Episode 3: The Cobb Family Tragedy

In this haunting episode of Headlines and Tidbits, we revisit a chilling headline from the Omaha Morning Bee in December 1935: “Slayer Uses Children’s Play Rope to End Lives.” Charles Cobb, a seemingly ordinary husband and father, shocked his Nebraska community when he murdered his wife, two sons, and even the family dog before taking his own life. Through letters he left behind, we uncover the crushing debt, shame, and delusional reasoning that drove him to commit an unthinkable act. We also hear from an Omaha psychiatrist of the time, whose chilling insights strip away Cobb’s self-justification and reveal the dangerous psychology of a “family annihilator.” As always, we’ll close with a quirky tidbit from the past—a 1921 fashion note on how a young woman “should” dress. It’s a sobering journey into history that reminds us how headlines hide entire worlds of human struggle.