Hobsession

Hobsession

By Selkie and the AnchoressArts
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Hobsession episodes

  • Richard Dadd and the Fairies of Bedlam
    In the Tate Gallery there is one of the most beautiful and famous fairy paintings  in the world - The Fairy Feller’s Master-stroke by Richard Dadd. Like all of Dadd’s paintings, it’s loved for its glorious whimsy and exquisite detail, however, its background is far from sweet. This is a case where art history meets gruesome true crime, and we learn that even luminous beauty can grow from dark and sinister soil
    25 min
  • Flying Saucers in the Suburbs
    The 6th of April 1966 was not an average day for the students and teachers of Westall High, a suburban school in Melbourne.  The largest mass UFO sighting in Australia would take place just before recess and the lives of the eyewitnesses would be altered forever. Disbelieved and mocked, the students were forced into silence, yet even in adulthood they stand firm in their conviction that what they saw that day was real. Heidi and Becki delve into the events, the coverups and the aftermath of the Westall UFO incident.
    35 min
  • Bluebeard and the Cathedral of True Terror
    Fairytales were not always for children. Fairytales were originally violent, brutal and very scary. This week we look at the origins of Bluebeard and work out possible connections to the world’s first serial killer, Joan of Arc and some unsavoury men.
    39 min
  • Murder on the High Cs: The Very Loud Life of Florence Foster Jenkins
    Florence Foster Jenkins was a New York socialite with musical ambitions. Equipped with a formidable self esteem and an army of enablers, Florence never let her lack of talent get in the way of her operatic dreams. She was notorious for her costumes, her swagger and her inability to hold a tune. Heidi and Becki look at the life of a cult favourite and analyse what it takes to be ‘so bad it’s good’
    1 hr
  • Enemy of the State: The Incarceration of ‘Typhoid Mary’
    Mary Mallon was once known as the most dangerous and feared woman in New York. An Irish immigrant and hard-working cook, Mallon was chased down by authorities and forced into a life of isolation, despite never having committed any actual crimes. So who was Mary Mallon and why was she considered such a menace to society? Heidi and Becki take a look at the strange and tragic life of the woman history remembers as ‘Typhoid Mary’.
    Coronavirus Covid19
    45 min
  • Fairies Gone Viral : an analysis of the Cottingley Fairy Scandal
    What happens when an innocent game spirals so far out of control that it ends up being international news?  Many people recognise the Cottingley fairy photographs as one of the greatest hoaxes of all time, but who were the girls behind it and what were their true intentions?  Why did such intellectual luminaries as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle give them such public support?  Do people have an inbuilt desire to be deceived?   Heidi and Becki attempt to tackle these questions and sprinkle around some glittery insights into the nature of grief, truth and the human need to believe in magic.
    59 min
  • The Woman in the Glass Coffin: The Life and Death of Julia Pastrana - Part 2

    Part 2.   A young girl born and raised in Western Mexico became an international celebrity in the mid-nineteenth century, yet now the name Julia Pastrana has fallen into near obscurity. An outcast from mainstream society, Pastrana became one of the most famous performers of her day, but never for the right reasons. We sift through the lies and rumours to find the real woman and the truth about her heartbreaking life.

    27 min
  • The Woman in the Glass Coffin: The Life and Death of Julia Pastrana. Part one

    Part one.   A young girl born and raised in Western Mexico became an international celebrity in the mid-nineteenth century, yet now the name Julia Pastrana has fallen into near obscurity. An outcast from mainstream society, Pastrana became one of the most famous performers of her day, but never for the right reasons. We sift through the lies and rumours to find the real woman and the truth about her heartbreaking life.

    30 min
  • Demon in your doorway

    You wake up, yet you can't move.  A figure moves in the doorway, enters the room and sits on the bed.

    Demon?  Spirit?  Or something that can be neatly explained by science?
    This week the hobsessives delve into the intriguing topic of sleep paralysis - the science, the myths and the links to historical events and current pop culture mysteries.  
    Become, HOBSESSED.  

    47 min
  • The Ghostwriter and Yeats

    Lonely and neglected on her honeymoon, the young wife of Irish poet W.B.Yeats discovers that she has a talent for automatic writing. Believing that his bride is a channel for spirits and divine muses, Yeats is inspired and enchanted. A connection to the world of ghostly poets or the ruse of a frustrated and brilliant woman?

    40 min

About Hobsession

From the publisher's feed

Welcome to Hobsession - where we get horribly obsessed, highly obsessed, hilariously obsessed with things that other people might find odd. Nothing is too obscure too creepy or too weird for us to…