The Great Plague of London

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

🗓️ 21 July 2025

⏱️ 34 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

What was it like living in London, 1665, when the plague first crept in?

Within weeks, the gruesome symptoms were being spotted around London, crosses were marked on the doors of the damned, and King Charles II had fled the city.

To take us back to this time and find out how the city reacted, Anthony and Maddy are joined by historian and author Rebecca Rideal.

Edited by Tim Arstall. Produced by Stuart Beckwith. 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. Fill
0:23.3	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. If you've already voted,
0:31.8	we are so, so grateful. If you haven't, stop what you are doing right now. Vote for us before you
0:37.0	enjoy this show.
0:38.2	Well, hello there and welcome to After Dark. In today's episode, we'll be talking about one of
0:43.5	the most infamous plagues in history, the great plague of London. And so, to begin, let Maddie
0:49.3	transport you back to London in the summer of 1665.
1:05.8	The air is heavy. The city is still, not with peace, but with dread. In his house on seething lane, a civil servant named Samuel Pepys stands at his window. He listens. Each toll is a death,
1:15.7	each silence between a waiting room for the next. He writes, it was a sad noise to hear all night long,
1:23.6	the bell ringing for burials and the poor crying out for help.
1:28.3	Outside, carts creak through narrow lanes piled high with the dead.
1:33.3	Houses are marked with red crosses.
1:35.3	Lord, have mercy upon us, squalled in desperate paint.
1:39.3	Watchmen guard the doors.
1:42.3	The infected are locked inside for forty days, assuming they lived that long, of course.
1:48.8	From his window, Peep's watches the city unravel.
1:52.5	He hears corpses hurled into pits, the streets deserted, but for the brave, the foolish, and the doomed.
	...

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