Everything Is Awful Forever
113 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 1 year ago - ★★★★★ - 46 ratingsA macabre history podcast in which Jess and Philippa wax lyrical over the awful oddities of the past.
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Episodes
Bitchfinder General - Part 1
April 29, 2019 09:00 - 58 minutes - 26.8 MBIt's time to get familiar with the subject of witchcraft. Who were those adorable imps that hung around suspected magic-users in the medieval period? How did one actually catch a witch? Were witches hanged or burned? And just how many men and women were accused of witchcraft in England, anyway? This week, Jess and Philippa look at supersitions surrounding witches and witchcraft in England during the mid-1600s, as well as Matthew Hopkins: the self-made Witchfinder General who instigated the ...
In the Pits
April 22, 2019 05:00 - 44 minutes - 20.4 MBIs a seven day week just not enough? Do you have a list of chores as long as a very long arm? Have you considered children? This week, Philippa and Jess take another look at how the Victorians exploited children and used their labour to literally fuel their sooty lifestyles. Join us as we dig up the dirty details on child miners. Support the show
Gone with the Fairies
April 14, 2019 23:00 - 55 minutes - 25.5 MBHas a loved one been grumpy, sickly, and just doesn't play those Facebook games that you keep tagging them in? They may have that stomach bug that's been going around or - and hear us out, here - they may have been stolen by fairies and replaced with a bad-tempered changeling. This week, Jess and Philippa talk about the fairy faith in late 1800s Ireland, and how personal and societal pressures led to a man murdering his "changeling" wife so that he might get his real love back from the fairi...
Freak Shows
April 08, 2019 05:00 - 50 minutes - 23.1 MBIt's time to take the Victorian Period to even stranger places. Jess and Philippa discuss the emergence of the Victorian freak show out of the circus, looking at the lives of two of its stars: Oofty Goofty and Grady Stiles - also known as "The Lobster Boy". As the main act, we look at how Stiles in particular blurred the boundaries between performance and murder - and almost got away with it. Support the show
Dirty, Dirty
April 01, 2019 05:00 - 54 minutes - 25.2 MBBlake may have seen "marks of weakness, marks of woe" in every London face he saw, but in a city famously called "The Smoke", it turns out that Victorian skin may have been rather more grubby that previously imagined. This week, Jess and Philippa wallow in the dirty details of Victorian filth and pollution, and discuss the unhappy lives that toiled under its sooty cloud. Support the show
Moronic Murderers
March 25, 2019 06:00 - 46 minutes - 21.5 MB"I've got a cunning plan!" said no Victorian murderer ever. Are you getting tired of ingenious modern killers? Want a little less subtlety in your serial killers? If you're hankering after the days in which murderers laughed maniacally, yelling "they'll never catch me - I'm invincible!" while twirling their mustaches, you're in the right place. This week, Jess and Philippa talk about the "Bermondsey Horror": a murder replete with hilarious bungling, futile finagling, and a whole bunch of co...
Parricide Poisoners
March 18, 2019 06:00 - 43 minutes - 20.1 MBWhat did Adelaide Bartlett, Madeleine Smith, and Mary Ann Cotton...um...Mowbray...er...Ward? Mary Ann Robinson? Cotton again? What might these three women have had in common - aside from a sudden and startling lack of still-breathing relatives and husbands? If your answer is "suspicious amounts of deadly poison" then you're either thinking like a parricide poisoner or you are a parricide poisoner and need to hand yourself in to the authorities. This episode, Jess and Philippa look into the ...
Medicinal Cannibalism
March 11, 2019 06:00 - 42 minutes - 19.6 MBThis episode comes to you with some fava beans and a nice chianti. This week, Philippa and Jess explore the grisly history of medicinal cannibalism and corpse medicine. Whether it was ancient Egyptian mummies, mossy skulls, or blood fresh from the execution, European kings, priests, doctors, and beggars ate human flesh and bones for well over two hundred years. Join us for the whys and wherefores - but take care to eat dinner, first! Support the show
Eat Me, Drink Me
March 04, 2019 06:00 - 35 minutes - 16.4 MBWhen an ominous, black granite sarcophagus was unearthed in 2018, oozing with a mysterious red liquid, the prevailing public opinion was "I wanna drink that"! Listen to Jess and Philippa talk about why you should never imbibe the mysterious red liquid; find out more about cursed cheese, historical beliefs about food, and discover what chemicals the Victorians like to ingest (hint: all of them). Support the show
Ice Pick Lobotomies
February 25, 2019 07:00 - 32 minutes - 15.1 MBIs therapy just a drag, lately? Do people complain that you talk about politics way too much? An ice pick lobotomy may fix both of those problems. Or, you know, kill you. Perhaps stick to listening to Jess and Philippa talk about this pinnacle of medical discovery and how one man terrorised America in his lobotomobile. His words, not ours. Support the show
The Intro to Awful
February 18, 2019 12:00 - 3 minutes - 2.7 MBHey there, we're about to take you on a downward spiral into the past. Think things have never been so bad? Well, get ready, because everything has always been awful...FOREVER! Hosts Jess and Philippa teach each other about the weird and wonderful things from the past our ancestors miraculously survived. History, society, other terrible things we;ve endured to get to where we are today. Support the show
The Intro to Awful
February 18, 2019 12:00 - 3 minutes - 2.7 MBHey there, we're about to take you on a downward spiral into the past. Think things have never been so bad? Well, get ready, because everything has always been awful...FOREVER! Hosts Jess and Philippa teach each other about the weird and wonderful things from the past our ancestors miraculously survived. History, society, other terrible things we;ve endured to get to where we are today. Support the show
Victorian Cosmetics
February 18, 2019 12:00 - 32 minutes - 15 MBFancy a few drops of deadly nightshade in your eyes? Your partner will swoon when he sees your dilated pupils and - better still - you won't be able to see him at all. Or how about a little sugar of lead to bring a corpse-like glow to those cheeks of yours? Listen to Jess and Philippa chat about the bizarre and frankly death-defying beauty tricks employed during the 1800s. Just remember not to smile or laugh: you don't want to have to start the enamelling process all over again! Support the...