Do Mermaids Exist? Historical Sightings & Myths

02/25/24 • 41 min

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After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal

Did you know Benjamin Franklin began his career reporting mermaid sightings? Or that there's a mermaid on every cup of Starbucks coffee?

Join us as we search the oceans for history's greatest mermaid stories. Anthony tells Maddy this story with special help from children from year 5 of Harris Primary Academy Coleraine Park.

Written by Anthony Delaney. Edited by Tom Delargy and produced by Freddy Chick. Senior Producer is Charlotte Long.

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Did you know Benjamin Franklin began his career reporting mermaid sightings? Or that there's a mermaid on every cup of Starbucks coffee?

Join us as we search the oceans for history's greatest mermaid stories. Anthony tells Maddy this story with special help from children from year 5 of Harris Primary Academy Coleraine Park.

Written by Anthony Delaney. Edited by Tom Delargy and produced by Freddy Chick. Senior Producer is Charlotte Long.

You can take part in our listener survey here.

Previous Episode

The Earliest Evidence of Ghosts

The earliest evidence of human belief in ghosts comes from 5,000 years ago in Mesopotamia. Who were these first ghosts? What was the underworld they lived in like? What do these most ancient ghosts tell us about today?

Maddy and Anthony's guest today, Irving Finkel, Assistant Keeper of Ancient Mesopotamian script, languages and cultures in the Department of the Middle East in the British Museum and author of 'The First Ghosts: Most Ancient of Legacies'

Edited by Tom Delargy. Produced by Charlotte Long and Freddy Chick.

You can take part in our listener survey here.

Next Episode

The Paris Morgue's Dark Story

Citizens of Paris in the 19th century could stroll down to the Morgue to try to identify the unknown dead or to gawp at celebrity murder victims. Though its most famous resident of all was perhaps not dead at all...

Our guest today is the marvellous Cat Byers, who is a writer, photographer and historian based in Paris. She’s currently finishing a PhD on the nineteenth-century morgues of Paris and New York. Get ready for a story full of poignant humour, Donald Trump, and party hats.

Edited and produced by Freddy Chick. Senior Producer is Charlotte Long.

You can take part in our listener survey here.