History's Devils

About History's Devils

What makes someone evil? HISTORY'S DEVILS is a weekly deep-dive podcast that investigates the world's most infamous historical figures. Each episode explores the life, actions, and legacy of a terrible person from history, sorting through myths to examine the facts behind their reputation and to judge just how wicked they truly were. Hosted by Professor James Crossland, HISTORY'S DEVILS covers dictators, tyrants, war criminals, cult leaders, revolutionaries, con-artists, conspiracy theorists and just plain terrible people, combining deep research with compelling storytelling to reveal the darker side of human history. A show for fans of dark history, historical biographies and in-depth explorations of people who changed the world for better - or for worse. All the devils are here. And we are ready to tell their stories.

Publisher

James Crossland

Category

history · society & culture · true crime

Language

en

Explicit

Yes

First episode

7 Feb 2026

Latest episode

14 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

44 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   14 Oct 2026

   The USS Indianapolis Disaster, Pt.2 - How The US Navy Sent 800 Sailors to their Deaths and Scapegoated a Captain

   The second part of History’s Devils’ investigation into the sinking of USS Indianapolis examines why more than 800 sailors were left in the Pacific for four days after the Japanese submarine I-58 torpedoed the cruiser in July 1945. James is joined once again by Kyle Kochenberger from the History Buffs or Bluffs Podcast to trace the source of the disaster to failures by the US Navy, including withholding intelligence about Japanese submarines, the blundered handling of three SOS transmissions ...

2. 

   13 Oct 2026

   The USS Indianapolis Disaster, Pt.1 - A Secret Mission, A Submarine and the Worst Shark Attack in History

   In the final weeks of the Second World War, the USS Indianapolis secretly transported components for the "Little Boy" atomic bomb from San Francisco to Tinian Island, for assembly ahead of it being dropped over Hiroshima. After completing its mission, the unescorted heavy cruiser was torpedoed by the Japanese submarine I-58 on July 30, 1945, sinking in just 12 minutes and leaving hundreds of sailors in the Pacific. For four days, the Indianapolis' survivors endured dehydration, hallucinations...

3. 

   6 Oct 2026

   Jim Bakker Part 1: The Rise of America's Most Shameless TV Evangelist

   In part one of this week’s episode, James Crossland and Jayne Friend examine the foremost religious grifter of his age – Jim Bakker, and his marriage to the charismatic Tammy Faye Messner, who together created a TV partnership that would make them enormously wealthy, famous and corrupt. The episode follows Jim and Tammy’s journey from traveling evangelicals to stars of Pat Robertson’s Christian Broadcasting Network, to success with their legendary Praise the Lord Club show, where emotio...

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

1 ratings

Spotify

4.6 / 5

8 ratings

Contact History's Devils

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

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