Twisted Roots: A Genealogist's True Crime Podcast

07/12/2025

Hello all! I just wanted to give an update. As I'm sure you've noticed, I've not been able to post for a while - but Twisted Roots isn't gone. With our current political climate, and some personal things, I haven't been able to focus on new episodes as I had hoped. The website and channel are still up and I will continue to update with documentation of past episodes, I also still want to finish the Jack the Ripper series and I have a long list of other stories that I want to tell in the future - hopefully the near future.

For the time being, I've decided to shut down the "Buy Me a Coffee" subscriptions. You'll never know how much your support has meant to me, but I feel bad continuing them when I can't guarantee when the next episode will be released.

Future updates will be posted here. Thank you!

03/27/2025

The next episode of Twisted Roots! This one is short, but I'm hoping to get the next one out this weekend, the next instalment of the Jack the Ripper Files.

In this brief but difficult episode of Twisted Roots, we share yet another family massacre in our archive.

03/08/2025

I just wanted to share this page that I put together just for the crime scene of the murder of Mary Ann Nichols, victim of Jack the Ripper.

This was interesting to research and find a highly accurate artists rendering that must have been done on the scene. I've also included several maps to show how the immediate area has changed over the years and up to the present day.

Back to: The Wiki; Documentation; Locations; Crime Scene Map Episode: Jack the Ripper Files: Mary Ann Nichols In 1888 Buck’s Row (now Durward St) ran between Brady St at the east end and Thom…

03/07/2025

The episode "Jack the Ripper Files: Mary Ann Nichols" has been re-edited and added to the new website with documentation. Slowly but surely getting all of the old episodes back while researching new ones. Should have another new story this weekend and am working on the next Jack the Ripper installment among others.

This episode marks the beginning of our Jack the Ripper Files. Periodic future episodes will be dedicated to each of the victims and suspects of the infamous Jack the Ripper murders that took place…

02/11/2025

New episode has dropped!

One day in 1907, a man walks into a bar on a routine work round and is thrown into a coma, never to awake again. He was “the best man in the world”, according to his wife and young son…

02/10/2025

01/20/2025

Love the pups hanging out!

This photo from 1902 shows French knife grinders. They would work on their stomachs in order to save their backs from being hunched all day. (France 1902).

01/20/2025

Doing some research and for an upcoming episode and happened across this interesting bit of information. The 1910 City Directory for Cleveland, Ohio included a extensive list of "Automobile Owners" including their license plate number and the type of vehicle - gasoline, steam, or electric! Unfortunately the list is not in alphabetical order, but numerical by license plate.

Link on Ancestry: https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/2469/records/1104515066?tid=&pid=&queryId=65fc65a9-fed4-460d-9e43-ebc4006a32b6&_phsrc=EGE2744&_phstart=successSource

01/19/2025

Published in the Cleveland Plain Dealer - 27 Sep 1913. A look at "modern" high schoolers a little over a century ago.

01/14/2025

https://www.newspapers.com/image/558724600/
The Hanford Sentinel - 7 May 1931

The cat for the win!!