Everything Is Awful Forever

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Aleister Crowley: The Mountain and the Abyss Dec 06, 2021

Show notes

Join Jess and Philippa as they accompany Crowley up to the heights of his greatest accomplishments as well as down to the depths of failure and despair.
Sources:
Churton, T. (2011) Aleister Crowley: The Biography. London: Watkins.
Crowley, A. (1909) The Book of the Law
Originally published as part of ΘΕΛΗΜΑ in London by the A∴A∴
Lachman, G. (2014) Aleister Crowley: Magick, Rock and Roll, and the Wickedest Man in the World. New York: Tarcher

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Working It Out Nov 23, 2021

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As we approach Black Friday, join Jess and Philippa as we dive into one of the many ways in which labour has been exploited in the name of profit. It's time at last to work out what they really did in the Victorian workhouse.
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Baby Farms Nov 08, 2021

Show notes

CW: Violence against children, child death
Good childcare is notoriously difficult to find - and expensive when you do come across it. And if children are really the future, the Victorians were having none of it. Join Jess and Philippa as they look into the grim options available to many a late-Victorian mother and the money-hungry killers that preyed on their children.

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Halloween Edition: Haunted Dolls Oct 25, 2021

Show notes

They were your childhood friends. You played with them every day. You told them all your secrets. And while you grew up, they stayed the same. And when you left home, they...waited. This Halloween, join Jess and Philippa as they look into two of the most famous dolls to haunt your nightmares.
Sources:
Brittle, G. (1981) The Demonologist: The Extraordinary Career of Ed + Lorraine Warren. New York: Maymalkin Media.
Ocker, J. W. (2020) Cursed Objects: Strange but True Stories of the World's Most Infamous Items. Philadelphia: Quirk Books.
Robert the Doll Official Website: http://robertthedoll.org
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/story-behind-robert-the-doll
https://allthatsinteresting.com/annabelle-doll

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Aleister Crowley and the Cursed Child(hood) Aug 09, 2021

Show notes

This week we look at the greatest mountaineer, poet, chessmaster, spy, and wizard of all time: Aleister Crowley. Join Jess and Philippa as they look into his humble beginnings from a cupboard under the stairs (sort of kind of not really), his initiation into the Golden Dawn, and his role in the most epic wizard battle to ever shake the streets of London.
Sources:
Churton, T. (2011) Aleister Crowley: The Biography. London: Watkins.
Crowley, A. (2021) The Confessions of Aleister Crowley: An Autohagiography Part I-III. Houston Texas: The Winged Globe Libary.
Originally published by Mandrake Press as The Spirit of Solitude in 1929.
Lachman, G. (2014) Aleister Crowley: Magick, Rock and Roll, and the Wickedest Man in the World. New York: Tarcher

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The Witch Hunter King Jul 19, 2021

Show notes

Join Jess and Philippa for a quintessential Awful Forever episode. Witches! Boats! Henry VIII! Murder most foul, and maybe a little murder most pleasant - if you're a king on the hunt for witches.
Sources:
https://www.britannica.com/story/acts-of-union-uniting-the-united-kingdom https://www.scotlandmag.com/james-vi-and-witch-trials/
https://www.historyextra.com/period/stuart/king-james-vi-i-hunted-witches-hunter-devilry-daemonologie/

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Mourning Glory Jul 05, 2021

Show notes

If you're having trouble getting started with your week, Jess and Philippa are ready to help you get over those Monday morning blues by getting into the (fashion) details of Victorian mourning rituals. Wilde may have thought "Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months" but Victorian women could be confined to black bombazine for two years at a time.
Sources:
Arnold, C. (2006) Necropolis: London and its Dead. London: Simon & Schuster.

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The Return of Bad (Kar)luk: Ada Blackjack Jun 15, 2021

Show notes

Sometimes you throw in your lot with rogues who convince you to board their ramshackle vessel and go die in the Arctic. Sure, you might perish in the frozen darkness - but what happened to the person who abandoned you there? Join Jess and Philippa as they see what Vilhjalmur Stefansson, leader of the doomed Karluk and the Canadian Arctic Expedition, got up to after he left his previous crew to die.

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Down to Earth May 31, 2021

Show notes

What do you do when your graveyards are at capacity and everyone's simply dying to get in? Join Jess and Philippa as they confront burial reform in Victorian London and the corpse-ridden scandals that shook the city.
Sources:
Arnold, C. (2006) Necropolis: London and its Dead. London: Simon & Schuster.
Jackson, L. (2014) Dirty Old London: The Victorian Fight Against Filth. New Haven and London: Yale University Press.
Walker, George. (1839) Gatherings from Graveyards.
https://wellcomecollection.org/works/y95wwnen

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Cursed Cures May 17, 2021

Show notes

It's a Monday and we're all feeling a little down. Sickly, even. But you can always join Jess and Philippa for a small pick-me-up and some sound advice about achieving a healthy glow that is literally radiant.

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