logo
episode-header-image
Jan 2025
43m 37s

Typhoid Mary: Original Super-Spreader?

History Hit
About this episode

Mary Mallon aka "Typhoid Mary" is a macabre figure who spread disease and death everywhere she went. But there's a lot more depth and humanity to Mary's history than this. She's a someone who is hard to resist when you get to know her (despite all the Typhoid...). Anthony Delaney tells Maddy Pelling the story.


Edited by Tomos Delargy. Produced by Freddy Chick. Senior Producer is Charlotte Long.


Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe.  


You can take part in our listener survey here.


After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal is a History Hit podcast.

Up next
Aug 21
The Darkest Scandal in Victorian Britain
Today we step into the shadowy world of W.T. Stead—a Victorian journalist whose life was as controversial as it was groundbreaking. Hear how he uncovered a sex scandal which shocked the nation, dabbled in the supernatural, and also… predicted the Titanic disaster (and ultimately, ... Show More
41m 31s
Aug 18
New York's Wildest Murder Case
This 1897 New York murder case that has it all - a villain, an incredibly useless police force, and a duck who saves the day. The incredible Dr Cat Byers (@heymorguegirl) joins Maddy and Anthony to tell this story.Edited by Tomos Delargy. Produced by Freddy Chick. Senior Producer ... Show More
38m 55s
Aug 14
Victorian Love Triangle Murder
Through the industrial fog of Victorian London, in one of the city's most notorious slums, a murder took place that shocked a nation.The Bermondsey Horror, as it was called at the time, centred around a young woman and her older partner, and a wealthy man who was lured to their h ... Show More
48m 1s
Recommended Episodes
Apr 2025
The Truth About Medusa
You could be forgiven for thinking the Greek myth of Medusa has zero relevance to us today. Snake for hair?! But as you'll hear in today's episode, she's a woman who was vilified for her femininity and sexuality. She was literally cast out of society for it - into a cave, of all ... Show More
32m 7s
Mar 2025
Aphra Behn: Revolutionary, Author, Spy
Aphra Behn was a true original. Not only was she the first woman to earn a living by writing, she was also a spy, a political propagandist and a revolutionary. Publicly she was all brash sexuality and outspoken politics, but what is known about the woman beneath? Professor Suzann ... Show More
40m 26s
Mar 2025
Murderous Women
**This podcast contains graphic descriptions of murders and the punishments of those convicted** Gruesome murders carried out by women captivated the public imagination in Early Modern Britain. Pamphlets, ballads, and woodcuts spread the stories of traitorous wives, cunning poiso ... Show More
53m 26s
Aug 19
The Real Virgin Mary
Why has the idea of the Virgin Mary’s virginity been so important?What does this tell us about the relationship between Christianity and sex? And what else do we know about this woman?Joining Kate today to help her get to know more about Mary, her life and her influence is author ... Show More
42m 5s
Jan 2025
The Legacy of Typhoid Mary Pt. 2
In 1907, George Soper located the cause of a typhoid outbreak in New York City: a cook named Mary Mallon. Mary didn’t know it, but each and every meal she cooked carried a small chance for her clients to come down with the disease. Finding out the truth could cost Mary her job…an ... Show More
36m 5s
May 20
41. Mary Bateman - Yorkshire Witch
Lucy Worsley is back with a brand new series of Lady Swindlers, where true crime meets history - with a twist. Lucy and her team of all female detectives travel back more than a hundred years to revisit the audacious and surprising crimes of swindlers, hustlers and women on the m ... Show More
28m 58s
Aug 2024
The Real Anne Boleyn: Sex, Scandal & Betrayal
Anne Boleyn was smart, sophisticated and had SO much charisma. She kept Henry VIII waiting for SEVEN YEARS before they finally got together, and even then it was on her terms. So where did it all go wrong for Anne Boleyn? Were any of the wild accusations made against her true? An ... Show More
50m 56s
Mar 2025
Ireland's Witchcraft Trials
In 1711, a wave of terror gripped the Islandmagee peninsula in County Antrim. First there was the haunting and supernatural murder of a local clergyman's wife. Then 18-year-old Mary Dunbar suffered violent convulsions, levitation and vomiting of pins, feathers, and buttons, spark ... Show More
44 m
Sep 2023
192: Annalisa Netherly & the History of The Read House
In 1927, a young woman met a violent end in a Chattanooga hotel. Reports on how she came to her death are mixed, but the legend of her gruesome story persists almost 100 years later, and for good reason. The tragic young woman’s spirit is said, along with the ghosts of many other ... Show More
25m 51s
Mar 2024
Revealing the True Identity of Jack the Ripper with True Crime Writer Sarah Bax Horton
In this gripping episode of the Truth Be Told Paranormal Podcast, host Tony Sweet sits down with acclaimed true crime writer Sarah Bax Horton to unravel one of history's most enduring mysteries: the true identity of Jack the Ripper. Sarah brings her extensive research and unique ... Show More
45m 34s