A Very Cold Case

American newspaper publisher and all-around eccentric, Charles Francis Hall, was an unlikely candidate to become an Arctic explorer. Nevertheless, he made three trips to the frozen north, until he died there under suspicious circumstances. Sharpen your powers of deduction and join us on Sidedoor for an epic frozen whodunit, featuring shipwreck, romance, and a social media darling with a dark secret. We’re resharing this longtime favorite from 2021 to bring you some wintry vibes. Guests: Stephen Loring , anthropologist and archeologist at the Arctic Studies Center of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History Heidi Moses , volunteer with the Smithsonian Transcription Center Emily Niekrasz , social media manager, Smithsonian Institution

You can listen to A Very Cold Case online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

A Very Cold Case is an episode from Sidedoor by Smithsonian Institution .

This episode is 32:30 long.

This episode was published on Dec 24, 2025.

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