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Before Dresden became a symbol of wartime destruction, it was known as the “Florence of the Elbe”, a city of music, art, architecture, industry and life along the River Elbe.

Then came February 1945.

In Part One of this episode of The Storytelling Podcast, we travel back to Dresden during the final months of the Second World War and explore the events surrounding the bombing of the city on 13–15 February 1945.

In Part Two, we move from the historical record into literature and memory, speaking with Vic Echegoyen, author of Blitz: La destrucción de Dresde, about the people and personal stories behind the ruins.

Chapters

00:00 — Dresden Before the Bombs
02:45 — The Florence of the Elbe
06:10 — A City of Art and Industry
09:15 — Dresden Inside Nazi Germany
12:20 — Refugees Arrive From the East
15:20 — The Age of Area Bombing
18:10 — 13 February 1945
21:00 — The Firestorm
24:20 — The Morning After
27:05 — How Many People Died?
30:00 — Dresden and the Power of Propaganda
32:15 — Kurt Vonnegut and Dresden
34:15 — Remembering the People
36:05 — Part Two: The Story Continues

Sources

• Dresden Historical Commission: Victims of the Air Attacks on 13–15 February 1945
• Encyclopaedia Britannica: Bombing of Dresden
• History.com: Firebombing of Dresden
• BBC: Dresden bombing research supplied for the episode
• Truman Library Institute, WWII 80: The Bombing of Dresden
• U.S. Air Force Historical Analysis, research on the bombing of Dresden
• Peace Palace Library: Dresden 1945: An Allied War Crime?
• Kurt Vonnegut's experience of Dresden, discussed through his literary work Slaughterhouse-Five
• Vic Echegoyen book: Blitz: La destrucción de Dresde

🎥 YouTube Visual Episode: https://youtu.be/W0puaUAAT90

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Support the show

This was today’s episode. Thank you for listening, and remember that if you would like to send your stories or special topics to be shared in the next episodes, please send them to thestorytellingpodcast80@gmail.com.

Before you go, if you haven’t done that already, I would love for you to click the follow or the subscribe button, and see you in the next episode!

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Story submission: thestorytellingpodcast80@gmail.com
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Deep in Alfama, where narrow streets wind between old houses and the sound of fado drifts through open windows, there is a legend about a small fado house and a woman whose voice could still be heard long after she disappeared.

In this episode of The Storytelling Podcast, I tell the legend of a Fado House in the Alfama neighbourhood of Lisbon, Portugal, as we follow Inês, a young singer who begins to hear another woman's voice whenever she sings a particular song after midnight.

Chapters

00:00 — The Old Fado House
03:45 — Chapter One: The Voice Upstairs
11:01 — Chapter Two: The Letters That Never Arrived
18:00 — Chapter Three: The Man in the House
23:40 — Chapter Four: When the Singing Stopped
28:35 — The Song That Remained

Music: Song "Vem dançar comigo" by Alexis, COPYRIGHT SPOTLIGHT CREATIVE AGENCY: https://pixabay.com/music/vem-dan%C3%A7ar-comigo-fado-alexis-601210/
Images and videos: AI created.

🎥 YouTube Visual Episode: https://youtu.be/F3tkkoVYoic

🎧 Available on all podcast platforms.

📩 Story submissions:
thestorytellingpodcast80@gmail.com

🌐 Buzzsprout:
https://thestorytellingpodcast.buzzsprout.com

❤️ Support the podcast:
https://www.buzzsprout.com/2443276/support

🌍 Website:
http://alejandraslife.com/

📱 Follow us:
@thestorytellingpodcastofficial
@AleLifeOfficial

▶️ YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@AlejandrasLife

#Alfama #Fado #HistoricalLegends

Support the show

This was today’s episode. Thank you for listening, and remember that if you would like to send your stories or special topics to be shared in the next episodes, please send them to thestorytellingpodcast80@gmail.com.

Before you go, if you haven’t done that already, I would love for you to click the follow or the subscribe button, and see you in the next episode!

------------------

Story submission: thestorytellingpodcast80@gmail.com
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Website: http://alejandraslife.com/
All social media @thestorytellingpodcastofficial

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@AlejandrasLife

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What happens when a vampire story leaves the pages of folklore and begins to spread through real communities?

In this episode of The Storytelling Podcast, we travel through three strange British vampire cases separated by decades but connected by the same unsettling force: rumour.

Subscribe to The Storytelling Podcast for more forgotten people, mysteries, remarkable lives and strange moments from history.

Chapters
00:00 The British Vampire Files
02:05 The Children Who Went Looking for a Vampire
04:53 The Highgate Vampire
07:02 The Birmingham Vampire
09:34 When the Vampire Was Never Found

Sources
Sandy Hobbs & David Cornwell, Hunting the Monster with Iron Teeth Hunting the Monster with Iron Teeth
Bill Ellis, The Highgate Cemetery Vampire Hunt: The Anglo-American Connection in Satanic Cult Lore Bill Ellis's Highgate Vampire study
Stuart Jeffries, The Guardian, “Reality bites” The Guardian — Reality bites

🎥 YouTube Visual Episode: https://youtu.be/lVnxpoF_-TA

🎧 Available on all podcast platforms.

📩 Story submissions:
thestorytellingpodcast80@gmail.com

🌐 Buzzsprout:
https://thestorytellingpodcast.buzzsprout.com

❤️ Support the podcast:
https://www.buzzsprout.com/2443276/support

🌍 Website:
http://alejandraslife.com/

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@thestorytellingpodcastofficial - https://www.instagram.com/thestorytellingpodcastofficial/
@AleLifeOfficial - https://www.instagram.com/alelifeofficial/

▶️ YouTube:
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#Vampires #UrbanLegends #Folklore

Support the show

This was today’s episode. Thank you for listening, and remember that if you would like to send your stories or special topics to be shared in the next episodes, please send them to thestorytellingpodcast80@gmail.com.

Before you go, if you haven’t done that already, I would love for you to click the follow or the subscribe button, and see you in the next episode!

------------------

Story submission: thestorytellingpodcast80@gmail.com
Website: https://thestorytellingpodcast.buzzsprout.com

Support page: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2443276/support

Website: http://alejandraslife.com/
All social media @thestorytellingpodcastofficial

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@AlejandrasLife