Dark History of the Luddites

After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal

History Hit

Myths, Folklore, Mystery, History, Ghosts, Society & Culture, Murder, Ufos, True Crime, Paranormal, Supernatural, Serial Killers

4.6 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 17 July 2025

⏱️ 46 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Would you have joined the OG Luddites? In 1811 and 1812 across the midlands and north of England which were the Silicon Valley of the day, Luddites smashed machines. They would not stop, not even at murder, in order to fight technology that was tearing down their way of life. Maddy tells Anthony the story this week.

Edited by Tomos Delargy, produced by Freddy Chick, Senior Producer is Charlotte Long.

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All music from Epidemic Sounds.

After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal is a History Hit podcast.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello everyone. It's us, your hosts Maddie Pelling and Anthony Delaney.
0:04.2	But before we begin the show, we want to ask for a few seconds of your time.
0:08.2	If you're enjoying After Dark, and we love you, if you are, we would love you just a little bit more.
0:13.5	If you could vote for us in the listeners choice category at the British Podcast Awards.
0:18.0	So go to the show notes now, click the link and just then search for After Dark.
0:23.2	Fill in your name and your email and don't forget to confirm. They will send you an email.
0:27.2	You need to confirm. The whole process probably takes about 30 seconds.
0:30.7	If you've already voted, we are so, so grateful. If you haven't, stop what you are doing right now.
0:35.4	Vote for us before you enjoy this show. Welcome to After Dark,
0:39.7	the podcast that explores the darker side of the past. Today, it's the true story of the Luddites
0:46.5	and their war against the machines. So let's set the scene. They emerge out of the Yorkshire dark from the fields that they know as well as they know each other.
1:02.9	They are of this land, and they have come to settle their score.
1:07.8	Some have blackened faces. Others wear masks like highwaymen, lords of misrule.
1:13.5	They sing songs as they light their torches.
1:16.9	The hulking shape of the mill is in front of them.
1:20.2	A smash of glass now and a crash, and they are inside confronting their enemies.
1:24.7	A row of dark forms made of metal and wood and powered by infernal
1:31.0	steam. Machines that can transform rough cloth to smooth as though by magic. Machines that can
1:38.2	conjure wealth for some and for others vanish away jobs. The shadows of men and machines dance against the walls in the torchlight.
1:47.0	Then, Herculian hammers, impossibly large, are heaved up.
1:53.0	They crash down in a terrible blow, iron groaning and wood shattering beneath them over and over and over.
2:00.0	Then they are done.
	...

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