Fritz Haarmann: The Vampire of Hanover

Dark Histories

Ben Cutmore

History

4.8 • 2.2K Ratings

🗓️ 28 April 2024

⏱️ 63 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Following the first world war, Germany, having never found its feet economically throughout the conflict, now found itself crumbling under the further weight of heavy reparations. Many of those that had survived the fighting found themselves in a desperate state, carrying out all sorts of underground, legally dubious, or just straight up illegal activities, in order to get by. There were some that thrived in the lawless environment, profiteering from others misfortune, and then there were others, a very select few, who not only thrived, but positively excelled at breaking the law, and amongst those, there were one or two who did so in some very dark ways. Friedrich Haarmann was one such individual. Trading used clothing by day, he carried out a series of brutal murders that would earn him the monikers of “The Butcher of Hanover,” “The Wolf Man,” and “The Vampire of Hanover.” Perhaps even more frightening than his nicknames, was the attitude of the man himself, who once told a shocked audience, “Oh believe me, I’m not ill, it’s only that I occasionally have funny turns.” SOURCES Theodor, Lessing (1925) Monsters of Weimar. Haarmann - The Story of a Werewolf. Nemesis Books, London, UK. Daily News (1924) Behead Me! Vampire Slayer Cries, Raving, Tossing In Cell. Daily News, Sun 13 July 1924, p36. NY, USA The Muncie Morning Star (1925) Germany To Behead Both Murderers. The Muncie Morning Star, Fri 6 Feb 1925, p1. IN, USA. ------- This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp, check out betterhelp.com/darkhistories to get 10% off your first month. ------- 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.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Following the first world war, Germany, having never found its feet economically throughout the conflict,
0:05.2	now found itself crumbling under the further weight of heavy reparations.
0:09.2	Many of those that had survived the fighting found themselves in a desperate state, carrying out all sorts of underground,
0:15.3	legally dubious, or to straight up illegal activities in order just to get by.
0:20.2	There was some that thrived in the lawless environment profiteering from others misfortune and then there were others a very select view who not only thrived but positively excelled at breaking the law and those, there were one or two who did so in some very dark ways.
0:37.0	Friedrich Harmon was one such individual.
0:40.0	Trading used clothing by day, he carried out a series of brutal murders that would earn him the
0:45.3	monarchers of the butcher of Hanover, the wolf man, and the vampire of Hanover.
0:51.2	Perhaps even more frightened than his nicknames was the attitude of the man himself
0:54.8	who once told a shocked audience oh believe me I'm not ill it's only that I occasionally
1:00.5	have funny turns this is dark histories where the facts are worst in fiction.
1:08.0	Hello and welcome to Dark Histories, 8, episode 9.
1:12.5	I literally just looked that up and I've almost forgotten already.
1:16.1	I think it's episode 9, pretty sure it's episode 9.
1:18.9	It's good to be back.
1:20.3	Just a quick shout out, thank you for all the messages from people sending condolences about the cat.
1:26.4	It's very kind and thoughtful. Yeah, it's very nice. Thank you very much for all those messages.
1:34.0	We're back for the bang today. I do want to give a quick just sort of content warning I guess for this episode.
1:39.0	I don't normally do these.
1:41.0	I generally tend to think, you you know it's a podcast called
1:43.7	Dark Histories we're all adults we know what we're getting into but but with this one
1:47.9	with the subject matter there is a quote later on in the episode that is particularly difficult probably for if you're
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in -254 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Ben Cutmore, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Ben Cutmore and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.