The Darkives: Serious history. Told not so seriously

The Darkives: Serious history. Told not so seriously

di Leo Eaton and Jamie Tavenner

Storia Crimini reali

Jolly Jane Toppan: America’s First Woman Serial Killer?

support the show https://patreon.com This week Jamie and Leo dig into the story of Jane Toppan. Born Honora Kelley, and later she was known as Jolly Jane. Raised as an indentured servant, dismissed from two of Massachusetts' most prestigious hospitals, Doctors recommended her by name, she was one of the most sought-after private nurses in her region. She confessed to 31 confirmed murders. The real number may have been as high as 100. Poisoning, bringing patients to the edge of death then back. Killing landlords, friends, foster sisters, and entire families. Her own words were that killing gave her exquisite pleasure... Sit back and take your medicine, this episode we got a nurse whose a baddie with an attie. Serious history. Told not so seriously. Check out our website: darkivespodcast.com Email us: thedarkivescommunity@gmail.com Follow us on: instagram Enjoy the show? Consider leaving a rating and a comment or share us to a fellow history lover. Sources: https://maamodt.asp.radford.edu/psyc%20405/serial%20killers/Toppan,%20Jane%20-%202005.pdf https://www.lowellhistoricalsociety.org/lowells-ties-to-jolly-jane-massachusetts-female-serial-killer/ Theme music: Ways of the Wizard-geoffharvey Used with permission, Thank you Geoff! licensed through: Pixabay Other music used: licensed through Pixabay-used under the Pixabay Content License

Mount Tambora 1815: The Biggest Volcanic Eruption in Recorded History

support the show https://patreon.com This week Jamie and Leo dig into the full story of Mount Tambora. On April 10th, 1815, a volcano on the island of Sumbawa in Indonesia erupted. It was the largest volcanic eruption in recorded history. The explosion sent so much ash and sulfur dioxide into the stratosphere that it created an aerosol cloud the size of Australia, blocking sunlight from reaching Earth's surface for two years. This eruption killed thousands on the island immediately, the ash that buried an entire kingdom so completely it lay undiscovered for nearly 200 years, and the global chain reaction that followed. Crops failed across Europe and North America. Grain prices in the United States soared by 400 percent. A new strain of cholera emerged in India and spread to Moscow and eventually North America. Riots broke out across European cities. And a group of writers trapped indoors by the relentless cold and rain at Lake Geneva in Switzerland held a writing contest that produced Frankenstein. One volcano. Years of fallout. Serious history. Told not so seriously. Check out our website: darkivespodcast.com Email us: thedarkivescommunity@gmail.com Follow us on: instagram Enjoy the show? Leave a rating and a comment or share us to a friend. Sources: Goldrick, Richard. Tambora's Rumblings in The Annals of Lang Xang. https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/1816-the-year-without-summer.htm https://www.science.smith.edu/climatelit/the-eruption-of-mount-tambora-1815-1818/ https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/history/year-without-summer-poverty-year https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/200-years-after-tambora-volcano-eruption-unusual-effects-linger-180954918/ https://science.nasa.gov/earth/earth-observatory/mount-tambora-volcano-sumbawa-island-indonesia-39412/ https://visittambora.com/long-lost-kingdom-excavation-site/ Theme music: Ways of the Wizard-geoffharvey Used with permission, Thank you Geoff! licensed through: Pixabay

Spontaneous Human Combustion: Real Phenomenon, Unsolved Mystery, or Space Lasers?

support the show https://patreon.com This week Jamie and Leo dig into spontaneous human combustion. We go over the the cases, the wick effect theory that might explain it, and question... how does a human body burn to ash while the chair next to them survives? For centuries people have been found burned beyond recognition in rooms that barely show a scorch mark. No accelerant. No external ignition source. No good explanation. Coroners have listed it as an official cause of death. Scientists have spent decades arguing about whether it's real. Starting with a knight in the 17th century, then to Mary Reeser, who was found reduced almost entirely to ashes in her St. Petersburg, Florida apartment in 1951 (with only her left foot remaining- still in its slipper), and finishing with Michael Faherty, whose 2010 death in Galway, Ireland became the first case in the history of that country officially ruled as spontaneous combustion by a coroner. The cases are bizarre, the evidence is strange, and even Jamie isn't sure what to believe. Also... Somewhere in here we go completely off the rails on the existence of aliens. Amaze! Amaze! Serious history. Told not so seriously. Check out our website: darkivespodcast.com Email us: thedarkivescommunity@gmail.com Follow us on: instagram Enjoy the show? Leave a rating and a comment or share us to a friend. Sources: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Theme music: Ways of the Wizard-geoffharvey Used with permission, Thank you Geoff! licensed through: Pixabay

Tombstone: The Earps, the Cowboys, and the OK Corral

support the show https://patreon.com This week Jamie and Leo dig into the full story before the smoke cleared: who the Earps were and how they ended up in Tombstone, who the Clantons and McLaurys were and why they couldn't leave well enough alone, and how a dentist from Georgia named Doc Holliday became the most feared man in the Arizona Territory. On October 26th, 1881, in a narrow vacant lot behind the OK Corral in Tombstone, Arizona, thirty shots rang out in thirty seconds. Three men were dead. The most famous gunfight in American history was over almost before it started. But the gunfight didn't start that day. It started years earlier, in saloons, in cattle rustling and stagecoach robberies. Northern businessmen and Southern cowboys were fighting for control of everything. Fair warning: we also spend an unreasonable amount of time talking about the 1993 film Tombstone. No apologies. Val Kilmer is a national treasure and we will die on that hill. Serious history. Told not so seriously. Check out our website: darkivespodcast.com Email us: thedarkivescommunity@gmail.com Follow us on: instagram Enjoy the show? Leave a rating and a comment or share us to a friend. Sources: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 The Illustrated Life and Times of Doc Holliday. Tri-Star-Boze Publications, 1994. Theme music: Ways of the Wizard-geoffharvey Used with permission, Thank you Geoff! licensed through: Pixabay

The Britannic: All Aboard for Ticket to Disaster... Again

support the show https://patreon.com This week Jamie and Leo dig into the full story of the Britannic, her construction, her brief life as a hospital ship, and the disaster that put her on the ocean floor. Along the way, meet the crew members who somehow had to survive a sinking twice. Violet Jessop was there for the Titanic and showed up again for the Britannic, so did Arthur Priest. Archie Jewell survived both ships and then didn't. We also answer the insurance fraud questions from the Titanic episode (because apparently Leo wasn't alone in hearing this). The Titanic was an explosive hit movie. The Britannic still made a splash with its own explosive hit. Serious history. Told not so seriously. Check out our website: darkivespodcast.com Email us: thedarkivescommunity@gmail.com Follow us on: instagram Enjoy the show? Consider leaving a rating and a comment or share us to a fellow history lover. Sources: https://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/titanic-survivor/arthur-john-priest.html https://mollybrown.org/servants-at-sea-violet-jessop/ https://www.britannica.com/topic/Britannic https://www.titanicandco.com/britannic/britannicindex.php https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/the-titanics-sister-ship-the-britannic-sank-in-1916-for-the-first-time-ever-divers-have-recovered-artifacts-from-its-wreck-180987402/ https://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/titanic-survivor/archie-jewell.html Theme music: Ways of the Wizard-geoffharvey Used with permission, Thank you Geoff! licensed through: Pixabay

The Erfurt Latrine Disaster: The Crappiest Day in History

support the show https://patreon.com In this episode Jamie tells Leo a story involving a...umm...well, lets just say a 'messy' situation. King Henry VI, King of Germanic Europe during the Holy Roman Empire, did a slick job covering up a debacle involving a couple of 'turds' in a land dispute. Many men met their untimely end while attempting to settle the dispute due to the 'throne', but not the one the king rests on. Welcome to a dirty little tale in history from The Darkives Check out our website: darkivespodcast.com Email us: thedarkivescommunity@gmail.com Follow us on: instagram Enjoy the show? Consider leaving a rating and a comment or share us to a fellow history lover. Sources: https://allthatsinteresting.com/erfurt-latrine-disaster https://www.historyextra.com/period/medieval/erfurt-latrine-disaster-what-happened/ https://www.historicmysteries.com/history/erfurt-latrine-disaster/37890/ https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Ludowinger-15 https://www.britannica.com/biography/Henry-VI-Holy-Roman-emperor Theme music: Ways of the Wizard Composed by: Geoff Harvey Licensed through: Pixabay Used with permission, Thank you Geoff!

The Titanic: A Ticket to Disaster

support the show https://patreon.com This week, Jamie and Leo dig into the construction of the Titanic, the staggering gap between how her passengers lived on board, and the night everything went wrong. In 1912, the most luxurious ship ever built sank on its maiden voyage, taking more than 1,500 people down with it. A third-class ticket cost the equivalent of roughly $1,000 today. The best suite cost over $130,000. When the ship went down, both classes went down together. Some more than others... From the band that kept playing as the ship sank to the couple who refused to be separated even as the lifeboats loaded, this is the story behind the most famous disaster in maritime history. Grab a life jacket and run for the lifeboats because this episode of The Darkives, it's going down. Serious history. Told not so seriously. Check out our website: darkivespodcast.com Email us: thedarkivescommunity@gmail.com Follow us on: instagram Enjoy the show? Consider leaving a rating and a comment or share us to a fellow history lover. Sources: https://www.cruisemummy.co.uk/titanic-ticket-prices/ https://www.britannica.com/topic/Titanic https://mollybrown.org/building-the-titanic/ https://www.titanicandco.com/ https://www.biography.com/history-culture/famous-titanic-passengers-surviviors-victims https://nypost.com/2026/06/18/world-news/cause-of-titan-submersible-implosion-that-killed-five-revealed-in-damning-final-report/ Diehl, Digby. Front Page: 100 Years of the Los Angeles Times. H.N. Abrams, 1981. Theme music: Ways of the Wizard-geoffharvey Used with permission, Thank you Geoff! licensed through: Pixabay Other music used: licensed through Pixabay-used under the Pixabay Content License Special thanks to Sonican for the background music

Ten Days in the Madhouse: Nellie Bly's Undercover Asylum Investigation

support the show https://patreon.com This week, Jamie and Leo dig into one of the boldest undercover investigations in journalism history, the woman behind it, and what she found on the other side of those asylum doors. In 1887, a 23-year-old journalist walked into a boarding house, convinced doctors she had lost her mind, and got herself committed to one of New York's most notorious mental asylums. She wasn't sick. She was working. Nellie Bly spent ten days inside Blackwell's Island, witnessing and documenting abuse and neglect that most of the public had no idea was happening. When she got out, she wrote about all of it... The story didn't just make her famous, it forced the city to change how it treated the people locked inside. This file of The Darkives is easy to get into but much harder to Leave. Serious history. Told not so seriously. Check out our website: darkivespodcast.com Email us: thedarkivescommunity@gmail.com Follow us on: instagram Enjoy the show? Consider leaving a rating and a comment or share us to a fellow history lover. Sources: https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/nellie-bly-0 https://blogs.loc.gov/headlinesandheroes/2022/11/nellie-bly-blackwells-island/ https://www.nps.gov/places/blackwell-s-island-new-york-city.htm https://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/bly/madhouse/madhouse.html Theme music: Ways of the Wizard-geoffharvey Used with permission, Thank you Geoff! licensed through: Pixabay Other music used: licensed through Pixabay-used under the Pixabay Content License

Mystery, Poison Gas, and Panic: The Mad Gasser of Mattoon:

support the show https://patreon.com In 1944, a small Illinois town found itself at the center of one of the strangest mysteries in American history. This week we investigate the story of the Mad Gasser of Mattoon. A mysterious figure allegedly prowling through the night, leaving victims reporting strange odors, paralysis, nausea, and fear. As reports spread across town, panic quickly followed. Residents locked their doors, armed themselves, and searched for an attacker that nobody could seem to catch. Was there really a phantom gasser stalking the streets of Mattoon? Or was the town experiencing one of America's earliest and most famous cases of mass hysteria? We get into the reports, the investigation, the suspects, and the theories that surround the case. Sometimes the most unsettling mysteries aren't about what happened... They're about what people believe happened. Lock your doors, keep an eye on the windows, and don't breathe too deeply. We're hunting for the Mad Gasser of Mattoon in this file from The Darkives. Serious history. Told not so seriously. Check out our website: darkivespodcast.com Email us: thedarkivescommunity@gmail.com Follow us on: instagram Enjoy the show? Consider leaving a rating and a comment or share us to a fellow history lover. Sources: https://www.library.illinois.edu/hpnl/blog/the-mad-gasser-of-mattoon/ https://nypost.com/2024/05/27/us-news/mad-gasser-of-mattoon-inside-us-first-case-of-mass-hysteria/ https://thechiseler.org/home/the-mad-gasser-of-mattoon https://www.fdrlibrary.org/vrba-wetzler-report Theme music: Ways of the Wizard-geoffharvey Used with permission, Thank you Geoff! licensed through: Pixabay Other music used: licensed through Pixabay-used under the Pixabay Content License

Two of History's Most Disturbing Executions: Topsy and the Pig

support the show https://patreon.com This week, Jamie and Leo cover two stories that prove that history has never been particularly kind to animals in the most unbelievable ways possible. First Topsy the elephant. Shipped across the world, worked to exhaustion as a circus animal, and ultimately sentenced to death after killing a man. What followed was one of the most disturbing executions in recorded history. She was fed cyanide, electrocuted, and hanged. All of that on the same day, in front of a live audience... Then a pig in 14th century France is arrested, dressed in human clothing, put on formal trial for the killing of an infant, found guilty, and hanged for her crimes. In 1386. Because that was apparently a thing that happened. Two animals. Two executions. Centuries apart. Both completely true. Welcome back to the Darkives. Serious history. Told not so seriously. Check out our website: darkivespodcast.com Email us: thedarkivescommunity@gmail.com Follow us on: instagram Enjoy the show? Consider leaving a rating and a comment or share us to a fellow history lover. Sources: https://www.topsytheelephant.com/ https://www.smithsonianmag.com https://edison.rutgers.edu/life-of-edison/essaying-edison/essay/myth-buster-topsy-the-elephant https://allthatsinteresting.com/topsy-the-elephant https://www.bklynlibrary.org/blog/2014/12/12/theyll-say-aww-topsy-my https://www.ancient-origins.net/weird-facts/medieval-animal-trials-0016706 https://medievaltorturemuseum.com/blog/strange-medieval-courts-animals-trial-middle-ages/ Theme music: Ways of the Wizard-geoffharvey Used with permission, Thank you Geoff! licensed through: Pixabay Other music used: licensed through Pixabay-used under the Pixabay Content License special thanks to atlasaudio for the background music.

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