The hosts explore a macabre trend from the 1700s in Germany in this special Halloween episode of the UC Davis podcast Unfold. To avoid eternal damnation for the sin of committing suicide, a number of people began committing child murder so they could be forgiven by a priest before being executed. In this episode, Unfold looks at how imagined child murders can create a culture of actual killings.

Warning: This episode’s subject matter might not be suitable for all audiences.

In this episode: 

• Kathy Stuart, associate professor, UC Davis Department of History

In season 3, Unfold and hosts Amy Quinton and Kat Kerlin bring listeners stories of awe, wonder and discovery as they explore curiosity-driven research at UC Davis.

The award-winning podcast launches a new episode every Tuesday through Nov. 23. Next week’s episode introduces listeners to a Twitter-famous salamander in “Chonk the Axolotl: How Life Is Super Amazing.”

Unfold is available free, on demand at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon's TuneIn, Stitcher or wherever you get your podcasts. It is produced by Cody Drabble. Original music for Unfold comes from UC Davis alumnus Damien Verrett and Curtis Jerome Haynes. Follow Unfold on Twitter at @Unfoldpodcast.