After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds and the Paranormal

The Ghost of Cock Lane: A Murder Mystery That Gripped London

19K views · 1d ago · 1:01:57

We're celebrating Maddy's new documentary all about London's most famous ghost - the ghost of Cock Lane! It's out today on History Hit After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal is a History Hit podcast. All music from Epidemic Sounds.

Topics: Introducing Hoax: Truth and Lies in the Age of Enlightenment · Life in 18th-century London and the Enlightenment · The scandal of William Kent and Fanny Lynes · Moving to Cock Lane in Smithfield · Life with the Parsons family and domestic tensions · Household hauntings and the 18th-century imagination

The Dark Truth Behind the Amityville Horror | After Dark Classics

23K views · 3d ago · 29:58

Guests: After Dark Classics, Dr. Joseph Laycock

Discover the chilling history behind the Amityville Horror as Maddie and Anthony from After Dark speak with Dr. Joseph Laycock about the infamous house, the real-life DeFeo family murders, and the haunting claims made by the Lutz family. Explore the evidence behind the alleged paranormal events, the controversy surrounding the story, and how The Exorcist and 1970s American culture helped turn the Amityville Horror into a lasting legend.

Topics: The Amityville Horror: Fact vs. Fiction · The DeFeo Family Murders · The Lutz Family and the Haunted House · The Hoax, Money, and Controversy · The Exorcist and the 1970s Occult Boom · The Amityville Horror's Cultural Legacy

Borley Rectory: England's Most Haunted House?

45K views · 1w ago · 54:15

Guest: Borley Rectory

Built in 1862, Borley Rectory became known as England's most haunted house. From ghostly nuns and unexplained disturbances to paranormal investigator Harry Price's controversial investigations, discover the history behind one of Britain's most famous haunting legends.

Topics: England's Most Haunted House? · The History of Borley Rectory · Victorian Ghosts and Spiritualism · The First Hauntings and the Legend of the Nun · Spiritualism Returns After the First World War · The Smith Family and the Daily Mirror

The Execution of Lady Jane Grey | After Dark Classics

23K views · 1w ago · 40:42

Guest: After Dark Classics

Discover the tragic story of Lady Jane Grey, England’s Nine Days Queen, with historian Dr Tracy Borman. In this episode of After Dark, we explore the Tudor succession crisis, Jane’s brief reign in 1553, her imprisonment in the Tower of London, and her execution in 1554.

Topics: Lady Jane Grey: The Nine Days Queen · Why Lady Jane Grey Became Queen · Edward VI, John Dudley and the Tudor Succession Crisis · The Young Royals and Jane’s Reluctance to Rule · Why Did Edward VI Die So Young? · Jane Grey’s Coronation and Reluctance to Wear the Crown

The 'Changeling Murder' of Bridget Cleary

51K views · 2w ago · 1:17:00

The story goes that in 1895 Bridget Cleary was burned to death by her husband who believed she was a 'changeling' fairy. In today's episode, Anthony and Maddy interrogate the stories we've been told about this murder in rural Ireland and if an interesting story of supernatural belief has gotten in the way of the brutal truth.

Topics: Irish fairy folklore and cultural context · Understanding the concept of a changeling · Who was Bridget Cleary? · The Cleary home and the fairy fort setting · The illness and the search for a remedy · Events leading up to the tragedy

The Bizarre 1691 Werewolf Trial

80K views · 3w ago · 1:00:53

You've heard of the witch trials, but have you heard of the werewolf trials?! This fascinating history takes us to back to the 16th and 17th centuries, when panic spread through villages in mainland Europe leading to a number of people being tried and executed as werewolves.

Topics: Welcome to After Dark · Werewolves in early folklore · Regional variations in werewolf beliefs · Overlap with European witch trials · Real wolf threats and rural anxieties · Early modern ideas of transformation

Cannibalism in Scotland: Legend of Sawney Bean | After Dark Classics

25K views · 3w ago · 32:49

Guest: After Dark Classics

According to legend, Sawney Bean and Agnes "Black" Douglas raised a clan of cannibals in a remote Scottish cave. They killed and ate unlucky travellers on lonely roads. This went on for decades with more than a thousand perishing. Who invented this gruesome story? Why? And why has Sawney Bean become a kind of cult hero in Scotland itself?

Topics: Listener story: Muriel Buick on the Denfind cannibalism legend · Discussing Scottish cannibal legends with guest Cat · The origin story of Alexander 'Sawney' Bean and Black Agnes · Life inside the cave and the growth of the Bean clan · Deconstructing the legend: anti-Scottish sentiment and 18th-century propaganda · Scottish dark tourism and the endurance of folk legends

HMS Terror: The Arctic Expedition That Ended In Cannibalism

85K views · 1mo ago · 57:33

Guest: HMS Terror

In 1845 two Royal Navy ships, HMS Terror & HMS Erebus, departed Britain on an expedition into the Arctic. Along their ill-fated icy expedition, they disappeared almost completely, becoming one of history's greatest maritime mysteries...

Topics: Welcome to After Dark · Historical context of the 1845 expedition · The strategic quest for the Northwest Passage · HMS Terror and HMS Erebus specifications · Key officers, command, and crew profiles · Departure and final letters from Greenland

Britain's First Female Serial Killer | After Dark Classics

39K views · 1mo ago · 54:41

Guest: After Dark Classics

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 happened to have insurance policies out on. Arsenic appears to have been her poison. How very Victorian.

Topics: 1842: Coal Mine Disaster in Merton · A Father Lost & The Making of a Murderess · Industrial Boom & Victorian Social Tension · Life in Mine-Owned Worker Cottages · Global Shifts & The Crimean War Context · The Angel in the House vs Fallen Women

The Real-Life Horror Story Behind The Conjuring 2 | After Dark Classics

13K views · 1mo ago · 46:55

Guest: After Dark Classics

The Enfield Poltergeist is Britain's most infamous haunting - set in the late 1970s on the outskirts of London, it continues to be told and retold. Most famously in the film The Conjuring 2. But this is a real piece of history about a real family and a young girl, Janet, who became the focus of newspapers, paranormal investigators and - if we believe what we're told - a malevolent poltergeist.

Topics: The Enfield Poltergeist: An 11-Year-Old Girl · 1977: The First Night at 284 Green Street · Furniture Moves & The Knocking Begins · The Neighbors Hear the Strange Noises · Police Arrive & Witness a Moving Chair · The Daily Mirror Investigates the Haunting

The Brutal Murders of Anglo-Saxon Royalty

120K views · 1mo ago · 50:33

When the Romans left Britain in the 5th century, what happened next? The following centuries saw a messy and bloody struggle for power that left us with some gruesome royal murders. Taking us through the bloody details is medieval expert and co-host of our sister podcast, Gone Medieval, Matt Lewis.

Topics: What was the Anglo-Saxon period? · The kingdoms of Anglo-Saxon England · Religion and society · Was Anglo-Saxon England violent? · Weapons and warfare · The Viking invasions

The Hidden History of Garden Gnomes | After Dark Classics

80K views · 1mo ago · 32:56

Guest: After Dark Classics

Garden gnomes have a secret life all of their own. If you don't believe us, then go ask Paris Hilton. Today we discover the hidden history of garden gnomes and meet the eccentric aristocrat - Sir Charles Isham - who firmly believed that the mountains of the world really filled with little folk with pointy red hats and pickaxes.

The Gruelling Victorian London Streets

223K views · 1mo ago · 53:05

We've spent a lot of time in of Victorian London on this podcast- a world of cobbled streets, grimy buildings and crowded homes. But how accurate is this- what was it really like to live in the slums of Victorian London?

Topics: Charlie Chaplin's London and South London history · Conditions for working-class Londoners · Inside the Chaplin household · Poverty, health, and flooding in Victorian London · Middle-class reformers and Charles Booth's research · Workhouses, mental health, and asylums

Dragons: From the Ancient World to the Hobbit | After Dark Classics

24K views · 1mo ago · 41:47

Guest: After Dark Classics

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 ancient origins of dragons and why there used to be a much wider variety of dragon types than we see today. Our guide is dragon expert Jasmine Elmer. Jasmine's new documentary "Dragons: Myth & Reality" is out now on History Hit.

When Medieval Peasants Attacked London

48K views · 1mo ago · 1:09:33

In 1381, thousands of ordinary people rose up against the Crown, marched on London, and came close to bringing England’s political establishment to its knees... In this episode, Anthony and Maddy are joined by our very own Matt Lewis to discuss the Peasants’ Revolt: why it happened, who led it, and what this extraordinary uprising tells us about life in medieval England.

Topics: Medieval pop culture and movies · Life in 14th century England · The impact of the black death · The feudal system and post-plague wages · Tax raises and the poll tax · The spark of the rebellion in Essex