Bad Elizabeth

There will be more Bad Elizabeths in the new year, but right now we bring you a recommendation from Kathy Egan-Taylor and Gideon Evans:
"Origin Stories", a podcast from Campside Media hosted by Matthew Shaer, is a terrific deep dive into how great projects begin. Matthew hosts many fascinating guests from Mitch Albom, to Dan Taberski, to Evan Ratliff, to Stephanie Foo. In this clip we hear from stand-up comedian and former "Daily Show" correspondent Roy Wood Jr. - author of the new book "The Man of Many Fathers: Life Lessons Disguised as a Memoir" - as he breaks down the difference between writing for stand-up comedy, and writing a book. You can find "Origin Stories" wherever you get your podcasts.
"Origin Stories" with Matthew Shaer and guest Roy Wood Jr.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/roy-wood-jr-on-the-man-of-many-fathers/id1833077585?i=1000735355722

In this episode, Gideon and Kathy delve into the sordid, gory story of Countess Erzsebet (the Hungarian variation of Elizabeth) Bathory, AKA “The Blood Countess.” Born into an aristocratic family with lots of in-breeding in 1560 in the Kingdom of Hungary (an area that is part of Slovakia today), Bathory came to believe that blood was the tonic that could help her achieve eternal youth, and she ended up torturing and killing up to 650 young maidens, in hopes of preserving her smooth, alabaster skin. She used many methods of luring maidens to the castle, and even more methods of extracting the young women's blood - including torture devices like the Iron Maiden. She drank blood, bathed in blood, and even forced a few women to eat their own flesh. Apart from these horrific acts, Bathory was very adept at running and defending her massive estate, and even indulged in meaningful philanthropy. The story of Bathory was an inspiration of Bram Stoker when he wrote "Dracula" (in addition to the Romanian Vlad the Impaler). Bathory was also a model for many characters in literature and film, including the Evil Queen in Snow White. It may not be a surprise that Bathory is also a muse for several heavy metal bands from around the world.
Is Erzsebet Bathory the Baddest of all of our Bad Elizabeths so far? Does mental illness mitigate how bad she was, or was she simply misunderstood?
Later, Actress, director, writer, composer, and polyglot, Julie Delpy joins the discussion. You may know her from many things, notably for acting in Richard Linklater's beloved films “Before Sunrise," “Before Sunset” and “Before Midnight”, she earned Oscar nominations for Best Screenplay for the latter two works. Gideon and Kathy talk to Julie about her 2009 film “The Countess,” which tells Bathory’s story. She also talks about her first encounter with a real life Bathory when she was young, shooting in actual castles where torture took place, and the challenges of acting and directing while wearing a very restrictive corset. Julie Delpy can currently be seen on the Netflix series, “Hostage,” and soon in director Ruben Ostlund’s latest black comedy, “The Entertainment System is Down” alongside actors Keanu Reeves, Kristen Dunst and Delpy's “Countess” co-star, Daniel Bruhl.
This is the last episode of "Bad Elizabeth" of 2025, thanks to all who help make this series a success including - and especially - the listeners! We are taking a short hiatus, and will have more episodes in the new year, featuring more questionable Elizabeths. Exciting things ahead, please continue to give us those five star reviews, and spread the word! We really appreciate it.
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Hosted by Gideon Evans & Kathy Egan-Taylor
Producer & Engineer: Will Becton / Executive Producer: Amber Becton
Theme Song Composed by Alexis Cuadrado & Danny Gray
Recorded @ Jett Road Studios
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Sources:
Bathory
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/blood-countess-elizabeth-bathory-slovakia-serial-killer-new-theory/
Countess Elizabeth Bathory: The Life and Legacy of History's Most Prolific Female Serial Killer
Charles River Editors
https://a.co/d/3uSadXd
Infamous Lady: The True Story of Countess Erzsebet Bathory by Kimberly L Kraft
https://a.co/d/dHnLGdM
The Countess:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0496634/
https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B005DD7GE2/ref=atv_dp_share_cu_r

This episode Kathy and Gideon look at Elizabeth "Betty" Broderick whose case was chewed over by Daytime Television hosts of the 1980s like Oprah Winfrey and supermarket tabloids. Elizabeth and Dan Broderick were the couple who seemed to have it all, but once infidelity became an issue in the marriage, all hell broke loose. Betty stalked and terrorized Dan and his new girlfriend including driving her car into a house. It all ended in violence and America became obsessed with the case and consumed multiple television series and podcasts for decades after it all occurred. What is it about this case that fascinates Americans, is there something relatable or universal about the players or do Americans just love to see rich, good looking, people go down.
Our special guest is Griffin Matthews (the Flight Attendant, You, Dear White People), joining us from Madrid. His experience playing a Flight Attendant gives him special insight into that world, which is pertinent, since one of the victims was a Delta Flight Attendant. In dissecting the particulars, Griffin brings up another famous Elizabeth: Elizabeth Edwards, who took credit for building her husbands career. We also discuss with Griffin what it's like being an American transplant in Europe as well as acting in Spinal Tap 2.
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Hosted by Gideon Evans & Kathy Egan-Taylor
Producer & Engineer: Will Becton / Executive Producer: Amber Becton
Theme Song Composed by Alexis Cuadrado & Danny Gray
Recorded @ Jett Road Studios
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Sources:
Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story
https://www.netflix.com/title/80241855
It Was Simple: The Betty Broderick Murders
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/it-was-simple-the-betty-broderick-murders/id1513430448
Dirty John: Betty: The Betty Broderick Story (podcast)
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dirty-john-season-2-the-podcast/id1513500047
The Betty Broderick Story: A Woman Scorned
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dirty-john-season-2-the-podcast/id1513500047
Telling On Myself by Betty Broderick
https://a.co/d/9QOp9sC

Oprah interviews Betty Broderick
https://a.co/d/9QOp9sC

Fatal Attraction
https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B0B8SWV9Q3/ref=atv_dp_share_cu_r

One Angry Betty - LA Magazine
https://lamag.com/crimeinla/one-angry-betty1/
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Jett Road Studios - Website - YouTube - Instagram - Substack
Bad Elizabeth - Instagram - YouTube - Substack

Kathy and Gideon talk about the woman many consider the worst Canadian serial killer - Elizabeth "Bethe" Wettlaufer. Wettlaufer, who grew up near Woodstock, Ontario, fits into the True Crime sub-genre of Nurses Who Kill. She worked at various rehab and medical facilities and administered deadly doses of insulin to many of her older patients, but the horrible things she did didn't come to light until much later. After admitting her crimes to various people, nothing happened to her. Was this an example of "Canadian nice" or was it just that Wettlaufer didn't "look" like a killer, and therefor nobody could believe it.
We also welcome to the show, Charles Graeber, author of the best selling book "The Good Nurse: A True Story of Medicine, Madness, and Murder" which was made into an award-winning film starring Eddie Redmayne as American Nurse Killer Charles Cullen. Graeber explains how the hospitals ignored whistleblowers, and allowed Cullen to get jobs at other facilities in New Jersey and Pennsylvania where he continued murdering patients. Cullen was quite possibly responsible for as many as 400 killings. And while Cullen did end up behind bars, the hospital administrators were never held accountable. Perhaps there's more than one villain in these stories...
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Hosted by Gideon Evans & Kathy Egan-Taylor
Producer & Engineer: Will Becton / Executive Producer: Amber Becton
Theme Song Composed by Alexis Cuadrado & Danny Gray
Recorded @ Jett Road Studios
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SOURCES:
The Good Nurse: A True Story of Medicine, Madness, and Murder by Charles Graeber
https://a.co/d/81TLJmc
The Good Nurse (film)
https://www.netflix.com/title/81260083
"Living with a Serial Killer: Elizabeth Wettlaufer"
https://www.peacocktv.com/watch-online/tv/living-with-a-serial-killer/8729766680284507112/seasons/2/episodes/elizabeth-wettlaufer-episode-6/06fc97a9-48ee-3cb8-a292-ad141236f59b
"Inside the Mind of a Serial Killer: Elizabeth Wettlaufer"
https://www.primevideo.com/region/na/detail/0SX2ANK3N5DM7AY19FW6I6YXRR?ref_=atv_dp_pb_core
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Jett Road Studios - Website - YouTube - Instagram - Substack
Bad Elizabeth - Instagram - YouTube - Substack

Halloween is almost here (at the time of posting) and doing a show about the Salem Witch Trials is perfectly on-brand for this spooky holiday. The Elizabeth that our episode is about is Elizabeth Parris - whose child Betty Parris and her niece Abagail Williams - were the first to be "afflicted" by alleged Satanic influences in 1692. Parris with her husband, Samuel, and another neighbor diagnosed the so-called nefarious symptoms of their children, and accused three of being Witches - two townswomen and Tituba, who was the slave who lived in the Parris household. This first case of "Witchcraft" started the fire (to paraphrase Billy Joel) and an epidemic of satanic activity across Salem and even parts of Connecticut. Do Elizabeth and her child Betty (a variation of Elizabeth) get a pass from Gideon and Kathy? And what caused these symptoms? Kathy and Gideon go through some of the theories including "Mass Hysteria" and ergot mushroom poisoning.
Later in the episode, Gideon and Kathy welcome guest Jane Borden, author of "Cults Like Us" and discuss whether the Puritans, who founded America, were essentially a cult, and how does the Puritans' cult-like behavior and thinking manifest in our modern society in America. In a twist, we channel Henry Louis Gates, and help reveal the descendant of our guest Borden...can you guess?
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A Storm of Witchcraft: The Salem Trials and the American Experience by Emerson W Baker
https://a.co/d/8k3xxRF
Hysterical by Dan Taberski
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hysterical/id1753789609
Cults Like Us: Why Doomsday Thinking Drives America by Jane Borden
https://a.co/d/g6Frn5F
I Totally Meant to Do That by Jane Borden
https://a.co/d/eh0c3Ot
The Crucible by Arthur Miller
https://a.co/d/383dc3f
John Proctor is the Villain by Kimberly Belflower
https://a.co/d/ez6xt4z
The Day of Doom - by Michael Wigglesworth
https://a.co/d/6q4G470
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Hosted by Gideon Evans & Kathy Egan-Taylor
Producer & Engineer: Will Becton / Executive Producer: Amber Becton
Recorded @ Jett Road Studios
----------------------------------------
Jett Road Studios - Website - YouTube - Instagram - Substack
Bad Elizabeth - Instagram - YouTube - Substack