Everything Is Awful Forever

Mary Toft: Down the Rabbit Hole

May 04, 2020 15:00 - 58 minutes - 40.4 MB

It's 1726 and all of London is abuzz with the news of a woman who has allegedly given birth to seventeen rabbits. Join Jess and Philippa as they explore the messy affair and the full potential of a Georgian woman's reproductive power. Support the show

Resurrectionists: Scrumping for Corpses

April 27, 2020 14:00 - 48 minutes - 33.3 MB

Hold onto your everything because, this week, Burke and Hare are headed to Surgeon's Hall and need some body to go with them. Join Jess and Philippa as they shadow the resurrection men as well as those with a more "go get 'em" attitude. Support the show

Consuming Fashion

April 20, 2020 15:00 - 53 minutes - 36.8 MB

It's the mid 1850s and one thing is on everyone's lips (and perhaps their freshly laundered handkerchiefs): tuberculosis. Deadly, incurable, and oh so incredibly fashionable. Join Jess and Philippa as they look at what was then called "the white plague", "consumption", or even "graveyard cough" and how the Victorians cultivated its sickly pallor in order to give themselves a moral, intellectual - and above all trendy - glow. Support the show

Undark and the Radium Girls

April 06, 2020 12:00 - 47 minutes - 32.8 MB

In these difficult times, we're all learning new lessons about hygiene and what not to put in our mouths (lookin' at you, Greg). Join Jess and Philippa as they look back on the 20s of yester-century and the finger-lickin' awfulness of the Radium Girls. Support the show

The Abode of Love: The Prince and the Spinster

March 17, 2020 13:00 - 1 hour - 44 MB

The countryside is underrated. Lush fields, picturesque cows, spring in bloom, and middle class sex (maybe?) cults. Join Jess and Philippa in the Abode of Love as they discuss the Agapemonites, led by Henry Prince, and their involvement in the lives of the Nottidge family. Cults, abductions, madhouses, and scandal: it's all topsy turvey in the Abode of Love. Support the show

Hooked

March 09, 2020 14:00 - 58 minutes - 40.5 MB

How do you piss off a pirate? Take away the ‘P’! We'd apologise for the the terribly pirate humour and non-stop "aaaarghs", but we don't think we'll ever be sorry. Join Jess and Philippa as they teach their parrots to swear, adjust their eyepatches, and learn about the pirate code (it's more of a guideline, really). Support the show

Bend It Like Bedlam

March 02, 2020 15:00 - 52 minutes - 36.1 MB

It's our final episode on Bedlam and we're all out of episode titles. Join us this week as Bedlam is dragged kicking and screaming to its new home in St. George's Fields and the 19th century. Support the show

The Bluebelle Ocean Massacre

February 24, 2020 11:00 - 46 minutes - 31.9 MB

A family vacation, cruising on out in the blue of the Bahamas...just what could possibly go wrong? This week, let Jess and Philippa stoke your thalassophobia as we dive into a story about death on the ocean and surprising escapes. Support the show

Cops and Quakers

February 17, 2020 14:00 - 48 minutes - 33.1 MB

Royal assassination attempts, criminal lunacy and...Quakers? When we last looked at Bedlam, it was wobbling uneasily on its shaky masonry. But who's going to be the one to push it over the edge? This week, Jess and Philippa take a look at the dual waves of prison and asylum reform that would soon sweep Bedlam out of its chains and into the modern age. Support the show

Speak Easy

February 03, 2020 13:00 - 45 minutes - 31.4 MB

This week, join two rum runnin' baby vamps as we speak easy about 1920s prohibition and the G-man's attempts to give America the screaming meemies. It's not all banana oil, so let's get boiled as an owl and jive to the toils of the roaring 20s. Support the show

Back to Bedlam

January 27, 2020 13:00 - 49 minutes - 33.8 MB

This week, Jess and Philippa continue their journey into Bedlam. Join us as we sneak between its tightly locked doors, through the shaky, crumbling structure of the building, eavesdrop on its medical triumvirate, and chat with one of its inmates about a fiendish invention. Support the show

Mad Monarchs: Royal Rumble

January 20, 2020 06:00 - 45 minutes - 31.6 MB

Content warning for brief mention of sexual assault in the episode. As we look away from the awful world of current events, it's a good time to remind ourselves that things could always be more...interesting. Join Jess and Philippa this week as we talk about rulers who thought that they might be blamed for the weather, held court martials (and executions) for rats, or just tied their guests to water wheels to watch them drown. Support the show

Bedlam: The Beginning

January 13, 2020 01:00 - 53 minutes - 36.6 MB

The New Year is here, and everything's gone to Bedlam. Join Jess and Philippa this week as we look at the beginnings of this infamous asylum, which would be founded in the thirteenth century and, over the centuries, come to haunt the minds and cultural works of the English - eventually embodying the very idea of madness itself. Support the show

Awful Forever Pre-Christian Christmas Episode

December 23, 2019 20:00 - 53 minutes - 36.7 MB

This week, Jess and Philippa encourage you to make Great Britain great again with cannibal pre-Christmas feasts, druidic sacrifices, wode paint, and generalised screaming. Also, some great hair tips. Support the show

Medieval Madness: Melancholy and Mania

December 09, 2019 14:00 - 43 minutes - 29.7 MB

It's Monday and the madness continues with medieval madnessess of melancholy and mania. Also, we can't stop alliterating, please send help. This week, Jess and Philippa look at how medieval Christianity blended with classical Greek and Roman beliefs about madness, and how emotional and behavioural disturbances were analysed through the lenses of mania and melancholia. Support the show

Hazzardous Healthcare

December 02, 2019 13:00 - 43 minutes - 30.2 MB

Now that December is upon us, Jess and Philippa anticipate your New Year's resolutions of health, wealth, and happiness by giving you a couple of wellbeing tips. 99% of doctors agree that 90 day fasts are NOT the way to the beach body you've always dreamed of (a beach body is a body buried on the beach. Get it right, this year). 99% of doctors would suggest NOT starving people to death in order to steal their wealth. This week, we look at the 1% that would say otherwise. The doctor will see ...

Humour in Your Humours

November 25, 2019 14:00 - 42 minutes - 29.3 MB

This week, Jess and Philippa's Ship of Fools embarks upon the sea of madness. Join us in this introductory episode to historical perspectives on insanity. What behaviours crossed the line? What caused "madness", and what cured it? This week, we dive into the Old Testament, archaic Greece, Hippocratic theory, and more. Support the show

Serfs Up, Bro

November 18, 2019 14:00 - 43 minutes - 30.1 MB

This week, listen to Jess go mad with power as she and Philippa explore medieval feudalism through the lens of a Choose Your Own Adventure, dystopia style. Support the show

The Irish Potato Famine

November 11, 2019 12:00 - 51 minutes - 35.5 MB

This week, Jess and Philippa go back to 1845 to look at the Great Hunger and England's response to a starving nation. Support the show

Halloween Special: Vampire Variations

November 04, 2019 12:00 - 47 minutes - 33 MB

What's that rapping on your window? That shadow on the wall? Only Jess and Philippa who can't let go of Halloween and want to look at one more monster before the Christmas wave hits us. This week we invite vampires over the threshold and look at the different beliefs surrounding them in Eastern European folklore as well as the problems that they posed to the Christian faith. Support the show

Halloween Special: The Spiderman of Denver

October 28, 2019 01:00 - 39 minutes - 27.4 MB

A violent murder. A locked house that no assailant could have left. A ghoulish presence in a house that should be empty. Who or what killed Philip Peters? And what's that looming over your shoulder right now? This week, Jess and Philippa get into some spooky history. Support the show

Naval Cannibal Homicide: The Wreck of the Medusa

October 21, 2019 00:00 - 1 hour - 43.9 MB

This week we explore the true meaning of checking oneself before wrecking oneself. The loss of the French frigate, the Medusa, was caused by gross negligence and incompetence, and resulted in the cruel and needless loss of over a hundred lives. Support the show

That Voodoo That You Do

October 15, 2019 00:00 - 48 minutes - 33.5 MB

Halloween is drawing near, and it's time for a little historical horror. This week, Jess and Philippa look at the how do's and who do's of voodoo, and how it's not too bad if you're open to a zombie apocalypse. Support the show

Cannibal Curious

October 08, 2019 00:00 - 52 minutes - 36 MB

We've discussed cannibalism before (S1E4) but our stomaches are still growling. Join Jess and Philippa for a second course of culinary culture. This week, we look at ritual cannibalism and the different forms that it might take across a variety of cultures. Support the show

Crocodile Dung and Twilight Sleep

October 03, 2019 09:00 - 57 minutes - 39.7 MB

How have we survived as a species? I don't just mean in the sense that we've been awful forever, but how we actually come into this world. Childbirth was the most dangerous and harrowing thing in women's lives. From pasting the dung of dangerous creatures on ourselves, using tortoise shells condoms, to drugging women into a thrashing screaming state during labour and doctors walking around with a diseased womb in their pocket, the miracle of childbirth, it seems, is it's a miracle women didn...

Ladies of Flim Flammery

September 16, 2019 12:00 - 41 minutes - 28.7 MB

Turns out the archetypal femme fatale - lying and manipulating hapless men into their black widow spun webs of duplicitousness - is absolutely true...at least for these confidence lasses. This week the people are not just mendacious - they're women-dacious. Neither Jess not guest host Rosie will apologise for puns as we flim flam you into listening about women pretending to be royalty, selling snake oil or just generally, unapologetically scamming so many men you earn the moniker Confidence ...

The Flim Flam Man

August 26, 2019 00:00 - 54 minutes - 37.4 MB

Have you ever ended up with more national monuments than you have space in your living room and therefore need to sell on eBay? Got a magical country surprisingly in need of wealthy citizens? Neither did any of these men, but they didn't let this hold them back. Join Jess and Philippa as they look at everyone's favourite scheming shyster: the confidence man. Support the show

The Devil's Gateway

August 19, 2019 00:00 - 45 minutes - 31.1 MB

Last episode, we looked at the connections between women and Satan. This week, it's time to look at what Rush Limbaugh oh so wittily refers to as witches with a "B". And how do women take control of such patriarchal narratives and redirect them to their own ends? And how does the successful witch keep her penis collection alive? Join Philippa and Jess as they ask the important questions. Support the show

God's Hangman

August 05, 2019 00:00 - 44 minutes - 30.9 MB

Evil deceiver or Romantic individualist? A monster of shifting boundaries or a cosmic force that transcends duality? This week, Jess and Philippa look at one of history's most enigmatic figures: Satan himself. Throughout history, we've been asking ourselves: is he really all that bad? And why are women just unable to keep their hands off of him? Support the show

The Putrid Proletariat

July 31, 2019 00:00 - 38 minutes - 26.2 MB

In our last episode, we looked at the beauty regimes of the upper classes. But what if you don't have an infinite supply of arsenic bath bombs? Or a bath? Or easy access to water? Jess and Philippa wallow amongst the lower classes of Victorian London to look at the methods by which they kept clean, and the ways in which efforts to assist them led to a new hobby for all. Support the show

The "Great" Unwashed

July 29, 2019 00:00 - 44 minutes - 30.9 MB

Water is dangerous - and nowhere more so than in the bath. In a world dominated by the great unwashed - the putrid proletariat - the upper classes fought to preserve a modicum of decency while fending off sudsy perils. Join us this week for clean conversation and Jess's disturbing skin song. Support the show

Disaster Down Under

July 24, 2019 00:00 - 38 minutes - 26.2 MB

Was one atrocious failure of an expedition not enough? Want to hear about another wannabe explorer who set out into brutal conditions woefully unprepared in order to beat a more experienced explorer to the goal? While they were dismally short on supplies, the world has a bounty of idiots, and so this week Jess and Philippa set out into the outback to follow the trail of Robert O'Hara Burke as he journeyed to the north of Australia, gong in hand. Support the show

Icecapade Expedition

July 22, 2019 03:00 - 40 minutes - 27.9 MB

When you decide to go on a road trip do you prioritise transportation, supplies, and company? If so, you're three steps ahead of Vilhjalmur Stefansson, an almost university drop-out on a dangerous expedition. This week, Jess and Philippa compare travel plans as they dive into the deep dark of the Arctic winter and the merry snow ball fights that you can get up to when you're trapped on the ice. Support the show

Limer-Ick

July 17, 2019 02:00 - 24 minutes - 16.9 MB

This Wednesday, we're taking a break to explore the steamy realm of Victorian literature. Just what did the Queen's subjects find sultry enough to risk hairy palms and imminent death by consumption? Join Jess and Philippa as they read from The Pearl, a magazine devoted to publishing erotic material towards the end of the 1800s before they were shut down by the authorities. For obvious reasons, these readings should not be considered safe for work or human decency. Support the show

The Solitary Vice

July 15, 2019 02:00 - 33 minutes - 23.2 MB

Too taboo to even refer to the act outright, the Victorians wrote reams on the solitary vice, using whatever euphemisms they had to hand. This week, Jess and Philippa exercise similar tact and sensitively explore the act of riding the mayonnaise surf as well as the steps that the Victorians took to stem the tide. Support the show

Utopias: Roanoke

July 10, 2019 02:00 - 42 minutes - 29.2 MB

Running with our theme of people who noped out of society: how does a colony of pilgrims just vanish off the face of the earth? Murder. Probably murder. This week, Jess and Philippa talk about the Roanoke colony and the possible reason behind their eerie disappearance (hint: we're still going with murder). Support the show

Utopias: Love Island

July 08, 2019 02:00 - 41 minutes - 28.4 MB

Have you ever looked at something and known that you could have done better? Like: a well-known television series. Or a cake. Or society. This week, Jess and Philippa talk about some eccentric individuals who decided to go off the grid and live the dream. Let's tag along...what could possible go wrong? Just don't forget to pack your entire Nietzsche collection. Don't have room for your teeth? Leave them behind - you won't need 'em. Support the show

Sidetracked

July 03, 2019 02:00 - 20 minutes - 14.1 MB

This week, we wanted to try something a little different. Over the past couple of months, we've been asking our listeners for some awful stories from your lives and cultures. Death rituals and celebrations? Ghost belly buttons? State-wide eugenics programs? Maybe everything is awful forever... Support the show

The Mystery of the Missing Sodders

July 01, 2019 02:00 - 25 minutes - 17.9 MB

A fire. A string of mysterious coincidences. Five missing children. This week, Jess and Philippa look at an unsolved case of disappearance of five members of the Sodder family. Music: "Never Can Stop It" by Lobo Loco From the Free Music Archive CC BY NC "Der Fruling: Chorus: Ewiger, Machtiger, Gutiger Gott!" by MIT Concert Choir From the Free Music Archive CC BY NC Support the show

Dancing Plague: We All Fall Down

June 26, 2019 02:00 - 41 minutes - 28.8 MB

Jess and Philippa return to the medieval dancing epidemic that terrified Strasbourg in 1518. Having established what took place, they now look at a possible explanation for this baffling phenomenon. Support the show

Dancing Plague: First Steps

June 24, 2019 02:00 - 41 minutes - 28.5 MB

Are you ever seized with an unstoppable urge to dance? Are you friends routinely embarrassed by you cutting a jig day and night, waltzing your feet to the bone? If your answer was yes, then you need to listen to this episode and perhaps seek out your nearest Catholic shrine to Saint Vitus. This week, Philippa and Jess talk about the dancing plague that took hold of Strasbourg in 1518, and the bizarre remedies that...actually worked? Support the show

Mad Monarchs: Roman Rulers

June 19, 2019 00:00 - 31 minutes - 21.6 MB

Leapfrogging over bowing dignitaries is one thing, but if you've ever wanted to release leopards amongst your dinner guests or rename everything according to its relation to you, then Roman emperors may have a thing or two to teach us. This week, Jess and Philippa talk about the hilarious pranks available to Roman emperors and maybe...just maybe...learn the meaning of true friendship. Support the show

Mad Monarchs: Eurovision

June 17, 2019 02:00 - 30 minutes - 20.8 MB

Have you ever thought that centuries of keeping kingship within a very, very tiny gene pool may have resulted in history's royal families being a little bit...off? Meet Charles the Mad who thought that he was a wolfman made of glass. Or The Mad King Christian VII of Denmark. Or The Mad King George. This week, Jess and Philippa look at some of history's most eccentric rulers and the quirky habits that earned them that most sought-after epithet: mad. Support the show

Hysterical: Crazy Cures

June 12, 2019 02:00 - 28 minutes - 13.3 MB

This Wednesday, we continue our hysterical journey, deep into the minds of the doctors as they searched frantically for a cure to the bizarre symptoms displayed by their patients. If labial leeches and some light hypnotism sound like just your cup of tea, join us for a diagnostic jaunt that would baffle Dr House himself. Support the show

Hysterical: Wandering Wombs

June 10, 2019 02:00 - 29 minutes - 13.7 MB

Have you got a case of the Monday Blues? Perhaps you didn't get enough sleep last night. Or you need another cup of coffee and a soothing podcast to settle your nerves. That, or your womb might be crawling up your chest cavity and into your throat where it is now trying to strangle you. This week, Philippa and Jess talk about hysteria: one of history's most mystifying (and mesmerising) illnesses. Support the show

Fashion Victims

June 03, 2019 00:00 - 53 minutes - 24.7 MB

"No beauty without pain" said the mother to her daughter as she tugged at the knots in her hair; said the elder as she bound her daughter's feet; said the wealthy elite as they tottered around on twenty inch heels; said the debutante as she burned to ash in a crinoline conflagration. This episode, Jess and Philippa look at the ridiculous ways in which we have perished in the name of fashion and go through some of the greatest beauty Dos & Don'ts of all time. Support the show

Hell-Fire Clubs

May 27, 2019 02:00 - 55 minutes - 25.4 MB

Ready for an exclusive club event with a little blasphemy, some sexy nuns, and a baboon dressed up as Satan? Well, here's your ticket to an episode on the hell-fire clubs, which gained in popularity and infamy throughout the 17th and 18th centuries. This week, Jess and Philippa look at some of the libertines who were members of clubs such as the Ballers, the Damned Crew, and the Bugle Boys. Hold onto your habits, we're in for a boozy ride! Support the show

Strangers: Capgras and Cotard's

May 20, 2019 05:00 - 45 minutes - 20.8 MB

Content warning: animal abuse, murder (including infants), and sexual assault. Take care of yourself, and listen at your own discretion. What do you do when your loved ones, pets, and household items have been replaced with flawless doppelgängers? Or when your organs have been replaced with soap? Or you're already dead and no one else has noticed? This episode, Jess and Philippa dip into the uncanny valley to discuss cases of Capgras and Cotard's delusion, the most famous of which being tha...

Typhoid Mary

May 13, 2019 07:00 - 50 minutes - 23.1 MB

Meet Mary Mallon: the first asymptomatic carrier of typhoid fever, believed to have infected 51 people during her career as a household cook. Meet George Soper: the sanitation engineer who wasn't going to take no for an answer when she refused his request for her blood and faeces. This week, Jess and Philippa discuss a romcom for the ages (and the people infected along the way). Support the show

Bitchfinder General - Part 2

May 05, 2019 23:00 - 52 minutes - 24.1 MB

The Witchfinder General is back, and touring Suffolk in search of vulnerable women to accuse of witchcraft. This week, Jess and Philippa finish Matthew Hopkins' grim story, discussing the greatest witch trial in English history and how East Anglia eventually returned to its senses. Support the show

Everything Is Awful Forever

Episodes