Spook Pod

A Dutch author writes a book about different ways he could have killed his wife... right after his wife went missing. It would take almost 10 years to solve this case, even though Richard loved the spotlight and didn't shy away from people knowing the truth.

Just a note! Today is literally Courtney's due date, so we are going on hiatus for a little bit until things settle down with baby. Thanks for your understanding.

One of Amsterdam’s oldest bars, In ’t Aepjen (which translates to In The Monkeys), opened in 1519 during the Golden Age for sailors to drink, eat, and sleep while on break from their adventurous travels. Legend has it that on one night, the captain of the Flying Dutchman was there… before he sailed away and was never seen again. Tune in to hear the story.

There was some big news that came to us last week... Joran the Moron has confessed to killing Natalee Holloway back in Aruba in 2005. But what does this mean? What will happen next? Is he telling the truth? We give a case update today to let you know our thoughts on the entire story.

It’s spooky season… so we’re bringing you some ghostly legends on a Friday the 13th!

The year was 1730 and two beautiful sisters found themselves in a deadly love triangle. When one of them ended up dead, the other one was doomed to spend eternity as a ghost in Amsterdam’s Red Light District, whose moans some still claim to hear today.  It’s no wonder they re-named the street Spooksteeg, or Ghost Alley. Tune in to hear the full story - and even Courtney and Emily’s personal experience there (and check out the pic on the instagram @spookpod).

In our final episode on the betrayal of Anne Frank, we discuss theories. What are the facts known without a doubt? Who are the main suspects? What did the investigations over the years find? And... did Otto know more than he let on? We will let you decide!

We’ve made it to the third episode on the betrayal of Anne Frank and her family. In this part, you hear what happened to all eight people from the achterhuis in the concentration camps. Unfortunately, Otto was the only survivor, and he returned home looking for his family and for justice over what happened to them. After publishing Anne’s diary, he worked tirelessly for the victims… and he searched tirelessly for who could have betrayed them. We start to tell that story today, which will conclude in two weeks in part 4.

Welcome back to our coverage on the betrayal of Anne Frank and her family. In part 2, you get to know all the people involved in the story: the 8 people who hid together in the achterhuis and the 6 helpers that took care of them. We discuss what life in hiding was like, do a recreation of the arrest, and bring you up until the moment that the prisoners arrived at Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration and Extermination Camp.

Many of us have at least heard of the story… Anne Frank goes into hiding in Amsterdam during WWII. Eventually, her family is arrested and sent to concentration camps simply for being Jewish. Only Anne’s father would survive the war, and when he came home, he found a diary penned by his daughter that would become a worldwide phenomenon. But who betrayed them? How were they discovered? We’ll tell you the entire story over the course of these episodes.

On May 4, 2019, a woman was out on her daily walk with her two dogs in The Hague. But unfortunately, this would be the last walk she would ever take. Her body was found about 10 minutes away from her house. Three days later across the country in Brunssum, two other dog walkers would be found dead when out on their daily walk. What was happening in The Netherlands? The answer involves a young man, a mental illness, and some car license plates.

When the body of a 14-year-old boy turns up on a villa that is home to a very prominent and mega rich Dutch family, the case becomes a sensation in The Netherlands. And it would become even more so when it was learned that the killers were the heirs to the company and fortune that spanned over 150 years.

Picture, if you can, the city of Leiden back in the 1880s. Most people there were poor, working class citizens. Poverty, plague, and death were constant visitors to their doorsteps. And so was a woman the town nicknamed "Goeie Mie" or “Good Maria”. Maria was known for helping to take care of children, the sick, and the elderly. But what was not known was that this poor city was the perfect backdrop for the most prolific serial killer in Dutch history. “Good Maria” as they called her, was poisoning the neighbourhood, and her death count was reaching numbers that would shock everyone for more than a century.

It’s time for Part 2 of Willem van Eijk, finishing our case on one of The Netherlands most notorious serial killers. In this episode, Willem has just been released from prison, free as a bird, after committing two murders. And this is when he moves to Harkstede, and will earn his nickname as the Beast of Harkstede.

Dutch serial killers... there aren't too many of them. But in today's show we begin to tell the story of Willem van Eijk, also known as the Beast of Harkstede. This episode dives into his childhood, first murders, and his first long stint in prison, before he was released(!!) and went on to truly deserve his nickname. Tune in to part 1 now! Part 2 will release on April 21, 2023.

In August of 1998, Nicky Verstappen went away to summer camp. The next morning, as the other kids started to wake up, they realised that Nicky’s sleeping bag was empty. His body was found after a two day search, but it would take more than 20 years to bring his killer to justice.

In 1664, 18-year-old Elsje Christiaens moved to Amsterdam from Denmark to try to make a life for herself in this prosperous Dutch city. Two weeks later, she would be executed, her body hung on a hill as a warning for all others. Tune in for full story, which surprisingly also involves a very famous artist who loved to draw dead bodies. 

Anne De Ruyter De Wildt was found dead on May 1, 1997 near the train tracks in Groningen. After a lengthy investigation a killer was finally apprehended. And when he was… many other things would be discovered. It turns out, Anne was not his only victim. 

From a very young age it was clear… Willem Klein was a mathematical genius. He would go on to live a pretty incredible life, performing in the circus, evading the Nazis, working for big important sciencey companies, and achieving many Guinness World Records. That was until he was murdered in Amsterdam in 1986. In today’s episode, we discuss his incredible life and his unsolved murder. 

Peter R De Vries was the most famous crime reporter in the Netherlands. Hundreds of people wrote to him each and every day begging for help with their situation… and Peter worked tirelessly to fight for justice, find perpetrators, and release innocents from prison. That was until he was murdered himself on the streets of Amsterdam on July 6, 2021. In this episode, we go over the colourful and exciting life of Peter R De Vries, his untimely death, and a final fight for justice, held on his behalf.

On the night of July 11, 2005, Anneke van der Stap’s father was expecting his daughter home after she was visiting her friend across the country. But she never arrived. Phone records showed she made it to her home city of Den Hague… and then disappeared. The case went cold until one Ronald Pieper was arrested for another murder, and everything was blown wide open. But was justice served? 

On January 9, 1994, Christel Ambrosius was found murdered in her grandmother’s house. Afterward, four young men were arrested and two confessed and were convicted of the crime. The only problem… the DNA found at the crime scene matched none of them. In today’s episode, we go through what is known as the worst miscarriage of justice in the history of The Netherlands. 

Emily is taking us back in time this week to 1957 where a pretty badass prostitute (The Blonde Dolly AKA Suze Niemans AKA Inge AKA Sebilla van den Bergh) was kicking ass and taking names until she was found murdered in her apartment in Den Hague. The case was never solved, but her story needs to be told. 

Martina O’Brien and Arnold Viguurs were supposedly a happy couple living in Den Bosch. They were preparing for retirement, selling their house, and about to move to Ireland near Tina’s children and grandchildren. Their plane tickets were booked for November 9, 2015. But instead of a flight, an emergency call came that day instead. 

In June of 2017, 14-year-old Savannah Dekker went missing in The Netherlands. When the body of a young girl was found a few kilometres away the next day, everyone held their breath. But it was not Savannah - it was 14-year-old Romy Nieuwburg. What was happening in this small community? Today’s episode shares a weird and coincidental story, and sparks an interesting debate.

Amanda Todd was just a normal kid before she encountered “him”. Where we left you in Part 1, we had just discovered that Amanda’s stalker was all the way over in The Netherlands - and Amanda wasn’t his only victim. In today’s episode, we dive into the investigation to find this creep, his lengthy legal battle that spanned continents, and a horrifying online community that has gotta be one of the scariest things we’ve ever learned. 

Amanda Todd was just a normal kid before she encountered “him”. In October of 2012, every person in Canada would come to know Amanda’s name after she took her own life and a video she posted to YouTube went viral. The video told the story of the living hell she had been going through for the past 4 years: sexual exploitation, cyberbullying, stalking… But at that point, no one even knew the half of it. Not even Amanda. This story spans from Canada all the way to The Netherlands and tells a horrifying tale of the dark side of the internet. Here is Part 1 of Amanda Todd’s story. 

April 30, 1999 was Queen’s Day in The Netherlands, the country’s biggest celebration of the year. After enjoying herself with friends, Marianne Vaatstra rode away on her bicycle… but she never made it home. What happened next was a media circus, political uproar in a small village, DNA breakthroughs, and a 13 year hunt to catch a killer hiding in plain sight. 

On April 1, 2014, two Dutch girls, Kris Kremers and Lisanne Froon, went for a hike on the El Pianista trail in Panama. They would never return. Was this a simple hiking disaster? When their phones and camera were found months later, they told a different and disturbing story straight out of a horror movie. 

In March of 2022, police were called to a fire at a student apartment building in Leeuwarden. When they arrived, they found the body of a young woman who had been stabbed to death. But what happened? The media dubbed this the Tinder Murder of Leeuwarden. In today’s episode, we tell Mieke’s story. 

We’re a little late for Halloween, but we still love us some spooky tales. In this episode, we share the stories of the baddest bitches in The Netherlands. Mermaids, crones, witches, oh my! Why is it that so many terrifying figures are women? Tune in to find out! 

We've finally made it to the end of our series on Natalee Holloway. In this episode, Courtney shares exactly what she thinks happened from A to Z. We also discuss the conspiracy: were the Aruban authorities involved in a cover up? Do they even want the case solved? Tune in for the conclusion.

We’re getting to the end (but there’s still one more part after this!). On today’s episode, we discuss Joran’s second arrest, the closing of the case, the declaration of Natalee’s death, and where everyone is today. It might surprise you. 

Joran finally gets arrested! Paulus gets arrested too! So do Deepak and Satish! And we share 127366272 more stories Joran spun. But why did nothing really come of this? We share some tips, some leads, and ultimately why we think the interrogations fail before everyone is released from prison at very odd timing. Welcome to part 3. 

The Natalee Holloway case was a media frenzy, and it led to countless leads and help flooding in from all directions. But did the police do their job? Today we discuss this and more, including Joran the Moron’s first story and two arrests made in the case. 

Where is Natalee Holloway? Let’s set the scene. In this episode, we discuss what led up to Natalee’s disappearance, her life before, and what the island of Aruba is really like. Tune in to get your feet wet, this case is a doozy! 

The Dutch are known for many things - tulips, windmills, clogs, delicious cheese... but as with all countries, there are many darker happenings here too. Spook Pod dives into the world of true crime, hauntings and legends in the Netherlands. Your host is a new Dutchie, moving here from abroad and learning the culture, language and... a lot more. Each week she tells a story to our other host Emily. The first one launches September 30, 2022: The unsolved disappearance of Natalee Holloway. We hope to see you there.