The Man Who Hanged Nazis: Albert Pierrepoint
For Albert Pierrepoint, execution was a family affair. His father and uncle were hangmen and from the 1940s until the late 1950s Albert was Britain's "Number One" executioner. Which meant he was the o...
12 Marras 202337min
Ghost Fetishes: From Ancient World to Victorians
What is spectrophilia? Well, it's a fetish for ghosts (as well as mirrors), so being turned on by anything lurking in the non-physical realm. What are the historic origins of this fetish and phenomeno...
9 Marras 202325min
Guy Fawkes & the 1605 Gunpowder Plot
Other countries celebrate their victories and independence. But in Britain, we celebrate a bungling terrorist from the 17th century. Why? Who was Guy Fawkes? What was the Gunpowder Plot? And why must ...
1 Marras 202349min
Hammersmith Ghost: How to Murder a Poltergeist
Can it be murder if you think you're killing a ghost? In 1804 the London suburb of Hammersmith was being terrorised by a ghost. One man set out to hunt down whoever, or whatever, this was. He almost s...
29 Loka 202331min
Hauntings, Hangings & a Beast: Bodmin Jail
Bodmin Jail can claim to be one of the most haunted buildings in Britain. Perhaps that's because of all the hangings that took place here. Or the postmortem punishment the jail dolled out to prisoners...
26 Loka 202342min
Last Witch of Scotland
In 1727, Janet Horne of the Highland community of Dornoch became the last person in Britain to be tried and executed for witchcraft.As the poet Edwin Morgan put it; They tarred her and feathered her, ...
23 Loka 202329min
Banshees: Ireland's Harbinger of Death
Today Siobhán McSweeney (Derry Girls) joins Anthony Delaney and Maddy Pelling for the story of the Banshee. In Irish folklore the Banshee heralds the death of a family member, usually by shrieking, or...
19 Loka 202341min
