After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal

In 1944, Helen Duncan, better known as ‘Hellish Nell’, found herself on trial under a centuries-old witchcraft law. But who was she, what had she done, and how did a medium who claimed to speak to the dead end up in the dock at the Old Bailey?View the image described in this episode here: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Helen_Duncan_fake_ectoplasm_B.jpg#/media/File:Helen_Duncan_fake_ectoplasm.jpgEdited by Tim Arstall. Produced by Tomos Delargy. Senior Producer is Freddy Chick.Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe.You can take part in our listener survey here.All music from Epidemic Sounds.After Dark is a History Hit podcast.History Hit is part of Little Dot Studios, a Certified B Corp™

'Remember, remember the 5th of November, Gunpowder, treason and plot...'Every year across Britain, people come together to burn bonfires in commemoration of the failed plot to blow up Parliament and the King. It's often portrayed as a simple story, but in today’s episode Anthony and Maddy delve into the details of this audacious plan and ask the question: where did it all go wrong?View the painting described by Maddy & Anthony in the episode here: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Guy_fawkes_henry_perronet_briggs.jpgEdited by Tim Arstall. Produced by Tomos Delargy. Senior Producer is Freddy Chick.Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe.You can take part in our listener survey here.All music from Epidemic Sounds.After Dark is a History Hit podcast.History Hit is part of Little Dot Studios, a Certified B Corp™

How long could you stand living in a house haunted by a vengeful poltergeist?That's the situation a Scottish family found themselves in in the late 17th century. As members of the local community gathered to try investigate, a terrifying mystery unfolded... What was the cause behind the haunting? And why was it so determined to torment its inhabitants?Our guest today is Dr. Martha McGill, historian of supernatural beliefs in early modern Britain. Martha is the author of ‘Ghosts in Enlightenment Scotland’.Edited by Aliza Dams. Produced by Tomos Delargy. Senior Producer is Freddy Chick.Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe.You can take part in our listener survey here.All music from Epidemic Sounds.After Dark is a History Hit podcast.History Hit is part of Little Dot Studios, a Certified B Corp™

What’s better than a witch story on Halloween? Today, we’ve got a special episode from Cautionary Tales’ Tim Harford to share. Back in 1612 Lancashire, a chance roadside argument between a peddler and a teenage girl spirals into England's most notorious witch trial, after the peddler is struck down by a mysterious force. Hundreds of years later, there’s now a campaign to posthumously pardon the people condemned as the Pendle Witches. If you’re looking for more spooky listens, check out Cautionary Tales, where they’ve spent the month telling stories about vampires, crop circles, ghosts and more. Find Cautionary Tales wherever you list to podcasts.

We're celebrating Maddy's new documentary all about London's most famous ghost - the ghost of Cock Lane! It's out today on History Hit - https://www.historyhit.com/This is a rerun of our episode from earlier this year promoting Maddy's new book 'Hoax: Truth & Lies In The Age Of Enlightenment' where the Cock Lane ghost story is covered in great depth. The haunting of Cock Lane is the most iconic ghost story in London's long history, taking place in the year 1762. Was it a hoax?Edited by Tim Arstall. Senior Producer is Freddy Chick.Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe.You can take part in our listener survey here.All music from Epidemic Sounds.After Dark is a History Hit podcast.History Hit is part of Little Dot Studios, a Certified B Corp™

This is a shocking story that saw families digging up their dead relatives, believing them to be vampires.What makes it all the more shocking, is that it was as recent as 1892.Join Anthony and Maddy to find out what was really going on in this sleepy town in New England, where the fear of what the dead might do caused local people to do barbaric things to their own family.Edited by Tim Arstall. Produced by Stuart Beckwith. Senior Producer is Freddy Chick.Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe.You can take part in our listener survey here.All music from Epidemic Sounds.After Dark is a History Hit podcast.History Hit is part of Little Dot Studios, a Certified B Corp™

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 investigations, discover the history behind one of Britain's most famous haunting legends.Was Borley Rectory truly haunted, or was its reputation shaped by folklore, sensationalist journalism and questionable evidence? Join After Dark as we separate historical fact from supernatural fiction.This episode was edited by Tim Arstall. Produced by Tomos Delargy and McKenna Fernandez. Edited by Anna Brant. The senior producer was Freddy Chick.After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal is a History Hit podcast.Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe. All music from Epidemic Sounds.History Hit is part of Little Dot Studios, a Certified B Corp™

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 mystic rituals, and acted as the protector of the city’s Jewish inhabitants. But what are the origins of this myth? And how has its legend shaped Prague in the centuries since?To help take us through this story is History Hit's very own Eleanor Janega! Listeners can catch her along with co-host Matt Lewis on our sister podcast, Gone Medieval.Edited by Hannah Feodorov. Produced by Tomos Delargy. Senior Producer is Freddy Chick.Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe.You can take part in our listener survey here.All music from Epidemic Sounds.After Dark is a History Hit podcast.History Hit is part of Little Dot Studios, a Certified B Corp™

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 stories we've been told about this murder in rural Ireland and if an interesting story of supernatural belief has gotten in the way of the brutal truth.Was there a genuine belief in fairies by Bridget Cleary's husband? Is this ultimately a story of domestic abuse? And how much of this is a colonialist projection by the British?Edited by Anna Brant. Produced by Stuart Beckwith and McKenna Fernandez. Senior Producer is Freddy Chick.Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe.You can take part in our listener survey here.All music from Epidemic Sounds.After Dark is a History Hit podcast.History Hit is part of Little Dot Studios, a Certified B Corp™