The Wytch Files Ep. 10: Penny Dreadful

6.0 / 7.0

The twilight of the demimonde beckons, prodding and awakening the monster inside.  So come, you creatures of the night and step into the shadowy gothic world of Victorian London.

Join us as we discuss the Showtime Original Series Penny Dreadful, seasons 1-3.

The Victorian era gave birth to the horror, death and romance of Gothic Literature and to the delightful sensationalism of penny dreadfuls.  We have found free copies of some of these wonderful stories online, so check them out:

“Dracula” by Bram Stoker, 1897, “The Vampyre” by John William Polidori, 1819, “Frankenstein” by Mary Shelley, 1818, “Wagner the Wehr-wolf” by George W. M. Reynolds, 1847, “The Portrait of Dorian Grey,” by Oscar Wilde, 1890, “Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”, Varney, The Vampyre, The String of Pearls, and Carmilla, 1872.

The Victorian occult scene was rich and varied and included groups like The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, Theosophy, and the Spiritualism movement. Gordon White's Rune Soup Podcast Episode 27  with Mitch Horowitz has some wonderful discussion about Spiritualism and it's origins in upstate New York and its connection to the Women's suffrage movement in the United States.

If the tarot is more your speed, you can actually own the Penny Dreadful tarot deck by ordering it through the Showtime store.

American writer David J. Peterson created the Verbis Diablo language for Penny Dreadful. He also created the Dothraki and Valyrian languages for Game of Thrones and many others languages for television shows.  You can see all his translations and phonetic spellings for the Verbis Diablo in Season 2 here. The Penny Dreadful Archives also has more information.

In the episode, we spoke briefly about some Devon County traditional witchcraft lore and if you'd like to read some more about their customs & superstitions check out Nummits and Crummits by Sarah Hewett.

Season 2 of the show is rife with creepy dolls used in diabolical magic.  The Smithsonian has an interesting article on The History of Creepy Dolls.  In addition, read about Robert the Doll and eleven more creepy dolls here.

Well, we hope you enjoy the episode! We leave you with a quote by the wonderful Ms. Ives:

"Etsi an oge tu werbimaat wedem rag dissiteero tene’aku." 

("I speak these words to dispel the darkness")

Theme music X-Files Theme Parody by Mallon Khan. 

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