S4 Ep30: The Pastor and His Mistress: The Scandalous Hall-Mills Murder

Crimes of the Centuries

Amber Hunt and Audioboom

True Crime, Documentary, Society & Culture, History

4.6 • 3.8K Ratings

🗓️ 14 October 2024

⏱️ 50 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The town of New Brunswick, New Jersey, was rocked by the discovery of two bodies beneath a crabapple tree in September 1922. The remains belonged to Edward Hall, a local pastor, and Eleanor Mills, a member of the church's choir. The two were found entwined beneath the tree -- an odd positioning considering they'd both been married to other people. Suspicion soon fell as the lovers' spouses, turning the tawdry tale into a media circus that went far beyond the tabloids.

"Crimes of the Centuries" is a podcast from Grab Bag Collab exploring forgotten crimes from times past that made a mark and helped change history. You can get early and ad-free episodes on the Grab Bag Patreon page.
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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey true crime fans, tired of ads interrupting your gripping investigations.
0:04.5	Good news. With Amazon Music, you have access to the largest catalogue of ad-free top podcasts
0:10.3	included with your Prime membership. After all, ads shouldn't be the scariest thing about true crime.
0:16.0	To start listening, download the Amazon music app for free
0:19.0	or go to Amazon.co. UK slash ad-free podcasts. That's Amazon. That's Amazon.
0:23.4	That's Amazon.
0:24.4	K.k.
0:25.1	slash ad-free podcasts to catch up on the latest episodes without the ads. Some crimes are so heartbreaking or shocking that they change laws, change society or even earn the label Crime of the Century.
0:47.0	But the stories that made headlines in decades past aren't necessarily remembered today.
0:53.0	I'm Amber Hunt, a journalist and author,
0:56.0	and in each episode of this show,
0:58.0	I'll examine a case that's maybe lesser known today
1:01.0	but was huge when it happened.
1:05.0	This is crimes of the centuries. The The little crab apple tree under which the dead lovers had been found was now stripped bare, not a leaf remained.
1:37.0	It all been snatched by souvenir hunters looking for a small piece of one of the biggest puzzles in the new century.
1:45.0	It was certainly the biggest in these parts, heck in most parts.
1:50.0	Because this was 1922 and this double murder jumped to the top of the public interest scale,
1:56.6	driven as much by the shocking homicides as by the resultant newspaper war it spawned. The prize the
2:04.1	newspaper war it spawned. The prize for the papers was better circulation and
2:07.4	must-read status based almost entirely on the amount of titillation and
2:12.2	scandal it could dish.
2:14.0	Complete with high concept graphics, maps, confessions, illustrations,
	...

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