Dark Histories

Ben Cutmore

Fortnightly narratives on the unsolved and the unexplained, mysteries, historical true crime, touches of the paranormal and cultural peculiarities.

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255 episodes
Updated July 14

Episodes255

Newest first

Sep 22, 2024 · 1 hr 2 min
The Ghost Hunts of George Albert Smith: Mesmerist & Film Maker
The life and times of George Albert Smith are not particularly well known. Despite working for several years as a stage hypnotist and psychic, the owner of a popular pleasure park and then eventually a pioneering inventor and filmmaker, there are few who could reel off a biography based on nothing more than a name. Perhaps even more obscure, however, was his time spent as a ghost hunter for the Society for Psychical Research, which, whilst a relatively short career in comparison, was no less gro
Sep 9, 2024 · 1 hr 14 min
Sorcery, Witchcraft & Murder: The Affair of the Poisons
In France during the 17th Century, a string of unexpected deaths lead to a murder inquiry that uncovered the dark practices of a serial poisoner, who had plied her trade in the streets of Paris, using the popular alchemy and astrology social circles for cover. The eventual arrests shocked the nation, when it was discovered that far from common rabble, the poisoners had hailed from a more well bred class of citizen. Unfortunately, for the Royal Court, the case was only the start of what would tur
Aug 26, 2024 · 55 min
Summer Holiday 2024 - Algernon Blackwood
This week I'm off on my Summer holiday for a trip in the woods, so what better episode to do than read a few stories from Algernon Blackwood, all about weird woods. What was I thinking... ------- For almost anything, head over to the podcasts hub at darkhistories.com Support the show by using our link when you sign up to Audible: http://audibletrial.com/darkhistories or visit our Patreon for bonus episodes and Early Access: https://www.patreon.com/darkhistories The Dark Histories books ar
Aug 11, 2024 · 1 hr 27 min
The Spectacular Life of Donald Omand, Exorcist Extraordinaire
When one thinks of exorcisms, it’s hard to get past the infamous imagery published to the world in 1973, of a young girl, floating above a bed, flanked by two priests, flinging holy water and yelling about the power of Christ. At the same time as the Exorcist movie was hitting the cinemas, however, there was one, real life exorcist doing very different work. With several decades of banishing evil under his belt, he was taking on far bigger tasks, with vampires, the Loch Ness Monster and even th
Jul 28, 2024 · 50 min
Smuggling, Riots & The Sampford Peverell Ghost
In the heart of Devon, in the quaint village of Sampford Peverell, an information board refers the curious tourist to a now demolished building that had once been known as “The Ghost House.” The scene of an early 19th century haunting that had shook the walls for several months, before falling to a curious silence, the history of the ghost house told the story of a terrifying haunting. Or did it? It seemed the house had more history to it than the new owners liked to admit. SOURCES Colton, C. (1
Jul 19, 2024 · 1 hr 27 min
The Cleaver, The Fiend & The Axeman's Jazz of New Orleans
In the humid nights of New Orleans in the early years of the 1900’s, a shadowy figure prowled the moonlit streets. “They have never caught me and they never will. They have never seen me, for I am invisible, even as the ether which surrounds your earth. I am not a human being, but a spirit and a fell demon from hottest hell. I am what you Orleanians and your foolish police call the axman.” Whilst almost certainly not written by any real Axeman, this letter, published in the press during the pe
Jul 2, 2024 · 1 hr 19 min
Murder Aboard the Herbert Fuller
In the eerie stillness of a moonlit Atlantic night in 1896, aboard the doomed Herbert Fuller, a savage cry pierced the darkness. What followed was a chilling discovery: The Captain, his wife, and the second mate lay brutally murdered in their blood-streaked cabins. Panic seized the crew as suspicions and paranoia grew, turning the once peaceful vessel into a floating nightmare, hundreds of miles from port. SOURCES Hiam, C. Michael (2019) Murder Aboard: The Herbert Fuller Tragedy and the Ordeal
Jun 10, 2024 · 1 hr 20 min
The Wreck of the Wager
In 1741, amidst the treacherous waters of Cape Horn, on the southernmost tip of South America, the British warship HMS Wager pushed through a violent storm, hoping to carry out a mission against the Spanish to alleviate them of one it’s trade ships, enriched with gold and silver, and bring the bounty home to England. It was a time of great pomp amongst the British Navy, whose continual wars with the Spanish were prompting the great rise of British Sea Power. Surely nothing could possibly go wron
May 26, 2024 · 52 min
A Shot in the Dark: The Hammersmith Ghost of 1804
In the last twenty-five years, ghost hunting has entered something of a golden age, with all sorts of technology playing its part and filling up an investigators kit bag. Cameras, EMF metres, InfraRed thermometers and spirit boxes all help to carve a science out of a difficult premise, with differing levels of credibility. In the early 1800s, things were a little bit different. It was a simpler time. All you needed back then was a stiff drink, or maybe two, and a loaded revolver, because as we a
May 13, 2024 · 1 hr 10 min
William Corder & The Red Barn Murder
In the first half of the 19th century, there was a single murder that, having ensnared the English countryside in a web of scandal, permeated throughout society and popular culture for decades after its conclusion. Having all the elements of a story written as a gothic thriller, theso-named Red Barn murder sparked a year-long mystery, culminating in a revelation that exposed a history of darkness, hidden beneath a façade of respectability that shocked the nation to its core.SOURCES Harley, Laure
Apr 28, 2024 · 1 hr 6 min
Fritz Haarmann: The Vampire of Hanover
Following the first world war, Germany, having never found its feet economically throughout the conflict, now found itself crumbling under the further weight of heavy reparations. Many of those that had survived the fighting found themselves in a desperate state, carrying out all sorts of underground, legally dubious, or just straight up illegal activities, in order to get by. There were some that thrived in the lawless environment, profiteering from others misfortune, and then there were others
Apr 14, 2024 · 56 min
Story Time: Dark Rituals & Pagan Rites
Hi everyone, something a little different this week, but I'll be back as usual with next episode. Thanks as always! ------- For almost anything, head over to the podcasts hub at darkhistories.com Support the show by using our link when you sign up to Audible: http://audibletrial.com/darkhistories or visit our Patreon for bonus episodes and Early Access: https://www.patreon.com/darkhistories The Dark Histories books are available to buy here: http://author.to/darkhistories Dark Histories m
Apr 2, 2024 · 1 hr 13 min
Counterfeiting, Undercover Agents & The Abduction of Abraham Lincoln
The ingenuity of the criminal class has rarely been criticised for lacking in imagination. One of the finer examples of this concept was put on full display in America, on the eve of the presidential election in 1876, When a group of shady crooks, who took the American Dream of making money a little too literally, decided they needed to bust one of their own from prison. The affair that unfurled led to one of the strangest stories in criminal history, featuring a small bag of relatively useless
Mar 19, 2024 · 1 hr 20 min
The Mysterious Murder of Mary Jane Bennett
In Victorian England, the press were never shy of calling a crime the “sensation of the century” or a murder, “the most astonishing the world had ever seen.” When the body of a young woman showed up on the beach of a popular seaside resort town, no-one would have imagined it would provoke just such proclamations. As the story unravelled, and the winding, and at times, explosive court case drew on, however, it became clear that not only would it provoke such headlines, but it would also be entire
Mar 4, 2024 · 1 hr 9 min
Prophecy, Second Sight & John Barker’s Premonitions Bureau
“As to the divination which takes place in sleep, and is said to be based on dreams, we cannot lightly either dismiss it with contempt or give it implicit confidence.” These were the words of Aristotle, written in 350 BCE, and taken very much to heart by a British psychiatrist in the 1960’s, when he took on the monumental task of collecting and collating hundreds of premonitions from across the country, with the ultimate goal of not only researching the phenomena, but then also using the data to
Feb 19, 2024 · 1 hr 11 min
The Druce-Portland Affair: The Duke That Never Was
Cases of stolen, mistaken and fraudulent identity were not an entirely uncommon thing in Victorian Britain. Somewhat more unusual was the bizarre allegation that an English aristocrat, the 5th Duke of Portland, had lived a double life and eventually faked his own death in order to escape the web of lies he had concocted over the years. It all sounded very far-fetched, but when interested parties attempted to bring the case to court, they found themselves cut off by shadowy powers that led to som
Feb 11, 2024 · 1 hr 10 min
Zsuzsanna Fazekas & The Angel Makers of Nagyrév
Hungary during the first world war was a difficult place to live, especially if you happened to live in one of the many rural villages, far away from the grand city of Budapest, where the harsh conditions imposed on a country losing a war bit the hardest. Even if you managed to survive all the fighting, the riots, the violent occupations, or the Spanish Flu, there was always the possibility that your wife, daughter-in-law, or neighbour might decide that they had had enough of you and pay a visit
Jan 23, 2024 · 1 hr 2 min
The Saltwood & Hythe Mothman
Sightings of winged creatures flying through the sky have long been a staple of folklore, mythology and legend across the world and across time and cultures. In the ancient world, Gods and monsters were depicted with enormous, scaled and feathered wings, whilst in modern times, sightings have become more and more diverse, from thunderbirds, to the mysterious Mothman. Three years before the one of the most famous sightings of a mysterious flying creature in Point Pleasant, West Virginia, there wa
Jan 12, 2024 · 1 hr 45 min
May Blackburn & The Divine Order of the Royal Arms of the Great Eleven
Since the 1960s California has always been a place associated with alternative beliefs, countercultural movements and alternative lifestyles. The hippy movement, with it’s summer of love, fueled by the west coast psychedelic music scene will always be a highlight from the era, but the truth is, the state of California’s links to alternative beliefs go back much further and manifested in much stranger ways than a bunch of long haired students having a good time. Labour movements, civil rights act
Dec 30, 2023 · 48 min
Christmas Campfire 2023 (Part 2)
Part two of this years Christmas Campfire is here! I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and wishing you a very happy and healthy New Year!

Dark Histories

The Ghost Hunts of George Albert Smith: Mesmerist & Film Maker

Sorcery, Witchcraft & Murder: The Affair of the Poisons

Summer Holiday 2024 - Algernon Blackwood

The Spectacular Life of Donald Omand, Exorcist Extraordinaire

Smuggling, Riots & The Sampford Peverell Ghost

The Cleaver, The Fiend & The Axeman's Jazz of New Orleans

Murder Aboard the Herbert Fuller

The Wreck of the Wager

A Shot in the Dark: The Hammersmith Ghost of 1804

William Corder & The Red Barn Murder

Fritz Haarmann: The Vampire of Hanover

Story Time: Dark Rituals & Pagan Rites

Counterfeiting, Undercover Agents & The Abduction of Abraham Lincoln

The Mysterious Murder of Mary Jane Bennett

Prophecy, Second Sight & John Barker’s Premonitions Bureau

The Druce-Portland Affair: The Duke That Never Was

Zsuzsanna Fazekas & The Angel Makers of Nagyrév

The Saltwood & Hythe Mothman

May Blackburn & The Divine Order of the Royal Arms of the Great Eleven

Christmas Campfire 2023 (Part 2)