can be appealing. Yet few of us would actually...

Episode 76

25 Sep 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Finally, an update episode! This one fills in the details of what has happened with the Justin Ross-Harris, Holly Bobo and Aaron Hernandez cases, with...

Episode 75

12 Sep 2016

Contributed by Lukas

This is a bizarre tale. Part gruesome murder tale, part love story. Yes, you read that right.. None of of the Gainesville Ripper story makes much sens...

Episode 74

28 Aug 2016

Contributed by Lukas

The border town of Brownsville, Texas is one of the poorest places in the continental United States. Wracked by crime in the form of drug-use and pros...

Episode 73

14 Aug 2016

Contributed by Lukas

A subset of our audience really has an issue with episodes that feature any crimes being done to children. That's understandable, since they are the w...

Episode 72

01 Aug 2016

Contributed by Lukas

A recurring question in the criminal justice system is whether the death penalty is moral, right or just. Everyone seems to have a fairly strong opini...

Episode 71

17 Jul 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Have you ever wondered why most violent crimes are committed by men? Apparently so have several criminologists, who have conducted several studies to ...

Episode 70

03 Jul 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Sword and Scale isn't just a podcast. We also have a website (swordandscale.com) where we post daily stories of dark deeds done by the most evil and d...

Episode 69

19 Jun 2016

Contributed by Lukas

As a Florida resident and native, I am disgusted by the events of the past weekend in Orlando. Thus, I decided to cover the two senseless shootings an...

Episode 68

05 Jun 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Cara Marie Holley from Roanoke Virginia was just 18 years old when she went missing from her home on July 7, 2010. Two days later her body was found i...

Episode 67

22 May 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Something is very wrong when two children can disappear from society for two years and not a single person notices or cares. This is the tale of how v...

Episode 66

08 May 2016

Contributed by Lukas

When someone secretly means to do you harm, there's a good chance they will succeed. When you are a celebrity or public figure of some kind, you becom...

Episode 65

23 Apr 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Sometimes the monsters are not only in our homes, but they are the ones closest to us: our mother or father, brother or sister. To a young child livin...

Episode 64

02 Apr 2016

Contributed by Lukas

After Michelle Macneill, a healthy 50-year old mother, dies mysteriously of a heart condition in the bathtub of her Pleasant Grove, Utah home, questio...

Episode 63

27 Mar 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Pleasant Grove, Utah. A picturesque gated community. A perfectly manicured lawn. A lovely brick home. The perfect family. The perfect life. A bathtub....

Episode 62

13 Mar 2016

Contributed by Lukas

A 30-year-old woman named Jenelle Potter has spent her entire life sheltered from the world. Not being allowed to get a job, drive a car, date, or eve...

Episode 61

28 Feb 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Every parent's nightmare can happen in an instant. It can happen on a day just like any other in a place you would never expect and, the fact of the m...

Episode 60

14 Feb 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Alternative rock superstar, host of the reality TV-show Ink Master, actor and recent filmmaker Dave Navarro joins us to talk about his film "Mourning ...

Episode 59

31 Jan 2016

Contributed by Lukas

When many of us think of true-crime, we think of cops and killers, detectives and victims. We even spend a great deal of time examining medical forens...

Episode 58

17 Jan 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Cathy Ruson from courtchatter.com describes Facebook Killer Derek Medina as "an odd duck." That's probably the most accurate way to describe this man,...

Episode 57

04 Jan 2016

Contributed by Lukas

It's one thing to kill someone, it's quite another to publish your handiwork on social media for all your friends and family to see like some sort of ...

Episode 56

15 Nov 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Over the course of the last year we've spoken to many different people from all walks of life. We asked them one simple question: "If there was one th...

Episode 55

01 Nov 2015

Contributed by Lukas

The topic of abortion is a highly controversial one, with emotionally-charged opinions on either side. Regardless of how you feel about the topic, thi...

Episode 54

19 Oct 2015

Contributed by Lukas

There's something about the perceived safety of an automobile's cab that makes many of us feel like we are impervious to danger, yet danger is all aro...

Episode 53

03 Oct 2015

Contributed by Lukas

The stories we tell often tend to focus on the criminal act itself, rather than the investigation that follows. In this episode of Sword and Scale we'...

Episode 52

20 Sep 2015

Contributed by Lukas

It's one thing to talk about gun violence, it's quite another to see it up close on live television. In this episode of Sword and Scale we take you ba...

Episode 51

06 Sep 2015

Contributed by Lukas

In Episode 47 we told you about the McMartin Preschool case and the Satanic Panic that overtook an entire nation under the fear that our children are ...

Episode 50

20 Jul 2015

Contributed by Lukas

On November 18, 1978, in a remote settlement of northwestern Guyana, 909 Americans lost their lives in what is considered to be the largest mass suici...

Episode 49

03 Jul 2015

Contributed by Lukas

On June 15th, 2015 an ominous message appeared on Facebook which sent friends and family into a panic. Their worst fears were realized when police ent...

Episode 48

21 Jun 2015

Contributed by Lukas

In Episode 48 we revisit many of the stories we've previously covered on Sword and Scale and fill you in on what has happened with in each case. We st...

Episode 47

07 Jun 2015

Contributed by Lukas

The highly technological society in which we live obscures the fact the we are still a very primitive species. One which continues to fall under the s...

Episode 46

24 May 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Despite being a grown man, Joseph McEnroe still exhibits the same traits he did when he was just a little boy: He bottles up his frustrations until th...

Episode 45

17 May 2015

Contributed by Lukas

In this first part of a two-part story, we examine the Carnation Murders. This slaughtering of an entire family, by a seriously deranged couple, took ...

Episode 44

04 May 2015

Contributed by Lukas

We live in a world where pregnant women have to fear going about their daily lives as they normally would because of the very real possibility that th...

Episode 43

19 Apr 2015

Contributed by Lukas

When Rodney Reed turned himself in to Bastrop Police, on what he though was a gun charge, little did he know he would be spending the next 17 years on...

Episode 42

12 Apr 2015

Contributed by Lukas

The idea of ultimate justice is appealing to those of us who have strong empathy for victims in vicious and unspeakable crimes. However, the cost of i...

Episode 41

29 Mar 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Luckily there aren't very many examples of the perfect storm occurring in a community where a dysfunctional family, a broken child-protection agency, ...

Episode 40

15 Mar 2015

Contributed by Lukas

When asked to imagine the perfect place to perform serial murder most imagine something dark and creepy, but the truth of the matter is that the perfe...

Episode 39

01 Mar 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Some things are hard to fathom, like why a young boy with his entire life ahead of him would choose to destroy it by an act of unspeakable violence to...

Episode 38

14 Feb 2015

Contributed by Lukas

In 2013 an independent documentary began making its way through various film festivals. It was received with harsh criticism, outrage and even death t...

Episode 37

08 Feb 2015

Contributed by Lukas

We finally have the pleasure of speaking to Diane Fanning, author of 13 true crime books and counting. She tells us the tragic story of Wesley and Joc...

Episode 36

25 Jan 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Timothy Wesley McCorquodale had a rage in him that was uncontrollable. Like a loose cannon he could go off at any minute, unleashing mayhem an any poo...

Episode 35

18 Jan 2015

Contributed by Lukas

What happens when you run out of luck? You lose your job, your marriage, your home, your arms and legs, the respect of your parents, and your will to ...

Episode 34

11 Jan 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Probably the most horrific murder publicly accessible though a variety of social media, the death of Lin Jun was a public execution for all to see. Th...

Episode 33

04 Jan 2015

Contributed by Lukas

One of the more bizarre stories of our lifetime, the story of Luka Magnotta is wrought with remorseful refrains and awkward pauses. This is a man, who...

Episode 32

08 Dec 2014

Contributed by Lukas

In this season finale of Sword and Scale, we bring back many of the guests we've spoken to over the last year and ask them a fundamental question that...

Episode 31

24 Nov 2014

Contributed by Lukas

There are 2.2 million schizophrenics in the United States. You have a one in a hundred chance of encountering one on any given day. Most are non-viole...

Episode 30

09 Nov 2014

Contributed by Lukas

The story of Herman Webster Mudgett, otherwise known as H.H. Holmes, has been told numerous times: a brilliant man with so much potential but so inher...

Episode 29

20 Oct 2014

Contributed by Lukas

The term "bluebeard" conveys images of pirates sailing the high seas, but the actual meaning of this term is much darker and there are examples of it ...

Episode 28

29 Sep 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Everyone thought Joshua Gouker was a dangerous criminal. It was easy to convict him of murdering his 14-year-old step son Trey Zwicker, especially aft...

Episode 27

22 Sep 2014

Contributed by Lukas

In this special two-parter, the brutal and inexplicable murder of a 14-year-old boy exposes a dysfunctional American family's secrets and lies. This i...