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The Death of George Bodle & The Birth of Forensic Toxicology

In 1833, a small village in Kent, England became the focus of attention when the patriarchal head of a wealthy farming family wound up dead, presumed murdered after an attack on the entire household, presumed to be the work of Arsenic Poisoning. The 1830’s were on the eve of a new era in Forensics, and the previously vague symptoms of poisoning were being slowly unravelled and understood on levels far deeper than ever before, but would these new methods of detection prove to be enough to not only detect the presence of poison, but to finger the culprit and see them locked away for their crimes, or would the poisoner simply slip away into anonymity as so many had done in the decades and centuries before?

SOURCES:

Hempel S. (2013) The Inheritor's Powder: A Tale of Arsenic, Murder, and the New Forensic Science. W. W. Norton & Company, London

Hughes, Michael F, et al. “Arsenic Exposure and Toxicology: a Historical Perspective.” Toxicological Sciences : an Official Journal of the Society of Toxicology, Oxford University Press, Oct. 2011, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3179678/?report=classic.

N Hughes, Michael F, et al. “Arsenic Exposure and Toxicology: a Historical Perspective.” Toxicological Sciences : an Official Journal of the Society of Toxicology, Oxford University Press, Oct. 2011, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3179678/?report=classic.

“1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Orfila, Mathieu Joseph Bonaventure.” 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Orfila, Mathieu Joseph Bonaventure - Wikisource, the Free Online Library, https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/1911_Encyclopædia_Britannica/Orfila,_Mathieu_Joseph_Bonaventure.

The Morning Advertiser - Monday 11 November 1833, Murder of Mr. Bodle. p.3

The Morning Advertiser - Friday 8 November 1833, Murder at Plumstead. p.3

The Morning Chronicle - Thursday 14 November 1833, The Murder by Poison at Plumstead. p.3

Public Ledger & Daily Advertiser - Monday 16 December 1833, The Murder at Plumstead. p.3

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For extended show notes, including maps, links and scripts, head over to 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

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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 contact@darkhistories.com

or via voicemail on: (415) 286-5072

or join our Discord community: https://discord.gg/6f7e2pt

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.

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Christmas Campfire Episode 2019

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone! Thank you so much for all your support over the previous year! This years Christmas Campfire is a bumper one, full of diverse and fantastic stories. I thought it was a really great snapshot as to how weird and wonderful the world is and how diverse a range of people listen to the show. Putting it together was an absolute pleasure as always!
 
I start the whole thing off with a short story from M.R James, titled "A School Story" from his 1911 compendium, "More Ghost Stories from Antiquity". If you enjoyed it, I definitely recommend giving his other work a shot, one of my favourites is a story called "Number 13", but it's considerably longer than the one in this episode. Then we're on to the listener stores. Thank you everyone who sent stuff in to be included, it was a great deal of fun reading them this year!
 
I wish you all the best for the New Year, health and happiness for you and your loved ones, thank you as always for joining me in making Dark Histories, Ben x
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Season 3 Finale Bonus

Hey everyone, thank you so much for listening this year! This is the season finale which I sort of didn't expect to do, so I'm releasing a bit of an intro that explains whats going to be happening throughout the Dark histories season break in December and what episodes will be coming out and included a patreon bonus episode for this weeks fix! I hope you enojoy it! Remember, if you'd like to get your story in for the Christmas Campfire episode this year, do go ahead and get your story in to me before the 20th December, it's going to be great and I'm really looking forward to reading through them all, it's always a lot of fun, every year! Thanks again for listening, I'll see you all throughout December and will be back to normal scheduling with regular episodes on the first week of January. Cheers!

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For extended show notes, including maps, links and scripts, head over to 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

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 contact@darkhistories.com

or via voicemail on: (415) 286-5072

or join our Discord community: https://discord.gg/6f7e2pt

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.

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The Yatton Demoniac: George Lukins

“Sir, When you can spare room in your Gazette, I think you will not be able to present your readers with an account so extraordinary and surprising, as the following.”

So began the letter, written to the Printer of the Bristol Gazette, from the Reverend William Robert Wake in the Summer of 1788. The account he wrote of was one of possession and exorcism that would spark a controversy and ignite bitter debate over belief versus non-belief, enlightenment versus superstition and materialism versus spiritual salvation. As the debates raged on, the facts fell by the wayside, leaving readers with a story of demonic possession or absurd playacting, depending on individual outlook. This is Dark HIstories, where the facts are worse than fiction.

SOURCES:

Barry J. (2012) Methodism and Mummery: The Case of George Lukins. In: Witchcraft and Demonology in South-West England, 1640–1789. Palgrave Historical Studies in Witchcraft and Magic. Palgrave Macmillan, London

Grose, F. (1790) A Provincial Glossary With A Collection Of Local Proverbs And Popular Superstitions, S. Hooper, London

Norman, S. (1788) Authentic anecdotes of George Lukins, the Yatton doemoniac; with a view of the controversy, and a full refutation of the imposture, Bristol

Emory, J (1832) The Journal of the Reverend John Wesley: Sometime Fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford, Volume 2, J. Emory & B. Waugh, New York.

Young, F (2018) A History of Anglican Exorcism: Deliverance and Demonology in Church Ritual, I.B Tauris & Co. Ltd., London

W. R. W. Rev. (1792) A Narrative of the extraordinary case of George Lukins, of Yatton, Somersetshire: who was possessed of evil spirits, for near eighteen years. : Also an account of his remarkable deliverance, in the vestry-room of Temple Church, in the city of Bristol, extracted from the manuscripts of several persons who attended. : To which is prefixed, A letter from the Rev. W.R.W, Bristol.

Salisbury and Winchester Journal - Monday 23 June 1788, p.3

Stamford Mercury - Friday 04 July 1788. P.4

Tyne Mercury; Northumberland and Durham and Cumberland Gazette - Tuesday 19 February 1805 p.2

“Seizure Clusters.” Epilepsy Foundation, 10 May 2008, https://www.epilepsy.com/learn/professionals/refractory-seizures/potentially-remediable-causes/seizure-clusters.

 
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For extended show notes, including maps, links and scripts, head over to 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

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 contact@darkhistories.com

or via voicemail on: (415) 286-5072

or join our Discord community: https://discord.gg/6f7e2pt

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.

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The Sarah Duckett Ghost Mystery & Other Stories

With Halloween on the horizon, I took time to cover some of the smaller stories that I've dug up over the previous year that weren't chunky enough to fill up a full episode. Enjoy and Happy Halloween!

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For extended show notes, including maps, links and scripts, head over to 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

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 contact@darkhistories.com

or via voicemail on: (415) 286-5072

or join our Discord community: https://discord.gg/6f7e2pt

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.

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Sadamichi Hirasawa & The Teigin Incident

Tokyo, Japan, 1948. A man walks into a bank, announces himself to the manager as an official of the local Government Health Department, instructs the staff to take an inoculation medicine and walks out leaving 12 of them dead from poison. Upon first hearing an overview, this might sound like a somewhat unique, but trivial bank robbery. But this is post-war Japan, a country with many secrets and a population with many grievances.

SOURCES:

Gold, H. (2011) “Japans infamous Unit 731: Firsthand Accounts of Japans Wartime Human Experimentation Program”. Tuttle Publishing, HK

Trestrail, J H. (2000). Criminal Poisoning: Investigational Guide for Law Enforcement, Toxicologists, Forensic Scientists, and Attorneys. Humana Press, Totowa, NJ.

Web.archive.org. (2019). The Teikoku Ginko Case. [online] Available at: https://web.archive.org/web/20071212101703/http://www.alpha-net.ne.jp/users2/knight9/teigin.htm [Accessed 9 Oct. 2019]. (Japanese)

Gasho.net. (2019). Sadamichi Hirasawa Home Page [online] Available at: https://www.gasho.net/teigin-case/ [Accessed 9 Oct. 2019]. (Japanese)

Japantimes.co.jp. (2018) Teigin Incident: 70 Years on , efforts continue to clear late artist’s name in 1948 Tokyo mass murder. [online] Available at https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2018/02/02/national/social-issues/teigin-incident-70-years-efforts-continue-clear-late-artists-name-1948-tokyo-mass-murder/ [Accessed 9 Oct. 2019]

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For extended show notes, including maps, links and scripts, head over to 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

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 contact@darkhistories.com

or via voicemail on: (415) 286-5072

or join our Discord community: https://discord.gg/6f7e2pt

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.

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Graham Young: The Tea Boy

Graham Young was an unusual boy. Infinitely fascinated with chemistry, he devoted large amounts of his early life pouring over thick medical textbooks, educating himself on the properties of various chemical compounds. What stood Graham out from his peers more than his intellect was that his obsession with chemistry revolved almost solely around the usage of various poisons. Curiosity has always been inherently dangerous and this is infinitely more true in the case of Graham Young, when theory turned to practice.

SOURCES:

Holden, A. (1974). The St Albans Poisoner. Hodder & Stoughton Ltd., London, UK.

Wilson, C. (1974). Murder in Mind: Issue 30. Marshall Cavendish Paperworks Limited, London, UK.

Trestrail, J H. (2000). Criminal Poisoning: Investigational Guide for Law Enforcement, Toxicologists, Forensic Scientists, and Attorneys. Humana Press, Totowa, NJ.

Harris, P. (1962) ‘Fantastic Mind Of A 14 year Old Poisoner’, Daily Mirror, 6 July, p.3

Laxton, E. (1972) ‘The Poison Boy At Large’, Daily Mirror, June 30, p.13-15

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For extended show notes, including maps, links and scripts, head over to 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

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 contact@darkhistories.com

or via voicemail on: (415) 286-5072

or join our Discord community: https://discord.gg/6f7e2pt

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.

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Harry price & The Séance of Rosalie

On a cold December night of 1937, renowned Psychical Investigator Harry Price strode up the steps outside a large, Victorian house in a quiet, well-to-do London suburb. He’d come to the house to partake in a séance, invited by a woman known only as Mrs X whom in their communications leading up to the night, had guaranteed a spirit manifestation for him. Price had seen it all before, he had crafted a career from debunking such fraudsters and in all likelihood, this event was to be much the same. Or was it? What unravelled that night has been the subject of fierce debate and deep research for over 80 years and still to this day, it leaves a web of tangled leads the likes of which any Hollywood scriptwriter could only dream of conjuring.
 
SOURCES:
 
Price, H. (1939). Fifty Years of Psychical Research: A Critical Survey. Longmans, Green & Co., London, UK.
 
Price, H. (1926). A Model Psychic Laboratory. British Journal of Psychical Research Vol 1, No.1, May-June 1926. London, UK.
 
Hastings, R.J. (1964). Correspondence. Journal For the Society of Psychical Research: Vol 42 September 1964, London, UK.
 
Cohen, D. (1964). Correspondence. Journal For the Society of Psychical Research: Vol 42 December 1964, London, UK.
 
Medhurst, R.G. (1965). Harry Price and ‘Rosalie’. Journal For the Society of Psychical Research: Vol 42 December 1965, London, UK.
 
Cohen, D. (1966). Correspondence. Journal For the Society of Psychical Research: Vol 43 June 1966, London, UK.
 
Medhurst, R.G. (1966). Correspondence. Journal For the Society of Psychical Research: Vol 43 September 1966, London, UK.
 
Randall, J.L. (2002). Correspondence. Journal For the Society of Psychical Research: Vol 66 January 2002, London, UK.
 
Adams, P. (2017). The Enigma of Rosalie: Harry Price’s Paranormal Mystery Revisited. White Crow Books, Hove, UK.
 
’Science is Baffled’ (1939). The Sunday Mirror. 15 October, p.15.
 
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For extended show notes, including maps, links and scripts, head over to 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

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 contact@darkhistories.com

or via voicemail on: (415) 286-5072

or join our Discord community: https://discord.gg/6f7e2pt

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.

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Death Raft: The Wreck of The Medusa

As The Medusa sailed from Rochefort in 1816, many aboard saw bright futures ahead for themselves. They were escaping a country torn asunder, harshly divided by war, revolution and eventual restoration. With the French Empire floundering and a band of Hard-Right ultra-royalists creating laws in France, the promise of a new start in a fresh land was enticing for many. Little did they expect to meet such a high degree of incompetency on their voyage, had they foreseen even a fraction of the horrors that lay ahead for them, many might have chosen to stay in France no matter the situation.

SOURCES

Miles, J. (2007). The Wreck of the Medusa: The Most Famous Sea Disaster of the Nineteenth Century. Atlantic Monthly Press, New York, NY.

Savigny, J. B. Henry, and Alexandre Corréard. (1818). Narrative of a Voyage to Senegal in 1816. London: Henry Colburn

McKee, A. (1975). Wreck of the Medusa: The Tragic Story of the Death Raft. Penguin Books, Auckland, New Zealand.

Newworldencyclopedia.org. (2019). Banc d'Arguin National Park - New World Encyclopedia. [online] Available at: https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Banc_d%27Arguin_National_Park [Accessed 28 Aug. 2019].

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For extended show notes, including maps, links and scripts, head over to 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

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 contact@darkhistories.com

or join our Discord community: https://discord.gg/6f7e2pt

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.

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James Dunham & The McGlincy Murders

Campbell, California. Lying in the heart of Santa Clara County, a periphery city of Silicon Valley and the birthplace of E-Bay. In 1896, 100 years before websites facilitating the auctioning of used underwear and haunted paintings had been dreamt up, Campbell was the scene for a gruesome family killing that saw posses of bounty hunters and bloodhounds, looking to cash in on the reward placed on the head of the murderer, embark on manhunt across mountains and valleys that would span years and eventually, decades.

SOURCES:

Gilman, T. (2018). The McGlincy Killings in Campbell California: An 1896 Unsolved Mystery. The History Press, Charleston, SC

“Hattie B. Wells Dunham (1868-1896) - Find A Grave...” Find A Grave, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/10998742/hattie-b_-dunham.

Special dispatches to the Chronicle. (1896) ‘The Sextuple Murder Near San Jose’, The San Fransisco Chronicle, 28 May, p.1-3.

San Jose, Cali, May 27. (1896) ‘Dunham a Maniac’, The San Fransisco Call, 28 May, p.2.

San Jose, Cali, June 01. (1896) ‘Price for Dunhams Body’, The San Fransisco Call, 01 June, p.2.

San Jose, Cali, May 01. (1901) ‘Murderer Dunham or His Double is a Prisoner in San Jose Jail’, The San Fransisco Call, 01 may, p.1.

William Campbell (1793-1885), http://philnorf.tripod.com/william.htm.

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For extended show notes, including maps, links and scripts, head over to 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

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 contact@darkhistories.com

or join our Discord community: https://discord.gg/6f7e2pt

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.

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