Hosted by April Rain · EN · 6 episodes
Established thought leaders with verified media credentials.
History didn't ask permission. Neither do we.Velvet Guillotine goes where the textbooks didn't — the atrocities, the forgotten bodies, the power structures, and the questions that don't have clean answers. Every episode follows the thread from the past to the modern mirror, because history isn't safely contained. It never was.Hosted by April Rain.Listener discretion advised.
April Rain hosts The Velvet Guillotine, a history show with 6 episodes published.
Matthew Hopkins was not a judge. He was not an official inquisitor. He was not appointed by Parliament. He called himself the Witchfinder General. And for a brief, brutal stretch of the English Civil War, that was enough
Before the witch trials became fire, they became paperwork. The Malleus Maleficarum — the Hammer of Witches — was published in 1486 and became one of the most infamous texts in the history of European witch persecution.
The main episode gave you Würzburg and Bamberg as events: the machinery, the chronicle, the purpose-built prison, the forced confessions, the names, the men who kept the system running. This postscript does something col
Between 1626 and 1631, the city of Würzburg became one of the deadliest centers of witch persecution in European history. Under Prince-Bishop Philipp Adolf von Ehrenberg, accusations became procedure, procedure became ma
On the morning of August 11, 1676, the sisters of a Benedictine convent in Palma di Montechiaro found Sister Maria Crocifissa della Concezione on the floor of her cell. Her face was smeared with ink. Beside her was a she
Most places hold their history quietly — the walls hold their tongues. You walk into a great cathedral, look up at the ceiling, and you do not see what happened here in January of 897. Sacred spaces excel at absorbing th
Here is the thing about Tomás de Torquemada. The ones who knew they were doing evil and did it anyway at least had a conscience to override. Torquemada had nothing to silence. He believed — completely, without visible do
How does an institution convince the world that it cannot be wrong? Not that it is usually right — that it cannot be wrong, that there is a category of its pronouncements where error is impossible. That is not perfection
You have just come from the Cadaver Synod — a pope digging up his dead predecessor, propping the body on a throne in full vestments, convicting it, and throwing it in the Tiber. You may think that is as bad as it ever go
January, 897. Rome. A sitting pope had his dead predecessor exhumed, dressed in full papal regalia, propped upright on a throne, and put on trial. A deacon was appointed to speak for the corpse. The corpse lost. This is
Think about what you assume happens to your body after you die. You assume your wishes will be respected. That your name will stay attached to your remains. That someone will claim you — and that if they don't, the insti
In a yellow house in Monroe, Connecticut, inside a glass case, sits a Raggedy Ann doll. Red yarn hair. Stitched triangular nose. Faded smile. A mass-produced object — one of millions of identical dolls made in the mid-tw
There is a small square in Edinburgh's Old Town that most tourists walk past without stopping. It sits just off the Royal Mile, tucked behind the university's medical buildings, unremarkable in the way that places with v
Content note: This episode contains discussion of the murder of children, torture, and the abuse of power. Listener discretion is strongly advised. Joan of Arc had a companion. You know Joan. Everyone knows Joan. The man
Content note: This episode contains discussion of racial medical exploitation and systemic injustice. Listen to Episode 2A first — these two episodes are designed as a diptych. The body trade ended. The logic didn't. In
Content note: This episode contains discussion of death, bodily violation, racial exploitation, and systemic violence. The knowledge that makes modern surgery possible — that sits at the foundation of every medical schoo
It is nine inches tall. The vellum is the color of old butter. You are wearing nitrile gloves. You are not allowed to bring in a pen. You turn the first page. There is a plant — or something plant-shaped, with leaves doi
The main episode told you what happened in Strasbourg in the summer of 1518. The dancers. The musicians. The dead. This is the part nobody tells you after that. What happened to the survivors — the people who danced for
Six hundred and fifty victims. The most prolific female serial killer in recorded history. A noblewoman who tortured and murdered young women in her castle and bathed in their blood to preserve her youth. That's the stor
In the summer of 1518, a woman named Frau Troffea walked into the streets of Strasbourg and started dancing. She didn't stop. Within a month, hundreds of people were dancing alongside her — through the August heat, until
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The Velvet Guillotine is hosted by April Rain. The show is categorised under history and has published 6 episodes.
The Velvet Guillotine has published 6 episodes.
The Velvet Guillotine regularly covers history. It sits in the history category.
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Episodes of The Velvet Guillotine average 32 minutes. a focused format where a clear narrative arc and tight preparation matter most.
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