The Truth About Frankenstein

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

🗓️ 10 July 2025

⏱️ 53 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Against a time of radical change, a gothic masterpiece was written by the teenage Mary Shelley.

Published in 1818, Frankenstein takes us into a dark world where man and monster meet in mutual torment. A world of raw, animalistic fear.

How was this story influenced by the tragedies in Mary Shelley's own life, and the early 19th century obsessions with playing God?

Edited by Tomos Delargy. 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.
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.
0:30.4	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.
0:40.5	Douglas Adams, the genius behind the hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy, was a master satirist
0:46.4	who cloaked a sharp political edge beneath his absurdist wit. Douglas Adams, the ends of
0:52.3	the earth, explores the ideas of the man who foresaw the dangers
0:56.6	of the digital age and our failing politics with astounding clarity. Here the recordings that
1:03.1	inspired a generation of futurists, entrepreneurs and politicians. Get Douglas Adams the
1:08.9	ends of the earth now at Pushkin.fm slash audiobooks or wherever audiobooks are sold.
1:18.6	Hello and welcome back to After Dark. I'm Anthony. And I'm Maddie.
1:22.6	And in today's episode we are exploring the history behind a Gothic and science fiction classic.
1:29.8	We've been waiting to do this for quite some time.
1:31.8	It is, of course, Frankenstein.
1:33.6	And we begin, as such tales so often do, on a East Indian Island of Sumbawa, the volcano, Mount Tambora, erupted,
1:56.0	sending vast plumes of molten ash into the atmosphere. So immense was the explosion that it was heard by British East India Companymen
2:05.6	hundreds of miles away.
	...

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