Loreplay

Six hundred dead husbands. One infamous poison. And a little bottle with a saint on it. Apparently, marriage counseling in seventeenth century Italy could get extremely fucking dark. In this episode of Loreplay, Dayna Pereira explores the legend of Giulia Tofana and Aqua Tofana, the notorious arsenic poison said to have helped women escape dangerous marriages by becoming widows. From Palermo and Naples to Rome, the story features secret poison sellers, a suspiciously helpful priest, holy remedies, and husbands who allegedly never realized what was happening.

But how much of this infamous tale is folklore, and what do the historical records actually reveal? After telling the legend, we examine the Roman poisoning investigation of 1659, Gironima Spana, Giovanna de Grandis, and the women whose lives became tangled in a scandal involving murder, domestic abuse, money, and unequal justice. Was Giulia Tofana a serial killer, a feminist folk hero, or a woman whose reputation grew far beyond the evidence?

Expect dark history, true crime, Italian folklore, female rage, and some deeply unfortunate branding involving Saint Nicholas. Grandma’s holy little bottle has questions to answer.

Follow Loreplay for strange history, chilling legends, paranormal mysteries, and dark storytelling with humor. Listen, share, and tell us what you think: does the truth make this story less frightening, or even worse?


From Lizzie Borden to Elizabeth Báthory, the infamous Blood Countess, Loreplay explores true crime, haunted history, paranormal mysteries, and the people behind the legends. Join host Dayna Pereira for ghost stories, witch trials, urban legends, cryptids, and dark history told with researched storytelling, sharp sarcasm, and absolutely no patience for historical bullshit.
Follow Loreplay wherever you listen to podcasts and find us on Instagram at @loreplaypod.
Come play.

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Website: https://loreplaypod.com

Prefer to Watch 👀
Find us on YouTube here:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCP49XVyr_raHi3VVxXr91_w

👀 GOT A STORY? (I know you do…)
If you’ve experienced something weird, spooky, glitchy, or straight-up unexplainable.. send it in. Your story might be featured in a future episode.
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⚠️ Listener Discretion:
We talk about dark stuff here.. death, violence, and the occasional deeply cursed human behavior. If that’s not your vibe, totally fair… but if it is? Welcome home. 🖤

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Follow, rate, review, share it with a friend who also loves questionable life choices and spooky stories. It helps the show grow, and keeps me emotionally stable (barely).

Creators and Guests

Host
Dayna Pereira
Show Host of Multiple Chart Hitting Podcasts. French Fry and Wine Enthusiast

What is Loreplay?

Hey there, My Fellow Lore Lovers. Welcome to Loreplay. The show where we dig up haunted history, creepy folklore, and paranormal weirdness and poke it with a stick. I tell you the legend, then I tell you what the actual sources say.. and then we sit together in the gap between the two, because that’s where the good stuff lives. Loreplay is skeptic-meets-believer. I love a ghost story as much as anyone, but I love digging into if we were fed some bullshit, or if the sources check out more. If a “fact” has been passed around for 150 years without a single receipt, we’re going to talk about it. We also don’t pretend history was some charming olde timey costume party. A lot of what gets packaged as spooky folklore was really people in power hurting people with none... women burned as witches, the poor locked away, the “different” made into monsters. Loreplay calls that out. Loudly. With jokes. So, to be clear about where this show stands: we’re pro human rights, pro truth, and deeply anti historical bullshit. If that bothers you, the door’s right there. Bye Girl.. If you love learning about all the fucked up ways history has historied, and you're ready to use that knowledge as your feral superpower, then welcome! We ride at dawn.