After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal

1381, England, the world turned upside down as the commoners rise up and dismantle the mechanisms of power. They're angry about taxes, serfdom, about being forcibly kept in their place by corrupt lords...about a lot of stuff. But will they prevail? Maddy Pelling tells Anthony Delaney about how the uprising began. Edited by Tomos Delargy, produced by Freddy Chick, Senior Producer is Charlotte Long....

(2/2) We join the captive Romanovs as they are moved from The Alexander Palace to Siberia and then to Ekaterinburg, where their dreadful murder awaits them. It's a story that still has the power to shock us. Guiding us through is returning guest Helen Rappaport, author of " Ekaterinburg: The Last Days of the Romanovs ". Edited by Freddy Chick. Produced by Sophie Gee. Senior Producer is Charlotte L...

It's a medical-history-mystery: the Sweating Sickness. Things get clammy as Anthony Delaney and Maddy Pelling ask what was this deadly disease? What happened when Anne Boleyn got it? And why were sufferers sewn into their bedsheets? Edited by Nick Thomson. Produced by Freddy Chick. Senior Producer is Charlotte Long. Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new...

(1/2) As Russia collapses, the Romanovs find themselves trapped by delusions and failed ideals; by revolution and Russian geography. Helen Rappaport joins Maddy Pelling and Anthony Delaney for part 1 of the Final Days of the Romanovs. Edited by Tomos Delargy. Produced by Sophie Gee. Senior Producer is Charlotte Long. Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a ne...

Mary Mallon aka "Typhoid Mary" is a macabre figure who spread disease and death everywhere she went. But there's a lot more depth and humanity to Mary's history than this. She's someone who is hard to resist when you get to know her (despite all the Typhoid...). Anthony Delaney tells Maddy Pelling the story. Edited by Tomos Delargy. Produced by Freddy Chick. Senior Producer is Charlotte Long. Sign...

(2/2) What does the resurrection of a hanged woman have to do with the Devil? Did the Enlightenment kill Old Nick or is he still a part of our world today? Maddy and Anthony continue their exploration of the rise and fall of Lucifer with Dr Mikki Brock, author of Satan and the Scots, c.1560-1700: The Devil in Post-Reformation Scotland . Edited and produced by Freddy Chick, Senior Producer is Charl...

You could smell Henry VIII's rotting legs from three rooms by the end. He was in constant pain, barely able to move. Yet he never loosed his grip on the lives of everyone around him. Could he squeeze in one last wife? One final execution? How did the bloodiest monarch in English history bow out? Anthony Delaney tells Maddy Pelling the story this week. Edited by Tomos Delargy, produced by Freddy Ch...

(1/2) How has the devil been depicted through history? What are his origins? And why should he be portrayed as beautiful? In the first part of a two part mini-series on Lucifer himself, Anthony and Maddy talk with Professor Michelle Brock of Washington and Lee University, to find out how the devil has been present in peoples' lives; especially in the 17th century with the rise of witch trials. Thi...

(2/2) As the Great Fire of London worsens mob rule begins to appear and a hunt for a scapegoat takes over. Maddy Pelling tells Anthony Delaney the story, including a special contribution from Pete Zymanczyk, a retired LFB firefighter who is now a City of London Guide. They offer dozens of historical tours of the City of London. Find out more: https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/ Edited by Tomos Delarg...

The moment Mary Queen of Scots set foot in England, she became Elizabeth I's prisoner. Mary was fleeing from war and misogyny, hoping for help from her fellow queen. What lay ahead was twenty years of increasingly desperate imprisonment and, eventually, her death. Maddy Pelling and Anthony Delaney's guest to tell this story is Jade Scott author of the new book Captive Queen: The Decrypted History...

(1/2) London's Burning! London's Burning! Disaster strikes in 1666 as the dense, mostly wooden, city of London begins to burn. Who started the fire? Why did it spread like none before or since? Maddy Pelling tells Anthony Delaney the story, including a special contribution from Pete Zymanczyk, a retired LFB firefighter who is now a City of London Guide. They offer dozens of historical tours of the...

Grigori Rasputin, Russian mystic, survived multiple assassination attempts on the same night. He was poisoned, he was shot, he was drowned in a freezing St Petersburg river. His corpse was emasculated. What is myth here and what is truth? Who was the real Rasputin? Why did so many people want him dead? Our guest today is Douglas Smith, author of the acclaimed biography Rasputin: The Biography Edit...

What lurks beneath the dark waters of Loch Ness? The legendary monster? A piece of Celtic folklore? A warning of the Nazis' rise to power? A fraudster? Today Anthony and Maddy are examining grainy photographs, picking over descriptions of monsters and trying to work out what it all means. Written by Anthony Delaney. Edited by Tom Delargy. Produced by Freddy Chick. Senior Producer is Charlotte Long...

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. Sign up to History...

The life of Joseph Merrick, the man they dared to call "The Elephant Man", will fill you with pain and anger. He was treated so cruelly by society that he found becoming a freak show exhibit preferably to the life available to him elsewhere. Yet alongside darkness there is light and love in his story, and a sense of his own indomitable spirit throughout it all. Visit https://www.changingfaces.org....

(2/2) We find out what life inside the Foundling Hospital was like as we complete the heartbreaking and heartwarming history of London's first orphanage. We discover a building that contained so many stories, so much of London's life in all its rich complexity. Maddy tells Anthony the story this week. Mixed and produced by Freddy Chick. Senior producer is Charlotte Long. Sign up to History Hit for...

Today Anthony and Maddy look into the heartbreaking history of the Foundling Hospital, now London’s saddest museum.  Starting in the 18th century, hear the story of Thomas Coram, the hospital's founder, and the tragic circumstances that led to the establishment of this institution.  From the brutal streets of Georgian London, to the moments desperate mothers tried to admit their children...

Can we see beyond the veil, glimpse the future before it arrives? John Barker, a psychiatrist with a fascination for the unexplained, thought maybe we could. In 1966, he created a bureau for people who claimed to foresee disaster. Maddy and Anthony are joined by Sam Knight, writer for the New Yorker and author of the book tells this incredible history: The Premonitions Bureau . Edited by Tomos Del...

(Part 2/2) Anthony returns to his hometown of Kilkenny to conclude the tale of the first person to be executed for witchcraft in Ireland. Set 700 years ago in 1324, this is the story of a successful business woman called Alice Kyteler, her servant Petronilla de Meath, and a Bishop hell bent on their destruction. Anthony Delaney tells Maddy Pelling the story. Edited by Tomos Delargy. Produced by Fr...

Ghost hunting couple Ed and Lorraine Warren transformed twentieth century America into an enchanted land dotted with haunted houses, cursed objects, and portals to hell. Their exploits are the basis for the Conjuring movie franchise. They are the originators of the Annabelle doll. They are the most famous demon hunters ever. Who were the Warrens? Did they make it up? Or did they believe it all? Ma...

(Part 1/2) 700 years ago, in 1324, the first person to be executed for witchcraft in Ireland died in Kilkenny. This is the story of a successful business woman called Alice Kyteler, her servant Petronilla de Meath, and a Bishop hell bent on their destruction. Anthony takes Maddy back to his hometown of Kilkenny to tell the tale. Edited by Tomos Delargy. Produced by Freddy Chick and Charlotte Long....

112 Ocean Avenue in Amityville (Long Island) is arguably the most haunted house in America. Inside its walls demonic forces were, allegedly, unleashed. It's a story that is a troubling mixture of real murders and deliberate myth-making. It's also a story that owes a lot to a movie that shaped America in the 1970s in profound ways... The Exorcist . Anthony and Maddy's guest to explore this incredib...

(Part 2/2) They could've run, but they stayed. In 1665 plague arrived in the idyllic English village of Eyam. What followed was a story of suffering and self-sacrifice. Maddy tells Anthony the story. Today's episode takes you to the heart of the plague village and its deadly lockdown. Why did they do it? Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release eve...

The Deep South is a haunted landscape where dark tourism thrives, supplying spine-tingling thrills to eager visitors. But is there a darker truth behind these tales? Maddy and Anthony's guest today is Tiya Miles, author of Tales from the Haunted South . Tiya reveals how ghost tours exploit and distort the true history of slavery for profit, feeding troubling narratives. Tiya Miles is the Michael G...

(Part 1/2) They could've run, but they stayed. In 1665 plague arrived in the idyllic English village of Eyam. What followed was a story of suffering and self-sacrifice. Maddy tells Anthony the story. Today we set the scene with the outbreak of the plague in London and how the pestilence arrived, via a bolt of cloth, in the village of Eyam. With special guest Rebecca Rideal, author of "1666: Plague...