Dark Histories

On a misty night in October 1947, the luxury liner Durban Castle sailed smoothly across the dark waves of the Atlantic. Aboard was Gay Gibson, a young actress with dreams of stardom, and James Camb, a steward with a chequered past. When Gibson mysteriously vanished, and her lifeless body was allegedly pushed through the ship’s porthole, a dark tale of desire, deceit, and death unfolded in a mystery that would captivate the world. SOURCES Herbstein, Dennis (1991) The Porthole Murder Case. Hodder & Stoughton, London, UK. The Sunday Pictorial (1947) The Girl in Cabin 126. The Sunday Pictorial, Sunday 26 October 1947, p1. London, UK. Yorkshire Evening Post (1948) Gay Gibson Jury Sees Liner Cabin Porthole. Yorkshire Evening Post, Thursday 18 March 1948, p1. Yorkshire, UK. Yorkshire Evening Post (1947) Gay Gibson Disappeared In Shark Infested Seas. Yorkshire Evening Post, Monday 24 November 1947, p5. Yorkshire, UK. ------- This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp, check out betterhelp.com/darkhistories to get 10% off your first month.   ------- For almost anything, head over to the podcasts hub at darkhistories.com Support the show by using our link when you sign up to Audible: http://audibletrial.com/darkhistories or visit our Patreon for bonus episodes and Early Access: https://www.patreon.com/darkhistories The Dark Histories books are available to buy here: http://author.to/darkhistories Dark Histories merch is available here: https://bit.ly/3GChjk9 Connect with us on Facebook: http://facebook.com/darkhistoriespodcast Or find us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/darkhistories & Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dark_histories/ Or you can contact us directly via email at [email protected] or join our Discord community: https://discord.gg/cmGcBFf The Dark Histories Butterfly was drawn by Courtney, who you can find on Instagram @bewildereye Music was recorded by me © Ben Cutmore 2017 Other Outro music was Paul Whiteman & his orchestra with Mildred Bailey - All of me (1931). It's out of copyright now, but if you're interested, that was that. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the 1970s, the shadowy depths of Highgate Cemetery, London became the centre of what would go on to become an enduring urban legend. As two men, both with their own views on what the cemetery was hiding, dug deep into their investigations of the grounds, reports spread of a dark, otherworldly figure stalking its overgrown graves. Sometimes tall, sometimes with glowing red eyes, and other times with a dark, top hat, the press reports of the unknown figure stoked a public fear of a secret occult world that lay just out of sight, crawling beneath the surface of an otherwise decent society. SOURCES Saker, hugh (1958) Baby Sacrifice Probe By CID. The Daily Mirror, Fri 19 Dec 1958, p3. London, UK. Lucas, Norman (1958) Baby Sacrificed: Probe Starts. Daily News, Fri 19 Dec 1958, p5. London, UK. Farrant, Della (2015) Haunted highgate. The History Press, London, UK. Adams, Paul (2014) Written in Blood: A Cultural History of the British Vampire. The History Press, London, UK. Ellis, Bill (1993) The Highgate Cemetery Vampire Hunt: The Anglo-American Connection in Satanic Cult Lore. Folklore, Vol 104, 1993. The Folklore Society, Worthing, UK. The People (1895) The Highgate “Ghost”. The People, Sun 29 Sep 1895, p3. London, UK. Manchester, Sean (1975) The Highgate vampire: the infernal world of the undead unearthed at London's famous Highgate Cemetery and environs. London, UK. Farrant, David (1997) Beyond the Highgate Vampire: A True Case of Supernatural Occurrences and Vampirism That Centred Around London's Highgate Cemetery. London, UK. Hartlepool Northern Daily Mail (1970) Vampire Hunt In London. Hartlepool Northern Daily Mail, Sat 14 March 1970, p1. Hartlepool, UK. ------- For almost anything, head over to the podcasts hub at darkhistories.com Support the show by using our link when you sign up to Audible: http://audibletrial.com/darkhistories or visit our Patreon for bonus episodes and Early Access: https://www.patreon.com/darkhistories The Dark Histories books are available to buy here: http://author.to/darkhistories Dark Histories merch is available here: https://bit.ly/3GChjk9 Connect with us on Facebook: http://facebook.com/darkhistoriespodcast Or find us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/darkhistories & Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dark_histories/ Or you can contact us directly via email at [email protected] or join our Discord community: https://discord.gg/cmGcBFf The Dark Histories Butterfly was drawn by Courtney, who you can find on Instagram @bewildereye Music was recorded by me © Ben Cutmore 2017 Other Outro music was Paul Whiteman & his orchestra with Mildred Bailey - All of me (1931). It's out of copyright now, but if you're interested, that was that. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the streets of Regency London,the young servant, Elizabeth Fenning, faced a sinister charge - attempted murder by poison. Accused of lacing her employer’s dinner with arsenic, the 21-year-old cook quickly found herself trapped in an increasingly lopsided courtroom, where any hope of the justice she had held whilst awaiting trial seemed to recede with every new witness brought to the stand. The case caused widespread public consternation and outrage that lasted months, coming close to sparking riots in the streets, as the debate raged on, that never truly ended. SOURCES Clarke, Kate (2020) Trial of Elizabeth Fenning. Mango Books, London, UK. Watkins, John (1815) The Important Results of an Elaborate Investigation into the Mysterious Case of Elizabeth Fenning. William Hone, London, UK. The Globe (1815) The Globe. Sat 25 March 1815, p4. London, UK. The Globe (1815) The Globe. Mon 27 March 1815, p4. London, UK. The Star (1815) Charge Of Poisoning Family. Tues 28 March 1815, p4. London, UK. The Globe (1815) Charge OF Poisoning A Whole Family. Fri 31 March 1815, p1. London, UK. ------- For almost anything, head over to the podcasts hub at darkhistories.com Support the show by using our link when you sign up to Audible: http://audibletrial.com/darkhistories or visit our Patreon for bonus episodes and Early Access: https://www.patreon.com/darkhistories The Dark Histories books are available to buy here: http://author.to/darkhistories Dark Histories merch is available here: https://bit.ly/3GChjk9 Connect with us on Facebook: http://facebook.com/darkhistoriespodcast Or find us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/darkhistories & Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dark_histories/ Or you can contact us directly via email at [email protected] or join our Discord community: https://discord.gg/cmGcBFf The Dark Histories Butterfly was drawn by Courtney, who you can find on Instagram @bewildereye Music was recorded by me © Ben Cutmore 2017 Other Outro music was Paul Whiteman & his orchestra with Mildred Bailey - All of me (1931). It's out of copyright now, but if you're interested, that was that. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The life and times of George Albert Smith are not particularly well known. Despite working for several years as a stage hypnotist and psychic, the owner of a popular pleasure park and then eventually a pioneering inventor and filmmaker, there are few who could reel off a biography based on nothing more than a name. Perhaps even more obscure, however, was his time spent as a ghost hunter for the Society for Psychical Research, which, whilst a relatively short career in comparison, was no less groundbreaking, when he took tenancy of a haunted house for more than a whole year in order to investigate the reported phenomena. SOURCES Gray, Frank (2019) The Brighton School & The Birth of British Film. Palgrave Macmillan, London, UK. Gray, Frank (1998) Smith the showman: The early years of George Albert Smith. Film History, Vol. 10, No. 1, Cinema Pioneers (1998), pp. 8-20. John Libby & Co., Sydney, Australia. Hall, Trevor (1964) The Strange Case of Edmund Gurney. Gerald Duckworth & Co Ltd, London, UK. Blackburn, Douglas (1883) Thought Reading Extraordinary. Light, No 86, Vol II. London, UK. Smith, George Albert (1884) Report on a Haunted House at Norwich. Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, Vol I, 1884-5. London, UK. Podmore, Frank (1890) Phantasms of the Dead from Another Point of View. Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, Vol VI, 1889-90. London, UK. Gauld, Alan & Cornell, Tony (1979) Poltergeists. White Crow Books, London, UK. Sussex Advertiser (1879) Suicide By Hanging. Sussex Advertiser, Sat 5 April 1879, p2. Brighton, UK. ------- This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp, check out betterhelp.com/darkhistories to get 10% off your first month.   ------- For almost anything, head over to the podcasts hub at darkhistories.com Support the show by using our link when you sign up to Audible: http://audibletrial.com/darkhistories or visit our Patreon for bonus episodes and Early Access: https://www.patreon.com/darkhistories The Dark Histories books are available to buy here: http://author.to/darkhistories Dark Histories merch is available here: https://bit.ly/3GChjk9 Connect with us on Facebook: http://facebook.com/darkhistoriespodcast Or find us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/darkhistories & Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dark_histories/ Or you can contact us directly via email at [email protected] or join our Discord community: https://discord.gg/cmGcBFf The Dark Histories Butterfly was drawn by Courtney, who you can find on Instagram @bewildereye Music was recorded by me © Ben Cutmore 2017 Other Outro music was Paul Whiteman & his orchestra with Mildred Bailey - All of me (1931). It's out of copyright now, but if you're interested, that was that.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices