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.History Hit is part of...
Latest episodes
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54 min
Most Haunted House in England
Built in 1862, Borley Rectory became known as England's most haunted house. From ghostly nuns and unexplained disturbances to paranormal investigator Harry Price's controversial in…
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45 min
Myth of the Golem of Prague
In the sixteenth-century, down the winding cobbled streets of Prague, there once lived a towering supernatural being: the Golem. Legend has it that it was conjured to life through…
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1 h 17
The 'Changeling Murder' of Bridget Cleary
The story goes that in 1895 Bridget Cleary was burned to death by her husband who believed she was a 'changeling' fairy.In today's episode, Anthony and Maddy interrogate the storie…
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50 min
Medieval Origins of Dracula
With Halloween just around the corner, it's the perfect time to really get to know the familiar figure of Dracula.What vampires came before him? What fears were the Victorians proj…
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1 h 00
The Real Werewolf Trials of Europe
You've heard of the witch trials, but have you heard of the werewolf trials?!This fascinating history takes us to back to the 16th and 17th centuries, when panic spread through vil…
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58 min
The Dark Side of the Brothers Grimm Fairy Tales
When the studious, unassuming brothers Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm left home for university, little did they know their fairy-tale collections would take Europe by storm.We've all hear…
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57 min
"HMS Terror" Death on the Arctic Tundra
In 1845 two Royal Navy ships, HMS Terror & HMS Erebus, departed Britain on an expedition into the Arctic. Along their ill-fated icy expedition, they disappeared almost completely,…
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51 min
Did Robin Hood Exist?
It's a story that's been around for a good 800 years, but is there any evidence that Robin Hood actually existed?Find out what really went on inside Sherwood Forest, how medieval o…
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51 min
The Bloodiest Anglo Saxon Royal Murders
When the Romans left Britain in the 5th century, what happened next?The following centuries saw a messy and bloody struggle for power that left us with some gruesome royal murders.…
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58 min
America's 'Innocent Axe-Murderer' Lizzie Borden
Today we're revisiting an episode which explores one of the most infamous trials in American history. Lizzie Borden's story is breathtaking even today.In 1893 she was accused of us…
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53 min
How Grim Were Victorian Slums?
We've spent a lot of time in of Victorian London on this podcast- a world of cobbled streets, grimy buildings and crowded homes. But how accurate is this- what was it really like t…
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1 h 02
Dark History From The Caribbean Plantations
In 1675, a planned uprising by the enslaved people of Barbados was crushed before it had a chance to come to fruition. For three years, the conspirators' lives revolved around secr…
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1 h 09
When Medieval Peasants Attacked London
In 1381, thousands of ordinary people rose up against the Crown, marched on London, and came close to bringing England’s political establishment to its knees... In this episode, An…
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56 min
Georgian London's Celebrity Criminal
What is it about a ‘bad boy’ that we love? That’s as true today as it was in the 18th century. In this episode of After Dark, Anthony and Maddy unravel the extraordinary rise, dari…
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44 min
The Wild Story of America's Biggest Traitor
Benedict Arnold was celebrated as a war hero of the American Revolution before he betrayed George Washington and the Continental Army by joining the British.In today's episode Anth…
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39 min
Is This New York's Craziest Murder Case?
This week we're revisiting a favourite episode set in New York at the end of the 20th century.The year is 1897, and this murder case has it all: a villain, an incredibly useless po…
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1 h 00
Magdalene Laundries: Ireland's Dark Secret
The Magdalene Laundries existed throughout Ireland up until the late 20th century. Women and young girls were sent to these institutions that were run by orders of nuns. They were…
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52 min
The Brutal Murder of Catherine Howard
Today we're delving back into the After Dark vaults to revisit our classic episode on the death of the short-lived Tudor queen.In 1540 Henry VIII was getting old, and his eyes turn…
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59 min
18th Century France's Most Outrageous Spy
The Chevalier d’Éon was one of France’s most daring spies... until they began making headlines for all the wrong reasons.Armed with explosive state secrets and at the centre of a v…
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48 min
The Spy Who Fooled The Nazis
She was the only person during World War Two to parachute from Britain behind enemy lines into Nazi-occupied Poland, all while wearing a dress.Who was Agent Zo? And what were the i…