Macabre : Dark History

Are we dealing with a modern day HH Holmes? In 1896, a man was hanged in a Philadelphia prison yard. His name was Herman Webster Mudgett, but the country knew him as H. H. Holmes, and the story that outlived him was about a building. A hotel in Chicago with sealed rooms and chemical vats and a body count that grew every time the story was retold. Most of that story was invented. The building was o...

Our ancestors thought everyone was sinning. You've probably sinned at least 10 times before really starting your day, according to some ancient religious beliefs(and listening to this episode counts as one way to sin). Join Blaire and Halley for the last episode before taking a brief hiatus---not to worry we will be back for SPOOKY Season. We hope you enjoy this unhinged episode on the top 10 Funn...

Long before Ouija boards and ghost-hunting shows, millions believed the dead could speak. Born in the wake of war, disease, and unimaginable loss, the Spiritualist movement promised grieving families something they desperately wanted, one more conversation with those they had lost. In this episode of MACABRE , we explore the rise of Spiritualism, the séance craze that swept Victorian society, the...

History is full of legendary wars but some wars were fought for unbelievably ridiculous reasons. In this episode of MACABRE: Dark History , we're counting down the Top 10 Dumbest Wars in History , featuring the infamous War of the Bucket , the bizarre Milk War , the Shortest War in History , and more true stories that prove reality is often stranger than fiction. #10–#6 are available on our ma...

The glow was beautiful. The truth was deadly. In this episode of MACABRE: Dark History , we're diving into one of history's most horrifying industrial disasters: the tragic story of the Radium Girls . During the early 1900s, hundreds of young women were hired to paint glowing watch dials with radioactive radium paint, unknowingly exposing themselves to lethal levels of radiation. Encouraged to "li...

On this episode join Halley and Blaire for a behind the scenes look at one of our listener only Patreon live events where we talked about Serial Killers, chatted about some spooky stuff, and that time that Halley was almost recruited by a Cult, now known as the Yellow Deli Cult. We'll be back next week with our regularly scheduled programming. Loving MACABRE? If you think we’ve earned your 5 star...

The strangest and worst ways people died in the Victorian era and modern history, deaths too absurd to be believed. Join Blaire and Halley for another installment of Worst Ways to Die with this edition of Early Modern and Victorian Era deaths that are too absurd to be believed. Comment below on which Worst Way to Die you think is the absolute worst, most hilarious or downright absurd. Loving MACAB...

Before modern medicine... there was absolute madness. And as always, we are HERE for IT! This week, on our 4th...yes 4th installment of Q is for Quackery, we're diving headfirst into the bizarre, terrifying, and occasionally hilarious world of medical quackery . From questionable cures to downright horrifying "treatments," you'll be wondering how humanity survived long enough to invent antibiotics...

Surprise ...you get all 10! We love you. We wanted to give you the full episode ... a little teaser or what's available on Patreon and to our spotify exclusive supporters. But don't say we didn't warn you. This one will make your brain hurt, your body ache and your skin will crawl. We love a good medical MACABRE episode and we know you do too! Buckle up because you are getting a double dose becaus...

This week on MACABRE: A Dark History Podcast , Halley and Blaire explore the strange, spooky, and unexplained side of one of the most haunted homes in America. We examine the eerie photograph connected to President William McKinley that some believe may have served as an omen of his tragic fate, investigate reports of ghostly presidents and first ladies haunting the halls of the White House, and u...

Okay so... you guys, we are counting down the ten worst medical procedures in history — We're counting down the 10 worst medical procedures in history: bloodletting, lobotomies, malaria therapy for syphilis, and trepanation. treatments that were once completely standard , doctor-recommended, here-take-two-and-call-me-in-the-morning normal — and are now the stuff of absolute nightmares. This is...

Your heart stops. You float above your own body. You watch doctors try to bring you back. Then you wake up and describe things you shouldn't have been able to see. This has been reported for thousands of years. Ancient Greece. Battlefields. Modern ICU units. Same experience. Every culture. Every century. Halley and Blaire cover the full history of out of body experiences — from the ancient wor...

We just did our FIRST LIVE SHOW and we're still not okay about it. 💀 Blaire and Halley traveled to haunted Jacksonville, Oregon for the Southern Oregon True Crime Summit and honestly...They left a piece of their souls there. Possibly literally, because that hotel was HAUNTED. The recap: 🎙️ We performed live on a stage in front of actual human beings who knew our names and laughed at our jokes...

We just got back from our first LIVE show at the Southern Oregon True Crime Summit in haunted Jacksonville, Oregon — and we're still recovering. While we shake off the ghosts (literally), we're digging one up from the vault for you. This is D is for Dracula, exhumed from season one and still one of our all-time favorites. Vlad the Impaler. Dinner parties surrounded by forests of impaled corpses. T...

When you think your 9-to-5 is bad... think again. History had jobs where you could drown in sewage, get cancer from your paintbrush, or be buried alive for making a mistake. Real jobs. Real people. Real nightmare fuel. Content warning: child labor, bodily fluids, radiation, slavery, live burial. Expect drama, death, and an unhealthy number of puns. Listener discretion is advised. In this Top 10 mi...

Buckle up, friends — this one's a double feature of pure historical insanity. First, we're diving into Project X-Ray, the very real WWII plan where the U.S. government strapped tiny incendiary bombs to thousands of bats and planned to drop them on Japan. Yes, actual bats. Yes, it went exactly as wrong as you'd think. Spoiler: a test base may or may not have been set on fire by its own weapons. The...

Two men walked into history dripping in velvet, scandal, and an absolutely unhinged commitment to being the most interesting person in the room. One was a bisexual lord with a club foot and a bear named Thor who lived in his abbey. The other was a gay Irish playwright who once said “I have nothing to declare but my genius” at customs — and meant it. Neither one was going to survive being themselve...

In this episode of MACABRE: Dark History , we descend into the unsettling origins of classic nursery rhymes. Current vibes: Nursery rhymes… but make it ✨childhood trauma✨ This week we’re asking the important questions:— Who or what was Humpty Dumpty and why was he really on that wall?— What exactly were Jack and Jill doing up on that hill? 👀— And how does Henry VIII manage to ruin everything, i...

Was the Montauk Project real… or just one of the most elaborate science fiction conspiracies ever told? From whispers of secret military experiments to stories of mind control, time travel, and Nazi scientists folded into Cold War paranoia—this legend has it all. But how much of it actually holds up? Join Halley and Blaire as they dig into the origins of the Montauk Project, unravel the myths, and...

In the final chapter of The Macabre Feature: The Sinking of theTitanic , Blaire examines the aftermath of the disaster—uncovering the hubris that sealed its fate, the gripping court testimonies that followed, and the haunting lives of those who survived. As stories clash and reputations unravel, this episode reveals how survival came with a lasting cost, leaving many to carry guilt, grief, and the...

From the fatal collision to the first realization that the unsinkable ship was doomed, this episode unravels the confusion, disbelief, and growing terror as passengers and crew faced the unthinkable. We continue our tale of terror, the sinking of the Titanic through the recollections of the passengers and crew in this 3 part series. Loving MACABRE? If you think we’ve earned your 5 star review…we w...

They called it unsinkable. In Part I of our Titanic series, Blaire explores the ambition, luxury, and quiet warnings surrounding the ship before disaster struck. Because the real story didn’t start with the iceberg… It started long before anyone stepped on board. In this special feature, hear first hand accounts of passengers and crew of the Titanic. Loving MACABRE? If you think we’ve earned your...

Self-proclaimed doctor Linda Hazzard believed starvation could cure disease. In the early 1900s, patients traveled to her Washington sanitarium known as Starvation Heights , where many were subjected to brutal fasting treatments that left them weak, skeletal, and sometimes dead. Join Halley and Blaire as they travel back in time, when medical treatments were deadlier than the disease. Loving MACAB...

Royalty, ego, and historical humiliation. Today on MACABRE , Henry VIII and Louis XIV face the ultimate punishment… Blaire and Halley are at it again, with a new installment of Roasting History on MACABRE. Loving MACABRE? Spotify Exclusive subscribers get ad-free episodes, early access, and bonus content you won’t hear anywhere else. Want even more? Patreon members unlock additional bonus episodes...

We’ve officially survived three years of MACABRE dark history… so today we’re celebrating by oversharing. From unlikely roommates and embarrassing injuries to prophetic dreams, sleepwalking chaos, and possible past lives — this is the behind-the-curtain, best-friends-at-2am energy episode you didn’t know you needed. Loving MACABRE? Spotify Exclusive subscribers get ad-free episodes, early access,...