How to Curse Like Your Great-Great-Great(x25) Grandparents – with Charlotte Spence (ISH 10, October 2026)

This month's Imaginary Song Hunt is a little bit spooky (happy Halloween!)... We're on the trail of ancient tablets that hold intriguing curses and charms. We spoke to Charlotte Spence – lecturer in ancient history at St Hilda's College, Oxford and expert in ancient curse tablets. Thousands of (mostly lead) tablets survive from across Europe, dating from as early as the 6th century through the end of the first millennium CE. They hold curses covering a range of topics ranging from love (or at least desire) through to stolen possessions and featuring some rather horrible requests for gruesome misfortunes and ailments to befall the "cursee". We learn from Charlotte how to make a lead curse tablet and inscribe our curse, exploring some of the rituals practices that may have been involve, and, of course, wondering how they might have sounded when spoken (or chanted?!) out loud. If you want to learn more about this intriguing topic, Charlotte's book 'Appeals to the Supernatural in Ancient Curse Tablets: The Dead and the Divine' is available. The Imaginary Song Hunt, Episode 10 🎧 The Imaginary Song Hunt is a series about reimagining lost songs from history, using evidence, creativity, and a willingness to step beyond what’s written down. 👉 Follow the hunt on: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@lotos-lab or Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3aFzqum... or Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... or Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.co.uk/podcasts/0... For everything Imaginary Song Hunt – including side trails, bonus performances, and Stef's Zoom choir – join the Lotos Lab Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/lotos\_lab 👯‍♀️ For news and updates, sign up to the Imaginary Song Hunt mailing list: https://song.stefconner.com/sign-up-i... 💝 If you enjoyed this episode, you can support the project via the Lotos Lab Tip Jar: https://lotos-lab.com/donate/ Next full episode (4 November 2026): Stef and Jonathan chat about a song recorded in a manuscript from High Medieval England...