My Victorian Nightmare
My Victorian Nightmare

Here you’ll find mysterious deaths, morbid fascinations, disturbing stories, and otherwise spooky events from the Victorian Era. If you consider yourself an enthusiast of creepy Victorian history, you probably already know about the age of spiritualism, the grisly murders, the grave robbers, twisted pseudo psychotherapy, and memento mori – But I try to dig a little deeper. This was a time full of lace corsetry, romantic poetry, and a deep reverence and affection for the dead. It was a culture of shared sorrow, ornament and elegance, prudishness and scandal, bone chilling children’s stories, and for whatever reason, I just feel at home there. There’s something strangely comforting about the heebie jeebies this era gives me. If you find yourself equally enchanted by things that most people would find horrifying, this podcast is probably for you. To listen ad-free, visit myvictoriannightmare.com and join my Patreon.

On today's episode, Genevieve will have a series of mysterious and tragic murders in the southwest, men frozen to death, dogs playing with dead bodies in basements, nose pullers, lost wigs, and highly inappropriate sarcasm regarding incredibly violent vigilante justice. We'll also have a haunted house in 1878 with too many skeletons buried in the basement to know who's who. Instagram post for today’s episode: https://www.instagram.com/p/DOgfZduDhYh/?igsh=Ym01NzIwNG0wYWxw References: "That Spook Roots" - The Boston Globe, Apr. 8th, 1878. "A GHOST STORY" - Kansas City Journal, Mar. 15th, 1878. "A FEARFUL VERDICT" - The Illustrated Police News, Feb. 15th, 1872. "Bloody Crimes at the Southwest" - The Illustrated Police News, Feb. 15th, 1872. "DRIVEN TO DESPAIR AND DEATH" - The Illustrated Police News, Feb. 15th, 1872. "PROBABLE INFANTICIDE IN CHARLESTOWN" - The Illustrated Police News, Feb. 23rd, 1872. "Dora Walsh gets her Nose Pulled by a Shoe Dealer in New York" - The Illustrated Police News, Feb. 23rd, 1872. "A WOMAN'S TONGUE CUT OUT" - The Illustrated Police News, Oct. 28th 1878. "How a Kokomoo Church Member Lost his Wig During Service" - The Illustrated Police News, Feb. 15th, 1872. "An Old Story" - Pontiac Sentinel, Nov. 6th, 1878. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Just a little example of the kind of content posted on the Fan Coven, along with ad-free My Victorian Nightmare episodes, and weekly creepy story extras! You can just the Fan Coven at myvictoriannightmare.com! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
On today’s episode, Genevieve will be taking you to the haunted Victorian era-built Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum. She will discuss its horrifying history and its present-day spectral inhabitants. She will also discuss the Cock Lane Ghost story, as well as a 19th century, Groucho Marks-style mishap that occurred at a seance. Instagram post for today’s episode: https://www.instagram.com/p/DOOcJtaDtTW/?igsh=MXBmNzJ1Nml5ZnlwMw== References for today’s episode: “The Cock Lane Ghost” - The Newcastle Weekly Chronicle, May 10th, 1873.  “Reichenbach at a Spirit Circle” - The Spiritualist, Dec. 3rd, 1869. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans-Allegheny_Lunatic_Asylum https://www.roadunraveled.com/blog/trans-allegheny-lunatic-asylum/ https://www.medlink.com/news/the-evolution-of-electroconvulsive-therapy-from-controversial-beginnings-to-a-safe-and-effective-treatment https://www.uniquetravelphoto.com/trans-allegheny-lunatic-asylum/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cock_Lane_ghost https://usghostadventures.com/americas-most-haunted-trending/terrors-of-the-trans-allegheny-lunatic-asylum/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Paranormal/comments/xivpop/for_a_decade_i_was_a_paranormal_tour_guide_at_an/?rdt=32916 https://thelittlehouseofhorrors.com/trans-allegheny-lunatic-asylum/ https://midatlanticdaytrips.com/2021/10/what-lurks-in-the-halls-of-transallegheny-lunatic-asylum-at-night/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
On today’s episode, Genevieve will have bullets – right between the eyes, mysterious throat slittings, diabolical plots involving corn pipes, buffalo hunters frozen to death, mysterious suicides, mangled men caught in cow-catchers and Spanish men falling out of windows, cursing all the way down.  Thank you to today’s sponsor, Rula! Go to Rula.com/victorian to get started today, for quality therapy that’s covered by insurance.  References for today’s episode: https://www.murderbygaslight.com/2022/01/i-caught-them-in-act.html https://www.instagram.com/chrisnetzelofficial?igsh=b3NmY2hoMzQ4aTZn "A True Ghost Story" - The St. Louis Globe-Democrat, Jan. 19th, 1879. "Solomon, King of Israel" - The Spiritualist, Nov 19th, 1869. "One Dead, the Other Dying" - The Atlanta Constitution, Jul. 13th, 1892.  "A Beautiful Young Kentucky Girl Cuts Her Own Throat" - The Illustrated Police News, Feb. 15th, 1872. "Effect of a Diabolical Plot to Burn a Man by Charging His Pipe With Gunpowder at Cincinnati" - The Illustrated Police News, Feb 22nd, 1872. "A Kansas Horror" - The Illustrated Police News, Feb 15th, 1872. "A Spaniard at Terre Haute, Indiana, Mistakes the Noise of a Serenading Party for an Earthquake and Jumps out of a Window" - The Illustrated Police News, Feb 22nd, 1872. "Ghastly Freight on a Camden and Amboy Locomotive in Lawrence, N.J." - The Illustrated Police News, Feb 22nd, 1872. "A Bloody Mystery in Cincinnati" - The Illustrated Police News, Feb. 15th, 1872. “Coroners Inquest” - The Cincinnati Enquirer, May 7th, 1872. "The Brooklyn “What Is It.” - The Illustrated Police News, Feb 22nd, 1872. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
On this week’s episode, Genevieve will discuss the Greenbrier Ghost; the only ghost, supposedly, who ever helped to solve her own murder. She will also discuss how to avoid becoming a Chinese hopping vampire, and exactly who, and who should not, attempt a “Dark Séance.” Thank you to today’s sponsor, Lumi Gummies! Go to LumiGummies.com and use code VICTORIAN for 30% off your first order! Instagram post with photos for today's episode: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/p/DNvvYEzXGV3/?img_index=1⁠ References for today’s episode: “MONGOLIAN GHOSTS” - St. Louis Globe-Democrat, May 28th, 1876. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jiangshi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenbrier_Ghost https://www.appalachianhistory.net/2018/01/greenbrier-ghost.html https://www.greenbrierhistorical.org/blog/the-greenbrier-ghost-reexamined https://www.gothichorrorstories.com/gothic-travel/the-death-resurrection-and-retribution-of-zona-heaster-shue-the-greenbrier-ghost/ https://www.americanhauntingsink.com/greenbrier https://wvexplorer.com/2024/01/20/greenbrier-ghost-zona-heaster-shue-west-virginia-wv/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
On this week’s episode, Genevieve will discuss a number of brutal murders, throat slittings, girls shooting themselves in the face, sleighing accidents, smallpox in a corn-crib, horse burglars - meaning burglars who are horses - scenes from a scaffold, swallowed pen knives and so much more. References for today’s episode: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_supernatural_beings_in_Chinese_folklore#:~:text=to%20snatch%20babies.-,Wutou%20gui%20(%E6%97%A0%E5%A4%B4%E9%AC%BC),her%20head%20on%20the%20side https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghosts_in_Chinese_culture#:~:text=Ghosts%20without%20means%20(%E7%84%A1%E8%B2%A1,distressing%20to%20themselves%20and%20others https://www.dharmadrum.org/portal_d8_cnt_page.php?folder_id=56&cnt_id=259&up_page=1#:~:text=In%20Buddhism%2C%20the%20Yogacara%20Flaming,the%20Burning%2DMouth%20Hungry%20Ghosts https://www.bkwaterfronthistory.org/story/unsung-builders/ https://journalofethics.ama-assn.org/article/medical-examination-immigrants-ellis-island/2008-04#:~:text=Control%20of%20infectious%20agents%20also,Island%20and%20other%20U.S.%20immigration “Mongolian Ghosts” - St. Louis Globe-Democrat, May 28th, 1876. “Thought-Reading and Physical Manifestations” - The Spiritualist, Nov. 19th 1869. “Love, Murder and Suicide at Bozrah, Conn.” - The Illustrated Police News, Feb. 15th, 1872. “Accidental Shooting of a Young Girl in Batesville, Arkansas” - The Illustrated Police News, Feb. 15th, 1872. “Awful Fate of a Pauper” - The Illustrated Police News, Feb. 15th, 1872. “A Horse Turned Burglar at New London, Conn.” - The Illustrated Police News, Feb. 15th, 1872. “Peculiar Filial Love” - The Illustrated Police News, Feb. 15th, 1872. “Singular Sleighing Accident to a Lady in Worcester, Mass.” - The Illustrated Police News, Feb. 15th, 1872. “The Scaffold” - The Illustrated Police News, Feb. 15th, 1872. “Roasted To a Crisp” - The Illustrated Police News, Feb. 22nd, 1872. “What Sort of a Woman will this Girl Be” - The Illustrated Police News, Feb. 22nd, 1872. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
On today’s episode, Genevieve will be discussing The Bloody Benders, a Victorian era family of serial killers who were confirmed to have murdered at least 11 people in their Kansas home, but it’s estimated that that number was more likely closer to 20. She will also discuss a police officer’s deadly encounter with a ghost, as well as exactly how to perform a seance without a trained medium, according to a Spiritualist newspaper from the 1800s. Thank you to today's sponsor, Honeylove! Save 20% Off Honeylove at honeylove.com/victorian. Treat yourself to the most advanced bras and shapewear on the market. References for today’s episode: “IT SCARED HIM”- Helena Evening Herald, Mar. 1st, 1897. (Blurb) - The Brooklyn Citizen, Mar. 28th, 1897. “How to Form Spirit Circles” - The Spiritualist, Nov. 19th, 1869. “Bloody Benders” - Weekly Rocky Mountain Gazette, June 4th, 1873. “The Bloody Benders” - The Washington Post, Aug. 5th, 1880. https://blogs.loc.gov/headlinesandheroes/2024/10/bloody-benders/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloody_Benders https://www.wsaw.com/2024/05/29/150-years-later-archeologists-still-work-find-what-happened-alleged-violent-family-bloody-benders/ https://kansasalumnimagazine.org/magazine-article/bloody-benders-property/ https://www.legendsofamerica.com/ks-benders/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
On this week’s episode, Genevieve will discuss onion syrup poisonings, vigilante justice, razor suicides, jealous quarrels, horrible… truly horrible murders, Russian piggy-back rides and a narrow escape from death that ends in quite a significant amount of blushing. She will also discuss why executions are usually done at the crack of dawn, a little about spirit photography and why some ghosts maintain their deathly visages while others do not. Thank you to today's sponsors! Go to Rula.com/VICTORIANto get started today. That’s R-U-L-A dot com slashVICTORIANfor quality therapythat’s covered by insurance. Get better sleep, hair and skin with Blissyand use MVNPOD to get an additional 30% off athttp://blissy.com/MVNPOD References for today’s episode: https://www.murderbygaslight.com/2021/10/a-great-burly-broad-shouldered-bully.html “Two Spectral Lodgers : Ghosts in a Fourteenth-Street Boarding House” - The New York Times, Jun. 24, 1881. "HOW MR. S. C. HALL SAW A SPIRIT!" - The Spiritualist, Nov. 19th, 1869. "FREE LOVE AND POISON" - The Illustrated Police News, Dec. 7th 1871. "A Man Accused of Rape Leaves the World With a Razor” - The Illustrated Police News, Jan. 18th, 1872. “A Wife Murderer Hanged by a Mob in Richmond, KY.” - The Illustrated Police News, Feb. 1st, 1872. "Jealous Quarrels Ended by a Frail Woman's Suicide" - The Illustrated Police News, Feb. 1st, 1872. "Reception of the Grand Duke Alexi in New York" - The Illustrated Police News, Nov. 30th, 1871. “Another Horrible Murder” - Central Missouri Herald, Feb. 1st, 1877. “The Last of Mabel Hall” - St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Mar. 9th, 1876. "A Lady’s Clothing Becomes Entangled in the Machinery of a Mill in Westmoreland County, Pa., and She has a Narrow Escape from Death" - The Illustrated Police News, May 20th, 1875. "A Baker Booted in Boston" - The Illustrated Police News, Jan. 25th, 1872. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
On this week’s episode of My Victorian Nightmare, Genevieve will discuss the life of Mary Shelley. The mother of science fiction. The mother of gothic horror. We will discuss her tragic life, her poetic romance, her monster, and the ways she spun the most unimaginable grief, like a silken web, into a masterpiece. References for today’s episode: https://www.frontporchrepublic.com/2024/12/mary-shelleys-grief/#:~:text=The%20summer%20of%201816%20is%20no%20summer,take%20up%20residence%20in%20a%20nearby%20cottage. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Shelley https://www.bustle.com/p/frankenstein-author-mary-shelley-was-goth-before-it-was-cool-these-15-surprising-facts-prove-it-2918285 “Two Spectral Lodgers : Ghosts in a Fourteenth-Street Boarding House” - The New York Times, Jun. 24, 1881. The Spiritualist - Nov. 19th, 1869. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The Fan Coven is officially available at myvictoriannightmare.com! And on this week’s episode, Genevieve will be discussing a particularly terrifying seance held in 1869, murderously presumed witchcraft, a deadly lesbian love affair, love-cracked raving lunatics, collapsing floors, revolting decapitations, and a lady who dressed up as a ghost and nearly scared someone else, and herself, to death. She will also explain why you don’t see caveman ghosts anymore and why rooms go cold when a spirit has arrived. References for today’s episode: https://www.murderbygaslight.com/2010/01/freda-ward-girl-slays-girl.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_in_Germany#:~:text=Capital%20punishment%20in%20Germany%20has,at%20Leipzig%20Prison%20in%201981. “Two Spectral Lodgers : Ghosts in a Fourteenth-Street Boarding House” - The New York Times, Jun. 24, 1881. The Spiritualist - Nov. 19th, 1869. “THE COLD RIGHT HAND!” - The Illustrated Police News, Feb. 15th, 1872. “Has No Use For Men - Miss Alice Mitchell’s Perverted Love for Miss Freda Ward”- The Illustrated Police News, Jul. 30th, 1892. “The Floor of a Millinery Establishment at Hornellsville, NY Falls Through During an Auction Sale and Precipitates a Dense Crowd of Women into the Cellar” - The Illustrated Police News, Feb. 15th, 1872. “Love-Cracked Solomon Waring” - The Illustrated Police News, Jan. 4th, 1872. Sickening Scene on a Scaffold at Desau, Germany - Two Female Murderers Decapitated - Piteous Appeals of the Condemned Ones for Mercy - Aug. 28th, 1873. “A Companion of the Murdered Professor Panormo Commits Suicide in Brooklyn, NY.” - The Illustrated Police News, Feb. 15th, 1872. “A Female ‘Makes Up’ in Ghostly Apparel, Frightens Another Woman Almost to Death, and Collapses in a Swoon at Davenport, Iowa” - The Illustrated Police News, Feb. 15th, 1872. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
On this week’s episode, Genevieve will be discussing the Woolfolk family massacre: the annihilation of a family of 9 that occurred in 1887. The details are harrowing, horrible, heartbreaking, and some are truly…strange.  Get better sleep, hair and skin with Blissy and use MVNPOD to get an additional 30% off at http://blissy.com/MVNPOD References for today's episode: https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/woolfolk-murder-case/ https://murderpedia.org/male.W/w/woolfolk-thomas.htm https://www.gpb.org/news/2024/07/19/macon-graves-linked-infamous-georgia-murder-were-vandalized-investigation-underway https://rosehillcemeterymacongeorgia.blogspot.com/2010/10/remarkable-funeral-burial-of-victims-of.html “The Red Hand” - The Atlanta Constitution, Aug. 7th, 1887. “Bloody Woolfolk” - The Atlanta Constitution, Aug. 8th, 1887. “Two Spectral Lodgers : Ghosts in a Fourteenth-Street Boarding House” - The New York Times, Jun. 24, 1881. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
On this week’s episode of My Victorian Nightmare, Genevieve will discuss a man mangled with a carving knife, another skeleton where it does not belong, the growing evil that is young women leaving their homes, a rum-crazed lunatic dentist, a man killed by a jar of peaches, and a couple of rats that exhibited an admirable commitment to teamwork. References for today's Episode: “Two Spectral Lodgers : Ghosts in a Fourteenth-Street Boarding House” - The New York Times, Jun. 24, 1881. “Charge of Imposture” - The Spiritualist, Nov. 19, 1869. “John Costello Encounters Jack Glass and Mangles Him with a Carving Knife in a Saloon on Nassau Street, New York,” - The Illustrated Police News, Feb. 1st. 1872. “Whose Girls Are They” - The Illustrated Police News, Dec. 14, 1871 “Discovery of a Skeleton at Oxford” - The Illustrated Police News, Aug. 5th, 1871. “Effect of David Dicky’s Victory Eating for a Wager - The Coroner’s Name was Smith” - The Illustrated Police News, Feb. 1st, 1872. “A Baby Boiled by an Insane Mother” - The Illustrated Police News, Feb. 1st, 1872. “Death of a Woman From Starvation”- The Recorder, May 27th, 1872. “A Rum-Crazed Dentist Shoots Four of his Neighbors” - The Illustrated Police News, Feb. 1st, 1872. “How a Kalamazoo Grocer Lost His Eggs and Where They Went” - The Illustrated Police News, Feb.1st, 1872. https://nyupress.org/blog/2009/10/27/the-ghosts-of-14th-st/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_writing https://courses.lumenlearning.com/adolescent/chapter/history-of-developmental-psychology/ https://nemasket.blogspot.com/2010/02/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
On today's episode, Genevieve will be discussing not one, but two of the most haunted Victorian homes in England: The Borley Rectory as well as a little unsuspecting cottage in Essex that was once known as The Cage of St. Osyth, which was once the site of a medieval witch prison. We will also learn exactly what happens when you die, according to a Spiritualist newspaper from the 1800s. References for today's episode: “The Ghost of Sarah Duckett - Shropshire” - The Illustrated Police News, Nov. 25th, 1882. “Mystery of the Walled-Up ‘Spook’ of Borely Rectory” - The San Francisco Examiner, Sep. 29th, 1929. “The Bogey of a ‘Walled-Up’ Nun” - The Catholic Weekly,  Dec. 5th, 1929. “Bating Tragedy” - The Essex County Standard, Etc., Aug. 08th, 1862 “The Philosophy of Death” - The Spiritualist, Nov. 19th, 1869. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borley_Rectory https://burialsandbeyond.com/2021/01/15/the-most-haunted-house-in-england-borley-rectory/ https://www.ufoinsight.com/supernatural/ghosts-hauntings/the-english-amityville-house https://iapsop.com/archive/materials/spiritualist/#:~:text=Summary:,%2C%20William%20Crookes%2C%20Alfred%20R. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
On today’s episode, Genevieve will discuss a family that is a complete disaster, the absurdities of hypnosis, a hatchet murder, a man who luckily couldn’t quite properly operate a firearm, utter pandemonium at a spiritualist lecture, a corpse sent to a candy maker, a man frozen to a boat, yet another man killed by a coffin, and the single worst death ever discussed on any show up until today, hands down. Nothing comes close. Consider yourselves warned. “True Stories About Ghosts” - The Illustrated Police News, Oct. 29th 1881. “A Very Unfortunate Family” - The Illustrated Police News, Jul. 6th, 1876. “One of the Absurdities of the Age - Pretended Effects of Mesmerism as Exhibited at Brackett Hall” - The Illustrated Police News, Feb 1st, 1872. “A Horrible Death” - The Illustrated Police News, Jan. 25th, 1872. “A Man Frozen to the Cross-Trees of a Chicago Vessel” - The Illustrated Police News, Jan. 4th, 1872. “Ineffectual Attempt of a Discarded Lover to Shoot Himself in Chicago” - The Illustrated Police News, Feb 1st, 1872. “A Row Among the Spiritualists at Cooper Institute” - The Illustrated Police News, Feb. 1st, 1872. “Murder of a Wife and Child by a German in Ann Arbor Michigan” - The Illustrated Police News, Nov. 9th, 1871. “A Corpse Sent to a Cincinnati Candy Maker” - The Illustrated Police News, Feb. 15th, 1872. “Edmund Sweeny Falls Dead While Lifting the Coffin Lid from the Body of His Father” - The Illustrated Police News, Feb. 1st, 1872. “A Chambermaid Turns an Involuntary Somersault Out of a Second Story Window at Bangor” - The Illustrated Police News, Feb. 1st, 1872. https://www.bbc.com/bbcthree/article/f8ce7277-5945-470a-b1ad-0c637d8265c1 https://historyofhypnosis.org/19th-century/ https://vintagehairstyling.com/bobbypinblog/2019/11/adding-hair-pieces-to-your-vintage-hairstyle-a-history-of-the-hair-switch.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Davenport_brothers Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
In this very special collaborative episode between SIGHTINGS and MY VICTORIAN NIGHTMARE, venture into an eerie haunted house from the 19th century, and discover why some doors were meant to stay sealed shut.  Check out SIGHTINGS on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to Podcasts! Story Music tracks used by kind permission of CO.AG Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
On Monday’s episode, Genevieve will discuss not 1, not 2, but FOUR grisly train murders from the Victorian era – one with a wild twist! All complete with frick’n sound effects and everything: The murder of Issac Gold (1881), William Pearson (1901), Elizabeth Camp (1897), and Mary Money (1905). References for Today's Episode: https://www.btp.police.uk/police-forces/british-transport-police/areas/about-us/about-us/our-history/crime-history/murder-of-issac-gold/ https://www.btp.police.uk/police-forces/british-transport-police/areas/about-us/about-us/our-history/crime-history/murder-of-william-pearson-1901/ https://www.btp.police.uk/police-forces/british-transport-police/areas/campaigns/our-history/crime-history/murder-of-elizabeth-camp-1897/ https://www.btp.police.uk/police-forces/british-transport-police/areas/campaigns/our-history/crime-history/murder-of-mary-money-1905/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Hicks_Murray “True Stories About Ghosts” - The Illustrated Police News, Oct. 29th 1881. "Miss Money's Funeral" - The Daily Telegraph, Oct. 4th, 1905. "Funeral of Miss Camp" - Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper, Feb. 21st, 1897. "The Murder on the Brighton Railway" - The Morning Post, Jul. 5th, 1881. "The Railway Murder" - Evening Post, Jan. 23rd, 1901. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
It’s our 1 year anniversary episode!!!! Today, Genevieve will have some brutal vigilante justice, deadly vengeance, another spooky skeleton discovery, a hammer murder, 1800s red pill propaganda, a mysterious murder-suicide, a clairvoyant shot by a spirit hand, and a devout, salvation-seeking rooster, named Cochin - all courtesy of the Illustrated Police News Law Courts and Record, our favorite goopy, gloppy, murdery, marvelous tabloid from the 1800s. References for Today's Episode: “The Summary Execution of a Murderer” - The Illustrated Police News, Apr. 3rd, 1873. “A Frontier Horror” - The Illustrated Police News, Jan. 25th, 1872. "Deadly Vengeance of a Woman's Relatives Upon Her Husband" - The Illustrated Police News, Jan. 11th, 1872. "A Couple of Skeletons Found at Bradford" - The Illustrated Police News, Jul. 30, 1870. “Terrible Tragedy - Dr. Merriman Cole Found Murdered in His Office” - The Illustrated Police News, Jan. 18th, 1872. “A Young Man Belabored by Two Young Ladies for Endorsing Victoria Woodhull's Free Love Sentiments” - The Illustrated Police News, Dec. 21st, 1871. “Mysterious Taking Off of a Young Housekeeper, He Drowns Himself” - The Illustrated Police News, Dec. 14st, 1871. “Shot by a Sprit Hand” - The Illustrated Police News, Oct. 28th, 1876. “Avarice Kills a Man, and Then Follows the Corpse Several Hundred Miles”  - The Illustrated Police News, Dec. 21st, 1871. “A Rooster Attends Religious Worship in a Family at Cayuga NY” - The Illustrated Police News, Jan. 11th, 1872. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
On today’s episode, Genevieve will be discussing corpse medicine; the century’s old practice of using dead bodies to treat everything from jaundice to infertility to cataracts – and when you hear about how they specifically treated that last one, it’s really gonna bum you out. References for today’s episode: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-gruesome-history-of-eating-corpses-as-medicine-82360284/ https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/mummy-eating-medical-cannibalism-gory-history https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/corpse-medicine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_cannibalism https://theconversation.com/why-did-people-start-eating-egyptian-mummies-the-weird-and-wild-ways-mummy-fever-swept-through-europe-177551 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mummia https://www.mdlinx.com/article/ancient-medicines-and-procedures-still-used-today/lfc-4453 https://www.texaschildrens.org/content/wellness/7-myths-about-placenta-consumption https://burialsandbeyond.com/2023/11/05/the-weird-world-of-mummy-parties Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
On today’s’s episode, Genevieve will be discussing a young girl caught in a waterwheel, stonings, pickaxings, a harrowing coal oil disaster, a ludicrous fall in a church, a man’s head blown to atoms, men in drag wreaking havoc upon street harassers, a man who visit’s his wife’s grave and leaves with her - it’s not what you think, booby traps gone terribly wrong and so much more. References for today’s episode: “The Frenzied Lover's Murder In Boston” - The Illustrated Police News, Mar. 14th 1872. “Ludicrous Fall of a Young Lady in a Church at Lyons, NY” - The Illustrated Police News, Jan. 25th 1872. “Summary Vengeance on an Insulter of Females at Bridgeport Conn.” - The Illustrated Police News, Jan. 25th 1872. “A Lunatic Assaults the Statue of Franklin in Printing House Square” - The Illustrated Police News, Jan. 25th 1872. “A Postmaster Shot by His Own Burglar Trap - The Illustrated Police News, Jan. 25th 1872. “Bloody Work in John Street” - The Illustrated Police News, Jan. 11th 1872. “Another Martyr to Coal Oil” - The Illustrated Police News, Jan. 11th 1872. “The Newfoundland Horror” - The Illustrated Police News, Jan. 11th 1872. “A Man Stoned to Death in Columbus Ohio” - The Illustrated Police News, Jan. 11th 1872. “A Young Daughter of Mr. Villiton of Centerport Caught in a Water Wheel,” - The Illustrated Police News, Jan. 11th 1872. “A Mans Head Blown to Atoms” - The Illustrated Police News, Jan. 25th 1872. “Double Murder in Newfoundland - Hanging of a Beautiful Woman.” - The San Fransisco Examiner, Mar. 14th, 1872.  https://www.farmcollector.com/farm-life/water-wheels-zmlz12novzbea/ http://www.thelampworks.com/lw_lamp_accidents.htm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
On today’s episode, Genevieve will be discussing a topic that she’s said numerous times she would never cover: The Winchester Mystery House. She will thoroughly debunk all of the falsehoods, embellishments and downright lies about its very generous, very kind creator, Sarah (Sallie) Winchester, and her weird and wonderful house. You’ll also learn some great trivia night factoids in the process. References for today’s episode: “The Frenzied Lover’s Murder in Boston” - The Illustrated Police News, Mar. 14th, 1872. https://skepticalinquirer.org/2024/08/the-truth-about-sallie-winchester-and-the-mystery-house-that-never-was/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winchester_Mystery_House https://www.syfy.com/syfy-wire/real-story-behind-the-winchester-house https://www.7x7.com/the-top-10-lies-about-the-winchester-mystery-house-1786563456.html https://www.housebeautiful.com/design-inspiration/a27481666/winchester-mystery-house/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
On today’s episode, Genevieve will discuss ghosts frightening country bumpkins, really spooky skeleton encounters, a hatchet attack by a blind man, a man trying to slice his own head off and a young lady with enough pluck and presence of mind to save the very day. References for today’s episode: “A Ghost at Large” - The Illustrated Police News, Sept. 10th, 1881. “A Baltimore Woman Killed by a Blind Man” - The Illustrated Police News, Dec. 14th, 1871 "A Burglar Bitten by a Skeleton" The Illustrated Police News - Jun. 27th, 1874. "The Discovery of Skeletons at Birmingham" - The Illustrated Police News - Jun. 21st, 1879. "Extraordinary Discovery of a Skeleton" - The Illustrated Police News - Jul. 16th, 1870. "A Horrible Story From the Sea" - The Illustrated Police News - Oct. 26th, 1872. “Foreign Arrivals and Sailings” - Glasgow Herald - Apr. 4th, 1872. “A Brother of the Baltimore Borgia Attempts Suicide” - The Illustrated Police News - Nov. 30th, 1871.  “Pluck and Presence of Mind” - The Illustrated Police News - May. 20th, 1875. “Foreign Arrivals and Sailings” - Glasgow Herald - Apr. 4th, 1872. https://www.murderbygaslight.com/2021/08/a-baltimore-borgia.html https://www.tasanet.com/Knowledge-Center/Articles/ArtMID/477/ArticleID/338920/Forensic-Analysis-of-Injury-and-Death-by-Asphyxiation#:~:text=Postmortem%20examinations%2C%20review%20of%20medical,the%20skin%20and%20the%20scalp. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
On today’s episode, Genevieve will discuss the all-female Victorian gang, the 40 Elephants, as well as the thieving, poisoning, barbarous, butchering Belle Gunness: Hell’s Belle herself.  References for today’s show: https://www.syfy.com/syfy-wire/triflers-need-not-apply-the-story-of-deadly-belle-gunness https://www.nydailynews.com/2014/11/30/belle-gunness-queen-of-black-widows-murdered-dozens-and-planted-victims-around-farm/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belle_Gunness https://www.crimelibrary.org/serial_killers/history/gunness/index_1.html https://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-100-year-mystery-of-lady-bluebeard/ https://www.britannica.com/topic/Khlysty  https://murderpedia.org/female.G/g/gunness-belle.htm “A Headless Ghost in Buckinghamshire” - The Illustrated Police News, January 8th, 1898. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
On today’s episode, Genevieve will discuss a ghost sighting of the Brown Lady of Raynham Hall, an insane hatchet murder, a brass burglar blown away by a buckshot, a demented opera singer’s stalker, a lamp light disaster, a gory game of cards, a nearly naked man frozen to death in a sinkhole, and much, much more! References for today’s episode: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_Lady_of_Raynham_Hall https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christina_Nilsson https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magdalene_laundry https://www.who.int/news-room/spotlight/history-of-vaccination/history-of-smallpox-vaccination “Murder at Louisville” - The Oregonian, January, 10th 1872. “A Swedish Horror” - The Sioux City Journal, September 25th, 1885. "Mother in Lawlessness" - The Illustrated Police News, January 4th, 1872. "A Burglar Killed by a Trap Gun" - The Illustrated Police News, January 4th, 1872. "Miss Nilsson's Demented Lover" - The Illustrated Police News, January 4th, 1872. "A Life of Shame Quickly Ended " - The Illustrated Police News, January 4th, 1872. "An Affecting Scene"- The Illustrated Police News, January 4th, 1872. "A Gory Game of Cards" - The Illustrated Police News, January 4th, 1872. "A Doctor Insane with Smallpox Freezes to Death on an Iowa Prairie"- The Illustrated Police News, January 11th, 1872. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
On today’s episode, Genevieve will discuss the case of “The Richmond Murderess,” Kate Webster. This story has everything: a brutal murder, a dismembering, mysterious skulls, ghost nuns, cutting edge execution techniques and Sir David Attenborough intricately knitted into the very fabric of this bone chilling saga. References for today's episode: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Julia_Martha_Thomas https://www.theregister.com/2011/07/06/barnes_mystery/ https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-14374296#:~:text=Nowadays%20it%20would%20seem%20almost,crime%20in%20England%20and%20Wales. “Influence of Kate Webster” - The Illustrated Police News, August 23rd, 1879. “The Richmond Murder” - Daily News, July 4th, 1879. “The Richmond Murder, Trial of Catherine Webster” - The Guardian, July 4th 1879. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
On today’s episode, Genevieve will have a number of love-sick murderers, bad words that we’re allowed to use, so many gun fights, so many brains, a corpse concealed in a glen, Rasputin’s favorite sex cult, waxed mustaches, a dead robber baron at a seance, and much more. References for today's episode: https://www.murderbygaslight.com/2022/07/dr.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Fisk_(financier) “Matricide and Self-Murder” - The Illustrated Police News, November 30th, 1871. “Bad Tom” Smith - The Illustrated Police News, July 6th, 1895. “It’s Not Use Trying to be Good” - The Illustrated Police News, May 20th, 1875. “Criminal Capers” - The Illustrated Police News, July 6th, 1876. “A Married Man, After Cohabiting with a Young Lady, Kills Her With Poison” - The Illustrated Police News, November 30th, 1871. “A Father Taken At His Word - What Whisky Did for a Young Man in Kansas” - The Illustrated Police News, November 16th, 1871. “How the Liquor Law is Enforced in New Bedford, Mass.” - The Illustrated Police News, December, 7th 1871. “A Lovesick Sunday Superintendent Blows His Brains Out” - The Illustrated Police News, November 23, 1871. “Mysteries of Spiritualism” - The Illustrated Police News, January 4th, 1872. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
On today’s episode, Genevieve is talking about Victorian era cults: the bonkers beliefs, the scandals, manipulation, devil children, corpses in bath tubs, custom tea blends, and what inspired these cults to come about in the first place. References for today’s episode: https://medium.com/@pau1morgan/the-lampeter-brethren-a-victorian-sex-cult-e318213d7b7f https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agapemonites https://www.utopia-britannica.org.uk/pages/abode%20of%20love.htm https://headstuff.org/culture/history/terrible-people-from-history/henry-james-prince-john-hugh-smyth-pigott-agapemonite-messiahs/ https://digitalcommons.hamilton.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?params=/context/acsq/article/1490/&path_info=ACSQ_2021.02_130.pdf https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koreshan_Unity https://floridatraveler.com/koreshan-state-park/ https://www.newspapers.com/image/917741876/?match=1&terms=Agapemonite https://medium.com/illumination/blurred-lines-how-our-culture-echoes-cult-like-patterns-181bcb9b600a https://conflicttransformation.substack.com/p/responding-to-cults-as-a-social-conflict Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
On today’s episode, Genevieve will have a deathbed confession, the accidental death of a horse fancier, a horrific elevator accident, a horrific mowing machine accident, naughty picture book advertisements, a butchered brother in law, a case of Victorian cat fishing, a hairbreadth escape, and more! References for today’s episode: “The Avondale Horror. A Deathbed Confession” - The Illustrated Police News, November 30, 1871. “A Bottle of Horse Medicine Kills a Horse Fancier” - The Illustrated Police News, December 21, 1871. “A Chambermaid Crushed by an Elevator” - The Illustrated Police News, December 14, 1871. “A Man Butchers his Brother In Law in Tippecanoe, Ohio - Tragical Result of a Whisky Quarrel” - The Illustrated Police News, November 9th, 1871. “Marrying By a Photographic Proxy - An innocent Nebraskan Ensnared by a Touched-Up Picture” - The Illustrated Police News, December 28, 1871. “A Truly Terrible Death - A mowing machine Literally Slices a Man to Pieces” - The Illustrated Police News, August 29th, 1873. “Affray Between Two Ladies of Fashion in the Streets of St. Louis” - The Illustrated Police News, December 7, 1871. “A Saddening Story” - The Illustrated Police News, January 4th, 1872. “A Hairbreadth Escape - A Mississippi Girl Saves a Drowning Man in a Curious Manner” - The Illustrated Police News, August 28, 1873. https://www.boweryboyshistory.com/2022/09/fifth-avenue-hotel-opulence-atop.html https://www.boweryboyshistory.com/2010/10/i-sit-on-your-grave-new-yorks-hidden.html https://wynninghistory.com/2019/03/04/avondale/ https://thetroyhistoricalsociety.org/obits/John%20Aston.htm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
On today’s episode, Genevieve will discuss the repugnant trade of body snatching in the Victorian era, she’ll discuss the ways families fought back, she’ll introduce you to the 2 most infamous body snatchers of all time; Burke and Hare, and we’ll run into a few friends along the way. References for today’s episode: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burke_and_Hare_murders https://anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ar.24794 https://www.civilwarmed.org/bodysnatching/ https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/coffin-torpedos https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84028490/1881-01-20/ed-1/seq-8/ https://wellcomecollection.org/stories/beating-the-bodysnatchers https://99percentinvisible.org/article/grave-guns-coffin-torpedoes-vintage-defenses-aimed-foil-grave-robbers/ https://scholarlycommons.obu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1011&context=history https://history.utk.edu/from-grave-robbing-to-giving-your-own-body-to-science-a-short-history-of-where-medical-schools-get-cadavers/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
On today’s’s episode, Genevieve is diving back into the Illustrated Police News Law Courts and Record: everyone’s favorite bananas, blood-soaked, spooky little tabloid from the 1800s. She will have a hat-wafting seance, a thrilling search for a dead body, wax necks, jealous husbands, mayhem, a shocking discovery in a penitentiary, an alarming growth of intoxication among young ladies, and more! References for Today's Show: https://www.magicianmasterclass.com/post/how-do-magicians-levitate#viewer-aqfts “The Last “Thing” in Fashion, The Wax Neck” Illustrated Police News, January 4th, 1872. “Spiritual Manifestations at a Seance in Boston on New Year’s Eve” Illustrated Police News, January 4th, 1872. “Thrilling Search for the Body of a Murdered Man in MacDonald Co, Mo.,” Illustrated Police News, January 4th, 1872. “A Young Lady Outraged and Then Murdered in Arkansas,”  Illustrated Police News, Dec, 28 1871. “A Leap to Death in Cincinnati - An Unknown Unfortunate Jumps From a Bridge to Eternity,” Illustrated Police News, August, 28 1873. “Taking a Farmer’s Wife, Baby and Potatoes to Market,” Illustrated Police News, Dec 7th, 1872. “How a Jealous Husband in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Returned Home and What He Found There,” Illustrated Police News, Dec 7th, 1872. “Alarming Growth of Intoxication Among Young Ladies - Sad Scene in a New Jersey Ferry Boat,” Illustrated Police News, Dec 7th, 1872. “Extra Penance in a Penitentiary,” Illustrated Police News, Nov 30th, 1871. “Mayhem,” Illustrated Police News, July 6th, 1876. “A New Jersey Cannibal Gormandizes a Policeman’s Cheek,” Illustrated Police News, Dec 21st, 1871. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
On todays episode, Genevieve will return to 19th century London to discuss the Jack the Ripper murders case. She'll discuss the timeline, the victims, the suspects, and a few little known facts about the still open Whitechapel murders case. She’ll also discuss a very courageous photo shoot, and give her fairly coherent review of “The Monkey.” References for today's episode: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_the_Ripper https://www.jack-the-ripper.org/kate-eddowes-last-night.htm https://www.jack-the-ripper.org/jack-the-ripper-victim-elizabeth-stride.htm https://www.jack-the-ripper.org/mary-kelly.htm https://www.jack-the-ripper.org/suspects.htm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catherine_Eddowes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Stride https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Jane_Kelly "Bolton Spiritualists Vision of the Whitechapel Murderer "- The Bolton News, Oct 8, 1888 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
On todays episode, Genevieve will dive deep into the Jack The Ripper case and guide you down the cold, damp, cobblestone streets of 19th century Whitechapel. She'll discuss the timeline, the victims, the suspects, and a few little known facts about the still open Whitechapel murders case. References for today's episode: https://www.science.org/content/article/does-new-genetic-analysis-finally-reveal-identity-jack-ripper https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_the_Ripper https://www.jack-the-ripper.org/emma-smith.htm https://www.jack-the-ripper.org/martha-tabram-jack-the-ripper-victim.htm https://www.jack-the-ripper.org/life-and-death-of-mary-nichols.htm https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/jack-the-rippers-victims-were-not-prostitutes-says-historian-who-claims-sexist-victorian-policemen-unfairly-labelled-them/JSQ3BCTKULMV7LZVZTCVGEAISQ/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emma_Elizabeth_Smith https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martha_Tabram https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Ann_Nichols Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
On today’s episode, Genevieve will be discussing the very macabre ways in which French Victorians would entertain themselves: the death-themed cabarets, horror shows in old gothic chapels, and the very upsetting and morbid curiosities that Parisians would literally trample over each other to get a glimpse of. References for today's episode: https://daily.jstor.org/the-cabarets-of-heaven-and-hell/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Guignol https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/paris-morgue-public-viewing https://dianamarin.com/tag/the-uncanny-cabaret-du-neant/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabaret_de_L%27Enfer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabaret_du_Ciel Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
On today's episode, we will have butchery with banjos, naked maniacs decapitating people, lesbians, more butchery, some charming insults that Victorians liked to send to one another on Valentines day, and a very special love poem. References for today's episode: “A Naked Man's Horrible Deeds,” Illustrated Police News, December 18, 1880 "Butchered" With a Banjo,” Illustrated Police News, July 3, 1880 “Bloody Butchery,” Illustrated Police News, January 31, 1880 https://medium.com/equality-includes-you/misogyny-created-a-space-for-women-to-f-ck-in-the-19th-century-d32f6ab34e48 https://medium.com/equality-includes-you/misogyny-created-a-space-for-women-to-f-ck-in-the-19th-century-d32f6ab34e48 https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/victorian-same-sex-valentines-day Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
On today's episode, Genevieve takes you on a tour of the Victorian lunatic asylum. She'll discuss the history of the institution, surprising and spine-chilling facts, as well as her very own terrifying experience of the time she broke into the Overbrook asylum in New Jersey. References for today's episode: https://cpp-college.netlify.app/programs/education-blog/victorian-mental-health-and-women-part-one-american-asylums https://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/objects-and-stories/medicine/victorian-mental-asylum https://www.theatlantic.com/sponsored/netflix-2017/how-victorian-women-were-oppressed-through-the-use-of-psychiatry/1607/ https://www.talkspace.com/blog/history-inhumane-mental-health-treatments/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nellie_Bly https://usghostadventures.com/haunted-places/americas-most-haunted-hospitals-and-asylums/overbrook-asylum/ https://storymaps.arcgis.com/collections/8bcb0263e26f4ceeb6d41a00cfc72b7a?item=1 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
On today's episode, Genevieve will discuss the 5 Points slum, a church lunatic, a woman that takes investment advice from her dead husband, a cannibalistic affair between 2 ladies, the curious caper of an unruly cow, a locomotive disaster, mayhem, mysterious tragedies and a man who saved an entire New Hampshire town because he loved his girlfriend a little too much. References for today's episode: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_Our_Lady_of_the_Scapular%E2%80%93St._Stephen https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Points,_Manhattan#:~:text=The%20local%20politics%20of%20%22the,racial%20integration%20in%20American%20history Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
In today’s episode, Genevieve will discuss the grisly history of the graveyard that is London, and the subterranean train system built in the Victorian era within and around the final resting places of literally millions of tightly packed Londoners. References for today’s episode: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enon_Chapel https://gizmodo.com/how-corpses-helped-shape-the-london-underground-1493312117 https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-66507599 https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/london-crossrail-bedlam-big-dig https://www.timeout.com/london/news/londons-victorian-necropolis-railway-station-is-for-sale-060424 https://www.mylondon.news/news/nostalgia/london-underground-station-built-right-21001175 https://www.avantiwestcoast.co.uk/where-we-go/blog/the-forgotten-story-of-london-necropolis-railway https://thehistorypress.co.uk/article/the-forgotten-men-of-the-london-underground/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
On today's show, Genevieve has a robber who becomes a raving maniac in prison, a very shocking confession followed by a very grisly request, a woman poisoned by laudanum and nearly frozen to death, a footrace between a phrenologist and a zippy young lady, a thief who nearly blows his own head off, a wife’s vengeance with a pen knife, murder, blackmail, and an unfortunate sled accident on an historic Boston Street, among a few others. References for today's episode: https://www.murderbygaslight.com/2015/06/the-murder-of-pet-halsted.html https://pages.vassar.edu/realarchaeology/2017/03/05/phrenology-and-scientific-racism-in-the-19th-century/ https://www.schenectadyhistory.org/families/hmgfm/shields.htmlhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centennial_Exposition Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
In this week's episode, Genevieve gives a full, very dramatic review of Nosferatu, and dives into the truly diabolical murders of H.H. Holmes. References for todays episode: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._H._Holmes https://www.newspapers.com/image/668069816/?terms=h.h.%20holmes https://www.history.com/news/murder-castle-h-h-holmes-chicago https://www.ranker.com/list/hh-holmes-origin-story/hannah-gilham https://www.bustle.com/p/quotes-from-hh-holmes-memoir-provide-insight-into-the-american-ripper-69194 https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/enduring-mystery-hh-holmes-americas-first-serial-killer-180977646/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Today, Genevieve will discuss a lunatic asylum escapee in a washtub boat, a steamboat slaughter, a tragic murder on a lovely evening, a clergyman’s narrow escape from certain death, a fit of apoplexy, hatchets, razors, insanity, and a somewhat tragic ice skating accident that luckily has a meet-cute happy ending. References for Today's Episode: https://blogs.loc.gov/headlinesandheroes/2022/11/nellie-bly-blackwells-island/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sultana_(steamboat) https://genealogytrails.com/ill/woodford/tradgies.html Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
On today's episode, we’re still celebrating the Holiday season with some weird, wonderful, and downright irresponsible Victorian Christmas traditions! References for today's episode: https://www.history.com/news/christmas-tradition-ghost-stories https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/652043/victorian-christmas-traditions https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/dec/12/shock-of-the-old-11-murderous-and-macabre-victorian-christmas-cards https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-34988154 https://historycollection.com/strange-and-delightful-holiday-traditions-of-the-victorian-era/ https://www.marthastewart.com/1097532/decorative-past-tradition-christmas-pickle-ornament Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Today's episode is Christmas themed! Genevieve will be discussing a family hatchet fight, an assault with a pot roast, an assault with a teapot, a fruit and nut plundering, an insane chimney sweep, a grizzly Christmas day murder, A tragic Christmas Day train disaster, a Chamber of Horrors, and a few more truly horrific Christmas day events. References for today's episode: https://www.measuringworth.com/blog/?p=256 https://www.postalmuseum.org/blog/victorian-christmas-boxes/#:~:text=These%20tokens%20were%20known%20as,form%20of%20money%20or%20alcohol https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_American_railroad_accidents https://sites.dartmouth.edu/toxmetal/arsenic/arsenic-a-murderous-history/#:~:text=Beginning%20in%20the%20eighteenth%20century,common%20in%20the%20market%20place Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
In today's episode, Genevieve keeps with Victorian Christmas tradition, and tells a terrifying ghost story: The Signal Man, by Charles Dickens. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
On today's episode, Genevieve dives back into the salacious, at times terrifying, at times, grisly, at times charming Illustrated Police News Law Courts and Record, from which she will read about Bleecker Street harpies punching cops in the face, some discomfiture of an older gentleman who gets a parasol stuck in his mouth, a madhouse ax murder, a man on a smashing spree, a saloon slaying, a murderously jealous lover, and a man killed by a coffin. References for today's episode: https://cemeteryclub.wordpress.com/2020/03/02/killed-by-a-coffin/ https://www.loc.gov/item/ca07000366/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
In today's episode, Genevieve digs deep into the murder trial of Mary Ann Mailman at the hands of her husband, Peter Mailman in 1873. The trial was full of salacious accusations of affairs, jealous husbands, heartbreaking testimony, flagrant slut shaming from the defense, and details of the murder that shook Nova Scotia to the core. The Trial of Peter Mailman: https://ia600201.us.archive.org/10/items/cihm_09620/cihm_09620.pdf Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
In this very short episode Genevieve waxes on the current state of affairs. We will return to the 1800s next week, and especially in 2 months. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
On today's episode, Genevieve pulls out a few articles from the Illustrated Police News Law Courts and Record: volumes between 1871 and 1875. She'll provide you with your Weekly Dose of Blood, a very concerning case of 2 men either infected with rabies, or turning into werewolves - it’s a bit unclear, a Frenchman nearly eaten alive by rats, a grisly wedding party, a blood-thirsty maniac, a woman melting down exquisitely on stage, and a damsel giving an impromptu acrobatic performance on the streets of Chicago. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
On today's minisode, Genevieve reads her 3 favorite spooky Victorian Halloween poems! Edgar Allan Poe's, The Raven, Lake of the Dismal Swamp by Thomas Moore, and The Broomstick Train or the Return of the Witches by Oliver Wendell Holmes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Today’s episode will contain absolutely delightful, bone-chillingly fascinating Victorian Halloween traditions, as well as a few more creepy-eepy Victorian house histories and hauntings. References for today's episode: https://gaslampfoundation.org/victorian-halloween-traditions-now-thats-scary/ https://www.grunge.com/1056548/what-victorian-halloween-was-really-like/ https://mix108.com/is-this-home-the-most-haunted-estate-in-minnesota/ https://www.huntingdondailynews.com/daily_herald/news/spooktacular-stories-the-haunting-of-baker-mansion/article_7370709e-6ff2-5d04-a92a-9853bc26b288.html https://hauntedhouses.com/minnesota/forepaughs-restaurant/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
In today's episode, Genevieve will be diving back into your favorite grisly, hideous, at times very witty, and fabulously illustrated Victorian publication - The Illustrated Police News Law Courts and Record. She'll discuss a creepy German law, Revolutionary war skeletons found in walls, coffins for lifeboats, and a journalist’s detailed report on what it was like to walk around a surgical school in the middle of the night in 1871. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
On today's episode, Genevieve discusses the creepiest Victorian haunted house she could find: The Villisca Axe murder house. She talks about both the chilling backstory and the hauntings.  References for today's episode: https://adelaidehauntedhorizons.com.au/haunted-villisca-ax-murder-house-ghosts/ https://murderhouse.com/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Ghosts/comments/eldrm7/stayed_the_night_at_the_villisca_axe_murder_house/ https://usghostadventures.com/haunted-places/villisca-ax-murder-house/ https://villisca.advantage-preservation.com/viewer/?k=moore&i=f&d=06011912-12311929&m=between&ord=k1&fn=the_villisca_review_usa_iowa_villisca_19120613_english_6&df=1&dt=10 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villisca_axe_murdershttps://coronertalk.com/28 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
On today's episode, Genevieve will discuss coffin-shaped boxes in mysterious huts, a case of suspended animation, a struggle in an elevator with a lunatic, and some other disturbing, little “Items of interest” as they’re called in the 1878 volume of The Illustrated Police News Law Courts and Record which are indeed very interesting items. We’ll also enjoy a pumpkin smash. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
On today's episode, Genevieve discusses "America's most haunted house®" - The Whaley House of San Diego California. She'll dive into the bone chilling back story, as well as the spooky hauntings that delight (and seriously creep out) visitors today.  References for today's episode: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whaley_House_(San_Diego,_California) https://yourtahoeguide.com/2021/07/gold-rush-vigilantes-jim-ugly-and-yankee-jim/ https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Whaley-1836 https://www.kcghosts.com/california-whaley-house https://sdghosts.com/the-whaley-house/ https://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2017/jul/03/history-san-diego-1850/ https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SDDU18850820.2.29&srpos=26&e=-------en--20-SDDU-21--txt-txIN-thomas+Whaley------- Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
In today's (first!) minisode, Genevieve reads articles from the "Weekly Dose of Blood" in an 1873 volume of The Illustrated Police News Law Courts and Record publication, as well as a spooky little article about a thieving somnambulist. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
In today's episode, Genevieve will discuss mediums getting attacked by spirits, men drinking their own blood, live burials, nuns getting struck with lightning and rising from the dead – it’s going to be a spooky rollercoaster. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
In today's episode, Genevieve talks about Victorian circus horrors; The freak shows, the fires, kidnappings, train wrecks, morbid taxidermy,– as well as PT Barnum’s American Museum of Curiosities which met a particularly tragic. References for today's episode: https://www.notesfromthefrontier.com/post/freak-shows https://www.neh.gov/humanities/2011/septemberoctober/statement/the-circus-you-never-knew https://victorian-era.org/victorian-era-circus-performances.html https://boroughsofthedead.com/barnum-museum-fire-july-13-1865/ https://www.historyextra.com/period/victorian/greatest-show-earth-freak-shows-pt-barnum-tom-thumb/ https://newspapers.library.in.gov/?a=d&d=DMST18851009.2.46&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN------- https://www.historyireland.com/the-wee-est-little-man-that-ever-was-general-tom-thumb-in-ireland/ https://daytoninmanhattan.blogspot.com/2016/08/the-lost-original-madison-square-garden.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiji_mermaid https://jvc.oup.com/2021/05/20/lost-circuses-of-victorian-leeds/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
In today’s episode, Genevieve dives back into the Illustrated Police News from 1871 - the insane Victorian publication full of grisly murders, body snatchers, mice in donuts – it was a publication full of complete chaos. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
In today's episode, Genevieve discusses how Tuberculosis influenced fashion, hazardous beauty routines, deadly hatpins, the dangers of corsets, and strange, kind of gross beauty trends, as well as some really weird and intriguing facts about Victorian fashion.  References for today's episode: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/how-tuberculosis-shaped-victorian-fashion-180959029/  https://www.thecollector.com/tuberculosis-art/  https://thevictorianhistorian.com/beauty-fashion/  https://nyamcenterforhistory.org/2015/05/29/did-corsets-harm-womens-health/  https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-leeds-mercury-death-of-matilda/30613252/?locale=en-US  https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/hatpins-mashers-self-defense-history-women-hats-fashion  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scheele%27s_green  https://hyperallergic.com/329747/death-by-wallpaper-alluring-arsenic-colors-poisoned-the-victorian-age/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Today’s episode is going to be a little different. Genevieve will be reading horrifying stories from the Illustrated Police News from 1871, and giving context to the stories.  References for today's show: https://oxfordre.com/americanhistory/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780199329175.001.0001/acrefore-9780199329175-e-875?d=%2F10.1093%2Facrefore%2F9780199329175.001.0001%2Facrefore-9780199329175-e-875&p=emailAamzPoP9dB6io  https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/266/oa_monograph/chapter/3065998#:~:text=This%20doctrine%2C%20called%20%E2%80%9Cspiritual%20affinity%2C%E2%80%9D%20swept%20the%20ranks%20of%20spiritualism%20in%20the%20early%201850s.&text=As%20sages%20of%20this%20world%20and%20the%20next%20one https://time.com/6107025/victoria-woodhull-free-love-movement/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
In today's episode, Genevieve dives into the spine tingling world of Victorian Spiritualism. She'll talk about where it all began, what a Victorian materializing seance would entail, the ways mediums would trick people into believing they were talking to dead people, and the history of the Ouija board.  References for today's episode: https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-john-brown-was-queen-victorias-channel-to-alberts-ghost https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-fox-sisters-and-the-rap-on-spiritualism-99663697/ https://www.grunge.com/665457/the-strange-truth-about-ectoplasm-explained/ https://www.ranker.com/list/victorian-medium-seance-tricks/olivia-pasquarelli https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiritualism_(movement) https://husheduphistory.com/post/653477933416120320/calling-the-unknown-by-name-helen-peters Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
In today’s episode, Genevieve will discuss the wild world of Victorian vampires. She'll discuss vampire panic and vampire autopsies of the 1800s, real vampires - or at least, folks who were believed to be real vampires, and the inspirations for everyone's favorite vampire, Dracula.  References for today's episode: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_England_vampire_panichttps://www.cdc.gov/tb/worldtbday/history.htm https://www.queensu.ca/gazette/stories/vampire-myths-originated-real-blood-disorder https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucy_Westenra https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnold_Paolehttps://www.irishcentral.com/roots/history/dracula-bram-stoker-inspiration https://lithub.com/on-the-victorian-science-and-prejudices-behind-bram-stokers-dracula/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
On today's episode, Genevieve talks about the life and times of a Ms. Mary Mallon, otherwise known as Typhoid Mary – much to her chagrin.  References for today's episode: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Mallon https://the-line-up.com/north-brother-island https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/north-brother-island https://ukhsa.blog.gov.uk/2019/03/28/are-victorian-diseases-making-a-comeback/ https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/typhoid/letter.html https://www.americanhauntingsink.com/typhoid Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
In today's episode, Genevieve talks about the deeply disturbing world of Victorian Children’s stories and the twisted origins of some nursery rhymes of the time that we still enjoy today. References for today's episode: https://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2019/04/the-creepy-and-harsh-lessons-of-early-childrens-books/ https://news.ufl.edu/archive/1996/10/todays-scary-stories-are-tame-compared-to-victorian-age-tales.html https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/penny-dreadfuls-victorian-children-literacy https://www.representingchildhood.pitt.edu/victorian.htm https://writingtoberead.com/2023/04/26/dark-origins-the-creepy-true-story-behind-alice-in-wonderland-darkorigins-aliceinwonderland/ https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/meet-springheeled-jack-the-leaping-devil-that-terrorized-victorian-england Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
In today's episode, Genevieve covers the life and mysterious death of beloved gothic fiction writer, Edgar Allan Poe. References for today's episode: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Edgar_Allan_Poe https://www.popularmechanics.com/culture/a45782209/edgar-allan-poe-death-mystery/ https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/still-mysterious-death-edgar-allan-poe-180952936/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
In this week's episode, Genevieve talks about elaborate Victorian funeral traditions, what was, and was not, acceptable mourning fashion of the day, Queen Victoria’s obsession with her dead husband that sparked the trends, the hardship and power of 19th-century widowhood, as well as the almost fetishistic keepsaking of the deceased. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
In this episode, Genevieve covers the mysterious death of Octavia Hatcher – a women who died in 1891 who, according to legend, was buried alive. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices