Today is Wednesday, April 20th, 2022.

On this day in 1841, a short story by Edgar Allan Poe, entitled The Murders in the Rue Morg was published.

It's heralded as the first modern detective story.

Welcome to Today in True Crime, a Spotify original from Parcast.

I'm Vanessa Richardson, and today I'm joined by our guest host Greg Poulson from serial killers.

Every week, our show dives into the minds and motives of history's most terrifying murderers.

Greg is here to discuss some of the historical aspects of today's story while I'll cover the narrative.

Thanks, Vanessa. I'm happy to be here.

Now, let's go back to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on April 20th, 1841. A brand new issue of Graham's magazine was fresh off the press with a short story from the now renowned writer, Edgar Allan Poe.

He was not a particularly famous writer in his time,

but he did spark a new genre of storytelling

almost instantly after the murders in the Rue Morg.

In the story, a double homicide is discovered

in the locked room of a fourth-story apartment.

Large sums of money are also found, ruling out the most likely motive, robbery.

Reclusive detective, Si Auguste Dupin reads about the crime in the newspaper

and decides to investigate, along with his sidekick.

Witnesses who overheard the altercation claimed the killer was speaking a strange foreign language.

DuPin goes on to discover a broken nail

near one of the windows and strange hairs in the room.

He deduces that the nail came from a supposedly sealed window

from which the killer could have escaped.

...