Ridiculous History
Episodes
A Humorous History of Genetics
21 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
What makes you... well, you? It's a question humanity has wrestled with since the dawn of recorded history all the way to the modern day. In today's s...
Tsutomu Yamaguchi: The World's Only (Recognized) Double Atomic Bomb Victim
19 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
On August 6th, 1945, Mitsubishi engineer Tsutomu Yamaguchi was finally heading home from a three month assignment in Hiroshima... until the United Sta...
Gods of Deception, Part II: Art, History, Fiction and War
14 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
As Ben and Noel continue their conversation with novelist and art historian David Adams Cleveland, the group finds themselves going far beyond the wor...
Gods of Deception, Part I: Alger Hiss in the Halls of Power
12 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Throughout the 1930s and 1940s, Alger Hiss was a mover and shaker in the political sphere. Highly educated and deeply connected, Hiss worked as a lawy...
Operation LAC: That Time Uncle Sam Sprayed Poison Across St. Louis
07 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
As the US government became increasingly concerned about the possibility of large-scale biological weapons, they decided something must be done: they ...
CLASSIC - Does the US Confederacy Still Exist in Americana, Brazil?
05 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The guys took a day off to celebrate the 4th of July -- and what better time to share a classic episode about another (very strange) form of patriotis...
Millerism, Part II: The Great Disappointment (and the Aftermath)
30 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
As the alleged End of the World drew ever closer, William Miller and the Millerism movement became a pop culture phenomenon. Thousands of people quit ...
CLASSIC - Did a Real-Life Rainmaker Almost Drown San Diego?
28 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In today's episode we are revisiting a classic. Charles Mallory Hatfield considered himself a real-life rainmaker (or, as he preferred to describe him...
Millerism: America’s First End Times Gospel
23 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
You might not have heard of William Miller, but in his time he was a pretty big deal. In the first part of this two-part series, Ben, Noel and Max div...
Ben Franklin Faked a Rival's Death to Promote His Almanac
21 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Benjamin Franklin was many things: an inventor, a Founding Father, a publisher... and, it turns out, a massive troll. In today's episode, Ben, Noel an...
Why was Phrenology a Thing? Part II: A Pseudoscience (Sort of) Informs the Modern Day
16 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
While the credibility of phrenology inevitably deteriorated over time, it was neither a completely original concept, nor, in some respects, a complete...
Why was Phrenology a Thing? Part I: The Rise of Dr. Finger
14 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Once upon a time, a young man named Franz Joseph Gall thought "That's weird... all my school chums with big eyes are good at memorizing things." Years...
Nancy Wake, the White Mouse of the French Resistance
09 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Although Nancy Wake began her career as a journalist, her first-hand experience with Nazis compelled her to a new calling: the French Resistance. In t...
The US Boycotted the 1980 Moscow Olympics, and Puerto Rican Boxers Went Anyway
07 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In a response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the US, along with more than 60 other countries, boycotted the Olympics. Yet three Puerto Rican b...
Disco Demolition Night: How Disco Died at a White Sox Game
02 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Cast your memory back to 1979. Tensions across the US are high, on multiple levels. Disco dominates the music scene, and, oh boy, rock fans are mad ab...
Bolivia Fought -- And Lost -- A War For Bird Poop
31 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Most people associate think of bird poop as an annoyance -- it can gunk up sidewalks and windshields, and, occasionally, even splat on an unlucky pers...
Why You Can't Say "MacBeth" in a Theater
26 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
As one of history's most well-known, highly-regarded writers, it's no secret that Shakespeare's life and work is full of strange stories -- but did yo...
Operation Mincemeat: Britain's Ghoulish Plan to Fool the Nazis
24 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
As World War II raged on in 1943, both Allied and Axis forces knew they were riddled with spies. In a dizzying cavalcade of undercover, double, and ev...
Who the heck was Joseph Warren?
19 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
When it's time to study the American Revolution in grade school, US kids tend to learn the same few names -- Betsy Ross, George Washington, Benjamin B...
Chocolate Syrup: From Medicine to Dessert
17 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Most people nowadays associate chocolate syrup with ice cream -- but back in the day, it was considered a legitimate medicine. In today's episode, Ben...
Historical Hypocrisy: The Confederacy's Weird Stance on "Individual Rights"
12 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
While the Confederacy often portrayed itself as a champion of certain individual rights-- not applied to enslaved people, of course-- it didn't always...
Juana Maria: The Real-life Story Behind "Island of the Blue Dolphins"
10 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
No one knew the real name of the woman living alone on San Nicolas Island, but when she returned to civilization after decades in solitude, she was a ...
Curling: The Most Ridiculous Sport?
05 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The time has come! In this special episode, the one and only Super Producer Max Williams takes point on the research into one of his long-standing fas...
Nobuo Fujita Bombed Brookings, Oregon -- and Then Became a Town Hero
03 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
War is a brutal business, and it often leaves scars that last for generations. Two decades after he bombed Brookings, Oregon during World War II, form...
A Teetotaling Preacher Basically Invented Modern Tourism
28 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
When's the last time you had a vacation, just for fun? Regardless of where you went, you probably want to tip your hat to Thomas Cook. As a traveling ...
Ira Aldridge: Actor, Activist and Record-breaker
26 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
As an African-American actor in the 1800s, Ira Aldridge had the odds stacked against him. Yet despite systemic racism, as well as negative attitudes a...
Lithuanian Book Smugglers Vs. The Russian Empire
21 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
When people think of rebellion, they often think of guerilla warfare, rousing speeches and protests. But what about books? When the Russian Empire sou...
The Yule Lads Terrified Children Across Iceland
19 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Many countries have their own, distinct Christmas traditions, but Iceland's Yule Lads are especially disturbing. Born of a monsterous giantess, these ...
The Infamous Aurora UFO Incident of 1897
14 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In April of 1897, something crashed from the sky, destroying a local windmill. As rumors and speculation grew, strange reports emerged -- could there ...
How The Evil May Day of 1517 Became the Perfect Propaganda Opportunity
12 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
London of the 1500s was a bustling center of commerce, finance and industry -- and it attracted a fair number of foreign-born professionals, who sough...
Day Drinkers (Sort of) Helped Stop Cholera in London
07 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. Jon Snow -- no relation to the guy from A Song of Ice and Fire -- was in a pickle. Cholera was ravaging London, particularly in the Soho area, and...
The Much-Maligned Reign of Swedish Queen Maria Eleonora
05 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
We often assume wealth can solve everything, but unfortunately that's not the case -- and there are few better examples of this than the life of Maria...
Weird Ways People Used to Communicate, Part II: Smoke Signals and Bottled Messages
31 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
People these days are, for better or worse, increasingly accustomed to living in an area of constant communication. But how did people communicate ove...
Weird Ways People Used to Communicate, Part I: Only a Pigeon Away
29 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
People these days are, for better or worse, increasingly accustomed to living in an area of constant communication. But how did people communicate ove...
That Time A Dead Guy Won an Olympic Medal
24 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In his heyday, the story goes, Arrhichion of Phigalia was a renowned pankration champion, a brutal sport of the ancient Olympics. But he was getting o...
Julia Barnett Rice Waged an Elitist War on Noise
23 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
If you, like the majority of humans alive today, live in a city, you're more than familiar with noise -- sirens, construction, traffic and more. In to...
Ridiculous History Presents: A History of "Adult" Toys, Part 2
17 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
While it's a taboo subject in the modern day, it turns out people have been improvising ways to pleasure themselves since, well, the dawn of history. ...
Ridiculous History Presents: A History of "Adult" Toys, Part 1
15 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
While it's a taboo subject in the modern day, it turns out people have been improvising ways to pleasure themselves since, well, the dawn of history. ...
The Cobra Effect, Part 2: Four Pests and a Disastrous Success
10 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The Cobra Effect - a particularly extreme form of unintended consequences - isn't limited to India and Vietnam. In China, the technically successful F...
The Cobra Effect, Part 1: Snakes, Rats, and Unintended Consequences
08 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Back in the days of the British Raj, colonial leaders had a problem: Delhi was overrun with snakes. And not just any snakes -- cobras. These dangerous...
British Suffragettes Knew Jūjitsu
04 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
As activists in the UK fought for the right to vote (and divorce, and inherit land), they ran into increasingly brutal actions on the part of police -...
A Tale of Two Hansons: Busting Myths About the 'First' US President
02 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
It's no secret that people in the US often tend to mythologize the Founding Fathers -- so it shouldn't come as a surprise that people also, often, cla...
Did Soldiers in World War I Really Team Up to Fight Wolves?
25 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
World War I was a bloody, terrifying conflict for everyone involved -- and not just humans. In today's episode, Ben, Noel and Max accidentally run int...
Slum Tourists: When Wealthy People Toured Chinatown ‘For Fun’
23 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
It’s true — back in the day, wealthy residents of cities from London to Chicago would pay for tours of disadvantaged communities, the same way tha...
That Time Victorians Treated Seaweed like Pokemon
18 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Europe's Victorian Era was, in many ways, a study in contradiction. While society in general championed independent scientific research, institutions ...
Valentine's Day Is So Much Weirder Than We Thought
15 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Valentine's Day is a pretty normal holiday in the US and several other countries, and other parts of the world have similar holidays, focused on appre...
Weirdest Celebrity Busts, Part II: Mr. David Lee Roth and a Drunken John Wayne
10 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
What can Mr. David Lee Roth's run-ins with the law teach us about wholesomeness? Why did John Wayne have public, drunken beef with Harvard? In part tw...
Weirdest Celebrity Busts, Part I: Nixon Smuggled Weed, Arbuckle Was Innocent
09 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Did Richard Nixon smuggle weed? What can the Fatty Arbuckle scandal tell us about American society? In this week's special two-part series, guests Zar...
CLASSIC: X-Rays, Songs and Soviets: The Stilyagi Story
03 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Caught between the conflicting ideologies of the Cold War, Soviet teens were banned from collecting Western music -- smuggled records could be both ra...
Tossed Popcorn, Part 2: Chaplin was a Jerk, Brando was Insane
02 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Don’t let the charming slapstick fool you — Charlie Chaplin was a monster to his lovers, coworkers and family. His former collaborator, Marlon Bra...
Tossed Popcorn, Part 1: The Wizard of Oz and the Titanic
28 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
It's no secret that Hollywood has been home to numerous lurid, disturbing -- and, sometimes, ridiculous -- tales over the decades. In the first part o...
Peter Freuchen: Explorer, Raconteur, Movie Star and War Hero
25 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
You may not have heard of Peter Freuchen, but in his day he was one of the world's most well-known polar explorers. He also wrote prolifically about h...
Did Honduras and El Salvador Really Go to War over Soccer?
20 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
If you read the international headlines in 1969, you'd think the Central American countries of Honduras and El Salvador loved football (soccer, for th...
The US Literally Had Nazi Summer Camps
19 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
For many adults, the idea of 'summer camp' conjures up fond, nostalgic memories of childhood. And most folks see these outfits as great opportunities ...
The Emperor of the United States
13 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
When San Franciscan businessman Joshua Norton lost his fortune in a Peruvian rice deal gone sour, he temporarily disappeared from the public eye. Not ...
The Trans-Saharan Ostrich Expedition of 1911
12 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Most people haven't met an ostrich in person, but everyone knows what they are: the large, flightless birds have been around since before the rise of ...
That Time Everyone Tried To Outlaw War
07 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
War is ugly, horrific and, according to some, a necessary part of human civilization. Yet in the 1920s, world powers recovering from World War I sough...
CLASSIC: Who Solves Murders in Antarctica?
04 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Antarctica is home to one of the most brutal climates on the planet, and the few humans living on this continent face profound isolation and cramped q...
The Lil Ice Age Was Way Less Cute Than It Sounds
30 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
You've probably heard of the Ice Ages -- long periods of reduction in Earth's temperature, triggering massive expansion of glaciers and so on -- but y...
Nub City: Florida's Infamous Amputation Scam
28 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
As towns go, Vernon, Florida is pretty tiny -- it has a small population, has struggled with economic depression, and doesn't get a ton of tourists. B...
London's Tiger King, Part Two: Charles Jamrach Becomes a Problematic Hero
23 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
By 1857, London's exotic animal trade was in full swing. Animals arrived at the city from across the world (often not surviving the journey), and Char...
London's Tiger King, Part One: When Exotic Animal's Were The Hottest Flex
21 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Walking through London today, you'll doubtlessly hear cacophonous traffic, sirens, construction, countless languages -- all the noises familiar to big...
The Atlantropa Project, Part Two: What Happened to the Supercontinent?
16 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
While the idea of draining (most of) the Mediterranean sounds... ambitious, to say the least, Herman Sörgel's vision met with a surprising amount of ...
The Atlantropa Project, Part One: Saving Europe via Supercontinent
14 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Like everyone in post-World War I Europe, Herman Sörgel was horrified by the devastation of a continent-wide conflict. He saw raging poverty, crippli...
People Used Bed Bugs as Medicine for Thousands of Years
10 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
When you think of bed bugs, you probably think of dirty mattresses, irritating rashes and bites, and the dubious joy of calling an exterminator. Howev...
The US Literally Threw Pianos From Planes During World War II
07 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
As musical instruments go, pianos are pretty amazing -- they're also not particularly easy to move. Clunkiness aside, pianos provide endless hours of ...
The Sinister Side of Little Orphan Annie, Part Two: Drink Your Ovaltine
02 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Once the Little Orphan Annie comic strip was adapted to a radio program, it wasn't just a hit show -- it was a marketing coup for the good folks at Ov...
The Sinister Side of Little Orphan Annie, Part One: Parents Were Terrified
01 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
These days, most folks think of Little Orphan Annie as a folksy, wholesome slice of nostalgia -- but during its heyday as a radio program, parents acr...
CLASSIC: How White America Tried To Destroy Chinese Restaurants
25 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Today Chinese restaurants serve some of the most popular cuisine in the United States, with more than 41,000 restaurants scattered around the country....
Russia’s Real-life Ice Queen, Part 2: Weird, Brutal Flexes
24 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
As rulers go, Anna of Russia was considered pretty bad news. In the second part of this two-part series, the guys explore how Anna (aka Anna the Terri...
Russia’s Real-life Ice Queen, Part 1: The Tsar is a Jerk
18 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
“Despite being born into royalty, Anna Ioannovna didn’t have the easiest life. Her uncle publicly ridiculed her marriage, and the cruelty she expe...
That Time a Baboon Worked for the Railroad
16 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
When a horrific accident left railroad signalman James Wide without the use of his legs, he was desperate to maintain his livelihood -- an effort that...
Austin and the Texas Archives War
11 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
After its formation in 1836, the new Republic of Texas had some problems -- multiple people wanted the capital in different places. The Republic's arc...
King for a Week: The Strange Story of Otto I
10 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
For most people, the old saying "it's good to be king" is just a cool phrase -- but for magician and noted spinner of tall tales Otto Witte, this soun...
The Bloody Tale of the Sausage War
04 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Battle of Varolampi Pond has another, less formal name: the Sausage War. Don't let the funny moniker fool you -- the 1939 conflict between Finland...
Modern Thanksgiving, Part Two: Sarah Josepha Hale Finally Gets Her Wish
02 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
As the Civil War broke out, Sarah Josepha Hale found politicians were, understandably, more occupied with country-wide chaos than the creation of a na...
Modern Thanksgiving, Part One: A Culture War
28 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Today Thanksgiving is considered a largely innocuous holiday, centered on food and family. In the US, people across the country get together on the sa...
How Haunted Houses Became A Thing
27 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Haunted houses are a big deal in the United States -- like Spirit stores, they seem to spring up every October -- but whence did they originate? When ...
New England versus Vampires, Part Two: Desperation and Desecration
21 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In part two of this two-part series, Ben is joined once again with guest host Alex Williams to explore the harrowing tale of the New England Vampire P...
New England versus Vampires, Part One: The Brutal, Terrifying Life of Early Colonists
20 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
While historians continue to explore the details of the infamous Salem witch trials, another, earlier panic swept through New England -- something mod...
Ada Lovelace, Part Two: The Analytical Engine
15 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
After marrying and having three children, Ada dove back into the world of poetical science, continuing her correspondence with Charles Babbage as he t...
Ada Lovelace, Part One: How Lord Byron’s Daughter Became a Tech Visionary
12 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Today Ada Lovelace is hailed as one of the most important figures in the early history of computing -- but, during her childhood, her mother was worri...
The King of Scotland Got Real Weird with Language Experiments
07 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Scottish King James IV was, by all accounts, a learned man. As a polyglot, he was especially interested in the origin of language -- so much so, in fa...
The Rum Riot of Portland, Maine
05 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
On June 2nd, 1855, the good people of Portland Maine had reached a breaking point. The Mayor, an infamous hardline teetotaler, had just been caught ap...
The Love of Candy Almost Drove a Cactus Extinct
30 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
You might not associate cacti with candy -- on the surface, they seem to have very little in common, mainly because candy is sold in stores around the...
The Australian Prison Break of 1876, Part 2
28 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In the second part of this two-part series, the guys return to the astonishing story of the Catalpa, exploring how the men prepared for and committed ...
The Australian Prison Break of 1876 Part 1
23 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
It sounds like something straight out of a heist film: a motley crew bands together in an international conspiracy to rescue six Irishmen from a jail ...
37 Days of Peril, with Alex Williams
21 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Imagine you live in 1870, traipsing the wild frontier of North America with little more than an opera glass, a few friends and an arguably ill-informe...
Robert Smalls Stole A Confederate Ship and Sailed to Freedom, Part Two: From Slavery to Congress
16 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In the second part of this series, the guys continue the story of Robert Smalls, from his daring Confederate steamer heist to his later, life-long act...
Robert Smalls Stole A Confederate Ship and Sailed to Freedom, Part One: Planning the Heist
14 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Born into slavery, Robert Smalls dreamed of freedom for not just himself and his family, but all oppressed people. As the US became consumed in the Ci...
Sky Pilot: The Man Who Brought Religion to Lumberjacks
09 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Life was tough for lumberjacks in the 1800s. Stuck in the middle of nowhere, often in brutal living conditions, the men of Minnesota's logging camps o...
CLASSIC: Butter: Protestantism's Secret Ingredient?
07 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Protestant Reformation remains one of the most significant cultural events in the Western world. Martin Luther's 95 Theses addressed numerous conc...
Ridiculous Live: The Humor and the Heavy
02 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Recently, Ben and Noel traveled to Podcast Movement to explore a fascinating, at-times difficult subject: How do you explore a heavy story in an appro...
Flu Julia: The Con Artist Nurse That Made Bank Off Of Misery
31 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
During the flu pandemic of 1918, Julia Lyons saw opportunity amid chaos. Posing a visiting nurse in Chicago, she successfully swindled numerous desper...
History's Dumbest Criminals, Part 2
27 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In the second part of this series, the guys are joined once again by Pod Yourself A Gun's Vince Mancini and Matt Lieb to explore the startling story b...
History's Dumbest Criminals, Part 1
24 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Mobsters are often romanticized in film and fiction -- but that doesn't mean they're always geniuses. In the first part of this series, Ben and Noel a...
That Time People Were Terrified of Libraries
19 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Today, libraries across the US and the rest of the world are seen as centers of free learning, presenting enormous opportunities for children and adul...
Ostracism: How Ancient Greeks Handled Uncool Politicians
17 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
What if you could put troublesome citizens into time out for a decade? That's what ancient Athenians did through the practice of ostracism. This vote,...
Military Cats, Part 2: Simon Saves the British
12 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
When 17-year old British seaman George Hickenbottom saw an undernourished, ailing stray wandering the dockyards of Hong Kong, his heart melted. He smu...
Military Cats, Part 1: Spies and Mascots
10 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
When you think of military animals, you might imagine horses, dogs and elephants — but what about cats? As it turns out, humanity’s feline friends...