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Ep. 8 Mass Hysteria: How Imaginary Epidemics Have Wreaked Havoc Throughout History
Episode 8
It’s a summer day in Strasbourg, France. The year is 1518. A woman named Frau Troffea steps into the city square and starts to dance. There’s no music and yet she twists and turns for hours while onl…
Published on 2 years, 4 months ago
Ep. 7 Titanic: How a Perfect Storm of Events Sank an “Unsinkable” Ship
Episode 7
In 1911 Shipbuilder magazine featured an ocean liner under construction in Belfast, Ireland. It was called Titanic and it was the largest moveable object ever built. With new state of the art technol…
Published on 2 years, 4 months ago
Ep. 6 Highclere Castle: How the True Story of “Downton Abbey” Is Stranger Than Fiction
Episode 6
“Downton Abbey” is a popular period drama set in Edwardian England that details the life of the Crawley family, their motley crew of servants and of course Dame Maggie Smith playing the ever witty an…
Published on 2 years, 4 months ago
Ep 5. Trail of Tears: How Andrew Jackson Got Away With Genocide and Still Ended Up on the 20 Dollar Bill
Episode 5
“Murder is murder whether committed by the villain skulking in the dark or by uniformed men stepping to the strains of martial music. Murder is murder and somebody must answer.” Those are the words o…
Published on 2 years, 4 months ago
Ep. 4 Vikings: How Norsemen Beat Columbus to the "New World" by 500 Years
Episode 4
In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue. I’m sure you’re familiar with the singsong mnemonic meant for remembering the year Christopher Columbus stumbled upon islands in the Caribbean. This set off a …
Published on 2 years, 5 months ago
Ep. 3 Ada Lovelace: How History Overlooked the First Ever Computer Programmer Because She Was a Woman
Episode 3
Computer science is a field completely dominated by men. Charles Babbage, Alan Turing, Tim Berners-Lee, Steve Jobs, the list goes on and on. But on that list, pretty high up on that list is Ada Lovel…
Published on 2 years, 5 months ago
Ep. 2 Blackbeard: How Edward Thatch Became the Most Notorious Pirate Without Actually Killing Anyone
Episode 2
He was said to embody the devil himself - extraordinarily tall with a wild black beard and hair tied up with lit fuses. His eyes, like embers, burned with a demonic glow and even the fiercest of men …
Published on 2 years, 5 months ago
Ep. 1 Paris Catacombs: How France Turned 6 Million Dead Bodies Into a Tourist Attraction
Episode 1
Roughly 5 stories beneath the streets of Paris you’ll find the bones of over 6 million people stacked in neat rows and arranged in grotesquely intricate designs. The Paris Catacombs attract over 500,…
Published on 2 years, 5 months ago