Ruth is Stranger Than Fiction

Mar 05 2025 75 ep. 45 mins 34
Ruth is Stranger Than Fiction Podcast artwork

Historical tales of mystery and horror from the East of England, accompanied by copious amounts of booze and silly chat.

  History  Comedy  True Crime
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Episode 48 - The Giant and the Spider

Mar 05 2025 61 mins  
A giant named Moses Carter, farmer of cabbages and thrower of rocks! A psychical investigator called Tony Cornell, who will thoroughly examine your claims of supernatural occurrences and, quite probably, debunk them. What do these two seemingly disparate characters have in common? They were both residents of Cambridge-adjacent village of Histon, of course! And also, we’re going t

Episode 47 - Plague! Part 2: Bubo Tea

Jan 20 2025 50 mins  
The Black Death continues its inevitable progress across the country, and East Anglia is next in line. What happens when the plague reaches Cambridge? Nothing good, that’s for sure. It’s pest houses and grave pits all the way, with a sprinkling of quarantine thrown in for good measure. Drinkswise, Rosie reveals her cocktail and it's quite something, plus we try some stouts from

Episode 46 - Plague! Part 1: Bambi with a Bubo

Dec 30 2024 40 mins  
It’s time for the last disease in our trilogy of maladies: the plague! In part 1 we explore the spread and of course the symptoms of the Great Plague aka the Great Mortality aka the Black Death. Are our schoolday recollections of buboes correct? How many plague pits did London have? And what has Bambi got to do with it? Let’s find out.

Episode 45 - Live Special! Ghosts of Cambridge and Beyond

Nov 24 2024 51 mins  
A special live recording of our Hallowe’en event at the wonderful Museum of Cambridge on 30th October: stories of grey ladies, poltergeists, haunted pubs, and even a spectral penguin.

Episode 44 - Leprosy! The Hooded Man

Oct 16 2024 54 mins  
It’s time for the next disease: get ready to reabsorb your extremities and fit yourself with a set of jingling bells as we discuss the scourge of the Middle Ages. It’s leprosy! As it turns out, various versions of Robin Hood on TV and film are not a reliable source of information about this unpleasant illness. Amongst the hooded man talk, we also find time to discuss the Cambri

Episode 43 - Marsh Fever! A Paludal Experience

Sep 12 2024 58 mins  
Let the autumn of disease begin! For the next few episodes, we’ll be exploring some of the sicknesses and ailments of old Cambridgeshire and East Anglia. We begin with marsh fever, aka the ague, aka the Bailiff of the Marshes, a disease that for many years was endemic across the fen regions. Come with us now and venture into the marsh miasmas and the peaty pools to hear all about

Episode 42 - The Overbury Affair Part 2: A General Besmirching

Jul 25 2024 52 mins  
Step this way for part two of the Overbury Affair. Things are really hotting up now! All the pieces begin to move into place for the scandal of the century. Public accusations of impotence? Check. A suspicious death in the Tower of London? By all means. Great spiders? Yes! And finally, let’s all cheers with a bacon based drink.

Episode 41 - The Overbury Affair Part 1: Stop Doing Ruffs Down

Jun 29 2024 44 mins  
The Overbury Affair has been described as one of the greatest court scandals of the Jacobean era: a web of intrigue and deception that captivated the nation. Even King James himself was implicated! But before we get to the details of the Affair itself, we must first hear about our cast of characters. This includes poet and statesman Sir Thomas Overbury, handsome favourite of the ki

Mini Stranger # 23 - The Great Blow

May 17 2024 36 mins  
The Great Blow - one of the most spectacular disasters that Norfolk has ever seen! Join us to hear about the events that precipitated this violent catastrophe, including a fateful meeting in a pub, an angry Royalist mob, and some careless use of weaponry. Plus, we finally answer the question that has been troubling everyone (yes, everyone) for centuries - did Oliver Cromwell really

Episode 40 - Howard Carter Part 2: A Naughty Wind

Apr 03 2024 36 mins  
It’s time to finish the story of Howard Carter. When we left him at the end of Part 1, Carter had just made the acquaintance of the Earl of Carnarvon: a fateful meeting that was to lead to one of the most astonishing archaeological discoveries of the 20th century. In Part 2, we hear about the unearthing of the final great tomb of the Valley of the Kings, drink a future explorer�