The Penny Dreadful Hour; or, A Feast of Early-Victorian Street Literature and Stories (no AI)
This is the podcast that carries you back to the sooty, foggy streets of early-Victorian London when a new issue of one of the "Penny Dreadful" blood-and-thunder story paper comes out! It's like an early-Victorian variety show, FEATURING ... — Sweeney Todd ... — Varney, the Vampyre ... — Highwayman Dick Turpin ... — mustache-twirling villains ... — virtuous ballet-girls ... —wicked gamblers ... ... and more! Spiced with naughty cock-and-hen-club songs, broadsheet street ballads, and lots of old Regency "dad jokes." A fresh episode every Sunday and Thursday evening. Join us!
Episodes
SHOW NOTES — for — EPISODE 8 (Season Six)
(June 28, 2026)
- Note: For COMPLETE SHOW NOTES, including art and links to resources, see pennydread.com/discord.
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Join host Corinthian Finn, a.k.a. Finn J.D. John 18th Baron Dunwitch,* for a one-hour-long spree through the scandal-sheets and story papers of early-Victorian London!
IN TODAY'S "HA’PENNY HORRORS" EPISODE:
- 02:50: ...
SHOW NOTES — for — EPISODE 6.7!
(June 21, 2026)
Join host Corinthian Finn, a.k.a. Finn J.D. John 18th Baron Dunwitch,* for a one-hour-long spree through the scandal-sheets and story papers of early-Victorian London!
For COMPLETE SHOW NOTES, including art and links to resources, see pennydread.com/discord.
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IN TODAY'S "SIXPENNY SPOOKIES" EPISODE:
- 00:40: HAUNTED ENGLAND: An old priory,...
Join host CORINTHIAN FINN (a.k.a. Finn J.D. John 18th Baron Dunwitch*), for a one-hour-long spree through the scandal-sheets and story papers of early-Victorian London!
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For COMPLETE SHOW NOTES, including art and links to resources, see pennydread.com/discord.
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IN TODAY'S "TWOPENNY TORRIDS" EPISODE:
- 01:45: STREET POETRY: From an 1840s broadside ballad: “Ple...
SHOW NOTES
— for —
EPISODE 5 (Season Six)
(June 7, 2026)
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Join host Corinthian Finn, a.k.a. Finn J.D. John 18th Baron Dunwitch,* for a one-hour-long spree through the scandal-sheets and story papers of early-Victorian London!
This show cycles through four themes over a four-week cycle, one show per week. This is the GRAANUM GOTHIC theme show, featuring Varney the Vampyre and other Gothic dr...
SHOW NOTES:
(For complete show notes, including art and links, go to pennydread.com/discord and look in the Season 6 feed)
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01:40: HANGED TODAY IN HISTORY (June 2, 1621): Former fishmonger John Rowse came into a small fortune, which he squandered so completely that his wife and two young daughters were in danger of being made to beg. He decided that rather than going back to work as a fishmonger to ear...
SHOW NOTES — for — EPISODE THREE (Season Six)
(May 24, 2026)
- 00:45: A local legend from HAUNTED ENGLAND: THE PENGUIN BOOK OF GHOSTS: Remember the scene in Black Bess where Dick Turpin and Tom King find the skeletons of the two lovers locked in the vault in the abandoned mansion? Turns out that story was based on a real ghostly legend from the village of Apsley Guise, in Bedfordshire! Dick Turpin himself is involved in...
SHOW NOTES — for — EPISODE 2 (Season Six)
(May 17, 2026)
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- 01:55: STREET POETRY: From a broadside ballad: “I Shall be Married on Monday Morning,” about a very young milkmaid looking forward eagerly to her wedding night. (1845).
- 04:40: BLACK BESS; or, THE KNIGHT OF THE ROAD (starring HIGHWAYMAN DICK TURPIN), Chapter 71-73: Tying up the sentry, Dick Turpin and Tom King hurry out ...
SHOW NOTES — for — EPISODE 1 (Season 6)
(May 10, 2026)
This show cycles through four themes over a four-week cycle, one show per week. This is the GRAANUM GOTHIC theme show, featuring Varney the Vampyre and other Gothic drama. It will be followed by ...
- The “Twopenny Torrid” theme episode, coming next Sunday;
- The “Sixpenny Spooky” theme episode, coming two Sundays hence; and finally—
- The &l...
SHOW NOTES — for — MINISODE 38 (Season 5)
(May 7, 2026)
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00:40: THE TERRIFIC REGISTER: An account of a widow living in Rome who in 1774 became a prophetess, and predicted the deaths of the kings of Sardinia and France as well as the Pope himself. Her predictions came true.
05:35: EARLY VICTORIAN GHOSTLY SHORT STORY, to-wit: LEIXLIP CASTLE, by CHARLES MATURIN: In which, we meet the family of...
SHOW NOTES — for — MINISODE 37 (Season 5)
(May 3, 2026)
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- 00:01: HANGED TODAY IN HISTORY (April 3): One of the most notorious men to ever serve as a public executioner in England got that way by engaging in a shocking murder himself … that would be John “Jack Ketch” Price, launched into eternity at Tyburn On This Day 308 years ago!
- 08:45: SWEENEY TODD, THE BARBER OF FLE...
SHOW NOTES — for — MINISODE 36 (Season 5)
(April 30, 2026)
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- 01:30: STREET POETRY: From broadside ballad sheets: “Seventeen Come Sunday,” about a soldier who seduces a neighbourhood lass; “Lark in the Morning,” about the life of a country plough-boy (racy pun intended); and “Fanny Gray,” about love and jealousy. (1840s).
- 07:30: BLACK BESS; or, THE KN...
SHOW NOTES — for — EPISODE 35 (Season 5)
(April 26, 2026)
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Join host Corinthian Finn, a.k.a. Finn J.D. John 18th Baron Dunwitch,* for a one-hour-long spree through the scandal-sheets and story papers of early-Victorian London!
This show cycles through four segments over a two-week cycle, two shows per week. This is the main show, including the "Penny Dreadfuls" segment. It will be followed...
SHOW NOTES — for — MINISODE 34 (Season 5)
(April 23, 2026)
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- 00:45: THE TERRIFIC REGISTER: An account of how a mysterious and persistent knocking turned out to be, mayhap, a ghostly notification of approaching death.
- 05:20: EARLY VICTORIAN GHOSTLY SHORT STORY, to-wit: THE GHOST AND THE BONESETTER, by J.S. LeFanu: In this episode, a bonesetter — a countryman who has developed the kn...
SHOW NOTES — for — MINISODE 33 (Season 5)
(April 16, 2026)
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01:00: HANGED TODAY IN HISTORY (April 16): Meet James Hackman, creepy homicidal stalker who moved in on a Royal Opera soprano named Martha Ray and, when she would not have him, murdered her and tried unsuccessfully to kill himself. He was hanged for this crime on this day 247 years ago, April 16, 1779.
Links:
SHOW NOTES — for — MINISODE 32 (Season 5)
(April 16, 2026)
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- 01:35: STREET POETRY: From a broadside ballad: “The Old Oak Tree” and “The Old House at Home” — a song of a jilted lover-maid, and another song of longing for one’s childhood home.
- 04:35: BLACK BESS; or, THE KNIGHT OF THE ROAD (starring HIGHWAYMAN DICK TURPIN), Chapter 65-67: Following the si...
SHOW NOTES — for — EPISODE 31 (Season 5)
(April 12, 2026)
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Join host Corinthian Finn, a.k.a. Finn J.D. John 18th Baron Dunwitch,* for a one-hour-long spree through the scandal-sheets and story papers of early-Victorian London!
This show cycles through four segments over a two-week cycle, two shows per week. This is the main show, including the "Penny Dreadfuls" segment. It will be followed...
SHOW NOTES — for — MINISODE 30 (Season 5)
(April 9, 2026)
- 00:45: THE TERRIFIC REGISTER: An account of how the murder of the Duke of Buckingham, in 1628, was foretold by His Grace’s long-dead father’s ghostly apparition!
- 05:20: EARLY VICTORIAN GHOSTLY SHORT STORY, to-wit: THE STORY OF CLIFFORD HOUSE, by ANONYMOUS, Part 2 of 2 parts: Our narrator, Helen, has been having a thundering good time in the London pa...
SHOW NOTES — for — MINISODE 29 (Season 5)
(April 5, 2026)
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- 01:00: HANGED TODAY IN HISTORY (April 5): Wealthy barrister Arundel Cooke coveted his wife’s family estate … but alas, she had a brother. So he hired John Woodburne to help him solve that problem … with a knife. Alas, the two of them were almost as incompetent at murder, as Mr. Cooke turned out to be as a l...
SHOW NOTES
— for —
MINISODE 28 (Season 5)
(April 2, 2026)
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- 01:50: STREET POETRY: From a broadside ballad: “The Lass of ___ Town” and “The Frolicsome Widow” — and if that last title sounds just a little bit spicy, well, it is! (1844).
- 08:00: BLACK BESS; or, THE KNIGHT OF THE ROAD (starring HIGHWAYMAN DICK TURPIN), Chapter 62-64: Our felonious friends ar...
SHOW NOTES
— for —
EPISODE 27 (Season 5)
(March 29, 2026)
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Join host Corinthian Finn, a.k.a. Finn J.D. John 18th Baron Dunwitch,* for a one-hour-long spree through the scandal-sheets and story papers of early-Victorian London!
This show cycles through four segments over a two-week cycle, two shows per week. This is the main show, including the "Penny Dreadfuls" segment. It will be follo...
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