Happy International Woman’s Day! This week I’m looking at one lesser known badass warrior Queen - Njinga, Queen (then later King) of Ndongo.   

The blog post of the episode is here.

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Music, writing, narration, mixing all yours truly.

For more information on Simone click here. 

From November 1896 through 1897, the skies over America - if Tales are to be believed - were full of magnificent flying machines. Some possibly from another planet, most were believed by the populace to be the work of pioneering geniuses - such as a mysterious 47 year old dentist from California. 

What was really behind this spate of sightings?  

The blog post of the episode is here. 

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Content Warning: This week’s Tale deals with several ugly topics including lynching, false arrests death by consumption, suicide and racism in general. Discretion advised. Set in Detroit Michigan in and around 1925 today we try to explain the awful reasons a dedicated family doctor fell foul of a ‘waterworks improvement association’ for wanting to move into a ‘nice neighbourhood’. 

Support the show on Patreon for just $2 a month and get access to exclusive content.  

Please leave us a like and review. The best way you can help support the show is to share an episode with a friend - Creative works grow best by word of mouth. I post episodes fortnightly, Wednesdays.

We’re on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

Music, writing, narration, mixing all yours truly.

This is part two of a two part series on England’s Pendle Witch trials of 1612. Last episode we looked at the lead in to the witch hunts in England and Scotland- Today we look at the Demdikes and the Chattoxes.

I’ve split this episode into two parts as it was running closer to an hour than the usual 20 minutes in pre production. 

The blog post of the episode is here. 

Please leave us a like and review. The best way you can help support the show is to share an episode with a friend - Creative works grow best by word of mouth. I post episodes fortnightly, Wednesdays.

We’re on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

Music, writing, narration, mixing all yours truly.

For more information on Simone click here. 

In 1612 Lancaster, England was abuzz with several reports of witchcraft - the new moral panic to have just hit England after a certain King of Scotland got a promotion and brought some strange ideas south with him. The following is the story of how the witch hunts affected two families - the Devices and the Chattoxes.

I’ve split this episode into two parts as it was running closer to an hour than the usual 20 minutes in pre production. Part two will be out next week. 

The blog post of the episode is here. 

Please leave us a like and review. The best way you can help support the show is to share an episode with a friend - Creative works grow best by word of mouth. I post episodes fortnightly, Wednesdays.

We’re on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

Music, writing, narration, mixing all yours truly.

For more information on Simone click here. 

Hi all, Happy Holidays, however you choose to celebrate - or commiserate this year. The following episode is the last Tale of the year (I’ll be back round 19th January 2022)

I wanted to close out the year by dissecting a figure who entered Xmas lore back in 1843 - Charles Dickens’ Ebenezer Scrooge - one of his many ‘Mean men’. Was there a real life equivalent who inspired Dickens’ fertile imagination? Hit the button and find out.

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 Music, writing, narration, mixing all yours truly. I normally compose on the fly, though have borrowed God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen (anon - first appeared among recusant Catholic families in England in the 1650s)

And Sleigh Ride (Leroy Anderson & Mitchell Parish - FYI The Andrews Sisters version may be canon, but The Ronettes cover is where it’s at).

For more information on Simone hit the link. 

This week we’re in the town of Campden, Gloucestershire. The date August 16th, 1660. William Harrison, the ageing rent collector - disappears while on a two mile walk to Charringworth. A local man is arrested, and a disturbing tale of betrayal emerges - but was any of it true?

The blog post of the episode is here.  Check out the blog at historyandimagination.com

For just $2 US a month you can support the show on Patreon, and get access to exclusive content.  

Please leave a like and review if you enjoyed it. If you enjoyed this episode, share it with someone else. Creative works grow best by word of mouth. I post episodes fortnightly, Wednesdays.

We’re on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

Music, writing, narration, mixing all yours truly.

For more information on Simone click here. 

Spring Heeled Jack would enter the public consciousness of Londoners at the tail end of 1837, as reports emerged of numerous attacks on lone women in the city. Tall, demonic, with glowing red eyes and an almost supernatural ability to scale tall objects - some wondered if the devil had come to London. 

Over time his legend spread and took on a surprising life of his own. 

This week’s Patreon only episode is on The Carrington Event. For just $2 US a month you can support the show, and get access to exclusive content.  

The blog post of the episode is here. Check out the blog at historyandimagination.com

Please leave a like or review on your pod-catcher of choice. If you enjoyed this episode, share us with someone you know will like it too. Creative works grow best by word of mouth. I post episodes fortnightly, Wednesdays.

We’re on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

 Music, writing, narration, mixing all yours truly.

Main texts: Sorry it’s been so long since I wrote this that I’ve lost track, Mike Dash’s work on Spring Heeled Jack would have to be the main source - all subsequent articles owing much to his scholarship.

For more information on Simone click here. 

On 9:14 pm, 22nd November 1987, Chicago’s WGN TV was ‘zipped’ by a mysterious attacker - a figure wearing a rubber Max Headroom mask. The attacker would strike again, upsetting Whovians in the Windy City. 

In this short Tale we discuss the Max Headroom Incident.

This week’s Patreon only episode is on The Hammersmith Ghost. Support the show for just $2 US a month, and get access to exclusive content.  

Check out the blog at historyandimagination.com

Please leave me a like or review on your pod-catcher of choice. If you enjoyed this episode, share us with someone who’ll like it too. Creative works grow best by word of mouth. I post episodes fortnightly, Wednesdays.

Tales is on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

 Music, writing, narration, mixing all yours truly.

For more information on Simone click here.