A figure of mythic proportions during his lifetime, Vlad the Impaler's notoriety receded over the centuries only to be resurrected in the 1970s, when a pair of Boston University scholars went public w

The devilish reputation Ouija boards enjoy in horror films is a relatively new phenomenon. In the Victorian era, they were regarded by "psychical researchers" as something to be embraced in a spirit

Apparently, I clipped off the beginning of the show during the initial upload. It's been fixed, so this would only effect those downloading yesterday, but for those who missed it, here it is..

Ouija boards, or more generally, "spirit boards" have antecedents going back to the very first days of the Spiritualist movement. We begin our show with a seasonally spooky visit to the cottage of th

A special short announcement regarding the October 20 deadline for Trick-or-Treat-by-Mail for listeners joining our Patreon. Find out how you can receive a hand-packed candy bag from the home of Bon

Were getting into the spirit of the season with a classic tale of witchcraft set in 17th-century Salem Village, Nathaniel Hawthornes short story, Young Goodman Brown. Written in 1835 for New Engla

Agartha, Shambhala, and Hyperborea are all names for a a mythic spiritually and scientifically advanced kingdom, always in some hidden location, sometimes within the earth, a legend which became an o

Borrowed from fairy lore, thenotion of a hollow earth peopled by superior beings became a theme of literary fantasies as early as the 17th century and went on to influence fringe theories of the eart

While the dummies may be inherently creepy, they were not the source of ventriloquisms dark reputation in earlier times. This originates with the understanding that the voice heard, when no mouth se

Our understanding of hypnotism, once known as mesmerism, has radically evolved over the centuries. This episode looks at where it all began, examining thefascinating (and rather weird) story of t