Episode #181- What Were The Hell-Fire Clubs? (Part I)

In Britain in the early 18th century private social clubs were all the rage. These societies grew out of the emerging coffeehouse culture and soon became an integral part of the social life of the British upper crust. The most notorious of all these groups was the so-called Hell-Fire Club. In 1721 a near panic was fueled by the English press, who reported that this club hosted orgies, encouraged blasphemy, and held rude pantomimes of sacred religious rituals. Even King George I himself became concerned that these clubs were corrupting British society. But how much of this was real and how much was invented by the imaginative British press? Tune-in and find out how the Farting Club, Giant Drunkasadog , and someone called Lady Polygamy all play a role in the story.

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