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.
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- Update frequency
- every 3 days
- Average duration
- 41 minutes
- Episodes
- 204
- Years Active
- 2023 - 2025
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 …
Wales' Darkest Folklore
Wales is set apart from a lot of countries, with one of its folk tales - the Red Dragon - featuring in its flag.
What are the mythical origins of Wales, and other dark folk tales and traditions, such…
Ireland's Darkest Folklore
*TW: This episode contains discussions and themes of infertility.*
Fairies have long been part of Irish folkloric history, with its landscape dotted with thousands of 'fairy forts'. But there's a dark…
Tudor England's Dumbest Murder
Alice Arden wanted her husband Thomas dead. So did the rest of the village of Faversham. What followed was a twisted dance of passion, poison, insane plots and dastardly assassins. A tale so macabre …
Scotland's Darkest Folklore
From misty mountains to deep-sea caves, we explore the dark side of Scottish folklore. Tales of Selkies - seal folk caught between sea and shore - Kelpies - murderous water-horses -and the ancient fi…
Easter Rising: First World War In Dublin
(Part 2/2) On Easter Monday in 1916, Irish rebels read a proclamation of independence that sparked a week-long battle with the British army.
Over the next six days, this new bloody frontier of the Fir…
Black Death: Scapegoats & Persecution
***This episode contains a description of mass murder***
As the Black Death moved across Europe, something darker and more insidious spread ahead of it. An antisemitic conspiracy theory that blamed Eu…
Easter Rising: Build-Up To Irish Rebellion
(Part 1/2) With Britain engaged in the First World War in Europe, Irish rebels sensed an opportunity.
Irish revolutions had fought for independence from Britain in the past, would the Easter Rising be…
Black Death: 5 Strangest Cures
It was a plague like no other. It provoked strange cures like no other. Anthony Delaney takes Maddy Pelling in search of the oddest cures concocted in the face of the Black Death, busting a few myth …
Final Days of Joan of Arc: Trial & Execution
(Part 2/2) Joan of Arc, mystic leader of a French army, was captured and sold to the English who tried her as a witch. What do the final days of this iconic figure tell us? With so much myth swirling…
Black Death: Inside Medieval Lockdown
Around 50% of everyone in Europe died during the Black Death. It's very hard to make sense of that. What did it look and feel like to live through this calamity?
Today Maddy Pelling and Anthony Delane…
Final Days of Joan of Arc: Rise to Fame
(Part 1/2) So many things make Joan of Arc iconic. The fearless, crossdressing warrior saint who dies a martyr's death. Today Maddy begins a two-part exploration by telling Anthony the story of who J…
Black Death: The Origin Story
The myth goes thus: the Black Death reached Christendom at the Siege of Caffa when Mongols catapulted diseased bodies over the walls. Where did we get this story? What actually happened at Caffa? And…
Death at the Savoy Mansions: Post-War London's Drug Underworld
During the victory celebrations of World War One, a rising star is found dead in her bed after a suspected overdose.
22-year-old Billie Carlton’s death caused shockwaves across the nation, adding fuel…
The Servants' Revenge: Arsenic & a Poisoned Pint of Beer
Why did two servants living in Plymouth, England, poison their whole household in 1675? How did they sneak arsenic into the food? And what on earth is pottage?
Today Maddy Pelling and Anthony Delaney …
The Curse of King Tutankhamun's Tomb
Untimely deaths followed the opening of Tutankhamun's tomb by Howard Carter. Coincidence or ancient curse? When the tomb of King Tutankhamun was sealed more than 3000 years ago, it was rumoured to be…
Final Days of Thomas Cromwell
From ruthless schemer to pragmatic hero - who is the real Thomas Cromwell? And how did he meet his end? Today Anthony Delaney tells Maddy Pelling the story.
Edited by Tomos Delargy. Produced by Freddy…
Glencoe Massacre: Haunted Highlands
(Part 2/2) On the 13 February 1692, Scottish government troops slaughtered between 30-40 members of Clan MacDonald in their home in Glencoe, in the Scottish Highlands. Who was behind the killings? Ho…
Peasants' Revolt: Murder in the Tower of London
(2/2) A boy King, a rebel army, and the first ever execution at Tower Hill. Maddy Pelling tells Anthony Delaney the days in the summer of 1381 when rebels took control of London and King Richard II, …
Glencoe Massacre: Hell in the Scottish Highlands
On the 13 February 1692, Scottish government troops slaughtered between 30-40 members of Clan MacDonald in their home in Glencoe, in the Scottish Highlands. They fell upon them without warning, killi…