Stuff You Missed in History Class

Tracy shares her surprise at discovering some of the details of Montague Summers's life. Holly talks about bickering within the Society for Psychical Research.
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Major Edward Moor reported strange bell ringing at his home in Great Bealings in 1834. Was it a poltergeist, a hoax, or something else?
Research:
Briggs, Stacia, and Siofra Connor. “Weird Suffolk: Poltergeist activity at Great Bealings.” East Anglia Daily Times. Feb. 1, 2019. https://www.eadt.co.uk/news/21445662.weird-suffolk-poltergeist-activity-great-bealings/
Britannica Editors. "Mysore Wars". Encyclopedia Britannica, 20 Feb. 2025, https://www.britannica.com/event/Mysore-Wars
Cohen, Daniel. “In Search of Ghosts.” Dodd, Mead. 1972. https://openlibrary.org/books/OL5708323M/In_search_of_ghosts.
Hall, Trevor Henry. “New Light on Old Ghosts.” London. Gerald Duckworth & Co. 1965.
Moor, Edward. “Hindu Infanticide.” London. J. Johnson. 1811. Accessed online: https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=W7YIAAAAQAAJ&rdid=book-W7YIAAAAQAAJ&rdot=1
Moor, Edward. “The Hindu Pantheon.” London. 1810. Accessed online: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nnc1.cu58661581&seq=7
Moor, Edward. “Suffolk Words and Phrases: Or, An Attempt to Collect the Lingual Localisms of that County. 1823. J. Loder. London. Accessed online: https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=6BMLAAAAQAAJ&rdid=book-6BMLAAAAQAAJ&rdot=1
Moor, Edward. “Bealings Bells: The Suffolk Poltergeist Mystery.” Woodbridge. John Loder. 1841. (Reprint.)
Moor, Edward. “To the Editor of the Ipswich Journal.” Ipswich Journal. March 1, 1834. https://www.newspapers.com/image/390311876/?match=1&terms=Bealings&search-id=adc3c27c-67f1-4077-9a3e-ee9434b6159f&search-rank=6
Podmore, Frank. “On Poltergeists.” Journal of Society for Psychical Research. June 1899. https://people.wku.edu/charles.smith/wallace/zPodmore1899JSocPsyRes2.pdf
Stephen, Leslie, ed. “Dictionary of National Biography.” Volume 38. 1885-1900. Accessed online: https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofnati38stepuoft
“To the Editor of the Ipswich Journal.” Ipswich Journal. March 8, 1834. https://www.newspapers.com/image/390311986/?match=1&terms=Bealings&search-id=89f037b5-7abe-4ea6-a92e-093ecb6de2e6&search-rank=2
Willin, M. “Trevor Hall.” Psi Encyclopedia. 2021. https://psi-encyclopedia.spr.ac.uk/articles/trevor-hall
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Montague Summers wrote numerous books on witches, werewolves, vampires, black magic, and ghosts, and he edited and published numerous works and claimed to be a clergyman. But who was he, really?
Research:
"(Alphonsus) (Joseph-Mary Augustus) Montague Summers." Merriam Webster's Biographical Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, 1995. Gale OneFile: Fine Arts, link.gale.com/apps/doc/K1680086368/GPS?u=mlin_n_melpub&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=03e855eb. Accessed 7 Oct. 2026.
Babcock, R.W. “The Reverend Montague Summers as Editor of Otway.” PMLA, Vol. 48, No. 3 (Sep., 1933). Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/458356
Batley, Rebecca. “A Sacred Order for Sexual Outsiders.” G&LR. March-April 2025. https://glreview.org/article/a-sacred-order-for-sexual-outsiders/
Britannica Editors. "Oxford movement". Encyclopedia Britannica, 20 Aug. 2020, https://www.britannica.com/event/Oxford-movement. Accessed 8 October 20
Davies, Robertson. "Summers, (Augustus) Montague [name in religion Alphonsus Joseph-Mary] (1880–1948), literary scholar, occultist, and eccentric." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. October 04, 2012. Oxford University Press. Date of access 7 Oct. 2026, https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-39387
De Beer, E.S. “Mr. Montague Summers and Dryden's Essay of Dramatic Poesy.” The Review of English Studies , Oct., 1932, Vol. 8, No. 32 (Oct., 1932). Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/508177
Doherty, Bernard. “From Decadent Diabolist to Roman Catholic Demonologist: Some Biographical Curiosities from Montague Summers’ Black Folio.” Literature & Aesthetics 30 (2) 2020.
Frank, Frederick S., editor. “Montague Summers : a bibliographical portrait.” Montague Summers : a bibliographical portrait. 1988.
Hillard, David. “UnEnglish and Unmanly: Anglo-Catholicism and Homosexuality.” Victorian Studies, Winter, 1982, pp. 181-210. https://anglicanhistory.org/academic/hilliard_unenglish.pdf
Hume, Robert D. “The Uses of Montague Summers: A Pioneer Reconsidered.” Restoration: Studies in English Literary Culture, 1660-1700, Fall 1979. https://www.jstor.org/stable/43291376
Learning Services Team. “The Mysterious Montague Summers.” London Borough of Richmond and Thames Libraries. 10/31/2017. https://libraryblog.lbrut.org.uk/2017/10/montague-summers/
Montague Summers Papers, GTM-110501. Georgetown University Manuscripts. https://findingaids.library.georgetown.edu/repositories/15/resources/12229 Accessed October 07, 2026.
O'Sullivan, Gerard. “The Manuscripts of Montague Summers, Revisited.” Antigonish Review, Fall 2009, Issue 159.
Sugg, Richard. “Blood Libel: The Origins of a Conspiracy Theory.” History Today. https://www.historytoday.com/archive/blood-libel-origins-conspiracy-theory
Summers, Montague. “The Vampire In Europe True Tales Of The Undead.” With foreword by Father Brocard Sewell. University Books. 1968.
Summers, Montague. “The Vampire, His Kith and Kin.” New Hyde Park, N.Y., University Books. 1960.
"The mysterious Montague Summers." Bristol Post [Bristol, England], 14 Apr. 2020, p. 8. Gale OneFile: News, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A675410096/GPS?u=mlin_n_melpub&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=28734f51. Accessed 7 Oct. 2026.
Weeks, Jeffrey. “Coming Out: Homosexual Politics in Britain from the Nineteenth Century to the Present.” London. Quartet Books. 1977.
Workman, Richard et al. “British Sexological Society: An Inventory of Its Records at the Harry Ransom Center.” Harry Ransom Center. https://research.hrc.utexas.edu/fasearch/findingAid.cfm?eadID=01214
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This 2021 episode covers William Palmer, who was convicted in 1855 as a poisoner though there wasn't any hard evidence.
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Tracy talks about the frequency of news from research institutions getting reported years after the fact. She also clears up a misunderstanding Holly had about a painting that was discussed this week.
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