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Fortnightly narratives on the unsolved and the unexplained, mysteries, historical true crime, touches of the paranormal and cultural peculiarities.
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Ben reconstructs historical crimes through records, witness accounts, and investigative missteps, showing how evidence gradually changed what authorities thought they knew.
Dark Histories lets each investigation develop through accumulated detail. Ben's solo narration moves from the circumstances surrounding Gay Gibson's disappearance aboard the Durban Castle to the evidence considered against James Camb, while the Marcel Petiot story follows…
One hairpin by a bathtub, and Ben has you rethinking what looked like an accident.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A candid 10-year check-in on the research, writing, recording, and editing behind Dark Histories.
Dark Histories marks its 10th anniversary with a bonus that turns inward, asking how Ben turns a subject into an episode. His answers trace the job from research and notes through writing, recording, and editing, and the appeal is in how plainly he talks about the work.
A mist-bound mountain legend tested against optical illusion, newspaper attention, and the conviction around what was seen.
The episode tracks the Big Grey Man of Ben Macdu through mountain legend, climbers' accounts, and the newspaper attention that helped give the story its public shape.
A vanished crew leaves behind a wreck, a press-made legend, and questions the sea never answered.
The Deering story works because its starting point is so strangely plain: a five-masted schooner run aground off North Carolina, sails still set, lifeboats missing, and three cats left aboard.
A village's fear turns illness, prayer, and visions into evidence against a neighbour.
Dark Histories treats the Warboys case as a late-sixteenth-century village story where fear, uncertainty, and superstition begin to harden into accusation.
A West Ham disappearance becomes an uneasy study of streets, empty houses, and a search that keeps closing in.
Dark Histories sets late-19th-century West Ham as a place where ordinary streets begin to feel unsafe, following the disappearance of young girls and the discovery of one child dead in a cupboard in an empty house.
A careful historical crime account where small domestic details steadily sharpen the suspicion.
Dark Histories takes George Joseph Smith's case at an unhurried pace, beginning with three unrelated women found drowned in their bathtubs after a fit or fainting and letting suspicion gather step by step.
A whaling disaster becomes a measured, haunting origin story for one of literature's great shadows.
The Essex leaves Nantucket in the summer of 1819 for what looks like a routine whaling run, then slides into a Pacific nightmare as the hunted becomes the hunter.
A charming wartime doctor gives way to smoke, scandal, and a widening trail of suspicion.
Dark Histories is strongest when it sets Marcel Petiot up as a charming young doctor with a friendly smile and kind bedside manner, then lets the story turn colder around war-torn Paris, a smoke-filled furnace, and a trail of remains that points to something much larger.
Grave questions, carefully organized.
Paranormal talk with room to wander.
Oz reimagined, then argued with afterward.
Crime memory with prison-wall detail.
Irish true crime, evidence first.
True crime with forensic bite and blunt banter.
Patrick O'Connor, a London customs officer and moneylender from County Tipperary, disappears after an August 1849 evening that should have ended at dinner with Frederick and Maria Manning in Bermondsey.
Dark Histories host Ben marks the show's 10th anniversary with a listener Q&A about research, production, editorial choices, and personal influences.
Dark Histories examines the Big Grey Man of Ben Macdui, a Cairngorms legend involving giant figures, unexplained footsteps, voices, and oppressive mountain weather.
Dark Histories host Ben reconstructs the January 1921 disappearance of the Carol A.
This episode recounts the 16th-century case of the Throckmorton family in Warboys, England, whose daughters fell mysteriously ill, leading to accusations of witchcraft against their neighbour Alice Samuels.
This episode explores the unsolved disappearances of young girls in West Ham, London, during the late 19th century, focusing on cases like Mary Seawood, Eliza Carter, and Amelia Jeffs.
This episode tells the story of George Psalmanazar, a Frenchman who in the early 1700s posed as a native of Formosa (Taiwan), fooling European society with elaborate tales of cannibalism, sacrifices, and a fabricated language.
This episode narrates the case of George Joseph Smith, a serial killer in early 20th-century England who murdered three wives by drowning them in bathtubs after marrying them for their money.
This episode explores the mysterious 1933 death of London inventor Edgar Vandy, who drowned in a secluded pool under suspicious circumstances.
Host Ben shares listener-submitted paranormal stories for a Christmas campfire episode, including eerie footsteps linked to a suicide, a ghostly farmhouse time slip, haunted police station bangs, unexplained bed sensations, and a dream premonition of a tragedy.
Dark Histories host Ben begins the two-part 2025 Christmas Campfire episode, an annual tradition in which listeners submit personal stories of strange and unsettling experiences during the holiday season, recorded alone at home with his dog.
This episode explores the Epworth Poltergeist, a series of unexplained disturbances at Reverend Samuel Wesley's home in 1716, which influenced his son John Wesley's later founding of the Methodist Church.
The episode recounts the true story of the whaleship Essex, which was sunk by a sperm whale in 1820, leaving its crew adrift in the Pacific.
This episode explores the 1954 French UFO wave, where thousands reported sightings of flying cigars, discs, and encounters with strange beings.
This episode delves into the Jack the Ripper case, focusing on the discovery of the fifth victim, Mary Jane Kelly, 137 years ago.
This episode explores the 1885 case of the Martins Croft poltergeist in rural Finland, where unexplained events like objects moving on their own attracted crowds and media sensationalism.
This episode explores the life and crimes of Marcel Petiot, a French doctor who murdered dozens during WWII, posing as a resistance fighter while luring victims to his Paris home.
This episode explores two historical mysteries: the Jack the Ripper panic in 1888, including arrests and the Saucy Jacky postcard, and the bizarre 1903 case of 'haunted bread' where loaves disappeared from a farm, leading to theories and a cover-up.
This episode explores the Moberly-Jourdain incident of 1901, where two English academics claimed to have experienced a time slip at Versailles, witnessing figures from Marie Antoinette's court.
This episode narrates the 1695 Mackie poltergeist case in Scotland, where a farmhouse experienced stones, fires, and ghostly apparitions, witnessed by locals and documented by Reverend Telfair.
This episode explores historical events from September, focusing on the Jack the Ripper murder of Annie Chapman, including eyewitness accounts and public reactions.
This episode delves into the gruesome crimes of Ed Gein, the isolated Wisconsin farmer whose 1957 arrest revealed grave robbing, murder, and the creation of macabre artifacts from human remains.
This episode explores the story of Pearl Curran, a St.
This episode explores historical news snippets from August, focusing on VJ Day celebrations in Times Square, the muted media coverage of atomic bombs, quirky wartime stories, and a series of ghost tales from different eras.
Dark Histories host Ben announces a two-week summer break and introduces a guest episode from the new podcast Macabrium Lore and Legends.
This episode explores historical events tied to July dates, starting with the British press's dismissive reaction to the American Declaration of Independence in 1776.
This episode explores the unusual life of William Minor, a former US Army surgeon who murdered a man in Lambeth and was confined to Broadmoor Asylum, where he became a prolific contributor to the Oxford English Dictionary.
The episode explores the 1971 discovery of the Hexham Heads, two stone heads found in England that sparked supernatural events like were-sheep sightings and hauntings.
This episode explores bizarre historical stories from newspapers, including a chaotic 1823 boxing match, a 1902 prediction about synthetic food tablets, ghostly occurrences in gambling saloons, a shady hair tonic from 1911, and a mysterious ghost encounter in 1873.
This episode narrates the 1933 case of the 'Germ Murders' in British India, where zamindar Benoyendra Chandra Pandey was accused of using plague bacteria to assassinate his younger half-brother Amarendra over an inheritance dispute.
This episode explores the mysterious origins and historical evolution of April Fool's Day, tracing its roots through old newspapers from obscure customs to early pranks like the 1957 spaghetti tree hoax.
This episode explores Project X-Ray, a secret WWII plan to use bats carrying incendiary devices to burn down Japanese cities.
This episode explores the 1909 death of Ocey Snead, found drowned in a bathtub in East Orange, New Jersey, which unravels into a complex tale involving her eccentric aunts—the Wardlaw sisters—who dressed in black and were suspected of manipulation, insurance fraud, and possible murder.
This episode narrates the story of Edward Leonski, an American soldier who became the 'Brownout Strangler' in Melbourne during World War II, murdering three women in 1942.
This episode narrates the 1887 shipwreck of the Wandering Minstrel on Midway Atoll, where the Walker family and crew are stranded with a castaway, Hans Jorgensen, who is revealed to be a murderer.
This episode narrates the 1711 Islandmagee witch trials in Ireland, where a series of paranormal disturbances led to accusations against eight women.
This episode explores the life of Jack Parsons, a pioneering rocket scientist who also delved deeply into occult practices, blending science and mysticism.
This episode of Southern Gothic explores the legend of Delta Blues musician Robert Johnson, delving into the myth that he sold his soul to the devil at a crossroads for musical talent.
Host Chris Stewart presents listener John's story from Virginia about a terrifying experience in an abandoned cement plant in southern Ohio.
This Christmas Campfire episode features listener-submitted paranormal stories, including childhood encounters with a smiling apparition, eerie deer sightings in Maine, ghostly visits in haunted houses, and a chilling account from a mental health clinic.
This episode explores the life of Violet Tweedale, a wealthy Victorian woman who was also a prolific ghost hunter, medium, and author.
This episode concludes the story of Dr.
This episode narrates the life of Dr.
This episode explores the 1947 mystery of Gay Gibson, a young actress who disappeared from the luxury liner Durban Castle, with her body allegedly pushed through a porthole by steward James Camb.
Dark Histories examines how reports of a seven-foot figure at London's Highgate Cemetery developed into the 1970 Highgate Vampire controversy involving David Farrant and Sean Manchester.
This episode explores the Highgate Vampire legend from 1970s London, tracing its roots in satanic panic and occult investigations.
This episode recounts the case of Elizabeth Fenning, a young servant accused of poisoning her employer's dinner in Regency London, exploring the ensuing public outrage and debate.
The episode recounts the 1815 trial of Elizabeth Fenning, a young servant accused of poisoning her employer's family with arsenic, sparking public outrage.
George Albert Smith heard a wall-hung guitar play three notes repeatedly while his wife knelt beside the fire.
Marie-Madeleine d'Aubray poisoned her father over 30 times to accelerate a murder-for-inheritance scheme.
The host introduces a Christmas campfire episode featuring listener-submitted stories of historical mysteries and unexplained events.
The host introduces the annual Christmas Campfire episode, where listeners share ghost stories and paranormal experiences, starting with tales about sleep paralysis.
This episode examines the difficulty of defining poltergeist phenomena through the lens of the Enfield and Socky cases.
A historical true crime episode about the 1838 Grimwood murder in Lambeth, London, which inspired Charles Dickens and captivated Victorian media.