Old Blood
The historical true-crime podcast that uncovers old blood with each new episode. Join us as a historian investigates history's most fascinating cases of true crime.
Old Blood
The Sausage King & the Vat of Phat
In 1897, sausage sales plummeted after the wife of the so-called Sausage King suddenly went missing. Chicago police investigated the factory and a mysterious vat filled with reddish-brown slime. Did the wife run away? Was she ground into sausages? Or perhaps something worse?
Sources:
Duke, Thomas Samuel. Celebrated Criminal Cases of America (San Francisco: The James H Barry Company, 1910).
"Ghost Supply Thrills for Chicago Flat Dwellers." The Sun, August 31, 1913. p. 14
Loerzel, Robert. Alchemy of Bones: Chicago's Luetgert Murder Case of 1897 (Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2003). (And alchemyofbones.com)
“Sausage Vat Murder.” Chicagology. https://chicagology.com/notorious-chicago/sausagevatmurder/.
Schechter, Harold. "The 'Sausage Vat Murder,' 1897: Notes on a Killing." The Yale Review. 18 February, 2019. https://yalereview.org/article/sausage-vat-murder-1897
"The Sausage Vat Murder." Murder By Gaslight. 20 November, 2009. http://www.murderbygaslight.com/2009/11/luise-luetgert-sausage-vat-murder.html
Music: Credits to David Fesilyan
For more information, visit www.oldbloodpodcast.com