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Episode 591 - The Apparition of Mrs. Veal (Patreon)

Published:
2022-04-15 00:07:48
Imported:
2026-06
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Content

We're looking through The Apparition of Mrs. Veal by Daniel Defoe - it's OG social media from 1706!

Special thanks to up-and-coming reader Heather Klinke!

Next week: Thurnley Abbey by Perceval Landon

Comments

Rick Hound

Hmmm honestly I keep feeling this whole month is one long April Fool’s scheme

Ben A

When you guys noted that this tale was published as a pamphlet, all I could think of was a light reading option in the movie Airplane! (though not _quite_ the same).

Ryan Thomas

Dear Dead Mr. Defoe, You like those run-on sentences, eh? Man alive! Despite Mrs. Klinke's skillful reading, the lack of using periods really confused me away from investment.

MortalGlare

I’m so glad someone is finally getting the history of our great country right. What many don’t know however, was that it was pulled out of the ocean by the Leprechauns as guided by St Patrick.

Adequately Excellent Entertainment

I seem to recall that, at one point, having “fits” or “the falling sickness”, aka probably epilepsy, was considered to be a sign that the afflicted was getting messages from God. The same thing is the case with “speaking in tongues”, aka possibly turret’s syndrome or “just running some kind of con”, with the strange pronouncements being interpreted later like the entrails of some bird. The bit about the ghost feeling like a fit was coming on and needing to sit down is a subtle, or not so subtle depending on how wide spread the superstition continued to be at the time, suggestion that she is giving Devine Wisdom (TM) direct from the source and is nearly overcome with the power of it.

Richard Horsman

I wonder if it's a coincidence that the names Sherlock and Watson pop up in this, or if this is where Conan Doyle got them from. He did like a good supernatural encounter...

Mounty of Madness

Great, that bit of advertising jargon is now lodged in my brain. Thanks Chad, I guess...? At least I will try to not blurt it out, next time I see that trope

Rafe Ball

Ten things you didn’t know about the afterlife - number seven will shock you!

Steve

I want to thank Heather Klinke. She must have the patience of a saint.

Peter Larsen

I kind of love DeFoe. He had his fingers in so many literary pies. He kind of created our idea of pirates (along with the 1950s Treasure Island). And I love the first 100 or so years of popular printing -- they had literally no idea what a printed page should look like, so they tried out all sorts of mad things until we ended up with the system we have today and call "normal." Similarly, DeFoe was on trhe cutting edge of what was going to be "news." and what was going to be "fiction," and what was going to be "SEO marketing." He is definitely in the Highest Heaven or the Lowest Hell, even odds which.

Steve

Bunhill Fields, the dissenters' graveyard in the City of London is a great place to visit. Defoe's monument is right next to the William Blake memorial (his grave is also a bit further round) and John Bunyan's is nearby too. But my favourite is Dame Mary Page whose epitaph reads "In 67 months, she was tap'd 66 times, Had taken away 240 gallons of water, without ever repining at her case, or ever fearing the operation."

Jim Cannon

An episode where the story behind the story is a thousand times more fascinating than the story itself. The whole bad selling book and ad scheme was way more intense, and I enjoyed Chad sharing tales about the ad business, off-color as some may be. I wish you could do more Defoe, but I reckon this isn't the right 'cast to tackle Moll Flanders.

Lann The Clever

You brought up Willem Dafoe, so I am once again asking ; have you seen The Lighthouse? What did you think of it’s Lovecraftian themes?

Robby H.

Daniel DeFoe does like his long titles. It's generally accepted that he wrote a book under a false name of Captain Charles Johnson called " A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the most notorious Pyrates (1724)" (shortened to A General History of Pyrates). He also likes his tongue-in-cheek writing. A General History is one of the first mentions of the Golden Ages of Pirates. During that time frame, a golden age generally meant the height of the Roman Empire when culture and military tactics were at their height. So to imply that a bunch of drunken barbarians were cut from the same cloth as the Roman Empire may have ruffled some feathers. Also, A General History was also one of the first mentions of the Jolly Roger.