HistoryExtra
type: channel
link: https://www.historyextra.com
description: Home of Britain’s bestselling history magazine and award-winning podcast
date: 2025-10-31T12:13:31.000Z
update period: hourly
update frequency: 1
update base: 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00
items: Are these Britain's MOST HAUNTED places?
items: Halloween stories: 10 terrifying tales from medieval to modern history
items: What is the history of Halloween?
items: The Pendle witches: what happened in the infamous Lancashire witch trial?
items: Halloween monsters: everything you wanted to know
items: Halloween traditions: everything you wanted to know
items: Halloween podcast episodes
items: 3 curious medieval ghost stories
items: Medieval ghost stories
items: Which historic character should you choose for your Halloween costume?

Are these Britain's MOST HAUNTED places?
type: item
date: 2025-10-31T10:55:51.000Z
creator: Lauren Good
subject: General History
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Halloween
description: HistoryExtra's Lauren Good explores the history behind five of the most haunted places in Britain – from the location that inspired Bram Stoker's 'Dracula' to a Welsh museum with many stories to tell
encoded: From Whitby Abbey to Inveraray Castle, here's a rundown of five locations in Britain you probably wouldn't want to venture to unaccompanied at night! Lauren Good explores the spooky legends that haunt these spots, and the real history that inspires them. View Green Video on the source website

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Halloween stories: 10 terrifying tales from medieval to modern history
type: item
date: 2024-10-24T06:30:35.000Z
subject: General History
subject: Period
subject: Halloween
description: Explore chilling stories told across the centuries, from medieval hauntings to Victorian messages from the dead…
encoded: Halloween’s roots lie in the ancient festival Samhain. Celebrated on the evening of 31 October and into 1 November, Celts believed this was when the boundary between the living and the dead was at its thinnest. They would make offerings to their gods around a bonfire, and dress in costumes to confuse the malevolent spirits that might wander the earth. It’s no surprise, therefore, that today we gather in the darkened evenings of autumn to share a ghost story or two – a tradition that has lasted centuries. Read more | What is the history of Halloween? From medieval hauntings to Victorian messages from the dead, explore ten ghost stories from history… Shrieking and groaning at Hinton Ampner The haunting of the Manor House at Hinton Ampner, near Alresford, Hampshire, began simply enough with the inexplicable banging of doors. A groom said he had seen an apparition of its former owner, Lord Stawell. Mary and William Ricketts had purchased the manor in 1765, and soon began to regret it. When William left for a lengthy trip to Jamaica four years later, leaving his wife and three young children, the poltergeist phenomena began to intensify: Mary began to hear footsteps, knocking noises, and the rustle of silk in her bedchamber. By the spring of 1771, mysterious murmurings, groanings, and shrieks plagued the Manor House. William was still abroad. Mary’s brother, Sir John Jervis, came to investigate, but could find no rational cause for the disturbances. The family moved out shortly after, and the house was demolished a few years later. Was it the ghost of Lord Stawell, or perhaps another previous owner, Sir Hugh Stewkeley? A local pauper had told the family that Stewkeley was rumoured to have buried treasure under the floorboards of the dining room. By Professor Owen Davies The Haunting of Frodriver First recorded in the 13th century as part of the Eyrbyggja Saga, and translated by Sir Walter Scott in 1814 in Illustrations of Northern Antiquities. The story begins as a Hebri…

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What is the history of Halloween?
type: item
date: 2024-10-23T06:30:15.000Z
creator: Lauren Good
subject: General History
subject: Period
subject: Halloween
description: Each year, 31 October is a day to celebrate all things that go bump in the night. But where do our Halloween traditions come from? Lauren Good explores the history, from turnip carving to prayers exchanged for cake…
encoded: As autumn unfolds, bringing with it russet leaves and longer nights, many of us prepare for the spookiest night of the year – Halloween. Pumpkins are carved, decorations appear and children (and adults) ready their costumes. But where did these traditions begin? Below, explore the history behind Halloween, from its ancient roots to the origins of a much-loved modern phenomenon, the pumpkin spice latte. When did we start celebrating Halloween? Halloween’s origins can be traced back to the seventh century, when Pope Boniface IV established All Saints’ Day on 13 May, to honour saints who had reached heaven. However, in the eighth century, this feast day was moved to 1 November. Upon this change, the day before it – 31 October – became known as All Hallows’ Eve, or Halloween. The shift in this Christian date from May to November was likely intended to replace the pagan festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in), an ancient Celtic celebration marking the end of the harvest and the onset of winter. “In earlier times [Samhain] referred to one of the four great festivals of the traditional Gaelic year,” explains historian Mark Williams, author of The Celtic Myths That Shape The Way We Think (Thames & Hudson, 2021). “In the landlocked midlands of Ireland it would often have coincided with the first frosts. We do not know exactly how it was celebrated, but gatherings of tribal groups, feasting, and the lighting of bonfires almost certainly played a part.” It was also during this time that the boundary between the living and the dead was believed to be at its thinnest, shown by widespread cultural practices. For instance, throughout the medieval period, people would light a candle at midnight to guide ghosts back to their home, believing that spirits walked the earth. Why do we carve pumpkins? Carving pumpkins is one of Halloween’s most iconic traditions, but the custom originated with a different vegetable entirely – turnips. In 19th and early 20th-century Ireland, people carved…

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The Pendle witches: what happened in the infamous Lancashire witch trial?
type: item
date: 2024-01-12T15:06:00.000Z
creator: Charlotte Hodgman
subject: Period
subject: Stuart
subject: Castles
subject: Evergreen
subject: Halloween
subject: HistoryExtra Academy
subject: HistoryExtra Academy history of witchcraft course
subject: Witches
description: In 1612, the hangings of those accused of being the Pendle Witches caused a public sensation. Dr Robert Poole and Charlotte Hodgman visit Lancaster Castle in Lancashire, where one of the most famous, and sensational, witch trials in British history took place, in 1612, and explore the history of the chilling event…
encoded: “One voice for 10 dragged this way once by superstition, ignorance. Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.” So begins the first verse of Carol Ann Duffy’s 2012 tribute to the so-called Pendle witches – the eight women and two men who were sent to the gallows following one of the most sensational witch trials in British history. What caused the Pendle Witch Trials? The story starts with a young woman named Alison Device, who, in the spring of 1612, was out walking near Nelson, in the borough of Pendle, when she met a pedlar who refused to sell her some pins. What happened next is somewhat confused, but the pedlar appears to have become very frightened and fell down from what we would now recognise as a stroke – numb down one side and unable to speak. The terrified pedlar was taken to a nearby pub and his son was sent for. On his arrival, he found his father a little recovered, but ranting about a black dog who had come to him while he lay paralysed. Convinced that the pedlar’s condition was due to witchcraft, the two men sent for Alison herself, clearly hoping that she could undo the harm she had caused. On her arrival, she apologised to the pedlar, admitted to bewitching him but claimed she was unable to reverse the magic, stating that her grandmother was a witch and that bad things happened around her. Local magistrate Roger Nowell was sent for, and an investigation into witchcraft began. “When Nowell started delving further, events spiralled,” says Dr Robert Poole, guild research fellow at the University of Central Lancashire, and an expert on the case. “A Puritan magistrate, Nowell had his own political and religious reasons for wanting to hunt down witches, along with religious dissenters and papists. He interviewed Alison’s mother, Elizabeth, and grandmother, Old Demdike, before casting his net wider and involving neighbours in his investigations, too. The whole trial snowballed from there. “One thing the investigations threw up was that witchcraft accusations …

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Halloween monsters: everything you wanted to know
type: item
date: 2022-10-31T09:20:04.000Z
creator: Ellie Cawthorne
subject: General History
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Everything you wanted to know about history (podcast series)
subject: Halloween
description: In part two of our spooky Halloween special, Professor Owen Davies tackles listener questions on the evolving mythology of our most popular Halloween monsters
encoded: How did witches transition from terrifying old crones to symbols of female empowerment? Was Count Dracula inspired by a real person? And why do ghosts wear white sheets? To explore the long history of all things that go bump in the night, Professor Owen Davies tackles listener questions with Ellie Cawthorne, on the unearthly history and evolving mythology of our most popular Halloween monsters – from forgotten monsters of the past, to the first photograph of a ghost.

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Halloween traditions: everything you wanted to know
type: item
date: 2022-10-30T09:15:20.000Z
creator: Ellie Cawthorne
subject: General History
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Everything you wanted to know about history (podcast series)
subject: Halloween
description: In part one of our Halloween special, Professor Owen Davies tackles listener questions on the haunted historical festivities surrounding 31 October
encoded: How did a Catholic religious celebration transform into a spooky, supernatural festivity? Why were turnips and swedes replaced by pumpkins? And what happened on ‘mischief night’? Speaking with Ellie Cawthorne, Professor Owen Davies uncovers the historical origins of popular traditions surrounding 31 October – from the malicious and downright dangerous beginnings of trick or treating to the ethereal inspirations for Jack-o’-lanterns.

Halloween podcast episodes
type: item
subject: General History
subject: Period
subject: Halloween
description: Browse our archive of petrifying podcasts, from medieval ghost stories to the Salem witch trials...

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3 curious medieval ghost stories
type: item
date: 2021-10-30T05:06:00.000Z
subject: Medieval
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Halloween
subject: Medieval life
description: George Dobbs presents three chilling stories from the Middle Ages, from the burning bedding to a ghostly horse…
encoded: Be it a horror movie or an MR James classic, there is something strangely appealing about scaring yourself silly with a good old-fashioned ghost story. But we are so familiar with the conventions of what makes a spooky tale that it's easy to forget ghosts haven't always been represented as they are now. In fact, the medieval conventions of what constituted a ghost story can seem quite odd to a modern reader, as can the apparitions that haunt them. Here are some examples of creepy tales that enthralled readers in England more than 600 years ago... The Haunting of Frodriver First recorded in the 13th century as part of the Eyrbyggja Saga, and translated by Sir Walter Scott in 1814 in Illustrations of Northern Antiquities The story begins as a Hebridian woman named Thorgunna arrives in Iceland one winter. A local woman named Thuirda notices the rich treasures that Thorgunna possesses, and presses her to come and stay with her at her home in Froda. Thorgunna refuses to part with any of her precious things, but agrees to stay and work as a servant. Soon Thorgunna falls ill and dies, but leaves behind a warning: her bedding is to be burnt, and most of her effects given to local monks. This, she says, is not out of spite, but as a way to protect the settlement from an evil that is coming. Inevitably, Thurida can't resist taking the rich bedding of Thorgunna for herself, and sure enough the residents of Froda begin to fall victim to a series of grisly accidents, ghostly attacks, and mysterious plagues. After a funeral feast is held, they are beset by a crowd of walking ghouls that refuse to leave, and which gather around the central fire of the main hall each night. But deliverance soon arrives when Kiartan, the son of Thurida, engages a local priest to stage a trial. The ghouls are charged with staying unlawfully in the hall, and eventually their leader declares, somewhat petulantly: “We have here no longer a peaceful dwelling, therefore will we remove.” Read more about th…

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Medieval ghost stories
type: item
date: 2021-10-23T11:18:15.000Z
creator: Dan Jones
subject: Medieval
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Halloween
description: Dan Jones shares a ghost story from the Middle Ages and explains what it might tell us about medieval attitudes to the afterlife
encoded: Historian Dan Jones’s new book, The Tale of the Tailor and the Three Dead Kings, reimagines a medieval ghost story for modern audiences. He explains to Dave Musgrove what it tells us about attitudes to the afterlife in the Middle Ages. Dan Jones is the author of The Tale of the Tailor and the Three Dead Kings: A medieval ghost story (Head of Zeus, 2021). Buy now on Bookshop.org Buy now on Amazon Buy now on Waterstones

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Which historic character should you choose for your Halloween costume?
type: item
date: 2021-10-21T11:01:44.000Z
creator: Rhiannon Davies
subject: General Modern
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Halloween
description: Why resurrect that tired old ghost costume when you have all of history to choose from?
encoded: View Riddle on the source website How did you do? Share your result on social media to see how your knowledge compares with other HistoryExtra readers! Want to improve your knowledge? You can read more about the history of Halloween, Halloween's origins, its links with the Celtic festival of Samhain, and a slew of Halloween ghost stories. Want another quiz? Here's one entirely about Halloween or visit our trivia hub for more history quizzes.

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