SHOW NOTES

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EPISODE 5 (Season Six)

(June 7, 2026)

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Join host Corinthian Finn, a.k.a. Finn J.D. John 18th Baron Dunwitch,* for a one-hour-long spree through the scandal-sheets and story papers of early-Victorian London!

This show cycles through four themes over a four-week cycle, one show per week. This is the GRAANUM GOTHIC theme show, featuring Varney the Vampyre and other Gothic drama. It will be followed by ...

• The “Twopenny Torrid” theme episode, coming next Sunday;
• The “Sixpenny Spooky” theme episode, coming two Sundays hence; and finally—
• The “Ha’penny Horrid” theme episode, coming three Sundays from today.

For COMPLETE SHOW NOTES, including art and links to resources, see ⁠⁠pennydread.com/discord.⁠⁠

• 01:45: ON THIS DREADFUL DAY (June 7, 1854): A tradesman, apparently seized with madness, suddenly turned upon his mother-in-law with a poker. He was subsequently convicted of murder.
• 05:00: VARNEY THE VAMPYRE; or, THE FEAST OF BLOOD, Chapter 58-59: Jack Pringle arrives, very drunk. They give him the rest of the gin, hoping he will pass out and be quiet, which he does; but they soon have cause to regret that, as Varney tries again to sneak into the house. The admiral seizes him by the leg, but he slips away leaving the admiral holding the boot. Then someone throws a tree through the window, which the admiral gets tangled up in; and while he is freeing himself a spectral form rises above the balcony and issues a spooky warning: “Beware of the dead!”
• 35:10: CATCHPENNY BROADSIDE: A maudlin cautionary tale of an elderly couple who conspire to murder a boarder for his money, only to discover that he was their long-lost son, who’d gone to sea years before. This type of story seems to have been something of a street-literature trope back in the day.
• 40:20: THE LIVES OF THE HIGHWAYMEN: Introducing Old Mobb, a highwayman with a legendary wit and flair for the dramatic. We’ll be exploring Old Mobb’s career in the next two episodes of The Lives of the Highwaymen.
• 49:50: A FEW SQUEAKY-CLEAN DAD JOKES from the early-1800s' most popular joke book: "Joe Miller's Jests; or, The Wit's Vade-mecum."

GLOSSARY OF EARLY-VICTORIAN SLANG USED IN THIS EPISODE:

• NATTY LADS: Well-dressed young pickpockets.
• RUM BUFFERS: Jolly hosts.
• KNIGHTS OF THE BRUSH AND MOON: Drunken fellows wandering amok in meadows and ditches, trying to stagger home.
• CORINTHIAN: 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").
• CHAFFING-CRIB: A room where drinking and bantering are going on.
• GRAANUM GOLD: Old hoarded money.
• SHE-LION: A shilling.
• GENTRY COVES: Gentlemen of rank.
• AUTEM BAWLERS: Parsons.
• CLANKER: Pewter drinking-pot usually used for ale.
• ENGLISH BURGUNDY: Strong old ale.
• PIKE OFF: Run away.
• RED WAISTCOAT: The traditional uniform of the Bow-Street Runners, London’s first real professional police force.
• GAMMONERS: Swindlers or gamblers who cheat.
• ROMONERS: Fake occultists and fortune tellers.
• SHARPS: Swindlers.
• OLD ST. GILES: The neighbourhood of St. Giles in the Fields parish, which in the early Victorian age was a notorious slum.
• RUM TE TUM WITH THE CHILL OFF: The very best.

* The Barony of Dunwich is located in a deep forest glade west of Arkham (where, as H.P. Lovecraft put it, “the hills rise wild, and there are valleys with deep woods that no axe has ever cut; there are dark narrow glens where the trees slope fantastically, and where thin brooklets trickle without ever having caught the glint of sunlight.”) Actually it is a good 3,000 miles west of Arkham. It is not to be confused with Dunwich, the English seacoast town that fell house by house into the sea centuries ago, or Dunsany, the home until 1957 of legendary fantasy author Edward J.M.D. Plunkett, 18th Baron Dunsany.