Hoaxes and Lies in the Enlightenment
5/7/202656 min
How did a ghost story bring London to a standstill? Was it a haunting, a fraud, or something even more revealing about Georgian society? Why did rational, educated people fall for elaborate hoaxes?
Professor Suzannah Lipscomb is joined by Dr.Madeleine Pelling, co-host of History Hit’s After Dark podcast, to uncover the darker side of the Age of Enlightenment. Why was this period remembered for science, reason, and progress, also fascinated by hoaxes, imposters, fake identities, ghost stories, sensational crime and public spectacle?
More:
Murderous Women
True Crime on the Elizabethan Stage
Presented by Professor Suzannah Lipscomb. The researcher is Max Wintle, audio editor is Tim Arstall and the producer is Rob Weinberg. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.
All music courtesy of Epidemic Sounds.
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Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsSuzannah Lipscomb· Host0:01
Want to walk the halls of Anne Boleyn's childhood home or explore the castles that made up Henry VIII's English stronghold? With a subscription to History Hit, you can dive into our Tudor past alongside the world's leading historians and archeologists. You'll also unlock hundreds of hours of original documentaries with a brand-new release every single week, covering everything from the ancient world to World War II. Just visit historyhit.com/subscribe.
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