Program 732: Vampires of Eastern Europe; Supernatural Ireland; Haunted Europe

In some cultures, the lengthening nights around the time of Halloween coincides with the belief that the worlds of the living and the dead, get to come a little closer. On the next Travel with Rick Steves, Irish author Fintan O'Toole tells us about the supernatural characters in Celtic traditions, and in Irish literature.

Author Jacob Mikanowski explains how vampires arise out of the legends of the "un-dead" in Eastern Europe.

And listeners share their encounters with "haunted Europe."

Our Halloween-themed program #732 is both fun and educational. But don't be caught off guard at the end of the program, following the close credits, by a surprise cackle and "boo!" from Rick, just before the out time at 59:00.

• Jacob Mikanowski, author of "Goodbye Eastern Europe: An Intimate History of a Divided Land" (Pantheon)
• Irish journalist Fintan O'Toole, author of "We Don't Know Ourselves" (Liveright)

• Jacob Mikanowski is the author of "Goodbye Eastern Europe."
• Fintan O'Toole has been called "Ireland's leading public intellectual" by his colleagues at the Irish Times. He teaches at Princeton University in New Jersey as a visiting lecturer in Irish Letters.
• Fintan is the author of "A History of Ireland in 100 Objects," and his latest title is "We Don't Know Ourselves: A Personal History of Modern Ireland."
• Caller Ann from Illinois e-mailed us one of the photos she took in Prague, where the unexplained images she mentions appeared. The first version is the photo, as she took it.
  In the second version, Ann outlines what she sees as two "ghost" images in it. She notes, "see a faint face on the one on the right." In the third version, Ann zooms in on the image.
• Rick offers a tour and map of Pere Lachaise Cemetery in his Paris audio tours.

• Used a compass to find areas of "high paranormal activity" while on a tour in England at a graveyard in Stanton and the Tower in London. "Got the whole tour group looking for ghosts. Both areas give off creepy feelings." (Jack in Sussex, New Jersey)
• Noticed two ghostly figures in the background of a photo she took in the main square of Prague (one of which had a face). "We turned around behind us to see if anyone was there. Nobody was around. Looks like some ghosts wanted to be in the photo as well." (Ann in Elmwood Park, Illinois)
• Had a strange experience with her husband in the catacombs of Paris. "As we approached the entrance to the catacombs, I posed beneath the sign warning 'Arrête! C'est ici L'empire de la mort' and acted scared while my husband took a picture. As we crossed the threshold, my husband's flashlight bulb popped and my flashlight went dead. We spent several minutes trying to get them working again, to no avail. When we passed back through the threshold, my flashlight started working again. I said aloud, 'I'm sorry if I was being disrespectful by pretending to be scared' and decided to be more reverent.

  The strangest part of this story is that we kept a blog for the five weeks we were in Europe, and the only picture we posted that shows up only as an X is this one of me in front of the catacomb entrance. Creepy!" (Jenny in Houston)

• Another story of being scared in the Paris catacombs. "The scariest place my wife and I have been would have to be the catacombs of Paris. One of the most eerie things I've seen is the crypt for the 'famille Raspail' in Pere Lachaise cemetery." (Jerry in Minneapolis)
• Traveling in Martin Luther's footsteps, with wife and son, "we had just visited the site outside Erfurt where he was nearly struck by lightning. That night we were camped and a tremendous thunderstorm hit. The wind and rain nearly destroyed our tent. It must have been similar to what Luther experienced, but unlike Luther, I did not vow to become a monk." (Michael in Raleigh, North Carolina)

• Patrick Wedd, "Funeral March of a Marionette (Gounod)," CBC Special Edition, vol. 2 (collection) / CBC Records
• Shantel, "Bucovina," Gypsy Groove (collection) / Putumayo
• Guiomar Novaes, "Mazurka for piano No. 13 in A minor, op. 17-4, B. 77-4 (Chopin)," Chopin Favorites / Vox
• Jango, "Vengerka (Hungarian)," Byla Ne Byla / Ukranian Records
• Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, "Final," The City of Lost Children (soundtrack), Point Music-Polygram
• Muzsikas, "Duo 44' Erdelyi Tanc (Duo No. 44-Transylvania Dance) (Bartok)" Bartok Album / Hannibal
• Orchestre du Capitole de Toulouse, "Les feuilles mortes" ("Autumn Leaves"), from the soundtrack to the Joseph Kosma film, "Les portes de la nuit," Musiques de films de Marcel Carné  / EMI Classics  
• * Shantel, "Bucovina," Gypsy Groove (collection) / Putumayo
• Loreena McKennitt, "The Mummers' Dance," The Book of Secrets / Quinlan Road
• Déanta, "King of the Blues," Celtic Collection (compilation) / Putumayo
• Grace O'Malley Quartet, "Jig, from Second Suite in F, op. 28 (Holst)," Say Grace / (self-released)
• OMI_OMN_0188_01301_The_Celts_APM
• Loreena McKennitt, "The Old Ways," The Visit / Quinlan Road 
• Auréole, "The Wind that Shakes the Barley," Celtic Grace: Airs, Dances and Ballads from Ireland / E 1 Music International 
• 2FM_2FM_0073_00701_Celtic_Lament_APM
• Cathie Ryan, "Mo Nion O," Through Wind and Rain / Mo Leanbh
• Arthur Rubenstein, Chicago Symphony (Fritz Reiner, conductor), "Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini," Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto #2 in C minor / RCA
• * Eleanor Kane, "Morning Dew-Travelers-Shark's Favorite," From Galway to Dublin: Early Recordings of Irish Traditional Music (collection) / Rounder
• intro to Mylene Farmer, "Allan (Extended Mix)," Dance Remixes / Polygram  (France)
• Siouxsie, "The Lighthouse," Hector Zazou: Songs from the Cold Seas  (collection) / Columbia
• Wendy Carlos, "Transitional," Tales of Heaven and Hell / East Side Digital
• London Philharmonic Orchestra, Geoffrey Simon, conductor, with vocalist Anthony Roden, "Danse Macabre, Opus 40 (song version) (Saint-Saens)," Saint-Saens: Africa, Samson and Delilah Fantasy, et al. / Cala Records
• Mannheim Steamroller, "Funeral March of a Marionette (Gounod)," Halloween / American Gramaphone

* Indicates filler music used during breaks

• Program #732 is intended to air in the week before Halloween and through the All Saints / All Souls Day observance on November 1 and 2. Segments A and B deal with Old World traditions and superstitions in Eastern Europe and Ireland. Segment C features listeners' reports of potentially paranormal encounters in Europe.
• The program 732 promo mentions Halloween.
• At 17:17, Jacob reports that cremation is now dominant in the Czech Republic, on "the opposite spectrum" from Poland, which favors elaborate funerals.
• In the reset at 26:02, Rick notes that Fintan is teaching a course at Princeton on "Ghosts, Vampires and Zombies in Irish Theatre and Literature."
• Rick says that Fintan will be back with us to talk about his latest book "We Don’t Know Ourselves" "in December" at 26:34 and "in a few weeks" at 38:10.
• Rick says we're "celebrating Halloween right now" at 35:17 and 37:12. He mentions the holiday again at 55:37 with a caller who says it's his birthday, and closes the show at 57:46 with "Happy Halloween."
• At 55:02, Rick says that he includes a guided tour of Pere Lachaise Cemetery in Paris in his guidebook. We've included a link to Rick's audio guide to the cemetery with this week's weblinks.