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Last Embers

Last Embers

Written by: HustleStudios
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About the Podcast:

As the sun dips below the tree line and the shadows begin to stretch, the real stories come alive. Welcome to Last Embers. Every week, four lifelong friends pull up a log, stoke the flames, and dive deep into the darkness. Inspired by the classic, nostalgic mystery of retro pulp paperbacks, this podcast is an open invitation to sit by the fire and talk about the things that keep us up at night. From spine-chilling local lore and forgotten historical tragedies to personal encounters with the unexplained, no topic is off-limits when the woods grow quiet. It’s part casual late-night chat, part deep-dive into the eerie and unknown—delivered with the warmth of a crackling fire and the lingering dread of what might be watching from the tree line.

What to Expect:
  • The Campfire Atmosphere: Pull up a seat and feel like you're right there in the woods, listening to friends share unsettling truths.
  • Mystery & History: Unpacking classic urban legends, dark folklore, and the bizarre mysteries that history tried to forget.
  • The Unknown: Candid, unfiltered conversations about the paranormal, the psychological, and the weird anomalies of our world.
"The fire might be dying, but the stories are just warming up."Grab a blanket, lean in close, and listen to the Last Embers. Because when the light fades, the truth crawls out.HustleStudios Social Sciences
Episodes
  • H.H. Holmes: The Murder Castle

    H.H. Holmes: The Murder Castle
    Jun 30 2026
    # Episode 10 — H.H. Holmes: The Murder Castle**Show Notes**---## Episode OverviewPaul brings the fire tonight with the terrifying true story of Herman Webster Mudgett — better known as Dr. H.H. Holmes, America's first documented serial killer. From his arrival in Chicago during the 1893 World's Fair to the construction of his infamous "Murder Castle," we explore how a charming con artist built a hotel of nightmares designed for one purpose: murder. With hidden rooms, secret passages, and a gas delivery system connected to guest chambers, Holmes turned trust into a weapon and profit into a motive for killing.---## Timestamps- **[00:00]** Introduction — Paul welcomes listeners to the darkest chapter in American history- **[02:00]** The World Columbian Exposition of 1893 — Chicago's magical "White City"- **[05:00]** Herman Webster Mudgett's arrival — a man with a trail of broken marriages and swindled businesses- **[08:00]** The transformation into Dr. H.H. Holmes- **[12:00]** Building the Murder Castle — Chicago's most dangerous building- **[18:00]** How Holmes used the World's Fair to lure victims- **[22:00]** The insurance scams and Benjamin Pitezel- **[26:00]** The murder of Pitezel and his three children- **[30:00]** The Pinkertons close in — Holmes's downfall- **[34:00]** Trial, confession, and execution- **[38:00]** Closing thoughts — The legacy of the Murder Castle---## Story Summaries### The Murder Castle (Chicago — 1893-1894)Dr. H.H. Holmes built a three-story building in Chicago that would become known as the "Murder Castle." The structure contained hidden rooms, a dissection table, a crematorium, and a gas delivery system connected to guest chambers. During the 1893 World's Fair, Holmes used the building to lure visitors who would never be seen again. The castle was designed with purpose — every room, every passage, every mechanism served his deadly business model.### The Insurance ScamsHolmes was a con artist first and foremost. He would buy goods on credit, sell them cheap, and skip town before anyone noticed. His most elaborate scheme involved his associate Benjamin Pitezel, whom Holmes convinced to fake his own death so Holmes could collect a $10,000 life insurance policy. But Holmes decided to use the real Pitezel — killing him, dismembering the body, and then murdering Pitezel's three children.### The Children's MurdersAfter killing Benjamin Pitezel, Holmes took the man's three children under his care, promising to protect them. He then murdered all three — the two daughters in Indianapolis and the young son in Toronto. He buried their bodies in the basements of rental houses while pretending to be their guardian. This act of pure evil is what finally led to his capture.---## Key Quotes> "He was not some crazed lunatic acting on impulse. He was a cold businessman who used murder as a tool in his financial schemes."> — Paul> "A businessman of death. That phrase alone gives me chills."> — Angel> "He murdered children. That is where I draw the line."> — Renz> "Even facing death, he was still manipulating people with his words, still trying to control the narrative."> — Paul on Holmes's final days---## Hosts- **Paul** — The storyteller who brings the history of America's first serial killer- **Renz** — The one who's ready to be terrified by the details- **Jan** — The science-minded one who explains the psychology- **Angel** — The one who draws the line at children---## Topics Discussed- 1893 World Columbian Exposition — Chicago's "White City"- Dr. H.H. Holmes — America's first documented serial killer- The Murder Castle — Chicago's most dangerous building- Insurance fraud and financial schemes- Benjamin Pitezel and his three children- The Pinkerton Detective Agency- Holmes's execution by hanging on May 7, 1896- The psychology of trust and manipulation---## Call to ActionIf you have your own true crime stories or know someone who's encountered a historical evil, reach out to the show. Especially if it's worse than these.---## Disclaimer*Last Embers is intended for entertainment and educational purposes only. The narratives, historical accounts, and folklore explored herein often delve into the darker, unexplained, and sensitive chapters of human experience. While we strive for accuracy, legends and lore are inherently fluid, shaped by time and whisper. Listener discretion is advised.*---**Duration:** 41:45**Published:** June 2026**Series:** Last Embers Podcast — Season 1**Episode Number:** 10Thanks for listening to Last Embers! Just a quick heads up: everything we share on this show is meant for entertainment and educational purposes. We're speaking from our own personal experience, so it might not be the perfect fit for your specific situation. This podcast is proudly brought to you by HustleStudios. Hustle smarter, grow faster.
    Show More Show Less
    42 mins
  • Cecil Hotel

    Cecil Hotel
    Jun 27 2026
    Welcome to Last Embers! Tonight, Renz brings the chilling story of the Cecil Hotel and the mysterious case of Elisa Lam. The hosts gather around the campfire to explore the dark history of this infamous hotel and the eerie events that unfolded.

    TIMESTAMPS:
    00:00 - Campfire Intro
    02:30 - The Cecil Hotel History
    10:00 - Elisa Lam Case
    18:00 - The Elevator Video
    22:00 - Dark Hotel Encounters
    26:00 - Final Thoughts

    STORY SUMMARIES:
    The Cecil Hotel - A deep dive into the notorious Los Angeles hotel with its sinister past, from serial killers to unexplained deaths.
    Elisa Lam - The mysterious case of a young Canadian woman whose body was found in the hotel's water tank after strange elevator footage went viral.

    HOSTS:
    Paul (Host/Producer) - Drives the conversation, asks the tough questions
    Renz (Believer with Humor) - Brings the story, delivers the chilling details
    Jan (Skeptic) - Fact-checks in real time, keeps us grounded
    Angel (Wildcard) - Asks the smartest questions, makes the obscure references

    TOPICS: cecil hotel, elisa lam, los angeles, mysterious death, elevator video, haunted hotel, true crime

    Thanks for listening, homies!

    DISCLAIMER: Last Embers is a fictional horror podcast. All stories are for entertainment purposes only. Any resemblance to real events is purely coincidental. Listen at your own risk.

    Thanks for listening to Last Embers!

    Just a quick heads up: everything we share on this show is meant for entertainment and educational purposes. We're speaking from our own personal experience, so it might not be the perfect fit for your specific situation.

    This podcast is proudly brought to you by HustleStudios. Hustle smarter, grow faster.
    Show More Show Less
    28 mins
  • The Hinterkaifeck Murders

    The Hinterkaifeck Murders
    Jun 23 2026
    Episode 8 — The Hinterkaifeck Murders The hosts explore one of history most chilling unsolved mysteries — the 1922 Hinterkaifeck Murders in Bavaria, Germany. Six people were brutally killed on a remote farmstead with a mattock, yet the killer had been living in the attic for days before the crime. From the mysterious footprints in the snow to the strange newspaper that appeared from nowhere, the group pieces together this haunting cold case that remains unsolved after more than a century. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ SHOW NOTES ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ TIMESTAMPS [00:00] Introduction — Jan welcomes everyone to the fire [02:00] Setting the scene — a remote farmstead in Bavaria, 1922 [06:00] The Gruber family — Andreas, Cäzilia, Viktoria, and the children [10:00] The dark secrets — incest conviction and hidden paternity [14:00] Strange occurrences — the newspaper, the footprints, the attic noises [18:00] The maid who left — Maria Baumgartner's first day [22:00] The murders — a mattock to the head, six victims [28:00] Discovery — four days before anyone found the bodies [32:00] The investigation — compromised crime scene and missing weapon [36:00] The suspects — Karl Gabriel, Lorenz Schlittenbauer, and others [42:00] The attic — someone was living there, learning the family routine [46:00] Modern analysis — the 2007 police academy re-examination [50:00] Closing thoughts — trust your instincts ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ STORY SUMMARIES The Gruber Family Andreas Gruber, 63, and his wife Cäzilia, 72, lived on a remote farmstead called Hinterkaifeck — seventy kilometers north of Munich. Viktoria Gabriel, Cäzilia's daughter from a previous marriage, lived with them along with her two children: Cäzilia, 7, and Josef, 2. The family had dark secrets, including a 1915 incest conviction. Strange Occurrences In the weeks before the murders, the family experienced disturbing events: a mysterious newspaper from Munich appeared on the property, footprints led from the woods to the house but never back, and the family heard footsteps in the attic. The previous maid had left, claiming the house was haunted. The Murders (March 31, 1922) Someone lured Viktoria, Cäzilia the elder, Andreas, and young Cäzilia to the barn, where they were killed with a mattock. Two-year-old Josef was killed in his bassinet. The killer then stayed at the farm for three days — feeding the cattle, eating food, and living among the bodies. The Investigation The crime scene was severely compromised: neighbors entered the house, police tracked through the barn, and investigators even ate dinner in the kitchen. The mattock was found hidden in the attic. No motive was ever established. The farm was demolished before thorough forensic analysis could be completed. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ HOSTS Jan — The spotlight host who brings the deep research and case details Paul — The skeptic analyzing the evidence and timelines Renz — The storyteller who connects the pieces Angel — The one who feels every chilling detail ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ TOPICS • The Hinterkaifeck Murders (1922) • Bavarian farming communities in the 1920s • Criminal investigation methods of the era • The Gruber family's dark secrets • Lorenz Schlittenbauer's suspicious behavior • The mystery of Karl Gabriel's reported death • The 2007 police academy re-examination • The demolished crime scene ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Check your attics. Lock your doors. And remember, the most dangerous thing in the world is a warning you choose to ignore. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ DISCLAIMER Last Embers is intended for entertainment and educational purposes only. Listener discretion is advised.Thanks for listening to Last Embers! Just a quick heads up: everything we share on this show is meant for entertainment and educational purposes. We're speaking from our own personal experience, so it might not be the perfect fit for your specific situation. This podcast is proudly brought to you by HustleStudios. Hustle smarter, grow faster.
    Show More Show Less
    33 mins
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