After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal

Latest Episodes:

Peasants' Revolt: Medieval Rebellion Feb 10, 2025

Show notes

1381, England, the world turned upside down as the commoners rise up and dismantle the mechanisms of power. They're angry about taxes, serfdom, about being forcibly kept in their place by corrupt lords...about a lot of stuff. But will they prevail? Maddy Pelling tells Anthony Delaney about how the uprising began.

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

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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

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Final Days of the Romanovs (Part 2) Feb 06, 2025

Show notes

(2/2) We join the captive Romanovs as they are moved from The Alexander Palace to Siberia and then to Ekaterinburg, where their dreadful murder awaits them. It's a story that still has the power to shock us. Guiding us through is returning guest Helen Rappaport, author of "Ekaterinburg: The Last Days of the Romanovs".

Edited by Freddy Chick. Produced by Sophie Gee. Senior Producer is Charlotte Long.

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.

Sweating Sickness: Deadly Tudor Plague Feb 03, 2025

Show notes

It's a medical-history-mystery: the Sweating Sickness. Things get clammy as Anthony Delaney and Maddy Pelling ask what was this deadly disease? What happened when Anne Boleyn got it? And why were sufferers sewn into their bedsheets?

Edited by Nick Thomson. Produced by Freddy Chick. Senior Producer is Charlotte Long.

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.

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.

Final Days of the Romanovs (Part 1) Jan 30, 2025

Show notes

(1/2) As Russia collapses, the Romanovs find themselves trapped by delusions and failed ideals; by revolution and Russian geography. Helen Rappaport joins Maddy Pelling and Anthony Delaney for part 1 of the Final Days of the Romanovs.

Edited by Tomos Delargy. Produced by Sophie Gee. Senior Producer is Charlotte Long.

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.

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.

Typhoid Mary: Original Super-Spreader? Jan 27, 2025

Show notes

Mary Mallon aka "Typhoid Mary" is a macabre figure who spread disease and death everywhere she went. But there's a lot more depth and humanity to Mary's history than this. She's someone who is hard to resist when you get to know her (despite all the Typhoid...). Anthony Delaney tells Maddy Pelling the story.

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

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.

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.

Is the Devil Dead? Jan 23, 2025

Show notes

(2/2) What does the resurrection of a hanged woman have to do with the Devil? Did the Enlightenment kill Old Nick or is he still a part of our world today? Maddy and Anthony continue their exploration of the rise and fall of Lucifer with Dr Mikki Brock, author of Satan and the Scots, c.1560-1700: The Devil in Post-Reformation Scotland.

Edited and produced by Freddy Chick, Senior Producer is Charlotte Long.

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.

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.

Final Days of Henry VIII Jan 20, 2025

Show notes

You could smell Henry VIII's rotting legs from three rooms by the end. He was in constant pain, barely able to move. Yet he never loosed his grip on the lives of everyone around him. Could he squeeze in one last wife? One final execution? How did the bloodiest monarch in English history bow out? Anthony Delaney tells Maddy Pelling the story this week.

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

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.

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.

Origins of the Devil Jan 16, 2025

Show notes

(1/2) How has the devil been depicted through history? What are his origins? And why should he be portrayed as beautiful?

In the first part of a two part mini-series on Lucifer himself, Anthony and Maddy talk with Professor Michelle Brock of Washington and Lee University, to find out how the devil has been present in peoples' lives; especially in the 17th century with the rise of witch trials.

This episode was edited by Tom Delargy. The producer was Freddy Chick. The senior producer was Charlotte Long.

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.

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.

Great Fire of London: Mobs, Firestorms, and Revenge Jan 13, 2025

Show notes

(2/2) As the Great Fire of London worsens mob rule begins to appear and a hunt for a scapegoat takes over. Maddy Pelling tells Anthony Delaney the story, including a special contribution from Pete Zymanczyk, a retired LFB firefighter who is now a City of London Guide. They offer dozens of historical tours of the City of London. Find out more: https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/

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

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.

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.

Final Days of Mary Queen of Scots Jan 09, 2025

Show notes

The moment Mary Queen of Scots set foot in England, she became Elizabeth I's prisoner. Mary was fleeing from war and misogyny, hoping for help from her fellow queen. What lay ahead was twenty years of increasingly desperate imprisonment and, eventually, her death.

Maddy Pelling and Anthony Delaney's guest to tell this story is Jade Scott author of the new book Captive Queen: The Decrypted History of Mary, Queen of Scots.

Edited by Matt Peaty. Produced by Freddy Chick. Senior Producer is Charlotte Long.

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.

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.