Before true crime was a genre, one story changed everything — the brutal 1959 murders of the Clutter family in Holcomb, Kansas. Their deaths shocked the nation and inspired Truman Capote’s groundbreaking book In Cold Blood, a work that blurred the line between journalism and literature.

In this bonus Halloween episode of Deadly Truths: Season 2 — Leavenworth, Death in the House, host Becca Clark revisits the crime that redefined American true crime. From the quiet Clutter farmhouse to the execution of Perry Smith and Richard Hickock at the Kansas State Penitentiary near Leavenworth, this episode dives into how it happened, why it haunted the country, and how justice was ultimately carried out.

📚 Resources:

• Kansas Bureau of Investigation Archives – Clutter Family Case Files

• A&E True Crime: “The Real Story Behind In Cold Blood”

• HistoryHit: “The Crime That Changed True Crime Forever”

• Kansas Historical Society – “Holcomb Murders, 1959”

• State v. Hickock (363 P.2d 541, 1961) and State v. Smith (221 Kan. 439, 1977)

• Death Penalty Information Center – Historical executions in Kansas

• Capote, Truman. In Cold Blood (Random House, 1966)

• ⚠️ Disclaimer:

  This episode discusses murder, capital punishment, and violent crime. Listener discretion is advised.
  All historical details are drawn from verified records, official case files, and published works by journalists and historians.

  ❤️ Support & Engagement:

  If you enjoyed this episode, please follow, rate, and share Deadly Truths on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube.
  Your support helps independent creators bring haunting history and true stories of justice to light.

Fort Leavenworth, April 13, 1961 — thunder rolled across the Kansas sky as Private John A. Bennett became the last soldier ever executed by the U.S. military.

Convicted of raping an 11-year-old Austrian girl, Bennett’s case raised hard questions about justice, race, mental health, and mercy within America’s armed forces. He confessed to the assault, was tried by court-martial, and hanged at Fort Leavenworth — yet controversy still follows his story decades later.

In this Bonus episode of Deadly Truths: Season 2 — Halloween in the Big House, host Becca Clark revisits Bennett’s early life, the crime in Austria, the military trial, and the storm-soaked night of his execution. We’ll examine what happened, why it ended the era of military hangings, and how unequal justice shaped the outcome.

📚 Resources:

• ExecutedToday.com: “1961: John A. Bennett, the last American military execution (so far)”

• Los Angeles Times: “The Last Soldier to Die at Leavenworth”

• Time Magazine: “The Soldier Who Was the Last to Be Executed by the U.S. Military”

• Death Penalty Information Center: The Death Penalty in the U.S. Military

• U.S. Court of Appeals (10th Circuit), Bennett v. Davis, 267 F.2d 15 (1959)

• Menninger Foundation Archives, Topeka, Kansas

• ⚠️ Disclaimer:

  This episode contains discussions of sexual assault, racial injustice, and capital punishment. Listener discretion is strongly advised. All information is sourced from verified public records, historical archives, and journalistic reports.

  If this story moved you, please follow, rate, and share Deadly Truths on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube.
  Your support helps independent storytelling thrive — and keeps history’s darkest truths from being forgotten.

Welcome to Season Two of Deadly Truths. I’m Becca, your host — and this season, we’re stepping inside the heart of America’s most haunted fortress: Fort Leavenworth.

Behind these stone walls, soldiers were tried, executed, and buried under numbered headstones — their stories silenced, but never gone. Between 1875 and 1961, at least 136 men were executed at the Old U.S. Disciplinary Barracks, making it one of the most chilling sites in U.S. military history.

In this Halloween bonus episode — The Ghosts of the Disciplinary Barracks — we’ll uncover the dark history of Fort Leavenworth’s executions, the real soldiers who met their fate there, and the eerie encounters reported long after the last gallows fell silent.

From Private John Bennett, the last man hanged by the U.S. military, to the infamous Leavenworth Seven, their spirits still echo through the halls — boots on the catwalk, whispers in the dark, and the creak of a rope that never stops swinging.

This is Leavenworth: Death in the House — where history and horror share the same address.

👉 Sources:
U.S. Army Combined Arms Center – Fort Leavenworth Historical Office
Haunted Kansas: Ghost Stories and Other Eerie Tales (Lisa Hefner Heitz, 1997)
The Old USDB at Fort Leavenworth Archives
Leavenworth Times Historical Reports

🎧 Disclaimer:
This episode contains historical descriptions of execution and death that may be disturbing to some listeners. All accounts are sourced from public military archives and verified publications.

💀 Like, Share & Follow for more real crime, real history, and the echoes that refuse to die.

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