SHOW NOTES — for — MINISODE 38 (Season 5)

(May 7, 2026)

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00:40: THE TERRIFIC REGISTER: An account of a widow living in Rome who in 1774 became a prophetess, and predicted the deaths of the kings of Sardinia and France as well as the Pope himself. Her predictions came true.

05:35: EARLY VICTORIAN GHOSTLY SHORT STORY, to-wit: LEIXLIP CASTLE, by CHARLES MATURIN: In which, we meet the family of Sir Redmond Blarey — the baronet and his daughter, Miss Anne. Miss Anne wants to know who she is destined to marry, as aristocratic girls often did back then; so she lets an old crone, a servant of the family named Collogue, cast a spell that will show him to her. —— The spell works, sort of; a demonic figure appears, casts a bloody dagger down at her feet, and tells her she will know her future husband by that; and disappears. —— Then a pale, corpse-like suitor comes to call at the family manse …

35:45: A SHORT GHOST STORY from the scrapbook of Charles Lindley, Viscount Halifax. In which: Lady Goring had a vivid dream of a man murdering an elderly lady, then staging the scene to look like a suicide, in a room of a house she’d never seen. A few months later, she was touring houses to rent, and recognized the house! The previous tenants had left it … after the wife’s mother shot herself, they said.

39:25: A STREET BROADSIDE on the topic of ghosts, death, and ruin: “The Queer Little Man” (about a ghost, or so he thought) and “Stay a Little Longer” (a merry shopkeeper’s ditty).

GLOSSARY OF EARLY-VICTORIAN SLANG USED IN THIS EPISODE:

• ROMONERS: (from intro patter) Swindlers who pretend to have occult powers.
• OWLERS: (ibid) Smugglers, who move goods about by night when owls are out and about.
• KNIGHTS OF THE BRUSH AND MOON: (ibid) Drunken fellows running amok in fields and ditches late at night, trying to stagger home.
• RAG: (From broadside ballad) Money.
• IT’S ALL MY EYE: (ibid) It’s all nonsense.
• DUN: (ibid) Bill-collector.
• NAILED: (ibid) Arrested.
• SHERRY OFF: (from outro patter) Run away.
• FLATS: Suckers.
• GET FLY TO THE FAKEMENT: (ibid) Get wise to the con.
• CORINTHIAN: (ibid) A fancy toff or titled swell. Used here as a reference to Corinthian Tom, the quintessential Regency rake depicted in Pierce Egan's "Life in London" (usually referred to as "Tom and Jerry").
• MOABITES: (ibid) Bailiffs.
• PHILISTINES: (ibid) Another word for Moabites.
• CRAPING COVES: (ibid) Hangmen. “Crape” is a reference to the mourning worn by “hempen widows” after their husbands have been executed.
• YE OLD STONE PITCHER: (ibid) Newgate Prison.
• PADDINGTON FAIR: Execution day at Tyburn, which is in Paddington Parish. Paddington is also a pun, as “pad” was a flash word for “thief” or “robber.”

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