Edward Leonski The Brownout Strangler

Dark Histories

Ben Cutmore

History

4.8 • 2.2K Ratings

🗓️ 6 March 2025

⏱️ 81 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

By the time Japanese launched their air attack force on the US Naval base of Pearl Harbour, in Hawaii, raining down a hail of metal from the Pacific sky, the US had already been quietly preparing an Oceania invasion force, flooding troops into hastily prepared Army bases in Eastern Australia. With over a million American troops passing through the country, statistics might suggest that some would have been less desirable guests than others. The frightening reality that at least one would turn out to be a serial killer was a different matter entirely, a reality that certainly seemed to catch both the Americans and the Australians equally by surprise. SOURCES Shaw, Ian (2018) Murder at Dusk: How US soldier and smiling psychopath Eddie Leonski terrorised wartime Melbourne. Hachette Australia, Sydney, Australia. The Argus (1942) Murdered Woman in Doorway. The Argus, Mon 4 May, p3. Melbourne, Australia. The Sun News Pictorial (1942) Albert Park Doorway Discovery. The Sun News Pictorial, Mon 4 May, p3. Melbourne, Australia. Brisbane Telegraph (1950) The Brownout Killer. Brisbane Telegraph, Fri 16 Jun, p.5. Brisbane, Australia. The Kalgoorlie Miner (1942) Melbourne Murder. The Kalgoorlie Miner, Mon 11 May, p.3. Kalgoorlie, Australia. The Sun (1942) Melbourne Police Hunt Brownout Strangler. The Sun, Wed 20 May, p.3. Sydney, Australia. Brisbane Telegraph (1942) Leonski Hanged. Brisbane Telegraph, Mon 9 Nov, p.6. Brisbane, Australia. ------- For almost anything, head over to the podcasts hub at darkhistories.com Support the show by using our link when you sign up to Audible: http://audibletrial.com/darkhistories or visit our Patreon for bonus episodes and Early Access: https://www.patreon.com/darkhistories The Dark Histories books are available to buy here: http://author.to/darkhistories Dark Histories merch is available here: https://bit.ly/3GChjk9 Connect with us on Facebook: http://facebook.com/darkhistoriespodcast Or find us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/darkhistories & Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dark_histories/ Or you can contact us directly via email at [email protected] or join our Discord community: https://discord.gg/cmGcBFf The Dark Histories Butterfly was drawn by Courtney, who you can find on Instagram @bewildereye Music was recorded by me © Ben Cutmore 2017 Other Outro music was Paul Whiteman & his orchestra with Mildred Bailey - All of me (1931). It's out of copyright now, but if you're interested, that was that. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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0:30.1	I hate most business podcasts.
0:32.7	It's all blah, blah, blah.
0:34.1	Tell me your background.
0:35.3	Now, nobody has time for that.
0:37.2	I'm Jason Fiver,
0:38.2	editor-in-chief of Entrepreneur Magazine, and host of the podcast Problem Solvers. So I know you are
0:44.0	busy running a business and you just need answers, and I find them. Want to increase trust as a
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0:54.7	in-house productivity expert. Straight to the point, 30 minutes or less, just search for problem
0:59.3	solvers. By the time the Japanese launched their air attack force on the US naval base of Pearl Harbor
1:06.2	in Hawaii, raining down a hail of metal from the Pacific sky, the US had already been quietly preparing
1:13.1	an Oceania invasion force flooding troops into hastily prepared army bases in eastern Australia.
1:20.0	With over a million American troops passing through the country, statistics might suggest
1:24.7	that some would have been less desirable guests than others.
1:28.7	The frightening reality that at least one would turn out to be a serial killer
1:32.9	was a different matter entirely,
1:35.6	a reality that certainly seemed to catch both the Americans and the Australians equally by surprise.
1:43.4	This is Dark Histories, where the facts are worse than fiction.
1:52.6	Hello and welcome to Dark History, Season 9, Episode 4.
	...

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