The Deathly Dark Tours have launched a brand new tour – complete with high quality headsets and fiendishly felonious fun.
It’s been a big year for the Deathly Dark Tours so far – as they celebrated their four-year anniversary and marked their 1,000th tour.
Now they’ve launched a brand new daytime tour, The Foul Fiends and Mysterious Murders Tour, which will equally delight and disgust captive audiences with tales of York’s darker past.
The Deathly Dark Tours is run by Dorian Deathly and his wife, Dede Deathly. The Foul Fiends and Mysterious Murders Tour first started as an online virtual tour during the pandemic, where it went viral.
“It was a livestream show that we ran maybe two or three times over the couple of years we were in and out of lockdown, and it focused more on the murders and executioners in York,” Dorian told YorkMix.
“It was one that we always wanted to bring to life in the city.”
And come to life it has – as the tour launched this week for its first audience. We gathered around The Last Drop Inn on Colliergate, ready to discover the fiendish finds in store.
We were each handed a pair of headphones, through which Dorian narrated the show using his microphone. The headsets are comfortable and easy to wear, even in the hot sunny weather, and a quick explanation by Dorian of the controls before we set off was very clear to understand.
Dorian knew that he wanted to create a “smaller, more intimate” tour in contrast with the more theatrical Deathly Dark Tour.
The new tour uses headphones “like a silent disco setup,” said Dorian. “We’re podcasters as well as running tours, so we have all the kit.
“I wanted to make sure that the sound and music that’s part of the show was really rich and sounded great because you’re listening to it for an hour and 15 minutes.”
The sound quality was indeed excellent, with everything Dorian said coming through loud and clear on the headsets.
Up to 20 people can be accommodated on the tour, with the connectivity range up to 300 metres, so people are free to roam and walk at their own pace.
For the tour, Dorian himself is fully kitted out with a mixing desk hanging off his belt, microphone holders, battery packs, amplifiers, and transmitters on his person – and all the music in the show is played out of a Microsoft Zune.
The music that features during the show is a great delight – as it’s medieval covers of popular songs, otherwise known as ‘bard-core’. All the music is by bard-core artist Stantough, and it was an added element of fun to figure out what song had been medieval-fied, with songs from artists like Taylor Swift, Beyonce and Green Day.
During the tour we journeyed through several iconic York locations and streets, such as the Shambles, Goodramgate, Precentor Court and York Minster – it’s amazing how much murder and death could happen around any corner!
We learn more about figures such as Saint Margaret Clitheroe, George Hudson, Mary Bateman (aka the Yorkshire Witch), and – with no spoilers – a very unusual supposed cure for the plague that involves, yes that’s right, a pigeon.
“We’re focusing on some perhaps lesser known criminals from history,” said Dorian. “Some great local legends.”
The tour features ‘micro murders’ too, which are half a dozen murders that there is limited knowledge of. “We just have the name, the date, and what happens, with no explanation of motive.
“The recurring thing though is the valuation of the weapon, which is what was done back in the medieval times. They put more important on the weapon than they did the murdered victim – which was pretty bleak.”
Fortunately the tour itself is not bleak, and is an extremely enjoyable hour and 15 minutes of learning more about some of York’s hidden history. Dorian is a fantastic host, with the right balance of storytelling, historical fact and light humour.
If you’re interested in learning more about the wicked and not-so-wonderful parts of York’s history, book on to The Foul Fiends and Mysterious Murders Tour – you don’t want to miss it!
The tour will run at 2pm from Thursday to Sunday, and at the moment will just be run by Dorian himself with more tour guides to be added in the future.
Tickets start from £10, and can be booked via The Deathly Dark Tours website.