

My Victorian Nightmare
Genevieve Manion | Daylight Media
Here you’ll find mysterious deaths, morbid fascinations, disturbing stories, and otherwise spooky events from the Victorian Era. For ad-free listening, witchy content, Victorian True Crime Extras and Dark Poetry, join The Fan Coven!
If you consider yourself an enthusiast of creepy Victorian history, you probably already know about the age of spiritualism, the grisly murders, the grave robbers, twisted pseudo psychotherapy, and memento mori – But I try to dig a little deeper. This was a time full of lace corsetry, romantic poetry, and a deep reverence and affection for the dead. It was a culture of shared sorrow, ornament and elegance, prudishness and scandal, bone chilling children’s stories, and for whatever reason, I just feel at home there. There’s something strangely comforting about the heebie jeebies this era gives me. If you find yourself equally enchanted by things that most people would find horrifying, this podcast is probably for you. To listen ad-free, visit myvictoriannightmare.com and join my Patreon.
If you consider yourself an enthusiast of creepy Victorian history, you probably already know about the age of spiritualism, the grisly murders, the grave robbers, twisted pseudo psychotherapy, and memento mori – But I try to dig a little deeper. This was a time full of lace corsetry, romantic poetry, and a deep reverence and affection for the dead. It was a culture of shared sorrow, ornament and elegance, prudishness and scandal, bone chilling children’s stories, and for whatever reason, I just feel at home there. There’s something strangely comforting about the heebie jeebies this era gives me. If you find yourself equally enchanted by things that most people would find horrifying, this podcast is probably for you. To listen ad-free, visit myvictoriannightmare.com and join my Patreon.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Mar 24, 2025 • 46min
Ep. 35 - Deathbed Confessions & HORRIFIC Elevator Accidents
On today’s episode, Genevieve will have a deathbed confession, the accidental death of a horse fancier, a horrific elevator accident, a horrific mowing machine accident, naughty picture book advertisements, a butchered brother in law, a case of Victorian cat fishing, a hairbreadth escape, and more!
References for today’s episode:
“The Avondale Horror. A Deathbed Confession” - The Illustrated Police News, November 30, 1871.
“A Bottle of Horse Medicine Kills a Horse Fancier” - The Illustrated Police News, December 21, 1871.
“A Chambermaid Crushed by an Elevator” - The Illustrated Police News, December 14, 1871.
“A Man Butchers his Brother In Law in Tippecanoe, Ohio - Tragical Result of a Whisky Quarrel” - The Illustrated Police News, November 9th, 1871.
“Marrying By a Photographic Proxy - An innocent Nebraskan Ensnared by a Touched-Up Picture” - The Illustrated Police News, December 28, 1871.
“A Truly Terrible Death - A mowing machine Literally Slices a Man to Pieces” - The Illustrated Police News, August 29th, 1873.
“Affray Between Two Ladies of Fashion in the Streets of St. Louis” - The Illustrated Police News, December 7, 1871.
“A Saddening Story” - The Illustrated Police News, January 4th, 1872.
“A Hairbreadth Escape - A Mississippi Girl Saves a Drowning Man in a Curious Manner” - The Illustrated Police News, August 28, 1873.
https://www.boweryboyshistory.com/2022/09/fifth-avenue-hotel-opulence-atop.html
https://www.boweryboyshistory.com/2010/10/i-sit-on-your-grave-new-yorks-hidden.html
https://wynninghistory.com/2019/03/04/avondale/
https://thetroyhistoricalsociety.org/obits/John%20Aston.htm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Mar 17, 2025 • 50min
Ep. 34 - The HORRID History of Victorian Body Snatchers
On today’s episode, Genevieve will discuss the repugnant trade of body snatching in the Victorian era, she’ll discuss the ways families fought back, she’ll introduce you to the 2 most infamous body snatchers of all time; Burke and Hare, and we’ll run into a few friends along the way.
References for today’s episode:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burke_and_Hare_murders
https://anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ar.24794
https://www.civilwarmed.org/bodysnatching/
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/coffin-torpedos
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84028490/1881-01-20/ed-1/seq-8/
https://wellcomecollection.org/stories/beating-the-bodysnatchers
https://99percentinvisible.org/article/grave-guns-coffin-torpedoes-vintage-defenses-aimed-foil-grave-robbers/
https://scholarlycommons.obu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1011&context=history
https://history.utk.edu/from-grave-robbing-to-giving-your-own-body-to-science-a-short-history-of-where-medical-schools-get-cadavers/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Mar 10, 2025 • 44min
Ep. 33 - SPOOKY Séances & Wax Neck Trends
On today’s’s episode, Genevieve is diving back into the Illustrated Police News Law Courts and Record: everyone’s favorite bananas, blood-soaked, spooky little tabloid from the 1800s. She will have a hat-wafting seance, a thrilling search for a dead body, wax necks, jealous husbands, mayhem, a shocking discovery in a penitentiary, an alarming growth of intoxication among young ladies, and more!
References for Today's Show:
https://www.magicianmasterclass.com/post/how-do-magicians-levitate#viewer-aqfts
“The Last “Thing” in Fashion, The Wax Neck” Illustrated Police News, January 4th, 1872.
“Spiritual Manifestations at a Seance in Boston on New Year’s Eve” Illustrated Police News, January 4th, 1872.
“Thrilling Search for the Body of a Murdered Man in MacDonald Co, Mo.,” Illustrated Police News, January 4th, 1872.
“A Young Lady Outraged and Then Murdered in Arkansas,” Illustrated Police News, Dec, 28 1871.
“A Leap to Death in Cincinnati - An Unknown Unfortunate Jumps From a Bridge to Eternity,” Illustrated Police News, August, 28 1873.
“Taking a Farmer’s Wife, Baby and Potatoes to Market,” Illustrated Police News, Dec 7th, 1872.
“How a Jealous Husband in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Returned Home and What He Found There,” Illustrated Police News, Dec 7th, 1872.
“Alarming Growth of Intoxication Among Young Ladies - Sad Scene in a New Jersey Ferry Boat,” Illustrated Police News, Dec 7th, 1872.
“Extra Penance in a Penitentiary,” Illustrated Police News, Nov 30th, 1871.
“Mayhem,” Illustrated Police News, July 6th, 1876.
“A New Jersey Cannibal Gormandizes a Policeman’s Cheek,” Illustrated Police News, Dec 21st, 1871. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Mar 3, 2025 • 47min
Ep. 32 - Jack the Ripper - Part 2
On todays episode, Genevieve will return to 19th century London to discuss the Jack the Ripper murders case. She'll discuss the timeline, the victims, the suspects, and a few little known facts about the still open Whitechapel murders case. She’ll also discuss a very courageous photo shoot, and give her fairly coherent review of “The Monkey.”
References for today's episode:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_the_Ripper
https://www.jack-the-ripper.org/kate-eddowes-last-night.htm
https://www.jack-the-ripper.org/jack-the-ripper-victim-elizabeth-stride.htm
https://www.jack-the-ripper.org/mary-kelly.htm
https://www.jack-the-ripper.org/suspects.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catherine_Eddowes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Stride
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Jane_Kelly
"Bolton Spiritualists Vision of the Whitechapel Murderer "- The Bolton News, Oct 8, 1888 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Feb 24, 2025 • 43min
Ep. 31 - Jack the Ripper - Part 1
On todays episode, Genevieve will dive deep into the Jack The Ripper case and guide you down the cold, damp, cobblestone streets of 19th century Whitechapel. She'll discuss the timeline, the victims, the suspects, and a few little known facts about the still open Whitechapel murders case.
References for today's episode:
https://www.science.org/content/article/does-new-genetic-analysis-finally-reveal-identity-jack-ripper
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_the_Ripper
https://www.jack-the-ripper.org/emma-smith.htm
https://www.jack-the-ripper.org/martha-tabram-jack-the-ripper-victim.htm
https://www.jack-the-ripper.org/life-and-death-of-mary-nichols.htm
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/jack-the-rippers-victims-were-not-prostitutes-says-historian-who-claims-sexist-victorian-policemen-unfairly-labelled-them/JSQ3BCTKULMV7LZVZTCVGEAISQ/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emma_Elizabeth_Smith
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martha_Tabram
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Ann_Nichols Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Feb 17, 2025 • 43min
Ep. 30 - French Victorian Death Cafes & Cabarets
On today’s episode, Genevieve will be discussing the very macabre ways in which French Victorians would entertain themselves: the death-themed cabarets, horror shows in old gothic chapels, and the very upsetting and morbid curiosities that Parisians would literally trample over each other to get a glimpse of.
References for today's episode:
https://daily.jstor.org/the-cabarets-of-heaven-and-hell/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Guignol
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/paris-morgue-public-viewing
https://dianamarin.com/tag/the-uncanny-cabaret-du-neant/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabaret_de_L%27Enfer
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabaret_du_Ciel Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Feb 10, 2025 • 47min
Ep. 29 - A Naked Maniac’s HORRIBLE Deeds
On today's episode, we will have butchery with banjos, naked maniacs decapitating people, lesbians, more butchery, some charming insults that Victorians liked to send to one another on Valentines day, and a very special love poem.
References for today's episode:
“A Naked Man's Horrible Deeds,” Illustrated Police News, December 18, 1880
"Butchered" With a Banjo,” Illustrated Police News, July 3, 1880
“Bloody Butchery,” Illustrated Police News, January 31, 1880
https://medium.com/equality-includes-you/misogyny-created-a-space-for-women-to-f-ck-in-the-19th-century-d32f6ab34e48
https://medium.com/equality-includes-you/misogyny-created-a-space-for-women-to-f-ck-in-the-19th-century-d32f6ab34e48
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/victorian-same-sex-valentines-day Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Feb 3, 2025 • 41min
Ep. 28 - HORRORS of the Victorian Lunatic Asylum
On today's episode, Genevieve takes you on a tour of the Victorian lunatic asylum. She'll discuss the history of the institution, surprising and spine-chilling facts, as well as her very own terrifying experience of the time she broke into the Overbrook asylum in New Jersey.
References for today's episode:
https://cpp-college.netlify.app/programs/education-blog/victorian-mental-health-and-women-part-one-american-asylums
https://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/objects-and-stories/medicine/victorian-mental-asylum
https://www.theatlantic.com/sponsored/netflix-2017/how-victorian-women-were-oppressed-through-the-use-of-psychiatry/1607/
https://www.talkspace.com/blog/history-inhumane-mental-health-treatments/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nellie_Bly
https://usghostadventures.com/haunted-places/americas-most-haunted-hospitals-and-asylums/overbrook-asylum/
https://storymaps.arcgis.com/collections/8bcb0263e26f4ceeb6d41a00cfc72b7a?item=1 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jan 27, 2025 • 42min
Ep. 27 - The ROUGH History of 5 Points
On today's episode, Genevieve will discuss the 5 Points slum, a church lunatic, a woman that takes investment advice from her dead husband, a cannibalistic affair between 2 ladies, the curious caper of an unruly cow, a locomotive disaster, mayhem, mysterious tragedies and a man who saved an entire New Hampshire town because he loved his girlfriend a little too much.
References for today's episode:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_Our_Lady_of_the_Scapular%E2%80%93St._Stephen
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Points,_Manhattan#:~:text=The%20local%20politics%20of%20%22the,racial%20integration%20in%20American%20history Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jan 20, 2025 • 45min
Ep. 26 - The Grave Trains of London
In today’s episode, Genevieve will discuss the grisly history of the graveyard that is London, and the subterranean train system built in the Victorian era within and around the final resting places of literally millions of tightly packed Londoners.
References for today’s episode:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enon_Chapel
https://gizmodo.com/how-corpses-helped-shape-the-london-underground-1493312117
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-66507599
https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/london-crossrail-bedlam-big-dig
https://www.timeout.com/london/news/londons-victorian-necropolis-railway-station-is-for-sale-060424
https://www.mylondon.news/news/nostalgia/london-underground-station-built-right-21001175
https://www.avantiwestcoast.co.uk/where-we-go/blog/the-forgotten-story-of-london-necropolis-railway
https://thehistorypress.co.uk/article/the-forgotten-men-of-the-london-underground/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices


