
All That Is Wicked
A Gilded-Age Story of Murder and the Race to Decode the Criminal Mind
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Narrated by:
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Kate Winkler Dawson
Acclaimed crime historian, podcaster, and author of American Sherlock Kate Winkler Dawson tells the thrilling story of Edward Rulloff—a serial murderer who was called “too intelligent to be killed”—and the array of 19th century investigators who were convinced his brain held the key to finally understanding the criminal mind.
Edward Rulloff was a brilliant yet utterly amoral murderer—some have called him a “Victorian-era Hannibal Lecter”—whose crimes spanned decades and whose victims were chosen out of revenge, out of envy, and sometimes out of necessity. From his humble beginnings in upstate New York to the dazzling salons and social life he established in New York City, at every turn Rulloff used his intelligence and regal bearing to evade detection and avoid punishment. He could talk his way out of any crime...until one day, Rulloff's luck ran out.
By 1871 Rulloff sat chained in his cell—a psychopath holding court while curious 19th-century "mindhunters" tried to understand what made him tick. From alienists (early psychiatrists who tried to analyze the source of his madness) to neurologists (who wanted to dissect his brain) to phrenologists (who analyzed the bumps on his head to determine his character), each one thought he held the key to understanding the essential question: Is evil born or made? Eventually, Rulloff’s brain would be placed in a jar at Cornell University as the prize specimen of their anatomy collection...where it still sits today, slowly moldering in a dusty jar. But his story—and its implications for the emerging field of criminal psychology—were just beginning.
Expanded from season one of her hit podcast on the Exactly Right network (seven million downloads and growing), in All That Is Wicked Kate Winkler Dawson draws on hundreds of source materials and never-before-shared historical documents to present one of the first glimpses into the mind of a serial killer—a century before the term was coined—through the scientists whose work would come to influence criminal justice for decades to come.
©2022 Kate Winkler Dawson (P)2022 Penguin AudioListeners also enjoyed...




















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Great storytelling
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PLEASE STOP The Politicizing of Everything
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Good story
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interesting story that I never heard
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Another amazing story from Kate Winkler Dawson
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I also love that it is a wonderful balance of history, science, crime, and justice, in all the convoluted ways those can be discussed. It is not lurid or gory or shocking for the sake of drama. It is straightforward as it can be and never feels like it dishonors the victims, which can be a major downside to many true crime stories.
Fascinating
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Kate does it again
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Awesome
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Interesting
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During his lifetime, he was hounded by suspicion, which was rightly given. He was responsible for the murder of his wife, and most likely his baby daughter. He was suspected of killing a sister in law and her son.
Edward Rulloff is one of the more interesting serial killers that I have read about, and the many facets of his mind that were left unlocked due to the scientific methods of the day. While he deserved punishment for his crimes, there are many areas that could have given some interesting insights into the mind of someone who could be considered genius, yet entirely insane.
Fascinating read, and highly enjoyable.
Insanity and Murder
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