SALEM EPISODE 1: Introduction

It’s one of the most romantic images of the First World War: British and German soldiers meeting in No Man’s Land on Christmas Day, 1914, for a spontaneous truce and a game of football. But did it actually happen? Historian Alex Churchill joins Rachel Dinning to discuss the famou ...  عرض المزيد

Father Christmas – or Santa Claus – is one of western culture’s most recognisable figures. But from his mysterious origins to quite how he ended up as owner of a North Pole workshop staffed by elves, much about the festive season’s main man remains a mystery. In this episode, Tho ...  عرض المزيد

It’s that time of year again, Halloween. A word which conjures up images of pumpkins, ghosts, and of course…witches.

But have you ever wondered what the ancient origins of witchcraft is? How did the black-hat-broomstick stereotype emerge? And what causes the waves of ...

Cet épisode de Crousti-History est consacré à la chasse aux sorcières la plus importante de l’histoire des États-Unis. En 1692, dans le petit village de Salem dans le Massachusetts, deux jeunes filles sont prises de convulsions et hallucinent. Pas étonnant que pour l’époque on so ...  عرض المزيد

From seductive sorceresses to withered necromancers, witches play a varied - and vital - role in ancient history. Recorded in classical epics by the likes of Homer, and immortalised in tragedies by Euripides, the names Circe and Medea resonate across society and culture even t ...

Many of them pre-date modern religions and defy what science tells us about the world - from saluting magpies, to wearing lucky pants. Yet why do superstitions still have such a strong hold on our lives?

Today we’re joined by Sally Coulthard, author of Superstiti ...