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 PENNY DREADFULS”:

• 04:15: ON THIS DREADFUL DAY (FEB. 1): Two young men were playing at fencing with real swords … when one of them slipped. (1855)
• 05:45: VARNEY THE VAMPYRE; or, THE FEAST OF BLOOD, Chapter 38: Dr. Chillingworth, who is Henry’s second for the duel, and Jack Pringle, who is the admiral’s, both arrive at Ratford Abbey at the same time. The arrangements are duly made, although they are a little odd. On the way home, they meet Marchdale, who offers to step in as Henry’s second so that Dr. Chillingworth will not suffer the various sanctions that would fall to him, as a professional man, if he were found to have been directly involved in a duel. Everything is building to a showdown …
• 43:16: BROADSIDE BALLAD: The Lord Mayor’s Day in old London-town! (1850).

PART II: "THE SIXPENNY SPOOKIES":

• 48:15: TERRIFIC REGISTER ARTICLE: A freak lightning-strike that left the dead looking uncommonly alive … and a child born with three eyes.
• 50:15: EARLY VICTORIAN GHOSTLY SHORT STORY, TO-WIT: Shadow of a Shade, by Tom Hood, Part 2 of 2 parts: One has to admire the creation of Vincent Grieve, as a villain. He is sketched with a deft hand, kind of just shy of unbelievable reprehensibleness. There can be little doubt in anyone’s mind but that he murdered George to get to Lettie, and no one will be the least surprised when, in this concluding segment, he starts showing up and trying to renew his unwelcome and repellant effort to court her. But, there’s something not quite right, and it soon becomes clear that there are powerful supernatural forces at work on the case … forces that cast, behind Grieve, a second shadow.
• 1:07:21: A SHORT GHOST STORY from the scrapbook of Charles Lindley, Viscount Halifax: The Telephone at the Oratory. Ghosts usually don’t use the telephone, but apparently this one did!
• 1:16:30: A FEW SQUEAKY-CLEAN DAD JOKES from the early-1800s' most popular joke book: "Joe Miller's Jests; or, The Wit's Vade-mecum."

*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:

• OWLERS: Smugglers.
• MALTY COVES: Beer drinkers.
• 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.
• GENTRY COVES: Gentlemen.
• LAWFUL BLANKETS: Wives.
• NIPPERKIN: Half a pint.
• OLD TOM: Top-shelf gin.
• BADGE COVES: Poor men who are being subsidized by the parish for charity.
• CROSS-COVES: Swindlers and other criminals.
• SHEEP’S JEMMIES: Roasted sheep’s head.
• SPOONEY: Foolish fellow.
• MORRIS OFF: Run away.
• BEAKS ON THE NOSE: Police detectives or magistrates on an investigation.
• HELL CATS: Racy ladies who haunt gambling-hells.
• BLACKLEGS: Card-sharpers and other professional gamblers who cheat.
• SPICE ISLANDERS: Swindlers.
• SPEELING-CRIB: Gambling den.
• RUM TE TUM WITH THE CHILL OFF: Most emphatically excellent.