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The Penny Dreadful Hour: A Feast of Early-Victorian Street Literature and StoriesAuthor: Finn J.D. John/ Pulp-Lit Productions
This is the podcast that carries you back to the sooty, foggy streets of early-Victorian London when a new issue of one of the "Penny Dreadful" blood-and-thunder story paper comes out! It's like an early-Victorian variety show, FEATURING ... Sweeney Todd ... Varney, the Vampyre ... Highwayman Dick Turpin ... Spring-Heel'd Jack ... mustache-twirling villains ... virtuous ballet-girls ... wicked gamblers ... ... and more! Spiced with naughty cock-and-hen-club songs, broadsheet street ballads, and lots of old Regency "dad jokes." Join us! Language: en Genres: History Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it Trailer: |
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5.38: The bloody dagger of her future bridegroom hurled at her feet! — She dreamed a murder, then saw the room in which it was done! — The prophetess spake, and they died! (The “Sixpenny Spookies.”)
Episode 38
Thursday, 7 May, 2026
SHOW NOTES — for — MINISODE 38 (Season 5)(May 7, 2026) ———— 00:40: THE TERRIFIC REGISTER: An account of a widow living in Rome who in 1774 became a prophetess, and predicted the deaths of the kings of Sardinia and France as well as the Pope himself. Her predictions came true.05:35: EARLY VICTORIAN GHOSTLY SHORT STORY, to-wit: LEIXLIP CASTLE, by CHARLES MATURIN: In which, we meet the family of Sir Redmond Blarey — the baronet and his daughter, Miss Anne. Miss Anne wants to know who she is destined to marry, as aristocratic girls often did back then; so she lets an old crone, a servant of the family named Collogue, cast a spell that will show him to her. —— The spell works, sort of; a demonic figure appears, casts a bloody dagger down at her feet, and tells her she will know her future husband by that; and disappears. —— Then a pale, corpse-like suitor comes to call at the family manse …35:45: A SHORT GHOST STORY from the scrapbook of Charles Lindley, Viscount Halifax. In which: Lady Goring had a vivid dream of a man murdering an elderly lady, then staging the scene to look like a suicide, in a room of a house she’d never seen. A few months later, she was touring houses to rent, and recognized the house! The previous tenants had left it … after the wife’s mother shot herself, they said.39:25: A STREET BROADSIDE on the topic of ghosts, death, and ruin: “The Queer Little Man” (about a ghost, or so he thought) and “Stay a Little Longer” (a merry shopkeeper’s ditty).GLOSSARY OF EARLY-VICTORIAN SLANG USED IN THIS EPISODE:ROMONERS: (from intro patter) Swindlers who pretend to have occult powers.OWLERS: (ibid) Smugglers, who move goods about by night when owls are out and about.KNIGHTS OF THE BRUSH AND MOON: (ibid) Drunken fellows running amok in fields and ditches late at night, trying to stagger home. RAG: (From broadside ballad) Money. IT’S ALL MY EYE: (ibid) It’s all nonsense. DUN: (ibid) Bill-collector. NAILED: (ibid) Arrested. SHERRY OFF: (from outro patter) Run away. FLATS: Suckers. GET FLY TO THE FAKEMENT: (ibid) Get wise to the con. CORINTHIAN: (ibid) A fancy toff or titled swell. Used here as a reference to Corinthian Tom, the quintessential Regency rake depicted in Pierce Egan's "Life in London" (usually referred to as "Tom and Jerry"). MOABITES: (ibid) Bailiffs.PHILISTINES: (ibid) Another word for Moabites. CRAPING COVES: (ibid) Hangmen. “Crape” is a reference to the mourning worn by “hempen widows” after their husbands have been executed. YE OLD STONE PITCHER: (ibid) Newgate Prison. PADDINGTON FAIR: Execution day at Tyburn, which is in Paddington Parish. Paddington is also a pun, as “pad” was a flash word for “thief” or “robber.” Thank you for your support! Please, if you have a moment, rate us on your podcatcher network. If you’d like to do more, we do have a Patreon page; it’s here: https://patreon.com/pennydread
