Death

Photo of Holy Trinity Church

Q&A Where is William Shakespeare buried – and is there a curse on his grave?

Premium

Suspected witch Mary Sutton is “swum” in a Bedfordshire millpond in 1612, as shown in a contemporary illustration. (Picture by Getty Images)

Witchfinding: what drove the hunters’ cruel crusade and what methods did they use? . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Premium

Pod Kathryn Harkup WL

Shakespearean deaths: swordfights, snakebites & poison . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Premium

A lobbycard for the 1923 film Is Conan Doyle Right? (Photo by LMPC via Getty Images)

The supernatural interests of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Outbreak of dance mania

The medieval dancing plague: what caused people to dance themselves to death?

Froissart illustration of Hugh Despenser the Younger's execution by being hanged, drawn and quartered. Despenser is on a ladder, as a man beside him disembowels him and tosses his entrails into a fire

‘Godly butchery’: the horrifying history of hanging, drawing and quartering

Premium

Robert Sackville-West describes attempts to identify the bodies of the dead after the devastating battles of the First World War. (Image by Getty Images)

Searching for WW1’s fallen soldiers . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A depiction of King Æthelred II holding a sword

The St Brice’s Day Massacre: what really happened?

Premium

From necromancy and the underworld to getting rid of troublesome spirits, Irving Finkel discusses ghost beliefs in ancient Mesopotamia. (Image by Getty Images)

Ghosts, necromancy & the underworld in ancient Mesopotamia . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Anne Boleyn, who was executed by beheading on 19 May 1536 after being found guilty of high treason, was said to have had

The final days of Anne Boleyn: why did she die?

Premium

Dr Melanie Giles unravels some of the mysteries around amazingly preserved human remains found in bogs – and reveals what we can learn from them. (Image by Getty Images)

Bog bodies: what can they teach us? . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Women 'take the air' in an attempt to ward off the Spanish Flu

“Far too little, too late”: what happened when Spanish Flu hit Britain?

Premium

Dr Jenna Dittmar, who has been studying medieval skeletons, reveals what her findings can tell us about injuries and violence in the era. (Image by Getty Images)

Fatal accidents and violent injuries in the Middle Ages . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Premium

In the 19th century, devoted pet-owners established Britain’s first pet cemeteries. Dr Eric Tourigny explains what they tell us about Victorian attitudes to animals. (Image by Getty Images)

Victorian pet cemeteries: animals in the afterlife . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Marked man: Charles I shown in a detail in Anthony van Dyck's famous portrait. In his final days, the king's attempts to play his enemies against one another backfired spectacularly. (Photo by: Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty images)

Why Charles I had to die