I’ve been listening to the Dark Histories podcast as far back as 2018, so for Christmas 2021, I decided to treat myself to a copy of Dark Histories Season 1! I only got around to reading it this year, but the year is still very young so I consider this book to have jumped most of my TBR list.

Like the title says, Dark Histories Season 1 contains the scripts from the first season of the podcast. There are scripts for 20 episodes in this book and topics covered include:

• Jack the Ripper
• Burke & Hare
• Taman Shud
• Zombies
• Hagley Wood
• Vampires
• The Clapham Woods Mystery
• Terri Hoffman & the Black Lords

Some of the subjects here were very familiar and others were completely new to me. The only chapter I have opinions on is the Jack the Ripper one – basically, I disagree with the characterisation of Jack the Ripper’s victims, but that’s because I’ve read The Five by Hallie Rubenhold and listened to the podcast and I agree with Rubenhold’s arguments more.

Other than that, I really enjoyed reading the summaries of the various mysteries! My favourite chapters were actually the more general ones on the history of zombies and vampires, as well as the chapter on Terri Hoffman & the Black Lords because that’s a cult that I never heard of before.

By the way, I actually read the book in Ben’s voice! I’m really glad that the scripts weren’t edited (I think I heard that they were cleaned up a little for readability but that’s it) because they really had the same vibes as the podcast.

If you’re a fan of the Dark Histories podcast, you’re definitely going to enjoy this book! If you’ve not listed to the podcast but you’re a fan of the darker side of history (think: unsolved mysteries and possible paranormal events), you should definitely check out the podcast!