This week, we find out why some ideas are better left on the drawing board. Thomas Edison, the inventor behind the light bulb and phonograph, thought it would be a great idea to make dolls talk. Spoiler alert: it wasn’t. What was supposed to be a groundbreaking toy turned into a nightmare, with dolls spewing scratchy, eerie nursery rhymes that left children and parents terrified. And you know if it creeped the Victorians out, it was seriously creepy. So grab your phonographs and ready your ears for some serious nightmare fuel!

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VIDEO:

ItWorks - How does a record player work with sound…

RECORDINGS:

Wikipedia - Edison’s Phonograph Doll

SOURCES:

Wikipedia - Phonograph

Smithsonian - Edison Talking Doll

npca.org - The World’s First Talking Dolls

Smithsonian Magazine - The Epic Failure of Thomas Edison’s Talking Doll

The Henry Ford - Edison Talking Doll, 1889-1890

Smithsonian Magazine - How Porcelain Dolls Became the Ultimate Victorian Status Symbol

Reddit - "Victorian Mourning Dolls"- Where's The Evidence?

Burials and Beyond - The World of Victorian Grave Dolls

The Order of the Good Death - Cabinet of Curiosities: Victorian Death Dolls

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Get ready to sink your teeth into a bizarre and blood curdling story, because this week we’re discussing the New England Vampire Panic! A time when fear, superstition, and a dash of hysteria convinced a rural community in Rhode Island that the dead were rising from their graves to prey on the living. Clara tells Sabrina about Mercy Brown, the so-called "last American vampire," whose exhumation in 1892 marked the peak of this macabre panic. So grab your pitchforks and head to the cemetery with us to learn about Victorian vampires!

See photos discussed in this episode on our instagram

Follow us on tiktok for videos that cover a condensed version of each topic!

SOURCES:

History.com - When New Englanders Blamed Vampires for Tuberculosis Deaths

Wikipedia - Mercy Brown vampire incident

Wikipedia - New England vampire panic

Newengland.com - Vampire Mercy Brown | When Rhode Island Was “The Vampire Capital of America”

History.com - The Last American Vampire

Smithsonian Magazine - The Great New England Vampire Panic

All That’s Interesting - Why The Mercy Brown Case Remains One Of History’s Craziest “Vampire” Incidents

My Macabre Roadtrip - Why Are There Cages Over Graves? It’s Not For Vampires!

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Consumption wasn't just a disease - it was a lifestyle. Afflicting millions with its debilitating symptoms, consumption became synonymous with romance and tragedy in the popular imagination. Join Clara and Sabrina as they explore the morbid fascination with illness, and the macabre allure of looking sickly and dying. So grab your handkerchiefs to cough dramatically into, and prepare to confront the dark allure of consumption in the 1800s.

See photos discussed in this episode on our instagram

Follow us on tiktok for videos that cover a condensed version of each topic!

SOURCES:

Science Museum - Tuberculosis : A Fashionable Disease?

Lockport Journal - ABANDONED HISTORY: Sanitariums and sanatoriums of Niagara County

Wikipedia - Sanatorium

Welcome Collection - The history of sanatoriums and surveillance

Medical Records at the Archives of Ontario - Tuberculosis Records

CDC - History of World TB Day

Wikipedia - Tuberculosis

VL McBeath - Victorian Era Consumption

Taconic Biosciences - Mountain Cottages, Fresh Air, and TB Research

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