After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal

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 search the oceans for history's greatest mermaid stories. Anthony tells Maddy this story with special help from children from year 5 of Harris Primary Academy Coleraine Park. Written by Anthony Delaney. Edited by Tom Delargy and produced by Freddy C...

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 lived in like? What do these most ancient ghosts tell us about today? Maddy and Anthony's guest today, Irving Finkel, Assistant Keeper of Ancient Mesopotamian script, languages and cultures in the Department of the Middle East in the British Museum an...

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 happened that day lived rent free in his mind for the rest of his life. Anthony tells Maddy this story of murder and of love that blurs the lines between truth and fiction. Written by Anthony Delaney. Produced by Freddy Chick. Senior Producer is Char...

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 Veerapen, author of Of Blood Descended , about murder under the bloodiest King of all, Henry VIII. Edited by Tom Delargy. Produced by Freddy Chick. Senior Producer is Charlotte Long. Enjoy unlimited access to award-winning original documentaries that a...

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 everything was as green as they were. What on earth was going on? Maddy tells Anthony this story that has drawn in curious minds for hundreds of years. Written by Maddy Pelling. Produced by Freddy Chick. Senior Producer is Charlotte Long. Enjoy unlimi...

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. Edited by Tom Delargy,...

In 1920 Sir Arthur Conan Doyle published a story more explosive than any adventure of Sherlock Holmes. He claimed that photographic evidence had emerged that proved the existence of fairies. The photos were taken by two young girls, Elsie Wright and Frances Griffiths, in Cottingley, North Yorkshire. How did their charming art project end up fooling the creator of the greatest detective that ever l...

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 hunt for a man who is as much myth as real life monster. Edited by Tom Delargy, Produced by Stuart Beckwith, Senior Producer is Charlotte Long. Discover the past with exclusive history documentaries and ad-free podcasts presented by world-renowned his...

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 a complex web of physical and spiritual beings. But the colonisers of Alaska tell a different set of stories about the same landscape. They tell stories of Wilderness and of the Last Frontier. Our guest today is Tia Tidwell (@tiaannamarie) professor...

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 Trojan War set sail to establish a kingdom here which was destined to rule one day rule the world... In today's episode Anthony and Maddy are joined by Dr. Amy Jeffs author of Storyland: A New Mythology of Britain" to explore the mythological ori...

"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 galloping figure on Black Bess. The imagery surrounding him is iconic... but who was the real Dick Turpin? Anthony and Maddy discuss his story in today's episode. Edited and produced by Freddy Chick. Senior Producer is Charlotte Long. Discover the pas...

Alexander the Great - conqueror, legend, murderer . After ascending to the throne at aged 20 in 336BCE, his rule started with mass executions and political assassinations - themes that would follow throughout his tumultuous reign. But why was Alexander's reign so bloody, and what does it tell us about Hellenistic society at the time? In today's episode Anthony and Maddy are joined by Tristan Hughe...

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 the Mary Celeste range from insurance fraud to a violent mutiny... this week, Maddy and Anthony discuss what they think happened to the ship's crew. Edited by Tom Delargy. Produced by Freddy Chick. Senior Producer is Charlotte Long. Discover the past w...

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 were first told... In this episode, Maddy and Anthony are joined by History Hit's very own Dr. Eleanor Janega, host of the Gone Medieval podcast, to tell us about the rather creepy origins of the Arthurian legend. Edited by Tom Delargy, Produced by Fre...

One summer night in 1882 the Maamtrasna Valley in the West of Ireland became forever notorious when three generations of the Seoige (Joyce) family were brutally murdered. What followed was a trial so full of colonial injustice that it turned a story of gory murder into something of national significance. From all the blood and cruelty, a man called Maolra Seoighe (Myles Joyce in English) emerges a...

How did Medieval people fight against the Undead? What motivated their Ghosts? And why do stories of Werewolves persist until today? Anthony and Maddy are joined today by Matt Lewis, host of History Hit podcast "Gone Medieval", and by Paul Sinclair whose film Wolflands is available on Amazon. Edited by Tom Delargy and Freddy Chick. Produced by Annie Coloe and Freddy Chick. Senior Producer is Charl...

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 unrecognisable. Kings and Queens are more much more likely than the rest of us to meet a grizzly end. Sometimes it's because they're murdered. Sometimes it's that we try too hard to keep them alive. And sometimes it's because we don't stick them in the g...

The inspiration behind countless gothic novels, Countess Elizabeth Báthory is said to be one of the most prolific serial killers of all time, accused of the murder of 600 girls during the late 16th century. Maddy and Anthony talk to Professor Kimberly Craft, a legal historian who has spent over a decade researching the life and trial of Countess Báthory and over a year translating original source...

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 appearance from Dr Hazel Pierce at the end. The episode was based on Hazel's wonderful work. Hazel is part of the pan-Wales History Points project ( https://historypoints.org/ ). Her first book was about Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury 1473-1541 . Her...

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 tapping out messages on a train. Did Dickens himself believe in ghosts? What do his ghost tales tell us about the beliefs in the supernatural that were swirling around the world he lived in? Maddy and Anthony talk to Dr Frankie Kubicki, Deputy Directo...

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 the Old Bailey". Maddy tells Anthony the story this week, whisking us back to Victorian England and the Staffordshire town of Rugeley where Palmer plied his trade. A town where Maddy's ancestor happened to be working as the chemist at the time.... Edit...

 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 criminologist and bestselling author, joins Maddy and Anthony for this Christmas Special edition. David's latest book is "Murder at Home: how our safest space is where we're most in danger". Edited by Tom Delargy, Produced by Freddy Chick, Senior Pr...

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 sensation. It had everything - sex, murder and a ghost that revealed the location of its own corpse. What more could Britain's budding army of armchair detectives want? Huge thanks to Una McIlvenna for her beautiful (and historically accurate) rec...

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 ghost be seen? What form does it take? And why does she haunt us so? Get ready for carriages pulled by headless horses, spooky palaces, a weird floating cylinder thing...and a single moment in history that has haunted England, and now Britain's, imagi...

Sex, Satanism and Scandal surrounded the Hellfire Club that operated out of a network of caves in the country estate of 18th century aristocrat Francis Dashwood. The most powerful men in the country came to Dashwood's underground lair. Rumours swirled of everything from orgies to human sacrifice and Satanic spirits. But was it all as diabolical as it seemed? Maddy tells Anthony the story this week...