Stuff You Missed in History Class

Durable' Mike Malloy

16 Nov 2015

Contributed by Lukas

In 1932, a speakeasy owner and several friends planned to commit a murder to cash in fraudulent insurance policies. But carrying out their plot was mu...

NY Super Week LIVE: Assassination History Pt. 2

11 Nov 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Part two of our live show is the Q&A portion of the evening. Our audience asked such amazing and insightful questions that it resulted in some gre...

NY Super Week LIVE: Assassination History Pt. 1

09 Nov 2015

Contributed by Lukas

In October, we went to New York Super Week for our first live show! Joining us was author Bryan Young, who wrote a book about presidential assassinati...

The Life and Times of Sir Isaac Newton

04 Nov 2015

Contributed by Lukas

You may know the apple/gravity story, but Isaac Newton's life was so much more than that. Not only did he contribute huge concepts to physics, mathema...

The Harlem Hellfighters and Henry Johnson

02 Nov 2015

Contributed by Lukas

In WWI, a black U.S. Army unit became one of the most decorated of the war. When these soldiers returned home, they were greeted as heroes, but were s...

Gilles Garnier, the Werewolf of Dole

28 Oct 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Sixteenth-century France had a serious case of werewolf panic. Did Garnier really transform into lupine form and attack and eat humans? Or were the gr...

A Brief History of Moonshine

26 Oct 2015

Contributed by Lukas

People have fermented foods to make alcohol for much of human history. For this episode, when we refer to "moonshine," we're talking specifically abou...

History Mysteries Double Feature

21 Oct 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Two troubling tales from the 1920s share the stage in this episode. First, newlyweds that vanished on what would have been a historic boating trip. Se...

Author Interview: Jason Surrell and The Haunted Mansion

19 Oct 2015

Contributed by Lukas

To celebrate the Halloween season with a little Disney flair, Holly chatted with the author of "The Haunted Mansion: Imagineering a Disney Classic" ab...

Linda Hazzard and Starvation Heights

14 Oct 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Hazzard had no medical training but called herself a doctor. Her patients often signed over all their money to her, gave her their jewelry, and made h...

Sir Christopher Lee

12 Oct 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Christopher Lee wasn't just a film star - he was, by any account, an amazing man. He spoke multiple languages, was an incredible singer and had fantas...

A Brief History of Redlining, Part 2

07 Oct 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Part two of this discussion of redlining explores the language that assessors used when making color-coded maps of neighborhoods in segregated cities....

A Brief History of Redlining, Part 1

05 Oct 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Redlining is a word used to describe a lot of different patterns of economic discrimination. But during the Great Depression, real estate-related disc...

A Historically Inspired Gentleman's Wardrobe

30 Sep 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Jason Merrill of Blackbird Finery joins Holly in the studio to talk about adopting the styles and accessories of yesteryear into modern wardrobes. Le...

Macario Garcia

28 Sep 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Macario Garcia was a Mexican-born soldier who served in the U.S. military in WWII, earning a Medal of Honor and a Purple Heart. But after his homecomi...

The Oregon Trail: An Interview With Rinker Buck

23 Sep 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Author Rinker Buck's new book details the trip he and his brother Nick made along the Oregon Trail. Holly chatted with Buck about his journey, his wri...

Lisztomania

21 Sep 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Franz Liszt was a pianist, a composer and a conductor, and basically the first rock star who drove fans into fits of swooning and screaming. Some fans...

Six More Impossible Episodes

16 Sep 2015

Contributed by Lukas

These are six (more) subjects frequently requested by listeners, but that aren't really workable as stand-alone episodes for one reason or another. Fe...

The Black Hole of Calcutta

14 Sep 2015

Contributed by Lukas

In 1756, after a skirmish between the British East India Company and the nawab of Bengal, dozens of captives were put into a holding cell intended for...

Asia and the 'New World': An Interview with Dennis Carr

09 Sep 2015

Contributed by Lukas

It's easy to think of globalization as a new invention, but it really has its roots in the 16th century. Museum of Fine Arts Boston curator Dennis Car...

Emmy Noether, Mathematics Trailblazer

07 Sep 2015

Contributed by Lukas

In the early 20th century in Germany, Emmy Noether pursued a career in mathematics, despite many obstacles in her path. She became one of the most res...

The Unsinkable Violet Jessop

02 Sep 2015

Contributed by Lukas

We love to talk about shipwrecks, but Violet Jessop was a shipwreck survivor -- several times over. She traveled the world aboard some of the most fam...

The Battle of Guilford Courthouse

31 Aug 2015

Contributed by Lukas

In 1781, British forces shifted their efforts in the American Revolutionary War to the southern states. Major General Nathaniel Greene and his troops ...

The Franco-Mexican Pastry War

26 Aug 2015

Contributed by Lukas

When a French pastry chef complained to King Louis-Phillippe that his shop in Mexico was destroyed in a riot, it catalyzed a conflict between the two ...

Good Humor v. Popsicle

24 Aug 2015

Contributed by Lukas

There was a time when Popsicle and Good Humor couldn't stop suing one another about frozen treats on sticks. Many legal battles were fought over milk ...

Joe Carstairs, Part 2

19 Aug 2015

Contributed by Lukas

As Carstair's speedboat racing career faltered, the heiress traveled the world and found other diversions, until she decided to purchase an island in ...

Joe Carstairs, Part 1

17 Aug 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Marion Carstairs, who preferred the name Joe, was an early 20th-century heiress who bucked traditional gender roles and for a time, hid her wealth fro...

The Billion Dollar Spy with Author David E. Hoffman

12 Aug 2015

Contributed by Lukas

During the Cold War, the CIA and KGB were in a constant game of cat and mouse to steal each other's secrets. David E. Hoffman talks with us about the ...

The Vanishing of the U.S.S. Cyclops

10 Aug 2015

Contributed by Lukas

In 1918, a U.S. Navy collier vanished without a trace after leaving Barbados. The ultimate fate of the Cyclops remains a mystery almost 100 years late...

The Amazons of Dahomey

05 Aug 2015

Contributed by Lukas

The kingdom of Dahomey may have had the world's first full-time, all-female combat fighting force. How did these women rise to become some of history'...

The Phaistos Disk of Minoan Crete

03 Aug 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Like other artifacts that defy deciphering, this clay disk, found on Crete in the early 1900s, has puzzled researchers and stirred up controversy for ...

Mary Ann Cotton

29 Jul 2015

Contributed by Lukas

In the mid-1800s, Mary Ann Cotton is believed to have poisoned as many as 21 people with arsenic, many of them her own children. She left a trail of b...

Calamity Jane

27 Jul 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Calamity Jane is one of those historical figures whose reputation has in many ways eclipsed the real story. But she was, without a doubt, a unique cha...

Dahomey and the Royal Palaces of Abomey

22 Jul 2015

Contributed by Lukas

The Royal Palaces of Abomey are a series of earthen palaces in what is now Benin. The complex is culturally and historically important to West Africa,...

Diogenes of Sinope

20 Jul 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Diogenes of Sinope was the father of the Cynicism school of philosophy. He was also an incredibly eccentric figure who spoke out against pretense, and...

A Condensed History of Rhodesia

15 Jul 2015

Contributed by Lukas

In 1888, Cecil Rhodes and John Smith Moffat duped the king of the Ndebele people into a treaty which led to the expansion of British territory in Afri...

A Brief History of Peanut Butter

13 Jul 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Peanut butter got its name in the 18th century, but it's been around in some form for hundreds and hundreds of years. The more modern history of the s...

Child Migrant Program

08 Jul 2015

Contributed by Lukas

In the 19th and 20th centuries, 150,000 child migrants were sent from Britain to Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Rhodesia. Many of these children e...

Dr. Virginia Apgar

06 Jul 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Dr. Virginia Apgar broke new ground in the fields of obstetrics and anesthesiology in the middle of the 20th century. When babies are born today, one ...

A Brief History of Harmonicas

01 Jul 2015

Contributed by Lukas

The deceptively simple harmonica has roots as far back as ancient China, though it really came into its own in Europe in the 1800s. Learn more about ...

Olive Oatman

29 Jun 2015

Contributed by Lukas

In 1851, Olive Oatman's family was attacked while traveling near the Gila River in Arizona. Olive was taken by her attackers, and lived for five years...

Archaeology Interview: Harvard Indian College

24 Jun 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Holly chats with archaeologists Patricia Capone and Diana Loren about Harvard's Indian College, the school's importance to Colonial history and the on...

Henry Gerber and Chicago's Society for Human Rights

22 Jun 2015

Contributed by Lukas

In the 1920s, the Society for Human Rights was founded in Chicago with the intent to decriminalize homosexuality. The society's founder was inspired b...

The Compton's Cafeteria Riot

17 Jun 2015

Contributed by Lukas

In 1966, a restaurant in San Francisco's Tenderloin district was the site of a violent incident in LGBT history. After the riot, a grassroots effort g...

Hokusai

15 Jun 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Hokusai lived during a time when there wasn't a lot of contact between Japan and the West. But even so, he drew influence form Western art, and Wester...

Nate DiMeo's Memory Palace

10 Jun 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Tracy and Holly talk with fellow podcaster Nate DiMeo of The Memory Palace about his research and writing process. You'll also get to listen to two of...

Charles IX of France

08 Jun 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Much like many of the other mad royals that have been discussed on the podcast through the years, Charles IX of France was prone to fits of rage so in...

The American Hippo Ranch Plan, Part 2

03 Jun 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Once the effort to import hippos to the U.S. got the backing of a politician, two men with wild and intertwined histories, Frederick Russel Burnham an...

The American Hippo Ranch Plan, Part 1

01 Jun 2015

Contributed by Lukas

In 1910, the U.S. had a meat shortage and a water hyacinth overgrowth problem. The obvious solution to the double dilemma: Import hippos from Africa. ...

An Interview With Dr. Elizabeth P. Archibald: Ask the Past

27 May 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Dr. Elizabeth P. Archibald of Ask the Past has delved deep into old manuscripts to find pertinent and impertinent advice from the past. In this interv...

A Brief History of Time Capsules

25 May 2015

Contributed by Lukas

People feel very strongly about time capsules, even though the contents are often a little underwhelming. What actually qualifies as a time capsule, a...

Frankie Manning and the Lindy Hop, Part 2

20 May 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Once Manning became a professional dancer and choreographer, his work took him all over the world. After WWII derailed his swing dancing, he had a har...

Frankie Manning and the Lindy Hop, Part 1

18 May 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Frankie Manning grew up loving dance, learning and practicing in ballrooms and private parties in New York. His innovations in creating new moves for ...

The Wright Brothers: An Interview With David McCullough

13 May 2015

Contributed by Lukas

David McCullough, two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize, talks about his research and discoveries about the Wright brothers, their extreme determinati...

The St. Kitts Slave Revolt of 1834

11 May 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Until the 1830s, the dominant industry on St. Kitts was sugar, and the majority of the people living there were enslaved Africans who kept that indust...

The Siege of Béxar

06 May 2015

Contributed by Lukas

The famed Battle of the Alamo was toward the end of the Texas Revolution - a sort of pivot just before the last battle. But at the revolution's beginn...

Alice Roosevelt

04 May 2015

Contributed by Lukas

The eldest daughter of Theodore Roosevelt was a firebrand who never shied away from the public eye. She was nicknamed "the Second Washington Monument"...

Two Other Alcotts: Bronson and May

29 Apr 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Louisa was not the only notable Alcott. Her father, Bronson Alcott, made a name for himself as a philosopher and a teacher. And her youngest sister, M...

Louisa May Alcott

27 Apr 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Once you examine Louisa May Alcott's life story, the inspirations for her writing become clear. But while she had some things in common with her most ...

The Sutherland Sisters

22 Apr 2015

Contributed by Lukas

In the late 1800s, seven sisters with musical talent and incredibly long hair made waves in the circus and on the stage. They made millions as perform...

The Sham Battle and the Cochecho Massacre

20 Apr 2015

Contributed by Lukas

It was half performance for the British troops, and half actual sham, and it led to an attack on Dover by the Pennacook tribe in 1689. Learn more abo...

S.A. Andrée and the 1897 North Pole Balloon Mission

15 Apr 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Andrée hoped to succeed in reaching the North Pole where others had failed by doing it by air. With a seemingly endless positivity, he and two other ...

The Lady Who Turned to Soap

13 Apr 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Saponification is the process of turning to soap, and in certain conditions, cadavers do it. The Soap Lady is one of the most famous cases of an adipo...

Immigration History: Lower East Side Tenement Museum, Part 2

08 Apr 2015

Contributed by Lukas

The second half of our interview with Dr. Annie Polland from the Lower East Side Tenement Museum focuses on specific figures in the building's history...

Immigration History: Lower East Side Tenement Museum, Part 1

06 Apr 2015

Contributed by Lukas

The U.S. is, at its heart, a nation of immigrants. The Lower East Side Tenement Museum works to preserve the history of many families who left their h...

The Great Moon Hoax of 1835, Part 2

01 Apr 2015

Contributed by Lukas

As the New York Sun's series of astonishing moon discoveries concluded, most people recognized that it was a hoax. But what made people buy into the t...

The Great Moon Hoax of 1835, Part 1

30 Mar 2015

Contributed by Lukas

In August 1835, the New York Sun ran a series about some utterly mind-blowing discoveries made by Sir John Herschel about the lunar surface. The seria...

P.A.R.C., Mills and Special Education

25 Mar 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Until 1975, children with disabilities in the U.S. weren't guaranteed the right to a public education. The ruling in Brown v. Board sparked a series o...

The History of Carousels

23 Mar 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Carousels are part of childhood, but they were originally billed as an entertainment for adults and children alike. And even further back than that, i...

Dr. Vera Peters

18 Mar 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Dr. Peters helped revolutionize the treatment of both breast cancer and Hodgkin's lymphoma. But, at the time, her work was largely dismissed. Read the...

King Djoser and Egypt's First Pyramid

16 Mar 2015

Contributed by Lukas

The pyramids at Giza are iconic Egyptian landmarks, but they weren't the first to appear. Djoser and his vizier Imhotep are credited with starting the...

Hartford Circus Fire

11 Mar 2015

Contributed by Lukas

In 1944, one of the most disastrous fires in U.S. history broke out during a Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus performance. Dozens of live...

The Night Witches

09 Mar 2015

Contributed by Lukas

The Night Witches were an all-female bombing regiment in the Soviet Air Force. Flying biplanes meant for dusting crops and training new recruits, they...

Artemisia Gentileschi

04 Mar 2015

Contributed by Lukas

She's often called the greatest female painter of the Baroque period, though there were only a few to compare her to. Her work is extraordinary, and r...

Codex Gigas

02 Mar 2015

Contributed by Lukas

This massive medieval manuscript, nicknamed "The Devil's Bible," contains multiple lengthy entries, a few shorter pieces, and several illustrations. W...

The Aftermath of Brown v. Board

25 Feb 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Though the Brown v. Board ruling overturned Plessy v. Ferguson, it didn't suddenly solve the segregation problem and end racism in the United States. ...

The Road to Brown v. Board

23 Feb 2015

Contributed by Lukas

It would be next to impossible to have ever had a class on American history or the American Civil Rights Movement and not heard about Brown v. Board. ...

Leo Baekeland, The Father of Plastics

18 Feb 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Dr. Leo Baekeland, the inventor of the first synthetic plastic, was a wealthy man at a young age thanks to his innovation in photograph developing. Bu...

Plessy v. Ferguson

16 Feb 2015

Contributed by Lukas

The ruling in this infamous U.S. Supreme Court case stated that segregation was legal as long as the separate facilities were equal. But most people a...

The History of Narcolepsy, Part 2

11 Feb 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Once several cases of narcolepsy were documented in the late 1880s, study of the condition became more common. But it was well into the 20th century b...

The History of Narcolepsy, Part 1

09 Feb 2015

Contributed by Lukas

People were experiencing sleep disorders long before they were studied to the degree they are now. The first European account of narcolepsy appeared i...

Six Impossible Episodes

04 Feb 2015

Contributed by Lukas

A handful of our most-requested podcast topics that don't have enough solid research for a whole show: Stagecoach Mary, Edward Mordrake, Robert the Ha...

The Catalpa and the Fremantle Six

02 Feb 2015

Contributed by Lukas

An international jailbreak! In the 1860s, a crew from the United States mounted a mission to Western Australia to rescue imprisoned members of the Iri...

The Ghost Army

28 Jan 2015

Contributed by Lukas

During WWII, the U.S. Army formed a top-secret military unit with one goal: Use artistic and theatrical skills to confuse the enemy. The 23rd Headquar...

The Glamorous Strongwoman

26 Jan 2015

Contributed by Lukas

From an early age, Katie Sandwina wowed crowds, first as a wrestling act and then exclusively as professional strongwoman. During a time when women's ...

Antoni Gaudi, Part 2

21 Jan 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Once Gaudi's work was displayed at the 1878 Paris World's Fair, his career took off. Through his connections to industrialist Eusebi Güell and archit...

Antoni Gaudi, Part 1

19 Jan 2015

Contributed by Lukas

You probably know Gaudi's work, even if you don't recognize his name. His distinctive architecture is featured throughout Barcelona. But his life star...

The Dark Legacy of Sea Monkeys

14 Jan 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Despite all the fun cartoons on the packaging featuring tiny humanoid sea creatures having wacky fun and wearing clothes, Sea Monkeys are just brine s...

Year Without a Summer

12 Jan 2015

Contributed by Lukas

In 1816, a volcano eruption in Sumbawa, Indonesia, along with several other factors, created an unusual -- and catastrophic -- series of weather event...

Unearthed in 2014! Part 2

07 Jan 2015

Contributed by Lukas

More of the 2014 history news roundup! This time out: We've got several assorted things that didn't really fit any other category, followed by medical...

Unearthed in 2014! Part 1

05 Jan 2015

Contributed by Lukas

It's time to look at some of the stuff that was literally or figuratively dug up in 2014. This episode includes: connections to past episodes, some ex...

Unearthed! Stonehenge

31 Dec 2014

Contributed by Lukas

When news about new findings at the Stonehenge site broke late in 2014, it seemed like time to update the original Stonehenge episode. But then it tur...

Unearthed! Franklin's Lost Expedition

29 Dec 2014

Contributed by Lukas

On September 1, 2014, a team of searchers discovered artifacts from the Franklin Expedition. Over the course of seven dives, additional artifacts from...

Eggnog Riot

24 Dec 2014

Contributed by Lukas

In 1826, liquor was forbidden at the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York. Cadets smuggled alcohol into the barracks anyway, and a d...

Christmas Tree Ship

22 Dec 2014

Contributed by Lukas

It's a Christmas episode, a shipwreck and a ghost story rolled into one! It's the story of the the Rouse Simmons, which sank in Lake Michigan while ha...

Nome Serum Run

17 Dec 2014

Contributed by Lukas

In 1925, a diphtheria outbreak in Nome, Alaska put a community in grave danger -- without the proper supplies to fight the disease. A daring sled-dog ...

The Great Hedge

15 Dec 2014

Contributed by Lukas

For most of India's recorded history, salt has been both abundant and subject to taxation. This continued to be the case after the British East India ...

The Lost Roman Legion

10 Dec 2014

Contributed by Lukas

The story of the Ninth Legion is a favorite among history fans who love a good mystery. But is there really any mystery here, or is the story of their...

The Iroquois Theater Fire

08 Dec 2014

Contributed by Lukas

In 1903, Chicago's newly-opened Iroquois Theater burned, killing at least 600 people. The horrible, incredibly tragic incident was the result of multi...

Henry Hudson, Part 2

03 Dec 2014

Contributed by Lukas

This episode picks up in the middle of Hudson's third voyage, as the Half Moon is making its way down North America's east coast. As Hudson doggedly p...