The Past Macabre

Join Egyptologist Stephanie Rice as she delves into topics such as the elaborate tombs built to immortalize the dead, ancient guardians of the afterlife, and the tales of heroes who defied and often triumphed over deities of death. The Past Macabre explores the diverse ways in which cultures throughout history have sought to understand, confront, and transcend death.

Halloween Episode: The Restless Dead - Ep 25
Rachel Roden Rachel Roden

Halloween Episode: The Restless Dead - Ep 25

Around the world and throughout our entire written history, humanity has believed that the dead can return to the land of the living, even if only for a short time. Through ancient texts and archaeological research, we can trace how people long ago understood hauntings, feared the unburied, and tried to keep the dead at rest.

In this Halloween special, discover just a few of the stories of ghosts, revenants, vampires, and other restless dead from ancient to medieval sources. From the oldest texts in the world in Ancient Mesopotamia that speak of the ghosts that walked among the living, to the first Classical story to identify necromancy in Ancient Greece, to the Norse sagas of heroes defeating terrifyingly strong draugr, and the origins of vampires in Slavic lore. Explore archaeological discoveries of graves referred to as "deviant" or "anti-vampire" burials from Greek and Slavic cemeteries where the dead were physically stopped from rising again.

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Sunken Cities Part 3: Thonis-Heracleion, the City of Commerce and Ceremony - Ep 24
Rachel Roden Rachel Roden

Sunken Cities Part 3: Thonis-Heracleion, the City of Commerce and Ceremony - Ep 24

In this episode, we’ll explore the rediscovery and legacy of Thonis-Heracleion, a sacred port city that was lost beneath the Mediterranean Sea for over 1200 years. During its peak, the city stood as both a major checkpoint for foreign merchants entering Egypt and a spiritual center tied to the worship of Amun, Khonsu, Osiris, Aphrodite, and many more Egyptian and Greek deities.

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Sunken Cities Part 2: The Ancient Mysteries of Canopus - Ep 23
Rachel Roden Rachel Roden

Sunken Cities Part 2: The Ancient Mysteries of Canopus - Ep 23

There’s so much info to share about Canopus that it needed a second episode!

In this episode, we take a look at some of the myths and deities associated with Canopus as well as earlier finds that have provided us with important details about the city.

According to myth, the city began a the site where a Homeric hero met a gruesome end. It grew to become the main trade hub connecting Mediterranean routes to the Nile, a sacred city of several deities, and an internationally famous center of healing.

Under the Ptolemies, Canopus became the site of the Mysteries of Osiris, blending Greek and Egyptian rituals of death and rebirth in order to gain sacred knowledge. We’ll explore all we know about this mysterious annual ritual and others that were held here.

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Welcome to The Past Macabre! Where we dive into humanity’s enduring obsession with death—and what lies beyond it!