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Miguel de Cervantes and the Case of the Fake Don Quixote
Nowadays, "The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha" has no shortage of accolades. You'll hear it called the first modern novel, one of the greatest works in the Spanish canon and so on -- an…
Published on 5 years, 8 months ago
The CIA Paid War Spies with Stuff From the Sears Catalog
When CIA agent Jon Wiant began growing a spy operation in Vietnam, he ran into a pickle: the locals he wanted to hire lived in rural areas along the boarder with Laos, and they existed primarily in a…
Published on 5 years, 8 months ago
The Bottle Jumping Hoax (And Riot)
In 1749 London, a mob of people gathered outside The Theatre Royal -- the city was abuzz with excitement over a recent advertisement promising an amazing performance: a magician was planning to perfo…
Published on 5 years, 8 months ago
The Bizarrely Disturbing History of People Jumping Out of Cake
It's an old trope, and a familiar one: Four and twenty blackbirds flying from a pie, a scantily-clad woman emerging from a giant cake. Nowadays it's often thought of as a trope in folklore -- but whe…
Published on 5 years, 8 months ago
HL Hunley: The Mysterious Demise of a Civil War Submarine, with Rachel Lance
On the evening of February 17th, 1864, the HL Hunley became the first submarine in history to successfully sink an enemy ship. Immediately after this attack, the HL Hunley disappeared. More than a ce…
Published on 5 years, 8 months ago
Dromomania: The Wanderlust Disease
In the 1890s, France found itself in the groups of a bizarre, troubling epidemic -- scores of men were, apparently, wandering off in a trance-like state, only to come to their senses days or weeks la…
Published on 5 years, 8 months ago
Key West, Florida Declared a One-Minute War on the United States
It's true -- once upon a time the isolated town of Key West, Florida not only seceded from the Union, but declared war on the United States (for about sixty seconds). Tune in to learn more about the …
Published on 5 years, 8 months ago
That Time the US Literally Banned Sliced Bread
You've probably heard the old saying "the best thing since sliced bread" -- and back in the day, people in the US were genuinely over the moon about presliced bread, thanks to the work of Otto Rohwed…
Published on 5 years, 8 months ago
Two Green Children Mystified Woolpit, England
Imagine you're working in a field in the tiny community of 12th-century Woolpit, England, and encounter two green-skinned children with no knowledge of your language, a strangely specific diet, and a…
Published on 5 years, 9 months ago
Pepsi Briefly Became the Sixth Largest Navy in the World
At multiple, pivotal moments in the Cold War, Pepsi and Coke waged Cola wars all their own. The guys team up for the first episode of Ridiculous History: Quarantine.
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Published on 5 years, 9 months ago