In the world of literary scandal, there have always been books filed under "non-fiction" that are better positioned elsewhere in the library. In this episode, historian Patrick W. Reed looks at one notorious example - Clifford Irving's authorised "autobiography" of the world's most famous recluse, the eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes.

Selected Bibliography & Sources:

The Autobiography of Howard Hughes by Clifford Irving
Howard Hughes: The Hidden Years by James Phelan
The Hoax by Clifford Irving

A return to the Fortean and the supernatural, and to the eminently gullible world of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, as Bunkum & Ballyhoo explores the story of fairies photographed in a Yorkshire garden, and how one of England's most famous authors made them a media sensation.
Selected Bibliography & Sources
The Coming Of The Fairies by Arthur Conan Doyle
Sprites, spiritualists and sleuths: the intersecting ownership of transcendent proofs in the Cottingley Fairy Fraud by Francesca Bihet
Arthur C. Clarke's World of Strange Powers
The James Randi Educational Foundation

Audio Credit

"Fairies Wear Boots" by Jazz Sabbath

Bunkum and Ballyhoo returns for its third series, as author and historian Patrick W. Reed looks at the phenomenon of True Believer Syndrome, through the story of the spiritualist medium M. Lamar Keene, his stranger than fiction true life story, and his fears of being stalked by who he called "The Psychic Mafia".
Selected Bibliography
The Psychic Mafia by M. Lamar Keene
Flim-Flam! by James Randi

Part two of a double-header on the story of The Highgate Vampire takes a closer look at the principle players - David Farrant, and Reverend Sean Manchester - to explore the background of two extraordinary characters, the unsavoury and unsettling beliefs that so often lurk behind the irrational and the conspiratorial world-view, and asks why Bunkum & Ballyhoo.
Selected Sources:
The Highgate Cemetery Vampire Hunt: The Anglo-American Connection In Satanic Cult Lore by Bill Ellis, in Folklore (1993)
London Uncanny by Clive Bloom
The Highgate Vampire by Sean Manchester
Haunted Highgate by Della Farrant
The Vampire's Bedside Companion by Peter Underwood
I am also indebted in these episodes to the work of Anthony Hogg, Erin Chapman, and Kevin Chesham.
Audio Sources:
True Horror with Anthony Head (2004)
Father Ted S3E1, "Are You Right There Father Ted?" (1998)

Series two of Bunkum & Ballyhoo closes out with the extraordinary story of the Highgate Vampire - a supposed supernatural phenomenon that haunted one of London's great cemeteries in the 1970s, and the ongoing feud between the two duelling occultists and vampire hunters at its heart. Are we ever really that far from the irrational beliefs and moral panics of the past?
Selected Sources:
The Highgate Cemetery Vampire Hunt: The Anglo-American Connection In Satanic Cult Lore by Bill Ellis, in Folklore (1993)
London Uncanny by Clive Bloom
The Highgate Vampire by Sean Manchester
Haunted Highgate by Della Farrant
The Vampire's Bedside Companion by Peter Underwood
I am also indebted in these episodes to the work of Anthony Hogg, Erin Chapman, and Kevin Chesham.
Audio Sources:
Penda's Fen (1974) dir. Alan Clarke, written by David Rudkin
BBC 24 Hours (1970)
One Hour with Jonathan Ross (1990)
True Horror with Anthony Head (2004)

Bunkum & Ballyhoo explores the life and complicated legacy of the voice of the Canadian wilderness, an early vocal spokesman for conservation, environmentalism, and native rights; Grey Owl, and the thorny issue of cultural appropriation.
NOTE:This episode contains historical quotations which some listeners may find offensive.
Selected Sources:
The Collected Works Of Grey Owlby Grey Owl
Devil In Deerskins: My Life With Grey Owlby Anahareo
Wilderness Man: The Strange Story of Grey Owlby Lovat Dickson
From The Land Of Shadows: The Making of Grey Owlby Donald B Smith
Audio Sources:
Canadian Cameo - "Grey Owl's Strange Quest" (1936)
Trailer: Grey Owl (1999), dir. Richard Attenborough -20th Century Studios

www.patrickwreed.com

www.patreon.com/patrickwreed

Bunkum & Ballyhoo host Patrick W. Reed returns to the familiar territory of professional wrestling history to uncover the true story behind one of wrestling's most infamous matches, and to shed light on the story of the wrestler, strongman, and legendary Montreal eccentric, The Great Antonio, and asks what we might find when we look behind a meme or a viral video.
Audio Sources:
Antonio Inoki vs. The Great Antonio, New Japan Pro Wrestling, 1977
The Great Antonio on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson - unknown air date

www.patrickwreed.com

www.patreon.com/patrickwreed

Bunkum & Ballyhoo explores the highs and lows of the footballing career of Brazilian soccer superstar Carlos Kaiser - 13 years, 10 teams, and zero goals. In fact, he never even made it on to the pitch.
Selected Sources:
Kaiser: The Greatest Footballer Never To Play Footballby Rob Smyth
Kaiser: The Greatest Footballer Never To Play Football, directed by Louis Myles, written by Ivor Baddiel & Louis Myles
Audio Sources:
Music taken fromWorld Cup Italia '90 for the SEGA Mega Drive. Composer unknown.

www.patrickwreed.com

www.patreon.com/patrickwreed

Bunkum & Ballyhoo takes its first cautious steps into the murky waters of Cryptozoology as it visits the shores of Loch Ness, and the caravan of its most notorious monster hunter Frank Searle to learn whether the camera truly never lies.

Selected Sources
Loch Ness: They Created A Monster, directed by John MacLaverty
Loch Ness Investigation - What Really Happened by Frank Searle
50 People Who Screwed Up Scotland by Allan Brown
Fortean Times

Audio Sources:
Frank Searle interviewed by John "Sparky" Sly
Loch Ness Monster Report, 3 Oct 1976 British Movietone
Theme From The Family Ness by Roger Greenaway

www.patrickwreed.com

www.patreon.com/patrickwreed

Bunkum & Ballyhoo returns for Series 2 and Episode 1 takes a look at a legend of comic book ad pages - this is the story of the wild claims and even wilder life of the self-proclaimed Deadliest Man Alive, the Master Of The Dim Mak and the Dance Of Death, Count Dante, and his Black Dragon Fighting Society.

Selected Sources:
The Deadliest Man Alive: Count Dante, the Mob, and the War for American Martial Arts by Benji Feldheim
Selected issues of Black Belt Magazine
Count Dante: The World's Deadliest Myth by Eric Nusbaum
Audio Sources:
CBS Interview with John "Count Dante" Keehan - CBS, 1967
"Kung Fu Fighting" by Dread Zeppelin

www.patrickwreed.com

www.patreon.com/patrickwreed

Episode 6 of Bunkum & Ballyhoo rounds up a season on World War 2-related bullshit by looking at when lies and propaganda can be used for good, exploring the lives and times of the revolutionary queer surrealist artists Claude Cahun & Marcel Moore, and how they stood up to Nazi oppression in occupied Jersey.

Selected Sources:
Disavowals by Claude CahunPaper Bullets: Two Artists Who Risked Their Lives To Defy The Nazis by Jeffrey H. JacksonClaude Cahun by Francois LeperlierLiberated: The Radical Art and Life of Claude Cahun by Kaz Rowe
Claude Cahun: A Sensual Politics of Photography by Gen Doy

Episode 5 is a spooktacular Halloween special looking at Orson Welles' infamous Halloween 1938 radio production of War Of The Worlds, and the stories of mass panic and chaos when the American public believed that the Martians really were coming - or did they?
Audio Sources:
War Of The Worlds by Orson Welles' Mercury Theatre On The Air
Charles C. Shaw interviews Orson Welles and H.G. Wells, 1940

Selected Sources:
The Invasion From Mars by Hadley Cantril
Orson Welles: The Road To Xanadu by Simon Callow

Episode 4 of Bunkum & Ballyhoo looks at one of the most notorious hoaxes of the 20th century - the Hitler Diaries; how a clumsy forgery fooled the world's press and one of England's most respected historians, why sometimes a lie only needs a particularly enthusiastic believer to take flight, and how these phony diaries connect to a notorious Holocaust denier, and to a broader world of conspiracy theory.
Audio Sources:
Witness History: The Hitler Diaries Hoax - BBC World Service

Selected Sources:
Selling Hitler by Robert Harris
Telling Lies About Hitler by Richard J. Evans
The Last Days Of Hitler by Hugh Trevor-Roper

Episode 3 of Bunkum & Ballyhoo is a look at the magician Jasper Maskelyne, the claims that his magical prowess was employed in the fields of camouflage and espionage in World War 2, and why looking critically at the mythmaking around a dead old magician is still important in 2024.
Audio Sources:
Jasper Maskelyne for Pathétone - British Pathé
The Mind Of David Berglas - Channel 4
Selected Sources
The War Magician: The True Story of Jasper Maskelyne by David Fisher
Magic: Top Secret by Jasper Maskelyne
White Magic by Jasper Maskelyne
Genii Magazine

Episode 2 of Bunkum and Ballyhoo once again looks at an intersection between professional wrestling and dubious politics, with the stranger than fiction story of how Norfolk professional wrestler Eric "Panther" Pleasants went from wrestling in Jersey to fighting for Hitler.

Audio Sources:
The Brits Who Fought For Hitler - History Channel
Harwich Newsreel: Britons Freed From Russia (1954) - British Pathé

Selected Sources:
The Traitors: A True Story Of Blood, Betrayal and Deceit by Josh Ireland
I Killed To Live: The Story Of Eric Pleasants, Professional Strongman by Eric Pleasants & Eddie Chapman
Hitler's Bastard: Through Hell and Back in Nazi Germany and Stalin's Russia by Eric Pleasants
Agent Zizag: The True Wartime Story of Eddie Chapman by Ben Macintyre
The Frank Falla Archive

In the very first episode of Bunkum & Ballyhoo, professional wrestling historian Patrick W. Reed looks at The Masked Marvel, a South African wrestling superstar whose legacy outside the ring was far grizzlier than any punishment he inflicted inside it.