During Medieval times, the Black Death wiped out one-fifth of the world's population. Four centuries later, in 1665, the plague returned with a vengeance, cutting a long and deadly swathe through the British Isles. Though the murderous contagion even...

The Hell-Fire Clubs scandalized eighteenth-century English society. Rumours of their orgies, recruitment of prostitutes, extensive libraries of erotica, extreme rituals, and initiation ceremonies circulated widely at the time, only to become more sen...