Dark Stories: On This Day In True Crime History - Dark Stories True Crime Tours

1906: Ed Gein, the Butcher of Plainfield, Born in Wisconsin

Edward Theodore Gein was born on August 27, 1906, in Plainfield, Wisconsin. He would become one of the most disturbing figures in American criminal history, a murderer and body snatcher whose crimes shocked the nation when they were uncovered in November 1957. Authorities searching his farm found the decapitated, mutilated body of hardware store owner Bernice Worden hanging upside down in a shed, dressed out like a deer. Gein had also been raiding local graveyards for years, fashioning keepsakes from the bones and skin of exhumed corpses.

Gein confessed to two murders: Worden in 1957 and tavern owner Mary Hogan in 1954. Found legally insane, he was committed to a psychiatric institution and never stood trial. He died in 1984. His crimes inspired some of fiction’s most iconic killers in movie history.

Patient.

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Body Snatching Historical Crime Mental Health Murder Serial Killer USA

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1925: Murder On The Dance Floor: Audrey Jacob Shoots Fiance Dead in Perth

At a charity ball in the Government House Ballroom in Perth on the night of 26 August 1925, Audrey Jacob, a 20-year-old art student, shot her former fiance Cyril Gidley through the heart in front of hundreds of revellers.

Gidley, a 25-year-old ship’s engineer, had ended their engagement months earlier, dramatically throwing the engagement ring into the sea. Audrey had attended the ball in costume as Pierrette, a lovesick clown; when Gidley ignored her all evening, she slipped away, changed into a striking blue evening gown, and returned. As the orchestra struck up an encore dance number, she approached him on the floor. A single shot rang out and Gidley collapsed without a word.

Audrey stood over the body, smoking gun in hand, and declared to the stunned crowd: ‘I did it. Take me away. It’s all right. I know what I’ve done.’ She claimed the gun discharged accidentally during a confrontation. The case became a media sensation and led to a landmark trial in which she was found not guilty.

Murder On The Dance Floor

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Australia Fremantle Murder Perth Scandal Trial WA

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1877: Martin Cash, the Bushranger Who Cheated the Gallows, Dies at His Farm

Martin Cash, Irish-born convict and bushranger, died on 26 August 1877 at his farm cottage in Glenorchy, Tasmania, aged 68. Twice he escaped from the supposedly escape-proof Port Arthur penal colony, the second time by swimming the shark-infested waters. On Boxing Day 1842, Cash and two companions absconded from a work party and launched an eight-month bushranging spree across Van Diemen’s Land, robbing mail coaches and homesteads before his eventual recapture. His 1870 autobiography, The Adventures of Martin Cash, ghostwritten by a fellow former convict, became a bestseller. He was one of the few bushrangers of his era to die of natural causes, cheating the gallows.

Martin Cash Author: The Bushranger of Van Diemen's Land in 1843

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Australia Bushranger Convict History Death TAS

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1803: Constable Joseph Luker: the First Police Officer Killed on Duty in Australia

Constable Joseph Luker, a British convict transported to New South Wales on the Third Fleet in 1791, served out his sentence and joined the Night Watch, the colony’s fledgling police force. On the night of 25 August 1803, he was called to investigate a robbery at Mary Breeze’s brothel on Back Row East in Sydney, telling Breeze he believed he knew who was responsible.

His body was found before dawn behind the establishment, bearing sixteen wounds to the head. The guard of his own cutlass had been driven into his skull, and nearby lay a bloodied barrow wheel and the stolen desk. Surgeon John Harris concluded at least four weapons had been used. Though some of his fellow constables were implicated, no one was ever convicted of his murder. Luker remains the first police officer killed in the line of duty in the history of Australia.

Policing in convict NSW

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Australia Cold Case Murder NSW Police Sydney Unsolved

1906: Ed Gein, the Butcher of Plainfield, Born in Wisconsin

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1925: Murder On The Dance Floor: Audrey Jacob Shoots Fiance Dead in Perth

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1877: Martin Cash, the Bushranger Who Cheated the Gallows, Dies at His Farm

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1803: Constable Joseph Luker: the First Police Officer Killed on Duty in Australia

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