After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal
This is After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds and the Paranormal. The podcast that takes you to the shadiest corners of the past, unpicking history’s spookiest, strangest, and most sinister stories. Join historians Anthony Delaney and Maddy Pelling, every Monday and Thursday to take a look at the darker side of history. From haunted pubs and Houdini, to witch trials and weird UFO sightings. After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds and the Paranormal - a podcast by History Hit, the world's best history channel and creators of award-winning podcasts Dan Snow's History Hit, Gone Medieval, and Betwixt the Sheets. Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe.
Episodes
In the aftermath of the bloody Russian revolution, the Romanovs went from being a glittering royal family, to vulnerable everyday citizens who were soon murdered.
In the wake of their deaths, the that one family member survived, began to gain traction.
How do the claims of Princess Anastasia's survival begin? Why did people want her to survive? And why do humans need to believe in myths?
Joining Anthony and Maddy today is ...
Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary. Mary I is known as a brutal tyrant. But what was the reality? In the next two episodes Anthony and Maddy will explore Mary's story. Today they explore the traumatic early years that shaped her.
Edited by Tomos Delargy. Produced by Freddy Chick. Senior Producer is Charlotte Long.
You can now watch After Dark on Youtube: www.youtube.com/@afterdarkhistoryhit
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Today’s story is one that takes us to a very familiar setting - the Tower of London - but shows it in a new light. Edward Francis was an enslaved man who lived in the Lion Tower. In 1691 he decided to poison his enslavers. Maddy and Anthony are joined by (friend of the pod) Dr Misha Ewen who helped bring this history to light. Misha is the author of "The Virginia Venture: American Colonization and English Society, 1580-1660".
Ed...
It wasn't made by Druids (or Aliens or Merlin the wizard). But it was a garden centre. Get ready for the 10 strangest facts (mostly) about Stonehenge! Maddy Pelling takes Anthony Delaney back among the stones.
Edited by Amy Haddow. Produced by Freddy Chick. Senior Producer is Charlotte Long.
You can now watch After Dark on Youtube: www.youtube.com/@afterdarkhistoryhit
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, smoking and scoffing oysters, waiting for the show to start. Welcome to Victorian surgery! Could you survive?
Joining Maddy Pelling and Anthony Delaney this week is Sara Yorath, from the Old Operating Theatre museum in London.
Edited by Tim Arstall. Produced by Stuart Beckwith. Senio...
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 skeleton reveal about his life and the purpose of Stonehenge?
In today's episode, Anthony and Maddy investigate a 4,000 year-old murder mystery, as well as exploring the big questions that surround Stonehenge: how was it built? Who built it, and why?!
A special thanks to Adrian...
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 clothes...then killing them. Welcome to the Dark Side of Ancient Mesopotamia! Guiding Maddy and Anthony through this most ancient and most fascinating civilisation is the incredible Professor Amanda Podany, author of 'Weavers, Scribes and Kings: A New History of the Ancient Near East'.
'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) expeditions to find a city of gold, and a plot to kill the king, Walter Raleigh finally met his end. Maddy Pelling tells Anthony Delaney the story of how it all played out.
Edited by Tomos Delargy. Research by Phoebe Joyce. Produced by Freddy Chick. Senior Producer is Charlotte Lo...
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, that includes everything from the bloody days of the French Revolution, to the making of 'corpse candles' and a mystery man found amongst its passageways.
Joining Anthony and Maddy for today's episode is the fantastic Cat Irving, Human Remains Conservator for Surgeons’ Hall in ...
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 dismembered her mistress, Julia Martha Thomas in 1879. It's a story that show us the everyday life of Victorian Londoners, and how that world can be turned upside down.
Edited by Tomos Delargy, Produced by Freddy Chick. Senior Producer is Charlotte Long.
*TW: This episode contains references to sexual violence.*
Mary Queen of Scots' life was defined by violence, heartbreak and ultimately, betrayal.
Since her bloody death at the hands of her cousin, Elizabeth I, many have claimed to have seen chilling sightings of her ghost.
What are these sightings like? And what do they say about the tragic events of her life? And what do they say about the history of Scottish ghost cultu...
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 this medieval order, which disappeared in the 14th century, continue to enthral us today?
To uncover the real history of the Knights Templar we are joined by Dan Jones - historian, author, podcaster and host of This Is History, whose series The Iron King is all ...
One split second - and one individual - can upturn an entire nation.
This was definitely the case when John Wilkes Booth shot President Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre on the night of 14th April 1865.
What were the final days leading up to this huge moment like? How did the nation, and the future of enslaved African Americans, hang in the balance? And how did that long night after the gun was fired unfold?
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 this whole story differently if we examine it from their perspective?
Maddy Pelling and Anthony Delaney are joined today by Professor Robbie Richardson, author of The Savage and Modern Self: North American Indians in Eighteenth-Century British Literature and Culture.
When people talk about Ancient Egypt, they often focus on the amazing pyramids, mummies, and the advanced civilisation.
At After Dark, we love to explore the grim reality of all of this: what was life like for the people who built those pyramids? What happened if you stole from the Valley of the Kings? And how common were dark arts and sorcery?
Today Anthony and Maddy are joined by Egyptologist Campbell Price, to uncover the...
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 stones hold the answers? Anthony and Maddy explore the mysterious after life of Virginia Dare with Dr Misha Ewen, author of The Virginia Venture: American Colonization and English Society, 1580-1660
You can now watch After Dark on Youtube: www.youtube.com/@afterdarkhistoryhit
Produ...
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 historian and author, Hallie Rubehold, to explore one of the most infamous murders of the 20th century, and the rapidly changing world it took place in.
You can now watch After Dark on Youtube: www.youtube.com/@afterdarkhistoryhit
Produced by Freddy Chick. Edited by Tomos Delargy....
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, 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 culture that is seen as an emblem of civilisation (whatever that means), the Romans expended a lot of creative energy on inventing new ways t...
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 had claws, wings. He had a tail. He had smart boots. He had literal springs in his heels. Confusing...who was Spring-Heeled Jack?
Maddy Pelling and Anthony Delaney are joined by Ceri Houlbrook, whose new book "Folklore: A Journey Through the Past and Present" with Owen Davies will...
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 Anthony Delaney on a tour through the dark side of English folklore.
The episode also features thoughts from artist, author and filmmaker, Ben Edge. Find out more about Ben's work here: https://www.benedge.co.uk/
Edited by Tomos Delargy. Produced by Stuart Beckwith. Senior Produc...
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