Sword and Scale

05 Aug 2018

Contributed by Lukas

We all love to talk about all of the things we’re going to do to better ourselves… all of the ch...

22 Jul 2018

Contributed by Lukas

When you have a problem, you hire someone to fix it. That's what you do. Sometimes you don't have th...

17 Jun 2018

Contributed by Lukas

During the early morning hours of September 22nd, 2010, 13-year-old Alexis Mitchell awoke to the sig...

04 Jun 2018

Contributed by Lukas

On Sunday, October 4th 2009, Milford Police Sgt. Kevin Furlong was dispatched by 911 to 4 Trow Road ...

20 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

31-year-old Nicole VanderHeyden was substitute teacher and mother of three. She lived with her boyfr...

12 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Some crimes are so extreme that they defy the laws of nature. Ending the life of your very own mothe...

29 Apr 2018

Contributed by Lukas

This will be, BY FAR, the most frustrating podcast you listen to (perhaps ever). We here, at Sword a...

14 Apr 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Some tales of human depravity are just unimaginable. Are they the actions of a monster, or simply a ...

01 Apr 2018

Contributed by Lukas

What exactly is "God's Plan?" Do you know? Some people think they do. Jonathan Hearn and Sabrina Lim...

17 Mar 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Part 2 of the Natalie Bollinger Murder...Get instant access to all episodes, including premium unrel...

04 Mar 2018

Contributed by Lukas

A teenage girl is stalked by a homeless man and suddenly goes missing two weeks later.Get instant ac...

18 Feb 2018

Contributed by Lukas

When Jane Bashara was found strangled to death in the back of her SUV nobody knew what to make of it...

04 Feb 2018

Contributed by Lukas

The human mind can go to such depths of depravity that, for the average well-adjusted person, it’s...

21 Jan 2018

Contributed by Lukas

So many leaves...It doesn't happen often, but the intersection of Psychosis and Psychopathy is a sca...

10 Dec 2017

Contributed by Lukas

"CENTAUR... you have awoken. Don't let them kill you." The bath salts epidemic has reached new propo...

27 Nov 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Love is often expressed with gifts such as flowers and chocolates, but those same gifts can be used ...

12 Nov 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Nothing quite says fear like a machete. In this episode we bring you to distinct stories of some of ...

30 Oct 2017

Contributed by Lukas

The death of a little girl named Jodi Parrack send a small town into a spiral of shock and disbelief...

15 Oct 2017

Contributed by Lukas

We conclude with Part 2 of the Scrivo Murder Case, a story which deals with elements of mental illne...

01 Oct 2017

Contributed by Lukas

For our landmark hundredth episode we cover a story that has all the elements our listeners love to ...

16 Sep 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Underreported and underdiscussed, male sexual child abuse is a topic that is often brushed under the...

03 Sep 2017

Contributed by Lukas

"We lock our doors at night to keep the outside world, to keep evil out, right? ...but what happens ...

20 Aug 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Becoming a parent can be one of the most joy-filled experiences in one's life. It has been a long-st...

06 Aug 2017

Contributed by Lukas

There's a lot that can go wrong in this organ we call the human brain, which we don't fully understa...

23 Jul 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Escapism is something most of us are guilty of. We retire to our TV shows, video games, podcasts... ...

09 Jul 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Randy Stair secretly identified as a female for years. She ditched her given name for the pseudonym ...

02 Jul 2017

Contributed by Lukas

The highly polarized political climate we're living in colors our view of the world in one way or an...

19 Jun 2017

Contributed by Lukas

The love of a mother is something many of us take for granted, but when it's not present during the ...

04 Jun 2017

Contributed by Lukas

We kick off this week's episode with some much needed updates about what's been going on behind the ...

21 May 2017

Contributed by Lukas

When Pulitzer Prize-nominated journalist Claudia Rowe, author of The Spider and The Fly, decided to ...

07 May 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Matthew Hahn is bright, eloquent, friendly and just generally the kind of person you like immediatel...

24 Apr 2017

Contributed by Lukas

When a 14 year old boy named Philip Chism goes missing in the middle of a school day, his mother thi...

08 Apr 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Over the course of a normal school day, a mystery unravels. At first there is chaos, confusion and m...

26 Mar 2017

Contributed by Lukas

The 20 year anniversary of one of the strangest tales in modern American religious history is quickl...

12 Mar 2017

Contributed by Lukas

There are few things more horrifying than the idea that your children can be taken from their beds, ...

26 Feb 2017

Contributed by Lukas

There is a place that humanity has created where the rules of society mean nothing. This place is a ...

13 Feb 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Love can be a wonderful thing. It can make the world around you seem like a magical place. But somet...

17 Dec 2016

Contributed by Lukas

When you dial those three numbers on your phone, you expect that someone will help you. However, as ...

01 Dec 2016

Contributed by Lukas

This is the PARTAY episode! People love parties. Some people love parties so much that they're willi...

20 Nov 2016

Contributed by Lukas

The stories we like to tell the most here are those of serial killers and homicidal maniacs. Those a...

05 Nov 2016

Contributed by Lukas

You've been pulled over by a bevy of police cars and taken to an interrogation room. What happens ne...

23 Oct 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Halloween is a fun time of the year when we dress up like ghosts and goblins and attempt to scare ea...

09 Oct 2016

Contributed by Lukas

The idea of leaving the hustle and bustle behind, and disappearing into the woods to live off the la...

25 Sep 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Finally, an update episode! This one fills in the details of what has happened with the Justin Ross-...

12 Sep 2016

Contributed by Lukas

This is a bizarre tale. Part gruesome murder tale, part love story. Yes, you read that right.. None ...

28 Aug 2016

Contributed by Lukas

The border town of Brownsville, Texas is one of the poorest places in the continental United States....

14 Aug 2016

Contributed by Lukas

A subset of our audience really has an issue with episodes that feature any crimes being done to chi...

01 Aug 2016

Contributed by Lukas

A recurring question in the criminal justice system is whether the death penalty is moral, right or ...

17 Jul 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Have you ever wondered why most violent crimes are committed by men? Apparently so have several crim...

03 Jul 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Sword and Scale isn't just a podcast. We also have a website (swordandscale.com) where we post daily...

19 Jun 2016

Contributed by Lukas

As a Florida resident and native, I am disgusted by the events of the past weekend in Orlando. Thus,...

05 Jun 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Cara Marie Holley from Roanoke Virginia was just 18 years old when she went missing from her home on...

22 May 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Something is very wrong when two children can disappear from society for two years and not a single ...

08 May 2016

Contributed by Lukas

When someone secretly means to do you harm, there's a good chance they will succeed. When you are a ...

23 Apr 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Sometimes the monsters are not only in our homes, but they are the ones closest to us: our mother or...

02 Apr 2016

Contributed by Lukas

After Michelle Macneill, a healthy 50-year old mother, dies mysteriously of a heart condition in the...

27 Mar 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Pleasant Grove, Utah. A picturesque gated community. A perfectly manicured lawn. A lovely brick home...

13 Mar 2016

Contributed by Lukas

A 30-year-old woman named Jenelle Potter has spent her entire life sheltered from the world. Not bei...

28 Feb 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Every parent's nightmare can happen in an instant. It can happen on a day just like any other in a p...

14 Feb 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Alternative rock superstar, host of the reality TV-show Ink Master, actor and recent filmmaker Dave ...

31 Jan 2016

Contributed by Lukas

When many of us think of true-crime, we think of cops and killers, detectives and victims. We even s...

17 Jan 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Cathy Ruson from courtchatter.com describes Facebook Killer Derek Medina as "an odd duck." That's pr...

04 Jan 2016

Contributed by Lukas

It's one thing to kill someone, it's quite another to publish your handiwork on social media for all...

15 Nov 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Over the course of the last year we've spoken to many different people from all walks of life. We as...

01 Nov 2015

Contributed by Lukas

The topic of abortion is a highly controversial one, with emotionally-charged opinions on either sid...

19 Oct 2015

Contributed by Lukas

There's something about the perceived safety of an automobile's cab that makes many of us feel like ...

03 Oct 2015

Contributed by Lukas

The stories we tell often tend to focus on the criminal act itself, rather than the investigation th...

20 Sep 2015

Contributed by Lukas

It's one thing to talk about gun violence, it's quite another to see it up close on live television....

06 Sep 2015

Contributed by Lukas

In Episode 47 we told you about the McMartin Preschool case and the Satanic Panic that overtook an e...

20 Jul 2015

Contributed by Lukas

On November 18, 1978, in a remote settlement of northwestern Guyana, 909 Americans lost their lives ...

03 Jul 2015

Contributed by Lukas

On June 15th, 2015 an ominous message appeared on Facebook which sent friends and family into a pani...

21 Jun 2015

Contributed by Lukas

In Episode 48 we revisit many of the stories we've previously covered on Sword and Scale and fill yo...

07 Jun 2015

Contributed by Lukas

The highly technological society in which we live obscures the fact the we are still a very primitiv...

24 May 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Despite being a grown man, Joseph McEnroe still exhibits the same traits he did when he was just a l...

17 May 2015

Contributed by Lukas

In this first part of a two-part story, we examine the Carnation Murders. This slaughtering of an en...

04 May 2015

Contributed by Lukas

We live in a world where pregnant women have to fear going about their daily lives as they normally ...

19 Apr 2015

Contributed by Lukas

When Rodney Reed turned himself in to Bastrop Police, on what he though was a gun charge, little did...

12 Apr 2015

Contributed by Lukas

The idea of ultimate justice is appealing to those of us who have strong empathy for victims in vici...

29 Mar 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Luckily there aren't very many examples of the perfect storm occurring in a community where a dysfun...

15 Mar 2015

Contributed by Lukas

When asked to imagine the perfect place to perform serial murder most imagine something dark and cre...

01 Mar 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Some things are hard to fathom, like why a young boy with his entire life ahead of him would choose ...

14 Feb 2015

Contributed by Lukas

In 2013 an independent documentary began making its way through various film festivals. It was recei...

08 Feb 2015

Contributed by Lukas

We finally have the pleasure of speaking to Diane Fanning, author of 13 true crime books and countin...

25 Jan 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Timothy Wesley McCorquodale had a rage in him that was uncontrollable. Like a loose cannon he could ...

18 Jan 2015

Contributed by Lukas

What happens when you run out of luck? You lose your job, your marriage, your home, your arms and le...

11 Jan 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Probably the most horrific murder publicly accessible though a variety of social media, the death of...

04 Jan 2015

Contributed by Lukas

One of the more bizarre stories of our lifetime, the story of Luka Magnotta is wrought with remorsef...

08 Dec 2014

Contributed by Lukas

In this season finale of Sword and Scale, we bring back many of the guests we've spoken to over the ...

24 Nov 2014

Contributed by Lukas

There are 2.2 million schizophrenics in the United States. You have a one in a hundred chance of enc...

09 Nov 2014

Contributed by Lukas

The story of Herman Webster Mudgett, otherwise known as H.H. Holmes, has been told numerous times: a...

20 Oct 2014

Contributed by Lukas

The term "bluebeard" conveys images of pirates sailing the high seas, but the actual meaning of this...

29 Sep 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Everyone thought Joshua Gouker was a dangerous criminal. It was easy to convict him of murdering his...

22 Sep 2014

Contributed by Lukas

In this special two-parter, the brutal and inexplicable murder of a 14-year-old boy exposes a dysfun...

29 Aug 2014

Contributed by Lukas

This is one of the most under-reported murders in the history of the North American Continent. A mut...

15 Aug 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Every year more than 3 million reports of child abuse are made in the United States involving more t...

02 Aug 2014

Contributed by Lukas

With just 10,000 residents, the small town of Jennings, Louisiana has one of the highest crime rates...

19 Jul 2014

Contributed by Lukas

What could be more horrifying, terrible, and heart-breaking than a mother intentionally taking the l...

03 Jul 2014

Contributed by Lukas

A family divided, a hungry media looking for answers, and an inept police department looking for ans...

21 Jun 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Historical Crime Detective Jason Morrow joins us once again to tell the tale of a mysterious killer ...

12 Jun 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Ronald William Brown was a ventriloquist puppeteer on a television program called Joy Junction, a va...