On today's episode, Genevieve will be discussing not one, but two of the most haunted Victorian homes in England: The Borley Rectory as well as a little unsuspecting cottage in Essex that was once known as The Cage of St. Osyth, which was once the site of a medieval witch prison. We will also learn exactly what happens when you die, according to a Spiritualist newspaper from the 1800s.

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References for today's episode:

“The Ghost of Sarah Duckett - Shropshire” - The Illustrated Police News, Nov. 25th, 1882.

“Mystery of the Walled-Up ‘Spook’ of Borely Rectory” - The San Francisco Examiner, Sep. 29th, 1929.

“The Bogey of a ‘Walled-Up’ Nun” - The Catholic Weekly,  Dec. 5th, 1929.

“Bating Tragedy” - The Essex County Standard, Etc., Aug. 08th, 1862

“The Philosophy of Death” - The Spiritualist, Nov. 19th, 1869.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borley_Rectory

https://burialsandbeyond.com/2021/01/15/the-most-haunted-house-in-england-borley-rectory/

https://www.ufoinsight.com/supernatural/ghosts-hauntings/the-english-amityville-house

https://iapsop.com/archive/materials/spiritualist/#:~:text=Summary:,%2C%20William%20Crookes%2C%20Alfred%20R.

On today’s episode, Genevieve will discuss a family that is a complete disaster, the absurdities of hypnosis, a hatchet murder, a man who luckily couldn’t quite properly operate a firearm, utter pandemonium at a spiritualist lecture, a corpse sent to a candy maker, a man frozen to a boat, yet another man killed by a coffin, and the single worst death ever discussed on any show up until today, hands down. Nothing comes close. Consider yourselves warned.

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References for Today's Episode:

“True Stories About Ghosts” - The Illustrated Police News, Oct. 29th 1881.

“A Very Unfortunate Family” - The Illustrated Police News, Jul. 6th, 1876.

“One of the Absurdities of the Age - Pretended Effects of Mesmerism as Exhibited at Brackett Hall” - The Illustrated Police News, Feb 1st, 1872.

“A Horrible Death” - The Illustrated Police News, Jan. 25th, 1872.

“A Man Frozen to the Cross-Trees of a Chicago Vessel” - The Illustrated Police News, Jan. 4th, 1872.

“Ineffectual Attempt of a Discarded Lover to Shoot Himself in Chicago” - The Illustrated Police News, Feb 1st, 1872.

“A Row Among the Spiritualists at Cooper Institute” - The Illustrated Police News, Feb. 1st, 1872.

“Murder of a Wife and Child by a German in Ann Arbor Michigan” - The Illustrated Police News, Nov. 9th, 1871.

“A Corpse Sent to a Cincinnati Candy Maker” - The Illustrated Police News, Feb. 15th, 1872.

“Edmund Sweeny Falls Dead While Lifting the Coffin Lid from the Body of His Father” - The Illustrated Police News, Feb. 1st, 1872.

“A Chambermaid Turns an Involuntary Somersault Out of a Second Story Window at Bangor” - The Illustrated Police News, Feb. 1st, 1872.

https://www.bbc.com/bbcthree/article/f8ce7277-5945-470a-b1ad-0c637d8265c1

https://historyofhypnosis.org/19th-century/

https://vintagehairstyling.com/bobbypinblog/2019/11/adding-hair-pieces-to-your-vintage-hairstyle-a-history-of-the-hair-switch.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Davenport_brothers

In this very special collaborative episode between SIGHTINGS and MY VICTORIAN NIGHTMARE, venture into an eerie haunted house from the 19th century, and discover why some doors were meant to stay sealed shut. 

Check out SIGHTINGS on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to Podcasts!

Story Music tracks used by kind permission of CO.AG

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On Monday’s episode, Genevieve will discuss not 1, not 2, but FOUR grisly train murders from the Victorian era – one with a wild twist! All complete with frick’n sound effects and everything: The murder of Issac Gold (1881), William Pearson (1901), Elizabeth Camp (1897), and Mary Money (1905).

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References for Today's Episode:

https://www.btp.police.uk/police-forces/british-transport-police/areas/about-us/about-us/our-history/crime-history/murder-of-issac-gold/

https://www.btp.police.uk/police-forces/british-transport-police/areas/about-us/about-us/our-history/crime-history/murder-of-william-pearson-1901/

https://www.btp.police.uk/police-forces/british-transport-police/areas/campaigns/our-history/crime-history/murder-of-elizabeth-camp-1897/

https://www.btp.police.uk/police-forces/british-transport-police/areas/campaigns/our-history/crime-history/murder-of-mary-money-1905/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Hicks_Murray

“True Stories About Ghosts” - The Illustrated Police News, Oct. 29th 1881.

"Miss Money's Funeral" - The Daily Telegraph, Oct. 4th, 1905.

"Funeral of Miss Camp" - Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper, Feb. 21st, 1897.

"The Murder on the Brighton Railway" - The Morning Post, Jul. 5th, 1881.

"The Railway Murder" - Evening Post, Jan. 23rd, 1901.

It’s our 1 year anniversary episode!!!! Today, Genevieve will have some brutal vigilante justice, deadly vengeance, another spooky skeleton discovery, a hammer murder, 1800s red pill propaganda, a mysterious murder-suicide, a clairvoyant shot by a spirit hand, and a devout, salvation-seeking rooster, named Cochin - all courtesy of the Illustrated Police News Law Courts and Record, our favorite goopy, gloppy, murdery, marvelous tabloid from the 1800s.

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References for Today's Episode:

“The Summary Execution of a Murderer” - The Illustrated Police News, Apr. 3rd, 1873.

“A Frontier Horror” - The Illustrated Police News, Jan. 25th, 1872.

"Deadly Vengeance of a Woman's Relatives Upon Her Husband" - The Illustrated Police News, Jan. 11th, 1872.

"A Couple of Skeletons Found at Bradford" - The Illustrated Police News, Jul. 30, 1870.

“Terrible Tragedy - Dr. Merriman Cole Found Murdered in His Office” - The Illustrated Police News, Jan. 18th, 1872.

“A Young Man Belabored by Two Young Ladies for Endorsing Victoria Woodhull's Free Love Sentiments” - The Illustrated Police News, Dec. 21st, 1871.

“Mysterious Taking Off of a Young Housekeeper, He Drowns Himself” - The Illustrated Police News, Dec. 14st, 1871.

“Shot by a Sprit Hand” - The Illustrated Police News, Oct. 28th, 1876.

“Avarice Kills a Man, and Then Follows the Corpse Several Hundred Miles”  - The Illustrated Police News, Dec. 21st, 1871.

“A Rooster Attends Religious Worship in a Family at Cayuga NY” - The Illustrated Police News, Jan. 11th, 1872.

On today’s episode, Genevieve will be discussing corpse medicine; the century’s old practice of using dead bodies to treat everything from jaundice to infertility to cataracts – and when you hear about how they specifically treated that last one, it’s really gonna bum you out.

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References for today’s episode:

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-gruesome-history-of-eating-corpses-as-medicine-82360284/

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/mummy-eating-medical-cannibalism-gory-history

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/corpse-medicine

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_cannibalism

https://theconversation.com/why-did-people-start-eating-egyptian-mummies-the-weird-and-wild-ways-mummy-fever-swept-through-europe-177551

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mummia

https://www.mdlinx.com/article/ancient-medicines-and-procedures-still-used-today/lfc-4453

https://www.texaschildrens.org/content/wellness/7-myths-about-placenta-consumption

https://burialsandbeyond.com/2023/11/05/the-weird-world-of-mummy-parties

On today’s’s episode, Genevieve will be discussing a young girl caught in a waterwheel, stonings, pickaxings, a harrowing coal oil disaster, a ludicrous fall in a church, a man’s head blown to atoms, men in drag wreaking havoc upon street harassers, a man who visit’s his wife’s grave and leaves with her - it’s not what you think, booby traps gone terribly wrong and so much more.

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References for today’s episode:

“The Frenzied Lover's Murder In Boston” - The Illustrated Police News, Mar. 14th 1872.

“Ludicrous Fall of a Young Lady in a Church at Lyons, NY” - The Illustrated Police News, Jan. 25th 1872.

“Summary Vengeance on an Insulter of Females at Bridgeport Conn.” - The Illustrated Police News, Jan. 25th 1872.

“A Lunatic Assaults the Statue of Franklin in Printing House Square” - The Illustrated Police News, Jan. 25th 1872.

“A Postmaster Shot by His Own Burglar Trap - The Illustrated Police News, Jan. 25th 1872.

“Bloody Work in John Street” - The Illustrated Police News, Jan. 11th 1872.

“Another Martyr to Coal Oil” - The Illustrated Police News, Jan. 11th 1872.

“The Newfoundland Horror” - The Illustrated Police News, Jan. 11th 1872.

“A Man Stoned to Death in Columbus Ohio” - The Illustrated Police News, Jan. 11th 1872.

“A Young Daughter of Mr. Villiton of Centerport Caught in a Water Wheel,” - The Illustrated Police News, Jan. 11th 1872.

“A Mans Head Blown to Atoms” - The Illustrated Police News, Jan. 25th 1872.

“Double Murder in Newfoundland - Hanging of a Beautiful Woman.” - The San Fransisco Examiner, Mar. 14th, 1872.

 https://www.farmcollector.com/farm-life/water-wheels-zmlz12novzbea/

http://www.thelampworks.com/lw_lamp_accidents.htm

On today’s episode, Genevieve will be discussing a topic that she’s said numerous times she would never cover: The Winchester Mystery House. She will thoroughly debunk all of the falsehoods, embellishments and downright lies about its very generous, very kind creator, Sarah (Sallie) Winchester, and her weird and wonderful house. You’ll also learn some great trivia night factoids in the process.

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References for today’s episode:

“The Frenzied Lover’s Murder in Boston” - The Illustrated Police News, Mar. 14th, 1872.

https://skepticalinquirer.org/2024/08/the-truth-about-sallie-winchester-and-the-mystery-house-that-never-was/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winchester_Mystery_House

https://www.syfy.com/syfy-wire/real-story-behind-the-winchester-house

https://www.7x7.com/the-top-10-lies-about-the-winchester-mystery-house-1786563456.html

https://www.housebeautiful.com/design-inspiration/a27481666/winchester-mystery-house/

https://www.biography.com/personality/sarah-winchester

Ignoffo, Mary Jo. 2010. Captive of the Labyrinth: Sarah L. Winchester, Heiress to the Rifle Fortune. Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press.

Nickell, Joe. 2002. Winchester Mystery House: Fact vs. fiction. Skeptical Inquirer (September/October).

On today’s episode, Genevieve will discuss ghosts frightening country bumpkins, really spooky skeleton encounters, a hatchet attack by a blind man, a man trying to slice his own head off and a young lady with enough pluck and presence of mind to save the very day.

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References for today’s episode:

“A Ghost at Large” - The Illustrated Police News, Sept. 10th, 1881.

“A Baltimore Woman Killed by a Blind Man” - The Illustrated Police News, Dec. 14th, 1871

"A Burglar Bitten by a Skeleton" The Illustrated Police News - Jun. 27th, 1874.

"The Discovery of Skeletons at Birmingham" - The Illustrated Police News - Jun. 21st, 1879.

"Extraordinary Discovery of a Skeleton" - The Illustrated Police News - Jul. 16th, 1870.

"A Horrible Story From the Sea" - The Illustrated Police News - Oct. 26th, 1872.

“Foreign Arrivals and Sailings” - Glasgow Herald - Apr. 4th, 1872.

“A Brother of the Baltimore Borgia Attempts Suicide” - The Illustrated Police News - Nov. 30th, 1871. 

“Pluck and Presence of Mind” - The Illustrated Police News - May. 20th, 1875.

“Foreign Arrivals and Sailings” - Glasgow Herald - Apr. 4th, 1872.

https://www.murderbygaslight.com/2021/08/a-baltimore-borgia.html

https://www.tasanet.com/Knowledge-Center/Articles/ArtMID/477/ArticleID/338920/Forensic-Analysis-of-Injury-and-Death-by-Asphyxiation#:~:text=Postmortem%20examinations%2C%20review%20of%20medical,the%20skin%20and%20the%20scalp.

On today’s episode, Genevieve will discuss the all-female Victorian gang, the 40 Elephants, as well as the thieving, poisoning, barbarous, butchering Belle Gunness: Hell’s Belle herself. 

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References for today’s show:

https://www.syfy.com/syfy-wire/triflers-need-not-apply-the-sNexttory-of-deadly-belle-gunness

https://www.nydailynews.com/2014/11/30/belle-gunness-queen-of-black-widows-murdered-dozens-and-planted-victims-around-farm/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belle_Gunness

https://www.crimelibrary.org/serial_killers/history/gunness/index_1.html

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-100-year-mystery-of-lady-bluebeard/

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Khlysty 

https://murderpedia.org/female.G/g/gunness-belle.htm

“A Headless Ghost in Buckinghamshire” - The Illustrated Police News, January 8th, 1898.