Shirt-Tail Alley

About this episode

The episode explores the scandalous murder investigation of Theora Hix, a medical student found dead in 1929 near Columbus, Ohio.

Just outside of Columbus, Ohio, in the early summer of 1929, two teenage boys set out to settle a friendly argument over who was the better shot. The sky was clear after a night of rain—and the world was only months away from the Great Depression. But that morning, in a field known to locals as “Shirt‑Tail Alley,” the boys discovered something that would ignite one of the most scandalous murder investigations in history. Join us for Shirt-Tail Alley: The Murder of Theora Hix . The body of Theora was there in the tall grass, brutally beaten and unrecognizable. Within hours she would be identified as a twenty-four‑year‑old medical student at Ohio State University. As police scrambled for answers, a shocking truth emerged, exposing a web of secret relationships, illicit rendezvous, and a killer no one would ever have suspected. Sources The Murder of Theora Hix, The Ohio Project, https://theohioproject.net/history/the-murder-of-theora-hix/ The Mystery of the Thirteenth Key, https://archive.org/details/TrueDetectiveJan1930/page/n11/mode/2up The Professor & the Coed: Scandal & Murder at the Ohio State University, Mark Gribben, 2010. The Trial of Dr. James Howard Snook, Short…

People in this episode

Host: Tiegrabber Podcasts

Topics covered

• murder investigation
• historical crime
• secret relationships
• Ohio history
• 1920s scandal

Keywords

• Theora Hix
• murder
• Columbus Ohio
• 1929
• Ohio State University
• Dr. James Howard Snook
• crime investigation

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Ohio State University

Books & works: The Murder of Theora Hix, The Mystery of the Thirteenth Key, The Professor & the Coed: Scandal & Murder at the Ohio State University

Places: Columbus, Ohio

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