First, children started to go missing in the villages around the Black Baron’s castle. Then, word spread of his dabbling in sinister, arcane rituals to conjure the Devil himself. And soon, in the dead of night, villagers reported hearing screams from a high castle window.

Some say Medieval French nobleman Gilles de Rais was the first recorded serial killer in history, responsible for the gruesome torture and murder of hundreds, if not thousands, of children. Join us to find out what really happened high up in the dark towers of the Black Baron.

Exclusive bonus content:

Wondery - Ad-free & ShortHand

Patreon - Ad-free & Bonus Episodes

Follow us on social media:

YouTube

TikTok

Instagram

Visit our website:

Website

Sources available on redhandedpodcast.com

Boiled in blood, hacked at by knives, torn apart by iron dogs… the world’s religions differ on what exactly might await sinners in the afterlife. But one thing they can all agree on is that if you were naughty on Earth, you are in for one hell of a horrible time.

We take a quick tour of history’s grimmest netherzones: from freezing poison rain in the Norse Helheim, to a river of excrement, where monstrous aquatic beings eat your flesh, down in the Hindu Narakas. Welcome to Hell.

Exclusive bonus content:

Wondery - Ad-free & ShortHand

Patreon - Ad-free & Bonus Episodes

Follow us on social media:

YouTube

TikTok

Instagram

Visit our website:

Website

Sources available on redhandedpodcast.com

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In the last 13 days before Halloween, a different ShortHand will rise from the archives for 24 hours only – before disappearing back into the vault. Get exclusive access to every ShortHand episode ad free only on Amazon Music Unlimited.

--

For over a thousand years, witches were believed to be local soothsayers who used their powers for everyday charms and spells. But in the 16th and 17th centuries, Europe was suddenly gripped by a new idea: that witches were part of an organised demonic network, plotting with the devil himself to cloud the whole world in evil.

And to stop the armies of darkness, more than 200,000 people were executed across Europe for the crime of witchcraft.

In the first half of our two-parter on Europe's witch hunters, H&S look at how it grew into a state-sanctioned frenzy, why it lasted for over 200 years, and some of the more gruesome torture methods they used to extract confessions...

In part two, we take a look at how the insanity spread to the UK thanks to a paranoid new king and a 19-year-old, self-styled Witchfinder General. Plus: what really goes down at a witches’ sabbath, and why did women make up 90% of the thousands killed?

Exclusive bonus content:

Wondery - Ad-free & ShortHand

Patreon - Ad-free & Bonus Episodes

Follow us on social media:

YouTube

TikTok

Instagram

Visit our website:

Website

Sources available on redhandedpodcast.com

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

For our first of two Halloween specials we set off on a spooky adventure ghost hunting with Ghost Huns at Clophill, allegedly the one of the most haunted and evil locations in the UK. Today we’re going to tell you the dark history of Britain’s most horrifying church, including satanic rituals, and the local priest driving around with a dead woman’s bones in the back of his car.

Watch the full video of our freaky frolics here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJhcUcFOCLM

Exclusive bonus content:

Wondery - Ad-free & ShortHand

Patreon - Ad-free & Bonus Episodes

Follow us on social media:

YouTube

TikTok

Instagram

Visit our website:

Website

Sources available on redhandedpodcast.com

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In the last 13 days before Halloween, a different ShortHand will rise from the archives for 24 hours only – before disappearing back into the vault. Get exclusive access to every ShortHand episode ad free only on Amazon Music Unlimited.

--

Recorded under a full moon, RedHanded’s guide to all things lycanthropic tells the whole hairy story: from Ancient Greek tales of curses, through the gruesome wolf trials of the Middle Ages, all the way through to whatever yassified teen-heartthrob vibe we’ve got going on nowadays.

Exclusive bonus content:

Wondery - Ad-free & ShortHand

Patreon - Ad-free & Bonus Episodes

Follow us on social media:

YouTube

TikTok

Instagram

Visit our website:

Website

Sources available on redhandedpodcast.com

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The police knew their suspect was a sexual sadist – one who had trapped a young boy for days and took great pleasure in slowly, methodically, snapping every bone in his legs. What they didn’t expect was that this ghastly resident of Baraboo, Wisconsin was still just 17 years old. And it wasn’t his first time.

H&S spin the sinister tale of a twisted young psychopath, hiding in plain sight in an unassuming Midwestern town.

Exclusive bonus content:

Wondery - Ad-free & ShortHand

Patreon - Ad-free & Bonus Episodes

Follow us on social media:

YouTube

TikTok

Instagram

Visit our website:

Website

Sources available on redhandedpodcast.com

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

*Update* Ian Watkins has been stabbed to death in Wakefield Prison by two fellow inmates, on Saturday 11th November 2025. He was previously stabbed in 2023, when he was taken hostage for six hours by a group of inmates. Here is our full episode from 2019.

--

Ian Watkins was the lead singer of Welsh rock band Lostprophets. He toured all over the world, playing to sold out stadiums of adoring fans - so in 2012 when he was arrested and charged with 13 counts of child sex offences, including against a child as young as 11 months old, the world was shocked.

This is a particularly troubling case because it of course covers the abuse this depraved man doled out to incredibly young victims, but there are also deeply troubling questions raised about why authorities missed chance after chance to catch Watkins.

Exclusive bonus content:

Wondery - Ad-free & ShortHand

Patreon - Ad-free & Bonus Episodes

Follow us on social media:

YouTube

TikTok

Instagram

Visit our website:

Website

Sources available on redhandedpodcast.com

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

One of WWII’s lesser-known horrors, Japan’s secret biological warfare testing program is so brutal and inhumane that it’s hard to believe it could ever happen. And at its helm was a twisted microbiologist Shiro Ishi.

Victims, known inside as “logs”, were injected and exposed to countless pathogens including typhoid, cholera, and the plague, then watched like lab rats as they were gripped by the diseases. Even in their last moments, the poor souls stuck inside Unit 731 weren’t safe, as they were cut open and examined, while they were still alive…

Exclusive bonus content:

Wondery - Ad-free & ShortHand

Patreon - Ad-free & Bonus Episodes

Follow us on social media:

YouTube

TikTok

Instagram

Visit our website:

Website

Sources available on redhandedpodcast.com

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.