After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal

Latest Episodes:

BONUS: Hear a chapter of Anthony's new book, Queer Georgians Sep 05, 2025

Show notes

Hear a chapter of Anthony's new book, Queer Georgians: A hidden history of lovers, lawbreakers and homemakers. It's out now!

For more information, click here.

Anthony tells listeners why he wanted to write this book, and introduces a special chapter, exclusive for After Dark listeners!

After Dark will return to its normal programming on Monday (Sunday for subscribers).

Voting is now open for the Listener's Choice Award at this year's Podcast Awards. Click to place your vote on the Spotify mobile app: https://open.spotify.com/s/xhg6PJa

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dark Side of Ancient Rome's Colosseum Sep 04, 2025

Show notes

In today's episode, we're taking you inside the towering walls of Ancient Rome's Colosseum to find out the dark reality of what happened there.

From the sex appeal of gladiators, to the choreographed means of human sacrifice, and the eternal question: did they really have sharks in there?!

Joining Anthony and Maddy today is historian and Rome-based tour guide, Alexander Meddings, to take us back to this world.

Edited by Amy Haddow. Produced by Stuart Beckwith. Senior Producer is Charlotte Long.

Please vote for us for Listeners' Choice at the British Podcast Awards! Follow this link, and don’t forget to confirm the email. Thank you!

You can now watch After Dark on Youtube! www.youtube.com/@afterdarkhistoryhit

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: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal is a History Hit podcast.

Voting is now open for the Listener's Choice Award at this year's Podcast Awards. Click to place your vote on the Spotify mobile app: https://open.spotify.com/s/xhg6PJa

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Gay Sex Scandal that Outraged the Georgians Sep 01, 2025

Show notes

What price might a man pay for sex in the 18th century? Well, if it was with another man, he might pay with his life.

In this episode, Anthony introduces us to 43-year-old milkman Gabriel Lawrence. Together, he and Maddy take us inside the Molly Houses of Georgian Britain, and through the criminal system from arrest, to imprisonment, to sentencing and execution.

This story can be found in more detail in Anthony's new book, 'Queer Georgians: A Hidden History of Lovers, Lawbreakers and Homemakers'!

Edited by Amy Haddow. Produced by Stuart Beckwith. Senior Producer is Charlotte Long.

Please vote for us for Listeners' Choice at the British Podcast Awards! Follow this link, and don’t forget to confirm the email. Thank you!

You can now watch After Dark on Youtube! www.youtube.com/@afterdarkhistoryhit

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.

Voting is now open for the Listener's Choice Award at this year's Podcast Awards. Click to place your vote on the Spotify mobile app: https://open.spotify.com/s/xhg6PJa

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jack the Ripper: Invention of a Monster Aug 28, 2025

Show notes

Jack the Ripper as we think of him, is an invention of the Victorian media. They took the complete absence of hard facts about the killer, and populated it with the period's anxieties, fantasies and fears.

We're joined again by Dr Bob Nicholson, presenter of ‘Killing Victoria’ podcast on BBC Sounds.

Edited by Tim Arstall. Produced by Freddy Chick. Senior Producer is Charlotte Long.

Please vote for us for Listeners' Choice at the British Podcast Awards! Follow this link, and don’t forget to confirm the email. Thank you!

You can now watch After Dark on Youtube! www.youtube.com/@afterdarkhistoryhit

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.

Voting is now open for the Listener's Choice Award at this year's Podcast Awards. Click to place your vote on the Spotify mobile app: https://open.spotify.com/s/xhg6PJa

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Dark Side of Medieval England Aug 25, 2025

Show notes

This episode contains descriptions of execution and torture.

To be Hanged, Drawn & Quartered. Put on the Rack. Impaled on a spike. This list paints a very dark picture. What was the reality of execution and torture in the Medieval world? Was it as bad as we think? Worse?

Guiding us through this very grim history is Matt Lewis host of the History Hit podcast 'Gone Medieval'.

Produced by Annie Coloe. Edited by Freddy Chick. Senior Producer is Charlotte Long.

Please vote for us for Listeners' Choice at the British Podcast Awards! Follow this link, and don’t forget to confirm the email. Thank you!

You can now watch After Dark on Youtube! www.youtube.com/@afterdarkhistoryhit

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: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal is a History Hit podcast.

Voting is now open for the Listener's Choice Award at this year's Podcast Awards. Click to place your vote on the Spotify mobile app: https://open.spotify.com/s/xhg6PJa

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Darkest Scandal in Victorian Britain Aug 21, 2025

Show notes

Today we step into the shadowy world of W.T. Stead—a Victorian journalist whose life was as controversial as it was groundbreaking.

Hear how he uncovered a sex scandal which shocked the nation, dabbled in the supernatural, and also… predicted the Titanic disaster (and ultimately, his own death).

Please vote for us for Listeners' Choice at the British Podcast Awards! Follow this link, and don’t forget to confirm the email. Thank you!

You can now watch After Dark on Youtube! www.youtube.com/@afterdarkhistoryhit

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: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal is a History Hit podcast.

Voting is now open for the Listener's Choice Award at this year's Podcast Awards. Click to place your vote on the Spotify mobile app: https://open.spotify.com/s/xhg6PJa

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

New York's Wildest Murder Case Aug 18, 2025

Show notes

This 1897 New York murder case that has it all - a villain, an incredibly useless police force, and a duck who saves the day. The incredible Dr Cat Byers (@heymorguegirl) joins Maddy and Anthony to tell this story.

Edited by Tomos Delargy. Produced by Freddy Chick. Senior Producer is Charlotte Long.

Please vote for us for Listeners' Choice at the British Podcast Awards! Follow this link, and don’t forget to confirm the email. Thank you!

You can now watch After Dark on Youtube! www.youtube.com/@afterdarkhistoryhit

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: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal is a History Hit podcast.

Voting is now open for the Listener's Choice Award at this year's Podcast Awards. Click to place your vote on the Spotify mobile app: https://open.spotify.com/s/xhg6PJa

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Victorian Love Triangle Murder Aug 14, 2025

Show notes

Through the industrial fog of Victorian London, in one of the city's most notorious slums, a murder took place that shocked a nation.

The Bermondsey Horror, as it was called at the time, centred around a young woman and her older partner, and a wealthy man who was lured to their home one night.

How did the gruesome events unfold? What did Charles Dickens have to say about the public execution? And what was the social impact of this story?

Edited by Tom Delargy. Research by Phoebe Joyce. Produced by Stuart Beckwith. Senior Producer is Charlotte Long.

Please vote for us for Listeners' Choice at the British Podcast Awards! Follow this link, and don’t forget to confirm the email. Thank you!

You can now watch After Dark on Youtube! www.youtube.com/@afterdarkhistoryhit

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: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal is a History Hit podcast.

Voting is now open for the Listener's Choice Award at this year's Podcast Awards. Click to place your vote on the Spotify mobile app: https://open.spotify.com/s/xhg6PJa

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Body In The Trunk: France's Shocking 19th Century Murder Case Aug 11, 2025

Show notes

It was a murder mystery that gripped 19th century France and changed crime investigation forever.

Who was the body in the trunk? What were the groundbreaking techniques used in the forensics investigation? And how did the murder case unfold from there?

Taking Anthony and Maddy back to France in 1889 and through this story is historian and author Dr. Cat Byers.

This episode was edited by Tom Delargy and produced by Stuart Beckwith. The senior producer was Charlotte Long.

Please vote for us for Listeners' Choice at the British Podcast Awards! Follow this link, and don’t forget to confirm the email. Thank you!

You can now watch After Dark on Youtube! www.youtube.com/@afterdarkhistoryhit

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: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal is a History Hit podcast.

Voting is now open for the Listener's Choice Award at this year's Podcast Awards. Click to place your vote on the Spotify mobile app: https://open.spotify.com/s/xhg6PJa

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Bloodiest Mutiny & Shipwreck in History: Batavia Aug 07, 2025

Show notes

What happens when you're left on a desert island with a psychopath? This is a story so horrendous it would be hard to believe were it not for the skeletons left behind. Maddy Pelling takes Anthony Delaney through the shipwreck of the Batavia.

Edited by Tim Arstall. Research by Phoebe Joyce. Produced by Freddy Chick. Senior Producer is Charlotte Long.

Please vote for us for Listeners' Choice at the British Podcast Awards! Follow this link, and don’t forget to confirm the email. Thank you!

You can now watch After Dark on Youtube! www.youtube.com/@afterdarkhistoryhit

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: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal is a History Hit podcast.

Voting is now open for the Listener's Choice Award at this year's Podcast Awards. Click to place your vote on the Spotify mobile app: https://open.spotify.com/s/xhg6PJa

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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