401: The First Forensic Hanging w/ Summer Strevens

Most Notorious! A True Crime History Podcast

Erik Rivenes

True Crime, History, Education

4.7 • 2.8K Ratings

🗓️ 13 August 2025

⏱️ 53 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The First Forensic Hanging: The Toxic Truth That Killed Mary Blandy by Summer Strevens tells the story of Mary Blandy, executed in 1752 for poisoning her father Frances Blandy with arsenic. Her trial was the first in Britain to use toxicology as evidence in an arsenic poisoning case, marking a turning point in forensic history. Drawing on period newspapers and court records, Strevens unpacks the trial, the intense public fascination, and the shadowy role of Blandy’s lover, Captain William Cranstoun, whose influence and possible manipulation may have led her down the path to the gallows. More about the book on the author's website: https://www.summerstrevens.com/ Purchase the book on Amazon here. (affiliate link) Disclosure: Some links above are affiliate links. If you purchase through these links, we may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, this is Matt from the Explorers podcast.
0:08.0	I want to invite you to join me on the voyages and journeys of the most famous explorers
0:11.9	in the history of the world.
0:13.7	These are the thrilling and captivating stories of Magellan, Shackleton, Lewis, and Clark,
0:18.4	and so many other famous and not so famous adventures from throughout history.
0:22.8	Go to Explorespodcast.com or just look us up on your podcast app.
0:27.0	That's the Explorers Podcast.
0:28.3	That's the Explorers Podcast. Welcome, everyone to another episode of the Most Notorious podcast. I'm Eric Rivenis. Great to have you with me.
1:03.5	Well, my guest today is direct from the UK, Summer Strevins. She has had a lifelong interest in historical research. She has written numerous
1:14.5	books of historical interest, including York, Murder and Crime, the Yorkshire Witch,
1:22.2	the life and trial of Mary Bateman, and burned at the stake, the life and death of Mary Channing.
1:29.7	And she joins me to talk about her most recent book.
1:33.0	It is called The First Forensic Hanging, The Toxic Truth That Killed Mary Blandy.
1:41.4	Great to have you on the show.
1:43.3	Thank you for coming on.
1:45.5	Thank you very much, Eric. Thank you very much for inviting me.
1:49.2	Yeah. So what first got you interested in the Mary Blandy murder case?
1:55.6	Okay, so, as you said, abiding passion with history, I found Mary, Mary Blandi, very, very interesting,
2:04.2	off the bank of two other biographies I'd written previously,
2:07.7	about 18th century female poisonous.
2:11.2	I had to say at this point that nobody seems to want to accept my dinner for
2:14.5	invitations anymore.
	...

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