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 old London!

PART I: "THE HA’PENNY HORRIDS," 0:00 — 49:00:

• 01:10: TODAY’S TERRIBLE TIDBIT — Jan. 8, 1851: A little chimney-sweeper boy who suffocated in the factory chimney he was cleaning, because the proprietor did not let it cool completely before sending him in, on Jan. 8, 1851. From Dickens’ Dreadful Almanac, a book by Cate Ludlow, 2010.
• 02:50: HANGED TODAY — Jan. 8, 1813: A new Ha’penny Horrid feature! January 8, 1813, three Luddites were hanged for murder after allegedly ambushing and killing industrialist William Horsfall on the high road at Crosland Moor. More details: https://www.executedtoday.com/2013/01/08/1813-yorkshire-luddites-william-horsfall/ .
• 05:20: SWEENEY TODD, THE BARBER OF FLEET-STREET, Chapter 78-79: You’re going to think we’ve gotten our Horrids and Torrids mixed up. In Chapter 78, Arabella pours her heart out to Big Ben regarding her feelings of guilt and shame for having put Johanna up to the secret-agent-in-Todd’s-shop wheeze. He, unfortunately, misinterprets her statement as a confession that she has gotten pregnant somehow, and we get some much-needed laughs out of that! And then in Chapter 79, Colonel Jeffery gives us all a fantastic demonstration of how to screw up a confession of love, when he tries to get Arabella to take him on as a boyfriend.
• 36:00: BROADSIDE BALLAD: A “catchpenny” account of an entitled squire who lusted after a maiden who belonged to another, and, finding himself alone with her in a quiet place, escalated his suit to violence, then double-murdered his way out of the ensuing difficulty when her beau came on the scene. From Curiosities of Street Literature, a book by Charles Hindley, 1871.
• 40:15: HIGHWAYMAN CULTURE (THE NEWGATE CHRONICLES): In the 1600s and 1700s, the roads of England were plagued with banditti, and the most surprising people, from shopkeepers to members of the King’s Guard, chose a life of violent crime. James Whitney (hanged in 1694) is a great example. (Image: Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison, via romantic-circles.org, a peer-reviewed scholarly Website devoted to Romantic-period literature and culture. More on highwayman Whitney: https://romantic-circles.org/gallery/image/trwe-effigies-james-whitney-notorious-highwayman .

PART II: "THE TWOPENNY TORRIDS," 50:00 — 1:28:30:

• 50:20: BLACK BESS; or, THE KNIGHT OF THE ROAD (starring HIGHWAYMAN DICK TURPIN), Chapter 45: Dick and Tom flee, hotly pursued by the officers, who chase them all day. They just make it to a forest, which they plunge into. Unable to shake their pursuers, they turn at bay behind a great fallen tree and draw their swords. But Tom has been hit and has lost a lot of blood. Things are looking bleak for our heroes!
• 1:11:00: SOME STREET POETRY from an 1830s “broadside”: "The Blooming Lady,” a ballad of a fancy toff’s bride, worth £500,000 on her own, who ran off with a handsome servant … and her £500k.
• 1:14:30: ONE OR TWO VERY NAUGHTY COCK-AND-HEN-CLUB SONGS: "Noses to Faces and Tails to Arses” (about a frustrated farmer who finds his village parson is taking too great an interest in “prayer services” with his pretty wife)
• 1:18:50: A FEW MILDLY DIRTY JOKES from what passed in 1830 for a dirty joke book: "The Joke-Cracker."

*The Barony of Dunwitch is located in a wood 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.

FLASH TERMS:

A full glossary of the flash-cant terms used in this episode at https://pennydread.com/discord .

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 old London!

PART I: “The HALF-CROWN CAMPIES” segment: 0:00 — 33:20:

• 01:27: VARNEY THE VAMPYRE; or, THE FEAST OF BLOOD, Chapter 33: Varney quits Ratford Abbey and walks to Bannerworth Hall; although the moon has not yet risen, he shows great familiarity with the grounds and is able to make his way almost blind. By listening to him muttering, we gather that the quest he is on is one which he hopes will furnish him with sufficient money to make his final £1000 payment early, and thus be spared the dread of the stranger’s last visit. But soft: is that a footstep on the garden path? Someone else is also walking abroad in the garden on this pitch-dark night. Who could it be?
• 24:35: BROADSIDE CATCHPENNY: An account of a couple of titled Regency roysterers on a spree, in which one bets the other £5,000 (about £600,000 today — $800,000 to $1.2 million in USD, CAD, AUD or NZD) that he can carry him on his shoulders nine times around St. James’s Square … with a twist.
• 28:50: TERRIFIC REGISTER ARTICLE: A “Tiger King” moment for the Regency era: A lioness escapes from a private zoo and attacked the Exeter Mail coach, severely wounding a horse and killing a brave dog and frightening the passengers half to death.

PART II: "THE SIXPENNY SPOOKIES," 33:47 — 1:04:30:

• 34:12: EARLY VICTORIAN GHOSTLY SHORT STORY, TO-WIT: Count Magnus, by M.R. James; Part 1 of 2 parts: A tour-guide writer named Mr. Wraxall comes to a town called Roebeck, family seat of an aristocratic family called De La Gardie. One of the De La Gardies, a man so cruel, brutal, and sinister that his reputation lingers even 300 years later, was a character named Count Magnus. Mr. Wraxall is fascinated by Count Magnus, and as he prosecutes his research he starts to see that Count Magnus has been on something called the “Black Pilgrimmage.” But no one will tell him what that is …
• 50:43: A SHORT GHOST STORY from the scrapbook of Charles Lindley, Viscount Halifax: Staying up late in the library of an old manor house to study some rare books in its library, our correspondent finds he is not alone ….
• 1:02:00: A FEW SQUEAKY-CLEAN DAD JOKES from the early-1800s' most popular joke book: "Joe Miller's Jests; or, The Wit's Vade-mecum."

GLOSSARY OF FLASH TERMS USED IN THIS EPISODE:

• BLOODS, BUCKS AND CHOICE SPIRITS: Disorderly young roisterers on a spree.
• 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.
• LACED WOMEN: Virtuous women.
• GENTRY COVES: Gentlemen of high social standing.
• SNICKER: Small tumbler.
• BLUE RUIN: Gin, with the implication that it’s a cheaper grade.
• BITE YOUR NAME IN IT: Take a very big drink.
• JOE MILLER: A player at Drury-lane, in the early 1700s, who was famous for a Leslie Nielsen style of stone-faced comedy. Mr. Miller was always so serious (and don’t call him Shirley) that he was hilarious on stage. When he died leaving some dependents uncared-for, the jestbook was created by Joe’s friends as a sort of inside joke, as a fundraiser to support his bereaved family.
• 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.
• NEW DANCING-ACADEMY: The treadmill at Brixton Prison.

There are more! But we’re out of space here. A full glossary of all the flash-cant terms used in this episode is at ⁠https://pennydread.com/discord⁠ in the "#season-4-episodes" thread.

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 old London!

PART I: "THE HA’PENNY HORRIDS," 0:00 — 41:25:

• 01:20: DICKENS' DREADFUL ALMANAC for today: Three years before, she walked in on a murder that had just been committed …
• 03:35: SWEENEY TODD, THE BARBER OF FLEET-STREET, Chapter 76-77: We now cut away to Mrs. Lovett’s pie shop. It is thronged with eager customers and doing a land-office trade. But Mrs. Lovett is nervous. Her captive cook has suddenly started being super punctual and cheerful, which makes her suspicious. She decides she’s going to disappear from the scene; but she’s a little worried about that cook. If he pulls whatever stunt he’s scheming about too soon, it could ruin everything …
• 33:00: STREET BROADSIDE: A “catchpenny” broadside about a gang of highway robbers who murder a newlywed couple, and then one by one fall victim to deadly accidents.
• 36:35: TERRIFIC REGISTER ARTICLE: An account of an evil servant of a linen bleacher who murdered a neighbor kid to cover up his theft. In the 1820s, chlorine having not yet been invented, linen was still bleached by boiling it in lye and then laying it out on grass for seven days.

PART II: "THE TWOPENNY TORRIDS," 42:00 — 1:19:45:

• 42:30: BLACK BESS; or, THE KNIGHT OF THE ROAD (starring HIGHWAYMAN DICK TURPIN), Chapter 43-44: After our boys have a night’s rest courtesy of a family of gypsies — a noble and honorable people provided one respects their customs — the lads push on, keeping a sharp eye out for any chance to “do some business.” They soon come upon what looks like a wedding party! Who doesn’t want to be robbed at pistol-point on his wedding-night? The groom, that’s who! Who does? His newly-wedded bride, it seems. Sounds ridiculous, right? You’ll soon see.
• 1:02:20: SOME STREET POETRY from an 1830s “broadside”: "The Blooming Goddess” and “18s.-A-Week.”
• 1:07:20: ONE OR TWO VERY NAUGHTY COCK-AND-HEN-CLUB SONGS: "The bug destroyers” (about some exterminators called to purge the bedbugs from a whorehouse) and “Up the Flue; or, The Knowing Clergyman,” about a frisky chimney-sweep.
• 1:13:10: A FEW MILDLY DIRTY JOKES from what passed in 1830 for a dirty joke book: "The Joke-Cracker.

GLOSSARY OF FLASH TERMS USED IN THIS EPISODE:

• SPICE ISLANDERS: A punning reference to swindlers. A mace is a swindle, but mace is also a spice.
• SMASHERS: Counterfeit-coin makers.
• 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.
• BAWDY DAME: A brothel madam.
• BUGGER: Then as now, a reference to sodomy.
• KNOWING CLERGYMAN: A rakish chimney sweep. (Like clergymen, chimney sweeps were always dressed in black.)
• CHUMMY: A chimney sweep’s boy helper sent to crawl into chimneys to clean them. These kids had a hard life, and often a short one.
• BLOW HIS BAGS OUT: Give him a really good feed.
• TO BE BURNT: To be infected with an STD.
• SHERRY OFF: To run away at top speed. Adopted from the nautical term "to sheer off."
• FLATS: Suckers.
• FLY TO: Wised-up about, aware of.
• FAKEMENT: Plot or scheme.
• TOPPING COVE: Hangman.
• THE OLD STONE JUG: Newgate Prison, or prisons in general.
• PADDINGTON FAIR: Execution day at Tyburn Tree gallows, which was in Paddington parish; during the years when the “Bloody Code” was in effect, and one could get “scragged” for stealing less than 10 modern dollars’ worth of goods, it was also a blackly humourous pun, as “pad” was Flash slang for “thief” or “robber.”

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 old London!

This is our main one-hour Sunday-night episode. Including, after the break, the "Sixpenny Spookies" segment.

PART I: “The HALF-CROWN CAMPIES” segment: 0:00 — 31:00:

• 01:20: VARNEY THE VAMPYRE; or, THE FEAST OF BLOOD, Chapter 32: Varney’s visitor at last arrives. Spurs clank as he walks into the room; he’s clearly come on horseback. Varney tells his visitor he dreads the visit because of the memory it evokes each year — a memory of something not spelled out, but we do learn that Varney was dead and now is alive once again. We also gather that the visitor holds some kind of awful power over Varney still. What could it be?
• 20:20: BROADSIDE BALLAD: A possibly-true account of a young shepherd who, shortly before he was struck by lightning and killed, had some strange and spooky dreams.
• 26:50: TERRIFIC REGISTER ARTICLE: A strange chapel in Bremen, where centuries-old corpses are preternaturally preserved.

PART II: "THE SIXPENNY SPOOKIES," 31:20 — 1:15:00:

• 31:40: EARLY VICTORIAN GHOSTLY SHORT STORY, TO-WIT: Wake Not the Dead, by Ernst Raupach; final part: Walter finds the sorcerer waiting for him. But the course he offers Walter as his last hope, is almost as horrible as being sucked to death by the vampire. Will he have the courage to do it? Will it even matter if he does?
• 55:00: A SHORT GHOST STORY from the scrapbook of Charles Lindley, Viscount Halifax: If you’re familiar with “The Invalid’s Story,” by Mark Twain, think that story, but with less stinky cheese and a more vocal corpse. Also, it’s a dog train rather than a railroad train. And … all right, all right, it’s a completely different story, but almost as much fun to read.
• 1:12:45: A FEW SQUEAKY-CLEAN DAD JOKES from the early-1800s' most popular joke book: "Joe Miller's Jests; or, The Wit's Vade-mecum."

*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.

GLOSSARY OF FLASH TERMS USED IN THIS EPISODE:

• COLLEGIATES: Prisoners in quod (gaol or prison). Not to be confused with ACADEMICIANS, which are brothel girls.
• BIRDS OF PREY: Lawyers.
• 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.
• YARD OF WHITE TAPE: Large glass of white tape (gin).
• GOB-SLUICING DROPS: Beverage — your gob is your mouth.
• CAKES: Easy, stupid fellows.
• TOWN TABBIES: Dowagers of quality.
• 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."
• RUM TE TUM WITH THE CHILL OFF: Most emphatically excellent.

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 old London!

This is our hour-long Ha'penny Horrid 'Hursday episode, the second of our two weekly shows. It comes in two parts, to-wit:

PART I: "THE HA’PENNY HORRIDS," 0:00 — 37:30:

• 01:10: DICKENS' DREADFUL ALMANAC for today: A Horrid (but mercifully short) account of a London coachman who received a particularly unpleasant, and fatal, Christmas present from his cher-amie...
• 02:50: SWEENEY TODD, THE BARBER OF FLEET-STREET, Chapter 74-75: Left alone in the shop, Johanna does a little light snooping. The parlour door she finds locked, of course. In a cupboard she finds a great assortment of sticks and umbrellas, along with a very fine sailor’s jacket, with what looks like a bloodstain around the breast. She nearly gets lost in maudlin lamentations over it, thinking it might be Mark’s. Then someone tries to enter the shop. She opens the door. It’s a messenger boy. He gives her a letter. …
• 30:40: EXECUTION-DAY BROADSIDE: The Trial and Execution of MARTIN CLINCH & SAMUEL MACKLEY, for the Wicked Murder of Mr. Fryer, in Islington Fields, in 1797..
• 34:45: TERRIFIC REGISTER ARTICLE: Another story of a woman unsuccessfully hanged for stealing from a housemate, who had framed her for it after she refused to sleep with him … who woke up on the dissecting table. In this case, the surgeon did not re-murder her, though!

PART II: "THE TWOPENNY TORRIDS," 38:00 — 1:15:00:

• 38:40: BLACK BESS; or, THE KNIGHT OF THE ROAD (starring HIGHWAYMAN DICK TURPIN), Chapter 41-42: The highwaymen watch as the miser’s murderer makes his appearance. It turns out to be a servant of the miser who had earlier stolen his gold, but now, overhearing his master’s curses and pledge to hunt down and kill whoever stole his gold, decided he’d rather have a murder on his conscience than a Nemesis on his track, and let the old man have it right in the chest. Outraged, Turpin and King pounce upon him. Dick makes a noose, and they fit it under his armpits and hang him up under a tree for someone to find, and they head off back toward their horses. Then, abruptly, the murderer’s screams stop, as if silenced by the hand of death … what could have happened?
• 1:01:20: A STREET-LIT STORY from an 1830s “broadside”: "The Female Sleep-walker,” a “catchpenny” story with a subtly sexual subtext.
• 1:07:50: A RATHER NAUGHTY COCK-AND-HEN-CLUB SONG: "The Frisky Country Lass,” which is one of those songs in which you figure out the dirty words by seeing what they rhyme with.
• 1:11:55: A FEW MILDLY DIRTY JOKES from what passed in 1830 for a dirty joke book: "The Joke-Cracker."

*The Barony of Dunwitch is located in a wood 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.

GLOSSARY OF FLASH TERMS USED IN THIS EPISODE:

• CAPTAIN LUSHINGTON: One who has alcoholically overindulged.
• OUT-AND-OUTER: A tip-topper or first-rater.
• KNIGHTS OF THE BRUSH AND MOON: Drunken fellows wandering amok in meadows and ditches, trying to stagger home.
• BLUNT: Money, with the implication that there is a large amount of it.
• BOLT THE MOON: Fly by night.
• MOABITES: Bailiffs.
• PHILISTINES: Another word for Moabites.
• NUBBING COVES: Hangmen.

There are more! But we’re out of space here. A full glossary of all the flash-cant terms used in this episode is at ⁠https://pennydread.com/discord⁠ in the "#season-4-episodes" thread.

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 old London!

PART I: “The HALF-CROWN CAMPIES” segment: 0:00 — 32:00:

• 01:20: VARNEY THE VAMPYRE; or, THE FEAST OF BLOOD, Chapter 31: We open the scene on Sir Francis Varney is in his home. He is awaiting a visitor, whom he dreads. We learn from his nervous mutterings that this visit occurs once a year, at which the visitor exacts a price which Varney must pay “for that existence, which but for him had been long since terminated.” Who can this visitor be, who fills the fearsome and dreadful Varney the Vampyre with such terror and loathing?
• 26:02: BROADSIDE BALLAD: A jocose street song about a silly prophecy that London would be hit with a tremendous earthquake.
• 30:15: TERRIFIC REGISTER ARTICLE: The story of a noble lion who, after running amok in Venice, treated a dropped baby with great care.

PART II: "THE SIXPENNY SPOOKIES," 32:45 — 1:09:45:

• 33:00: EARLY VICTORIAN GHOSTLY SHORT STORY, TO-WIT: Wake Not the Dead, by Ernst Raupach, Part 3 of 4: In which:: Walter’s castle daily grows more empty and desolate, as everyone with children takes them away to save them from the vampire’s curse. All that remains are old people, whose tired blood Brunhilda considers unsuitable; and, of course, Walter’s two children. Walter, enthralled by her spell, doesn’t even notice. Brunhilda is like a magic sex robot — loving and passionate with him, cold and distant to everything else, but fueled by young blood, which she obtains by making herself charming to her victim before lulling him or her to sleep and draining from his or her young bosom the purple tide of life. She now sets out to charm and slake herself with Walter’s children….
• 54:00: A SHORT GHOST STORY from the scrapbook of Charles Lindley, Viscount Halifax: The story of a traveler who, murdered for the cash with which he was traveling, appeared in ghost form the following week to bring his murderer to justice.
• 1:00:30: A BONUS GHOST STORY from the Terrific Register (1825): A legend of a ghostly character that appeared to Napoleon Bonaparte and foretold his fall.
• 1:07:45: A FEW SQUEAKY-CLEAN DAD JOKES from the early-1800s' most popular joke book: "Joe Miller's Jests; or, The Wit's Vade-mecum."

*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.

GLOSSARY OF FLASH TERMS USED IN THIS EPISODE:

• NATTY LADS: Young well-dressed pickpockets.
• LIVELY KIDDIES: Funny fellows.
• 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.
• CLANKERS: Pewter drinking pots.
• ENGLISH BURGUNDY: Strong ale or barleywine.
• AUTEM BAWLERS: Preachers.
• BABES OF GRACE: Puritanical sanctimonious-looking persons, especially if they are drunk. Think of Mr. Lupin from Sweeney Todd.
• VADE MECUM: Latin for "hand book."

There are more! But we’re out of space here. A full glossary of all the flash-cant terms used in this episode is at ⁠https://pennydread.com/discord⁠ in the "#season-4-episodes" thread.

This is our hour-long Ha'penny Horrid 'Hursday episode, the second of our two weekly shows. It comes in two parts, to-wit:

PART I: "THE HA’PENNY HORRIDS," 0:00 — 44:30:

• 01:00: DICKENS' DREADFUL ALMANAC for today: A dentist pounced upon and nearly choked to death by a gang of thieves.
• 03:15: SWEENEY TODD, THE BARBER OF FLEET-STREET, Chapter 72-73: We look in on Arabella to see how she is handling her feelings of responsibility for Johanna’s recklessness. And the verdict is – not well. She can’t figure out what to do. She can’t leave her there, for she’ll get killed; she can’t tell Mr. Oakley; or talk to her friends. What to do? She decides — surprisingly, for her decisionmaking so far has been pretty bad — to do something really very smart and sensible: Lay the whole mess out before Sir Richard Blunt. Meanwhile, Johanna is getting the full import of what it is to be Sweeney Todd’s apprentice boy … how is she holding up? Better than you might have expected! But will it be good enough? We shall see …
• 33:30: CRIME BROADSIDE: The final hours of six petty criminals sacrificed to the brutal bloodlust of a barbaric age in Britain.
• 42:00: TERRIFIC REGISTER ARTICLE: A man who murdered his wife for insurance money faced his execution with total sang-froid.

PART II: "THE TWOPENNY TORRIDS," 00:00 — 00:00:

• 45:15: BLACK BESS; or, THE KNIGHT OF THE ROAD (starring HIGHWAYMAN DICK TURPIN), Chapter 40: Dick Turpin and Tom King press on into the New Forest, hoping to find a place of refuge for the night. Just as they are about to give up and settle in for an uncomfortable night under a tree, King spots a light, deep in the forest. The highwaymen follow the light, hoping it will lead to a warm place to rest … instead, it leads them to a dark, silent hollow, at the bottom of which they see a gaunt figure, digging what looks like a shallow grave ….
• 1:08:30: SOME STREET POETRY from an 1830s “broadside”: "The Bloody Gardener’s Lament.”
• 1:15:45: A RATHER NAUGHTY COCK-AND-HEN-CLUB SONG: "Pity the Sorrows of a Poor Old Mot” (about a prostitute contemplating the approach of retirement age)
• 1:21:30: A FEW MILDLY DIRTY JOKES from what passed in 1830 for a dirty joke book: "The Joke-Cracker."

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 old London, every Sunday and Thursday evening at 5:37 p.m. London time!

* The Barony of Dunwitch is located in a wood 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.

GLOSSARY OF FLASH TERMS USED IN THIS EPISODE:

• GAMMONERS: Gamesters, gamblers, or confidence men.
• HIGH FLYERS: Tip-toppers, first-raters.
• 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.
• MOT: Whore or lady of easy virtue.
• PAD IT: In context of today’s bawdy song, to walk the street soliciting for a “john.”
• TOGGERY: Clothing.
• COUTER: A sovereign — a coin worth £1.
• KID: In the context of today’s bawdy song, a lover or playmate.

There are more! But we’re out of space here. A full glossary of all the flash-cant terms used in this episode is at ⁠https://pennydread.com/discord⁠ in the "#season-4-episodes" thread.

This is our main one-hour Sunday-night episode. Including, after the break, the "Sixpenny Spookies" segment.

PART I: “The HALF-CROWN CAMPIES” segment: 0:00 — 37:40:

• 01:10: VARNEY THE VAMPYRE; or, THE FEAST OF BLOOD, Chapter 29-30: Now we cut to a new scene, in a ruined abbey near Bannerworth Hall, in a dungeon-cell beneath which there is a man locked up, battered and dazed and bearing the marks of a desperate struggle. He is not identified, but it seems nearly certain that it’s Charles Holland. His two captors have come to his cell with a scroll and a pen, and they’re trying to get him to sign the scroll, but he’s still too dazed and concussed to do it. They give up for the time being and leave. — So … what’s the scroll? Who are the two captors? And is this Charles, imprisoned in the cell?
• (Here is a link to London pop historian Jenny Draper’s 40-minute YouTube video on the Dissolution of the Monasteries)
• 30:20: BROADSIDE BALLAD: Another fictional cautionary tale for young Victorian women, warning them not to patronize fortune-tellers, or THIS could happen to YOU!
• 34:10: TERRIFIC REGISTER ARTICLE: What do you do when your doppleganger turns out to have committed a capital crime? If you’re smart, and you live in pre-Victorian Britain under the “bloody code,” you run. If you’re not smart, well, you do what this guy did ...

PART II: "THE SIXPENNY SPOOKIES," 38:00 — 1:20:30:

• 38:30: EARLY VICTORIAN GHOSTLY SHORT STORY, TO-WIT: WAKE NOT THE DEAD, Part 2 of 4: Walter brings Brunhilda to the castle to accustom her to the the daylight. When finally she is ready, though, Walter reaches for her and she rebuffs him: She won’t be his concubine, she tells him; he must first get rid of his new wife. Well, of course, he does; and after that, can there be any barrier to Walter’s happiness? Well, yes … because now that Brunhilda is back at his side, the youths of his domain suddenly start wasting away, almost as if some night-stalking monster was sucking their blood from them …
• 59:00: A SHORT GHOST STORY from the scrapbook of Charles Lindley, Viscount Halifax: We finish the story of the many hauntings of Hinton Ampner, a great English country-house in Hampshire; recounted by a lady who lived there for seven years.
• 1:18:10: A FEW SQUEAKY-CLEAN DAD JOKES from the early-1800s' most popular joke book: "Joe Miller's Jests; or, The Wit's Vade-mecum."

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 old London!

*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.

GLOSSARY OF FLASH TERMS USED IN THIS EPISODE:

• FAULKNERS: Acrobats.

• DIMBER DAMBERS: Leaders of the canting crew.

• 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.

• OLD TOM: Top-shelf gin.

• DANDIES: Fops, high-class airheads; Bertie Wooster types.

• RATTLING GLOAKS: Simple-minded, easygoing fellows who like to talk.

There are more! But we’re out of space here. A full glossary of all the flash-cant terms used in this episode is at ⁠https://pennydread.com/discord⁠ in the "#season-4-episodes" thread.