logo
episode-header-image
Jun 2023
41m 5s

The Head in the Library

ABC listen and CBC
About this episode

In an old country town high school library there is a glass case that displays something highly unusual and, for some, confronting.

Inside that glass case is a mummified head and according to its plaque, it was donated to Grafton High School in 1915.

Now, over 100 years later, questions are being raised about where it really came from and whether it really belongs there.

This podcast is a co-production of ABC Australia and CBC Podcasts.

Up next
Aug 2023
The Girl Called Pocahontas
How do you uncover the true life of a woman whose existence is wrapped in myth, propaganda and a famous animated children’s movie?This is the true story of Matoaka - a young Powhatan girl who you probably know as Pocahontas. This is the mystery of a child, a hidden history and a ... Show More
33m 47s
Jul 2023
The Fever Tree Hunt
Most heists target gold, jewels or cash. This one targeted illegal seeds.As the British established their sprawling empire across the subcontinent and beyond, they encountered a formidable adversary — malaria. There was a cure — the bark of the Andean cinchona tree. The only prob ... Show More
30m 22s
Jul 2023
Zero Marks The Spot
It’s round. It has a hole in it. It symbolises nothing and yet it is the possibility of something... meet zero.The zero we know and love today is the foundation of our modern world. And we have India to thank for it; in particular one special Indian birch bark book — the Bakhshal ... Show More
35m 36s
Recommended Episodes
Dec 2022
Life in Tudor England
What was life really like in Tudor England? This was a society where monarchy was under strain, the church was in crisis and contending with war, rebellion, plague and poverty was a fact of daily life. Yet it was also an age rich in ideas and ideals, where women asserted their ag ... Show More
49m 46s
Apr 2023
Sutton Hoo
Centuries ago, an Anglo-Saxon noble was buried within a 90-foot ship in a mound at Sutton Hoo. It serves as the richest burial ever found in northern Europe to date. Discovered in 1939, not much survived of the original ship. However, an imprint of the ship remains on the earth.  ... Show More
32m 20s
Apr 2024
The Library of Alexandria
The Library of Alexandria was one of the most important and most celebrated buildings of the ancient Mediterranean. It was a great hub of learning and literature and made Alexandria one of the ancient world’s foremost centres of knowledge and culture, and the jewel of the Nile De ... Show More
39m 40s
Sep 2022
Forbidden Books
What makes a book bad? Does it have to be nonsensical? Heretical? Libellous? Sexy? Well for 500 years, a panel from the Roman Catholic Church attempted to grapple with this distinction. Today Betwixt the Sheets, we find out what this collection of people deemed unsafe for the eye ... Show More
44 m
May 2023
The Bath School Bombing (1927)
It’s May 18th. This day in 1927, a man detonated bombs at a school in Bath, Michigan, killing dozens of children, then killing himself. Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss how Andrew Kehoe was motivated, in part, by anti-tax and anti-government animus, and how this school tragedy reso ... Show More
15m 44s
Sep 2023
The Bones of Anglo Saxon England
It's the 13th of December, 1642, and Parliamentarian soldiers have just stormed the city of Winchester. They burst into the city's grand cathedral on horseback, and begin tearing it apart. The soldiers smash windows, burn tables and tapestries and steal anything of value. Stashed ... Show More
27m 14s
Jun 2022
HS2: Digging up the 'Dark Ages'
An extraordinary discovery has been unearthed by archaeologists working alongside the HS2 rail project. The find, made at an undisclosed location near Wendover in the Chilterns, consists of a 5th-6th century burial site that has been described as one of the most important post-Ro ... Show More
1h 5m
Jan 2023
Syphilis
From Acts of Parliament to unethical clinical studies to legendary symphonies (possibly) - syphilis has stained many different areas of history.To find out what this disease is, what it does to the body and how treatments of it and the people who have it have changed, Kate spoke ... Show More
41m 32s
Aug 2023
Letters from medieval England
The Pastons were a prominent aristocratic family from around 1380 to 1750, with stakes in the dynamic politicking of the Tudor and Stuart courts. But, what really makes this family stand out is the huge collection of letters and documents they left behind, sharing everyday detail ... Show More
44m 20s