Convicts, illegal dissections, disease, all taking place on ships described as "Wicked Noah's Arks" where conditions were even worse than in notorious prisons like Newgate. Transportation to Australia awaited those who survived, and they counted themselves the lucky ones. Today it's the dark history of the Prison Hulks.

Our guest is Dr Anna McKay from the University of Liverpool who researches the lives and experiences of prisoners across the British maritime world. Her essay 'Allowed to die?' won the Royal Historical Society's Alexander Prize and her latest book proposal is shortlisted for the 2023 Ideas Prize. https://www.anna-mckay.com/

Edited by Tom Delargy, Produced by Freddy Chick, Senior Producer is Charlotte Long.

Enjoy unlimited access to award-winning original documentaries that are released weekly and AD-FREE podcasts. Get a subscription for £1 per month for 3 months with code AFTERDARK sign up at https://historyhit.com/subscription/

The Enfield Poltergeist is Britain's most infamous haunting - set in the late 1970s on the outskirts of London, it continues to be told and retold. Most famously in the film The Conjuring 2.

But this is a real piece of history about a real family and a young girl, Janet, who became the focus of newspapers, paranormal investigators and - if we believe what we're told - a malevolent poltergeist.

Written by Anthony Delaney.

Edited by Tom Delargy. Produced by Freddy Chick. Senior Producer is Charlotte Long.

Enjoy unlimited access to award-winning original documentaries that are released weekly and AD-FREE podcasts. Get a subscription for £1 per month for 3 months with code AFTERDARK sign up at https://historyhit.com/subscription/

On Christmas night 1843 a mother and child were found murdered inside their burned out home. Suspicion fell on one Polly Bodine. Over the next three years, Polly became the most infamous person in America in a blockbuster series of murder trials that gave birth to a monster - tabloid justice.

Our guest today is author Alex Hortis whose book The Witch of New York: The Trials of Polly Bodine and the Cursed Birth of Tabloid Justice is out now.

Edited by Freddy Chick, Produced by Charlotte Long & Freddy Chick.

Enjoy unlimited access to award-winning original documentaries that are released weekly and AD-FREE podcasts. Get a subscription for £1 per month for 3 months with code AFTERDARK sign up at https://historyhit.com/subscription/