My Victorian Nightmare

On today's episode, Genevieve will discuss the Yule Cat, Krampus and the Yule Goat, as well as a few other deeply disturbing monsters that roam the countryside, looking to slice children open and replace their insides with straw and rocks every Christmas. Some of these creatures have ancient origins, but they all really shined in the Victorian era. Thank you to today's sponsor, Lumi Gummies! Go to LumiGummies.com and use code: VICTORIAN for 30% off your first order! Instagram Post For Today's Episode: https://www.instagram.com/p/DSc6zghjr3L/?img_index=1 References For Today's Episode: “Ghost Story” - The Halifax Courier and Guardian, Nov. 19th, 1853. “The Human “Double” - The Spiritualist, Jan. 14th, 1870. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yule_cat https://education.turpentinecreek.org/2023/12/09/the-spooky-legend-of-the-yule-cat/ https://blogs.loc.gov/folklife/2025/12/krampus-origins-and-development-of-a-winter-devil/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P%C3%A8re_Fouettard https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knecht_Ruprecht https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gr%C3%BDla https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perchta https://www.tumblr.com/themousefromfantasyland/635704522538450945/the-creatures-of-yuletide-the-yule-goat https://www.wisfarmer.com/story/life/2018/12/20/yule-goat-holidays-and-good-crops/2369257002/ https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/storey/the-yule-goat/ https://london-overlooked.com/chelsea/ https://www.curiousarchive.com/emilie-sagee-bilocation-doppelganger/ https://english.nepalnews.com/s/explainers/the-rise-fall-and-acquittal-of-nepals-buddha-boy-everything-you-need-to-know/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On today's episode, Genevieve will discuss corpse-related practical jokes, jealousy and suicide, an insane pioneer pistol murderess, a religious maniac family annihilation, men bitten by mad dogs and the madcap frolic of a cross-dressing widow in New York City. Instagram Post For Today's Episode: https://www.instagram.com/p/DSIx7cZEfye/?igsh=Zm1ubjB1eGdnaDl5 References For Today's Episode: “A BUDGET OF GHOST STORIES” - Cheshire Observer,  Mar. 6th, 1869. “What Is The Use of Spiritualism" - The Spiritualist, Dec. 3rd, 1869.  "A Ghastly Practical Joke" — The Illustrated Police News, Mar. 21st, 1872. "A Termagant Hangs Herself in Brooklyn, N.Y." - The Illustrated Police News, Mar. 21st, 1872. “Jealousy and Suicide” - The Wheeling Daily Register, Mar. 16th, 1872. "The Pioneer Pistol Murderess Insane" - The Illustrated Police News, Mar. 14th, 1872. "A Drunkard’s Baby Gnawed by a Dog" - The Illustrated Police News, Mar. 21st, 1872. "A BLOODY DOMESTIC DRAMA" - The Illustrated Police News, Mar. 21st, 1872. "Men Bitten by a Mad Dog in Kansas" — The Illustrated Police News, Mar. 21st, 1872. "MADCAP FROLIC OF A BEAUTIFUL NEW YORK WIDOW" - The Illustrated Police News, Mar. 21st, 1872. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Harris_%28murderer%29 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madstone_(folklore) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On today's episode, Genevieve will discuss the dark, macabre, heart-wrenching and fascinating inspirations for classical music pieces from the 19th century. From Beethoven to Berlioz; romantic, brooding, frightening pieces of music that we all know, we’ve heard in movies, studied in school, or listen to every day. Instagram Post For Today's Episode: https://www.instagram.com/p/DR5gvLlDh41/?igsh=ZzhtdWxuaGk1MzI= Live Performance of Chopin's Raindrop Prelude: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DP6OKEwDUgX/?igsh=MXF3MWQ3cWg2MHpmZg== References For Today's Episode: https://www.science.org/content/article/fr-d-ric-chopins-madness-diagnosed https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21593243/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fr%C3%A9d%C3%A9ric_Chopin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prelude,_Op._28,_No._15_(Chopin)#:~:text=Some%20of%20Op.,of%20the%20actual%20external%20sounds. https://www.marisamusicstudio.com/a-look-at-chopins-raindrop-prelude/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_of_Fr%C3%A9d%C3%A9ric_Chopin https://crosseyedpianist.com/2020/07/18/he-was-not-like-other-men-chopin-as-seen-by-his-contemporaries/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swan_Lake https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Pyotr_Ilyich_Tchaikovsky#:~:text=Also%2C%20the%20medical%20opinion%20printed,had%20little%20cause%20for%20worry. https://www.tmc.edu/news/2019/10/tchaikovskys-mental-anguish-informed-his-work/ https://www.themarginalian.org/2022/05/17/beethoven-ode-to-joy/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_van_Beethoven https://www.vialma.com/en/articles/266/Niccolo-Paganini-The-Devils-Violinist https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ode_to_Joy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_van_Beethoven Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On today's episode, Genevieve will have nearly naked women clinging to lampposts, throat-slittings, self-shootings, women choking out would-be burglars, Dante’s Hell of ice, men chopped to pieces, a man named "Chicken" sentenced to hang, and a serenading lover nearly drowned - but he’s OK, that one turns out OK, thank God. Thank you to today’s sponsors, Choomi Naturals and Rula! Go to http://choominaturals.com and use coupon code “VICTORIAN20” for 20% off your order. Connect with quality therapists and mental health experts at Rula who specialize in you at https://www.rula.com/victorian. Today’s Instagram post: https://www.instagram.com/p/DRngoGBDum3/?igsh=MTNqM2w5czJ5cndhaQ== References for today’s episode: “John Devin, the California “Chicken,” Sentenced to be Hanged” - The Illustrated Police News, Mar. 14th, 1872. “THE GHOST AT THE CHESHIRE INN” - Cheshire Observer,  Mar. 6th, 1869. "The Medium Mr. Morse" - The Spiritualist, Dec. 17th, 1869. “A Crazy Woman Struggles With Policemen at Midnight on Washington Bridge, Williamsburgh, L.I” - The Illustrated Police News, Mar. 7th, 1872. "The Kate Slade Case Again - A Woman Who Trusts in the Gods Believes All Men Are Devils, and Will Keep Her Mouth Hermetically Sealed" - The Brooklyn Union, Feb. 24th, 1872. “MURDER AND SELF-MURDER DOWN EAST” - The Illustrated Police News, Mar. 14th, 1872. “A Plucky Woman of New Jersey Holds a Robber at Bay Until the Arrival of Her Husband” - The Illustrated Police News, Mar. 7th, 1872. “JACK FROST. WINTER RENEWED WITH TEN-FOLD VENGEANCE” - The Illustrated Police News, Mar. 14th, 1872. “Determined to Strangle” - The Illustrated Police News, Mar. 7th, 1872. “A Man Chopped to Pieces by His Wife and Her Paramour”- The Illustrated Police News, Mar. 14th, 1872. “A Serenading Lover Comes to Grief in Lafayette, Indiana.” - The Illustrated Police News, Mar. 14th, 1872. https://www.weather.gov/media/okx/Climate/Almanacs/nyc/nycmar.pdf https://www.sbnm.org/Portals/NMBAR/AboutUs/committees/Historical/Crime_and_Punishment_In%20Colonial_New_Mexico.pdf?ver=i1lIcY1_Ia45yNDeXaM9DQ%3D%3D#:~:text=Finally%2C%20the%20death%20penalty%20was,%2C%20desertion%2C%20and%20premeditated%20murder. https://lldc.mainelegislature.org/Open/Rpts/PubDocs/PubDocs1872-73/PD1872-73_16.pdf https://grokipedia.com/page/Shanghaiing https://www.executedtoday.com/tag/1872/#:~:text=For%20about%20four%20minutes%20there,yet%20be%20brought%20to%20punishment Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On today’s episode, Genevieve will be taking you back to the blood-smeared Victorian railways. She will be discussing the murders of Sarah Hart and Thomas Briggs, as well as the “Philip Experiment” where scientists believed they conjured a ghost out of thin air. Thank you to today's sponsor, Honeylove! Save 20% off Honeylove by going to ⁠https://www.honeylove.com/VICTORIAN⁠! Today’s Instagram Post: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/p/DRU5rfVDsNb/?igsh=Zjc1bmFzejljbTFq⁠ References For Today’s Episode: “A Budget of Ghost Stories” - Cheshire Observer,  Mar. 6th, 1869. “Mr. Morse” - The Spiritualist, Dec. 1869. “The Murder at Salthill” - The Bath Chronicle and Herald, Mar. 20th, 1845. “Funeral of Sarah Hart” - Cheltenham Chronicle and Gloucestershire Graphic, Jan. 16th 1845. https://moonmausoleum.com/the-philip-experiment-the-spirit-created-by-scientists/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_experiment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_M%C3%BCller https://www.btp.police.uk/police-forces/british-transport-police/areas/about-us/about-us/our-history/crime-history/first-railway-murder/ https://www.btp.police.uk/police-forces/british-transport-police/areas/about-us/about-us/our-history/crime-history/murder-of-sarah-hart/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Tawell Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On today's episode, Genevieve will have unpleasant stabbings, poison mania, an accident that will ruin your week, women mysteriously delivered in coffins, men swallowing wedding rings, opium eaters, charred, lifeless remains and much, much more. Thank you to today's sponsor, Hello Fresh! Go to HelloFresh.com/VICTORIAN10FM now to get 10 free meals + a free breakfast for life! Today's Instagram Post: https://www.instagram.com/p/DRCnucLDsxi/?igsh=bGpyNnFucTdicnRj References: “Christmas Ghosts and Scientific Ghosts” - The Bromsgrove, Droitwich and Redditch Weekly Messenger, County Journal and General Advertiser, Dec. 26th, 1863. "Mr. Woolnough" - The Spiritualist, Dec. 17th, 1869. “Unpleasant Stabbing Affray Between Italians in New York”- The Illustrated Police News, Mar. 7th, 1872. “The Mulberry Street Butchery” - New York Daily Herald, Mar. 2nd, 1872. "The Poisoning Mania"- The Illustrated Police News, Mar. 7th, 1872. "Horrible Accident to a Woman in Canal Street, N.Y." - The Illustrated Police News, Mar. 7th, 1872. “More New York Justice” - The St. Louis Republic, Nov. 20th 1872. "Another Mystery" - The Illustrated Police News, Mar. 7th, 1872. "A Bridegroom in Cleveland Swallows his Wedding Ring" - The Illustrated Police News, Mar. 7th, 1872. “Mr. Pepper’s Last Ghost” - The Spiritualist, Dec. 1869. "One More Indiana Horror" - The Illustrated Police News, Mar. 7th, 1872. "A New Social Evil — The Male and Female “Opium Eaters” of New York" - The Illustrated Police News, Mar. 7th, 1872. “Young Gentlemen of Boston Submitting Their Arms to a Charming Female Vaccinator” - The Illustrated Police News, Feb. 15th, 1872. “Ladies in the Medical Profession” - The Spiritualist, Dec. 17th, 1869. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christiana_Edmunds Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On today’s episode, Genevieve will discuss Victorian grave stone symbolism, The Moberly-Jourdain Incident, a tale of time-slipping, potentially residually haunted, deeply respected academics in 1901, and Ghost clubs of the 19th century. Today’s Instagram Post: https://www.instagram.com/p/DQxVI0fjqCV/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA== References: https://www.undercliffecemetery.co.uk/gallery/funerary-art/ https://www.vintageviews.org/vv-tl/pages/Cem_Symbolism.htm https://arnosvale.org.uk/secrets-and-symbols-the-grave-language-of-the-victorian-cemetery/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moberly%E2%80%93Jourdain_incident https://www.ranker.com/list/moberly-jourdain-incident-and-time-travel/genevieve-carlton https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2017/10/31/ghost-club-yeats-dickens-secret-society-spirits/ https://www.openculture.com/2017/05/the-ghost-club.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ghost_Club https://dickenssociety.org/archives/4679 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On today’s episode, Genevieve will have ghosts throwing potato chips, female poison serial killers, the body of a murderer on display for the general public, a horrible uxoricide, a naked women in prison attempting to "dash her brains out," a life of romance and suffering and fancy, lady's-only gambling parlors. No boys allowed! Thank you to today’s sponsor, Rula.com! Go to Rula.com/victorian to get started today. You deserve mental healthcare that works with you, not against your budget. Today’s Instagram Post: https://www.instagram.com/p/DQfFlTjkXnF/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA== References: “Virginian Ghosts” - The Times-Picayune, Nov. 23, 1874. “Mr. J. Davis” - The Spiritualist, - The Spiritualist, Dec. 17th, 1869. “A Woman Poisons Her Husband’s Food in Stark County, Indiana” - The Illustrated Police News, Feb. 15th, 1872. “A Murderer’s Body on Exhibition” - The Illustrated Police News, Feb. 15th, 1872. “A Prisoner Leaps from a Court Room Window in Kansas City, Mo., and Escapes” - The Illustrated Police News, Feb. 8th, 1872. “Horrible Uxoricide” - The Illustrated Police News, Feb. 15th, 1872. “An Inconsiderate Parent” - The Illustrated Police News, Feb. 15th, 1872. “A Wrangle Over the Remains of Botts the Murderer” - The Illustrated Police News, Feb. 8th, 1872. “Miss Eva G. Vallee, the Pretty Female Prisoner, Simulates a Fit and Attempts Suicide in the Central Police Station, New York City” - The Illustrated Police News, Feb. 15th, 1872. “A Sad Story” - The Illustrated Police News, Feb. 15th, 1872. “The She-Gamblers of San Francisco” - The Illustrated Police News, Feb. 15th, 1872. "Police Report" - The Leavenworth Times, Jul. 30th, 1872.  "Forestalling the Gallows" - The Courier-Journal, Mar. 27th, 1872 "Confidence Woman Convicted" - The Daily Evening Herald, Apr. 13th, 1872 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potato_chips https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon%27s_Lake_House https://deathpenaltyusa.org/usa1/date/1872.htm https://publications.lawschool.cornell.edu/lawreview/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Blume-final.pdf https://mrsdaffodildigresses.wordpress.com/2017/05/10/women-gamblers-of-new-york-1884/ https://www.victorianweb.org/history/leisure/gambling1.html Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I decided to re-record my favorite gothic poem of all time, Edgar Allan Poe's, The Raven, for Halloween this year. I hope you enjoy this spooky bonus episode! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On today’s episode, Genevieve will conclude haunted Halloween hotel month with the dark, haunted history of the infamous Stanley Hotel that inspired Steven King’s, The Shining. She will be sharing the true and untrue tragedies that folks claim to be the origins of the spectral guests that inhabit the hotel to this day. Thank you to today’s sponsor, Lumi Gummies! Lumi Gummies are available nationwide! Go to LumiGummies.com/VICTORIAN to get 30% off your order! My Halloween Party Playlist: Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6kOUlSZbILIuVsM3vJnoPR?si=ZUcPCjmySaaPTG4Jh_do8g Today’s Instagram Post: https://www.instagram.com/p/DQNNNMnkZQW/?igsh=MXdzcW13Z3lnYWwzYw== References: “Ghosts Ghosts!” - Richmond Independent Telegram, Sept. 1st, 1871. "Mr. Avery" - The Spiritualist, Dec. 17th, 1869. https://usghostadventures.com/americas-most-haunted-hotels-and-inns/hauntings-of-the-stanley-hotel/ https://www.uncovercolorado.com/stanley-hotel-haunted-history/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Stanley_Hotel https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/carrie-welton https://www.lakecountypubliclibrary.org/lake-county-cemetery-records Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices