After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal
Episodes
What is the Yeti?
22 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Did you know legendary mountaineer Edmund Hillary found evidence of the Yeti? Or that David Attenborough is on board with the idea it exists? Today we...
The Georgian Husband with Fourteen Wives
17 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Charles Hamilton allegedly had fourteen wives according to the newspapers, but the headline was that Charles used to be called Mary. In the 18th centu...
Bigfoot: the Origin Story
15 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Our second episode examining the very real history of Bigfoot. This time we're looking at ancient Native American rock art and meeting the extinct (or...
Deadly Dancing Plague of 1518
10 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
When people think of Medieval diseases, hysterical dancing is not usually what first comes to mind. Yet in 14th and 15th century Germany, dozens of or...
Bigfoot: Hunt for the Truth
08 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Does Bigfoot really walk among us? Today we start a three-part mini-series exploring the very real histories of Bigfoot and the Yeti.We begin with Big...
Jack the Ripper
04 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What is it about this case that holds the imagination after all these years? When did that fascination with it begin? How early on did the myths of Ja...
Medieval Mass Murdering Monk: Malmesbury Abbey
01 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Malmesbury Abbey in Wiltshire was an institution of national significance from the late seventh century until the dissolution of the monasteries in 15...
The Murdering Midwife of Covent Garden
28 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
‘If only walls could talk’ is a phrase which feels particularly relevant to mysterious murder cases throughout history. And in today’s episode, ...
Who is the Real Dracula? The Bloody History
25 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This is the incredible history of Dracula, from medieval ruler Vlad the Impaler, to Bram Stoker and the Victorian theatre world. Get ready for a very ...
England's Worst Witch Trial: Pendle Witches
21 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Inside the heavy walls of Lancaster Castle, the darkest & deadliest of English witch trials played out in 1612 - the Pendle Witch Trials. By the end t...
St Patrick: Pirates, Snakes and Goatees
17 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
He wasn't Irish. He didn't wear green. There were no snakes. So who was the real St Patrick? How did his myth grow? And how did he invent the goatee?P...
Medieval Torture: The Dark History
14 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This episode contains descriptions of execution and torture.To be Hanged, Drawn & Quartered. Put on the Rack. Impaled on a spike. This list paints a v...
'Black Widow': Serial Killer of Victorian England
11 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Mary Ann Cotton is known as the first British female serial killer. A trail of bodies, many her own children, followed her through life. Bodies she ha...
Pirate Queens: Mary Read & Anne Bonny
06 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Mary Read and Anne Bonny are legendary female pirates from the golden age of piracy. Raised as boys, they sailed with captain Calico Jack and fought t...
The First Alien Abduction
03 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In 1961 Betty and Barney Hill became the first people ever to be abducted by aliens. Their story of being taken and examined by extraterrestrials on b...
The Paris Morgue's Dark Story
29 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Citizens of Paris in the 19th century could stroll down to the Morgue to try to identify the unknown dead or to gawp at celebrity murder victims. Thou...
Do Mermaids Exist? Historical Sightings & Myths
25 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Did you know Benjamin Franklin began his career reporting mermaid sightings? Or that there's a mermaid on every cup of Starbucks coffee?Join us as we ...
The Earliest Evidence of Ghosts
22 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The earliest evidence of human belief in ghosts comes from 5,000 years ago in Mesopotamia. Who were these first ghosts? What was the underworld they l...
The Real Hannibal Lecter
18 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
At the tender age of 23, Thomas Harris, author of The Silence of the Lambs, was sent to interview a convicted murderer inside a Mexican prison. What h...
Murder in Henry VIII's England
15 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In a world before police, what happened when someone was murdered? How were murderers caught? How did the wheels of justice turn?We talk to Steven Vee...
The Mystery of the Medieval Green Children
12 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Two green children walked into the village of Woolpit in Suffolk, England, sometime in the 12th century. They said they were from a magic land where e...
Dragons: From the Ancient World to the Hobbit
07 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Take dinosaur bones, snake poison, volcanic lava, fear of the unknown. Mix it all together and you have a dragon!Today we're finding out about the anc...
The Fairy Hoax That Fooled the World
04 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In 1920 Sir Arthur Conan Doyle published a story more explosive than any adventure of Sherlock Holmes. He claimed that photographic evidence had emerg...
The American Ripper
01 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Who was the American Ripper? How many people died at his hands? What on earth is a 'murder castle'? Anthony and Maddy head down a rabbit hole on the h...
Alaskan Stories: Sedna the Sea-Goddess & Myth of Last Frontier
28 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We are the stories we tell. In Alaska the Inupiaq people tell the story of Sedna the goddess of the sea. They understand that the land they live on is...
The Mythical Origins of Britain
25 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The British Isles were once thought of as the edge of the Ancient World, a land of giants and other mysteries. According to these myths, survivors of ...
The Real Dick Turpin
21 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
"Your money or your life!"Those are the immortal words ascribed to this famous outlaw. Terror of the rich. Hero to the poor. Charmer of ladies. The ga...
The Many Murders of Alexander the Great
18 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Alexander the Great - conqueror, legend, murderer. After ascending to the throne at aged 20 in 336BCE, his rule started with mass executions and polit...
Ghost Ship: The Mary Celeste
15 Jan 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...
Myths of King Arthur: Origins, Creepy Sex & Magic Swords
11 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
King Arthur. Merlin. The Knights of the Round Table and the Sword in the Stone. We think we know these stories but they've changed a lot since they we...
Ireland's Bloodiest Murders: Maamtrasna Murders
08 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
One summer night in 1882 the Maamtrasna Valley in the West of Ireland became forever notorious when three generations of the Seoige (Joyce) family wer...
Medieval Werewolves, Ghosts & Zombies
04 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
How did Medieval people fight against the Undead? What motivated their Ghosts? And why do stories of Werewolves persist until today?Anthony and Maddy ...
Exploding Kings & Red Hot Pokers: Gruesome Deaths of Monarchs
01 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Edward II died by red-hot poker. William the Conqueror exploded on his way into the coffin. Mary II went down covered in so many pustules she was unre...
Blood Countess of Hungary: Sixteenth Century Serial Killer
28 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The inspiration behind countless gothic novels, Countess Elizabeth Báthory is said to be one of the most prolific serial killers of all time, accused...
Christmas Day Strangler: the murder of Gwen Ellen Jones
25 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On Christmas Day 1909, Gwen Ellen Jones was murdered by William Murphy in the Welsh town of Holyhead. Anthony and Maddy tell the story with an appeara...
Charles Dickens' Christmas Ghosts
20 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Like Ebenezer Scrooge on Christmas Eve, we are visited by three Dickensian ghosts today. One rattling chains, one made out of dark memories, and one t...
Palmer the Poisoner: Victorian England's Doctor of Death
18 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In a century of poisoners, William Palmer stands out as the prince of them all. Charles Dickens called him "the greatest villain that ever stood in th...
Why Do People Kill at Christmas?
13 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Why do people kill in the season of goodwill? Why are we fascinated when they do? And what does it say about us?Professor David Wilson, leading ...
Ghost That Solved Its Own Murder: Red Barn Murder
10 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The Red Barn Murder in 1827 was ground zero for true crime podcasts. It become one of the first cases to explode in the media and caused a national se...
The Ghost of Anne Boleyn
07 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We talk the ghost of Anne Boleyn, Queen of England before Henry VIII chopped off her head, with the marvellous Tracy Borman.Where can Anne Boleyn's gh...
Hellfire Club: Sex, Scandal & Satanism in Georgian England
04 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Sex, Satanism and Scandal surrounded the Hellfire Club that operated out of a network of caves in the country estate of 18th century aristocrat Franci...
Amelia Dyer: Victorian Baby Farm Killer
29 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Some estimates have it that Amelia Dyer killed more than 400 babies. It's hard to say for sure because so few victims were recovered. She was a phanto...
The Real Origins of Witches
27 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Have you ever wondered what the ancient origins of witchcraft is? How did the black-hat-broomstick stereotype emerge? And what causes the waves of wit...
Victorian Death Photography: Postmortem Posers
23 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The Victorians created the unsettling art of death photography - posing their deceased love ones in family portraits as if they were alive. How did th...
Mother Shipton: Tudor Prophetess of England's Doom
20 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Did a Tudor prophetess correctly predict the English Civil War, the Crimean War, the sinking of the Titanic, World War One and the end of days? And wh...
The Real Witch Hunts: Persecution & Panic
16 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Witch hunts blazed across Europe from the 1400s right into the 1700s. Their terror has been burned into the collective memory. But how accurate are th...
The Man Who Hanged Nazis: Albert Pierrepoint
12 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
For Albert Pierrepoint, execution was a family affair. His father and uncle were hangmen and from the 1940s until the late 1950s Albert was Britain's ...
Ghost Fetishes: From Ancient World to Victorians
09 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
What is spectrophilia? Well, it's a fetish for ghosts (as well as mirrors), so being turned on by anything lurking in the non-physical realm. What are...
Origins of the Loch Ness Monster
06 Nov 2023
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...
Guy Fawkes & the 1605 Gunpowder Plot
01 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Other countries celebrate their victories and independence. But in Britain, we celebrate a bungling terrorist from the 17th century. Why? Who was Guy ...
Hammersmith Ghost: How to Murder a Poltergeist
29 Oct 2023
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...
Hauntings, Hangings & a Beast: Bodmin Jail
26 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Bodmin Jail can claim to be one of the most haunted buildings in Britain. Perhaps that's because of all the hangings that took place here. Or the post...
Last Witch of Scotland
23 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In 1727, Janet Horne of the Highland community of Dornoch became the last person in Britain to be tried and executed for witchcraft.As the poet Edwin ...
Banshees: Ireland's Harbinger of Death
19 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Today Siobhán McSweeney (Derry Girls) joins Anthony Delaney and Maddy Pelling for the story of the Banshee. In Irish folklore the Banshee heralds the...
HMS Terror: Cursed Arctic Expedition
16 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Was ever a ship more aptly named? In 1845, HMS Terror (and its forgettably named sister ship HMS Erebus) set off from Victorian Britain. Their quest w...
Burke & Hare: Scotland’s Most Notorious Serial Killers
16 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
They’re the most famous grave-robbers in the world…except they never actually robbed any graves. Discover the true story of Burke and Hare’s mur...
Goriest Murders in Ancient Rome
16 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This episode is a bloody delight: from flesh-eating fish and humiliating deaths inside sacks, to a deadly re-enactment of the Icarus myth. For a cultu...
The Origins of Halloween
16 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
From its prehistoric origins until today, Halloween has always had the Shiver of Terror running through it. First as a pagan festival of Winter-the-Br...
The Murders That Shocked Georgian London
16 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Laundress-turned-murderess, Sarah Malcolm horrified Georgian London in 1733 when she was found guilty of killing three women she worked for while they...
Welcome to After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal
13 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Introducing After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal, the podcast that takes you to the shadiest corners of the past, unpicking history’s spooki...