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Bunkum and Ballyhoo

Bunkum and Ballyhoo

By: Patrick W. Reed
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A podcast about bullsh*t - join your host, author and professional wrestling historian Patrick W. Reed, as he takes a look back at the lives and lies of some of history's greatest showmen, con artists, grifters, hustlers and bullsh*tters of all kinds, from pro-wrestling to politics, and from sideshows to pseudoscience.Patrick W. Reed Social Sciences
Episodes
  • The Afterlife Of The Highgate Vampire - The Secret Ingredient Is Nazis! (The Highgate Vampire, Part 2)
    Apr 7 2025

    Part two of a double-header on the story of The Highgate Vampire takes a closer look at the principle players - David Farrant, and Reverend Sean Manchester - to explore the background of two extraordinary characters, the unsavoury and unsettling beliefs that so often lurk behind the irrational and the conspiratorial world-view, and asks why Bunkum & Ballyhoo.
    Selected Sources:
    The Highgate Cemetery Vampire Hunt: The Anglo-American Connection In Satanic Cult Lore by Bill Ellis, in Folklore (1993)
    London Uncanny by Clive Bloom
    The Highgate Vampire by Sean Manchester
    Haunted Highgate by Della Farrant
    The Vampire's Bedside Companion by Peter Underwood
    I am also indebted in these episodes to the work of Anthony Hogg, Erin Chapman, and Kevin Chesham.
    Audio Sources:
    True Horror with Anthony Head (2004)
    Father Ted S3E1, "Are You Right There Father Ted?" (1998)

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    33 mins
  • Does A Vampyre Walk In Highgate? (The Highgate Vampire, Part 1)
    Mar 31 2025

    Series two of Bunkum & Ballyhoo closes out with the extraordinary story of the Highgate Vampire - a supposed supernatural phenomenon that haunted one of London's great cemeteries in the 1970s, and the ongoing feud between the two duelling occultists and vampire hunters at its heart. Are we ever really that far from the irrational beliefs and moral panics of the past?
    Selected Sources:
    The Highgate Cemetery Vampire Hunt: The Anglo-American Connection In Satanic Cult Lore by Bill Ellis, in Folklore (1993)
    London Uncanny by Clive Bloom
    The Highgate Vampire by Sean Manchester
    Haunted Highgate by Della Farrant
    The Vampire's Bedside Companion by Peter Underwood
    I am also indebted in these episodes to the work of Anthony Hogg, Erin Chapman, and Kevin Chesham.
    Audio Sources:
    Penda's Fen (1974) dir. Alan Clarke, written by David Rudkin
    BBC 24 Hours (1970)
    One Hour with Jonathan Ross (1990)
    True Horror with Anthony Head (2004)

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    33 mins
  • Grey Owl Is Not What He Seems
    Mar 17 2025

    Bunkum & Ballyhoo explores the life and complicated legacy of the voice of the Canadian wilderness, an early vocal spokesman for conservation, environmentalism, and native rights; Grey Owl, and the thorny issue of cultural appropriation.
    NOTE:This episode contains historical quotations which some listeners may find offensive.
    Selected Sources:
    The Collected Works Of Grey Owlby Grey Owl
    Devil In Deerskins: My Life With Grey Owlby Anahareo
    Wilderness Man: The Strange Story of Grey Owlby Lovat Dickson
    From The Land Of Shadows: The Making of Grey Owlby Donald B Smith
    Audio Sources:
    Canadian Cameo - "Grey Owl's Strange Quest" (1936)
    Trailer: Grey Owl (1999), dir. Richard Attenborough -20th Century Studios

    www.patrickwreed.com

    www.patreon.com/patrickwreed

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    13 mins
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