Dark Histories

As The Medusa sailed from Rochefort in 1816, many aboard saw bright futures ahead for themselves. They were escaping a country torn asunder, harshly divided by war, revolution and eventual restoration. With the French Empire floundering and a band of Hard-Right ultra-royalists creating laws in France, the promise of a new start in a fresh land was enticing for many. Little did they expect to meet such a high degree of incompetency on their voyage, had they foreseen even a fraction of the horrors that lay ahead for them, many might have chosen to stay in France no matter the situation.SOURCESMiles, J. (2007). The Wreck of the Medusa: The Most Famous Sea Disaster of the Nineteenth Century. Atlantic Monthly Press, New York, NY.Savigny, J. B. Henry, and Alexandre Corréard. (1818). Narrative of a Voyage to Senegal in 1816. London: Henry ColburnMcKee, A. (1975). Wreck of the Medusa: The Tragic Story of the Death Raft. Penguin Books, Auckland, New Zealand.Newworldencyclopedia.org. (2019). Banc d'Arguin National Park - New World Encyclopedia. [online] Available at: https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Banc_d%27Arguin_National_Park [Accessed 28 Aug. 2019].------For extended show notes, including maps, links and scripts, head over to darkhistories.com Support the show by using our link when you sign up to Audible: http://audibletrial.com/darkhistories or visit our Patreon for bonus episodes and Early Access: https://www.patreon.com/darkhistoriesConnect with us on Facebook: http://facebook.com/darkhistoriespodcastOr find us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/darkhistories& Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dark_histories/Or you can contact us directly via email at contact@darkhistories.comor join our Discord community: https://discord.gg/6f7e2ptMusic was recorded by me © Ben Cutmore 2017Other Outro music was Paul Whiteman & his orchestra with Mildred Bailey - All of me (1931). It's out of copyright now, but if you're interested, that was that. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Campbell, California. Lying in the heart of Santa Clara County, a periphery city of Silicon Valley and the birthplace of E-Bay. In 1896, 100 years before websites facilitating the auctioning of used underwear and haunted paintings had been dreamt up, Campbell was the scene for a gruesome family killing that saw posses of bounty hunters and bloodhounds, looking to cash in on the reward placed on the head of the murderer, embark on manhunt across mountains and valleys that would span years and eventually, decades. SOURCES: Gilman, T. (2018). The McGlincy Killings in Campbell California: An 1896 Unsolved Mystery. The History Press, Charleston, SC “Hattie B. Wells Dunham (1868-1896) - Find A Grave...” Find A Grave, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/10998742/hattie-b_-dunham. Special dispatches to the Chronicle. (1896) ‘The Sextuple Murder Near San Jose’, The San Fransisco Chronicle, 28 May, p.1-3. San Jose, Cali, May 27. (1896) ‘Dunham a Maniac’, The San Fransisco Call, 28 May, p.2. San Jose, Cali, June 01. (1896) ‘Price for Dunhams Body’, The San Fransisco Call, 01 June, p.2. San Jose, Cali, May 01. (1901) ‘Murderer Dunham or His Double is a Prisoner in San Jose Jail’, The San Fransisco Call, 01 may, p.1. William Campbell (1793-1885), http://philnorf.tripod.com/william.htm. ------ For extended show notes, including maps, links and scripts, head over to darkhistories.com Support the show by using our link when you sign up to Audible: http://audibletrial.com/darkhistories or visit our Patreon for bonus episodes and Early Access: https://www.patreon.com/darkhistories Connect with us on Facebook: http://facebook.com/darkhistoriespodcast Or find us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/darkhistories & Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dark_histories/ Or you can contact us directly via email at contact@darkhistories.com or join our Discord community: https://discord.gg/6f7e2pt Music was recorded by me © Ben Cutmore 2017 Other Outro music was Paul Whiteman & his orchestra with Mildred Bailey - All of me (1931). It's out of copyright now, but if you're interested, that was that. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

William the Scabby was lead out to the scaffold on which he was to be hanged. A rebel against the Anglo-Norman rule, he had been sentenced to death on 13 counts of Homicide. Now it was time for him to meet his maker. Except, that is not how the story ends, for though William was hanged “until dead”, he was not to stay as such and later in the day, his miraculous resurrection was witnessed by a large proportion of the population of Swansea, including the highly experienced executioner himself.   SOURCES:   Hanska, J. (2001). The hanging of William Cragh: anatomy of a miracle. Journal of Medieval History, 27(2), pp.121-138.   Bartlett, R. (2006). The hanged man: A Story of Miracle, Memory and Colonialism in the Middle Ages. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.   Medievalswansea.ac.uk. (2019). The Story / The Twice-Hanged William Cragh | City Witness. [online] Available at: http://www.medievalswansea.ac.uk/en/the-story/the-twice-hanged-william-cragh/ [Accessed 1 Aug. 2019].   Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vatican MS Lat. 4015   ------ For extended show notes, including maps, links and scripts, head over to darkhistories.com Support the show by using our link when you sign up to Audible: http://audibletrial.com/darkhistories or visit our Patreon for bonus episodes and Early Access: https://www.patreon.com/darkhistories Connect with us on Facebook: http://facebook.com/darkhistoriespodcast Or find us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/darkhistories & Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dark_histories/ Or you can contact us directly via email at contact@darkhistories.com or join our Discord community: https://discord.gg/6f7e2pt Music was recorded by me © Ben Cutmore 2017 Other Outro music was Paul Whiteman & his orchestra with Mildred Bailey - All of me (1931). It's out of copyright now, but if you're interested, that was that. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When Pauline went missing in 1922, all hope was initially lost of her return, until a month later, when she showed up 200 miles away. Her parents collected her, took her home and lived with her for several weeks before a body showed up just 800 metres from their house. The body alone was shocking enough, but quickly became doubly so as it was identified as the body of the lost & found Pauline.SOURCES:‘Whose Child?’ (1922, May 27), The Pall Mall Gazette, London. P.8.‘Killed & Stripped by Foxes’ (1922, May 31), The Pall Mall Gazette, London. P.4.‘A French Mystery’ (1922, May 27), The Sheffield Daily Telegraph, Sheffield. P.9.‘Missing Child Mystery’ (1922, May 31), The Sheffield Daily Telegraph, Sheffield. P.3.‘Breton Childs Mysterious Death’ (1922, June 01), The Yorkshire Post & Leeds Intelligencer, Yorkshire. P.5.Le Matin, France (1922, May through June).Le Petit Parisien, France (1922, May through June).------For extended show notes, including maps, links and scripts, head over to darkhistories.com Support the show by using our link when you sign up to Audible: http://audibletrial.com/darkhistories or visit our Patreon for bonus episodes and Early Access: https://www.patreon.com/darkhistoriesConnect with us on Facebook: http://facebook.com/darkhistoriespodcastOr find us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/darkhistories& Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dark_histories/Or you can contact us directly via email at contact@darkhistories.comor join our Discord community: https://discord.gg/6f7e2ptMusic was recorded by me © Ben Cutmore 2017Other Outro music was Paul Whiteman & his orchestra with Mildred Bailey - All of me (1931). It's out of copyright now, but if you're interested, that was that.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When the Altic Farm House, on the outskirts of La Porte, Indiana burnt down in 1908, locals thought it a tragedy that claimed the lives of three children and their heroic mother, who had died trying to protect them from the flames. During the excavation of the debris, the story flipped on its head as far more than the 4 bodies expected were eventually found. Butchered and cast into pits they were victims of Belle Gunness, a woman the newspapers would come to call the La Porte Ghoul, The Indiana Ogress, The Human Vampire, Hell’s Princess & Lady Bluebeard.SOURCES:Schechter, Harold. (2018) Hell’s Princess: The Mystery of Belle Gunness, Butcher of Men. Little A, New York.Billings, John. (1896) Report on Vital and Social Statistics in The United States at the Eleventh Census: 1890. Government Printing Office, Washington D.C.‘Crime Reigns for Month’, (1902, December 22), The South Bend Tribune, Indiana. p.1.‘Mystery in Sudden Death’ (1902, December 24), The Weekly Sentinel, Fort Wayne, Indiana. p.10.‘Killed by Sausage Grinder’ (1902, December 20), Chicago Tribune, Chicago, Illinois. p.7.‘Family May Have Met Death In Fire’ (1908, April 28) The South Bend Tribune, South Bend, Indiana. P.1.------For extended show notes, including maps, links and scripts, head over to darkhistories.com Support the show by using our link when you sign up to Audible: http://audibletrial.com/darkhistories or visit our Patreon for bonus episodes and Early Access: https://www.patreon.com/darkhistoriesConnect with us on Facebook: http://facebook.com/darkhistoriespodcastOr find us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/darkhistories& Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dark_histories/Or you can contact us directly via email at contact@darkhistories.comor join our Discord community: https://discord.gg/6f7e2ptMusic was recorded by me © Ben Cutmore 2017Other Outro music was Paul Whiteman & his orchestra with Mildred Bailey - All of me (1931). It's out of copyright now, but if you're interested, that was that.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On Dark Histories, we hear the words of people lost to history, echoing through the writings of labourers, servants, judges, juries, maids and mistresses exactly as they were written in decades and centuries past. This one way communication with history is always limited by it’s very definition and no matter how much we dig, we can never ask the writers what were they feeling as they wrote each line, and whilst we judge them by the information they give, we can never invite them to ask what they make of the people and things of today in our alien, modern world. In 1984, an Economics teacher living in the small rural village of Dodleston found he had the opportunity to do exactly this, when he was thrust into a strange link that tied him across centuries with a past inhabitant of his home via an early model personal computer and it’s word processing software EDWORD. Both accused the other of trickery, poltergeist activity, witchcraft and devilry, but eventually, a bond between the two was formed. Cross-century communications are never easy, however, especially when the future gets involved.To take part in the review drive mentioned in the show, send your screenshots to social@darkhistories.comSOURCES:Webster, K. (1989). The Vertical Plane. London: Harper Collins.Hall, William J. & Petonito J. (2018) Phantom Messages: Chilling phone calls, letters, emails and texts from unknown realms. Disinformation Books.Out of this World. (1996). BBC One Television.Mercurius Politicus (2010, 1 November). Ghost in the Machine [Article, comments]. Retrived 14 June, 2019, from https://mercuriuspoliticus.wordpress.com/2010/11/01/ghost-in-the-machine/ For extended show notes, including maps, links and scripts, head over to darkhistories.com Support the show by using our link when you sign up to Audible: http://audibletrial.com/darkhistories or visit our Patreon for bonus episodes and Early Access: https://www.patreon.com/darkhistoriesConnect with us on Facebook: http://facebook.com/darkhistoriespodcastOr find us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/darkhistories& Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dark_histories/Or you can contact us directly via email at contact@darkhistories.comor join our Discord community: https://discord.gg/6f7e2ptMusic was recorded by me © Ben Cutmore 2017Other Outro music was Paul Whiteman & his orchestra with Mildred Bailey - All of me (1931). It's out of copyright now, but if you're interested, that was that.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Getting away with murder has always been a difficult, and ultimately, unlikely affair, even in the 19th Century, before DNA analysis, fingerprint databases, or even any real, proper detective agencies, it was still a challenge that many criminals tried and failed. There were some however, that did manage to achieve the feat, whether it be through cool calculation, or dumb luck, there was always opportunity for the enthusiastic murderer willing to think outside the box. In Canada during the mid-19th Century, one man, William Turner managed to commit and get away with murder, either through dumb luck, due to an unlikely double being framed for the crime, or through an incredible talent for acting. After more than 150 years, the question has always remained, which was it? Luck, or the long game? To take part in the review drive mentioned in the show, send your screenshots to social@darkhistories.com Sources: Townsend The Murderer. (1857, June 10). The Montreal Gazette, p. 3. Stewart Wallace, W. (1931, April 15). The Townsend Case. Maclean’s, p. 19. The Alleged Murderer Townsend - The Singular Circumstances of the case - And the Proofs of his Identity. (1857, June 10). The Montreal Gazette, p. 2. The Alleged Murderer Townsend - The Singular Circumstances of the case - And the Proofs of his Identity. (1857, June 17). The Montreal Gazette, p. 2. The Townsend Excitement on the Wane! (1857, September 26). The Montreal Gazette, p. 2. Arraignment of McHenry alias Townsend. (1857, September 28). The Montreal Gazette, p. 2. Gault, Robert H. (1918) Journal of the American Institute of Law and Criminology Vol. IX. Chicago. Northwestern University Press.   For extended show notes, including maps, links and scripts, head over to darkhistories.com Support the show by using our link when you sign up to Audible: http://audibletrial.com/darkhistories or visit our Patreon for bonus episodes and Early Access: https://www.patreon.com/darkhistories Connect with us on Facebook: http://facebook.com/darkhistoriespodcast Or find us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/darkhistories & Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dark_histories/ Or you can contact us directly via email at contact@darkhistories.com or join our Discord community: https://discord.gg/6f7e2pt Music was recorded by me © Ben Cutmore 2017 Other Outro music was Paul Whiteman & his orchestra with Mildred Bailey - All of me (1931). It's out of copyright now, but if you're interested, that was that. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The events that took place in the village of Road during the year 1860 would seem straight out of Victorian detective fiction. The characters played their roles as the family, the live in staff, the day staff and all with their own lives and their own secrets entwined inside the gated middle class household of Road House, one of them guilty of a shocking murder. With all its twists, turns and bombastic, final unravelling, the Murder of Road Hill House is the original whodunnit.Sources:Summerscale, Kate (2008) The Suspicions of Mr Whicher or: The Murder at Road Hill House. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2009.Chambers, Paul (2009) Murder Most Foul: The Road Hill House Mystery of 1860. The History Press, 2009.Thomas, Hugh (2011) Occasional Papers on Meteorological History No.10, Weather and Phenological Observations At Hurstpierpoint 1859 to 1862. The Royal Meteorological Society, 2011.Foul and Mysterious Murder (1860, July 3), The Evening Standard, p.6.Diabolical and Mysterious Murder: Verdict fo Wilful Murder (1860, July 4), The Frome Times, p.4The Morning Post (1860, July 10), The Morning Post, p.4Arrest and Examination of Miss Constance Kent (1860, July 21), Bristol Times and Mirror, p.8.The Late Mysterious Child Murder at Road (1860, July 30), Belfast Mercury, p.4.Examination of Miss Kent on a Charge of Child Murder (1860, July 29), Reynolds Newspaper, p.9.The Road Murder (1860, August 2), Devizes and Wiltshire Gazette, p.3.The Road Murder - Constance Kent Sentenced to Death (1865, July 27) Inverness Courier, p.6. For extended show notes, including maps, links and scripts, head over to darkhistories.com Support the show by using our link when you sign up to Audible: http://audibletrial.com/darkhistories or visit our Patreon for bonus episodes and Early Access: https://www.patreon.com/darkhistoriesConnect with us on Facebook: http://facebook.com/darkhistoriespodcastOr find us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/darkhistories& Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dark_histories/Or you can contact us directly via email at contact@darkhistories.comor join our Discord community: https://discord.gg/6f7e2ptMusic was recorded by me © Ben Cutmore 2017Other Outro music was Paul Whiteman & his orchestra with Mildred Bailey - All of me (1931). It's out of copyright now, but if you're interested, that was that. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 1764, France was a tumultuous place. On the eve of Revolution, the peasant farmers of the remote region of Gévaudan were suffering from decades of difficulties, brought about by war, poverty, poor agricultural conditions and plague. As the Summer brought about favourable weather and life for the population of the barren and sparse region should have begun an upswing in fortune, a series of attacks marked the beginning of a reign of terror that would last almost three years, headed by a monster known simply as “The Beast”. Bodies were found half eaten, the remains left on the ground spreading a fear throughout the region that would eclipse all of the previous problems and would escalate the situation as high as the court of the King. Sources: Smith, J.M (2011) Monsters of the Gévaudan: The Making of a Beast. Harvard University Press, 2011. This day arrived, the mail from France & Flanders (1764, November 30), The Derby Mercury, p.2. Tuesday’s Post, Utrecht Nov. 29. (1764, December 8), The Oxford Journal, p.1. Thursday’s Post, Foreign Affairs (1765, January 26), The Oxford Journal, p.2. Foreign News (1765, March 9), The Ipswich Journal, p.2. Affairs in Italy, Spain, Portugal etc. (1765, October 7), The Scots Magazine, p.43. Extract of a letter from Paris, Oct 4 (1765, October 25), Derby Mercury, p.2. Soulier, Bernard (2012) D’où était Agnès Giral? (2012, December 12), Gazette de la Bête, p.3 Sée, Henri (2004) Economic and Social Conditions in France During the Eighteenth Century. Batoche Books, 2004. Bonet, Alain (2019) La Bête du Gévaudan: Chronologie et Documentation Raisonnées. Bonet, 2019.   For extended show notes, including maps, links and scripts, head over to darkhistories.com Support the show by using our link when you sign up to Audible: http://audibletrial.com/darkhistories or visit our Patreon for bonus episodes and Early Access: https://www.patreon.com/darkhistories Connect with us on Facebook: http://facebook.com/darkhistoriespodcast Or find us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/darkhistories & Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dark_histories/ Or you can contact us directly via email at contact@darkhistories.com or join our Discord community: https://discord.gg/6f7e2pt Music was recorded by me © Ben Cutmore 2017 Other Outro music was Paul Whiteman & his orchestra with Mildred Bailey - All of me (1931). It's out of copyright now, but if you're interested, that was that. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In April, 1876, Charles Bravo took to his bedroom, rubbed a dose of laudanum into his gums and poured himself a glass of water from the jug on his nightstand. Within minutes of retiring to bed, Charles Bravo fell desperately ill. Within two days, he would be pronounced dead, the victim of Antimony poisoning. Suicide, manslaughter and murder have been cast forward by amateur historians and famous crime writers alike. 145 years on, some have claimed to have solved the mystery of the death of Charles Bravo, but in reality, the truth lies as buried as the characters themselves. Two inquests to the good, the question remains, who killed Charles Bravo?Sources:Ruddick, James (2001) Death at the Priory: Love, Sex and Murder in Victorian England. Atlantic Books, 2001.The Verdict in the Bravo Case (1876, August 12), The Independent, p. 6.The Balham Mystery (1867, May 16), The Daily Post, p.6.Taylor, Bernard & Clarke, Kate (1988) Murder at the Priory: The Mysterious Poisoning of Charles Bravo. Grafton Books, 1988. For extended show notes, including maps, links and scripts, head over to darkhistories.com Support the show by using our link when you sign up to Audible: http://audibletrial.com/darkhistories or visit our Patreon for bonus episodes and Early Access: https://www.patreon.com/darkhistoriesConnect with us on Facebook: http://facebook.com/darkhistoriespodcastOr find us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/darkhistories& Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dark_histories/Or you can contact us directly via email at contact@darkhistories.comor join our Discord community: https://discord.gg/6f7e2ptMusic was recorded by me © Ben Cutmore 2017Other Outro music was Paul Whiteman & his orchestra with Mildred Bailey - All of me (1931). It's out of copyright now, but if you're interested, that was that.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices