We're heading out of society's comfort zone in this episode, and meeting the wild head on. People have always been fascinated by the feral, the untamed and the uncivilised - we use it as a yardstick by which to measure ourselves. Today we look at two ways in which our fascination with the wild has manifested itself - the mythical woodwoses and the all too real case of Peter the Wild Boy. From feral child to pet of royalty to philosophical talking point to farmhand to vagrant through to dying of love, Peter best shows what happens when the line between wild and tame gets crossed.

Please leave a review, subscribe and recommend this podcast to anyone you know with an interest in East Anglia, history, folklore and the macabre. Contact us at [email protected] if the spirit moves you.... This episode was recorded at the UEA media suite with research support from the Norwich Heritage Centre, with thanks to them both for their support. This episode was written by me, Richard Sheppard, with research by Dr Linda Sheppard, and technical production by Stephen L. Parkes.

Benjamin Britten was one of the best known names in classical music of the twentieth century. What is less known about him, was that he was born in the East Anglian seaside town of Lowestoft, and it was there that he began his prodigious musical output. We look at Britten's life, and the themes that run through his music, including a preoccupation with ghost stories, and the barriers that not only separate the living and the dead, but also his own clandestine world as a member of the LGBTQ community at a time when being gay was a crime.

Please leave a review, subscribe and recommend this podcast to anyone you know with an interest in East Anglia, history, folklore and the macabre. Contact us at [email protected] if the spirit moves you.... This episode was recorded at the UEA media suite with research support from the Norwich Heritage Centre, with thanks to them both for their support. This episode was written by me, Richard Sheppard, with research by Dr Linda Sheppard, and technical production by Stephen L. Parkes.

Continuing our look at East Anglia religious mystics, we take a look at the strange, incredible career of Julian of Norwich. A young woman who dedicated to her faith, Julian was rewarded with visions of Heaven and Hell, angels and demons and God and the Devil. What makes her so unusual is that she deliberately asked to receive these visions, and to be taken so close to the brink of death that the lines between our world and the metaphysical world became blurred.

Please leave a review, subscribe and recommend this podcast to anyone you know with an interest in East Anglia, history, folklore and the macabre. Contact us at [email protected] if the spirit moves you.... This episode was recorded at the UEA media suite with research support from the Norwich Heritage Centre, with thanks to them both for their support. This episode was written by me, Richard Sheppard, with research by Dr Linda Sheppard, and technical production by Stephen L. Parkes.

As an epilogue to our two-part special on poison murders, we present an exclusive interview with local historian and author Frank Meeres. We talk a load of arsenic, acid, murderers and East Anglian crime and punishment. 

Frank Meeres's bibliography: - https://www.waterstones.com/author/frank-meeres/63819

Please leave a review, subscribe and recommend this podcast to anyone you know with an interest in East Anglia, history, folklore and the macabre. Contact us at [email protected] if the spirit moves you....

This episode was recorded at the UEA media suite with research support from the Norwich Heritage Centre, with thanks to them both for their support.

This episode was written by me, Richard Sheppard, with research by Dr Linda Sheppard, and technical production by Stephen L. Parkes.

Our look at murders by poison in East Anglia focuses on the more obscure, convoluted and downright weird cases. We meet the cow that got a family killed, villages torn apart by rumour and adultery and all manners of wrongdoers and their varied eventual fates.

Please leave a review, subscribe and recommend this podcast to anyone you know with an interest in East Anglia, history, folklore and the macabre. Contact us at [email protected] if the spirit moves you....

This episode was recorded at the UEA media suite with research support from the Norwich Heritage Centre, with thanks to them both for their support.

This episode was written by me, Richard Sheppard, with research by Dr Linda Sheppard, and technical production by Stephen L. Parkes.

The Hallowed Histories podcast is back from hiatus with the first part of a two part look at a subject that gets people frothing at the mouth - poison. In this episode we'll take a brief look at how and why poison became the murder weapon of choice for so many people in the 19th century. Then we'll take a look at the criminal careers of three men who chose poison as the way to solve their problems, but found themselves dangling at the end of the rope.

Please leave a review, subscribe and recommend this podcast to anyone you know with an interest in East Anglia, history, folklore and the macabre. Contact us at [email protected] if the spirit moves you....

This episode was recorded at the UEA media suite with research support from the Norwich Heritage Centre, with thanks to them both for their support.

This episode was written by me, Richard Sheppard, with research by Dr Linda Sheppard, and technical production by Stephen L. Parkes.

In this episode we start our two part look at the gruesome stories behind Norfolk's brush with almost total annihilation in 1349. The country was ravaged by bubonic plague, and the people of Norwich rushed to finish the city walls that may not have only made them safe from disease, but given them strength to rival London as England's capital city. What went wrong? 

This episode was sponsored by Liberty Restaurant, American inspired food in the heart of the Norfolk Broads.

Please leave a review, subscribe and recommend this podcast to anyone you know with an interest in East Anglia, history, folklore and the macabre. Contact us at [email protected] if the spirit moves you....

This episode was recorded at the UEA media suite with research support from the Norwich Heritage Centre, with thanks to them both for their support.

This episode was written by me, Richard Sheppard, with research by Dr Linda Sheppard.