
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.
Latest episodes

Sep 23, 2024 • 52min
Who was Jack the Ripper? The Barber (Suspect 2)
Part 2/4. By looking at the men accused of being Jack the Ripper, we uncover dark truths about Victorian society - and our own. Why were these men, most of them almost certainly innocent, singled out as monsters?Today Anthony Delaney tells Maddy Pelling about Aaron Kosminski, a Polish Jew living in Whitechapel who later became suspected of being Jack the Ripper. It's a story of immigration and antisemitism; of mental illness and of an effort to use DNA to link Kosminski to the crime.Written by Anthony Delaney. Edited by Tomos Delargy. Produced by Freddy Chick and Charlotte Long.Enjoy unlimited access to award-winning original documentaries that are released weekly and AD-FREE podcasts. Sign here for up to 50% for 3 months using code AFTERDARKYou can take part in our listener survey here.After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal is a History Hit podcast.

Sep 19, 2024 • 39min
Ned Kelly: Australia's Notorious Outlaw
Ned Kelly is a murdering, bank-robbing, Australian folk hero. What is the true history of this mythic figure? And how did an outlaw - or bushranger - rise up to become a symbol for a new nation?Anthony Delaney and Maddy Pelling are joined by Dr Meg Foster, research fellow at the University of Technology, Sydney and award winning author of Boundary Crossers: the hidden history of Australia's other bushrangers.Edited and produced by Freddy Chick. Senior Producer is Charlotte Long.Enjoy unlimited access to award-winning original documentaries that are released weekly and AD-FREE podcasts. Sign here for up to 50% for 3 months using code AFTERDARKYou can take part in our listener survey here.After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal is a History Hit podcast.

Sep 16, 2024 • 37min
Who was Jack the Ripper? The Prince (Suspect 1)
Part 1/4. By investigating the men accused of being Jack the Ripper, we uncover dark truths about Victorian society - and our own. Why were these men, most of them almost certainly innocent, singled out as monsters?Today Anthony Delaney tells Maddy Pelling about how Prince Albert Victor, grandson to Queen Victoria, became suspected of being Jack the Ripper. It's a story of Victorian masculinity and how our twentieth century relationship with monarchy helped ferment baseless accusations.Written by Anthony Delaney. Edited by Tomos Delargy. Produced by Freddy Chick and Charlotte Long.Enjoy unlimited access to award-winning original documentaries that are released weekly and AD-FREE podcasts. Sign here for up to 50% for 3 months using code AFTERDARKYou can take part in our listener survey here.After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal is a History Hit podcast.

Sep 12, 2024 • 41min
Lost Colony of Roanoke: Mystery of England's First American Settlers
The colonists of Roanoke Island in the 1580's were the very first English people to try to establish a permanent settlement in America. They completely disappeared. The only clue was the word 'CROATOAN' carved into a tree where they had been. What happened?Maddy Pelling and Anthony Delaney are joined today by Misha Ewen, author of The Virginia Venture: American Colonization and English Society, 1580-1660 and lecturer in early modern history at the University of Sussex.Edited by Tomos Delargy. Produced by Freddy Chick and Charlotte Long.Enjoy unlimited access to award-winning original documentaries that are released weekly and AD-FREE podcasts. Sign here for up to 50% for 3 months using code AFTERDARKYou can take part in our listener survey here.After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal is a History Hit podcast.

Sep 9, 2024 • 36min
Myth of the Minotaur: Half Man Half Bull
The myth of the Minotaur has endured thousands of years for good reason... it's hard to forget! Today, Maddy Pelling tells Anthony Delaney the story of King Minos of Crete, the monster in his maze, and the son of Athens that comes to kill it, thanks largely to the cunning of Princess Ariadne.Edited by Tomos Delargy. Produced by Charlotte Long.Enjoy unlimited access to award-winning original documentaries that are released weekly and AD-FREE podcasts. Sign here for up to 50% for 3 months using code AFTERDARKYou can take part in our listener survey here.

Sep 5, 2024 • 49min
The Black Death: The Deadliest Plague
It was beyond Biblical in its horror. Around half of all Europeans are estimated to have died in the Black Death. Death ravaged towns and villages, castles and hovels. What did it feel like to live through this darkest of histories? Bestselling author Helen Carr guides Anthony Delaney and Maddy Pelling through disease, death and self-flagellation! Helen's new book on the fourteenth century, Sceptred Isle, will be out next May.Edited by Max Hennessy and Tomos Delargy. Produced by Freddy Chick. The senior producer is Charlotte Long.Enjoy unlimited access to award-winning original documentaries that are released weekly and AD-FREE podcasts. Sign here for up to 50% for 3 months using code AFTERDARKYou can take part in our listener survey here.After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal is a History Hit podcast.

Sep 2, 2024 • 35min
Macabre Death of Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe was a poster boy for the macabre whose work thrilled readers throughout America and beyond. How did he end up in a gutter in Baltimore, delirious, and wearing clothes that were not his own? Maddy Pelling takes Anthony Delaney through the mysterious death of a mysterious man.Written by Maddy Pelling. Edited by Tomos Delargy. Produced by Charlotte Long.Enjoy unlimited access to award-winning original documentaries that are released weekly and AD-FREE podcasts. Sign here for up to 50% for 3 months using code AFTERDARKYou can take part in our listener survey here.After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal is a History Hit podcast.

Aug 29, 2024 • 35min
Corpse Medicine: Eating Egyptian Mummies
A skull a day! People ate people in the name of medicine across Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries. Charles II kept powdered skull in a bag on his belt and mummified corpses were the greatest cure of all... but why? Maddy Pelling and Anthony Delaney visit the apothecary with guide Hannah Slajus, whose PhD was on human ingredients in medicinal remedies in seventeenth century.Edited by Max Hennessy. Produced by Freddy Chick. The senior producer is Charlotte Long.Enjoy unlimited access to award-winning original documentaries that are released weekly and AD-FREE podcasts. Sign here for up to 50% for 3 months using code AFTERDARKYou can take part in our listener survey here.After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal is a History Hit podcast.

Aug 26, 2024 • 34min
Giggling Granny Serial Killer
Picture a serial killer in your mind’s eye. What do you see... Is it your gran?Today is the story of one of America’s most notorious female serial killers: Nannie Doss, aka the Giggling Granny. She killed 11 people, four of which were husbands. This lead to her also being known as the Lonely Hearts Killer, due to her supposed search for love.This is an episode from our sister-podcast Betwixt the Sheets with host Kate Lister. Kate was joined by Tori Telfer, author of Lady Killers: Deadly Women Throughout History.Produced by Sophie Gee. Mixed by Stuart Beckwith. Senior Producer is Charlotte Long.Enjoy unlimited access to award-winning original documentaries that are released weekly and AD-FREE podcasts. Sign here for up to 50% for 3 months using code AFTERDARKYou can take part in our listener survey here.After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal is a History Hit podcast.

Aug 22, 2024 • 53min
Salem Witch Trials: Interrogation & Torture
The second part of our story on the Salem Witch Trials. Anthony Delaney takes Maddy Pelling inside the courtroom as unbelievable stories of witchcraft are told and a terrifying power dynamic reveals itself, which ultimately ends in innocent souls being sent to their deaths.The drama is brought to life thanks to the acting talents of Carolina Hoyos, Jessica Reagan and Don Wildman.Written by Anthony Delaney. Edited by Tomos Delargy. Produced by Charlotte Long.Enjoy unlimited access to award-winning original documentaries that are released weekly and AD-FREE podcasts. Sign here for up to 50% for 3 months using code AFTERDARKYou can take part in our listener survey here.After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal is a History Hit podcast.
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