On a misty night in October 1947, the luxury liner Durban Castle sailed smoothly across the dark waves of the Atlantic. Aboard was Gay Gibson, a young actress with dreams of stardom, and James Camb, a steward with a chequered past. When Gibson mysteriously vanished, and her lifeless body was allegedly pushed through the ship’s porthole, a dark tale of desire, deceit, and death unfolded in a mystery that would captivate the world.

SOURCES

Herbstein, Dennis (1991) The Porthole Murder Case. Hodder & Stoughton, London, UK.

The Sunday Pictorial (1947) The Girl in Cabin 126. The Sunday Pictorial, Sunday 26 October 1947, p1. London, UK.

Yorkshire Evening Post (1948) Gay Gibson Jury Sees Liner Cabin Porthole. Yorkshire Evening Post, Thursday 18 March 1948, p1. Yorkshire, UK.

Yorkshire Evening Post (1947) Gay Gibson Disappeared In Shark Infested Seas. Yorkshire Evening Post, Monday 24 November 1947, p5. Yorkshire, UK.

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The Dark Histories Butterfly was drawn by Courtney, who you can find on Instagram @bewildereye

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Other Outro music was Paul Whiteman & his orchestra with Mildred Bailey - All of me (1931). It's out of copyright now, but if you're interested, that was that.

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In the 1970s, the shadowy depths of Highgate Cemetery, London became the centre of what would go on to become an enduring urban legend. As two men, both with their own views on what the cemetery was hiding, dug deep into their investigations of the grounds, reports spread of a dark, otherworldly figure stalking its overgrown graves. Sometimes tall, sometimes with glowing red eyes, and other times with a dark, top hat, the press reports of the unknown figure stoked a public fear of a secret occult world that lay just out of sight, crawling beneath the surface of an otherwise decent society.

SOURCES

Saker, hugh (1958) Baby Sacrifice Probe By CID. The Daily Mirror, Fri 19 Dec 1958, p3. London, UK.

Lucas, Norman (1958) Baby Sacrificed: Probe Starts. Daily News, Fri 19 Dec 1958, p5. London, UK.

Farrant, Della (2015) Haunted highgate. The History Press, London, UK.

Adams, Paul (2014) Written in Blood: A Cultural History of the British Vampire. The History Press, London, UK.

Ellis, Bill (1993) The Highgate Cemetery Vampire Hunt: The Anglo-American Connection in Satanic Cult Lore. Folklore, Vol 104, 1993. The Folklore Society, Worthing, UK.

The People (1895) The Highgate “Ghost”. The People, Sun 29 Sep 1895, p3. London, UK.

Manchester, Sean (1975) The Highgate vampire: the infernal world of the undead unearthed at London's famous Highgate Cemetery and environs. London, UK.

Farrant, David (1997) Beyond the Highgate Vampire: A True Case of Supernatural Occurrences and Vampirism That Centred Around London's Highgate Cemetery. London, UK.

Hartlepool Northern Daily Mail (1970) Vampire Hunt In London. Hartlepool Northern Daily Mail, Sat 14 March 1970, p1. Hartlepool, UK.

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The Dark Histories Butterfly was drawn by Courtney, who you can find on Instagram @bewildereye

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Other Outro music was Paul Whiteman & his orchestra with Mildred Bailey - All of me (1931). It's out of copyright now, but if you're interested, that was that.

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In the streets of Regency London,the young servant, Elizabeth Fenning, faced a sinister charge - attempted murder by poison. Accused of lacing her employer’s dinner with arsenic, the 21-year-old cook quickly found herself trapped in an increasingly lopsided courtroom, where any hope of the justice she had held whilst awaiting trial seemed to recede with every new witness brought to the stand. The case caused widespread public consternation and outrage that lasted months, coming close to sparking riots in the streets, as the debate raged on, that never truly ended.

SOURCES

Clarke, Kate (2020) Trial of Elizabeth Fenning. Mango Books, London, UK.

Watkins, John (1815) The Important Results of an Elaborate Investigation into the Mysterious Case of Elizabeth Fenning. William Hone, London, UK.

The Globe (1815) The Globe. Sat 25 March 1815, p4. London, UK.

The Globe (1815) The Globe. Mon 27 March 1815, p4. London, UK.

The Star (1815) Charge Of Poisoning Family. Tues 28 March 1815, p4. London, UK.

The Globe (1815) Charge OF Poisoning A Whole Family. Fri 31 March 1815, p1. London, UK.

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The Dark Histories Butterfly was drawn by Courtney, who you can find on Instagram @bewildereye

Music was recorded by me © Ben Cutmore 2017

Other Outro music was Paul Whiteman & his orchestra with Mildred Bailey - All of me (1931). It's out of copyright now, but if you're interested, that was that.

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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 groundbreaking, when he took tenancy of a haunted house for more than a whole year in order to investigate the reported phenomena.

SOURCES

Gray, Frank (2019) The Brighton School & The Birth of British Film. Palgrave Macmillan, London, UK.

Gray, Frank (1998) Smith the showman: The early years of George Albert Smith. Film History, Vol. 10, No. 1, Cinema Pioneers (1998), pp. 8-20. John Libby & Co., Sydney, Australia.

Hall, Trevor (1964) The Strange Case of Edmund Gurney. Gerald Duckworth & Co Ltd, London, UK.

Blackburn, Douglas (1883) Thought Reading Extraordinary. Light, No 86, Vol II. London, UK.

Smith, George Albert (1884) Report on a Haunted House at Norwich. Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, Vol I, 1884-5. London, UK.

Podmore, Frank (1890) Phantasms of the Dead from Another Point of View. Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, Vol VI, 1889-90. London, UK.

Gauld, Alan & Cornell, Tony (1979) Poltergeists. White Crow Books, London, UK.

Sussex Advertiser (1879) Suicide By Hanging. Sussex Advertiser, Sat 5 April 1879, p2. Brighton, UK.

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The Dark Histories Butterfly was drawn by Courtney, who you can find on Instagram @bewildereye

Music was recorded by me © Ben Cutmore 2017

Other Outro music was Paul Whiteman & his orchestra with Mildred Bailey - All of me (1931). It's out of copyright now, but if you're interested, that was that.

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SOURCES

Somerset, Anne (2004) The Affair Of The Poisons: Murder, Infanticide, And Satanism At The Court Of Louis XIV. St Martin’s Press, NY, USA.

Duramy, Benedetta Faedi (2012) Women & Poisons in 20th Century France. Golden Gate University School of Law, CA, USA.

Zacharias, Gerhard (1964) Der dunkle Gott: Satanskult und Schwarze Messe. Wiesbaden, Germany.

For almost anything, head over to the podcasts hub at darkhistories.com

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The Dark Histories Butterfly was drawn by Courtney, who you can find on Instagram @bewildereye

Music was recorded by me © Ben Cutmore 2017

Other Outro music was Paul Whiteman & his orchestra with Mildred Bailey - All of me (1931). It's out of copyright now, but if you're interested, that was that.

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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...

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The Dark Histories Butterfly was drawn by Courtney, who you can find on Instagram @bewildereye

Music was recorded by me © Ben Cutmore 2017

Other Outro music was Paul Whiteman & his orchestra with Mildred Bailey - All of me (1931). It's out of copyright now, but if you're interested, that was that.

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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 the Bermuda Triangle all within his sights.

SOURCES

Ewing, William (1914) Annals of the Free Church of Scotland, 1843-1900. T&T Clark, Edinburgh, UK.

Omand, Donald (1970) Experiences of a Present Day Exorcist. Harper Collins, London, UK.

Alexander, Marc (1981) The Devil Hunter: The Incredible Account of the Work of a Modern Day Exorcist. Sphere, London, UK.

Alexander, Marc (1980) The Man Who Exorcised the Bermuda Triangle. A.S Barnes, New York, USA.

Young, Francis (2018) A History of Anglican Exorcism: Deliverance & Demonology in Church Ritual. I.B. Taurus & Co., London, UK.

Underwood, Peter (1990) Exorcism! Robert Hale Ltd, London, UK.

The Sunday Mirror (1977) The Devil Hunter. The Sunday Mirror, Sun 20 Nov 1977, p10, London, UK.

BBC Archive (2024) 1973: EXORCISING the LOCH NESS MONSTER | Nationwide | Weird and Wonderful | BBC Archive. Youtube, https://youtu.be/BNZ1dNWMh7c?si=FB6dipQ_oWTU3CeJ

Miami Herald (1950) Sea's Puzzles Still Baffle Men In Pushbutton Age. The Miami Herald, Sun 17 Sep 1950, p6, Miami, USA. 

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The Dark Histories Butterfly was drawn by Courtney, who you can find on Instagram @bewildereye

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Other Outro music was Paul Whiteman & his orchestra with Mildred Bailey - All of me (1931). It's out of copyright now, but if you're interested, that was that.

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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. (1810) Sampford Ghost, A Plain & Authentic Narrative. T. Smith, Tiverton, UK.

Colton, C. (1810) Sampford Ghost, Stubborn Facts Against Vague Assertions. T. Smith, Tiverton, UK.

Marriott, John (1810) Sampford Ghost!!! I, Norris, Taunton, UK.

York Herald (1810) Sampford Ghost. York Herald, Sat 01 Sep 1810, p2. York, UK.

The Morning Chronicle (1810) Tale of Mystery. The Morning Chronicle, Thur 2 Aug 1810, p2. London, UK.

Law, Susan C. (2023) The Dark Side of the Cut. The History Press, Gloucestershire, UK.

Bristol Times & Mirror (1811) Alarming Riot at Sampford Peverell. Bristol Times & Mirror, p2, Bristol, UK.

Salisbury & Winchester Journal (1811) Salisbury. Salisbury & Winchester Journal, Mon 6 May 1811, p4. Salisbury, UK.

Harding, William (1845) The HIstory of Tiverton Vol. I. UK.

Dent, Susie (2012) Brewers Dictionary of Phrase & Fable 19th Edition. Chambers Harrap Publishers. UK

Davies, Owen (2007) The Haunted: A Social History of Ghosts. Palgrave Macmillan, Hampshire, UK.

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The Dark Histories Butterfly was drawn by Courtney, who you can find on Instagram @bewildereye

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Other Outro music was Paul Whiteman & his orchestra with Mildred Bailey - All of me (1931). It's out of copyright now, but if you're interested, that was that.

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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 peak of a series of attacks by a violent perpetrator, struck fear into the hearts of citizens who were already terrified of the brutal, seemingly random violence that had been wrapping the city in a terrifying mystery for almost a decade.

SOURCES

Davos, Miriam C. (2017) The Axeman Of New Orleans. Chicago Review Press Inc., Chicago, USA. 

Tallant, Robert (1952) Ready To Hang. Pelican Publishing Co., New Orleans, USA.

New Orleans Dept. of Police (1911) Report of Homicide. Report No.29. New Orleans, USA.

The Times Democrat (1910) Mysterious Assault. Sun 14 Aug 1910, p4. New Orleans, USA.

The Times Democrat (1910) New Clew To Assailant Of Rissetto’s. Wed 21 Sep 1910, p4. New Orleans, USA.

The Times Democrat (1910) She Wore No.4 Shoe. Thurs 22 Sep 1910, p4. New Orleans, USA.

The Times Democrat (1910) Rissetto Assault Remains A Mystery. Fri 23 Sep 1910, p5. New Orleans, USA.

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The Dark Histories Butterfly was drawn by Courtney, who you can find on Instagram @bewildereye

Music was recorded by me © Ben Cutmore 2017

Other Outro music was Paul Whiteman & his orchestra with Mildred Bailey - All of me (1931). It's out of copyright now, but if you're interested, that was that.

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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 of Thomas Bram. Lyons Press, CT, USA.

Morddel, Anne (2020) American Merchant Seamen of the Early Nineteenth Century: A Researcher’s Guide. Self Published. 

The New York Times (1896) Triple Murder At Sea. Wed July 22 1896, p1. NY, USA.

The Boston Globe (1896) Mutiny And Murder. Wed July 22 1896, p1. Boston, USA.

The Boston Globe (1896) Bram Talks. Fri July 24 1896, p1. Boston, USA.

The Boston Globe (1896) His Life In Their Hands. Tues Dec 15 1896, p5. Boston, USA.

The Boston Globe (1896) For Murder. Wed Dec 16 1896, p5. Boston, USA.

The Boston Globe (1897) Guilty OF Wilful Murder. Sun July 03 1897, p1. Boston, USA.

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The Dark Histories Butterfly was drawn by Courtney, who you can find on Instagram @bewildereye

Music was recorded by me © Ben Cutmore 2017

Other Outro music was Paul Whiteman & his orchestra with Mildred Bailey - All of me (1931). It's out of copyright now, but if you're interested, that was that.

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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 wrong. Years later, the same men sent out to fight the Spanish, were arriving back on English shores, after making a perilous escape attempt from a deserted island, following a harrowing ordeal of starvation, disease, and mutiny and murder. Far from the great victory that the admiralty had imagined, it had instead turned into a nightmarish tale of human endurance in the face of the bleakest of situations.

SOURCES

Grann, David (2023) The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny & Murder. Simon & Schuster Ltd. NY, USA.

Marshall, P. J. (1998) Rodger, N. A. M., 'Sea-Power and Empire, 1688–1793 in The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume II: The Eighteenth Century. Oxford University Press. Oxford, UK.

River Editors, Charles (2016) The HMS Wager: The History of the 18th Century’s Most Famous Shipwreck and Mutiny. Createspace Independent Publishing. USA.

Bulkeley, John & Cummins, John (1757) A voyage to the South Seas. Jacob Robinson, London, UK.

Byron, John (1768) Narrative of the Hon. John Byron; Being an Account of the Shipwreck of The Wager; and the Subsequent Adventures of Her Crew. London, UK.

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The Dark Histories Butterfly was drawn by Courtney, who you can find on Instagram @bewildereye

Music was recorded by me © Ben Cutmore 2017

Other Outro music was Paul Whiteman & his orchestra with Mildred Bailey - All of me (1931). It's out of copyright now, but if you're interested, that was that.

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