

My Victorian Nightmare
Genevieve Manion
Here you’ll find mysterious deaths, morbid fascinations, disturbing stories, and otherwise spooky events from the Victorian Era. To subscribe, join The Fan Coven!
If you consider yourself an enthusiast of creepy Victorian history, you probably already know about the age of spiritualism, the grisly murders, the grave robbers, twisted pseudo psychotherapy, and memento mori – But I try to dig a little deeper. This was a time full of lace corsetry, romantic poetry, and a deep reverence and affection for the dead. It was a culture of shared sorrow, ornament and elegance, prudishness and scandal, bone chilling children’s stories, and for whatever reason, I just feel at home there. There’s something strangely comforting about the heebie jeebies this era gives me. If you find yourself equally enchanted by things that most people would find horrifying, this podcast is probably for you. To listen ad-free, visit myvictoriannightmare.com and join my Patreon.
If you consider yourself an enthusiast of creepy Victorian history, you probably already know about the age of spiritualism, the grisly murders, the grave robbers, twisted pseudo psychotherapy, and memento mori – But I try to dig a little deeper. This was a time full of lace corsetry, romantic poetry, and a deep reverence and affection for the dead. It was a culture of shared sorrow, ornament and elegance, prudishness and scandal, bone chilling children’s stories, and for whatever reason, I just feel at home there. There’s something strangely comforting about the heebie jeebies this era gives me. If you find yourself equally enchanted by things that most people would find horrifying, this podcast is probably for you. To listen ad-free, visit myvictoriannightmare.com and join my Patreon.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Dec 30, 2024 • 44min
Ep. 23 - Hatchets, Razors, Narrow Escapes, and Nosferatu
Today, Genevieve will discuss a lunatic asylum escapee in a washtub boat, a steamboat slaughter, a tragic murder on a lovely evening, a clergyman’s narrow escape from certain death, a fit of apoplexy, hatchets, razors, insanity, and a somewhat tragic ice skating accident that luckily has a meet-cute happy ending.
References for Today's Episode:
https://blogs.loc.gov/headlinesandheroes/2022/11/nellie-bly-blackwells-island/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sultana_(steamboat)
https://genealogytrails.com/ill/woodford/tradgies.html Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Dec 23, 2024 • 36min
Ep. 22 - Sweet Messages of Calm Decay
On today's episode, we’re still celebrating the Holiday season with some weird, wonderful, and downright irresponsible Victorian Christmas traditions!
References for today's episode:
https://www.history.com/news/christmas-tradition-ghost-stories
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/652043/victorian-christmas-traditions
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/dec/12/shock-of-the-old-11-murderous-and-macabre-victorian-christmas-cards
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-34988154
https://historycollection.com/strange-and-delightful-holiday-traditions-of-the-victorian-era/
https://www.marthastewart.com/1097532/decorative-past-tradition-christmas-pickle-ornament Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Dec 16, 2024 • 41min
Ep. 21 - A Chamber of Horrors
Today's episode is Christmas themed! Genevieve will be discussing a family hatchet fight, an assault with a pot roast, an assault with a teapot, a fruit and nut plundering, an insane chimney sweep, a grizzly Christmas day murder, A tragic Christmas Day train disaster, a Chamber of Horrors, and a few more truly horrific Christmas day events.
References for today's episode:
https://www.measuringworth.com/blog/?p=256
https://www.postalmuseum.org/blog/victorian-christmas-boxes/#:~:text=These%20tokens%20were%20known%20as,form%20of%20money%20or%20alcohol
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_American_railroad_accidents
https://sites.dartmouth.edu/toxmetal/arsenic/arsenic-a-murderous-history/#:~:text=Beginning%20in%20the%20eighteenth%20century,common%20in%20the%20market%20place
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Dec 9, 2024 • 46min
Ep. 20 - They'll Be Scary Ghost Stories
In today's episode, Genevieve keeps with Victorian Christmas tradition, and tells a terrifying ghost story: The Signal Man, by Charles Dickens.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Dec 2, 2024 • 38min
Ep. 19 - Killed By a Coffin
On today's episode, Genevieve dives back into the salacious, at times terrifying, at times, grisly, at times charming Illustrated Police News Law Courts and Record, from which she will read about Bleecker Street harpies punching cops in the face, some discomfiture of an older gentleman who gets a parasol stuck in his mouth, a madhouse ax murder, a man on a smashing spree, a saloon slaying, a murderously jealous lover, and a man killed by a coffin.
References for today's episode:
https://cemeteryclub.wordpress.com/2020/03/02/killed-by-a-coffin/
https://www.loc.gov/item/ca07000366/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Nov 25, 2024 • 50min
Ep. 18 - Until You Are Dead
In today's episode, Genevieve digs deep into the murder trial of Mary Ann Mailman at the hands of her husband, Peter Mailman in 1873. The trial was full of salacious accusations of affairs, jealous husbands, heartbreaking testimony, flagrant slut shaming from the defense, and details of the murder that shook Nova Scotia to the core.
The Trial of Peter Mailman:
https://ia600201.us.archive.org/10/items/cihm_09620/cihm_09620.pdf Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Nov 4, 2024 • 35min
Ep. 17 - Marvelous and Alarming Madness
On today's episode, Genevieve pulls out a few articles from the Illustrated Police News Law Courts and Record: volumes between 1871 and 1875. She'll provide you with your Weekly Dose of Blood, a very concerning case of 2 men either infected with rabies, or turning into werewolves - it’s a bit unclear, a Frenchman nearly eaten alive by rats, a grisly wedding party, a blood-thirsty maniac, a woman melting down exquisitely on stage, and a damsel giving an impromptu acrobatic performance on the streets of Chicago. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Oct 31, 2024 • 28min
Bonus Episode! - A little Hallowe'en Candy
On today's minisode, Genevieve reads her 3 favorite spooky Victorian Halloween poems! Edgar Allan Poe's, The Raven, Lake of the Dismal Swamp by Thomas Moore, and The Broomstick Train or the Return of the Witches by Oliver Wendell Holmes.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Oct 28, 2024 • 38min
Ep. 16 - Happy Hallowe'en!
Today’s episode will contain absolutely delightful, bone-chillingly fascinating Victorian Halloween traditions, as well as a few more creepy-eepy Victorian house histories and hauntings.
References for today's episode:
https://gaslampfoundation.org/victorian-halloween-traditions-now-thats-scary/
https://www.grunge.com/1056548/what-victorian-halloween-was-really-like/
https://mix108.com/is-this-home-the-most-haunted-estate-in-minnesota/
https://www.huntingdondailynews.com/daily_herald/news/spooktacular-stories-the-haunting-of-baker-mansion/article_7370709e-6ff2-5d04-a92a-9853bc26b288.html
https://hauntedhouses.com/minnesota/forepaughs-restaurant/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Oct 21, 2024 • 42min
Ep. 15 - Among the Dead Men
In today's episode, Genevieve will be diving back into your favorite grisly, hideous, at times very witty, and fabulously illustrated Victorian publication - The Illustrated Police News Law Courts and Record. She'll discuss a creepy German law, Revolutionary war skeletons found in walls, coffins for lifeboats, and a journalist’s detailed report on what it was like to walk around a surgical school in the middle of the night in 1871.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices


