5.15: Torches, pitchforks, and a vampire! — Unsolicited advice for ladies during courtship. — Lord Bellamont’s third ball. (Segment 1 — The “Penny Dreadfuls” — feat. Varney the Vampyre.)

(ART: The angry mob and Dr. Chillingworth, from this episode’s chapter of Varney the Vampyre.)

SHOW NOTES

— for —

EPISODES 15-18 (Season 5)

(February 22-25, 2026)

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Join host Corinthian Finn, a.k.a. Finn J.D. John 18th Baron Dunwitch,* for a one-hour-long spree through the scandal-sheets and story papers of early-Victorian London!

Each segment is in its own sub-episode. The "Penny Dreadfuls" segment is in this main episode, followed by ...

• The “Twopenny Torrids” minisode coming Monday evening;
• The “Ha’penny Horrids” minisode on Tuesday evening; and finally
• The “Sixpenny Spookies” minisode on Wednesday.

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THE "PENNY DREADFULS" SEGMENT:

• For COMPLETE SHOW NOTES, including art and links to resources, see ⁠pennydread.com/discord.⁠

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IN TODAY'S "PENNY DREADFULS" SEGMENT:

• 02:50: ON THIS DREADFUL DAY (February 22): Lord Bellamont, the “Hybernian Seducer,” took a pistol ball to the groin in a duel with Lord Townshend. (1773)
• 04:10: VARNEY THE VAMPYRE; or, THE FEAST OF BLOOD, Chapter 40: The mob of angry villagers arrive at Sir Francis Varney’s house, with Dr. Chillingworth in front, importuning them to turn back the whole way. They form up in front of Ratford Abbey and thunderously demand admittance to the place. Upon getting in, they search it; Varney is not there. Then a shepherd tells them he saw Varney heading towards the duelling-spot, and they race thither, hot on the vampyre’s track … how do you suppose our bold, bad eldritch anti-hero will get out of this one?
• 41:05: BROADSIDE BALLAD: “SECRETS for ladies during courtship! TEASING MADE EASY!” (Mid-1800s).

GLOSSARY OF EARLY-VICTORIAN SLANG USED IN THIS EPISODE:

• WOOD PECKERS: Jokers, with the implication that they favor dry humour.
• WATER PADS: Highway robbers of the river — freshwater pirates, basically.
• KNIGHTS OF THE BRUSH AND MOON: Drunken fellows wandering amok in meadows and ditches, trying to stagger home.
• CORINTHIAN: A fancy toff or titled swell. Used here as a reference to Corinthian Tom, the quintessential Regency rake depicted in Pierce Egan's "Life in London" (usually referred to as "Tom and Jerry").
• CHAFFING-CRIB: A room where drinking and bantering are going on.
• TARTARS: Stern and disapproving old ladies.
• AUTEM DIPPERS: Hard-shell Baptists.
• FLICKER: Drinking glass.
• BLUE JACKY: Gin.

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* The Barony of Dunwitch is located in a deep forest glade west of Arkham (where, as H.P. Lovecraft put it, “the hills rise wild, and there are valleys with deep woods that no axe has ever cut; there are dark narrow glens where the trees slope fantastically, and where thin brooklets trickle without ever having caught the glint of sunlight.”) Actually it is a good 3,000 miles west of Arkham. It is not to be confused with Dunwich, the English seacoast town that fell house by house into the sea centuries ago, or Dunsany, the home until 1957 of legendary fantasy author Edward J.M.D. Plunkett, 18th Baron Dunsany.