Dan MedeirosThe Herald News
Fall River’s history is full of fascinating stories and legends — sometimes stories that become legends.
You can’t beat the value of podcasts when it comes to getting bite-sized bits of history. Most podcasts are free, they're educational and entertaining, and as close as your smartphone. Podcasts are what makes a commute bearable, keep you company during a walk or at the gym, or transport you to the depths of your imagination while doing chores around the house.
Here are 11-plus podcast episodes about Fall River to keep your ears occupied.
Swindled: Jasiel Correia
This show, hosted by an anonymous man known only as A Concerned Citizen, looks at con artists and white collar crime. Episode 111 tells the story of former Fall River mayor Jasiel Correia, currently serving a six-year federal prison sentence for defrauding investors in a smartphone app and extorting business owners looking to open pot shops.
Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or on its website.
Tenfold More Wicked: Tragedies in Fall River history
Host Kate Winkler Dawson, a journalist and true crime author, ties together several horrific episodes from Fall River’s history, including the Great Fire, Lizzie Borden and the Satanic Panic, into a six-episode season titled “A Blessing and a Curse.”
Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or on its website.
True crime tales: From body parts in Tiverton to murderous moms, local mysteries unsolved
You’re Wrong About: Lizzie Borden
Writer Sarah Marshall’s show goes below the surface of urban myths and stories commonly told in the media to reveal what's underneath. In this episode, she’s joined by YouTuber Princess Weekes, who explains the story of Lizzie Borden beyond the “40 whacks” nursery rhyme.
Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or on its website.
Lizzie Borden Podcast: Fall River history
Hosted by local author and historian Stef Koorey, this deeply researched show talks to writers, historians about all kinds of topics from SouthCoast history — from our city’s devastating fires to in-depth primers on what’s fact about Lizzie Borden and what’s fiction.
Find the Lizzie Borden Podcast on YouTube.
More true crime tales: Poisoned Jell-O, a killer mom, and a career-criminal murderer
Crime Junkie: Lizzie Borden
Ashley Flowers and Brit Prawat host this engaging look at the macabre, investigating serial killers, kidnappings, online scams and unsolved mysteries throughout history. Their episode “Infamous” is a brief look into the Borden murders, one of the most notorious cold cases of all time.
Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on its website.
Lights Out: The Carl Drew and Robin Murphy killings
The gruesome killings of Doreen Levesque, Barbara Raposa and Karen Marsden in Fall River in 1979 and 1980 fed into a moral panic about Satanism sweeping the nation at the time. Lights Out tells horrifying stories of cults, demonic possessions, exorcisms and other unsavory topics.
Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on its website.
Is Fall River cursed? Podcast Tenfold More Wicked investigates city's true crime tales
RedHanded: The Carl Drew and Robin Murphy killings
Hosts Hannah Maguire and Suruthi Bala create this podcast, an audience-beloved, award-winning British show that they say delivers “a weekly dose of murder, wit and 'WTFs,’" with topics as varied as Atlantis, Aleister Crowley and British cryptids. They also had an episode investigating the triple homicide that shook the SouthCoast.
Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on its website.
Spooky Southcoast: The paranormal
This show moves far, far beyond true crime to explore the supernatural — everything from vampires and Bigfoot to the Bridgewater Triangle — with a distinct southeastern New England flavor. Tim Weisberg hosts the show.
Listen to it on Apple Podcasts or YouTube.
Stuff You Missed in History Class: King Philip’s War
This long-running show hosted by Tracy V. Wilson and Holly Frey on the iHeartRadio network has a more grounded basis in history, with an emphasis on the unusual. They have an episode on Lizzie Borden (of course), and another on King Philip’s War, a little-appreciated chapter in America’s early history that took place in our backyards.
Listen to it on Apple Podcasts or iHeartRadio.
Last Podcast on the Left: Lizzie Borden two-parter
One of the definitive true-crime podcasts, LPOTL needed more than one episode to dig into the story of Lizzie Borden. The episodes get into not only the backstory and the crime and the media sensation surrounding the trial but the Bertha Manchester axe murder case in 1893.
Listen to it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, on YouTube, or on its website.
Ever heard of it? It's Called Culture podcast explores, celebrates growing up Portuguese and millennial
It’s Called Culture: Fall River and Portuguese culture
Lifelong friends and Fall River natives Kelly Ferreira and Melissa Cole have been podcasting since 2022, sharing stories of growing up millennial in the Fall River area, with a specific focus on the quirks of their Portuguese heritage. In between, they discuss all sorts of topics, all with a light touch and SouthCoast flavor.
Listen to it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on its website.
Dan Medeiros can be reached atdmedeiros@heraldnews.com. Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to The Herald News today.
