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History Extra podcast

A short history of ghost hunting

History Extra podcast

History Extra

History

4.34.5K Ratings

🗓️ 15 December 2025

⏱️ 40 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

A spooky story during the Christmas season has become traditional – and the modern ghost story was invented by the Victorians, who embraced the supernatural and tried to understand it. Ben Machell has investigated the history of ghost hunting and supernatural investigations since the mid-19th century for his new book, Chasing the Dark, and in this episode David Musgrove talks to Ben about the history of our passion for the paranormal. The HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

For people living with dementia, Christmas can be confusing, overwhelming, heartbreaking.

0:08.3

Families are often left to cope alone.

0:11.2

But you can help a family reimagine Christmas.

0:14.5

Donate to Alzheimer's Society and you can help provide practical support, expert advice and crucial companionship this Christmas. It will take

0:23.0

a society to beat dementia, and we can't do it without you. Search Alzheimer's Society and donate

0:29.6

today. This History Extra podcast is sponsored by the new global economic history book, Economica,

0:35.2

a global history of women,alth and Power by Dr. Victoria

0:38.8

Bateman. Humanity's journey from poverty to prosperity is filled with men who have become

0:44.2

household names. But how many female entrepreneurs, merchants and investors from the past can

0:49.2

you name? In her new book, Victoria Bateman offers the first major economic history of the world that

0:55.3

places women at the heart of long-term economic growth and as key players in the rise and

1:00.5

fall of civilisations.

1:02.3

Its cast of remarkable characters includes Julia Felix, an enterprising property developer

1:07.1

in Roman Pompeii, Priscilla Wakefield, who founded London's first penny savings bank,

1:12.4

and Hetty Green, the United States' first female tycoon.

1:16.0

Praised by historian Peter Francapan as erudite, ambitious and richly global in scope,

1:21.7

Economica rewrites our understanding of women's roles in the economy and tells a more

1:26.2

accurate economic history of us all.

1:28.4

Buy your copy online or in your local bookshop now.

1:31.8

At Pluralsight, we don't just teach skills.

1:34.3

We are building the tech workforce, who deliver results fast, accelerated by top-tier content.

1:40.2

Lead with confidence, lead with expertise.

...

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