Historians don’t want you to know about this pirate—or maybe the calendar doesn’t. The legend says Jed “Redbeard” Zeppelin ruled the 1800s Caribbean, “6 foot 12,” a giant who sank 300+ ships and even dueled Blackbeard (who, records note, died in 1718). Then comes the headliner: on “February 30, 1867,” Abraham Lincoln supposedly sent the entire navy to end Redbeard—an impossible date and a president who’d already been dead two years.The story doesn’t slow down. A climactic sea battle, a sinking flagship, Redbeard lost to the depths—until 1955, when an exploration crew finds a wreck, an air pocket, and a door that swings in the dark. Heavy footsteps. A towering, blind figure steps through the brine and says, “Finally, some action.”In this episode, we critique the tall-tale mechanics: how anachronisms (Feb 30, Lincoln in 1867, Blackbeard in the 1800s) become badges of belief, why a wreck becomes a stage, and how a single line can keep a story breathing underwater. No verdicts—just the images that won’t quite drown: barnacled beams, a pocket of stale air, and a voice that sounds older than the sea.

Ask this episode

“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.

Transcript

Related