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Business Plot: The Alleged Coup to Oust FDR
What if a decorated Marine was quietly approached to front a plan to pressure Franklin D. Roosevelt out of power? In this episode, we dig into the Bu…
2 months, 2 weeks ago
Cymothoa exigua: The Tongue-Eating Parasite That Becomes the Tongue
What kind of parasite eats a fish’s tongue and then stays behind as the tongue? In this episode, we unpack Cymothoa exigua, the tongue-eating parasit…
2 months, 2 weeks ago
Encephalitis lethargica: The Sleeping Epidemic That Vanished
A real epidemic once left people trapped in a strange half-awake state, sometimes frozen in place, and then seemed to disappear before doctors could …
2 months, 2 weeks ago
Bal des Ardents: The Masked Ball That Nearly Burned the King
One torch, one masked costume, and a royal ball in 1393 nearly ended with the King of France burning alive. In this episode, we unpack the Bal des Ar…
2 months, 2 weeks ago
Fritz Haber: Feeding Billions, Fueling Chemical War
One chemist helped turn air into fertilizer for billions of people — and then helped turn the same science toward poison gas. In this episode, we unr…
2 months, 3 weeks ago
Yasuke: Samurai, Bodyguard, or Legend?
An African man in Oda Nobunaga’s Japan became one of history’s most debated figures: Yasuke, the so-called Black samurai, bodyguard, or something in …
2 months, 3 weeks ago
Bass Reeves: The Real Lone Ranger?
What if the most famous masked lawman in American folklore had a real-life predecessor — and he was a formerly enslaved deputy U.S. marshal named Bas…
2 months, 3 weeks ago
Robert Smalls: The Enslaved Pilot Who Seized a Warship
An enslaved pilot in Charleston Harbor stole a Confederate warship, passed armed forts, and sailed his family to freedom in plain sight. In this epis…
2 months, 4 weeks ago
Krakatoa, 1883: The Eruption Heard 3,000 Miles Away
A volcanic eruption in 1883 was heard 3,000 miles away—and that was only the first strange thing Krakatoa did. In this episode, we follow the Krakato…
3 months ago
Carrington Event: The Solar Storm That Could Blackout the Grid
In 1859, a solar storm known as the Carrington Event sent telegraph wires sparking and set the stage for the biggest “what if” in space weather histo…
3 months ago