In 1885, in the Fenland village of Walsoken near Wisbech, Bathsheba Goodale was last seen alive with her husband, Robert. That night, he returned home alone, his trousers soaked and his boots thick with mud. He showed little concern when his wife failed to come back from the fields, and his strange indifference quickly stirred suspicion among the villagers. The discovery of Bathsheba’s body at the bottom of a well was followed by a murder charge, a trial, and a guilty verdict. Robert Goodale was condemned to death. Yet it was not the crime that would secure his place in history, but its notorious aftermath. His execution became infamous as one of Britain’s worst botched hangings.

📘 Wartime London’s ‘Bonnie and Clyde’: The Crime Spree of Betty Jones and Karl Hulten

Subscribe to my free newsletter:
https://prashganendran.com

📺 Subscribe for video versions
YouTube: https://youtube.com/@prashsmurdermap

💡 Support my work
Patreon (audio only ad-free episodes): https://www.patreon.com/prashsmurdermap
Buy me a coffee: https://ko-fi.com/prashsmurdermap
PayPal: https://www.paypal.me/prashsmurdermap

🙏 Thank you for listening.
Your support helps keep Prash’s Murder Map going and is very much appreciated.

Music:
Epidemic Sound

"Unanswered Questions" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

"Long Note Three" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

"Long Note Two" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

"Lightless Dawn" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

"Unanswered Questions" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Sources:
Ancestry.co.uk Census Records (1851, 1861, 1871, 1881) Lincolnshire Free Press, Tuesday 22 September 1885 Lynn News & County Press, Saturday 26 September 1885 Eastern Evening News - Saturday 14 November 1885 Eastern Evening News, Saturday 28 November 1885 Norfolk News, Saturday 5 December 1885 Norfolk Chronicle, Saturday 10 November 1888 The A-Z of Curious Norfolk, Sarah Doig Norfolk Murders, Neil R. Storey Trove, National Library of Australia, newspaper article: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/111013766