Here you'll find mysterious deaths, morbid fascinations, disturbing stories, and otherwise spooky events from the Victorian Era. If you consider yourself an enthusiast of creepy Victorian history, you probably already know about the age of spiritualism, the grizzly murders, the grave robbers, twisted pseudo psychotherapy, and memento mori - But I try to dig a little deeper. This was a time full of lace corsetry, romantic poetry, and a deep reverence and affection for the dead. It was a culture of shared sorrow, ornament and elegance, prudishness and scandal, bone chilling children’s stories, and for whatever reason, I just feel at home there. There’s something strangely comforting about the heebie jeebies this era gives me. If you find yourself equally enchanted by things that most people would find horrifying, this podcast is probably for you. Hosted by Genevieve Manion. Join the community on TikTok and Instagram @myvictoriannightmare for some daily 1800s nightmare fuel.
"...known for popping into her spirit cabinet and oozing ectoplasm..." That made me laugh out line. Your dry humor is what makes this podcast. Great job.
I haven't written a poem since high school, but your podcast inspired this: There's something lovely dark and deep about the frogs who came And munched merrily along as they hopped up and down the lane But Mary she was long and gone and buried in the rain The frogs, they came and croaked in shame, in harmonizing pain But Mary was both long and gone And buried in the rain
I don’t think I could have watched another 5 minutes. Not that I haven’t happily sat through some awful horror movies before, but I can only care about a movie as much as it seems the film makers actually care. This was just trash.
Much love from northern Germany <3 Me little bogwitch is so happy that she found this terrific channel of a lovely Vampire Lady, telling sinister stories of the victorian era! Your voice and your way of telling stories are absolutely wonderful, I especially loved the self-insertion of the last episode, so good💕
So excited to see a new video from you. I'm really enjoying these! I'm of the opinion that I'm not convinced on ghosts or not, don't want to rule them out. I also talk to my relatives that have passed sometimes, it's comforting.
As it comes to the porphyria stuff, I'm pretty sure Stoker's Dracula was not, actually, harmed by sunlight. There is a scene where the gang jump him with knives in an empty house during the day, and Drac was out and about for a walk beforehand, basically. The sunlight was detrimental, but only insofar as it cut him off from (some of) his powers. It didn't burn him, and he ended up escaping handily enough. As such, that part of the porphyria connection is likely not true. The light killing a vampire seems to be somewhat more related to that film, Nosferatu. I love the bit about the Irish inspiration for Dracula, though. It makes a lot of sense, as the character does have a lot in common with Fae. The funny thing with Dracula is that... I like the book, and the characters are great and interesting and it's all quite nice. The bromanceship between all the men (and Mina) is really, surprisingly wholesome. But oh boy, are there far far less wholesome bits too.
This sounds very similar to some of the plot of Chappelwaite. Great show about vampires and a tuberculosis community in Maine - based on a short story "Jerusalem's Lot" (not Salem's Lot, but connected) by Stephen King.
A very interesting episode! I've always had a soft spot for Mercy Brown and am always happy to hear people share her story. "There's no evidence that Dracula was based on Vlad the Impaler" other than sharing the same name and the two coming from the same region, you mean? There's definitely a lot of room to debate how much inspiration Stroker took from Vlad, but there's certainly some. I believe there's a story about how Stroker found the name Dracula in a library book and underlined it repeatedly? Might be just be a story though. Interestingly, some people claim that Bathory was innocent and the stories people told about her tormenting girls was just her attempting non-traditional methods of trying to heal them, and she was convicted because of people misunderstanding what she was trying to do and because there were people around her who would benefit from her getting locked up. It seems an awful far stretch to call her innocent but there were people who benefited from her being locked up, so it's worth bringing up.
I actually really liked the pale blue eye, but I think it’s because I read the book 1st and the book does this great job of portraying exactly how I would’ve imagined him as a young man. He is full of himself. He’s both charming and annoying like many young artists. he makes up stories about his family because he doesn’t like his foster dad. The Poe house in Baltimore does these live historical discussions and the book just fit with how the historians in the discussion were describing young Poe
I never read the book myself, but I’d never judge anyone who has a different opinion of a film than I have, especially if they have more intimate knowledge of the source material. It’s nice to know that you believe they did Poe justice in the storytelling. That’s a rare instance in cinematic history if so. Thank you for listening and lending your perspective!
I loved this video! Just in case you don’t know- There’s a good Poe PBS documentary. It’s an episode of American Masters called Edgar a Poe buried alive.
It was that damned prayer for me-- "Now I lay me down to sleep...and if I die before I wake". I curse the person who wrote that thinking it would be comforting in any way!
I am a rabid fan of the macabre especially Poe. I liked The Raven with Vincent Price and the one with John Cusack. I've seen and enjoyed all of the Roger Corman Poe adaptions. I also enjoyed your video, you are an entertaining storyteller. I will subscribe for more!
I'd love it if you did more on Irish historical stories and folklore. Even growing up here I didn't hear some of those stories and the way you told them was fascinating.
You know, I wish I knew more about Irish folklore and stories myself. I might do a separate podcast of spooky bedtime stories - if I do, I'll certainly include Irish ones!
@myvictoriannightmare I would love that, I'm particularly interested in scary or unpleasant true stories of things that happened, especially in Ireland, since I'm from here, it's of particular interest to me, but any stories of that type from anywhere would be interesting to listen to. I'm really enjoying your videos, you're really great at narrating them in a way that draws you in.
Love that you have some sort of connection with these stories. But you're no different than Brothers Grimm or Disney. You are still doing the same thing that they are doing which is chopping up the story to fit the narrative that you are saying. Have some integrity. Say the whole story. Do the math, study the history and do the whole story if you want to tell the story or Don't
Ooooooo I love this so much. All those darkened drawing rooms and the quiet nights broken only by the whispers of arsenic laden wallpaper, plotting….sorry, I had a moment there. This was such an entertaining video, you paint such vivid pictures with your narration. People lived with such an undercurrent of fear! When Dante Gabriel Rossetti had his late wife Lizzie Siddal dug up, so he could retrieve a book of poetry, there was gossip around the fact that she apparently looked very flushed and intact. She died through a laudanum overdose, I can’t help wondering if that’s why she was fairly “lively” looking. (I’m longing to say “pickled” but I’ll go to hell if I do😂) I loved this. The whole Victorian mood is just so lush. Wonderful video!
There is a book (Das farbige Wilhelm Busch Hausbuch) with all the German stories you mentioned. Scared the living daylights out of me when my grandma would read those stories to me as a kid, but oddly enough I love these stories now.
This is my new favorite channel, thanks so much for your hard work! If you don't mind, could you be a little more specific about what it means for a body to 'move around' as it decomposes? This is something I haven't heard before. Is it concerning...um....wet or dry issues?🤢 I'm only halfway through the video so if you explain somewhere in the back half, feel free to ignore the question. I'll get there.
OK, are you ready? When we decompose, different parts of our body can become mummified faster than other parts - for example, skin may dry out before internal organs. Ligaments and muscles will also shrink and contract. This process can make bodies contort, and in poor Mercy's case, even turn over, or shift around inside a coffin. Mind you, it's also possible that Mercy in her coffin may very well have been taken down a bumpy road to the cemetery and she was physically moved. This is, of course, also possible. I'm not a forensic scientist tho, and I'm sure there are many other possible explanations.
@@myvictoriannightmare That is an excellent and imformative answer, thank you so much for taking the time! You may not be a forensic scientist but you certainly think like one. I'm really enjoying your channel.
So she wasn't allowed to be a cook, but it was ok for her to be a lab tech. Interesting. I'm sure there was no way she could contaminate any samples she was working with, after all, no one was eating those samples. But then, I have no idea what a 'lab tech' did back then. Probably cleaned up and fed the test animals. Great podcast!
Your storytelling techniques in this episode were amazing! And you sounded like you really enjoyed narrating these stories, which really contributes to the listerners' experience. Definitely managed to grab my attention and made me drop my chores 😅 Amazing stuff 👏
Another wonderful episode!! I especially like the framing device you used for the Mercy Brown scenes. I felt like we were a pair of gossiping time travelers!
