Christmas Horror from 1734 If you thought the tradition of the Christmas ghost story started with Charles Dickens, think again. In the eighteenth century many people’s Christmas reading list would have included a best-selling little pamphlet called Round About Our Coal Fire: Christmas Entertainments. It was written by an anonymous author who called himself JackContinue reading “Why is a Ghost Like a Fart?”
Author Archives: Paul Weatherhead
The Halifax Witch Bottle
In February 1844 a woman called Nancy Houldsworth and an unnamed friend burst into the newspaper office of the Halifax Guardian. Nancy proceeded to tell the astonished journalists a true ‘tale of mystery’.[i] A tale of love, death, curses and witchcraft. The story begins in 1841 with two sweethearts, Mary Wilson and Samuel Bottomley, bothContinue reading “The Halifax Witch Bottle”
The Corsets of Immortality: Professor Charles Munter
In June 1912 over one hundred music teachers, singers and physicians gathered at the New York Music Teaching Convention at Columbia University. They were to witness an extraordinary musical demonstration that seemed to come straight out of a lurid novel. Professor Charles Munter, a little man in a white suit and green waistcoat, introduced theContinue reading “The Corsets of Immortality: Professor Charles Munter”
Hellish Nell in Todmorden
Notorious medium Helen Duncan, known as ‘Hellish Nell’ in her Scottish hometown, has gone down in history for being imprisoned after she was charged under the 1735 Witchcraft Act in 1944. Duncan, described as a large coarse woman even by her admirers, was a controversial ‘materialising medium’, meaning sitters at her seances would see ghostlyContinue reading “Hellish Nell in Todmorden”
The Rosa Day Mystery
On Sunday 29 January 1899, Rosa Day, an athletic nineteen year old woman from Cheshire, decided to go ice-skating instead of joining the rest of her family at church. She didn’t come home. Search parties retraced her route and explored the fields, lanes and ponds for her without success. It was feared she had fallenContinue reading “The Rosa Day Mystery”
Kidnapped! The Amazing Adventure of Emily Raynor
In September 1897, the strange story of Emily Raynor mesmerised the British public. It was a tale of sinister men in black, hypnotism, abduction and an innocent girl who narrowly avoided a life of slavery in an Ottoman bordello… The Lady Vanishes Emily Raynor (19) was the daughter of a doctor and a nurse fromContinue reading “Kidnapped! The Amazing Adventure of Emily Raynor”
The Brighouse Bigamist Quack
Here’s a sad and curious tale from a Weird Calderdale chapter on local quacks that was left out due to space constraints… John Holmes was a ‘dispenser of herbs, barks, draughts’ and other unconventional treatments, though his critics, and there were many, would call him a quack.[i] Details are sketchy, but he came to theContinue reading “The Brighouse Bigamist Quack”
Top Three Extraordinary Popular Delusions of the Modern Day
In 1841, journalist Charles Mackay wrote a remarkable book titled Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, one of my favourite books. In it he examined what happens when nations and even continents go mad so that ‘millions of people become simultaneously impressed with one delusion, and run after it, till their attention isContinue reading “Top Three Extraordinary Popular Delusions of the Modern Day”
Yorkshire Zombies: The Medieval Dead
Yorkshire in the 1300s was a strange and frightening place. The living dead crawled from their graves, wandered round the lanes and accosted the villagers, at least according to accounts written by an anonymous monk. But these zombies were very different from the gut munchers of modern popular culture, and it wasn’t your brain theyContinue reading “Yorkshire Zombies: The Medieval Dead”
Sects, Cults and Rock ‘n’ Roll
Weird Musical History # 13: Krishna Rock The Hare Krishnas were a common sight in cities around the world. You might have seen them in your high street with their hair shaven but for a pigtail and their flowing robes, clinking finger cymbals and chanting their mantras. In the 70s and 80s, they might evenContinue reading “Sects, Cults and Rock ‘n’ Roll”
Paul Weatherhead 