The Penny Dreadful Hour: A Feast of Early-Victorian Street Literature and Stories Podcast Por Finn J.D. John/ Pulp-Lit Productions arte de portada

The Penny Dreadful Hour: A Feast of Early-Victorian Street Literature and Stories

The Penny Dreadful Hour: A Feast of Early-Victorian Street Literature and Stories

De: Finn J.D. John/ Pulp-Lit Productions
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This is the podcast that carries you back to the sooty, foggy streets of early-Victorian London when a new issue of one of the "Penny Dreadful" blood-and-thunder story paper comes out! It's like an early-Victorian variety show, FEATURING ... — Sweeney Todd ... — Varney, the Vampyre ... — Highwayman Dick Turpin ... — Spring-Heel'd Jack ... — mustache-twirling villains ... — virtuous ballet-girls ... —wicked gamblers ... ... and more! Spiced with naughty cock-and-hen-club songs, broadsheet street ballads, and lots of old Regency "dad jokes." Join us!Finn J.D. John/ Pulp-Lit Productions Mundial
Episodios
  • 3.22: The aftermath of the dreadful vampyre's visit! — A face from a sinister childhood dream ... or was it? — What the bumps on your head say about YOU.

    3.22: The aftermath of the dreadful vampyre's visit! — A face from a sinister childhood dream ... or was it? — What the bumps on your head say about YOU.
    Oct 5 2025
    Episode 22 of Season Three! — A Sunday-evening full episode!02:00: VARNEY THE VAMPYRE (1844), Ch. 21. In which —Admiral Bell is absolutely convinced, in spite of himself, and enthusiastically proclaims himself Team Flora. Then a scream rings out. The vampire has visited once again! They run for Flora’s room. Will she be OK? And can they catch the hideous vampire before he makes his escape from the house?21:40: LET'S BASE HIRING DECISIONS ON PHRENOLOGY! (Satirical article from Punch Magazine):Written just about the time the average person was starting to realize "head-bump-ology" was a pseudoscientific joke, this comedic article suggests some ways phrenological insights could be used to make sure public servants are well suited to their jobs.27:00: CARMILLA, by J.S. Le Fanu (1871), Part 2 of 9. IN WHICH:—Laura cannot wait to meet the new friend whom fortune has thrown upon her household. The servants are charmed by her, and speak very warmly of her; but the are a little freaked out by the glimpses they had of the other members of her traveling party. Finally the doctor comes and looks the new girl over and pronounces her fit to receive company. Laura needs no second invitation, but races upstairs at once, and finds — the girl from her dream, twelve years before!PLUS —We explore a "broadside ballad" published circa 1835 called "The Prigging Overseers," celebrating the arrest and imprisonment of the Overseer of the Poor at St. Pancras' Parish for stealing from the collections.We learn a few more Victorian "dad jokes" from good old Joe Miller!EPISODE ART is cover art for an episode of The Phrenological Journal and Science of Health, published circa 1840.GLOSSARY OF FLASH TERMS USED IN THIS EPISODE:WOODPECKERS: Punster, joker, or word-play artist.RUM BOGGIES: Good sports.KNIGHTS OF THE BRUSH AND MOON: Drunken fellows wandering amok by moonlight in fields and ditches, trying to stagger home.CHAFFING-CRIB: A room where drinking and bantering are going on.BUMPER: A glass of liquor filled to the absolute brim. Often used in the context of draining one's entire glass in a toast, leaving no dregs ("no heel taps").RED TAPE: Brandy.BADGE COVES: Parish pensioners who were issued a badge that gave them license to supplement their pensions by begging.LAMBSKIN MEN: Judges.PRIGGING: Stealing.CRINOLINE: A steel-cage-reinforced hoop skirt worn by ladies, or slang reference to a gaol cell.PICKING OAKUM: Work given to prisoners, a tedious unraveling of the fibers of old worn-out ropes to make oakum for chinking ships' hulls.BLACKSMITH'S DAUGHTER: Fetters or manacles.JOE MILLER: A famous Shakespearean player from the 1700s who was famous for being a stone-face deadpan actor. As an inside joke, his name was used for the collection of wisecracks that bears his name.VADE MECUM: Latin for "hand book."RED WAISTCOAT: Uniform apparel of the Bow-street Runners, an early London police force replaced by the New Model Police (who dressed in blue rather than red) in 1839.GAMMONERS: Swindlers or bullshitters.ROMONERS: Gammoners who pretend to have occult powers.OLD ST. GILES: The most famous slum parish of London, also called "The Holy Land"DUNWICH, Town Of (spelled with no "T"): A seacoast town east of London, once very large, which eroded away and fell into the sea; only a few streets and houses remainDUNWITCH, Barony Of (note the "T"): A small estate in the hills West of Arkham, according to Colonial chronicler H.P. Lovecraft. Does not actually exist, but if it did, would be headed by Finn J.D. John, 18th Baron Dunwitch.DUNSANY, Barony Of: A large estate in Ireland, including Dunsany Castle in County Meath, headed until 1957 by legendary fantasy author Edward J.M.D. Plunkett, 18th Baron Dunsany, one of Mr. Lovecraft's favorite authors.RUM TE TUM WITH THE CHILL OFF: Most emphatically excellent.
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    56 m
  • 3.21: Kidnapped and spirited away to a distant castle! — The scaffold at one of Her Majesty's gaols. — Horrors of a medieval marriage. (A Ha'penny Horrors half-hour minisode)

    3.21: Kidnapped and spirited away to a distant castle! — The scaffold at one of Her Majesty's gaols. — Horrors of a medieval marriage. (A Ha'penny Horrors half-hour minisode)
    Oct 2 2025

    A half-hour- long (plus a bit) Ha'penny Horror 'Hursday minisode IN WHICH —

    0:02:00: THE BLACK BAND; OR, THE COMPANIONS OF MIDNIGHT, Chapter 21:

    • IN WHICH:— We return to Clara Melville at the theatre. Reginald Faulkner has been wooing her for some time now, sending flowers every night, and eventually sending her a packet of books. We know a formalization of their relationship cannot be far distant … but then one day, as she is walking home, she is forcibly scooped up by a pair of rough-looking men in a carriage and hurried off to Calais. One of them tells her she has a rich maiden aunt who has ordered her kidnapped and brought to her, to settle her vast estate upon her. And, being young and naïve, Clara believes him … should she? We shall see.


    0:16:15: TERRIBLE TIDBIT OF THE DAY (from "Dickens' Dreadful Almanac"):

    • An account of an unsuccessful attempt at a garrote robbery.


    0:18:20: BEAUTIFUL VENICE; THE SCAFFOLD; CHARMING MAY.

    • A broadside printed up in 1835 with three ballads printed on it, differing hilariously in tone.


    0:22:36: THE SANGUINARY REVENGE:

    • A truly horrible account of the sufferings of Madame la Comtesse de Chateaubriand, caught up in a personal power struggle between King Francis I and her coldly murderous husband. From The Terrific Register (1825).


    Join host Finn J.D. John. for a half-hour-long spree through the darkest and loathliest stories seen on the streets of early-Victorian London! Grab a flicker of blue ruin, switch off your mirror neurons, and let's go!

    GLOSSARY OF FLASH TERMS USED IN THIS EPISODE:

    • HIGH PADS: Highway robbers who work on foot rather than mounted on horseback.
    • CRACKSMEN: Housebreakers or burglars.
    • 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.
    • SHERRY OFF: To run away at top speed. Adopted from the nautical term "to sheer off."
    • FLATS: Innocent, not-too-smart persons who are duped by "sharps." In other words, suckers.
    • BUMS: Bailiffs.
    • CRAPPING COVES: Pronounced "crêpe-ing," it means hangmen, who cause the widows of the criminals they execute to wear crêpe in mourning.
    • THE OLD STONE JUG: Newgate Prison, or prisons in general.
    • PADDINGTON FAIR: Execution day at Tyburn Tree gallows, which was in Paddington parish.
    • DUNWICH, TOWN OF (spelled with no "T"): A seacoast town east of London, once very large, which eroded away and fell into the sea starting in the 13th century; only a few streets and houses remain today.
    • DUNWITCH, BARONY OF (spelled with a "T"): A small estate in the hills West of Arkham, according to Colonial chronicler H.P. Lovecraft. Does not actually exist, but if it did, would be headed by Finn J.D. John, 18th Baron Dunwitch.
    • DUNSANY, BARONY OF: A large estate in Ireland, including Dunsany Castle in County Meath, headed until 1957 by legendary fantasy author Edward J.M.D. Plunkett, 18th Baron Dunsany.
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    36 m
  • 3.20: The ballet-girl's daring attempt to escape from a dastard's clutches! — Plus a broadside ballad, and an early-Victorian naughty song. (A Twopenny Torrid Tuesday demi-hour minisode!)!

    3.20: The ballet-girl's daring attempt to escape from a dastard's clutches! — Plus a broadside ballad, and an early-Victorian naughty song. (A Twopenny Torrid Tuesday demi-hour minisode!)!
    Sep 30 2025

    A spicy (-ish) Tuesday Twopenny Torrid minisode IN WHICH —

    0:01:52: THE BALLET-GIRL'S REVENGE, IN WHICH —:

    • CHAPTER 9: Rose learns her captors are working for Count Lerno. Then she sees her chance and bolts for the door, with the young man in hot pursuit. But she takes a wrong turn! The only escape is over the roof … can she make it? Or will she end up in a shattered, lifeless heap in the street fifty feet below?


    0:22:45: BROADSIDE STREET BALLAD:

    • "The Cruel Stepmother," which we visit briefly and summarize although it's too long to read. To read it in full, go to pennydread.com/discord and look in the "Welcome friend" server feed!


    0:24:50: A SALACIOUS SALOON SONG:

    • "The Maid and the Fowls," a humourous and ribald account in song of how a clever maid got herself out of trouble with her master after her cher-ami stole his supper.


    0:30:20: FIVE VICTORIAN 'DAD JOKES.'

    • From "Joe Miller's Jests; or, The Wit's Vade-mecum."


    Join host Corinthian Finn, a.k.a. Finn J.D. John, for a half-hour-long spree through the scandal-sheets and story papers of old London! Grab a decanter and top off your glass, unload your stumps, and let's go!

    GLOSSARY OF FLASH TERMS USED IN THIS EPISODE:

    • Prime coves: Regency-era roysterers and young men-about-town.
    • Dimber mots: Pretty, possibly dangerous young ladies.
    • Knights of the Brush and Moon: Drunken fellows wandering amok in meadows and ditches, trying to stagger home.
    • Chaffing-crib: A room where drinking and bantering are going on.
    • Chicksters: Flamboyant ladies, often prostitutes
    • Ladybirds: Another term for chicksters
    • Bully rocks: Brothel muscle men
    • Abbess: Brothel madam
    • Mother H: A famous abbess from the 1830s
    • Bolt the Moon: Fly by night
    • Beaks: Magistrates and judges
    • Get fly to the fakement: Get wise to a swindle that's being perpetrated.
    • Dunwich, town of (spelled with no "T"): A seacoast town east of London, once very large, which eroded away and fell into the sea starting in the 13th century; only a few streets and houses remain today.
    • Dunwitch, Barony of (spelled with a "T"): A small estate in the hills West of Arkham, according to Colonial chronicler H.P. Lovecraft. Does not actually exist, but if it did, would be headed by Finn J.D. John, 18th Baron Dunwitch.
    • Dunsany, Barony of: A large estate in Ireland, including Dunsany Castle in County Meath, headed until 1957 by legendary fantasy author Edward J.M.D. Plunkett, 18th Baron Dunsany.
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    33 m
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