SHOW NOTES for EPISODE 23 (Season 5)

(March 15, 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 this Thursday evening;

The “Ha’penny Horrids” minisode coming next Sunday ; and finally—

The “Sixpenny Spookies” minisode coming next Thursday .

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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.

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

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IN TODAY'S "PENNY DREADFULS" SEGMENT:

• 02:30: ON THIS DREADFUL DAY (March 15): The Victoria Pit Disaster of 1851 happened on this day, killing 61 men and boys who happened to be in the mine when it exploded.
• 05:23: VARNEY THE VAMPYRE; or, THE FEAST OF BLOOD, Chapter 45-46: Just as the Rev. Mr. Leigh had got the crowd settled down and preparing to return home, Waggles the beadle recovered his senses and with a roar charged them, staff in hand. In the ensuing melee, the crowd rediscovered its enthusiasm for the job at hand, and started hunting for the graves of the recently inhumed….
• 41:50: BROADSIDE BALLAD: Strange Warning to a Reprobate Publican! A “catchpenny,” that is, a phony story written to try and sell copies; in this case, it’s about a ghostly apparition that appeared to a debauched man and urged him to mend his evil ways. (1850s).

GLOSSARY OF EARLY-VICTORIAN SLANG USED IN THIS EPISODE:

• ADELPHI AND ADELPHAI: Brothers and sisters. These are the Greek terms, more used by fancy-toff Flash canters like Pierce Egan’s famous Tom and Jerry.
• CHICKSTER: A flame or a sweetheart, with the implication that she is a little edgy, possibly dangerous or disreputable.
• CAPTAIN LUSHINGTONS: Spirited fellows who have had too much to drink.
• 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.
• WAPSTRAWS: Country bumpkins.
• TOWN TODDLERS: Easy marks, or suckers.
• SNICKER OF MAX: Glass of gin.
• WET YOUR OTHER EYE: Take another drink.

SHOW NOTES

— for —

MINISODE 22 (Season 5)

(March 12, 2026)

"THE SIXPENNY SPOOKIES"!

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00:30: THE TERRIFIC REGISTER: Five sworn witness descriptions of the haunting of the Portadown Bridge in Northern Ireland, the scene of a dreadful massacre of Protestant settlers by Catholic forces.

06:45: EARLY VICTORIAN GHOSTLY SHORT STORY, to-wit: MISS JEROMETTE and the CLERGYMAN, by WILKIE COLLINS, Part 3 of 3 parts: Our clergyman’s sleazy pupil gets a surprise letter, and leaves abruptly for London, claiming he has “business” there. Afterward the maid finds a photograph in his room … of Miss Jeromette. So HE was the unnamed rival, years earlier! But what is he going to do?

26:00: A SHORT GHOST STORY from the scrapbook of Charles Lindley, Viscount Halifax: “The Woman in White.” A short account of a small child who saw a spectral figure in white come into the garden at the same moment her father drowned, far away, while working in the river.

31:30: 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 EARLY-VICTORIAN SLANG USED IN THIS EPISODE:

• VADE MECUM: Latin for "hand book."
• 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.
• PIKE OFF: Run away.
• 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.
• SHARPS: Swindlers and confidence men, who prey upon the “flats” (marks).
• OLD ST. GILES: The most famous slum parish of London, also called "The Holy Land."