Rugeley

Well, to be fair, it was like watching you try to teach a geriatric, showing him how to put the live thing.

And then we ultimately had to do the live stream on yours just because I don't trust the Internet near the Rugeley.

Even though you're within 15 minutes of Rugeley, the Internet still has to be like a compromise.

Like the fact that you guys even have Wi-Fi over there.

That's not enough, boy.

is Thomas Highland.

Next week, Rudgley, England in the year 1855.

And a brilliant young medical man whose hobby was dead people and live racehorses.

My report to you will be on The Hangman and William Palmer.

And even though it's generally considered a settled case, there's a lot about it and how it turned out that doesn't really involve any hard evidence at all.

We are talking today about William Palmer, who is also known as the Rugeley Poisoner.

And we do want to give a little heads up here that while there is obviously murder in the mix, there is specifically brief mention of children dying.

So just know that going in.

So William Palmer was born on August 6, 1824 to Joseph and Sarah Palmer in Rugeley, Staffordshire, England.

Joseph was employed as a sawyer and died when William was 12.

That left Sarah with an estimated 70,000 to 75,000 pounds and eight children.

William was the sixth of the Palmer siblings.

It's the autumn of 1985, around 8:30 at night.

A father and his son are driving the road from Penkridge to Rugeley past an old military shooting range, and hanging over it about 100 feet up is a black triangle with three lights.

They pull over and get out to look.

The Rugeley police show up almost right away.

One of the officers tells them, "You know, you should never have gotten out of the car." Now, whether that's a veiled threat or an observation of the possible trajectory of their future, I have no idea.

August 4th, 1988, around midnight, a couple is driving across Weetman's Bridge on the northern edge of the Chase.

The couple calls the police.

The next day, two men in an unmarked white van pull up and take samples from the hedges, which have all turned brown.

That footage will be more than I need.

Unfortunately, the nearest place is Rugeley.

Rugeley.

Yeah.

Unfortunately.

That, that little, uh, area there where all the, uh, punks are-

Yeah, just literally go to that little area, Craig, that we went to for...

in Rugeley.

Yeah, we were supposed to support them once, and then the gig ended up not happening.

So they were supposed to be doing a free gig at Rugeley Red Rose Theatre.

Always Rugeley, isn't it? Yeah.

And we got told by the promoter, yeah, we'll put you guys on it, and then it didn't happen.

I feel like a lot of people arrive at Rugeley and then go, fucking no. LAUGHTER

Just generally, nothing to do with the gig.

Like the

outside of Rugeley, they're like, I've got a bat, can we just push on? Just go to the next one, phone the promoter, tell him no.

really i know you well and you're not someone who just like sits around and does nothing you need to be everyone

seems to be saying to me god you you're really busy and you seem to be busier than ever and i think i am but instead of but i'm i'm carrying on doing what i've always done But instead of having a job where I sat in Rugeley selling houses and talking to people, I'm just doing all the other nice bits that I like doing.

You mentioned selling the business to webs fairly recently.

You engaged in video quite a lot when you were running your business.

And I decided I was not going to do the M6.

I was going to come through Rugeley and through Cannock Chase.

And I was just going to enjoy just a really good, nice drive this morning.

And as I got to the reservoir and was driving, I was coming down the hill and over the reservoir, the...