Dark Histories

This week, we detail the history of the Vampire, from screen to the dark myths and very real folklore of Eastern Europe. Vampires are a staple in horror fiction the world over, the charismatic lady-killer or seductive succubi, biting necks and sucking the blood of their victims as they sleep. Equally popular in pop culture as they are to horror fans, poring over black and white B-movies, the chara...

In February of 1855, Britain was deep in the midst of one of the coldest winters recorded. Minus temperatures were reported from January to March, the nights were long and the conditions severe. In the early morning of the 9th February, people across the rural, South West counties of England were waking up after another night of heavy snowfall. As they went about their daily chores, a steady rumbl...

On the 26th December, 1900, a small ship approached the remote island of Eilean Mor. It was a small eruption of land, uninhabited aside from a small battery of 3 men, whose job was to operate and maintain the isles lighthouse. The relief vessel Hesperus was to bring supplies and rotate a fourth member of the lighthouse team. As the ship closed in on the barren Isle, the sight of the lighthouse on...

In 1943, four young boys, out poaching in Hagley Wood came across a large Wych Elm, a broad, spiderlike tree. One of the boys begun climbing the tree to look for birds eggs and upon reaching the topmost branches, looked down to find the tree was curiously hollow. Inside the inky blackness of the broad trunk there was no trace of any bird nests, instead he saw a human skull staring blankly back at...

On the night of February 14th, 1945. The body of Charles Walton was found on a farm in Lower Quinton, Warwickshire in England. His throat had been slashed open and the prongs of a pitchfork dug into the mud on either side of his neck, pinning the body to the ground. As leads on the case faded away, paranoia and superstition crept in, leading to theories of witchcraft and the occult, remnants of wh...

In this episode we explore the true stories of Zombies of Haitian Voodoo culture, from French colonial rule to an exhaustive search for the source of a compound which could scientifically prove the creation of zombies by Ethnobotanist, Wade Davis. Most of this story summarizes details from Davis' two books on the subject; "The Serpent and the Rainbow" and "Passage of Darkness" which I really highl...

In this episode, we detail the mystery, researched from primary sources, of the Somerton Man, or as the case is widely and simply known, Tamam Shud. In 1948, the body of a man was found on Somerton beach, Adelaide, Australia. All identification marks had been removed from his clothing and to this day the mans identification and cause of death are unknown. The mystery goes even deeper however, when...

Using legitimate research materials from both English and Russian sources, we tell the full story of one of the more strange cases in Russian and possibly the entire world. Still unexplained, though theories abound, this is the full story of the Dyatlov Pass Incident. For extended show notes, including maps, links and scripts, head over to darkhistories.com Support the show by using our link when...

The story of William Burke and William Hare, two Irish men living in Edinburgh in 1827, who spied an opportunity to make money through murder. Now known as simply the Burke and Hare murders or The West Port Murders, this is dark history that took advantage of a very unique and grisly opportunity. For extended show notes, including maps, links and scripts, head over to darkhistories.com Support the...

The true story of the Enfield Poltergeist. A historical haunting of a British family during the 1970s, the Enfield Poltergeist is still today Britains most famous haunting. This story would become the inspiration for several TV shows and also the film The Conjuring 2. For extended show notes, including maps, links and scripts, head over to darkhistories.com Support the show by using our link when...

For our first ever episode, we go big with the complete story of Jack the Ripper, one of England most notorious ever killers and infamous all over the world. With only five canonical murders, he wasn't the most prolific serial killer in history, but his reign terrorised East London in 1888 and his identity has been a mystery ever since. For extended show notes, including maps, links and scripts, h...