Stonehenge: 10 Strangest Facts

Summary

After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal
Episode: Stonehenge: 10 Strangest Facts
Release Date: June 23, 2025
Hosts: Anthony Delaney and Maddy Pelling
Knowledge Cutoff: October 2023

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Introduction

In this captivating episode of After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal, historians Anthony Delaney and Maddy Pelling delve into the enigmatic world of Stonehenge, uncovering ten of the strangest and most intriguing facts surrounding this prehistoric monument. From ancient executions to modern-day festivals, the duo explores the myriad of myths, legends, and historical tidbits that make Stonehenge a subject of endless fascination.

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1. Stonehenge as an Execution Site
[05:05 - 06:31]

Anthony introduces the first intriguing possibility: Stonehenge may have served as an execution site. Maddy elaborates on the earliest written record by Anglo-Saxon priest Henry of Huntington around AD 1130, who referred to Stonehenge as "Stanengus" or "hanging stones." This term could imply that the stones were used for executions, potentially resembling Anglo-Saxon gallows structures. Maddy notes, “...in the Anglo Saxon period, gallows were built with two uprights and a horizontal beam across, which is very much like the stones that we can still see at Stonehenge” (06:27). Supporting this theory, an Anglo-Saxon body with a decapitation mark was discovered at the site, suggesting contemporaneous execution activities.

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2. The Druid Connection: Myth vs. Reality
[06:49 - 12:11]

Contrary to popular belief, Stonehenge has no original connections to Druids. Maddy clarifies, “Stonehenge has nothing to do with Druids... until the 18th century” *(06:49). The association stems from William Stucley, an 18th-century antiquary who erroneously attributed the monument to Druids. Despite the historical Druids existing from around 800 BC to 40 BC, long after Stonehenge's construction, Stucley's romanticized views led to widespread misconceptions. Maddy emphasizes, “He is the first person to realize that Stonehenge is aligned with the solstice... But he just attributes it to the Druids” *(07:50). The perpetuation of this myth is evident in the formation of the Ancient Order of Druids in 1781 and the first modern Druidic ceremony at Stonehenge in 1905. A notable moment in the episode is the revelation of a 1908 photograph featuring a young Winston Churchill among Druids at Stonehenge, illustrating the deep-rooted yet fabricated Druidic connections.

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3. Replica of Stonehenge in Washington State
[12:11 - 15:38]

The hosts discuss the existence of a full-scale replica of Stonehenge in Washington State, constructed in 1918 by American millionaire and pacifist Sam Hill. Maddy explains that Hill built the replica on the cliffs above the Columbia River as a memorial to World War I, aligning with his belief that Stonehenge was a site of human sacrifice. Anthony reflects on the emotional weight of the replica, stating, “It's really charged just looking at the image” *(14:25). The replica features a complete circle with lintel stones, mirroring Hill's interpretation of Stonehenge's original grandeur. Maddy and Anthony ponder the historical significance and the intersection of British heritage with American landscapes, highlighting the enduring legacy and symbolic importance of Stonehenge.

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4. Merlin's Magical Construction
[16:03 - 18:10]

Exploring medieval myths, the hosts tackle the fanciful notion that Merlin, the legendary wizard from Arthurian tales, built Stonehenge. Maddy recounts Geoffrey of Monmouth's 12th-century account, where Merlin purportedly moves stones from Ireland to Salisbury Plain using magic or mathematics to honor fallen nobles. Anthony humorously critiques the myth, saying, “It's bizarre... someone very unexpected in it is... Winston Churchill” *(10:26), though this comment primarily relates to the earlier Churchill anecdote. The discussion underscores the blending of folklore and history, emphasizing the lack of concrete evidence supporting Merlin's involvement while acknowledging the cultural allure of such legends.

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5. Christopher Wren's Graffiti at Stonehenge
[21:08 - 23:14]

The episode unveils an unexpected tidbit: renowned architect Sir Christopher Wren, famous for designing St. Paul's Cathedral, may have graffitied Stonehenge. Maddy reveals that stone inscriptions purportedly read "I, Wren," though the authenticity is debated due to the uncommon use of the name "Ian" in the 18th century. She connects this possible graffiti to Wren's fascination with Stonehenge and architectural symmetry, noting, “The diameter of the inner dome of St. Paul's Cathedral... is the same diameter as the inner circle of the monument” *(23:05). This intriguing connection highlights the widespread influence and inspiration Stonehenge has exerted on notable historical figures.

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6. Stonehenge as a Dahlia Exhibition Venue
[32:02 - 34:04]

Maddy introduces a surprising fact: in the mid-19th century, Stonehenge served as a venue for dahlia flower exhibitions. The Salisbury Plain Dahlia Society held its inaugural show in Sidestonehenge in 1842, attracting nearly 10,000 attendees. Anthony humorously muses about historians in the future pondering Stonehenge’s purpose, “...a garden center” *(33:10). Maddy describes elaborate floral displays featuring life-size models made of dahlias, integrating Victorian horticultural interests with the ancient monument. This event underscores the versatile cultural significance of Stonehenge across different eras.

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7. Frederick Harrison's Victorian Time Capsule
[34:08 - 36:42]

Delving into Victorian ingenuity, the hosts discuss Frederick Harrison’s 1877 initiative to bury a time capsule beneath Stonehenge. Titled “A Pompeii for the 29th Century,” Harrison aimed to preserve artifacts for future generations, anticipating a potential human extinction. The proposed contents included miniature warships, trains, women’s fashion guides, phonograph recordings of opera, and specimens of endangered species like foxes and elephants. Maddy expresses both fascination and concern over the practicality and potential archaeological disruption, saying, “Can you imagine the stones just sort of collapsing... destructive archaeology?” *(35:13). This endeavor reflects the Victorian era’s blend of optimism and foresight regarding technological and societal advancements.

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8. The Stonehenge Free Festival and the Battle of the Beanfield
[36:42 - 38:53]

The episode transitions to the 20th century, detailing the Stonehenge Free Festival held annually from 1974 to 1984. Maddy recounts the festival’s peak in 1984, attracting 30,000 attendees who engaged in countercultural activities, including drug use and Druidic rituals. The festival's chaotic finale in 1985, known as the Battle of the Beanfield, occurred when 1,300 police officers clashed with festival-goers attempting to protect Stonehenge from unauthorized gatherings. Anthony remarks on Stonehenge’s multifaceted identity, “...it just fulfills so many functions for so many people” *(38:53). This conflict highlights the ongoing struggle between secular authorities and alternative cultural movements seeking to imbue ancient sites with contemporary spiritual significance.

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9. The Bluestones’ Musicality and Literary Connections
[26:17 - 28:16]

Maddy revisits the unique property of Stonehenge’s bluestones, which emit musical tones when struck. She connects this phenomenon to cultural representations, such as Thomas Hardy's Tess of the d'Urbervilles, where Stonehenge symbolizes a primal and pagan force within a modernizing world. Maddy reads a passage from Hardy's novel: “...the wind playing upon the edifice produced a booming tune like the note of some gigantic one-stringed harp” *(27:39). Anthony appreciates the poetic imagery, reinforcing the ethereal and enduring allure of Stonehenge as a muse for literature and art.

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10. Alien Theories and Modern Speculations
[30:28 - 32:15]

Addressing contemporary myths, the hosts discuss the popular yet unfounded theory that extraterrestrials built Stonehenge, popularized by Erich Von Daniken's Chariots of the Gods? Despite dismissing these claims on the podcast, Anthony humorously acknowledges the allure of alien conspiracies, “...you can have your green alien made Stonehenge theory and knock yourself out” *(31:32). Maddy firmly states her skepticism, while Anthony remains open to the possibility of extraterrestrial life, emphasizing the cultural persistence of such theories despite lacking evidence.

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Conclusion

Anthony concludes the episode by reflecting on the tangible history of Stonehenge versus the layered myths that surround it. He expresses a newfound appreciation for the monument's authentic archaeological significance over its embellished legends. Maddy concurs, hinting at a deeper understanding of Stonehenge's historical and cultural impact. The episode wraps up with an invitation for listeners to engage and suggest future topics, maintaining the hosts' personable and approachable dynamic.

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Notable Quotes

• Maddy Pelling (05:14): “...buildings were built with two uprights and a horizontal beam across, which is very much like the stones that we can still see at Stonehenge.”
• Maddy Pelling (07:50): “He is the first person to realize that Stonehenge is aligned with the solstice. So he does get some things right.”
• Maddy Pelling (21:25): “I do not believe that Stonehenge has been built by aliens.”
• Maddy Pelling (26:17): “...they make a sound... the church bells were made out of bluestone.”
• Anthony Delaney (38:53): “...it just fulfills so many functions for so many people.”
• Anthony Delaney (33:10): “In another 5,000 years time, there will be historians on whatever the podcast thing is then. And they'll be going, actually, it's really weird because we don't know for sure, but, like, it looks like it might have been a flower centre or garden.”

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Final Thoughts

This episode of After Dark masterfully intertwines historical facts with the rich tapestry of myths that have evolved around Stonehenge. Anthony and Maddy provide listeners with a nuanced understanding of how this ancient monument continues to inspire awe, speculation, and diverse cultural expressions across centuries. Whether debunking long-held myths or unveiling lesser-known facts, the hosts ensure that Stonehenge remains as enigmatic and compelling as ever.

Transcript

[Anthony Delaney]

Hi, we're your hosts Anthony Delaney and Maddy Pelling. And if you would like After Dark, Myths, Misdeeds and the Paranormal, ad free and get early access.

[Maddy Pelling]

Sign up to History Hit with a History Hit subscription. You can also watch hundreds of hours of original documentaries with top history presenters and enjoy a new release every week.

[Anthony Delaney]

Sign up now by visiting historyhit.com subscribe.

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[Anthony Delaney]

Hello, my name's Anthony. No, stop. Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry. I messed up. Okay, go, go. Okay. Hello and welcome to After Dark. I'm Anthony.

[Maddy Pelling]

And I'm Maddie.

[Anthony Delaney]

And Maddie has dragged me kicking and screaming back to Stonehenge for another episode. But in today's episode, we are going to be talking about the mysteries, the myths and the legends that have grown up around one of the most mysterious prehistoric monuments. And that, of course, is Stonehenge.

[Maddy Pelling]

High Summer. Stonehenge's outline cuts against a clear sky. Among the stones, a circle of white robed figures stands. Long beards tugged by the breeze. Sharp sickles in their hands. They burst into a weird melody that echoes off the eternal stones themselves. One of them scratches his beard Once, twice, a third time. Confounded thing, he mutters and pulls it right off. What a waste of money that was. Into the midst of this august ring of the ancient order of the Druids stumbles a crowd of would be initiates. They're blindfolded. One of them yelps when his shin bangs off a rock. At a command, the blindfolds are removed and the most noble Arch Druid, perched on a beer bottle case, lights a mysterious blue fire and begins to utter the secret, sacred words, which are so secret that of course we cannot repeat them here. With a great wave of his battle axe across the Salisbury Plain, the whole thing is done. The bards unhitch their beards and take off their nightgowns. Everyone goes back to the refreshment tent to enjoy four of the best kinds of cake. As the sun climbs down to bed, it marvels what it has witnessed here today. The year is 1905, and for the first time ever in its 5,000 year history, a druid ceremony has been held at Stonehenge. Welcome to After Dark. It's time for the 10 strange but true facts about Stonehenge.

[Anthony Delaney]

10 strange but true facts. Okay, I want to get straight into this because I have the potential facts and Maddie knows. I don't know whether or not they are going to be real or not, but I. I'm going to do the statements and then Maddie is going to tell me whether or not it's stone fact or stone fiction. I just made that up.

[Maddy Pelling]

Oh, wow.

[Anthony Delaney]

Yeah.

[Maddy Pelling]

So.

[Anthony Delaney]

So, okay, my first one, Maddie, is that Stonehenge? If this is true, I'm interested. Stonehenge means execution site, True or not true.

[Maddy Pelling]

So perhaps this is true. Okay, so the earliest.

[Anthony Delaney]

Yet another maybe.

[Maddy Pelling]

Yeah. When it comes to Stonehenge, nobody knows. The earliest written record that we have of Stonehenge is by an Anglo Saxon priest called Henry of Huntington in around 11:30. This is AD by the way, not BCE we struggled significantly in the last episode with the maths in it. In this record that Henry of Huntington writes, he calls it Stanengus, which is Anglo Saxon for the hanging stones. Now do not necessarily get too excited because this could either refer to stones that hang in the air, I. E. You know, that raise up.

[Anthony Delaney]

They're being levied off the monument.

[Maddy Pelling]

Yeah. And of course, you know what you think about the sort of lintel piece that's still in place today. Or it could mean the stones where people were hungry. That is not to say that people were hung there in the prehistoric period. It might be that the Anglo Saxons themselves are the ones hanging people there. The other thing, and I think this is quite telling, is that in the Anglo Saxon period, gallows were built with two uprights and a horizontal beam across, which is very much like the stones that we can still see at Stonehenge. So it could just be that they're just describing them like the gallows. Right.

[Anthony Delaney]

They are, aren't they? I think Stonehenge, probably.

[Maddy Pelling]

Yeah. I think to your theory there. Yeah. To add fuel to your theory, an Anglo Saxon body has been discovered at the site and it had been decapitated. So there was obviously contemporary execution going on there. So it might mean execution site. Doesn't mean it was an execution site at the moment it was constructed. Yeah, Next.

[Anthony Delaney]

Okay, next. Okay, I think this is true, because something smells off about this connection to me. So Stonehenge has nothing to do with Druids? I think this is true.

[Maddy Pelling]

Correct. Well, until the 18th century, that is. Yeah.

[Anthony Delaney]

And then it does. Yeah, yeah, yeah, true. Then it's like fake druids.

[Maddy Pelling]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. So if you go to the summer or the winter solstice. Why can I not say solstice? If you go to the summer or winter solstice at Stonehenge now, you'll see lots of people who identify today as Druids, as a religion. But the idea that Druids built Stonehenge kicks off in the 18th century with one of my dream human beings, the antiquary, William Stuckley. He's a vicar and an amateur, what we would now call an archaeologist. And he's particularly obsessed, amongst other things, with Stonehenge. I believe he does a lot of work on Avebury as well, the other stone circle that we talked about in our previous episode. In 1740, he publishes a book called Stonehenge, A Temple Restored to the British druids.

[Anthony Delaney]

Ooh, 1740. Okay.

[Maddy Pelling]

And it's. I mean, it's a delightful read. Do check it out. But this idea of historical druids. Right, Druids in the actual past. So historical druids, you know, they really did exist. They were part of Celtic society and they lived in the British Isles from around about 800 BC to 40 BC. And Julius Caesar mentions him in his writings about Britain. So there is a precedent for. But of course, they're much later than Stonehenge itself, as we discovered last episode. But William Stucley, this 18th century antiquary, he just assumes that these are the people who built Stonehenge. He just becomes obsessed with the Druids and he Basically becomes a neo Druid. He does things like he turns his back garden into a Druidic temple, I'm pretty sure, and I'd need to check this, but I think he has one of his children who suddenly dies buried in. In a Druidic ceremony in his garden as well. So he's kind of, you know, he's really invested in this, and it's all kind of tied up with this, this idea of Stonehenge. To be fair to Stucley, though, and he does get a lot of things right. And, you know, he is one of the fathers of archaeology, so I don't want to bash him too much, and I do have. He holds a special place in my heart. But he's the first person to realize that Stonehenge is aligned with the solstice. So he does get some things right. He just attributes it to the Druids. But this idea of the Druids having built Stonehenge and that it's some kind of temple really, really sticks in the imagination of the British, and it does not disappear. So in 1781, so 41 years after Stucley publishes his book about Stonehenge, there is an order founded in Britain called the Ancient Order of Druids. And this just continues to grow throughout the 19th century. So these are people who identify as Druids. They practice Druidical rituals. The first Druid ceremony ever held at Stoneheng is not in prehistory. It's in 1905. And I have a picture to show you from a few years later, 1908, because it's one, a wild picture, but two, there's someone very unexpected in it. And don't give away who it is just yet, but please describe.

[Anthony Delaney]

Okay, so it is a picture of loads of fellows with beards. It's black and white, and loads of fellows with beards and crooks. And they. It's. It's. Yeah, as Maddie said, it's. It's early Edwardian. They're some of the. The men's that are the men's.

[Maddy Pelling]

The men's.

[Anthony Delaney]

The men that are not in a white robe type thing with a hood, which is very disconcerting. They are in like, black dinner suit type things. It's all very formal. I see some Merrill chains in the background. What fascinates me about this and everything that you're talking about is, and it gives me the ache a little bit, is how this is nation building from falsehoods. And that becomes more telling when you reveal, as you're about to do, I would imagine. Who is at the center of this image?

[Maddy Pelling]

Yeah. So stood with all these druids. This is in 1908 is a young man who many would recognize as Winston Churchill.

[Anthony Delaney]

He is instantly recognizable. He doesn't look like your stereotypical Churchill wore Churchill, obviously, because this is 40 years earlier, but it's still Churchill. You can still tell it's him. Obviously. He looks very much like himself.

[Maddy Pelling]

Yeah. And it's quite unexpected to find because I suppose we associate Druid adjacent beliefs. Certainly later on in the 20th century it was kind of like the hippies and liberalism and not necessarily.

[Anthony Delaney]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Maddy Pelling]

Winston Churchill. So. Yeah, interesting.

[Anthony Delaney]

Nonetheless, you could imagine nowadays Boris Johnson inserting himself in a picture like that, couldn't you? You could, you could imagine this kind of co opting of ideas of Britishness in that kind of almost propaganda looking thing. It's not a propaganda picture.

[Maddy Pelling]

But you know, surely Boris has done some kind of photo shoot at Stonehenge with some.

[Anthony Delaney]

Yeah. Hanging.

[Maddy Pelling]

Probably touched like the election bus there or something. Yeah, yeah. Like climbing on it or something like that.

[Anthony Delaney]

Allegedly from one political icon to another. Washington, apparently in our third Facts or Myth installment. Apparently I don't know this. There is a full scale replica in Washington State. Well, I feel like I would know if there's a full scale replica in Washington State. Is there.

[Maddy Pelling]

This is also true. This. I am obsessed with this. Right, okay. So yes, there is a full scale replica of Stonehenge and it's not Stonehenge as it looks. Now. Stonehenge imagined how it would have looked in its heyday. Right. So it's got. The outer circle has got like the lintels are going all the way around the whole circle and stuff. So it's kind of a bit more supposedly how it would have looked. This was built in 1918, so the end of World War I by an American millionaire and interestingly a pacifist. And this is going to be important in a second called Sam Hill. And he built this in Washington State on the cliffs of above Columbia River. Sam Hill's obsession with Stonehenge's understanding of it was that it had been a place of human sacrifice. Now cut to the end of World War I and he's a pacifist and his view on World War I is that it's been a kind of human sacrifice. And he wants to commemorate that to mark the human tragedy. So he builds this and it's a memorial to the First World War.

[Anthony Delaney]

It's stunning. I'm looking at a picture of it now. So Let me describe it for you. I will post this on socials. But it's. It is a beautiful image, actually, and it is this stone monument that is, I would say, only Stonehenge esque in that. You're telling me this is what they thought maybe might have looked like. It's beside a river, there's hills. It's this vast skyscape in the background. It looks really dramatic, really beautiful, and it's. You know, it's actually quite a poignant monument, given what it's supposed to remember. But tell me this. Like, do we know if this is what Stonehenge actually looks like? Is. Or is this just a kind of a. Yet another interpretation? Like, I didn't realize, just for listeners who may not be seeing this image, the circle of stones around the outer edge are topped off as Maddie's describing these lintels, but they go the whole way around in a full circle. Like, I don't know if I knew that that was potentially what that was.

[Maddy Pelling]

I think there's something so interesting about it being a war memorial.

[Anthony Delaney]

I agree.

[Maddy Pelling]

And, you know, particularly World War I, you know, this is predominant conflict fought in Europe. And I think there's something about kind of Britishness being transported to the American landscape here. Europeanness, you know, I find it fascinating. The other thing I will say is I'm obsessed with people who reproduce. I mean, it's kind of a little bit 18th century, like building a sort of Roman temple, isn't it?

[Anthony Delaney]

Follies and things like that.

[Maddy Pelling]

It's a folly. It's a folly.

[Anthony Delaney]

Despite the fact that it's a replica. It's really charged just looking at the image. Obviously, I've never been there, but just looking at the image, it feels really charged. I will say this, though, before we move on to the next point, which I can. I've seen on my piece of paper, and I can barely bring myself to read. But the. The. The thing about this is. What was I going to say? Oh, yes. The thing about this is, you know, I love the 18th century. You know, it's my sweet spot. I hate replicas in the 18th century. It really annoys me. So we're getting, you know, the way. In the last episode, I was like, oh, my God, Maddie is a closeted antiquarian, and this is this. I'm now having some similar realization about myself, but in the opposite direction, where I'm just like, oh, I hate all those reconstructed things in the 18th century. I hate them. I just. They feel to me what you're saying.

[Maddy Pelling]

Is if we both time travelled back to the 18th century, we would not be friends because I'd be like, I'm digging in a field and I've discovered this Roman villa and like, look at my collection of arrow, like flint arrowheads. And you'd be like, do not talk to me under any circumstances.

[Anthony Delaney]

I'd be like, are you bringing me champagne? Because if you're not, there's no need for this interaction that I. That might just be my motto in life generally.

[Maddy Pelling]

That is our dynamic.

[Anthony Delaney]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, the next bit, they're going to make me say this to. To earn my keep at After Dark this week. And it says, Merlin built Stonehenge.

[Maddy Pelling]

And it's true. No, of course it's not true. You would be amazed by how long people have been telling this version. This is a theory that has a history of its own. So we've covered this story before on After Dark in an episode that we did with Amy Jeffs called the Mythic Origins of Britain. But here's the potted version. So Geoffrey of Monmouth, friend of the pod, in 1136, he suddenly comes out with this idea that in the 5th century. So this is someone in the 12th century doing history about the 5th century. He says that hundreds of nobles were slaughtered on the Salisbury Plain by the evil King Vortigern and that the good king, who's a king called Aurelius, returns and he tells Merlin of King Arthur fame that he wants a memorial to the people who've died on his behalf. So Merlin goes to a hill in Ireland. Nothing to do with.

[Anthony Delaney]

Now you've got me.

[Maddy Pelling]

Oh, now he's so self obsessed. Now we've got his interest. Right. He goes to a hill in Ireland where there's a stone circle that of course has been built by giants, because why not?

[Anthony Delaney]

We're full of those in Ireland yet.

[Maddy Pelling]

Yeah. And this stone circle, the stones have come from Africa. Just keep up. So the giants have taken the stones from Africa or outsourced them, who knows? They've made this stone circle and Merlin is like, right, I'm gonna move this stone circle to the Salisbury Plain as this memorial. So he uses magic or mathematics, as some versions say.

[Anthony Delaney]

Mathematics.

[Maddy Pelling]

I love that. They're just interchangeable. Yeah, yeah, exactly. It's all Greek to us.

[Anthony Delaney]

Yeah.

[Maddy Pelling]

So he moves the stones and there is a late 12th century illustration that shows a giant helping Merlin move the stones to Stonehenge. Okay. Well, it's bizarre. I saw it. Now, I will say I sort of feel about a lot of medieval history how you do about prehistory.

[Anthony Delaney]

How do I feel about prehistory? Paddy?

[Maddy Pelling]

You love it. No, I. I think I haven't found my way into it where I'm not all consumed by it. That's not to say that it's not interesting. I. It's my failing that I haven't found my way in.

[Anthony Delaney]

And oh, I feel like that about prehistory for me too, that this is my failing, by the way, 100%. I may be making light of it, but this is my shortcomings. Absolutely.

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[Maddy Pelling]

Yeah, and I think it's the this medieval thing of like the blurring of fact and fiction and oh yeah, there's a giant who's helping Merlin move the stairs. Like I need something more concrete. I just. Yeah, it's too much for me.

[Anthony Delaney]

They were very good at doing illustrated manuscripts though. So that's why I do quite like a little bit of medieval now and again. Actually, do you know what, talking about drawing stuff, number five, Christopher Wren graffitied on Stonehenge. True or not true?

[Maddy Pelling]

Potentially true, yes.

[Anthony Delaney]

More potential.

[Maddy Pelling]

So we know that in the 18th and. Well, in the late 17th to the 19th century, people, not just Wren, but people visitors to Stonehenge, regularly graffitied on it. So this is, as anyone who has bought my book, Writing on the Wall, available wherever you get your books, will know, people from this period of history routinely wrote on the surfaces around them. This was nothing new. And part of that was tourist graffiti. So people would go to particularly ancient sites. You get it with British Marines deployed to places like Pompeii, where they go to a ruin and they will carve their name on it. They want to document that they were there in that space. And Stonehenge was no different. You get it all across Britain. You get it on castles, you get it in churches. Christopher Wren, potentially. So he grew up in Wiltshire, East Noyal, which is only 15 miles away. So there is a piece of graffiti on one of the stones that says, I, Wren.

[Anthony Delaney]

Ian Wren.

[Maddy Pelling]

Now, Ian, Yeah, ian, good old 18th.

[Anthony Delaney]

Century famous person, Ian Wren.

[Maddy Pelling]

Sidebar. When did the name Ian come into being?

[Anthony Delaney]

Probably not the 18th century.

[Maddy Pelling]

Probably not the 18th century. No. So I'm just thinking about if I've ever come across an ian in the 18th century.

[Anthony Delaney]

I have not. No.

[Maddy Pelling]

No, I have not. So this could potentially be Christopher Wren. We do know that he was very, very interested in Stonehenge and obviously in architectural structures. And there was, you know, a real fascination, as we've already said, in the late 17th, early 18th century with Stonehenge, this idea that it was potentially a temple in some way. So, yeah, intriguing. Now, this is also important.

[Anthony Delaney]

Go on.

[Maddy Pelling]

The diameter of the inner dome of St. Paul's Cathedral, designed by Wren, of course, is the same diameter as the inner circle of the monument.

[Anthony Delaney]

Is it? I mean, I've stood under that dome in St. Paul's and obviously it's big, but it. It doesn't seem like the same, mind you, of course, because it's just further away, isn't it? That's what that is. This is why I don't like views. I just. Perspective is not a thing that I excel in.

[Maddy Pelling]

I have no comment.

[Anthony Delaney]

Sometimes people call me you that. The priest Dougal from Father's Head. And that is one of those Dougal moments that I. And I do have it. I absolutely have that thing about, like, once I was Watching documentary. And it was just. It started by going, it's more than 500 years old. And I shouted out, the moon. And I was like, what? It doesn't make any sense. I mean, the moon is technically more than 500 years old.

[Maddy Pelling]

But, like, I mean, you're not wrong.

[Anthony Delaney]

No, exactly. So that's all I'm going with. But yeah, it's.

[Maddy Pelling]

You didn't realize that someone is going to come and take your PhD off you at some point.

[Anthony Delaney]

I ask all the time, can they take PhDs? I ask that and they probably can. And this will probably be one of the reasons. One of the many reasons this will cost it, really. Do you know what? And I'm just a bit warm again. I was really warm yesterday and I'm really warm today. And I think it's throwing me off my concentration.

[Maddy Pelling]

What you need is to be stood on the windswept Salisbury Plain in amongst the mystical stones.

[Anthony Delaney]

I would do that. I absolutely would. As long as there's nobody else there talking to me, I would do it 100%. That sounds quite nice.

[Maddy Pelling]

Stay with me and we'll go at like you're in the middle. In the middle of the night.

[Anthony Delaney]

It's pointless now. She says that at the end when she knows she's going. Do you remember the last time when I stayed in your house and your neighbor saw I didn't know I was staying in Maddie's house and I had to. Can I say this?

[Maddy Pelling]

Yeah.

[Anthony Delaney]

Yeah. I didn't know I was staying in Maddie's house and I wasn't prepared, so I didn't have an overnight bag, so I had to go and buy some underwear. And I just was nowhere near the house, so I just bought underwear. And like, I think it was like Tesco or somewhere. Maddie, was it?

[Maddy Pelling]

Yeah, it was a Tesco. Yeah. And my next door neighbor worked in Tesco.

[Anthony Delaney]

Yeah.

[Maddy Pelling]

And my husband was away at the time. He was in like Cyprus or something for like six months. So he had not been around for a really long time.

[Anthony Delaney]

Oh, I'm going red. Why am I going red? I know. Nothing happened.

[Maddy Pelling]

Oh, my God. Yeah. And then she sees us in Tesco with Anthony buying pants.

[Anthony Delaney]

Not just buying pants. Pants and champagne and like wine and red wine and stuff. And probably chocolate as well. We were having a very romantic night in.

[Maddy Pelling]

Can we just not give the impression that we were drinking three bottles of.

[Anthony Delaney]

Yeah, I don't know what we were drinking, but we were drinking.

[Maddy Pelling]

We probably did, to be fair.

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[Anthony Delaney]

That just made me go really red and I didn't even know, obviously, because I didn't know Maddie's neighbor, but Maddie was like, oh my God, that's my neighbor. I was like, oh, this looks like an affair. But that's fine.

[Maddy Pelling]

I never enlightened her. She's probably, to this day, we don't live there anymore. She probably thought, good riddance.

[Anthony Delaney]

And if she's listening to this podcast now, she's like, I knew there was something going on between the two of them. It's like, yes, a podcast.

[Maddy Pelling]

A podcast, yeah. That is After Dark lore, because that when you stayed at my house that time, we recorded a pilot episode to Pitch to history hit. So After Dark exists because of all that champagne that we drank in our affair.

[Anthony Delaney]

We didn't do it. We're being very professional, but okay, next fact. Okay, I kind of know about this because we spoke about it in episode one, the Blue Stones can sing.

[Maddy Pelling]

Yes. Okay. I am so obsessed with this. So as we know, the bluestones, which is one of the circles at Stonehenge, come from the Preseli Hills, specifically a village called, Sorry to any Welsh speakers out there, Meyneclagoch, I believe that's how you say it. So the stones, when you, as we said in episode one, when you strike them, they make a sound. And the church in this village, whose name I'm not going to repeat, as I said in episode one, the church bells were made out of bluestone. Until the 18th century, that is. I just find this magical. So they have this kind of resonance. And interestingly, this musicality of Stonehenge crops up in one of my all time favourite novels, Thomas Hardy's Tess, the d' Urbervilles. Have you ever read it, Anselm?

[Anthony Delaney]

Yeah, and I agree with it. It's not one of my all time favourites, but I do really like it.

[Maddy Pelling]

I would say far from the madding crowd is superior, but I do love Tess. But at the end of Tess, for anyone who doesn't know the story, she murders her abuser and she runs. It's set in the west country and she runs to Stonehenge and she sleeps in the middle of the stones and she describes. She says something like it hums Hearken about the circle and then Hardy's description of the circle. I'll just read it because it's lovely, says the wind playing upon the edifice produced a booming tune like the note of some gigantic one stringed harp.

[Anthony Delaney]

Lovely. That's nice.

[Maddy Pelling]

Just so nice. And it's so interesting at the end of that novel that Stonehenge becomes this kind of symbol in the novel for this sort of paganistic, quite brutal part of the landscape. You know, there's been a murder committed and it's kind of like ancient truth and Tess, who's been rejected and marginalized by modern 19th century society and the sort of the moral judgments of Victorian England retreats back to this kind of pagan barbaric space as Hardy sees it. And yeah, if you haven't read it, get reading. It's.

[Anthony Delaney]

Oh yeah, it is good. It is good.

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[Anthony Delaney]

You are making me go into all the, all the corners of my thing at the middle. Aliens. Madeleine Louise Pelling. I know Louise is not your middle name, but it is now.

[Maddy Pelling]

It's not my middle name. Okay. No, not. You have to.

[Anthony Delaney]

No, you have to give this as much weight as you've given singing stones. Go on.

[Maddy Pelling]

Do I? Okay. Oh, my God. Right. Just to clarify, I do not believe that Stonehenge has been built by aliens.

[Anthony Delaney]

But she does believe the Stones sing. No, I'm joking. I'm joking.

[Maddy Pelling]

I mean, they probably do. I've never had the opportunity to strike one next solstice. Maybe. If you go to the solstice and you see me there whacking the stones, just lead me to it.

[Anthony Delaney]

Oh, my God.

[Maddy Pelling]

You'll know why.

[Anthony Delaney]

No, please make sure that you're videoing that like on your phone if it is. Because that's breakdown material and I want to see it.

[Maddy Pelling]

Absolutely. Okay, so the. I can't believe I'm saying these words. The first Stonehenge alien connection comes into being in 1968, as you might imagine.

[Anthony Delaney]

Yes.

[Maddy Pelling]

And you would imagine that a global smash hit called Chariots of the Gods question mark by a man called Erich Von Daniken. And in it, he argues that many ancient sites, including the pyramids, the Nazcar Lines, and Stonehenge, are evidence of extraterrestrial influence. Right. And this is a kind of Internet thing theory that, you know, you see on YouTube all the time. You can see the echoes of it still in, like, nefarious streaming platform documentaries today. Naming no names.

[Anthony Delaney]

Do you know what I find funny about this? You know, the way you and I are a bit like, oh, alien stuff. We have to do alien stuff sometimes. Like, we had to do, like, alien abduction stuff and blah, blah, blah, blah.

[Maddy Pelling]

We'll be thoroughly embarrassed when the aliens come down to Earth and it's all real.

[Anthony Delaney]

Some kind of life beyond Earth. Right. I'm very open to that.

[Maddy Pelling]

Of course there is. Of course there is.

[Anthony Delaney]

What I get is the. What we often get is this kind of feedback going, I can't believe you're so closed off to these things. Babe, we're allowed to be closed off. You don't have to be like, you can have your green alien made Stonehenge theory and knock yourself out. And you talk about that on your podcast. But on this podcast, we don't necessarily believe that has happened. So I'm gonna rule that one out.

[Maddy Pelling]

Okay, next fact, please.

[Anthony Delaney]

Number eight is good. We're getting through these. Okay, it's a dahlia exhibition venue. As in, like the FL.

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[Maddy Pelling]

Yeah, dahlia. Dahlia. How would you pronounce it?

[Anthony Delaney]

I would have said, like, the black dahlia. That's how I say that. But I don't know if it's a.

[Maddy Pelling]

I just said dahlia. Maybe that's a northern thing. Okay. Either way, a flower. So this is a flower that's native to Mexico, but it first arrived in Britain in the best century of all, the 18th century. Only just so if you were a.

[Anthony Delaney]

Year, I would say that you might be 1798.

[Maddy Pelling]

Oh, my God. Yeah, I obsessed with 1790s obsessed.

[Anthony Delaney]

That rings true to me. Anyway, sorry.

[Maddy Pelling]

Best and worst decade. Everything happens. Anyway, okay, so these are very pretty flowers and they're very popular today, but they became really fashionable in the first half of the 19th century. And this is so random. There used to be competitions and exhibitions of, you know, who could grow the best flower. And the Salisbury Plain Dahlia Society held its first show in Sidestonehenge in 1842. And the crowd, by the way, was almost 10,000 people. That's wild.

[Anthony Delaney]

In another 5,000 years time, there will be historians on whatever the podcast thing is then. And they'll be going, actually, it's really weird because we don't know for sure, but, like, it looks like it might have been a flower centre or garden.

[Maddy Pelling]

Center in the mid 19th century. And people are like, what?

[Anthony Delaney]

That doesn't make any sense. But yes, it was. If this recording still exists in 5,000 years time, yes, it was essentially a garden center.

[Maddy Pelling]

Yeah. Yeah. But this still exists today. You know, this is still tradition. Stonehenge, still dahlias being displayed at Stonehenge. There's a picture that I'm looking at currently of 2. What are they? Sort of slightly bigger than life size, actually. Quite creepy women. They're not real. They're like weird models. They've got sort of 19th century dresses and bonnets on, but they're all made of flowers and they're standing in front of Stonehenge.

[Anthony Delaney]

Right. So they're not planted there, they're just transported into it.

[Maddy Pelling]

Yeah, I guess so. Yeah.

[Anthony Delaney]

Yeah. Okay, well, that's weird.

[Maddy Pelling]

Underwhelming.

[Anthony Delaney]

Right. Number nine. A Victorian historian wants to put a time capsule underneath it. That doesn't seem that weird to me.

[Maddy Pelling]

I'm obsessed with this. This is. Okay, so I didn't know this until we started doing the research for this episode. Obsessed, obsessed. So in 1877, the historian Frederick Harrison decides that basically there should be a time capsule under Stonehenge. He writes an article called A pompeii for the 29th century. So he specifically wants it to be dug up in the 29th century. He kind of thinks that human sort of mass extinction is gonna occur in the future. And who's to say that he was wrong? But this isn't like, you know, when you're little and you did, like a school time capsule to do that, and you have to put in, like, a newspaper and, like, a chocolate bar or whatever. Like, things, little objects. This is not that this is the size of a museum, but under the stones. So here's a list of the things that he wants to put into it. Miniature models of warships and trains.

[Anthony Delaney]

Okay, great.

[Maddy Pelling]

Women. Women's Fashion. A Guide to Cockney.

[Anthony Delaney]

Okay.

[Maddy Pelling]

Which would be really useful in the 29th century. It was a phonograph recording of opera. Fair enough. And that smacks of. What's the recording that was sent up to space. That's a little bit like that, isn't it?

[Anthony Delaney]

Yeah.

[Maddy Pelling]

He's also really worried that lots of different species going to Become extinct by the 29th century. So he also wants to bury and presumably kill them. Bury examples of foxes, elephants, buffalo and a rhino.

[Anthony Delaney]

Okay, yeah, I mean, I can see the need for some. Well, not the need, but I can see the desire to put some kind of time capsule under there just for the Kraken, just to memorialize. Like I've buried a time capsule in my granny's. Well, what was my granny's garden somewhere. So there's. I can't even remember what's in there. That's there. And so like, I. Yeah, I can see, I can see that. But like, I didn't realize it was gonna be museum size. That seems a little excessive.

[Maddy Pelling]

Can you imagine the stones just sort of collapsing in on themselves because you've undermined the site so badly and destroyed all the archaeology? Yeah, hilarious. But again, it speaks to the perceived importance of Stonehenge that it's such an important site that this idea would survive till the 29th century and that it can be. It's a kind of Mecca that you bring. It's a Noah's ark. You bring all these things to it to bring. Be preserved there. Because surely Stonehenge will still be important. So, yeah, I could write a whole book on this guy.

[Anthony Delaney]

Number 10 hippies fought the police over it. I would say this is true.

[Maddy Pelling]

Right, okay, so this is a shout out to my dad who told me this. Absolutely hilarious. So the illegal Stonehenge Free Festival was held at Stonehenge every June between 1974 and 1984. So a 10 year period. And it kind of culminated around the summer solstice in 1984, the last year, 30,000 people came. Oh, wow. I don't know how that measures up to the solstice now. There definitely weren't. I mean, there was several thousand at the winter one, but I think the summer one is like on a whole other scale. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Even for me, that's too many people. Like, that's my limit. I'll do the winter one and nothing else.

[Anthony Delaney]

30,000 though, that's too many people. Like 5 is too many people for me.

[Maddy Pelling]

Yeah, no, I agree, I agree. So this was basically. There was loads of different kind of counterculture groups who came. There were loads of artists who came. Like Dexie's Midnight Runners were there. Benjamin Zephaniah was there. There was a lot of drug use. I'm not for a second suggesting the people I've just listed were using the drugs, but there was a lot of drug use going on. They were all kind of in terms of the public discourse, they were all just termed hippies, even though they were from all these different kind of backgrounds and groups. One festival goer described it as being in a medieval nightmare. It's kind of wild. There's this really iconic photo that I've included it in our notes here. And it's this kind of like gloriously, gorgeously hazy photo of this festival. And there's some people very controversially climbing up and sat on some of the big sarsen stones and those lintel stones that go over the top of them.

[Anthony Delaney]

And look at those druidy people as well, Mattie. Like the people in that Churchill picture.

[Maddy Pelling]

Absolutely, yeah. You've got the sort of white outfits of the druids. You've got people sat on each other's shoulders like it looks like a wild time. In 1985 though, the police decided they'd haven't had enough of this illegal festival. They didn't want people near the stones. It was not on. There was too many drugs being done. It was a bit of chaos. It needs to be stopped. So 1300 police go down to Stonehenge with riot shields and truncheons and then what ensues is a conflict between the so called hippies and the police and it becomes known as the Battle of the Beanfield.

[Anthony Delaney]

Right. I think this place, it has the most confused identity that has beanfields, dahlias. What else have we had? We've had singing stones, we've had Tess asleep in the middle of it for the crack we've had like, it just is fascinating because it fulfills so many functions for so many people. But do you know what I'm calling back to actually, as we come kind of to the end of this discussion and I don't know why, because when we were talking about it at first I was like, okay, pillars in the ground, great, whatever. After all of this, that's what I'm being drawn back to in my head is those stakes in the ground of the original wooden structure. And maybe there's something in it now that we've done the whole journey through these two episodes that actually I'm seeing the real value in the concrete proof of the history as opposed to maybe some of the mythology that's been layered on top of it, which I can find frustrating and find a bit like, oh, yeah, it could have been this, could have been that, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. There's something very appealing to me now about those wooden stakes in the ground. Something quite grounding, earthy, real that I'm calling back to so that's what I think I'm gonna take from this. And then they become burial chambers, which of course, you know, I'm very interested in the practices of death and the history of death. So that's what I think I'm gonna take from these two episodes. Maddy so I may not be a Stonehenge convert, but I'm certainly.

[Maddy Pelling]

You're halfway there.

[Anthony Delaney]

Something is. Yeah, something's quite intriguing about that, that actual history. I think that's.

[Maddy Pelling]

I will take that as a victory if you have enjoyed this episode of After Dark, get in touch with us. Let us know. Let us know topics that you want us to cover. Any more prehistoric monuments for Anthony to get het up about? Please send them my way. You can email [e-mail].

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