After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal
Episodes
Could You Survive Victorian Surgery?
19 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
You're laid out on the surgeon's table. Wide awake. He stands over you knife in hand and behind him, in the stands, is a noisy crowd all joking, smoki...
Murder at Stonehenge
16 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A body is found at Stonehenge. It's the skeleton of a man - an archer - who lived at the time when it was built. How did he die? What secrets does his...
Dark Side of Ancient Mesopotamia
12 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A four thousand(ish) year old murder trial. A procession of the dead. Kings who believed they could escape the gods by dressing gardeners in royal clo...
Final Days of Sir Walter Raleigh
09 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
'Strike, man, strike!' were the last words of Sir Walter Raleigh as his neck lay on the block. After thirteen years in the Tower of London, (multiple)...
Inside the Paris Catacombs
05 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Beneath the streets of the French capitol lurks a city of the dead: the Paris Catacombs.Why they were piled up there is a dark and fascinating story, ...
Victorian England's Most Gruesome Murder
02 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
It was one of the most gruesome crimes of the Victorian era... and it ended up in David Attenborough's garden! Kate Webster, a servant, killed and dis...
The Ghost of Mary Queen of Scots
29 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
*TW: This episode contains references to sexual violence.*Mary Queen of Scots' life was defined by violence, heartbreak and ultimately, betrayal.Since...
The Truth About the Knights Templar
26 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Why are the Knights Templar surrounded by myths and legends? Is there any truth to the tales of the Holy Grail or that the Knights survived? Why does ...
Final Days of Abraham Lincoln
22 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
One split second - and one individual - can upturn an entire nation.This was definitely the case when John Wilkes Booth shot President Abraham Lincoln...
Lost Colony of Roanoke: the Untold Story
19 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The lost colonists left behind one clue, the word "Croatoan" carved into a tree. Who were the Croatans? What were their lives like? How can we see thi...
The Dark Side of Ancient Egypt
15 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When people talk about Ancient Egypt, they often focus on the amazing pyramids, mummies, and the advanced civilisation.At After Dark, we love to ex...
Lost Colony of Roanoke: Mystery of Virginia Dare
12 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
WTF happened to Virginia Dare, America's first English child? How did her and her mother's legend grow over time? Did mysterious carvings found on sto...
The Murder That Shocked Edwardian Britain
08 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
It was a murder that shook Edwardian Britain, and became a media sensation around the world.Joining Maddy and Anthony today is the best-selling histor...
The Dark Side of Ancient Rome
05 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
As a lot of new listeners have joined us, and it's a bank holiday in the UK, we thought we'd re-run one of our earliest, goriest episodes. Trust us, t...
Spring-Heeled Jack: Terror of Victorian London
01 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The grimy streets of Victorian London were stalked by a shadowy menace: Spring-Heeled Jack! He had glowing eyes and blue flames came out his mouth. He...
England's Darkest Folklore
28 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A spectral Black Dog with hellish eyes; a homicidal water spirit who drowns children; a mermaid who takes revenge on a vile cad. Maddy Pelling takes A...
Final Days of 'Mad' George III
24 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
How did George III die? Was it raving in a straightjacket? Who stayed with him at the end of his long illness? Today we uncover the truth about George...
Hammersmith Ghost: How to Murder a Poltergeist
21 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Can it be murder if you think you're killing a ghost? In 1804 the London suburb of Hammersmith was being terrorised by a ghost. One man set out to hun...
Wales' Darkest Folklore
17 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Wales is set apart from a lot of countries, with one of its folk tales - the Red Dragon - featuring in its flag. What are the mythical origins of...
Ireland's Darkest Folklore
14 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
*TW: This episode contains discussions and themes of infertility.*Fairies have long been part of Irish folkloric history, with its landscape dotted wi...
Tudor England's Dumbest Murder
10 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Alice Arden wanted her husband Thomas dead. So did the rest of the village of Faversham. What followed was a twisted dance of passion, poison, insane ...
Scotland's Darkest Folklore
07 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
From misty mountains to deep-sea caves, we explore the dark side of Scottish folklore. Tales of Selkies - seal folk caught between sea and shore - Kel...
Easter Rising: First World War In Dublin
03 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
(Part 2/2) On Easter Monday in 1916, Irish rebels read a proclamation of independence that sparked a week-long battle with the British army.Over the n...
Black Death: Scapegoats & Persecution
30 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
***This episode contains a description of mass murder***As the Black Death moved across Europe, something darker and more insidious spread ahead of it...
Easter Rising: Build-Up To Irish Rebellion
27 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
(Part 1/2) With Britain engaged in the First World War in Europe, Irish rebels sensed an opportunity.Irish revolutions had fought for independence fro...
Black Death: 5 Strangest Cures
24 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
It was a plague like no other. It provoked strange cures like no other. Anthony Delaney takes Maddy Pelling in search of the oddest cures concocted in...
Final Days of Joan of Arc: Trial & Execution
20 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
(Part 2/2) Joan of Arc, mystic leader of a French army, was captured and sold to the English who tried her as a witch. What do the final days of this ...
Black Death: Inside Medieval Lockdown
17 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Around 50% of everyone in Europe died during the Black Death. It's very hard to make sense of that. What did it look and feel like to live through thi...
Final Days of Joan of Arc: Rise to Fame
13 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
(Part 1/2) So many things make Joan of Arc iconic. The fearless, crossdressing warrior saint who dies a martyr's death. Today Maddy begins a two-part ...
Black Death: The Origin Story
10 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The myth goes thus: the Black Death reached Christendom at the Siege of Caffa when Mongols catapulted diseased bodies over the walls. Where did we get...
Death at the Savoy Mansions: Post-War London's Drug Underworld
06 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
During the victory celebrations of World War One, a rising star is found dead in her bed after a suspected overdose.22-year-old Billie Carlton’s dea...
The Servants' Revenge: Arsenic & a Poisoned Pint of Beer
03 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Why did two servants living in Plymouth, England, poison their whole household in 1675? How did they sneak arsenic into the food? And what on earth is...
The Curse of King Tutankhamun's Tomb
26 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Untimely deaths followed the opening of Tutankhamun's tomb by Howard Carter. Coincidence or ancient curse? When the tomb of King Tutankhamun was seale...
Final Days of Thomas Cromwell
24 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
From ruthless schemer to pragmatic hero - who is the real Thomas Cromwell? And how did he meet his end? Today Anthony Delaney tells Maddy Pelling the ...
Glencoe Massacre: Haunted Highlands
20 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
(Part 2/2) On the 13 February 1692, Scottish government troops slaughtered between 30-40 members of Clan MacDonald in their home in Glencoe, in the Sc...
Peasants' Revolt: Murder in the Tower of London
17 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
(2/2) A boy King, a rebel army, and the first ever execution at Tower Hill. Maddy Pelling tells Anthony Delaney the days in the summer of 1381 when re...
Glencoe Massacre: Hell in the Scottish Highlands
13 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
On the 13 February 1692, Scottish government troops slaughtered between 30-40 members of Clan MacDonald in their home in Glencoe, in the Scottish High...
Peasants' Revolt: Medieval Rebellion
10 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
1381, England, the world turned upside down as the commoners rise up and dismantle the mechanisms of power. They're angry about taxes, serfdom, about ...
Final Days of the Romanovs (Part 2)
06 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
(2/2) We join the captive Romanovs as they are moved from The Alexander Palace to Siberia and then to Ekaterinburg, where their dreadful murder awaits...
Sweating Sickness: Deadly Tudor Plague
03 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
It's a medical-history-mystery: the Sweating Sickness. Things get clammy as Anthony Delaney and Maddy Pelling ask what was this deadly disease? What h...
Final Days of the Romanovs (Part 1)
30 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
(1/2) As Russia collapses, the Romanovs find themselves trapped by delusions and failed ideals; by revolution and Russian geography. Helen Rappaport j...
Typhoid Mary: Original Super-Spreader?
27 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Mary Mallon aka "Typhoid Mary" is a macabre figure who spread disease and death everywhere she went. But there's a lot more depth and humanity to Mary...
Is the Devil Dead?
23 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
(2/2) What does the resurrection of a hanged woman have to do with the Devil? Did the Enlightenment kill Old Nick or is he still a part of our world t...
Final Days of Henry VIII
20 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
You could smell Henry VIII's rotting legs from three rooms by the end. He was in constant pain, barely able to move. Yet he never loosed his grip on t...
Origins of the Devil
16 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
(1/2) How has the devil been depicted through history? What are his origins? And why should he be portrayed as beautiful?In the first part of a two pa...
Great Fire of London: Mobs, Firestorms, and Revenge
13 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
(2/2) As the Great Fire of London worsens mob rule begins to appear and a hunt for a scapegoat takes over. Maddy Pelling tells Anthony Delaney the sto...
Final Days of Mary Queen of Scots
09 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The moment Mary Queen of Scots set foot in England, she became Elizabeth I's prisoner. Mary was fleeing from war and misogyny, hoping for help from he...
Great Fire of London: Who started it?
06 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
(1/2) London's Burning! London's Burning! Disaster strikes in 1666 as the dense, mostly wooden, city of London begins to burn. Who started the fire? W...
Final Days of Rasputin
02 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Grigori Rasputin, Russian mystic, survived multiple assassination attempts on the same night. He was poisoned, he was shot, he was drowned in a freezi...
Is the Loch Ness Monster real?
30 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What lurks beneath the dark waters of Loch Ness? The legendary monster? A piece of Celtic folklore? A warning of the Nazis' rise to power? A fraudster...
Mystery of the Ghost Ship: Mary Celeste
26 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In 1872 the ghost ship Mary Celeste is found sailing across the Atlantic without a single crew member left on board. Theories over what happened on th...
Who was the "Elephant Man"? Joseph Merrick's True Story
23 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The life of Joseph Merrick, the man they dared to call "The Elephant Man", will fill you with pain and anger. He was treated so cruelly by society tha...
Inside the Foundling: London's First Orphanage (Part 2)
19 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
(2/2) We find out what life inside the Foundling Hospital was like as we complete the heartbreaking and heartwarming history of London's first orphana...
Lost Children of Georgian London (Part 1)
16 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Today Anthony and Maddy look into the heartbreaking history of the Foundling Hospital, now London’s saddest museum. Starting in the 18th centur...
Predicting Death: Strange History of the Premonitions Bureau
12 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Can we see beyond the veil, glimpse the future before it arrives? John Barker, a psychiatrist with a fascination for the unexplained, thought maybe we...
Ireland's First Witch: Medieval Murderer? (Part 2)
09 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
(Part 2/2) Anthony returns to his hometown of Kilkenny to conclude the tale of the first person to be executed for witchcraft in Ireland. Set 700 year...
History's Greatest Ghost Hunters: the Warrens
05 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Ghost hunting couple Ed and Lorraine Warren transformed twentieth century America into an enchanted land dotted with haunted houses, cursed objects, a...
Ireland's First Witch: Medieval Murderer? (Part 1)
02 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
(Part 1/2) 700 years ago, in 1324, the first person to be executed for witchcraft in Ireland died in Kilkenny. This is the story of a successful busin...
Most Haunted House in America: The Amityville Horror
28 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
112 Ocean Avenue in Amityville (Long Island) is arguably the most haunted house in America. Inside its walls demonic forces were, allegedly, unleashed...
English Village Sacrificed to Plague (Part 2)
24 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
(Part 2/2) They could've run, but they stayed. In 1665 plague arrived in the idyllic English village of Eyam. What followed was a story of suffering a...
Ghosts of the Deep South
21 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The Deep South is a haunted landscape where dark tourism thrives, supplying spine-tingling thrills to eager visitors. But is there a darker truth behi...
English Village Sacrificed to Plague (Part 1)
18 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
(Part 1/2) They could've run, but they stayed. In 1665 plague arrived in the idyllic English village of Eyam. What followed was a story of suffering a...
Queen Victoria's Funeral & the Cult of Death
14 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Queen Victoria was synonymous with grief and the Victorian cult of death. Yet her own funeral wasn't that at all. Today Dan O'Brien explains to Anthon...
Final Days of Captain Cook
11 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The violent death of Captain James Cook, British explorer, on a Hawaiian beach in 1779 has become the stuff of legend. Should we believe the story tha...
Ghosts of Hampton Court Palace
07 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The ghost of Catherine Howard, fifth wife of Henry VIII, screaming down a corridor. A nursemaid's spinning wheel clicking in the walls. Robed Tudor fi...
Titanic: The Final Hours (Part 2)
04 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Part 2/2. Iceberg, panic and lives changed forever. Loss, survival, and myth-making. Today is part two of the most famous maritime disaster in history...
The King's Witch Trial: North Berwick Witches
31 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Maddy and Anthony have a new TV documentary out all about King James VI of Scotland's witch hunts, available on History Hit TV.When James VI of Scotla...
Titanic: The Doomed Ship (Part 1)
28 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Part 1/2. Come on board the White Star Line's latest marvel, the splendour of the sea, the Titanic. Today we begin the story of the most ill-fated voy...
Irish Origins of Halloween
24 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Pumpkins, trick or treating and ghost stories are what we associate with Halloween, but what about turnips, fairies and a fortune-telling cake? Anthon...
Execution of Lady Jane Grey
21 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This Tudor's story is intense and tragic. She's known as Lady Jane Grey but we ought to change that to 'Queen Jane'. That's who she was, even though s...
Final Days of Anne Boleyn
17 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Today we’re exploring the grim and heroic final days of the Anne Boleyn, the thousand day queen.We are joined by the one-and-only Dr Tracy Borman wh...
Ménage à Murder: 1920s Love Triangle Killers
14 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Edith Thompson was the model 1920's flapper girl. Her husband Percy was more suburban. When young Freddy Bywater entered the marriage home, things bec...
Bodies in the Walls: Postwar London's Darkest Crime
10 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
John Reginald Christie was the most notorious murderer of his era. On the outside he was every inch the Old Fashioned Englishman, respectable norms pe...
Who was Jack the Ripper? The Doctor (Suspect 4)
07 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Part 4/4. By looking at the men accused of being Jack the Ripper, we uncover dark truths about Victorian society - and our own. Why were these men, mo...
Burke & Hare: Scotland’s Most Notorious Serial Killers
03 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Discover the true story of Burke and Hare’s murderous rampage through the streets of Edinburgh, all to serve the needs of the city’s scientific mi...
Who was Jack the Ripper? The Artist (Suspect 3)
30 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Part 3/4. By looking at the men accused of being Jack the Ripper, we uncover dark truths about Victorian society - and our own. Why were these men, mo...
Wounds of Christ: Macabre History of Stigmata
26 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The wounds that Christ received on the cross - the stigmata - have had a strange afterlife, reappearing on the flesh of followers from St Francis of A...
Who was Jack the Ripper? The Barber (Suspect 2)
23 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Part 2/4. By looking at the men accused of being Jack the Ripper, we uncover dark truths about Victorian society - and our own. Why were these men, mo...
Ned Kelly: Australia's Notorious Outlaw
19 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Ned Kelly is a murdering, bank-robbing, Australian folk hero. What is the true history of this mythic figure? And how did an outlaw - or bushranger - ...
Who was Jack the Ripper? The Prince (Suspect 1)
16 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Part 1/4. By investigating the men accused of being Jack the Ripper, we uncover dark truths about Victorian society - and our own. Why were these men,...
Lost Colony of Roanoke: Mystery of England's First American Settlers
12 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The colonists of Roanoke Island in the 1580's were the very first English people to try to establish a permanent settlement in America. They completel...
Myth of the Minotaur: Half Man Half Bull
09 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The myth of the Minotaur has endured thousands of years for good reason... it's hard to forget! Today, Maddy Pelling tells Anthony Delaney the story o...
The Black Death: The Deadliest Plague
05 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
It was beyond Biblical in its horror. Around half of all Europeans are estimated to have died in the Black Death. Death ravaged towns and villages, ca...
Macabre Death of Edgar Allan Poe
02 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Edgar Allan Poe was a poster boy for the macabre whose work thrilled readers throughout America and beyond. How did he end up in a gutter in Baltimore...
Corpse Medicine: Eating Egyptian Mummies
29 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
A skull a day! People ate people in the name of medicine across Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries. Charles II kept powdered skull in a bag on his ...
Giggling Granny Serial Killer
26 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Picture a serial killer in your mind’s eye. What do you see... Is it your gran?Today is the story of one of America’s most notorious female serial...
Salem Witch Trials: Interrogation & Torture
22 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The second part of our story on the Salem Witch Trials. Anthony Delaney takes Maddy Pelling inside the courtroom as unbelievable stories of witchcraft...
Salem Witch Trials: Hysteria & Accusations
19 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
First of two episodes on the Salem Witch Trials. We begin the story as accusations are made throughout the town of Salem and a climate of fear is p...
Harry Houdini: the Original Ghostbuster
15 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Harry Houdini was the greatest magician that ever lived. He was also the greatest ghostbuster ever, exposing countless spiritual mediums as frauds. Wh...
"The Elephant Man": Joseph Merrick's True Story
12 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The life of Joseph Merrick, the man they dared to call "The Elephant Man", will fill you with pain and anger. He was treated so cruelly by society tha...
American Serial Killer Family: Bloody Benders
08 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
When a series of mysterious disappearances and gruesome murders happened on the American Frontier in the 19th century, fingers started to point in the...
Innocent or Axe Murderer? Lizzie Borden
05 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
It's one of the most infamous trials in American history, Lizzie Borden's story is breathtaking even today. In 1893 she was accused of using an axe to...
New York Morgue's Dark Secrets
01 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The unclaimed dead of New York City's streets and rivers were once brought to the notorious New York Morgue. It's a history that has never been studie...
The Final Days of Marie Antoinette
29 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
How did Marie Antoinette, last Queen of France, spend her final days before the guillotine took her head? Did she ever really stand a chance? Anthony ...
Slenderman & Mothman: Origins of Internet Horror
25 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
"The internet is full of dark and wicked things" said a police chief after a shocking crime by two children claiming to be acolytes of the Slenderman....
Victorian Teen Who Murdered Her Baby Brother
22 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In 1860 Britain was rocked by the brutal murder of 3-year-old Francis Kent inside his family home. Scotland Yard sent their finest but when a teenage ...
Real History of the Illuminati
18 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
There really was a secret society called the Illuminati that aimed to create a New World Order. This is true story of the Illuminati and how they were...
Royal Murder: 1810 Death in St James's Palace
14 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In 1810 a valet called Joseph Sellis was found dead in St James's Palace. All eyes turned to his master the Duke of Cumberland, fifth son of George II...
Tutankhamun's Curse
11 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Untimely deaths followed the opening of Tutankhamun's tomb by Howard Carter. Coincidence or ancient curse? When the tomb of King Tutankhamun was seale...
Bell Witch of Tennessee: America's Greatest Ghost Story
07 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
It's America's greatest ghost story: the 1817-1821 haunting of a rural family by a mysterious entity—sometimes violent, sometimes mischievous, even ...