My Victorian Nightmare
Host: Genevieve Manion
Episode 65: Fresh From the Silent Tomb
Date: October 20, 2025
Episode Overview
In this Halloween-themed episode, Genevieve Manion delves deep into some of the most macabre, chilling, and enthralling aspects of Victorian-era supernatural tales and morbid customs. She explores haunted households, the rise of spiritualism (with a focus on Mary Todd Lincoln), the grittier details of grave robbing for medical education, legendary ghost trains, and vintage Scottish Halloween traditions. Drawing from period newspapers and personal commentary, Genevieve wraps old chills in new warmth, interjecting humor and a dash of personal vulnerability throughout.
Key Discussion Points & Insights
1. Personal Haunting Accounts: The Haunted House in Brooklyn
(Starts ~09:35)
- Source: Times Picayune, November 23, 1874
- Genevieve reads a firsthand Victorian account of a Brooklyn house reputedly haunted by a ghostly "white lady" and a child.
- The narrator describes waking to unseen footsteps, icy hands pressing upon her chest, and even feeling a cold breath on her face.
- Further accounts include a group of children seeing a sad woman and a child staring from an upstairs window, both robed in white.
- Genevieve’s take: “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.” (17:08)
- Provides a humorous aside considering the ghost's access to her prized possessions, like her juicer and pumpkin spice-scented witch’s broom.
2. Victorian Spiritualism: Becoming a Believer
(Starts ~19:18)
- Source: Spiritualist Magazine, December 1869
- Focuses on Mr. J. S. Steele, a watchmaker, initially skeptical but eventually converted to belief after personal messages during seances that seemed impossible to fake.
- Detailed retellings of mediums channeling his deceased son and mother, including physical behaviors mimicking his mother's paralysis.
- Notable Quote: “He [the medium] said, ‘why, that’s my mother.’ The medium, who never knew his mother, replied, ‘yes, my boy, I should think it is.’” (21:50)
- Genevieve muses about the manipulation of emotions in seances, sharing her own youthful, morbid fantasy—having her ashes distributed in teabags at her funeral—later realizing its awfulness after a friend's wise commentary.
3. Grave Robbing: Chicago’s Midnight Body Snatchers
(Starts ~26:45)
- Source: Chicago Tribune, 1872
- An in-depth, grisly look at grave robbing to procure bodies for dissection at medical colleges.
- An express wagon, discovered by police, concealed five stolen bodies beneath hay; two were med students.
- The article outlines the disturbing step-by-step procedures—from choosing targets, disguising as “inspectors,” retrieving corpses with hooks, and covertly delivering them for preservation via embalming chemicals.
- Memorable Description: “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.” (30:19)
- Genevieve offers background: while grave robbing was essential to medical progress, it’s undeniably grim.
4. Mary Todd Lincoln and the Celebrity Seance
(Starts ~34:50)
- Source: Illustrated Police News, 1872
- The episode reviews reports that Mary Todd Lincoln attended secret seances in Boston to contact her slain husband, Abraham Lincoln.
- Mary was deeply immersed in spiritualism, holding numerous seances in the White House’s Red Room after losing her son and husband, seeking solace from mediums who claimed to summon little Willie's spirit.
- Direct Quote from Mary: “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.” (39:46)
- Explores the era’s obsession with spirit photography, including photos of Mary with Abraham’s “ghost,” reflecting the national yearning to cling to him after his death.
- Genevieve acknowledges the comfort spiritualism brought people, while condemning fraudulent mediums but leaving space for the possibility of real contact with the dead.
5. Ghost Trains & The Mako Light Legend
(Starts ~45:08)
- Source: The Daily Journal, January 17, 1856
- Details about Charles Baldwin, a train conductor fatally injured due to a missing signal lantern.
- Connects the accident to the famous North Carolina “Mako Light” legend—an unexplained lantern glow along railroad tracks, attributed to the ghost of a decapitated conductor seeking his head.
- “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.” (48:40)
- Ghost train stories from Kentucky are recounted: phantom engines seen and heard by witnesses, thought to replay past tragedies.
- Genevieve scrutinizes these legends for historical bases, suggesting residual hauntings or psychological explanations (echoes, fog, etc.), but leaves the mysteries open-ended.
6. Victorian Scottish Halloween Traditions
(Starts ~59:00)
- Source: Anaheim Gazette, November 4, 1876
- Explains Halloween practices in 19th-century Scotland:
- Kale-stalk fortune telling: Young couples picked kale plants blindfolded to divine the qualities of future spouses.
- Nut burning: Placing two named nuts in the fire to predict the outcome of romantic pairings.
- Mirror rituals: Girls would eat apples and comb their hair before a mirror at midnight, hoping to glimpse their future husband's reflection.
- Jack-o’-lantern predecessors: Boys carried hollowed-out, candle-lit turnips with frightening faces.
- Notable Excerpt: “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...” (1:02:38)
- Genevieve points out connections to modern Halloween (the turnip to pumpkin transition) and calls for a revival of old, romantic divination traditions.
- “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.” (1:06:00)
Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments
-
On Ghostly Possession of Her Apartment:
“I would be so scared that I would become a ghost woman looking into my apartment forever at the ghost woman on the inside.”
—Genevieve, 17:08 -
On Macabre Victorian Rituals:
“The description that medium gave me full-blown willies. A bit manipulative in the end there.”
—Genevieve, 23:11 -
On the Practicalities of Morbid Requests:
“If I could just eat their steak and pasta meat meals all season I would.”
—Genevieve on HelloFresh, 33:11 -
On Residual Hauntings:
“...a traumatic event of the crash replaying itself over and over again, stuck in the fabric of time.”
—Genevieve, 54:40 -
On Halloween Wishes:
“Let us hope that all who wish may spend a happy Halloween.”
—Victorian-era writer, 1:05:45
Timestamps of Important Segments
- 00:00 – 09:00: Intro, thanks to fans, podcast logistics
- 09:35 – 18:50: Haunted house in Brooklyn, ghostly woman and child
- 19:18 – 25:40: Spiritualism—becoming a believer, seance anecdotes
- 26:45 – 33:00: Chicago grave robbers, body snatching for medical schools
- 34:50 – 44:57: Mary Todd Lincoln and spiritualism, White House seances
- 45:08 – 58:50: The railroad accident, ghost train and Mako Light legend
- 59:00 – 1:06:21: Scottish Halloween traditions, origins of Jack-o’-lanterns, reflections on the holiday
Tone & Language
Genevieve’s tone remains warm, witty, self-effacing, and richly descriptive, with her comedic takes helping to offset the supernatural and macabre. She moves fluidly from quoting period sources in their original language to adding personal commentary—sometimes humorous, sometimes somber—making even the grimmest tales feel cozy and communal.
Summary for New Listeners
This episode of My Victorian Nightmare is a must for aficionados of creepy history: you’ll find firsthand supernatural accounts, tales of spiritual longing at the highest American offices, the grim details behind Victorian medical science, legendary ghost trains, and the folklore roots of modern Halloween. Genevieve’s voice is both a comforting presence and a mischievous guide through the shadowy nooks of the 19th century, leaving you both better informed and delightfully spooked.