Phantasmal Crime 44 - The Mysterious Death of Thelma Todd

History Goes Bump: Ghost Tours For The Mind

Diane Student

Travel, History, Places & Travel, Paranormal, Haunted, Society & Culture, Ghosts

4.6 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 6 May 2025

⏱️ 33 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Old Hollywood and mysterious deaths seem to go hand in hand, whether it's the case of the Black Dahlia or the mysterious "suicides" of Marilyn Monroe and George Reeves. In the same vein as the mysterious suicides of the latter stars, comes the tale of the mysterious death of movie star Thelma Todd. It is a story that contains all the elements of a perfect Hollywood drama: fame, fortune, gangsters, love and betrayal. Was she murdered, did she die by accident or did she die at her own hand? Whatever the truth may be, her spirit is at unrest.

Intro and Outro music: Bad Players - Licensed under a non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-assignable, single-site, worldwide, royalty-free license agreement with Muse Music c/o Groove Studios.

The following music was also used:

Music: Silent Movie 44, Silent Movie 45 and Story of a Story by Sascha Ende
Link: https://filmmusic.io/en/song/12462-silent-movie-44
Link: https://filmmusic.io/en/song/12463-silent-movie-45
Link: https://filmmusic.io/en/song/12694-story-of-a-story

Transcript

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0:00.0	Listener discretion is advised.
0:14.1	True crime can be strangely fascinating.
0:17.9	This true crime is odd, macab, and haunted. I'm Diane, your guide into the shadows. Welcome
0:25.6	to Phantasmal Crime. The Herald's cover story read, if her death was accidental, it was as strange an
0:37.1	accident as was ever conceived by the
0:39.5	brain of Poe. Old Hollywood and mysterious deaths seem to go hand in hand, whether it's the case of the
0:51.4	Black Dahlia or the mysterious suicides of Marilyn Monroe and George Reeves.
0:55.9	In the same vein as the mysterious suicides of the latter stars
0:59.4	comes the tale of the mysterious death of movie star Thelma Todd.
1:04.1	It is a story that contains all the elements of a perfect Hollywood drama.
1:08.5	Fame, fortune, gangsters, love, and betrayal. Was she murdered? Did she die by
1:14.4	accident? Or did she die at her own hand? Whatever the truth may be, her spirit is at unrest.
1:24.7	Blonde bombshells in Hollywood. They went together well in Hollywood's golden age, but many of those stories ended in heartbreak or tragedy.
1:34.4	Thelma Todd was one of those promising starlets who came to an unhappy end and what has become one of Hollywood's enduring mysteries.
1:42.5	You possibly have never heard her name, but she became famous in the world of
1:46.2	comedy. Her life was more colorful than most, but began with humble beginnings. She was born as Thelma
1:52.6	Alice Todd, Irishman John Todd, and his Canadian wife, Alice, in Massachusetts on July 29, 1906.
2:00.1	The couple already had a son named William, but Thelma wouldn't
2:03.1	really remember her brother as he died in 1910 when she was only four. This would be the first
2:08.5	broken patch in her road. William was seven when the family visited a creamery in New Hampshire.
2:14.0	An industrial accident in the form of a broken flywheel would bring William's life to an end as he was
2:19.1	struck by a flying piece. Thelma's father had immigrated to America when he was 12, and he and a brother
	...

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