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🎙️ Mugshot Mysteries: Episode 6

The Nebraska Siren – Bertha Liebbeke

She looked like the girl next door. Polite, well-dressed, maybe a little flustered. But behind the lace gloves? A master manipulator who pulled off some of the slickest thefts in Gilded Age America...without ever brandishing a weapon.

In this episode, we dig into the story of Bertha Liebbeke... con artist, charmer, and one of the most fascinating women ever to grace a mugshot. We break down her origin story, her best-known scams, and the psychology that made her so effective. Plus, Gabriel joins Kathryn for an interview-style dive into the criminal mind.

🕵️‍♀️ Show Notes & Sources:

• "The Nebraska Siren," Omaha Bee, 1891–1894
  https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn99021999/
• "A Beauty with a Taste for Deception," The Inter Ocean (Chicago), 1893
  Available via Newspapers.com archives
• Captured & Exposed – Fainting Bertha
  https://capturedandexposed.com/2017/02/20/fainting-bertha/
• Old Spirituals – The Nebraska Siren
  https://oldspirituals.com/2016/06/01/bertha-liebbeke/
• Nebraska State Historical Society
  https://history.nebraska.gov
• Inflation Calculator (for crime value comparison)
  https://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm
• Mugshot Mysteries - Youtube Episode
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_rTN61F_IQ&t=4s

🖼️ Bertha Liebbeke’s Mugshot
https://capturedandexposed.com/2021/03/19/fainting-bertha/

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Mugshot Mysteries tells the story behind the mugshot—where psychology, history, and crime collide.

🕵️‍♂️ New episodes drop weekly.

Stay curious. Stay suspicious.

Enjoyed the episode? Don’t forget to follow, rate, and leave a review. Thanks for listening. We’ll see you next time with another face… and another mystery.

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💬 Like what you hear? Follow us on Instagram and TikTok @MugshotMysteries for behind-the-scenes content, old mugshots, and vintage scam stories.

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🎧 Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your shows.

Thanks for listening. We’ll see you next time with another face… and another mystery.

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🎙️ Mugshot Mysteries: Episode 5

Victor Lustig. Alias Count. Master of disguise. Smooth talker. And the man who conned the world...literally.

This week on Mugshot Mysteries, Kathryn unravels the stranger-than-fiction story of Victor Lustig, the infamous confidence man who sold the Eiffel Tower not once, but twice. We'll explore:

🧠 Psychology Corner: Gabriel breaks down Lustig's mind through the lens of power, performance, and pathology. Was Lustig just a gifted manipulator...or a man trying to outwit his own insignificance?

📚 Research Sources & Archival Documents

📄 Primary Source Documents (Available via Ancestry.com and historical newspaper archives):

• U.S. Passport Application (March 1925) — Victor Lustig alias Robert V. Miller, including photo and sworn testimony [2 pages]
• Marriage Record – State of Missouri Marriage License, Victor Lustig and Roberta Lustig (née Nagle), 1915
• Comic Feature – Strange As It Seems by John Hix, Medford Mail Tribune, June 12, 1937: “The Man of 63 Aliases”
• Newspaper Articles (Clippings & Headlines):
  • St. Louis Globe-Democrat, Feb 4, 1936 – Treasury agents raid Greenwich Village counterfeit ring
  • The Des Moines Register, May 17, 1935 – “Money Artist Gets 20 Years” (sentencing article)
  • The Des Moines Register, Oct 26, 1947 – “Near-Perfect Counterfeit Bills Stymied Federal Reserve”
  • The Evening Sun, May 14, 1935 – Arrest report, $50,000 bail, inventory of fake money and printing equipment

🕵️ Additional Research via Ancestry.com:

• Immigration records, city directories, and census records cross-referenced for Victor Lustig and known aliases
• Criminal court transcripts, mugshots, and incarceration records from Leavenworth and Alcatraz
• Marriage license and residential verification in Missouri and New York under Robert V. Miller

🧠 Psychology Corner Sources

• Paulhus, D.L., & Williams, K.M. (2002). The Dark Triad of personality: Narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy. Journal of Research in Personality, 36(6), 556–563.
• Hare, R.D. (1993). Without Conscience: The Disturbing World of the Psychopaths Among Us.
• Konnikova, M. (2016). The Confidence Game: Why We Fall for It… Every Time.
• Goffman, E. (1956). The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life.
• Nietzsche, F. (1883–85). Thus Spoke Zarathustra.
• American Psychiatric Association (2013). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5®): Antisocial Personality Disorder.

📖 Recommended Reading & Secondary Sources:

• The Man Who Sold the Eiffel Tower by Neal Bascomb
• “The Great Pretender: Victor Lustig” – CrimeReads
• “The Man Who Sold the Eiffel Tower—Twice” – Smithsonian Magazine, March 2015
• The Big Con by David W. Maurer – On the psychology and mechanics of classic con games

Support the show

💬 Like what you hear? Follow us on Instagram and TikTok @MugshotMysteries for behind-the-scenes content, old mugshots, and vintage scam stories.

⭐ Rate & review to help others discover the twisted brilliance of the world’s most bizarre historical criminals.

🎧 Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your shows.

Thanks for listening. We’ll see you next time with another face… and another mystery.

Send us a text

🎙️ Mugshot Mysteries: Episode 4

The Boy Who Warned Him – Claude F. Hankins

True crime meets history and psychology in this heartbreaking case from 1904: Claude F. Hankins, a 14-year-old boy from California, shot and killed his employer. But this wasn’t just a juvenile crime, it was a desperate act rooted in child abuse, labor exploitation, and institutional failure.

In this episode of Mugshot Mysteries, we dig deep into Claude’s mugshot, uncovering the hidden meanings behind turn-of-the-century newspaper euphemisms, the systemic failures of California’s early juvenile justice system, and the trauma that shaped a boy too young for the world he was trapped in.

Perfect for listeners who love true crime podcasts, historical criminal cases, psychological analysis, and forgotten stories of resilience, this episode explores what happens when a child is punished instead of protected.

📸 Follow us on Instagram: @MugshotMysteriesPodcast

📚 Show Notes & Sources

📰 News & Historical Records
• Sacramento Bee (1904) – Arrest of Claude Hankins
• Marysville Democrat (1904) – Details from the trial
• Appeal-Democrat (1904) – Family interviews and sentencing
• San Quentin State Prison Intake Records – 1904 juvenile incarceration
• U.S. Federal Census (1900, 1910, 1940) – Claude’s family and post-prison life
• Washington State Archives – Claude’s marriage and death records

🏛️ Archives & Research Tools
• California State Archives – Juvenile justice system history
• National Archives (NARA) – Early 20th-century prison records
• RAINN: Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network – https://www.rainn.org
• Library of Congress – Early child labor laws and institutional records

🧠 Psychological & Cultural Themes

• Fight-or-Flight in Traumatized Youth
→ Harvard Center on the Developing Child
→ https://developingchild.harvard.edu/science/key-concepts/toxic-stress/

• Complex PTSD in Abuse Survivors
→ National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN)
→ https://www.nctsn.org/what-is-child-trauma/trauma-types/complex-trauma

• Survivor’s Guilt & Moral Injury
→ American Psychological Association
→ https://www.apa.org/monitor/2020/03/moral-injury

• ACE Study: Adverse Childhood Experiences
→ CDC-Kaiser Permanente Study
→ https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/aces/index.html

• Juvenile Injustice & Institutional Trauma
→ Juvenile Law Center – https://jlc.org
→ Prison Policy Initiative – https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/youth.html

👤 Claude F. Hankins Mugshot

→ https://beccasmidt.com/mugshots/53hawkins-2
A rare intake photo from San Quentin Prison shows Claude at just 14 years old, one of the youngest inmates in Cal

Support the show

💬 Like what you hear? Follow us on Instagram and TikTok @MugshotMysteries for behind-the-scenes content, old mugshots, and vintage scam stories.

⭐ Rate & review to help others discover the twisted brilliance of the world’s most bizarre historical criminals.

🎧 Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your shows.

Thanks for listening. We’ll see you next time with another face… and another mystery.