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This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Fiscally responsible financial geniuses, monetary magicians. These are things that people say about drivers who switch their car insurance to Progressive and save hundreds. Visit progressive.com to see what you can save. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Potential savings will vary. Not available in all states or situations. The detective said missing kids usually come home. What happens when they don't? Based on a true story Police looking for John Gacy. We discovered bodies. By the looks of it, they're younger men. The things he did to those kids. He's sick. The system bailed these families. Devil in disguise. John Wayne Gacy. Streaming now only on Peacock. Do you know how many there are? Up to you to find out. Hello and welcome to My Victorian Nightmare. I'm your host, Genevieve Manion, and I'm here to talk about mysterious deaths, morbid fascinations, disturbing stories, and otherwise spooky events from the Victorian era. Because to me, there's just something especially intriguing, creepy and oddly comforting about horror and mayhem from the 19th century. So listener discretion is advised. Hello friends, and welcome to this, my 65th episode. I hope that you had a fabulous week and that you are not spiraling into the direful inky abyss. As always, you may be able to tell that I have a little bit of a cold at the moment. Yes, yes, vampires get colds too. Little known fact, but I've got a cozy blanket around my shoulders. I have a cup of tea, and despite the urge I feel in my quivery little bones to allow the abyss to finally take me once and for all, I have far too fun an episode today to allow myself to succumb to the temptation. I shall remain at least until I'm done recording. Okay, honestly, I have so much Halloweeny season y spookiness for you today, so we're gonna race right through Haunted Housekeeping and get right to it. Thank you for rating the podcast on Spotify and Apple podcasts. Those ratings continue to be so important to enabling the show to continue. Thank you for your lovely comments and thank you everyone who has joined the fan coven. Those of you who receive the show ad free a day early, who also receive week bloody Victorian true crime extras, and who receive weekly witchy inspiration, meditations and humble suggestions for how to keep an empowering and enriching craft. Just go to myvictorynightmare.com and for the price of a coffee and pumpkin spice crawler, you too can join this lovely community. And if you don't like pumpkin spice crawlers, you can receive the show ad free. And a day early for just the price of a cup of coffee. Like a large cup of coffee to be fair, at one of those cafes that have like live, laugh, love framed somewhere. Five bucks. In both cases you will be directly contributing to ensuring that I can continue this show. So thank you everyone who has joined and thank you everyone who intends to the weather is getting chillier and the evenings are getting longer, so I am spending my nights with my favorite 19th century stories beside my fireplace in 4K on my TV and I am living Loving Audibles. Exquisite, original, immersive Pride and Prejudice. This adaptation is inspiring audiences to fall in love with Jane Austen all over again. Starring Marisa Abella from Industry and Black Bag as Elizabeth Bennett Harris Dickinson from Baby Girl and Where the crawdads sing as Mr. Darcy as well as Marianne Jean Baptiste, Will Poulter, Bill Nighy and Glenn Close as Lady Catherine de Bourgh. Between sharp wit, scandalous gossip and unmarried daughters, Pride and Prejudice is more than just a love story. It's a battle of hearts, manners and misunderstandings. With a score written by a Grammy nominated composer and passionately performed by Marisa Abela. Navigating family expectations, societal pressures, and her own misconceptions of Mr. Darcy, you will find this classic romance reinvented, enchanting, and a perfect companion to a lovely glass of red wine snuggled under your favorite blanket beside your 4K fireplace. From the drawing rooms of the English countryside to moonlit confessions, rediscover the romance, the satire and the spark that changed literature forever. Listen to the new Pride and prejudice@audible.com janeausten okay for you today, dear listener, I have ghosts. Ghosts and even more spooky goo ghosts, including ghost trains, as well as the capture of two midnight grave robbers, Mary Todd Lincoln incognito at a seance, and Scottish Halloween traditions from 1876. I did some extra legwork this week to find the most Halloweeny articles I could find in not only the Illustrated Police News, Law Courts and Record, but all over the creepy periodicals of the day. So let's make our way to our first segment with their own ey, where I share with you the personal haunting accounts of petrified Victorians. I'll have even more hauntings later in the show, but this one is from my hometown, Brooklyn, and it burns me that I can't figure out where the location of this house is. They kept it secret in the article which comes to us from the Times picayune from November 23, 1874 volume it is called A Haunted House in Brooklyn, and it reads, in the city of Brooklyn stands a large commodious house. In the year 1863, a relative of mine, Mrs. W. Moved into this house with her family. This consisted of her husband, daughters and servants. A sister of mine visited this family for a few days and at night was assigned a room opening upon the hall on the same floor. At breakfast the morning succeeding her arrival, she inquired of Mrs. Mrs. W. Who it was that walked the floor of the hall for such a length of time in the night. She said it appeared to be somebody in slippers. Mrs. W. Gave an evasive reply, and the subject was dropped. The second night my sister had retired and had extinguished the light and was nearly asleep when she was roused by the same footsteps. And arising, she opened the door and looked into the hall, but could perceive nothing, nor did she then hear any sound of footsteps. She then closed and carefully secured the door and returned to bed, and had nearly composed herself to sleep when she felt as if two hands were pressed upon the bed over her chest, and at the same moment she also felt what appeared to be the breath of a person upon her face. This alarmed her. You don't say. And she struck a light, and to her amazement could find nothing to account for the sensations. Mrs. W. Further said. Quote. One afternoon my youngest daughter and three of her four companions were playing in the garden, when suddenly one stopped and exclaimed, oh, Annie, see that little girl and pale lady up there at the window? They all looked and saw the child with its hands upon the window sash and its face close to the glass, while the ladies stood beside it. Both were dressed in white, she very pale and her expression very sad and gloomy. In a minute my daughter, followed by the others, all excited, rushed into the house, and of course without avail. And for a long time they were positive in the belief that the white lady, as they named her, and the child escaped them. This house has been unoccupied for about two years previous to the time when Mrs. W. Engaged it, and with many persons it had the reputation of being haunted. But no rumor of this kind reached Mrs. W. Until about a year after she and her family moved in. End quote. Oh, this reminds me of the last scene of the others, when Nicole Kidman and the children are looking out the window. And I don't want to give anything away if you haven't seen it, but for those of you who have, you know what I'm talking about. If I ever saw a pale, sad looking ghost woman holding a ghost baby and looking out of my home window, I would perish. I would be so scared that I would become a ghost woman looking into my apartment forever at the ghost woman on the inside. And so would begin the most upsetting ghost drama where I would be stuck on the outside of my apartment, jealous that the ghost and her kid get to enjoy all my super cool stuff. I've got a juicer that makes me feel like I'm erasing all the years of clove cigarette smoking. I also have some very tasteful cheese boards. I also bought a legit witch's broom the other day that smells like pumpkin spice. I nailed it to my wall last night. I put on Sleepy Hollow and stared at it giggling and texting my friends about it. It's so cute. I'm such a dork. Suffice it to say, I would be furious if another ghost got to enjoy all these things while I was locked out smoking an ornery ghost clove on the streets of Brooklyn. Now won't you follow me into the seance room where we discuss the goings on in the Spiritualist society of the 1800s. Our article today comes to us from the Spiritualist Magazine, December 1869 volume and it is a deposition from a lecturer on spiritualism to the Dialectical Society. This was an English society founded for philosophical debate, which often discussed and investigated spiritualist mediums, seances and even spiritualist events. This deposition is in regard to a man becoming a believer. It's an emotional roller coaster. It begins a little dry, then silly, then a bit heart wrenching, then absolutely bone chilling. And it reads, Mr. J.S. steele, watchmaker of 36 Great Sutton Street, Clerkenwell, E.C. said that he first saw spiritual manifestations in the room in which he was speaking, and Messrs. Cresswell, Davis and Blackwell were present. He thought all he then witnessed was contemptible rubbish. But he attended twice more and his curiosity became aroused and he joined the society for the sake of obtaining regular admittance. After a time he discontinued his visits and at last said to his wife, who had been a spiritualist for some time, if you go to that place again, I'll go to St. Luke's madhouse and get one straitjacket for you and another for Davis, and laughter is in brackets. I guess the audience found that very funny. However, he attended once more and the spirits selected him and 10 other persons to sit at a dark seance. At that seance, Dr. Davis was entranced and repeated to him the dying words of his son. This son had died a year before he knew Mr. Davis, and he had spoken to to the latter on the subject, the words were goodbye, God bless you. You'll never forget me, will you? Oh. Davis finished by saying, quote, is there anybody here who remembers these words? He Mr. Steel shouted, Yes, I do. Davis replied, I should think you do, Father. His wife was not present at the seance. A short time afterwards, a medium, Ms. Dixon, came to his house. He entered the parlour to speak to her and she went off into a trance upon the sofa. He felt very uncomfortable to see a strange woman apparently fainting away in his house. As he did not know how to bring her round and was not used to that sort of thing, he thought to himself, here's a pretty pickle. She rose from the sofa, bent one foot so that she walked on the edge of it, drew up one arm into a cramped position and limped in a peculiar way across the room. He said, why, that's my mother. The medium, who never knew his mother, replied, yes, my boy, I should think it is. His mother had died my many years before and she was much afflicted with paralysis. Another spirit purporting to be his son spoke to him through Ms. Dixon and said, quote, Father, you once made me an earthly promise. He replied, yes. For shortly before his son died, the boy asked him always to wear a ring on his finger in remembrance of him, with the date of his birth, death and burial engraved upon it. He, Mr. Steele, had not kept the promise and had not told his wife about it because he knew that if he did, she would always be pressing him to wear the ring. His son, through the medium, continued, will you now make me a spiritual promise? He replied, yes, but will you tell me what was to be inside the ring? The answer was, do you want me to tell you more than the three dates? No, he said, I am satisfied. And he was satisfied, for no being on earth knew anything about the private conversation between him and his son about the ring man. The description of that medium gave me full blown willies. A bit manipulative in the end there. I'd say I would never ask anyone to like wear something for the rest of their life after I died or even ask that they keep my ashes, like just get rid of me, whatever's the least amount of hassle. I did, and this is so embarrassing I did when I was younger and troubled, ask that my friends distribute my ashes into tea bags and make the prayer cards like the little paper tab on the end of the tea bags and give them out as like party favors at my funeral. And I genuinely thought at the time this would be like a lovely idea. And it goes without saying what a God awful idea this would be for the very numerous reasons. But my friend Jill was like. And I said this on the way back from a funeral, by the way of a friend, our friend. She was like, genevieve, after everything that we've just been through, let's imagine it was like, you who died. You really want to make your friends spoon you into tea bags and then have them like quip with the rest to your family? Just make sure not to drink that tea. I was like, oh yeah, that's horrendous. I need people to reign me in sometimes. I have a hard time seeing the big picture often. Okay, our next article is so fascinating. It is about grave robbing. Now I did an entire episode on Body snatchers in episode 34, and I really dug into a lot of details on the subject. But this article explains in tremendous and at times rather macabre poetic detail exactly how these guys operated. Details that I didn't include in that episode. So from the Chicago Tribune of 1872, this article is called Chicago Hyenas Capture of Two Midnight Grave Robbers. How Subjects of the Dissecting Room Are Obtained for the Young Sawbones. And it reads, at an early hour on Saturday, as certain policemen were pacing their beats, they discovered an express wagon crossing Van Buren Street Bridge. The unusual hour for a vehicle covered with hay and attended by two such intelligent individuals to appear aroused the suspicion of the officers, and they approached and made inquiry which disclosed a fact that the hay but concealed a load of human bodies. The wagon and contents, including the men, who turned out to be two students of Rush Medical College, Mr. J.F. shaffer and William Pembroke, were taken to the Union street station, and an examination ordered. Five bodies, two male and three female, were found. Among the latter was a young girl, apparently 13 years old at the time of her death, which was of recent occurrence. There was also found two picks, two shovels, two masks and a lantern. On Saturday morning the prisoners were arraigned before Just Scully and Waving examination were each held in default of $2,000 bail to appear at the criminal court. In this connection it no doubt will be of interest to give our readers some insight into this business of body snatching its object and the results attained. For however impalatable it may seem, it is nevertheless very generally conceded to be an absolute necessity to the advancement of medical science. What a wild sentence. I continue. Bodies are very often procured from hospitals, and the matter is so arranged between the schools that each obtains their share. But it equally often occurs that dying is dull, as the profession terms it, and there is a scarcity of subjects. Then the sickening business of robbing graveyards is resorted to, wanted to. In starting out on these ghastly journeys, a man is usually procured who is well acquainted with the locality to be visited. He is called the inspector, and it is his business to lay out the ground, mark the place, etc. Several days before the visit is to be made, the night comes on, and the ever ready expressman is waiting for the signal. When all is right, they begin. On arriving at the cemetery, the inspector. Inspector, accompanied by one or two of the students, proceeds to the precise locality to be worked upon, while those remaining stand guard and on the least noise give signals. Those who participate are usually disguised beyond all possibility of recognition by mask and domino. When all is still as death and everything in readiness, the snatchers proceed to remove the earth upon the box with picks and shovels. Which, being done, they lift the head lid, and in no gentle manner, a hook is inserted below the chin. And the body is hauled out from its cerements. It is then thrown upon the ground and divested from every particle of clothing, all of which is then carefully adjusted, the earth thrown back and smoothed over, so that none but a careful eye could know that the marauders had been nigh. The bodies are placed in the express wagon, and when full and all aboard, the party retrace their seat steps to the college. They drive into a backyard, purposely arranged, until a large door in the building is reached. The janitor, who usually accompanies the snatchers, produces a key, and the door is unlocked, and before him is a large elevator. Upon this the bodies are unceremoniously thrown, a crank is turned, and the elevator creaks and rises with its ghastly burden until the dissecting floor is reached. Here again is another official, who, with hook in hand, drags the bodies to a small room adjoining. The next step is to prepare the bodies for the bloody work of dissection. This is done by first taking out of the breast a piece of flesh about 10 inches square. In the cavity thus made, a pump is inserted and a preparation of chloride of zinc injected into the whole system. This is followed by another instrument by which the arteries are filled with a preparation known as liquid vermilion, which traces their course and renders them distinctly visible to the dissector. The bodies, after being passed through the above process, will last two or three months. They are then thrown into a tub or trough with a mixture of salt, water, etc. Where they lie until brought into requisition. The room used for dissecting usually contains a large number of tables, so arranged as to be convenient to the light. In one trough contains a corpse fresh from the silent tomb, and with the same last look that it wore when perchance surrounded by dear and mourning friends, while another supports little more than a skeleton. In the corner of the room are a lot of skull animals with grinning, ghastly teeth, piled indiscriminately with arms, legs, and bones. In another place lies a half dozen bodies of little children, evidently considered unworthy of much attention. They are, however, taken sometimes by the students to their boarding house, and in the dead of night they may be seen with knife, hook and book studying their wonderful composition. Whatever of knowledge is acquired in the dissecting room is dearly paid for and should be of lasting service to the learner. End quote. Again, I did a whole episode on this topic that was episode 34 so I won't spend too much more time here because Mary Todd Lincoln is desperately trying to find a medium to help her speak to her dead husband and I would really love to tell you all about that after the break. It is officially fall and I have begun to pack my home with pumpkins. I'm adding teeny dashes of pumpkin spice to my coffee and I am eating nothing but warm, cozy seasonal recipes, many of which are delivered right to my door by HelloFresh. Their recipes are chef designed with fresh high quality ingredients and they're offering their biggest menu yet to to choose from. They've doubled their menu so you can choose from 100 options every single week including my favorite seasonal fall recipes as well as recipes from around the world. They also offer nice big portions which I must have. They also have a ton of healthy veggie packed options so you can get your much needed vitamins and minerals that we all tend to get less of during the chilly months. Or I guess I'll just speak for myself. If I could just eat their steak and pasta meat meals all season I would. And by the way, their steak and seafood recipes, although they are pricier at the food store, HelloFresh does not charge you more than their tasty veggie recipes. There's also three times more seafood on the menu now and again at no extra cost. The best way to cook just got better. Go to hellofresh.com victorian10fm now to get 10 free meals plus a free item for life one per box with active subscribers. Subscription free meals applied at discount on first box. New subscribers only. Varies by plan. That's hellofresh.com victorian10fm to get 10 free meals plus a free item for life let's hear this article from the Illustrated Police news from 1872 called Mrs. Lincoln Seeking the spirit of her husband in Boston. And then we are going to dive into some fascinating paranormal details about the Lincolns in general, the article reads. A few days ago a paragraph to the Herald, based upon what was known to be good authority, announced that Mrs. Abraham Lincoln had recently visited Boston and incognito and closely veiled, attended a public seance of a well known lady medium on Washington street, on which occasion the spirit of her lamented husband appeared and by un unmistakable manifestations revealed to all present the identity of Mrs. Lincoln, which she had attempted to keep secret. The announcement was generally received with incredulity, and the New York Tribune made it the subject of an article in which it expressed its entire disbelief of the whole story, classing it with 1001 mythical stories related to spiritualism. But we now have the best authority for saying that the report was in all respects accurate, that Mrs. Lincoln did visit Boston on the 4th, that she took lodgings at the Parker House, registering her name as Mrs. Linder, and she remained there 10 days, during which time she made frequent visits to the medium above mentioned, and that while at the hotel her identity was discovered by a person who had often seen her in Washington. She desired to have her visit to Boston unknown, but the injunction of secrecy ceased to be binding after the revelation at a public seance. It is further stated by those in a position to know that the interviews with the medium were of the most satisfactory and conclusive nature as affording tests of the real presence of the spirit of her dead husband. Okay, let's discuss the spiritualism of Mary Todd Lincoln and some other ghostly facts about the Lincolns in general. Mary Todd Lincoln, Abraham's wife, suffered many losses of loved ones in her life, her mother at a very young age, three out of four of her children died and then the assassination of her husband, which happened right next to her in the opera box at Ford's Theater. She turned to spiritualism after the death of her youngest son, William Wallace. He died of typhoid fever shortly after his his death. Mary, who was just unconsolable, was introduced to a group of mediums, the Lorries in Georgetown. She found so much comfort in the seances that they would hold that she began hosting them herself in the Red Room of the White House. There is evidence that she hosted as many as eight seances there. She believed that the seances gave her the ability to call upon the ghost of little Willie to visit her at night. She told her sister, quote, willie lives. He comes to me every night and stands at the foot of the bed with the same sweet, adorable smile that he always had. He does not always come alone. Little Eddie is sometimes with him. Oh, little Eddie Baker Lincoln, her son died at age 3 of either tuberculosis or thyroid cancer. There are theories for both being the cause of death, but most scholars believe that it was tuberculosis and not thyroid cancer. Mary's children aren't the only ghosts known to have visited the house. Did you know that Abraham Lincoln himself is believed to have haunted the White House? There are many documented sightings of our 16th president. He has been seen in the Lincoln bedroom as well as the Yellow Oval Room. He allegedly visited First Lady Grace Coolidge and Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands. Mary was not only a fan of attention attending seances, she also had a spirit photo done. William H. Mumler, self proclaimed spirit photographer and fraud, took a photograph of Mary Todd Lincoln with the ghost of her husband. I put that photo on the Instagram. Many of these simply double exposed photographs taken by tricksters included Abraham Lincoln for years after his assassination. And Mumler wasn't the only one to add him in. People all over the country were finding Abraham Lincoln popping up behind them in these very expensive photos that they had taken. The country desperately wanted to hold on to the ghost of Lincoln and what he represented long after his death. And in many ways, photos of his spirit gave hope to other Civil War widows. A solace that their husbands and sons were still with them. Crooked as spirit photography may have been. I've discussed how conflicted about this kind of thing I am. Of course, when these crooks were taking money to perform magic tricks and convince people that they were communicating with the spirits of their loved ones. That turns my stomach. But I am of the belief that the spirits really are there regardless of whether or not they are photographed. And I do believe that some folks have the ability to communicate with the dead. It just makes me sad that there may be things that a spirit would want to communicate. But charlatans took advantage of folks and told them a bunch of hogwash instead. That really hurts my heart. There are no reports of the spirit of Mary Todd Lincoln being seen in the White House and none of Lincoln for a very long time now. So I hope that they found each other on the other side. Okay, I'm going to read an article that is sad. And a little gory, not particularly spooky. But may be the source of a well known, very spooky ghost story. This article comes to us from The Daily Journal, January 17, 1856. It is called the Late Railroad Accident. And it reads. A coroner's jury summoned by Coroner J.C. wood. To examine into the circumstances by which the late lamented Mr. Charles Baldwin came. Came to his death after mature deliberation report that it was occasioned by a blow received on the head. On the night of Friday the 4th. While acting as conductor on the mail train of the Wilmington and Manchester RR By a collision of the engine and mail train. The jury cannot find from the testimony that the engineer, Mr. Nicholas Walker, is in the least culpable. As there was no light at the front of the train. Which it would be the duty of the conductor to have placed there. Signed by Benjamin Hallett, foreman. End quote. Okay. Perhaps you have heard of the Mako light. This is a ghostly light thought to belong to a man killed by a train in Brunswick County, North Carolina. This spectral light has been seen between the Victorian era and 1977. Along a section of railroad tracks near the Mako station. It has been described as the glow of a lantern. And many, many people have claimed to see it. And it has never been explained other than by a legend of a man named Joe Baldwin. As the legend goes, this man was a train conductor. Who was said to have been decapitated in a collision between a runaway passenger car and a locomotive at Mako in the 1800s. On a cold, rainy night, this man was in the rear of the car and noticed that it had become detached. He knew another train was coming, so he jumped off and ran to the platform. Frantically waving the lantern to signal to the other train. The engineer didn't see the light and collided the locomotive into the other train and platform. Killing Baldwin, who was decapitated in the collision. Shortly after this event, residents of Mako and railroad employees began seeing a lantern light Along a section of track where the accident happened. They believe that it was Baldwin returning to find his decapitated head. The earliest stories of the appearance of this light date back to the 1870s. That article that I read was dated about 1860. So it was a good decade between the story and the legend appearing. There have been unique number of reports by railroad employees. That trains were often stopped by signal lights that weren't given by the living employees. Anyway, these were in the 1870s. There is an actual report from the Journal railroad telegrapher from 1946. That a ghost light was seen on March 3rd of that year stopping a train that could not be explained. Some folks have claimed to photograph this light. There are some from the 1940s and the 1950s, but we know from that lovely photograph of Mary Todd Lincoln with the ghost of her husband how easy it is to fake that kind of thing. But again, many folks claimed to have seen this light. And a paranormal investigator named Hans Holzer claimed that when he went to the site, he believed that this headless conductor wasn't. Wasn't looking for his head, but simply worried about the safety of trains and wanted to continue signaling to them to keep them safe. There are a number of similarities to that legend and the tragedy of that train conductor, Charles Baldwin, that was killed in the accident. Although the first names are not the same. Again, the conductor in the legend is referred to as Joe Baldwin, but the last names are the same. He did receive a fatal head injury and the inability of the the other train driver to see Charles's lantern was what resulted in the accident and his death. All of this headless conductor ghost legend research led me down another spooky track to ghost train sightings. Entire spectral trains seen or heard rumbling down the tracks past goose pimply witnesses. The Louisville and Nashville railroad, built in the 8th 1850s, is believed to be haunted by a train with a tragic backstory. Some witnesses claim to hear the sound of a steam engine whistle, clanking metal and the screech of brakes, all despite no train appearing before them. Some other folks have claimed to actually see a fully lit old timey passenger train steaming down the tracks just to disappear into thin air right before them. Many, including current train employees, claim that the ghost train is only heard or seen on foggy nights. Some even claim to smell burning coal in the air after it appears. This train is believed to be one that derailed in the early 1900s just outside of Bowling Green, Kentucky. Allegedly one dark foggy night, a passenger train was speeding, speeding down the tracks when it derailed at a sharp curve. Many were killed, including the train crew. Not too long after the accident, reports of ghost train sightings began. Now, I tried to substantiate this ghost train tragedy and oh goodness, I did not find one that occurred outside Bowling Green, Kentucky. There may have been one. I just didn't find it. But I did find one in Shepherdsville, Kentucky, along the same train line around the same time in 1980. 1917. This train wreck killed 49 people when an express train collided with a local passenger train. This was the deadliest train disaster in Kentucky's history, and it still is. So perhaps what they're seeing is a residual haunting of this train passing by. I first spoke about residual hauntings on my crossover episode with Sightings. I think episode 47 paranormal investigators of the ghost train believe it to be a traumatic event of the crash replaying itself over and over again, stuck in the fabric of time, the sudden loss of so many lives, embedding the entire train on a spirit plane. Of course there are skeptics, and the theories that they offer are that atmospheric conditions may create optical illusions. It could be the sounds of other trains echoing through the valley along the tracks. And some just blame overactive imaginations. Who can say when did making plans get this complicated? It's time to streamline with WhatsApp, the secure messaging app that brings the whole group together, use polls to settle dinner plans, send event invites and pin messages so no, no one forgets mom's 60th and never miss a meme or milestone. All protected with end to end encryption. It's time for WhatsApp message privately with everyone. Learn more@WhatsApp.com okay, our final article includes Halloween Traditions in Scotland in 1876. Now last year I did a whole episode on Halloween traditions of the entire Victorian era. That was episode 16. But I love that this article includes just what was common locally in Scotland at that the new traditions and the old new meaning. New in 1876. What I also love about this article is that you can see the origins of a number of traditions that we still have today, some traditions that were already ancient to folks in the 1870s. So the article is called its observances in Scotland. Some of the old superstitious practices, the modern mode of celebrating the day in the Land of Cakes. It comes to us from the Anaheim Gazette. So this was an American paper reporting on Scottish traditions from November 4, 1876. Also, I didn't know that Scotland was referred to as the Land o Cakes. I looked up why. It's because of the historical significance of traditional oat cakes that were a main food staple for folks both in the 18th and 19th century and are still enjoyed by Scots to this very day, the article reads. The evening of October 31st is an eventful one to the youth of Scotland, for on that evening they are allowed unlimited skuth to indulge in the revelries of Halloween. Quick side note, skooth is an old Scottish term meaning abundant plenty and opportunity. I continue a festival which permits of more uproarious and hearty enjoyment than any other holiday of the year. The amusements and practices which will be indulged in by both young and old in that country this evening Are less tinctured with superstition Than those which were in vogue in former years. And it must also be admitted with regret that the observance of Hallowe' en Is slowly but surely falling into disuse. Oh, I'm so glad they were wrong. I continue. As we have stated, the old time mode of celebrating Halloween by the lads and lassies of bonnie Scotland was strongly tinctured with superstitious rights, A few of which we will proceed to note. The young folks having gathered at some house to hold a merry making. The first ceremony usually consists of each laddie choosing his lassie and, hand in hand proceeding to the garden. Their eyes being shut, they grope along until they encounter a kale plant, which they must pull. Its being big or little, straight or crooked, is indicative of the size and shape of the grand object of their spells, the husband or wife. If any earth sticks to the roots, it indicates a fortune. And as the heart of the stem tastes, so shall be the natural temper and disposition of the future life companion. Another favorite amusement still practiced Is to place two nuts in the fire, previously giving them the names of some two lovers present. And accordingly, as they burn quietly together or start from beside one another, the course and issue of the courtship will be another superstitious practice, which foolish young maidens no doubt still try the efficacy of Is to take a candle and stand alone before a looking glass, gaze fixedly into the glass and at the same time comb their hair and eat an apple. The face of the future husband of the superstitious miss Will there be seen peeping over her shoulder. So spooky. Another tradition. If anyone in Anaheim has a longing desire to to behold the devil and considers a glance at his countenance a sufficient recompense for a little fatigue. Let him wait patiently until the witching hour of 12 o' clock to night precisely. At that hour, let him get astride a broom and make the circuit of a principal portion of the town three times, and he will then be blessed with the sight of the very devil himself. As, however, an interview with the devil is merely a question of time. With most Anaheimers, it is probably that they will await the inevitable course of events in preference to making themselves ridiculous by riding a broomstick for the privilege of a glimpse at a person whose future is so wrapped up in theirs. In the lowlands, the boys parade in gangs during the early part of the evening, each bearing aloft a large kale stock, on the top of which is lighted a candle. Fastened around each boy's neck is a large turnip, which has been hollowed out, and in which a small piece of candle is burning. On some of these turnips is most elaborate carving, generally showing some demonic face with extremely big prominent teeth and wolfish eyes. The candle burning behind the face and shining through gives an unearthly expression, highly terrorizing to small boys, and of course productive of great delight to the bearer. Sometimes two or more of these gangs meet and then there is a row. After the street processions are ended, the festivities are continued indoors. All the neighbors and young folks from but and Ben congregate and eat the Halloween supper. Side note, but and Ben was a term for a two roomed cottage I continue this evening. Let us hope that the blushing lass and bashful lad who silently watch the nuts in the fire will see them stand in the ordeal first firmly, and thus be happy in the belief that it is emblematical of the happiness which await them in the future. Let us hope that the coy maiden who consults her glass will be overjoyed at seeing mirrored therein the lineaments of the one whom her young heart treasures above all others. Let us hope that the third stalk of oats will have a grain in the top, and let us hope that the pilgrim on the broomstick will see the devil. In short, let us hope that all who wish may spend a happy Halloween. End quote. So the turnip was replaced with the pumpkin for Jack O lanterns. We're still bobbing for apples. I don't know if folks are still trying to meet the devil on Halloween night, and kale has been more or less eliminated from today's spooky festivities. But I for one would love to bring the romance back again. Not from me per se. I just want to hear girls discussing their experiences with staring into mirrors, seeing the disembodied heads of their future boyfriends floating behind them in the reflections. We definitely need to bring this back. If you enjoyed this podcast and would like to hear more, please rate the show on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Leave me comments because I love them so much and join the fan coven to directly support my show. Show Listen ad free and for even more creepy and witchy content. Until next time, be kind to yourselves and I will see you in your nightmares. And Doug, here we have the Limu Emu in its natural habitat, helping people customize their car insurance and and save hundreds with Liberty Mutual. Fascinating. It's accompanied by his natural ally, Doug. Uh, Limu. Is that guy with the binoculars watching us? Cut the camera. They see us. Only pay for what you need@libertymutual.com Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty Savings. Very underwritten by Liberty Mutual Insurance Company and affiliates. Excludes Massachusetts.