On the night of March 9, 1963, officers Karl Hettinger and Ian Campbell made a traffic stop on the corner of Carlos Avenue and Gower Street and Hollywood. Early that day, the officers had been instructed to seek out and bust anyone they suspected of being engaged in gay sexual activity, and that night they were confident they’d found two men that fit the bill. However, after Campbell instructed both men to step out of the car, the driver, Gregory Powell, pulled out a pistol and held it on Campbell, effectively disarming him, while other man, Jimmy Smith, disarmed Hettinger. The two officers were then forced into Powell’s car and driven more than one hundred miles away, where they executed Ian Campbell, while Hettinger escaped into a nearby onion field and managed to find help at the home of a farmer.

The murder of Ian Campbell in the onion field shocked residents of California, not only because it was so cold-blooded, but also because of how the incident unfolded. By yielding to the demands of their hostage taker and handing over his gun, many people felt that Hettinger was at least partially responsible for Campbell’s death. Powell and Smith were quickly captured, tried, and convicted for the murder, but the consequences of that night in the onion field would have a profound and lasting effect on police policy all over the country for years to come.

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Associated Press. 1963. "2 policemen are kidnapped; 1 is slain." Sacramento Bee, 03 11: 1.

Los Angeles Times. 1963. "Cold-blooded slaying of detective re-enacted." Los Angeles Times, March 12: 1.

—. 1963. "Officer slain by accident, says former convict." Los Angeles Times, August 21: 27.

—. 1963. "Pair guilty of slaying policeman." Los Angeles Times, September 5: 1.

—. 1963. "Partner of murdered officer tells of ordeal." Los Angeles Times, March 20: 29.

Malnic, Eric. 1994. "Karl Hettinger; survived 1963 'Onion Field' attack." Los Angeles Times, May 5: A32.

The People v. Gregory Ulas Powell and Jimmy Lee Smith. 1967. 7739 (Supreme Court of California, July 18).

Turan, Kenneth. 1979. "The Onion Field caper." Washington Post, October 13.

United Press International. 1963. "2 thugs admit kidnap-killing." New York Times, March 12: 4.

Waldie, D.J. 2013. "The Onion Field at 50: 'This is about the tragedy of police work'." PBS SoCal, March 11.

Wambaugh, Joseph. 1973.

The Onion Field.

New York, NY: Dell Publishing.

Cowritten by Alaina Urquhart, Ash Kelley & Dave White (Since 10/2022)

Produced & Edited by Mikie Sirois (Since 2023)

Research by Dave White (Since 10/2022), Alaina Urquhart & Ash Kelley

Listener Correspondence & Collaboration by Debra Lally

Listener Tale Video Edited by Aidan McElman (Since 6/2025)

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When Ron and Nancy Stallings found the old Victorian on Evergreen Street in Baltimore, they thought their dreams had come true. With each bringing three kids from a previous marriage into the relationship, they needed to find a house large enough to accommodate their large family, but their limited income made that seem impossible. So, when they learned that the house was being offered at a bargain price, Ron and Nancy didn’t hesitate to put in an offer—a decision they would soon come to regret.

In the years that the Stallings family occupied the home on Evergreen Street, they encountered a variety of paranormal activity, from the faucets and lights turning themselves on and off to the disembodied voices and apparitions of strangers in the home. Rather than be captives in their home to forces they could neither fight nor understand, Ron and Nancy decided to take action to rid themselves of the other worldly presence, but quickly realized they were woefully unprepared for the battle that lay before them.

References

Amodio, Joe. 2005. Echoes from the Grave. Directed by Stuart Taylor. Produced by New Dominion Pictures.

Constable, Pamela. 1979. "Psychics tell of UFO trips, ghiost hunts." Baltimore Sun, February 4: 201.

Geiselman, A.W. 1968. "Weird home happenings plaguing family of 9." The Evening Sun (Baltimore, MD), August 2: C24.

Stallings, Nancy. 1996. Show Me One Soul: A True Haunting. Baltimore, MD: Noble House.

Cowritten by Alaina Urquhart, Ash Kelley & Dave White (Since 10/2022)

Produced & Edited by Mikie Sirois (Since 2023)

Research by Dave White (Since 10/2022), Alaina Urquhart & Ash Kelley

Listener Correspondence & Collaboration by Debra Lally

Listener Tale Video Edited by Aidan McElman (Since 6/2025)

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On the morning of January 31, 1857, the body of Dr. Harvey Burdell was discovered in his Manhattan townhouse with fifteen stab wounds, and his killer had also strangled him to guarantee his death. Suspicion quickly fell to one of Burdell’s tenants, thirty-nine-year-old mother of four Emma Cunningham. A few days after Burdell’s death, Emma presented herself as his wife and attempted to collect his estate worth $100,000, but before she could get her hands on the money, Emma was indicted for Burdell’s murder.

The coroner’s inquest and Emma’s subsequent murder trial dominated the front pages—and then some—of nearly every newspaper in and around New York for weeks and was the “trial of the century” long before the term was even coined. Yet as sensational as it all was, there was no physical evidence tying Emma to the crime and the prosecution’s only argument was that the killer was left-handed and so was Emma Cunningham. Despite the lurid details of affairs, multiple abortions, and constant domestic violence, without evidence the jury moved to acquit Emma after deliberating for just two hours.

The story should have ended with the acquittal, but Emma wasn’t content to walk away with just her freedom; she still believed she was entitled to Burdell’s estate, and she intended to get it one way or another. What followed was a protracted battle for Burdell’s money and property that took place in the courts and the press, with a variety of antics that ranged from forging marriage documents to faking a pregnancy and even buying an infant that, when all was said and done, would end up in P.T. Barnum’s sideshow.

Feldman, Benjamin. 2007. Butchery on Bond Street: Sexual Politics and The Burdell-Cunningham Case in Ante-bellum New York. New York, NY: Wanderer Press.

Kappman, Edward W. 1994. Great American Trials. Detroit, MI: Gale.

New York Daily Herald. 1857. "Horrible and Mysterious Murder in Bond Street." New York Daily Herald, February 2: 1.

—. 1857. "The Bond Street tragedy; the close of the investigation." New York Daily Herald, February 16: 1.

New York Daily Times. 1857. "The Burdell murder: Second Day." New York Daily Times, May 6: 1.

—. 1857. "The Burdell murder; Dr. Carnochan's testimony." New York Daily Times, May 8: 1.

New York Times. 1857. "Terrible Tragedy." New York Times, February 2: 1.

—. 1857. "The Bond Street murder still a mystery." New York Times, February 7: 1.

—. 1857. "The Bond-Street murder; John J. Eckel and Mrs. Cunningham indicted." New York Times, February 23: 5.

Serratore, Angela. 2013.

The Desperate Would-be Housewife of New York.

June 13. Accessed November 13, 2023. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-desperate-would-be-housewife-of-new-york-140748/.

Cowritten by Alaina Urquhart, Ash Kelley & Dave White (Since 10/2022)

Produced & Edited by Mikie Sirois (Since 2023)

Research by Dave White (Since 10/2022), Alaina Urquhart & Ash Kelley

Listener Correspondence & Collaboration by Debra Lally

Listener Tale Video Edited by Aidan McElman (Since 6/2025)

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