Bizarre To Brutal is a podcast series featuring true crimes and scandals from the Victorian era of history.
Each story featured is taken directly from a popular tabloid newspaper of the time, The Illustrated Police News, which didn’t hold back with its style of reporting.
Unlike today’s journalists, Victorian reporters didn’t really consider the sensibilities of their readers when they wrote the most intimate details of crimes.
Episode One features a case in Bradford, where a man accuses his wife of bigamy, even though he knew she already had a husband when they got married. Although Victorians are always thought of as being moralistic, the outcome of this case is surprisingly pragmatic.
But Victorian justice could be harsh too. A poor woman who picks up a few ears of wheat to take home to her children, can’t escape a prison sentence when the farmer decides he wants to make an example of her.
There’s also a funny side to some of the stories, including a bizarre account of how a cat stopped a murder taking place, attacking the assailant of its owner by leaping on to his face, digging his claws in, and not letting go.
Producer of the podcast, Mark Capell, says: “I think history really comes alive with actual material from the time. I wanted to capture the immediacy of when the journalist was typing up the story for inclusion in the newspaper, so listeners will feel as if they’re in the newspaper office. Compared to today’s crime reporting, these accounts sound more like crime novels.”
The series takes listeners back through the mists of time to the era of Jack The Ripper, Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes and the underbelly of Victorian life.
Bizarre to Brutal is available here, or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and all major podcast apps.
