Category: Halloween Specials

THE BIRD OF ILL OMEN Catherine Crowe: 2025 Halloween Special

Catherine Crowe was a wildly acclaimed Victorian novelist, playwright, social critic and …ghost hunter? Her novels were as popular as Charles Dickens,’ and Ralph Waldo Emerson, Harriet Martineau, and George Eliot were her ardent fans. And her pioneering catalog of ghosts and the supernatural, The Night Side of Nature, was one of the first and most influential works to be adopted by the up-and-coming Spiritualist movement. So how did this incredibly talented, incredibly famous woman …

19th century / England / Europe / First woman to... / Ghosts / Halloween Specials / Philosophy / Religion / Scotland / Special Episodes / True Crime / Writers

THE APOTHECARY Giulia Tofana: 2024 Halloween Special

If you knew the recipe for an undetectable poison, would you use it? What about giving it to women with abusive husbands? Giulia Tofana’s legendary poison Aqua Tofana (brilliantly disguised as holy ointment) was famed and feared in 17th-century Rome. But just how many terrible husbands can drop dead, before the Pope gets suspicious? In this year’s Halloween Special, our guests are Gaia Aloisi and Ted Blackburn, the creators of Aqua Tofana, a new electronic …

17th century / Europe / Halloween Specials / Italy / Musicians / Special Episodes / Theater / True Crime

THE BLOOD COUNTESS Elizabeth Báthory: 2023 Halloween Special

Countess Elizabeth Báthory was a monster – a sadistic, murderous, vampire-witch who, in her castle in Hungary in the early 1600s, tortured and murdered over 600 young girls, then bathed in the blood of her victims. Or did she? Was she truly the supreme supernatural evil of 500 years of legend? Or was she an innocent victim of witch-hunt hysteria and political scheming? Or was she something else entirely? Dig into the mysteries of this …

16th century / 17th century / Europe / Halloween Specials / Hungary / Slovakia / Special Episodes / True Crime / Witches

THE POISONER Goeie Mie: 2022 Halloween Special

The most prolific poisoner of all time couldn’t possibly have been a woman. Right??! Goeie Mie, “Good Maria,” was such a selfless and kindly nurse that desperate folks in 19th-century Leiden called her when they were sick, knowing she’d come even if they couldn’t pay. But they got worse…and worse, and usually died in misery. Goeie Mie had life insurance on all of them. Travel on location to Leiden, The Netherlands with Katie in this …

19th century / Europe / Halloween Specials / Medicine / Netherlands / on-location / Special Episodes / True Crime

THE FIRST ACCUSED Tituba: 2021 Halloween Special

Some say Tituba was the easy target in 1692, as an enslaved woman of color. But surprise! She confessed to witchcraft, offering elaborate descriptions of a widespread Satanic conspiracy. Her tales launched Salem, Massachusetts into an unparalleled witch mania. No one was safe…except Tituba herself. How did she start it all, and how did she escape? Join Katie on location in Salem, Massachusetts for this year’s Halloween special.   For more of Tituba’s story, this …

17th century / Halloween Specials / Indigenous Peoples / North America / on-location / Religion / South America / Special Episodes / United States / Witches

THE SPIRIT Xtabay: 2020 Halloween Special

Once upon a time in the Mayan Yucatan, a kind, beautiful lady was murdered and left at the base of a tree. But that was just the beginning! Join Katie on-location in Valladolid, Mexico, as her guest Jesus Cetzal recounts the age-old story of Xtabay, who has been exacting her revenge in the Yucatan for centuries. Late at night, she lures drunken men to her ceiba tree, then drags them down into the Underworld! Our …

Ancient / Ghosts / Halloween Specials / Indigenous Peoples / Mexico / North America / on-location

THE WITCH Mother Shipton: 2019 Halloween Special

It was a dark and stormy night, many centuries ago. In a cave on the edge of a haunted wood, a monstrous baby was born, and instead of crying, she cackled! No one would have expected the baby to thrive, but she grew to become Mother Shipton, England’s most famous witch. Hear the amazing story of the deformed, friendless child who took on the most powerful men in the kingdom, and won! Travel with us …

15th century / 16th century / England / Europe / Halloween Specials / on-location / Religion / Special Episodes / Transcripts / Witches

WITCHES & MEDIUMS & GHOSTS, OH MY! 2018 Halloween Special

The Pendle Witches – Pearl DeVere – Bess Houdini – Lily Cove Our very first Halloween Special brings back four of our most popular guests with four new stories of hauntings, mysterious deaths, witch hunts, and seances, to bring you many spooky returns of the season! The Pendle Witches: In 1612, ten people were hanged as witches in Lancashire, England, sentenced to death because of the testimony of a 9 year old girl. The eight …

17th century / 19th century / 20th century / Athletes / England / Europe / Ghosts / Halloween Specials / Madams / North America / Performers / Religion / Special Episodes / Theater / United States / Witches