Podcast Episodes
Back to Search![How to Make the Olympics (Without Supernatural Athletic Ability) [from Very Special Episodes]](https://www.omnycontent.com/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/a9f8aaf1-b12b-40b8-85aa-b08f0126e2b6/67f12bf4-e605-465a-8a44-b3ee00108a2d/image.jpg?t=1770774441&size=Large)
How to Make the Olympics (Without Supernatural Athletic Ability) [from Very Special Episodes]
Elizabeth Swaney fulfilled her childhood dream of becoming an Olympian, defying all odds. But it wasn’t supernatural athletic ability that got her th…
2 months, 1 week ago
![Meet the Steagles: When the Eagles and Steelers Joined Forces in WWII [from Very Special Episodes]](https://www.omnycontent.com/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/a9f8aaf1-b12b-40b8-85aa-b08f0126e2b6/c7f08d69-b510-42bd-a152-b3e90165636c/image.jpg?t=1770503109&size=Large)
Meet the Steagles: When the Eagles and Steelers Joined Forces in WWII [from Very Special Episodes]
During World War II, football itself was at risk. The Steagles—a hybrid of the Philadelphia Eagles and Pittsburgh Steelers—were a desperate wartime e…
2 months, 2 weeks ago
![Big in Japan: Kentucky Fried Christmas [from Very Special Episodes]](https://www.omnycontent.com/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/a9f8aaf1-b12b-40b8-85aa-b08f0126e2b6/512a2a90-d572-4bed-83fb-b3bc0132a9b0/image.jpg?t=1766515266&size=Large)
Big in Japan: Kentucky Fried Christmas [from Very Special Episodes]
In much of the world, Christmas dinner means roasted turkey, glazed ham, or a table crowded with family recipes passed down for generations. But in J…
3 months, 4 weeks ago
Very Special Episodes: The Cabbage Patch Crisis
In 1983, a cherubic, homely doll triggered something close to national hysteria. Parents fought in store aisles. Shelves were stripped bare. Even the…
4 months ago
Very Special Episodes: Skylab Is Falling
In 1979, the world watched as NASA’s 77-ton space station made its fiery plunge back to Earth. When Skylab broke apart over a sleepy Australian town,…
4 months, 1 week ago
Introducing: What Happened in Nashville
What Happened in Nashville is a deeply reported investigation into the sudden collapse of a Tennessee fertility clinic, and the patients caught in th…
4 months, 2 weeks ago
![The Fundamental Magical Element [from Very Special Episodes]](https://www.omnycontent.com/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/a9f8aaf1-b12b-40b8-85aa-b08f0126e2b6/8691fdf6-5e2f-479f-83a2-b3a80029c395/image.jpg?t=1764729881&size=Large)
The Fundamental Magical Element [from Very Special Episodes]
Two Jamaican musicians are making a bold claim. They say they invented the now-ubiquitous reggaeton beat on a specific track in 1989. They're suing s…
4 months, 2 weeks ago
A Very Special Thanksgiving Mailbag
It's Fandemonium! This week Dana, Zaron, and Jason respond to listener emails. They tell their Very Special origin stories, pick their favorite episo…
4 months, 3 weeks ago
Very Special Episodes: The Dogs of Chernobyl
When Russia invaded Ukraine, hundreds of starving dogs were trapped inside the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. For years, Oregon-based veterinarian Dr. Jen…
5 months ago
Very Special Episodes: The Grocery Store That Killed Communism
In 1989, Boris Yeltsin walked into a Houston supermarket — and walked out ready to end an empire. What he saw in Texas that day would shake the found…
5 months, 1 week ago