Dark Histories

Oct 20 2024 197 ep. 62 mins 45.3k

Dark Histories Podcast artwork

Fortnightly narratives on the unsolved and the unexplained, mysteries, historical true crime, touches of the paranormal and cultural peculiarities.

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Farrant, Manchester & The Highgate Vampire

Oct 20 2024 67 mins

In the 1970s, the shadowy depths of Highgate Cemetery, London became the centre of what would go on to become an enduring urban legend. As two men, both with their own views on what the cemetery was hiding, dug deep into their investigations of the grounds, reports spread of a dark, otherworldly figure stalking its overgrown graves. Sometimes tall, sometimes with glowing red eyes,

The Case of Elizabeth Fenning & The Poison Dumplings

Oct 06 2024 64 mins

In the streets of Regency London,the young servant, Elizabeth Fenning, faced a sinister charge - attempted murder by poison. Accused of lacing her employer’s dinner with arsenic, the 21-year-old cook quickly found herself trapped in an increasingly lopsided courtroom, where any hope of the justice she had held whilst awaiting trial seemed to recede with every new witness brought

The Ghost Hunts of George Albert Smith: Mesmerist & Film Maker

Sep 22 2024 64 mins

The life and times of George Albert Smith are not particularly well known. Despite working for several years as a stage hypnotist and psychic, the owner of a popular pleasure park and then eventually a pioneering inventor and filmmaker, there are few who could reel off a biography based on nothing more than a name. Perhaps even more obscure, however, was his time spent as a ghost h

Sorcery, Witchcraft & Murder: The Affair of the Poisons

Sep 09 2024 76 mins

In France during the 17th Century, a string of unexpected deaths lead to a murder inquiry that uncovered the dark practices of a serial poisoner, who had plied her trade in the streets of Paris, using the popular alchemy and astrology social circles for cover. The eventual arrests shocked the nation, when it was discovered that far from common rabble, the poisoners had hailed from

Summer Holiday 2024 - Algernon Blackwood

Aug 25 2024 55 mins

This week I'm off on my Summer holiday for a trip in the woods, so what better episode to do than read a few stories from Algernon Blackwood, all about weird woods. What was I thinking... ------- For almost anything, head over to the podcasts hub at darkhistories.com Support the show by using our link when you sign up to Audible: http://audibletrial.com/darkhistories or

The Spectacular Life of Donald Omand, Exorcist Extraordinaire

Aug 11 2024 89 mins

When one thinks of exorcisms, it’s hard to get past the infamous imagery published to the world in 1973, of a young girl, floating above a bed, flanked by two priests, flinging holy water and yelling about the power of Christ. At the same time as the Exorcist movie was hitting the cinemas, however, there was one, real life exorcist doing very different work. With several decades

Smuggling, Riots & The Sampford Peverell Ghost

Jul 28 2024 52 mins

In the heart of Devon, in the quaint village of Sampford Peverell, an information board refers the curious tourist to a now demolished building that had once been known as “The Ghost House.” The scene of an early 19th century haunting that had shook the walls for several months, before falling to a curious silence, the history of the ghost house told the story of a terrifying h

The Cleaver, The Fiend & The Axeman's Jazz of New Orleans

Jul 18 2024 89 mins

In the humid nights of New Orleans in the early years of the 1900’s, a shadowy figure prowled the moonlit streets. “They have never caught me and they never will. They have never seen me, for I am invisible, even as the ether which surrounds your earth. I am not a human being, but a spirit and a fell demon from hottest hell. I am what you Orleanians and your foolish police ca

Murder Aboard the Herbert Fuller

Jul 01 2024 81 mins

In the eerie stillness of a moonlit Atlantic night in 1896, aboard the doomed Herbert Fuller, a savage cry pierced the darkness. What followed was a chilling discovery: The Captain, his wife, and the second mate lay brutally murdered in their blood-streaked cabins. Panic seized the crew as suspicions and paranoia grew, turning the once peaceful vessel into a floating nightmare, hun

The Wreck of the Wager

Jun 09 2024 82 mins

In 1741, amidst the treacherous waters of Cape Horn, on the southernmost tip of South America, the British warship HMS Wager pushed through a violent storm, hoping to carry out a mission against the Spanish to alleviate them of one it’s trade ships, enriched with gold and silver, and bring the bounty home to England. It was a time of great pomp amongst the British Navy, whose con