This week on Dressed for the Grave, we are buttoning ourselves into the absurd and occasionally fatal world of men's neckwear. The "father killer" collar, or Vatermörder, was a high, stiff, starched detachable collar worn by respectable nineteenth- and early twentieth-century men who apparently looked at breathing and thought, "How necessary is this, really?"

We trace the collar from laundry-saving invention in Troy, New York, to class symbol, masculine posture prison, newspaper joke, and possible cause of death in cases like C. O. Slater and Harry D. Wingert. We also wander into Francis Dukinfield Astley's suspicious 1825 death, celluloid collars, racist laundry advertising, and military neck stocks, because men's fashion was not safer than women's fashion. It was just louder about being practical while quietly trying to throttle someone in a parlor.

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• Smithsonian National Museum of American History, Robert Friedel, "A White Collar With a Message."
  https://americanhistory.si.edu/explore/stories/white-collar-message
• Textile Research Centre Leiden, Joshua Verkerk, "How the Detachable Collar Came and Went."
  https://www.trc-leiden.nl/trc/index.php/en/blog/1444-how-the-detachable-collar-came-and-went
• Georgia Historic Newspapers, The Atlanta Georgian, "Choked to Death By High Collar," 21 July 1913.
  https://gahistoricnewspapers.galileo.usg.edu/lccn/sn89053729/1913-07-21/ed-6/seq-1/ocr/
• Georgia Historic Newspapers, The News and Farmer, "A Fatal High Collar," 24 September 1903.
  https://gahistoricnewspapers.galileo.usg.edu/lccn/sn86053065/1903-09-24/ed-1/seq-1/ocr/
• 100 Halls Around Manchester, "Francis Dukinfield Palmer Astley."
  https://100hallsaroundmanchester.wordpress.com/tag/francis-dukinfield-palmer-astley/
• Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Catherine McLean and Charlotte Eng, "How the Hatter Went Mad."
  https://unframed.lacma.org/2011/03/07/how-the-hatter-went-mad

Before Amsterdam's Red Light District became famous for glowing windows, it was a busy medieval neighborhood packed with sailors, merchants, churches, and taverns. In this Tangisode, Noelle walks us through the over 700 year history of the Red Light District.

⚓️ Listen now, follow the show, and come take a walk through old Amsterdam before the lights turned red. 🔴✨

In this episode, Noelle covers the lives and murders of Mary Ann "Polly" Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes, and Mary Jane Kelly. Then we step back and look at what happened around the case: the crowds, the newspapers, the clothing, the panic, and the birth of murder tourism before anyone had the decency to call it tacky.

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Selected sources and further reading:

Begg, P. (2004). Historical study of the Whitechapel murders and investigation.

Connolly, S. (2006). "The Murder of Polly Nichols." Oxford University Press Blog.

https://blog.oup.com/2006/09/the_murder_of_p/

Crimes Through Time (2023). "The Women of Whitechapel: Mary Ann 'Polly' Nichols."

https://crimesthroughtime.co.uk/the-women-of-whitechapel-mary-ann-polly-nichols-1888/

Evans, S. and Rumbelow, D. (2006). Historical study of Scotland Yard's investigation.

Sugden, P. (2002). Detailed historical account of the Whitechapel murders.

Whitehead, M. and Rivett, M. (2009). Short historical overview of the case and its legacy.

Casebook victim pages for Mary Ann Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes, and Mary Jane Kelly.

https://www.casebook.org/

Wellcome Collection. "Paris Morgue and a Public Spectacle of Death."

https://wellcomecollection.org/stories/paris-morgue

Madame Tussauds London. "Chamber of Horrors."

https://www.madametussauds.com/london/whats-inside/experiences/chamber-of-horrors/

Catacombes de Paris. "Site History."

https://www.catacombes.paris.fr/en/history/site-history

Scrivner, C. (2021). Research on morbid curiosity and dangerous phenomena.

Vicary, A.M. and Fraley, R.C. (2010). Research on women's interest in true crime and survival-relevant information.

Listener discretion advised: This tangisode discusses infant death, baby farming, murder, child neglect, and Victorian-era adoption abuses.

In this tangisode of Dressed for the Grave, we wade into the foggy, filthy waters of Victorian England to tell the story of Amelia Dyer, one of Britain's most infamous baby farmers. Behind the lace bonnets, newspaper ads, and polite promises of "care," Dyer built a business on desperation, shame, and blood money. For unmarried mothers, poor families, and women with nowhere safe to turn, baby farming was sold as a solution. In Dyer's hands, it became a graveyard with a receipt book.

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Before wealthy Victorians wandered the slums for thrills, they were already lining up to watch public executions, touring prisons, and peering into asylums. In this episode of Dressed for the Grave, we explore how punishment, madness, and suffering became public entertainment. From Maria Manning's infamous black satin execution and William Calcraft's long career as Britain's executioner, to Pentonville Prison, Bedlam, and Georgina Weldon's fight against wrongful confinement, we uncover the unsettling ways fashion, spectacle, and social class collided in Victorian Britain. Sometimes the darkest attraction wasn't the criminal. It was the crowd.

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• 💌 Have an episode idea? We'd love to hear it! Send us your suggestions and you just might inspire a future episode.

• Ward, R. (2015). A History of British Executions. The History Press.
• The National Archives. A Victorian Prison.
• Capital Punishment UK. William Calcraft: One of Britain's Most Prolific Hangmen and Maria and Frederick Manning.
• Royal College of Physicians. John Conolly (1794-1866).
• London Museum. London's Public Executions and Elizabeth Fry: Pioneering Prison Reformer.

Today's tangisode drops the blade on the history of the guillotine, that oddly elegant little death machine France tried to sell as humane, modern, and equal opportunity. We're talking Enlightenment ideals, Revolutionary bloodlust, public spectacle, political theater, severed heads, terrible timing, and the deeply uncomfortable fact that people once packed into execution crowds like it was brunch with better screaming. It's colorful, grim, weirdly bureaucratic, and very Dressed for the Grave.

Listen now, follow the podcast, share it with your favorite beautiful little history goblin, and tell us: would you have watched a public execution, or are you pretending you would have stayed home like a well-adjusted person?

This week on Dressed for the Grave, we step into the smoky world of nineteenth-century opium dens, laudanum bottles, absinthe cafés, and the Green Fairy's very dramatic public downfall. From Limehouse moral panic to Victorian medicine cabinets, and Belle Époque absinthe rituals, this episode looks at how addiction could be dressed up as medicine, art, scandal, or vice depending on who was holding the glass.

SAMHSA National Helpline: 1-800-662-HELP
Free, confidential treatment referral and information for mental health and substance use support.

FindTreatment.gov: Search for substance use and mental health treatment options near you.

988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: Call or text 988
For emotional distress, mental health crisis, substance use crisis, or if you are worried about someone else.

Naloxone/Narcan: If opioids are involved, naloxone can reverse an overdose and save a life. Many pharmacies and local health departments can help you find it.

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And remember: dress to impress yourself, not the coroner.

In this Tangisode, we ride into the stormy world of Norse mythology to meet the women who chose who lived, who died, and who earned a place in Valhalla. From blood-soaked battlefields and fate-weaving Valkyries to swan maidens, and the terrifying power of destiny itself, we're exploring the myths behind some of the most fascinating figures in Viking lore. Valkyries.

Grab your helmet, mind the ravens, fill your chalice and pull up a stool.

🖤 If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with your fellow history-loving heathens.

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🦢 Tell us: If a Valkyrie appeared before you today, would you be relieved... or absolutely terrified?

And remember: Dress to impress yourself, not the coroner.

Sources

Larrington, Carolyne. The Poetic Edda. Oxford University Press, 2014.

Sturluson, Snorri. The Prose Edda. Translated by Anthony Faulkes, Everyman, 1995.

Price, Neil. Children of Ash and Elm: A History of the Vikings. Basic Books, 2020.

Price, Neil. The Viking Way: Magic and Mind in Late Iron Age Scandinavia. Oxbow Books, 2019.

Lindow, John. Norse Mythology: A Guide to Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefs. Oxford University Press, 2001.

Davidson, H.R. Ellis. Gods and Myths of Northern Europe. Penguin Books, 1964.