Speaking with the Dead: Ancient Necromancy
After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal
History Hit
4.7 • 2.1K Ratings
🗓️ 30 April 2026
⏱️ 46 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In Ancient Mesopotamia, the boundary between the living and the dead was not always fixed... some even believed it could be crossed. But why would the living seek counsel from the dead? How common were these practices? And what answers did people hope the spirits might reveal?
In this episode, Anthony is joined by the brilliant Dr. Irving Finkel! Irving is a returning guest and Curator in the Department of Middle East at the British Museum. Be sure to check out our other episode with Irving, Earliest Evidence of Ghosts...
Edited by Hannah Feodorov and Anna Brant. Produced by Tomos Delargy. Senior Producer is Freddy Chick.
For tickets to see Anthony and Maddy talking about her new book, Hoax, click here: https://www.conwayhall.org.uk/whats-on/event/hoax/
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello everyone, it's me, Maddie. I am back. Well, not quite. I will be back on the pod very soon. But in the meantime, if you've missed your fix of Anthony and me together, you can now catch us live on stage at Conway Hall in London on the 7th of May. There we'll be discussing my brand new book, |
| 0:22.4 | Hoax, Truth and Lies in the Age of Enlightenment, out that very same day. We'll be discovering |
| 0:28.7 | how fake news is nothing new, chatting about what it's like to spend time in the darker side |
| 0:34.6 | of the Georgian world, and meeting the three extraordinary, bizarre and |
| 0:39.3 | often frightening characters at the heart of the book. Cops of hoax will be available on the |
| 0:44.9 | night, which I'll be signing after the show and hopefully chatting to as many of you as possible. |
| 0:49.6 | So get your tickets now. The link is in the show notes. You can go to the Conway Hall website |
| 0:53.7 | or follow the link in my Instagram bio. I'm so excited about this book and I just can't wait to |
| 1:00.2 | share it with you all. Do come along. It is going to be the most fantastic evening. See you there. Magic incantations, mysterious rituals, a human skull. |
| 1:19.8 | In the ancient world, the boundary between the living and the dead was not always fixed. |
| 1:25.7 | In ancient Mesopotamia, some believed it could be crossed. But why would |
| 1:30.7 | the living seek counsel from the dead? How common were these practices? And what answers did |
| 1:36.7 | people hope the spirits might reveal? In Mesopotamia, priests and exorcists followed precise instructions to summon the dead, |
| 1:46.5 | dragging up souls from the underworld to answer questions about the future. |
| 1:52.0 | We know this because they wrote it down. |
| 1:55.1 | Clay tablets, thousands of years old, detailing exactly what to do, |
| 2:00.3 | anoint the skull, call on the sun god, and wait. |
| 2:05.0 | You will see the ghost. He will speak to you. But were they serious about this? Did people |
| 2:14.2 | really try to raise the dead? And if they did, what were they risking? |
| 2:20.0 | Today, I am joined by none other than Dr. Irving Finkel, |
| 2:24.0 | who will take us into the ancient world of necremency. |
| 2:28.7 | Welcome to After Dark. |
... |
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