Poison and Poisonability

Sidedoor

Smithsonian Institution

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4.7 • 2.1K Ratings

🗓️ 5 March 2025

⏱️ 36 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

When we think of serial killers, we tend to think of men—Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, Jack the Ripper. But in the 1800s, the deadliest killers often wore corsets. In fact, so many women were arrested for serial poisoning that the era became known as the “Golden Age of Arsenic.” Journey back in time to trace the crimes of Lydia Sherman, a Victorian Era femme fatale who left a trail of bodies in her wake. How did she — and women like her — evade capture for so long? And how did their murders help give rise to modern criminal forensics?

Guests:

Kristen Frederick-Frost, curator of science at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History

Lisa Perrin, author and illustrator of The League of Lady Poisoners

Deborah Blum, author of The Poisoner's Handbook. Director of the Knight Science Journalism Program at MIT.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey there, accomplices. I mean, it's adorable.
0:03.5	Today's episode is all about poison and murder.
0:07.4	Fascinating subjects for adults, but maybe not appropriate for children.
0:12.1	So, proceed if you dare.
0:14.6	But remember, I warned you.
0:16.3	Thank you. This is Side Door, a podcast from the Smithsonian with support from PRX.
0:30.5	I'm Lizzie Peabody.
0:47.7	On a warm summer morning in the small town of Derby, Connecticut, Horatio Sherman woke up, drenched in sweat.
0:58.8	He had an upset stomach. He had a sore throat. He had a pinkling in his hands and feet, he just felt like crap.
1:07.9	Deborah Bloom is director of the night science journalism program at MIT, and she says Horatio was having a rough go of it.
1:09.9	He was middle-aged and widowed.
1:12.5	His two children, Ada and Frankie,
1:15.5	had tragically gotten sick and died months before.
1:20.1	It was 1871, so not uncommon for children to die of illness.
1:25.4	But still, here he was, grief-stricken, and now sick too.
1:34.8	There was some speculation at the time that he had been drinking heavily following the illnesses and deaths of his children.
1:37.5	Was Horatio going a little too hard on the brandy?
1:40.4	Is that why he felt so bad?
1:42.2	Or had he caught the same illness as his kids? He never knew the answer.
1:47.8	Shortly after waking up sick, Horatio Sherman died. And as the doctor looked up from the dead man's
1:54.1	bedside and nodded a solemn confirmation to the housekeeper standing by, He paused. Something was fishy.
2:04.1	One of the things that stands out in this case is that the baby dies, the little girl
	...

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