History's Devils
What makes someone evil?
HISTORY'S DEVILS is a weekly deep-dive podcast that investigates the world's most infamous historical figures. Each episode explores the life, actions, and legacy of a terrible person from history, sorting through myths to examine the facts behind their reputation and to judge just how wicked they truly were.
Hosted by Professor James Crossland, HISTORY'S DEVILS covers dictators, tyrants, war criminals, cult leaders, revolutionaries, con-artists, conspiracy theorists and just plain terrible people, combining deep research with compelling storytelling to reveal the darker side of human history.
A show for fans of dark history, historical biographies and in-depth explorations of people who changed the world for better - or for worse.
All the devils are here. And we are ready to tell their stories.
History's Devils
Latest Episodes
The USS Indianapolis Disaster, Pt.2 - How The US Navy Sent 800 Sailors to their Deaths and Scapegoated a Captain
The second part of History’s Devils’ investigation into the sinking of USS Indianapolis examines why more than 800 sailors were left in the Pacific for four days after the Japanese submarine I-58 torpedoed the cruiser in July 1945. James is joi...
The USS Indianapolis Disaster, Pt.1 - A Secret Mission, A Submarine and the Worst Shark Attack in History
In the final weeks of the Second World War, the USS Indianapolis secretly transported components for the "Little Boy" atomic bomb from San Francisco to Tinian Island, for assembly ahead of it being dropped over Hiroshima. After completing its m...
Jim Bakker Part 2: From Selling Apocalypse to Grifting COVID
In episode two, James and Jayne discuss how Jim Bakker's evangelical empire reaches its peak in the 1980s with the PTL network and Heritage USA, but reckless spending, fraudulent fundraising and the sexual assault of Jessica Hahn expose the cor...
Jim Bakker Part 1: The Rise of America's Most Shameless TV Evangelist
In part one of this week’s episode, James Crossland and Jayne Friend examine the foremost religious grifter of his age – Jim Bakker, and his marriage to the charismatic Tammy Faye Messner, who together created a TV partnership that would make t...
Heroes of the Old West? The Dark Side of Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday
Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday are remembered as legendary lawmen and gunfighters of the American Old West, but their real lives were far more complicated than the heroic images created by films such as Tombstone?In this week's epi...
