Strange Country Episode 239: Taliesin Massacre

Frank Lloyd Wright is considered one of America’s most influential 20th century architects. While he built homes designed for family togetherness, he was blowing his own family apart. He and his mistress Mamah Borthwick squired away to Wisconsin where Wright built Taliesin. Newspapers referred to it as the Love Bungalow. Strange Country cohosts Beth and Kelly talk about the horrific tragedy that occurred there on Aug. 15, 1914 where seven people were brutally murdered.

Theme music: Big White Lie by A Cast of Thousands

Cite your sources:

Booth, Sarah. “Wright's Grave Site Moved.” The Washington Post, 9 April 1985, https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1985/04/09/wrights-grave-site-moved/510f9f85-3224-415a-a990-1016de77bee8/. Accessed 23 August 2022.

Drennan, William R. Death in a Prairie House: Frank Lloyd Wright and the Taliesin Murders. University of Wisconsin Press, 2008.

Hendrickson, Paul. Plagued by Fire: The Dreams and Furies of Frank Lloyd Wright. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2019. Accessed 26 August 2022.

Klein, Christopher. “The Massacre at Frank Lloyd Wright's ‘Love Cottage.’” History.com, 29 January 2019, https://www.history.com/news/the-massacre-at-frank-lloyd-wrights-love-cottage. Accessed 21 August 2022.

“Taliesin Massacre (Frank Lloyd Wright).” Crime Museum, https://www.crimemuseum.org/crime-library/famous-murders/taliesin-massacre-frank-lloyd-wright/. Accessed 21 August 2022.