After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal

We talk the ghost of Anne Boleyn, Queen of England before Henry VIII chopped off her head, with the marvellous Tracy Borman.Where can Anne Boleyn's ghost be seen? What form does it take? And why does she haunt us so? Get ready for carriages pulled by headless horses, spooky palaces, a weird floating cylinder thing...and a single moment in history that has haunted England, and now Britain's, imagination for hundreds of years.Tracy's new book "Anne Boleyn & Elizabeth I: The Mother and Daughter Who Changed History" is out now.Edited by Tom Delargy, Produced by Freddy Chick, Senior Producer is Charlotte Long.Discover the past with exclusive history documentaries and ad-free podcasts presented by world-renowned historians from History Hit. Watch them on your smart TV or on the go with your mobile device. Get 50% off your first 3 months with code AFTERDARK sign up now for your 14-day free trial http://access.historyhit.com/checkout/subscribe/purchase?code=afterdark&plan=monthly

Sex, Satanism and Scandal surrounded the Hellfire Club that operated out of a network of caves in the country estate of 18th century aristocrat Francis Dashwood. The most powerful men in the country came to Dashwood's underground lair. Rumours swirled of everything from orgies to human sacrifice and Satanic spirits. But was it all as diabolical as it seemed?Maddy tells Anthony the story this week.Produced by Freddy Chick and Charlotte Long. Senior Producer is Charlotte Long.Discover the past with exclusive history documentaries and ad-free podcasts presented by world-renowned historians from History Hit. Watch them on your smart TV or on the go with your mobile device. Get 50% off your first 3 months with code AFTERDARK sign up now for your 14-day free trial http://access.historyhit.com/checkout/subscribe/purchase?code=afterdark&plan=monthly

Some estimates have it that Amelia Dyer killed more than 400 babies. It's hard to say for sure because so few victims were recovered. She was a phantom that grew up in a very dark corner of Victorian society where helpless mothers were given with no better options but to give their babies to 'baby farmers'.Anthony tells Maddy this painful history.Edited and produced by Freddy Chick. Senior Producer is Charlotte Long.Discover the past with exclusive history documentaries and ad-free podcasts presented by world-renowned historians from History Hit. Watch them on your smart TV or on the go with your mobile device. Get 50% off your first 3 months with code AFTERDARK sign up now for your 14-day free trial http://access.historyhit.com/checkout/subscribe/purchase?code=afterdark&plan=monthly

Have you ever wondered what the ancient origins of witchcraft is? How did the black-hat-broomstick stereotype emerge? And what causes the waves of witch trials throughout history, right up to the present day?Ronald Hutton is back on After Dark to discuss the history of the witch, in an episode from our sister podcast, Betwixt the Sheets. This podcast was mixed and produced by Stuart Beckwith. The senior producer was Charlotte Long. Discover the past on History Hit with ad-free original podcasts and documentaries released weekly presented by world renowned historians like Dan Snow, James Holland, Mary Beard and more.Get 50% off your first 3 months with code AFTERDARK Download the app on your smart TV or in the app store or sign up at historyhit.com/subscribeYou can take part in our listener survey here.

The Victorians created the unsettling art of death photography - posing their deceased love ones in family portraits as if they were alive. How did they manage to make corpses strike poses? Why did they want to?Maddy and Anthony are joined by Brandy Schillace, author of Death’s Summer Coat - What Death and Dying Cal Tell Us about Life and Living to flick through the strangest, and most moving, of family photo albums.Edited by Tom Delargy. Produced by Stuart Beckwith. Senior Producer is Charlotte Long.Sign up to History Hit at historyhit.com/subscribe using code 'BLACKFRIDAYPOD' at checkout, for $1/£1 per month for 4 months and you’ll get nearly £30 off our normal monthly price over your first 4 months.

Witch hunts blazed across Europe from the 1400s right into the 1700s. Their terror has been burned into the collective memory. But how accurate are the pictures we have in our heads?For this episode, Anthony and Maddy are joined by Suzannah Lipscomb, host of Not Just the Tudor. She helps them delve deep into the realities of witches and witch trials in Early Modern Europe.Edited by Joseph Knight and produced by Annie Coloe and Rob WeinbergDiscover the past with exclusive history documentaries and ad-free podcasts presented by world-renowned historians from History Hit. Watch them on your smart TV or on the go with your mobile device. Get 50% off your first 3 months with code AFTERDARK sign up now for your 14-day free trial http://access.historyhit.com/checkout/subscribe/purchase?code=afterdark&plan=monthly

For Albert Pierrepoint, execution was a family affair. His father and uncle were hangmen and from the 1940s until the late 1950s Albert was Britain's "Number One" executioner. Which meant he was the one sent to hang the Nazis who ran the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp at the end of the war.Who was Albert Pierrepoint? What does it take to be able to execute hundreds of people? And what is 'The Drop'?Edited and produced by Freddy Chick, Senior Producer is Charlotte Long.Discover the past with exclusive history documentaries and ad-free podcasts presented by world-renowned historians from History Hit. Watch them on your smart TV or on the go with your mobile device. Get 50% off your first 3 months with code AFTERDARK sign up now for your 14-day free trial http://access.historyhit.com/checkout/subscribe/purchase?code=afterdark&plan=monthly

What is spectrophilia? Well, it's a fetish for ghosts (as well as mirrors), so being turned on by anything lurking in the non-physical realm. What are the historic origins of this fetish and phenomenon? And what real life stories can be told of it?Maddy and Anthony talked with Kate Lister, wonderful host of our sister podcast Betwixt the Sheets.This podcast was edited by Siobhan Dale and produced by Stuart Beckwith. The senior producer was Charlotte Long. Discover the past with exclusive history documentaries and ad-free podcasts presented by world-renowned historians from History Hit. Watch them on your smart TV or on the go with your mobile device. Get 50% off your first 3 months with code AFTERDARK sign up now for your 14-day free trial http://access.historyhit.com/checkout/subscribe/purchase?code=afterdark&plan=monthly