Ep. 93 - The Wraiths of St. Mark’s Eve & Cursed Victorian Objects

My Victorian Nightmare

Genevieve Manion

History

4.7 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 4 May 2026

⏱️ 43 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

On today’s episode, Genevieve will discuss the terrifying Victorian St. Mark’s Eve practice of waiting for wraiths (the ghosts of future dead people) to reveal themselves and walk through church doors at midnight. She will also discuss haunted and cursed objects like the Delhi Purple Sapphire, The Conjured Chest and the lost Franklin Exhibition-inspired painting, “Man Proposes, God Disposes.” Thank you to today’s sponsors! Rula patients typically pay $15 per session when using insurance. Connect with quality therapists and mental health experts who specialize in you at https://www.rula.com/victorian Get your menopause treatment plan today. Visit myalloy.com and use code VICTORIAN for $20 off your first order! Subscribe to the Newsletter! ⁠https://myvictoriannightmare.myflodesk.com/myukzmys04⁠ Subscribe to the Patreon free trial for ad-free listening! ⁠https://www.patreon.com/cw/MyVictorianNightmare/membership Instagram post: https://www.instagram.com/p/DXxFY1iEbTa/?igsh=MXdjZDcyMnZpaDk3Yw== References: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Mark%27s_Eve https://www.telelib.com/authors/I/IrvingWashington/prose/bracebridgehallvol1/bracebridgehall021.html https://www.vice.com/en/article/doomed-to-die-on-st-marks-eve/ https://allpoetry.com/St.-Mark's-Eve---A-Fragment https://whatliesbeyond.boards.net/thread/10973/watching-nearly-departed-marks-eve https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/cursed-amethyst-natural-history-museum https://history.ky.gov/news/new-details-about-the-cursed-chest https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man_Proposes,_God_Disposes https://stephenliddell.co.uk/2018/09/10/the-tale-of-the-cursed-amethyst-at-the-natural-history-museum-in-london/ http://heronallensociety.co.uk/the-purple-sapphire-mystery-solved.html Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome to my Victorian nightmare. I'm your host, Genevieve Mannion,
0:09.1	and I'm here to talk about mysterious deaths, morbid fascinations, disturbing stories, and otherwise spooky events from the Victorian era.
0:19.6	Because to me, there's just something especially intriguing,
0:23.3	creepy, and oddly comforting about horror and mayhem from the 19th century. So, listener discretion
0:30.8	is advised.
0:43.9	Hello, friends, and welcome to this my 93rd episode. And goodness, do I have a particularly spooky episode for you today.
0:51.4	It is midnight, April 24th, St. Mark's Eve in England, and neighbors wait outside
0:58.8	a church for the arrival of wraiths. Spirits of those destined to die within the year will
1:05.5	soon glide past them and enter the church as if already dead and returned from the grave.
1:11.6	They come to see who will soon die and hope not to see themselves.
1:17.6	And not too far away, a haunted ancient sapphire destroys fortunes.
1:23.6	A painting inspired by the Lost Franklin Exhibition destroys futures, and across the sea,
1:30.3	a chest of drawers murders 18 people in a single Kentucky family.
1:36.3	What do these stories have in common?
1:38.3	A chilling question.
1:40.3	Can objects or rituals predict deadly or disturbing events? And once they do, is there anything
1:47.5	that we can do to stop them? For you today, dear listener, we will discuss the terrifying
1:56.6	Victorian St. Mark's Eve wraithing tradition, as well as three different allegedly
2:02.4	cursed objects, the Delhi Purple Sapphire, the conjured chest, and the deeply unsettling
2:09.4	painting, man proposes, God disposes.
2:16.6	But first, thank you to those of you who have joined the Patreon this week who received the show ad-free a day early.
2:24.4	Some receive Victorian true-crime extras, and some enjoy weekly witchy content.
	...

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