Jack the Ripper as we think of him, is an invention of the Victorian media. They took the complete absence of hard facts about the killer, and populated it with the period's anxieties, fantasies and fears.

We're joined again by Dr Bob Nicholson, presenter of ‘Killing Victoria’ podcast on BBC Sounds.

Edited by Tim Arstall. Produced by Freddy Chick. Senior Producer is Charlotte Long.

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This episode contains descriptions of execution and torture.

To be Hanged, Drawn & Quartered. Put on the Rack. Impaled on a spike. This list paints a very dark picture. What was the reality of execution and torture in the Medieval world? Was it as bad as we think? Worse?

Guiding us through this very grim history is Matt Lewis host of the History Hit podcast 'Gone Medieval'.

Produced by Annie Coloe. Edited by Freddy Chick. Senior Producer is Charlotte Long.

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All music from Epidemic Sounds.

After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal is a History Hit podcast.

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Today we step into the shadowy world of W.T. Stead—a Victorian journalist whose life was as controversial as it was groundbreaking.

Hear how he uncovered a sex scandal which shocked the nation, dabbled in the supernatural, and also… predicted the Titanic disaster (and ultimately, his own death).

Please vote for us for Listeners' Choice at the British Podcast Awards! Follow this link, and don’t forget to confirm the email. Thank you!

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All music from Epidemic Sounds.

After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal is a History Hit podcast.

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This 1897 New York murder case that has it all - a villain, an incredibly useless police force, and a duck who saves the day. The incredible Dr Cat Byers (@heymorguegirl) joins Maddy and Anthony to tell this story.

Edited by Tomos Delargy. Produced by Freddy Chick. Senior Producer is Charlotte Long.

Please vote for us for Listeners' Choice at the British Podcast Awards! Follow this link, and don’t forget to confirm the email. Thank you!

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All music from Epidemic Sounds.

After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal is a History Hit podcast.

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Through the industrial fog of Victorian London, in one of the city's most notorious slums, a murder took place that shocked a nation.

The Bermondsey Horror, as it was called at the time, centred around a young woman and her older partner, and a wealthy man who was lured to their home one night.

How did the gruesome events unfold? What did Charles Dickens have to say about the public execution? And what was the social impact of this story?

Edited by Tom Delargy. Research by Phoebe Joyce. Produced by Stuart Beckwith. Senior Producer is Charlotte Long.

Please vote for us for Listeners' Choice at the British Podcast Awards! Follow this link, and don’t forget to confirm the email. Thank you!

You can now watch After Dark on Youtube! www.youtube.com/@afterdarkhistoryhit

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All music from Epidemic Sounds.

After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal is a History Hit podcast.

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It was a murder mystery that gripped 19th century France and changed crime investigation forever.

Who was the body in the trunk? What were the groundbreaking techniques used in the forensics investigation? And how did the murder case unfold from there?

Taking Anthony and Maddy back to France in 1889 and through this story is historian and author Dr. Cat Byers.

This episode was edited by Tom Delargy and produced by Stuart Beckwith. The senior producer was Charlotte Long.

Please vote for us for Listeners' Choice at the British Podcast Awards! Follow this link, and don’t forget to confirm the email. Thank you!

You can now watch After Dark on Youtube! www.youtube.com/@afterdarkhistoryhit

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All music from Epidemic Sounds.

After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal is a History Hit podcast.

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What happens when you're left on a desert island with a psychopath? This is a story so horrendous it would be hard to believe were it not for the skeletons left behind. Maddy Pelling takes Anthony Delaney through the shipwreck of the Batavia.

Edited by Tim Arstall. Research by Phoebe Joyce. Produced by Freddy Chick. Senior Producer is Charlotte Long.

Please vote for us for Listeners' Choice at the British Podcast Awards! Follow this link, and don’t forget to confirm the email. Thank you!

You can now watch After Dark on Youtube! www.youtube.com/@afterdarkhistoryhit

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All music from Epidemic Sounds.

After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal is a History Hit podcast.

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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 one sent to hang the Nazis who ran the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp at the end of the war.

Who was Albert Pierrepoint? What does it take to be able to execute hundreds of people? And what is 'The Drop'?

Edited and produced by Freddy Chick, Senior Producer is Charlotte Long.

Please vote for us for Listeners' Choice at the British Podcast Awards! Follow this link, and don’t forget to confirm the email. Thank you!

You can now watch After Dark on Youtube! www.youtube.com/@afterdarkhistoryhit

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All music from Epidemic Sounds.

After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal is a History Hit podcast.

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