After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal

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**After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal**

This is After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds and the Paranormal. The podcast that takes you to the shadiest corners of the past, unpicking history’s spookiest, strangest, and most sinister stories.

Join historians Anthony Delaney and Maddy Pelling, every Monday and Thursday to take a look at the darker side of history. From haunted pubs and Houdini, to witch trials and weird UFO sightings.

After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds and the Paranormal – a podcast by History Hit, the world’s best history channel and creators of award-winning podcasts Dan Snow’s History Hit, Gone Medieval, and Betwixt the Sheets.

History Hit is part of Little Dot Studios, a Certified B Corp™

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.

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

Latest Episodes:

The Gruesome History of Sexual Disease Jun 04, 2026

Show notes

*Warning: this episode contains discussions of puss*

Gonorrhea and syphilis are no laughing matter, especially in a time before antibiotics.

How were symptoms first recorded and what were the disturbing treatments people endured?

Joining Anthony today as a special guest co-host is Cat Irving, Human Remains Conservator at Surgeons’ Hall in Edinburgh, to take us back through this gruesome history.

Edited by Anna Brant and Hannah Feodorov. 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.

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.

Who tried to kill Queen Victoria? Jun 01, 2026

Show notes

Queen Victorian was an icon of Britain at the zenith of its power... but that didn't mean she was invulnerable to attack. In today’s episode, we’ll be exploring some of the many assassination attempts on Victoria's life. We’ll be discussing the massive changes Britain was experiencing during this time and how this might have motivated these attackers… Some of them are pretty wild.

Our guest today is Professor Kate Williams, historian and author whose new book ‘Regina: A New History of Women and Power’ is out in June! She’s also the cohost of the podcast ‘Queens, Kings and Dastardly Things’

Edited by Tim Arstall. Produced by Tomos Delargy. Senior Producer is Freddy Chick.

For tickets to see Anthony and Maddy talking about her new book, Hoax, click here: https://www.conwayhall.org.uk/whats-on/event/hoax/

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.

Burke & Hare's Serial Killing Dissection Business May 28, 2026

Show notes

What did Ancient Egyptians discover while dissecting bodies? What did the first medieval dissecting manual say? Who were the serial killers who supplied 19th century surgeons with bodies in Edinburgh?

Joining Anthony today as a special guest co-host is Cat Irving, Human Remains Conservator at Surgeons’ Hall in Edinburgh, to take us back through this bloody history.

Edited by Anna Brant and 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.

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.

Ancient Rome's Bloodiest Murders May 26, 2026

Show notes

Today we're delving back to an early episode of After Dark, where Anthony and Maddy explore the goriest murders of Ancient Rome.

From flesh-eating fish and humiliating deaths inside sacks, to a deadly re-enactment of the Icarus myth. For a culture that is seen as an emblem of civilisation (whatever that means), the Romans expended a lot of creative energy on inventing new ways to kill people. And our guest today knows them all!

Anthony Delaney and Maddy Pelling are joined by the one and only Emma Southon author of A Fatal Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. Her new book is A History of Rome in 21 Women.

Mixed by Tom Delargy. Producer is 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.

All music from Epidemic Sounds.

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 Doctor Who Shocked Victorian Britain May 21, 2026

Show notes

What lurks behind the door of Dr. Kahn's Grand Anatomical Museum in Victorian London?

Step inside and find out what shocked the public (and medical establishment) of the 19th century Britain so much, that it was eventually forced to close.

To take you there today, Anthony is joined by guest co-host Cat Irving, Human Remains Conservator at Surgeons’ Hall in Edinburgh.

Edited by Anna Brant and 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.

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.

Inside the Egyptian Underworld May 18, 2026

Show notes

For the Ancient Egyptians, death marked the beginning of a new chapter: a journey through a shadowy realm of trials, monsters, and divine judgment, ruled by the God Osiris. What does the Ancient Egyptian Underworld, the Duat, tell us about their culture, their society and morality?

Our guest for today is Dr. Campbell Price! Campbell is our go-to Ancient Egypt expert, he is Curator of Egypt and Sudan at Manchester Museum and honorary research fellow at University of Liverpool. His newest book ‘Brief Histories: Ancient Egypt’ is out now.

Edited by Hannah Feodorov. Produced by Tomos Delargy. Senior Producer is Freddy Chick.

For tickets to see Anthony and Maddy talking about her new book, Hoax, click here: https://www.conwayhall.org.uk/whats-on/event/hoax/

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.

400 Year Old Artist's Dark Revenge May 14, 2026

Show notes

Artemisia Gentileschi's paintings personify female rage against men. She paints women beheading men, hammering nails into their skulls, brandishing their dead faces. In her personal life, Artemisia was the victim of sexual abuse, torture and public shaming. Can we read her traumatic personal life into her work?

Edited by Anna Brant and Hannah Feodorov. 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.

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.

BONUS: Hear a chapter of Maddy's new book, Hoax May 12, 2026

Show notes

Hear a chapter of Maddy's new book, "Hoax: Truth and Lies in the Age of Enlightenment". It's out now! It's the story of three women and their hoaxes in the age of Enlightenment. One saw ghosts, the other claimed magic powers, the third was a Princess. Were these hoaxes entirely of their own making? Why were the public transfixed?

For more information, click here.

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.

Human Sacrifice In The Aztec Empire May 11, 2026

Show notes

When you think of the Aztec Empire, what do you picture? Human sacrifice?

In today's episode, Anthony is joined by Aztec expert Dr. Caroline Dodds Pennock, to unpack why we fetishise the Aztecs in this way, why ritualised violence is certainly not limited to this civilisation in this time in history, and who it benefitted to think of them in this way.

Edited by Hannah Feodorov. 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.

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 Mystery of Princess Caraboo May 07, 2026

Show notes

Today we are celebrating the upcoming publication of Maddy's new book 'Hoax: Truth and Lies in the Age of Enlightenment' by sharing one of the stories from it. This is the story of a fake Princess from far-off lands who hoaxed Georgian Britain. What was the truth of her story?

Get your copy here: https://profilebooks.com/work/hoax/

Edited by Hannah Feodorov and Anna Brant. Produced by Tomos Delargy. Senior Producer is Freddy Chick.

For tickets to see Anthony and Maddy talking about her new book, Hoax, click here: https://www.conwayhall.org.uk/whats-on/event/hoax/

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.