SERIES 1 - The Bunkum & Ballyhoo of World War 2

Episode 1 - South Africa’s Masked Marvel

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.

Episode 2 - Eric “Panther” Pleasants

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.

Episode 3 - The War Magician

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.

Episode 4 - The Hitler Diaries

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.

Episode 5 - Halloween Special: The Martian Invasion of 1938

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?

Episode 6 - Claude Cahun & Marcel Moore, Jersey’s Anti-Nazi Queer Icons

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.

SERIES 2

The Deadliest Man Alive & The Secret Of Dim Mak

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.

Frank Searle, Monster Hunter Extraordinaire

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.

Carlos Kaiser, Brazil’s Phantom Footballer

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.

The Life and Times of The Great Antonio

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.

Grey Owl Is Not What He Seems

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.

Does A Vampyre Walk In Highgate? (The Highgate Vampire, Part 1)

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?

The Afterlife Of The Highgate Vampire - The Secret Ingredient Is Nazis! (The Highgate Vampire, Part 2)

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.