Ridiculous History

By iHeartPodcasts

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Category: History

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Subscribers: 6739
Reviews: 18
Episodes: 780

Arthur Embleton
 Mar 24, 2022
So many adverts! I can't listen to this, just as you're getting into a story - bam here's three adverts for irrelevant podcasts. Madness


 Mar 24, 2022

matt
 Aug 22, 2021
very entertaining

Allie
 Mar 7, 2021
I wish they would stop interrupting and cutting off their own content with ads. I've missed a lot because of this


 Dec 11, 2020

Description

History is beautiful, brutal and, often, ridiculous. Join Ben Bowlin and Noel Brown as they dive into some of the weirdest stories from across the span of human civilization in Ridiculous History, a podcast by iHeartRadio.

Episode Date
CLASSIC: That Time Chewbacca Needed Bodyguards
Nov 23, 2024
How Emergency Call Lines Became A Thing
Nov 21, 2024
Are the Vikings to Blame for Cats?
Nov 19, 2024
CLASSIC: Napoleon Bonaparte Was Attacked by Bunnies -- And Lost
Nov 16, 2024
The Most Ridiculous Weather of Baseball
Nov 14, 2024
Bhutan Grades Itself On Happiness
Nov 12, 2024
CLASSIC: California Was Named for a Fictional Island Ruled by a Black Amazon Queen
Nov 09, 2024
The World's Weirdest Sports, Part Two: Literal Murderball
Nov 07, 2024
The World's Weirdest Sports, Part One: Buzkashī is Where You Fight Over A Dead Goat
Nov 05, 2024
CLASSIC: Ancient Mayan Ritual Alcohol Enemas
Nov 02, 2024
One Guy Was So Good At Violin That People Thought He Worshipped Satan
Oct 31, 2024
Credit Scores are Absolutely Ridiculous
Oct 29, 2024
CLASSIC: That Time Vermont Was an Independent Republic
Oct 26, 2024
Spontaneous Generation, Part Two: "Broth Science"
Oct 24, 2024
Spontaneous Generation, Part One: Mice and Grain
Oct 22, 2024
CLASSIC: The Capture of Guam Was Bloodless and Quick, All Due to a Misunderstanding
Oct 19, 2024
Ridiculous Royal Deaths, Part 5: A Blind and Bloody Finale (For Now)
Oct 17, 2024
Sir Adrian Carton de Wiart was Darn Near Unkillable
Oct 15, 2024
CLASSIC: Are All US Presidents Actually Related?
Oct 12, 2024
Post-Presidential Careers, Part Two: Adams, Taft, And More
Oct 10, 2024
Post-Presidential Careers, Part One: Happy Birthday, Jimmy!
Oct 08, 2024
CLASSIC: What's the deal with two-dollar bills?
Oct 05, 2024
Mark Twain Was a Terrible Investor, Part Two: Typesetters, Steam Pulleys and Tesla
Oct 03, 2024
Mark Twain Was a Terrible Investor, Part One: The Legend of "Josh"
Oct 01, 2024
CLASSIC: How James Bond Created a Mexican Dia de los Muertos Tradition
Sep 28, 2024
What is Karaoke? Part Two: Going Global; Careful What You Sing
Sep 26, 2024
What is Karaoke? Part One: An Origin Story
Sep 24, 2024
CLASSIC: Did Richard Nixon Unwittingly Smuggle Drugs for Louis Armstrong?
Sep 21, 2024
The Nebraska Episode
Sep 19, 2024
Occupy Alcatraz!
Sep 17, 2024
CLASSIC: 3 Times Society Refused to Accept New Books on Science
Sep 14, 2024
The Ridiculous, Murky Origins of Pasta, Part Two: From Myth to the Modern Day
Sep 12, 2024
The Ridiculous, Murky Origins of Pasta, Part One: Basic Ingredients, Delicious Results
Sep 10, 2024
CLASSIC: That Time We Erased a (HUGE) Waterfall
Sep 07, 2024
Patents Are Absolutely Bonkers: An Origin Story
Sep 05, 2024
That Time a Swedish Queen Became So Enlightened, She Quit Being the Queen
Sep 03, 2024
CLASSIC: The Poetic Justice of Death by Molten Gold
Aug 31, 2024
You Auto-go to the Drive-in, Part Two: Driving In and Out of History
Aug 29, 2024
You Auto-go to the Drive-in, Part One: Cars Meet Cinema
Aug 27, 2024
CLASSIC: Japan, Baseball and the Curse of the Colonel
Aug 24, 2024
The Disturbing History of Last Meals, Part Two: Famous Final Snacks
Aug 22, 2024
The Disturbing History of Last Meals, Part One: A Creepy Origin Story
Aug 20, 2024
CLASSIC: That Time the US Built a Flying Aircraft Carrier
Aug 17, 2024
CLASSIC: Yes, Those are Corpses in the Diorama
Aug 15, 2024
CLASSIC: Weird People Who Built Weird Things
Aug 13, 2024
CLASSIC: What was the West Point Eggnog Riot?
Aug 10, 2024
The Noble -- and Kind of Ridiculous -- History of Butlers
Aug 08, 2024
CLASSIC: Lyndon Johnson Chatted on the Phone More than a Teenager
Aug 06, 2024
The Founding of the Smithsonian, Part Two: James Gives America a Fortune -- and a Mission
Aug 01, 2024
The Founding of the Smithsonian, Part One: The Remains of the James
Jul 30, 2024
CLASSIC: Arsenic: The Assassin's Dream Weapon
Jul 27, 2024
The Orphan Train: That Time the US Auctioned Children Via Rail
Jul 25, 2024
20 Questions: A Ridiculous Crossover, Part Two
Jul 23, 2024
CLASSIC: The Killer Marketing Campaign Behind Guy Fawkes
Jul 20, 2024
CLASSIC: When Ancient India Beat Machiavelli to the Punch
Jul 18, 2024
The Preposterous History of Artificial Flavors, Part Two: Ain't Nothing Like The Real Thing
Jul 16, 2024
CLASSIC: The Rise of Harvey Wiley's Poison Squad
Jul 13, 2024
The Preposterous History of Artificial Flavors, Part One: The Vanilla Problem
Jul 11, 2024
"Right on," Said the Pope: How the Swiss Guard became the Elite Protectors of the Vatican
Jul 09, 2024
CLASSIC: Step Aside, James Bond: The Strange Stories of Espionage Animals
Jul 06, 2024
Ottoman Harems Were Disturbing and Ridiculous, Part Two: A Real-life Game of Thrones
Jul 04, 2024
Ottoman Harems Were Disturbing and Ridiculous, Part One: Busting Myths
Jul 02, 2024
CLASSIC: How Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Influenced Star Trek
Jun 29, 2024
Popeye Changed America, Part Two: Popeye Ain't Perfect
Jun 27, 2024
Popeye Changed America, Part One: A Breakout Star
Jun 25, 2024
CLASSIC: What was the 'Great Stink' of London?
Jun 23, 2024
The Constitution is Amazing (and Ridiculous), Part Two: The Game of Amendments
Jun 20, 2024
The Constitution is Amazing (and Ridiculous), Part One: A Troubled, Ambitious Origin Story
Jun 18, 2024
CLASSIC: How Farmers Built A Barbed Wire Phone Network
Jun 15, 2024
Ridiculous Video Game Tie-ins, Part Two: The Olympics and the Great Game of Chex Quest
Jun 13, 2024
Ridiculous Video Game Tie-ins, Part One: The Rise of Cool Spot -- and Fall of the Noid
Jun 11, 2024
CLASSIC: The Strange Story of Canadian Margarine Bootleggers
Jun 08, 2024
Malta: Tiny and Amazing, Just Like The Dog
Jun 06, 2024
The Ridiculous History of Credit Cards
Jun 04, 2024
CLASSIC: San Francisco's Egg War
Jun 01, 2024
Introducing: Sixteenth Minute (of Fame)
Jun 01, 2024
Skyscrapers, Part Two: An Arms Race to the Sky
May 30, 2024
Skyscrapers, Part One: A Guy and a Birdcage
May 28, 2024
CLASSIC: The Wild West Was Actually Pretty Chill
May 28, 2024
On Theme, Part Two: The Cyclical Evolution of Music
May 23, 2024
On Theme, Part One: Ernest Hogan's Success and Regret
May 21, 2024
CLASSIC: How A Grudge Match Launched the Ford GT40
May 18, 2024
The QWERTY Keyboard is Purposely Bad
May 16, 2024
Auction Houses: It's Not *All* Money Laundering
May 14, 2024
CLASSIC: "Vitamin Donuts" Were A Real Thing
May 11, 2024
Thomas Nast, Part Two: A Cartoonist Conquers Corruption (and Moves to Ecuador)
May 09, 2024
Thomas Nast, Part One: The Cartoonist Who Shaped America
May 07, 2024
CLASSIC: The Rotten, Sausagey Secret Origin of Botox
May 04, 2024
Books You Can't Read -- By Design!
May 02, 2024
La Maupin: The Swordfighting Opera Singer of France
Apr 30, 2024
CLASSIC: The Weird World of Meat Jell-O (A Gelatin Origin Story)
Apr 27, 2024
A History of Roller Coasters, Part Two: Higher, Faster, More Expensive
Apr 25, 2024
A History of Roller Coasters, Part One: Early Ups and Downs
Apr 23, 2024
CLASSIC: London Made a Train for the Dead
Apr 20, 2024
The Page-turning Evolution of the Encyclopædia Britannica
Apr 18, 2024
A Ridiculous History of Worcestershire Sauce
Apr 16, 2024
CLASSIC: Roald Dahl: Children's Author and Secret Agent
Apr 13, 2024
Micronations: How Liechtenstein Became A Country
Apr 11, 2024
Why Are There So Many Captain Marvels?
Apr 09, 2024
CLASSIC: When did ALL-CAPS type become YELLING?
Apr 06, 2024
Look at Us, Late to the Ridiculous History of Easter
Apr 04, 2024
Royal Deaths, Part Four: The Unfortunate Lives of Scottish Kings
Apr 02, 2024
The Delaware Wedge, Part Two: The Wedge and The Horn
Mar 28, 2024
The Delaware Wedge, Part One: A Tiny State with Massive History
Mar 26, 2024
Back to the Choo-ture: the Enduring Nostalgia of Model Trains
Mar 21, 2024
PEZ: Candy or Anti-smoking Aid?
Mar 19, 2024
Mobituaries with Mo Rocca, Part Two: What's Past is Prologue
Mar 14, 2024
Mobituaries with Mo Rocca, Part One: Mo Eulogizes The Pager
Mar 12, 2024
Awful Candy, Part Two: Peeps, Licorice, Wax Lips and More
Mar 07, 2024
Awful Candy, Part One: Tootsie Rolls Saved the War -- and Divided the World
Mar 05, 2024
It Is Literally Time For The Leap Year Episode
Feb 29, 2024
The Ridiculous History of Hot Sauce
Feb 27, 2024
CLASSIC: Why does the Guinness Beer Company Track World Records?
Feb 22, 2024
20 Questions: A Ridiculous Crossover, Part One
Feb 20, 2024
Tecumseh's Curse, Part Two: Boy, It's Tough to be President
Feb 15, 2024
Tecumseh's Curse, Part One: Rise of The Prophet
Feb 13, 2024
History Is Absolutely Riddled With Famous Mistranslations
Feb 08, 2024
Stuff That Got Left Over, Part Two: Hot Tubs, The Last Shantyman, President Taft Had Pet Cows
Feb 06, 2024
The Puzzler Returns, Part Two: A Field Trip to the CIA
Feb 01, 2024
The Puzzler Returns, Part One: Puzzles and Spies
Jan 30, 2024
A Boeing Wonderland, Part Two: A Fake Rooftop City For All!
Jan 25, 2024
A Boeing Wonderland, Part One: A Magician Tries to Camouflage Entire Airfields
Jan 24, 2024
Calvin Coolidge Was Super Weird...and Surprisingly Cool
Jan 19, 2024
The Ridiculous History of Baseball Caps: How One Hat Traveled the World
Jan 16, 2024
Breeching: A Weird Historical Obsession with Children's Pants
Jan 11, 2024
The Salton Sea: How A Little Whoopsie Turned into Ecological Disaster
Jan 09, 2024
CLASSIC: Digging Up James K Polk (For the Third Time)
Jan 04, 2024
CLASSIC: The Atomic Whoops: When the US Air Force Bombed South Carolina
Jan 02, 2024
The History of Soda Pop is So Weird, Part Two: Nostalgia is a Heck of a Drug
Dec 29, 2023
The History of Soda Pop is So Weird, Part One: The Saga of Spicy Water
Dec 26, 2023
The Puzzler, Part Two: Waldo, Rubik, and More
Dec 21, 2023
The Puzzler, Part One: The Crossword Moral Panic
Dec 19, 2023
Christmas Has A Dark Side: The Krampus Episode
Dec 14, 2023
A House Divided: Various Times Congress Tried to Beat the Snot Out of Each Other
Dec 12, 2023
Scientists Who Were Horrifically Persecuted, Part Two: Alan Turing
Dec 07, 2023
Serious Diseases with Seriously Funny Names, Part Two: Rickets, Brain Fever, and Maple Syrup
Dec 05, 2023
Serious Diseases with Seriously Funny Names, Part One: Dropsy
Nov 30, 2023
Oh Man, James Joyce was a Dirty Dude!
Nov 28, 2023
What's the Deal with Turkey on Thanksgiving?
Nov 23, 2023
Tammany Hall: America's Early Puppet Masters
Nov 21, 2023
The Hoover Dam is Ridiculous, Part Two: The Audacity!
Nov 16, 2023
The Hoover Dam is Ridiculous, Part One: Man Versus Nature
Nov 14, 2023
CLASSIC: Waging War With Hallucinogenic Honey
Nov 09, 2023
CLASSIC: Ben Franklin Tried To Reinvent the Alphabet
Nov 07, 2023
CLASSIC: When the Puritans Canceled Christmas
Nov 02, 2023
How Did Trick-Or-Treating Become a Thing?
Oct 31, 2023
The Tangled History of Topiary, Part Two: That Shrub Is Looking at Me Funny
Oct 26, 2023
The Tangled History of Topiary, Part One: The Ancient Art of Fancy Plants
Oct 24, 2023
Scientists Who Were Horrifically Persecuted, Part One
Oct 20, 2023
The Crappy, Commodious History of Toilets
Oct 17, 2023
Aaron Burr, Part Two: The Fall of a Guy Nobody Liked
Oct 12, 2023
Aaron Burr, Part One: The Rise of a Guy Nobody Liked
Oct 10, 2023
Introducing: McCartney A Life in Lyrics
Oct 06, 2023
Royals Who Died on the Toilet: Our Classiest Episode Yet
Oct 05, 2023
That Time Indiana Tried to Change Pi
Oct 03, 2023
Why Don't People Wear White After Labor Day?
Sep 28, 2023
Michigan Has Its Own Bermuda Triangle
Sep 26, 2023
The Road to Modern Basketball, Part Two: How Dribbling Became A Thing
Sep 21, 2023
The Road to Modern Basketball, Part One: Naismith and "The Incorrigibles"
Sep 19, 2023
The 10th President's Grandson is Alive Today
Sep 15, 2023
Stuff That Got Left Over: Nukes
Sep 12, 2023
Ralph Nader Versus Big Auto
Sep 08, 2023
CLASSIC: Baguettes and Vacation: France versus Bakers
Sep 05, 2023
Everyone Was Covered in Poop: A Grimy History of Soap
Aug 31, 2023
Behind the Logo: The Story of the Nike Swoosh
Aug 30, 2023
The Architecture of Spite, Part Three: The Pie House and a Scorned Argentine
Aug 24, 2023
The Architecture of Spite, Part Two: Macy's and The Skinny House
Aug 22, 2023
The Ridiculous History of Intellectual Property, Part 2: When Things Get Weird
Aug 17, 2023
The Ridiculous History of Intellectual Property, Part 1: The Ancient Past
Aug 15, 2023
World War II's Alaskan Front: The Aleutian Island Campaign
Aug 10, 2023
Micronations: The Amazing Story of Vatican City
Aug 08, 2023
The FBI versus Hip-Hop
Aug 03, 2023
The Inventor of the Saxophone Had Some of the World's Worst Luck
Aug 02, 2023
Animals On Trial, Part 2: Legal Personhood "Goes Wild"
Jul 27, 2023
Animals On Trial, Part 1: Tons of Animals Went to Kangaroo Courts
Jul 25, 2023
Broken Arrows, Part 2: In Which Actions Have Consequence
Jul 20, 2023
Broken Arrows, Part 1: Whoops, Where's Our Nuke?
Jul 18, 2023
New Providence: That Time Pirates Had A Government
Jul 13, 2023
Tons of People Married Their First Cousins
Jul 11, 2023
Lost Media, Part 2: The Magnificent Ambersons
Jul 06, 2023
The Ridiculous History of "Snake Oil"
Jul 04, 2023
Badass of the Week, Part 2: Rise of the Kung Fu Werewolf
Jun 29, 2023
Badass of the Week, Part 1: An Origin Story
Jun 27, 2023
That Time Abe Lincoln Trolled His Way Into a Real-life Duel
Jun 22, 2023
The Creation of (and Backlash Against) Father's Day
Jun 20, 2023
Colorado's Ridiculous, Disturbingly Corrupt 1904 Election, Part Two: Everyone Resigns
Jun 15, 2023
Colorado's Ridiculous, Disturbingly Corrupt 1904 Election, Part One: Let's Jump Off The Train
Jun 13, 2023
How Horrible Chocolate Helped Win World War II
Jun 08, 2023
Micronations: How a Guy Got Ran Out of Town and Created San Marino
Jun 06, 2023
The Library of Congress is Full of Super Weird Stuff
Jun 01, 2023
That Time A Guy Literally Bought The London Bridge
May 30, 2023
We Got Super Into Toy Cars, Part Two: Rivalry and Nostalgia
May 25, 2023
We Got Super Into Toy Cars, Part One: Matchbox versus Hot Wheels
May 23, 2023
Why The Creator of Mother's Day Got So Mad About Mothers' Day
May 18, 2023
Micronations: Monaco is More than a Casino!
May 16, 2023
Fonts They Love to Hate, Part Two: Papyrus, Times New Roman and Beyond
May 11, 2023
Fonts They Love to Hate, Part One: Origins of Comic Sans
May 09, 2023
Even More Ridiculous Royal Deaths
May 04, 2023
A (Completely Different) History of Sampling: Free Stuff
May 02, 2023
A History of Sampling, Part Two: Creativity in Court
Apr 27, 2023
A History of Sampling, Part One: An Origin Story
Apr 25, 2023
How Did Monster Trucks Become a Thing?
Apr 20, 2023
The Ridiculous, Scrumptious Desserts of Mardi Gras
Apr 18, 2023
The Amazing History of Japanese Toys, Part Two: The World Takeover
Apr 13, 2023
The Amazing History of Japanese Toys, Part One: A Serious Business
Apr 11, 2023
The Weird Journey of the $2 Bill
Apr 06, 2023
The Fascinating History of Ice Cream Trucks
Apr 04, 2023
The Strange Tale of Charles Entertainment Cheese, Part Two: Betrayal and Nostalgia
Mar 30, 2023
The Strange Tale of Charles Entertainment Cheese, Part One: Atari and Pizza
Mar 28, 2023
CLASSIC: What's the Deal with Smashing Cake at Weddings?
Mar 23, 2023
THE LAST SOVIET - EP 5: Three Hot Days in August
Mar 22, 2023
CLASSIC: Conquest via Bird Poop: One Island at a Time
Mar 21, 2023
The Architecture of Spite, Part One: Lovers, Loiterers and Murderers
Mar 16, 2023
Turn, Turn, Turn: A History of Turn Signals
Mar 14, 2023
A Legally Haunted House
Mar 08, 2023
The Oddly Dark History of Crash Test Dummies (Not The Band)
Mar 07, 2023
The Deeply Weird Stories of Patron Saints
Mar 02, 2023
Svetlana! Svetlana! The Strange Life of Josef Stalin's Daughter, with Dan Kitrosser
Feb 28, 2023
Let's Start a Coup! Ep 1 – A Basket Full of Fascists
Feb 27, 2023
Weird Epidemics, Part One: From Sweating to Pokemon
Feb 23, 2023
CLASSIC: When Scientists Hid Under Beds To Spy On Kids
Feb 21, 2023
Surprising Former Careers, Part III: Goldberg, Trudeau and Buscemi
Feb 16, 2023
Introducing: The Last Soviet
Feb 15, 2023
It Turns Out Blue Laws Aren't Entirely Terrible
Feb 14, 2023
The Origin of Moby Dick, Part Two: Horrors At Sea
Feb 09, 2023
The Origin of Moby Dick, Part One: Mocha Dick
Feb 07, 2023
The (Weirdly Crooked) History of the Food Pyramid
Feb 02, 2023
That Time Europeans Went Nuts For Dancing
Jan 31, 2023
Star Trek Almost Never Happened, Part Two: In Which We Boldly Go
Jan 26, 2023
Star Trek Almost Never Happened, Part One: Pilots and Peril
Jan 24, 2023
“It’s Edible!” The Origin of Breakfast Cereal, Part Two
Jan 19, 2023
“It’s Edible!” The Origin of Breakfast Cereal, Part One
Jan 17, 2023
Would-be Presidents, Part One: If At First You Don't Succeed...
Jan 12, 2023
The Leaf Blower Episode
Jan 11, 2023
The US Navy Teamed Up With Mobsters, Part Two: The Mob Goes to War
Jan 05, 2023
The US Navy Teamed Up With Mobsters, Part One: Luciano Gets Lucky
Jan 03, 2023
CLASSIC: When People Thought They Were Made of Glass
Dec 29, 2022
CLASSIC: Nazis, Churchill and Chocolate
Dec 27, 2022
Ridiculous Royal Deaths, Part Two: Don't Drink Mercury
Dec 22, 2022
Ridiculous Royal Deaths, Part One: Revenge of the Buck-Toothed
Dec 20, 2022
CLASSIC: When Dentist Sold Dentures Made with Corpse Teeth
Dec 15, 2022
From Mesopotamia to Hot Dogs: A History of Mustard
Dec 13, 2022
Coca-Cola, Dr. King, and the Civil Rights
Dec 08, 2022
William Mitchell Was Basically a Real-life Willy Wonka
Dec 06, 2022
The Olympics Used to Have an... Extraordinarily Weird Art Competition
Dec 01, 2022
A Circus, or a Cult? The Strange Story of Shen Yun
Nov 29, 2022
How A Massive Turkey Screw-up Created TV Dinners
Nov 24, 2022
J. Paul Getty, Part Two: A Kidnapping Discount
Nov 22, 2022
J. Paul Getty, Part One: Money Doesn't Make You Happy
Nov 17, 2022
Have you heard of Andorra?
Nov 15, 2022
How Smart Was Alex the Grey Parrot?
Nov 10, 2022
Surprising Former Careers, Part 2: Truman Can't Sell Hats
Nov 08, 2022
The Ancient -- and Surprisingly Divisive! -- Story of Ketchup
Nov 03, 2022
The Bizarrely Xenophobic Origins of Scotch Tape
Nov 01, 2022
Lost Media, Part Two: We Didn't Start The Fire
Oct 27, 2022
Lost Media, Part One: What Happened to All Those Silent Films?
Oct 26, 2022
A Ridiculous History of Hot Tubs
Oct 20, 2022
Eugene V Debs, Part Two: A Prisoner Runs For President
Oct 18, 2022
Eugene V Debs, Part One: Railroad Workers Fight The Power
Oct 13, 2022
The Michelin Man was an Unhinged Lunatic
Oct 11, 2022
The Yukio Mishima Story, Part Two: Mishima's End
Oct 06, 2022
The Yukio Mishima Story, Part One: Confessions of a Mask
Oct 05, 2022
Wait, How Do I Know It's Funny? A Rollicking History of Laugh Tracks
Sep 29, 2022
Who, exactly, were the Luddites?
Sep 27, 2022
Instant Noodles Changed The World, Part Two: Going Global
Sep 22, 2022
Instant Noodles Changed The World, Part One: An Origin Story
Sep 20, 2022
The Accidental Invention of Holding Music
Sep 15, 2022
Inventors Killed By Their Own Inventions: Flyin' or Dyin', Part Two
Sep 13, 2022
Inventors Killed By Their Own Inventions: Flyin' or Dyin', Part One
Sep 08, 2022
Wilhelm Reich and Orgone, Part 2: Willy vs. The Feds
Sep 07, 2022
Wilhelm Reich and Orgone, Part 1: Sexy Psychoanalysis
Sep 01, 2022
The History of Pringles: Once You Pop...
Aug 30, 2022
Lincoln Loved Cats, and Other Presidential Pets
Aug 25, 2022
CLASSIC - Presidents Love Their Ridiculous Pets
Aug 23, 2022
What Happened to Ronald McDonald? Part Two: Supersizing A Mystery
Aug 18, 2022
What Happened to Ronald McDonald? Part One: Everybody Loves A Clown
Aug 16, 2022
The 1904 St. Louis Marathon Was Absolutely Bonkers
Aug 11, 2022
Andrew Jackson Beat the Snot Out of His Would-be Assassin
Aug 09, 2022
CLASSIC: When (and why) did the US start calling its citizens consumers?
Aug 04, 2022
A Ridiculous History of Reality TV, Part Two: Reality Goes Global
Aug 02, 2022
A Ridiculous History of Reality TV, Part One: An Origin Story
Jul 28, 2022
Surprising Former Careers of the Famous
Jul 26, 2022
A Humorous History of Genetics
Jul 21, 2022
Tsutomu Yamaguchi: The World's Only (Recognized) Double Atomic Bomb Victim
Jul 19, 2022
Gods of Deception, Part II: Art, History, Fiction and War
Jul 14, 2022
Gods of Deception, Part I: Alger Hiss in the Halls of Power
Jul 12, 2022
Operation LAC: That Time Uncle Sam Sprayed Poison Across St. Louis
Jul 07, 2022
CLASSIC - Does the US Confederacy Still Exist in Americana, Brazil?
Jul 05, 2022
Millerism, Part II: The Great Disappointment (and the Aftermath)
Jun 30, 2022
CLASSIC - Did a Real-Life Rainmaker Almost Drown San Diego?
Jun 28, 2022
Millerism: America’s First End Times Gospel
Jun 23, 2022
Ben Franklin Faked a Rival's Death to Promote His Almanac
Jun 21, 2022
Why was Phrenology a Thing? Part II: A Pseudoscience (Sort of) Informs the Modern Day
Jun 16, 2022
Why was Phrenology a Thing? Part I: The Rise of Dr. Finger
Jun 14, 2022
Nancy Wake, the White Mouse of the French Resistance
Jun 09, 2022
The US Boycotted the 1980 Moscow Olympics, and Puerto Rican Boxers Went Anyway
Jun 07, 2022
Disco Demolition Night: How Disco Died at a White Sox Game
Jun 02, 2022
Bolivia Fought -- And Lost -- A War For Bird Poop
May 31, 2022
Why You Can't Say "MacBeth" in a Theater
May 26, 2022
Operation Mincemeat: Britain's Ghoulish Plan to Fool the Nazis
May 24, 2022
Who the heck was Joseph Warren?
May 19, 2022
Chocolate Syrup: From Medicine to Dessert
May 17, 2022
Historical Hypocrisy: The Confederacy's Weird Stance on "Individual Rights"
May 12, 2022
Juana Maria: The Real-life Story Behind "Island of the Blue Dolphins"
May 10, 2022
Curling: The Most Ridiculous Sport?
May 05, 2022
Nobuo Fujita Bombed Brookings, Oregon -- and Then Became a Town Hero
May 03, 2022
A Teetotaling Preacher Basically Invented Modern Tourism
Apr 28, 2022
Ira Aldridge: Actor, Activist and Record-breaker
Apr 26, 2022
Lithuanian Book Smugglers Vs. The Russian Empire
Apr 21, 2022
The Yule Lads Terrified Children Across Iceland
Apr 19, 2022
The Infamous Aurora UFO Incident of 1897
Apr 14, 2022
How The Evil May Day of 1517 Became the Perfect Propaganda Opportunity
Apr 12, 2022
Day Drinkers (Sort of) Helped Stop Cholera in London
Apr 07, 2022
The Much-Maligned Reign of Swedish Queen Maria Eleonora
Apr 05, 2022
Weird Ways People Used to Communicate, Part II: Smoke Signals and Bottled Messages
Mar 31, 2022
Weird Ways People Used to Communicate, Part I: Only a Pigeon Away
Mar 29, 2022
That Time A Dead Guy Won an Olympic Medal
Mar 24, 2022
Julia Barnett Rice Waged an Elitist War on Noise
Mar 23, 2022
Ridiculous History Presents: A History of "Adult" Toys, Part 2
Mar 17, 2022
Ridiculous History Presents: A History of "Adult" Toys, Part 1
Mar 15, 2022
The Cobra Effect, Part 2: Four Pests and a Disastrous Success
Mar 10, 2022
The Cobra Effect, Part 1: Snakes, Rats, and Unintended Consequences
Mar 08, 2022
British Suffragettes Knew Jūjitsu
Mar 04, 2022
A Tale of Two Hansons: Busting Myths About the 'First' US President
Mar 02, 2022
Did Soldiers in World War I Really Team Up to Fight Wolves?
Feb 25, 2022
Slum Tourists: When Wealthy People Toured Chinatown ‘For Fun’
Feb 23, 2022
That Time Victorians Treated Seaweed like Pokemon
Feb 18, 2022
Valentine's Day Is So Much Weirder Than We Thought
Feb 15, 2022
Weirdest Celebrity Busts, Part II: Mr. David Lee Roth and a Drunken John Wayne
Feb 10, 2022
Weirdest Celebrity Busts, Part I: Nixon Smuggled Weed, Arbuckle Was Innocent
Feb 09, 2022
CLASSIC: X-Rays, Songs and Soviets: The Stilyagi Story
Feb 03, 2022
Tossed Popcorn, Part 2: Chaplin was a Jerk, Brando was Insane
Feb 02, 2022
Tossed Popcorn, Part 1: The Wizard of Oz and the Titanic
Jan 28, 2022
Peter Freuchen: Explorer, Raconteur, Movie Star and War Hero
Jan 25, 2022
Did Honduras and El Salvador Really Go to War over Soccer?
Jan 20, 2022
The US Literally Had Nazi Summer Camps
Jan 19, 2022
The Emperor of the United States
Jan 13, 2022
The Trans-Saharan Ostrich Expedition of 1911
Jan 12, 2022
That Time Everyone Tried To Outlaw War
Jan 07, 2022
CLASSIC: Who Solves Murders in Antarctica?
Jan 04, 2022
The Lil Ice Age Was Way Less Cute Than It Sounds
Dec 30, 2021
Nub City: Florida's Infamous Amputation Scam
Dec 28, 2021
London's Tiger King, Part Two: Charles Jamrach Becomes a Problematic Hero
Dec 23, 2021
London's Tiger King, Part One: When Exotic Animal's Were The Hottest Flex
Dec 21, 2021
The Atlantropa Project, Part Two: What Happened to the Supercontinent?
Dec 16, 2021
The Atlantropa Project, Part One: Saving Europe via Supercontinent
Dec 14, 2021
People Used Bed Bugs as Medicine for Thousands of Years
Dec 10, 2021
The US Literally Threw Pianos From Planes During World War II
Dec 07, 2021
The Sinister Side of Little Orphan Annie, Part Two: Drink Your Ovaltine
Dec 02, 2021
The Sinister Side of Little Orphan Annie, Part One: Parents Were Terrified
Dec 01, 2021
CLASSIC: How White America Tried To Destroy Chinese Restaurants
Nov 25, 2021
Russia’s Real-life Ice Queen, Part 2: Weird, Brutal Flexes
Nov 24, 2021
Russia’s Real-life Ice Queen, Part 1: The Tsar is a Jerk
Nov 18, 2021
That Time a Baboon Worked for the Railroad
Nov 16, 2021
Austin and the Texas Archives War
Nov 11, 2021
King for a Week: The Strange Story of Otto I
Nov 10, 2021
The Bloody Tale of the Sausage War
Nov 04, 2021
Modern Thanksgiving, Part Two: Sarah Josepha Hale Finally Gets Her Wish
Nov 02, 2021
Modern Thanksgiving, Part One: A Culture War
Oct 28, 2021
How Haunted Houses Became A Thing
Oct 27, 2021
New England versus Vampires, Part Two: Desperation and Desecration
Oct 21, 2021
New England versus Vampires, Part One: The Brutal, Terrifying Life of Early Colonists
Oct 20, 2021
Ada Lovelace, Part Two: The Analytical Engine
Oct 15, 2021
Ada Lovelace, Part One: How Lord Byron’s Daughter Became a Tech Visionary
Oct 12, 2021
The King of Scotland Got Real Weird with Language Experiments
Oct 07, 2021
The Rum Riot of Portland, Maine
Oct 05, 2021
The Love of Candy Almost Drove a Cactus Extinct
Sep 30, 2021
The Australian Prison Break of 1876, Part 2
Sep 28, 2021
The Australian Prison Break of 1876 Part 1
Sep 23, 2021
37 Days of Peril, with Alex Williams
Sep 21, 2021
Robert Smalls Stole A Confederate Ship and Sailed to Freedom, Part Two: From Slavery to Congress
Sep 16, 2021
Robert Smalls Stole A Confederate Ship and Sailed to Freedom, Part One: Planning the Heist
Sep 14, 2021
Sky Pilot: The Man Who Brought Religion to Lumberjacks
Sep 09, 2021
CLASSIC: Butter: Protestantism's Secret Ingredient?
Sep 07, 2021
Ridiculous Live: The Humor and the Heavy
Sep 02, 2021
Flu Julia: The Con Artist Nurse That Made Bank Off Of Misery
Aug 31, 2021
History's Dumbest Criminals, Part 2
Aug 27, 2021
History's Dumbest Criminals, Part 1
Aug 24, 2021
That Time People Were Terrified of Libraries
Aug 19, 2021
Ostracism: How Ancient Greeks Handled Uncool Politicians
Aug 17, 2021
Military Cats, Part 2: Simon Saves the British
Aug 12, 2021
Military Cats, Part 1: Spies and Mascots
Aug 10, 2021
That Time People Rioted Over a Hot Air Balloon
Aug 05, 2021
An Alabama Town Built a Statue Honoring the Insect that Almost Destroyed It
Aug 03, 2021
A Prince and His Poodle: The Supernatural Adventures of Rupert and Boy
Jul 29, 2021
How One Guy Made Europe Fall In Love With Potatoes
Jul 27, 2021
Weird Courtship Rituals, Part Two
Jul 22, 2021
Weird Courtship Rituals, Part One
Jul 20, 2021
A Brief History of Underwear
Jul 15, 2021
One Guy Was Certain Telepathic Snails Would Replace Telegraphs
Jul 13, 2021
The Duke of Portland Hated People and Loved Tunnels
Jul 08, 2021
Where do Lemonade Stands Come From?
Jul 07, 2021
Painless Parker and the Dental Circus
Jul 01, 2021
The Rise and Fall of Curative Plane Flights
Jun 29, 2021
That Time People Paid Rent With Eels
Jun 28, 2021
The Miracle of the Gulls: A Cricket War
Jun 22, 2021
A History of Pregnancy Cravings, Part 2: Stereotypes, Superstitions and Science
Jun 17, 2021
A History of Pregnancy Cravings, Part 1: Pickles and Ice Cream
Jun 15, 2021
The Carrington Event, Part II: Attack of the Sun!
Jun 10, 2021
The Carrington Event, Part I: The Sun is Acting Strange
Jun 08, 2021
Loveday: Henry VI's Well-intentioned, Terrible Attempt at Making Peace
Jun 03, 2021
Classic: Why do British lawyers wear wigs?
Jun 01, 2021
That Time Al Capone Ran A Soup Kitchen
May 27, 2021
The Phantom Barber of Pascagoula
May 26, 2021
Joseph Bonaparte, Cryptid Hunter
May 20, 2021
The Mystery of the Devonshire Colic
May 18, 2021
The Troubling, Hidden History of Turpentine
May 13, 2021
A Race Across the World: From New York to Paris in 1908
May 11, 2021
The Age of the Crakow, Part 2: A Fashion Arms Race, But For Your Feet
May 06, 2021
The Age of the Crakow, Part 1: Medieval Europe Went Nuts For Pointy Shoes
May 04, 2021
How Pie in the Face Became a Comedy Classic, Part 2: The Fall (of the Pie)
Apr 29, 2021
How Pie in the Face Became a Comedy Classic, Part 1: Rise of the Pie
Apr 27, 2021
The Great Panjandrum: A Hilariously Terrible Idea
Apr 22, 2021
Dr. T. W. Stallings: One Man's Corvid-Hating Quest to Make Oklahoma Literally Eat Crow
Apr 20, 2021
Pineapples In Europe, Part 2: People Literally Rented Pineapples to Impress their Friends
Apr 15, 2021
Pineapples In Europe, Part 1: A Weird, Cartoonishly Expensive Flex
Apr 14, 2021
The Mysterious Dark Day That Terrified New England
Apr 08, 2021
The Windham Frog Fight of 1754
Apr 06, 2021
Ancient Mesopotamian Societies Sacrificed Substitute Kings to Eclipses
Apr 02, 2021
The Mad Gasser of Mattoon, Part 2
Mar 30, 2021
The Mad Gasser of Mattoon, Part 1
Mar 25, 2021
A Currency for Colonies: The Strange Story of "Leprosy Money"
Mar 23, 2021
Wyoming Tales, Part 2: Absaroka, the State That Almost Was
Mar 19, 2021
Wyoming Tales, Part 1: Walking in the Shoes of Big Nose George
Mar 17, 2021
The Rise and Fall of the Flea Circus, Part 2
Mar 11, 2021
The Rise and Fall of the Flea Circus, Part 1
Mar 09, 2021
History's Most Ridiculous (and Deadly) Beauty Trends
Mar 08, 2021
Billy Cottrell, the Tyrant Mayor of Cedar Key, Florida
Mar 04, 2021
The US and the UK Almost Went to War over a Pig
Mar 02, 2021
The 1973 Michigan Pizza Funeral
Feb 25, 2021
Elagabalus The Raunchy, Racy High Priest Who Became a Roman Emperor
Feb 23, 2021
John Wilkins Started a 17th-century Astronaut Program, Part 2: Wilkins (Tries to) Start a Space Program
Feb 19, 2021
John Wilkins Started a 17th-century Astronaut Program, Part 1: Why not aim for the Moon?
Feb 17, 2021
Turtle Soup, Part 2: Rise of the Mock Turtle
Feb 12, 2021
Turtle Soup, Part 1: A Delicacy of Yesteryear
Feb 09, 2021
Stab Yourself to Health and Happiness: The Bizarre Rise of the Lebensweker
Feb 04, 2021
The Hatpin Peril
Feb 03, 2021
It's a Cat's World, Part 2: The Rise of the Cat Show
Jan 29, 2021
It's a Cat's World, Part 1: The Sacred and the Suspicious
Jan 26, 2021
Dan Sickles, American Scoundrel, Part 2: The Civil War
Jan 22, 2021
Dan Sickles, American Scoundrel, Part 1: How to Get Away with Murder
Jan 20, 2021
That Time New York Banned Spitting
Jan 14, 2021
Admiral Byrd and the Polar Dairy
Jan 12, 2021
Weird 21st Century Predictions from Ages Past, Part 2: Your Personal Plane, A World Without Disaster and Retiring on the Moon
Jan 07, 2021
Weird 21st Century Predictions from Ages Past, Part 1: Tesla, Square Tomatoes and Pseudosteak
Jan 05, 2021
The Old Rituals of New Years, Part 2: Neuroscience, Resolutions and the Rick Steves Fan Club
Dec 31, 2020
Holiday Classic: When the Puritans Canceled Christmas
Dec 24, 2020
Holiday Classic: The Strange History of Antarctic Fruitcake
Dec 22, 2020
Goodyear and the Mystery of the Ghost Blimp
Dec 18, 2020
Benito Mussolini was Super into Wearable Milk
Dec 15, 2020
Snowmen as Protest: The Miracle of 1511
Dec 11, 2020
Why are Chimney Sweeps good luck at weddings?
Dec 09, 2020
People Have Been Convinced Robots Will Take Their Jobs For Centuries
Dec 04, 2020
That Time the US was Terrified of Tomatoes
Dec 02, 2020
How the Pandemic Helped (and Hurt) the Struggle for Women's Rights
Nov 26, 2020
How a German Prince Built his own Artificial Volcano
Nov 24, 2020
The Weird Origin of Pink Lemonade, Part 2: The Rise of Clown Pants
Nov 19, 2020
The Weird Origin of Pink Lemonade, Part 1: A Humble Citrus
Nov 18, 2020
An Elephant in the Vatican, Part 2: An Elephant in the Reformation
Nov 13, 2020
An Elephant in the Vatican, Part 1: The Discovery of Hanno
Nov 11, 2020
S T O V E G O B L I N
Nov 05, 2020
The US Didn't Always Have Secret Ballots
Nov 03, 2020
The Case of the Greenbrier Ghost, Part 2: The Court
Oct 29, 2020
Ridiculous History Presents: Criminalia
Oct 28, 2020
The Case of the Greenbrier Ghost, Part 1: An 'Everlasting Faint'
Oct 28, 2020
The Hand of Glory, Part 2: Recipes, Necropants and Toes
Oct 22, 2020
The Hand of Glory, Part 1: A Thief's Theme
Oct 20, 2020
Brooms and Witchcraft, Part 2: Inquisitions and Iniquity
Oct 15, 2020
Brooms and Witchcraft, Part 1: A Killer in the Rye?
Oct 14, 2020
The Beast of Gévaudan, Part 2: The Birth of a Grisly Legend
Oct 09, 2020
The Beast of Gévaudan, Part 1: Murders In France
Oct 07, 2020
The BBC Convinced People Spaghetti Grows on Trees
Oct 02, 2020
The US Waged War on Pinball for Decades
Sep 29, 2020
The Misadventures of Wade Boggs, Part 2
Sep 25, 2020
The Misadventures of Wade Boggs, Part 1
Sep 22, 2020
The Tragic Tale of the 'Turnspit Dog'
Sep 17, 2020
Knocker-Uppers: The Human Alarm Clocks of the Industrial Age
Sep 15, 2020
That Time New York City Rioted Over Shakespeare
Sep 10, 2020
Babies in Incubators were Once a Sideshow Attraction
Sep 08, 2020
The Rise of the US Camel Corps
Sep 03, 2020
The United Kingdom Has A Weird Thing With Swans
Sep 02, 2020
The Nazi Super Horse Program, Part 2: A Horse-filled Heist
Aug 27, 2020
The Nazi Super Horse Program, Part 1: Equine Eugenics
Aug 25, 2020
Railroad Tycoons Decided What Time It Is Now
Aug 21, 2020
Why do people 'christen' ships with champagne?
Aug 19, 2020
The Hidden History of Jewish Pirates, Part 2: Famous Privateers
Aug 14, 2020
The Hidden History of Jewish Pirates, Part 1: Escaping Europe
Aug 11, 2020
Ridiculous "Remedies" of the Spanish Flu: The Rise of the Lemon
Aug 07, 2020
That Time Rebellious Freemasons Starting Kissing Porcelain Pug Butts
Aug 04, 2020
Clever Hans, Part 2: The Rise and Fall of Hans
Jul 30, 2020
Clever Hans, Part 1: The Equine Mathematician
Jul 28, 2020
Henry VIII and That English Sweat, Part 2: A Disease and a King
Jul 23, 2020
Henry VIII and That English Sweat, Part 1: A Pandemic
Jul 22, 2020
The Hobo King: Leon Ray Livingston, Chapter Two
Jul 17, 2020
The Hobo King: Leon Ray Livingston, Chapter One
Jul 15, 2020
The Vikings Made a Fortune in the 'Unicorn' Trade
Jul 09, 2020
Did People Really Throw Tar And Feathers On Each Other?
Jul 07, 2020
Kate Warne, the Pinkerton Detective Who Saved Abe Lincoln, Part 2: To Rescue A President
Jul 02, 2020
Kate Warne, the Pinkerton Detective Who Saved Abe Lincoln, Part 1: The Origin Story
Jul 01, 2020
What is Fudge, Part 2: The Rebellion
Jun 25, 2020
What is Fudge, Part 1: The Science, The Curious Name
Jun 23, 2020
The North Pole, Part 2: The Chase To The North
Jun 19, 2020
The North Pole, Part 1: Maps and Legends
Jun 17, 2020
The Mysterious Origin of (and Disturbing Problems with) the "Wolf Whistle"
Jun 12, 2020
World War I and the Rise of the Peat Moss Bandage
Jun 10, 2020
Flashback: Unforeseen Consequences Throughout History: Part 2
Jun 05, 2020
Flashback: Unforeseen Consequences Throughout History: Part 1
Jun 03, 2020
Louis Wain, the Godfather of Cat Memes: Part 2
May 29, 2020
Louis Wain, the Godfather of Cat Memes: Part 1
May 27, 2020
Feedsack Fashion: How Thrifty Inventiveness Transformed America
May 22, 2020
Emperor Tiberius Was Debauched, Deranged and Probably Not Fun At Parties
May 20, 2020
The Return of Historical Flexes, Part 2: Flexcessiveness
May 14, 2020
The Return of Historical Flexes, Part 1: 2 Flex 2 Furious
May 12, 2020
The Authors Of Curious George Were On The Run From Nazis
May 08, 2020
People Used To Straight Up Drink Gold
May 05, 2020
New Zealand's Tragic (And Pretty Hilarious) Exploding Pants Epidemic
May 01, 2020
That Time Trainwrecks Became a Spectator Sport
Apr 28, 2020
Miguel de Cervantes and the Case of the Fake Don Quixote
Apr 23, 2020
The CIA Paid War Spies with Stuff From the Sears Catalog
Apr 21, 2020
The Bottle Jumping Hoax (And Riot)
Apr 17, 2020
The Bizarrely Disturbing History of People Jumping Out of Cake
Apr 15, 2020
HL Hunley: The Mysterious Demise of a Civil War Submarine, with Rachel Lance
Apr 10, 2020
Dromomania: The Wanderlust Disease
Apr 08, 2020
Key West, Florida Declared a One-Minute War on the United States
Apr 03, 2020
That Time the US Literally Banned Sliced Bread
Apr 01, 2020
Two Green Children Mystified Woolpit, England
Mar 27, 2020
Pepsi Briefly Became the Sixth Largest Navy in the World
Mar 25, 2020
The Ponzi Scheme with Chelsea Ursin
Mar 20, 2020
The History of MREs with Jacqueline Raposo
Mar 17, 2020
Donald Crowhurst Faked a Race Around the World
Mar 13, 2020
Calvin Coolidge Skipped Town and Went Fishing for Three Months (While He was President)
Mar 11, 2020
The Presidential Dinner That Scandalized America
Mar 05, 2020
Was the Lone Ranger Inspired by a Black U.S. Marshall?
Mar 04, 2020
Night Soil Men Were the Unsung Heroes of Urban Sanitation
Feb 27, 2020
The Tiny Spanish Town That Went To War With France For 100 Years
Feb 26, 2020
The Great Diamond Hoax - Part 2
Feb 20, 2020
The Great Diamond Hoax - Part 1
Feb 19, 2020
'Mad' Jack Churchill: The Bagpipe Playing Soldier Who Hunted Nazis with a Longbow - Part 2
Feb 13, 2020
'Mad' Jack Churchill: The Bagpipe Playing Soldier Who Hunted Nazis with a Longbow - Part 1
Feb 11, 2020
Erasto Mpemba: The High School Student Who Disproved Thermodynamics
Feb 06, 2020
The Straw Hat Riots of 1922
Feb 05, 2020
The Legend of Tarrare, the Insatiable Glutton Who Ate a Quarter of a Cow Daily
Jan 31, 2020
Why Genghis Khan's Great-Great Granddaughter Was Just as Badass
Jan 29, 2020
That Time Ernest Hemingway's Younger Brother Started His Own Country
Jan 24, 2020
The Ersatz Wild West Shootouts of Palisade, Nevada
Jan 22, 2020
The Great Goldfish Gulping Craze That (For Some Reason) Swept America
Jan 16, 2020
Pneumatic Tubes: The 'Futuristic' Transport System That's Over 150-Years-Old
Jan 15, 2020
Violet Jessop, the Unsinkable Stewardess Who Survived Three Famous Shipwrecks
Jan 09, 2020
Abandoned Ship: What Really Happened Aboard the "Mary Celeste"?
Jan 07, 2020
That Time America Fell In Love With Competitive Walking
Jan 02, 2020
The Weird Stories Behind Your Favorite Christmas Carols
Dec 31, 2019
The Time Salvador Dali Partnered with Walt Disney - Part 2
Dec 26, 2019
The Time Salvador Dali Partnered with Walt Disney - Part 1
Dec 24, 2019
Colonel Blood and the Theft of the Crown Jewels
Dec 19, 2019
The Starving Time: When Jamestown Colonists Turned Cannibal, Part 2
Dec 17, 2019
The Starving Time: When Jamestown Colonists Turned Cannibal, Part 1
Dec 12, 2019
The Strange Tradition that Forced Everyone in New York to Move House on the Same Day
Dec 10, 2019
French Waiters Once Had to Strike for Their Right to Wear Mustaches
Dec 05, 2019
The Honey Trap: Sex in Espionage Throughout History
Dec 03, 2019
The Weird, Weird History of Shipping: Part 2
Nov 28, 2019
The Weird, Weird History of Shipping: Part 1
Nov 26, 2019
Benjamin Lay: The Quaker Who Called Out the Hypocrisy of Slavery, Part 2
Nov 21, 2019
Benjamin Lay: The Quaker Who Called Out the Hypocrisy of Slavery, Part 1
Nov 19, 2019
How Bertha Heyman Conned Her Way Into Show Business
Nov 14, 2019
That Time Germany Got Obsessed With Polar Bear Photos
Nov 12, 2019
Rose Mackenberg: Houdini's Ghostbuster
Nov 07, 2019
Science and Spiritualism: Why were ghost stories so popular in the 1800s?
Nov 05, 2019
John of Bohemia, the Blind King Who Charged Into Battle
Nov 01, 2019
Kakigōri: The Story of Japan's Famous Shaved Ice
Oct 30, 2019
John Edmonstone: The Man Who Trained Darwin
Oct 25, 2019
The Death of Luxury Air Travel
Oct 22, 2019
The Bizarre Capitulation of Stettin
Oct 17, 2019
John Wilkes Booth's Brother Saved Abraham Lincoln's Son
Oct 16, 2019
John Clem: The 12-year Old Civil War Hero
Oct 10, 2019
Christopher Columbus Was Such A Jerk That Even Spain Turned Against Him
Oct 08, 2019
The Kaiser’s Plan to Invade the United States
Oct 03, 2019
How Uncle Tom's Cabin Became One of the Most Popular Books in China
Oct 01, 2019
Tom Watson Gordy: How One Uncle’s Adventures Inspired Jimmy Carter to Join the Navy
Sep 27, 2019
Teddy Bears, Rhinos, Safari and Everywhere Else: A Conversation with Daniel Scheffler
Sep 24, 2019
The Gaspee Affair: Rhode Island’s Revolutionary “Tea Party”
Sep 19, 2019
Otto Rahn, The Nazi Occultist Who Hated Nazis and Inspired Indiana Jones
Sep 17, 2019
4 Times Women in the US Were Actually Arrested for Wearing Pants
Sep 13, 2019
Sir Francis Drake and the Great Iowa Swindle
Sep 10, 2019
Around the World in a Model T: The Story of Aloha Wanderwell
Sep 05, 2019
Why George Washington is Huge in Barbados
Sep 03, 2019
John Willis Menard: The First African American Elected To US Congress
Aug 30, 2019
The Bloody Revenge of Saint Olga of Kiev
Aug 27, 2019
The Super Fight: When Muhammad Ali and Rocky Marciano Had A Fight That Never Happened
Aug 23, 2019
Shame and Fish: The Embarrassing and Tragic Story of François Vatel
Aug 20, 2019
Creature Feature: Go Home Nature, You're Drunk
Aug 15, 2019
Hunting Fireflies for Fun (and Profit)
Aug 14, 2019
The Listener Mail Extravaganza
Aug 09, 2019
That Time Ancient Monks Waged War Over A Copyright
Aug 06, 2019
Ye Xian: The Story of China's Cinderella
Aug 01, 2019
The Portuguese Bank Note Crisis: How One Lucky Forger Almost Destroyed A Nation's Economy
Jul 30, 2019
Cow Shoe Camouflage: How Prohibition-era Moonshiners Outsmarted the Feds
Jul 25, 2019
Castle Itter: When Germans and Americans Joined Forces in World War II
Jul 23, 2019
A Grave Mistake: The Story of Patton's "Abandoned Rear"
Jul 18, 2019
Did the US Mafia actually start in New Orleans?
Jul 16, 2019
Meet Albert Cashier, the Trans Man Who Fought for the Union in the Civil War
Jul 11, 2019
Operation Northwoods: How the US Planned to Attack Itself and Start a War with Cuba
Jul 09, 2019
That Time Irish Separatists Invaded Canada
Jul 04, 2019
The Night Witches: How an All-female Soviet Bomb Squad Terrorized Nazi Germany
Jul 02, 2019
Bug Wars: When We Tried to Turn Insects into Soldiers
Jun 27, 2019
Yasuke, the African Samurai
Jun 25, 2019
The Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm I Tried To Make An Army of Super Tall Soldiers
Jun 20, 2019
Playboy, Progressive Politics and Stand-up: The Dick Gregory Story with Wayne Federman
Jun 18, 2019
I Modi: The Scandalous Erotic Blockbuster Banned By The Vatican
Jun 13, 2019
Patriots, Prisoners and Plants: The World of Political Body Doubles
Jun 11, 2019
Fort Blunder: The US Fort Mistakenly Built in Canada
Jun 06, 2019
The Duke of Edinburgh is Literally a God in Vanuatu
Jun 04, 2019
The Honorary Citizens of the United States
May 30, 2019
The Nature of Ephemera, with Alex Williams
May 28, 2019
The Return of Listener Mail
May 23, 2019
That Time Ohio and Michigan Almost Went To War
May 21, 2019
The Rise and Fall of Local Scrip: Alternative Currencies of the Great Depression
May 16, 2019
The Attack of the Japanese Balloon Bombs
May 14, 2019
Marie Antoinette and the Diamond Necklace Hoax
May 09, 2019
Nosy Boraha: The Pirate's Paradise (And Cemetery)
May 07, 2019
How the Black Death Came To Norway On A Ghost Ship
May 02, 2019
Susanna Caroline Matilda: The Colonial Grifter Princess
Apr 30, 2019
History's Weirdest Flexes, Part 2
Apr 25, 2019
History's Weirdest Flexes, Part 1
Apr 23, 2019
How Robert 'The Fastest Knife in the West End' Liston Conducted a Surgery With a 300% Mortality Rate
Apr 18, 2019
How Oliver Cromwell Got Executed Several Years After His Death
Apr 16, 2019
Hong Xiuquan: The Younger Brother of Jesus Christ Who Led a Bloody Rebellion in China
Apr 11, 2019
How Big Bill Speakman Fought Off North Korea With Beer Bottles
Apr 09, 2019
Teddy Roosevelt May Just Have Saved Modern (American) Football
Apr 04, 2019
Prohibition, Prescriptions and the Rise of 'Medicinal' Booze
Apr 02, 2019
Did Robert E. Lee hate Confederate Memorials?
Mar 28, 2019
California Schoolchildren and the Great Squirrel War
Mar 26, 2019
When West Virginia Begged the USSR for Foreign Aid
Mar 21, 2019
Idiomatic for the People II, Part 2
Mar 19, 2019
Idiomatic for the People II, Part 1
Mar 14, 2019
The Statue of Liberty Almost Lived in Egypt
Mar 12, 2019
Agent Garbo: The Strange Tale of the Man Who Saved D-Day
Mar 07, 2019
The War of the Stray Dog: How Far Would You Go For Your Pet?
Mar 05, 2019
The Tragic Origin Story of Morse Code
Feb 28, 2019
Operation Gunnerside: How a Crew of Military Skiers Ruined the Nazi Bomb
Feb 26, 2019
How far did Isaac Newton go to hunt down forgers?
Feb 21, 2019
How Admiral Horatio Nelson Ended Up Dead in a Barrel of Brandy
Feb 19, 2019
English Men Used to Sell Their Wives
Feb 14, 2019
How Louisiana Almost Became a Hippo Ranching Hub
Feb 12, 2019
The Weird Life of George Washington, Part 2
Feb 08, 2019
The Weird Life of George Washington, Part 1
Feb 05, 2019
Who was the highest paid athlete in history?
Jan 31, 2019
Clara, The World's Most Famous Rhinoceros
Jan 30, 2019
How the Monopoly Board Game Became a World War II Escape Kit
Jan 24, 2019
Idiomatic For The People, Part 1
Jan 23, 2019
Was there a real-life Rapunzel?
Jan 17, 2019
Benjamin Franklin's Advice on 'Finding a Mistress'
Jan 15, 2019
What does 'Idaho' actually mean?
Jan 10, 2019
Uncle Sam Tried to End World War II With Bat Bombs
Jan 08, 2019
The American Soldiers Who Defected to North Korea and Became Movie Stars
Jan 04, 2019
How a Broken Toilet Foiled a German Sub
Jan 01, 2019
Creature Feature: The Dark Tetrad
Dec 27, 2018
Gustaf Broman Tried to Cross the Atlantic in a Canoe . . . Or Did He?
Dec 25, 2018
The Weird, Surprisingly Recent Origin of the Tooth Fairy
Dec 20, 2018
When Vikings Loot The Wrong Town
Dec 18, 2018
Were Tulips Really The Bitcoin of the 1600s?
Dec 13, 2018
(Some of) History's Dumbest Military Prototypes
Dec 11, 2018
The Forty Elephants: London’s All-Female Jewel Thieves
Dec 06, 2018
The Malleus Maleficarum: A Real-life Witch Hunter's Bible
Dec 04, 2018
The Great London Beer Flood of 1814
Nov 29, 2018
Dr. Seuss Wrote His Most Famous Book On A Bet
Nov 27, 2018
Feral Children and the True Story Behind The Jungle Book
Nov 22, 2018
When Dentist Sold Dentures Made with Corpse Teeth
Nov 21, 2018
The Laxative-laden Journey of Lewis and Clark
Nov 15, 2018
The Strange and Spectacularly Disgusting Story of the Great Kentucky Meat Shower
Nov 13, 2018
The Bizarre Origin of the Oxford English Dictionary
Nov 08, 2018
How Conman Victor Lustig Sold The Eiffel Tower (Twice)
Nov 06, 2018
George Carlin Gets Quoted in the Supreme Court: Ridiculous Stand-up Stories with Wayne Federman
Nov 02, 2018
The People vs. Lenny Bruce: Ridiculous Stand-up Stories with Wayne Federman
Oct 31, 2018
The Life and Times of Ol' Knife Hand
Oct 23, 2018
The Ridiculous Story of the World’s First (Documented) Serial Killer
Oct 18, 2018
Back When the Rich Ate Corpses
Oct 16, 2018
The Mummies of Guanajuato
Oct 11, 2018
The Curious Rise of SPAM
Oct 09, 2018
The Smooth-talking Takeover of Tabor Bridge
Oct 04, 2018
History's Coolest (Non-Human) Political Candidates, Part I
Oct 02, 2018
Attack of the Aswang: How the CIA Used Vampires as Weapons of War
Sep 27, 2018
A Dead Pope Goes To Court
Sep 25, 2018
Who are the Hartlepudlian Monkey Hangers?
Sep 20, 2018
William Walker: Filibuster and (Fantastically Bad) President
Sep 18, 2018
Lawsonomy: How the Father of the Modern Airline Started His Own Religion
Sep 13, 2018
War and Candy: The Infamous Tootsie Roll Air Drop
Sep 11, 2018
The Man Who Assassinated Abe Lincoln's Assassin
Sep 06, 2018
The Cock Lane Ghost: Haunting, Hoax, Hysteria… or Hilarious?
Sep 05, 2018
Roland the Farter and the Weird World of Professional Flatulence
Aug 30, 2018
Gregor MacGregor Invented a Country and Convinced People to Invest in It
Aug 28, 2018
Angry Feds and Deadly Booze: The Story of the Chemists' War
Aug 23, 2018
Project A119: The Cold War Plan to Nuke the Moon!
Aug 21, 2018
Adidas Versus Puma: A Tale of Two Brothers
Aug 16, 2018
Fanny and Stella: The Cross-Dressing Scandal of Victorian England
Aug 14, 2018
Kansas Imprisoned Women For Having STDs
Aug 09, 2018
The WWII Naval Battle Won Using Potatoes
Aug 07, 2018
The Korean Soldier Who Fought for 3 Armies During WWII
Aug 02, 2018
Oregon Was a White Supremacist Paradise
Jul 31, 2018
Why did people hate the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge?
Jul 26, 2018
The 1904 Summer Olympic Games in St. Louis Hosted a Racist 'Special Olympics'
Jul 24, 2018
When Heineken Made Bottles That Could Be Used as Bricks
Jul 19, 2018
Why British Soccer Players Saluted the Nazis
Jul 17, 2018
The United States That Never Were
Jul 12, 2018
Philadelphia's Transylvanian Doomsday Cult: The Cave of Kelpius
Jul 10, 2018
Enough About Us: What About You?
Jul 05, 2018
Weird Wars Fought For Dumb Reasons
Jul 03, 2018
The FBI's Quest to Understand 'Louie, Louie'
Jun 28, 2018
The Time a Soviet Premier Was Banned From Disneyland
Jun 26, 2018
Kidnapping, Binge Drinking and Costumes: Voter Fraud in the 1800s
Jun 21, 2018
Why don't Americans use bidets?
Jun 19, 2018
The Earliest Recorded Mooning Killed Thousands
Jun 14, 2018
The Presidential Reason Fido Became the Default Name for a Generic Dog
Jun 12, 2018
Dock Ellis and the Legend of the LSD No-hitter
Jun 07, 2018
Maryland’s State Song was a Diss Track
Jun 05, 2018
The Story of Max, South Africa's Famous, Crime-fighting Gorilla
May 31, 2018
How Santa Anna Lost His Leg Twice, and Held a Funeral for It
May 29, 2018
That Time Chewbacca Needed Bodyguards
May 24, 2018
Napoleon Bonaparte Was Attacked by Bunnies -- And Lost
May 22, 2018
California Was Named for a Fictional Island Ruled by a Black Amazon Queen
May 17, 2018
Ancient Mayan Ritual Alcohol Enemas
May 15, 2018
Vermont Was an Independent Republic
May 10, 2018
The Capture of Guam Was Bloodless and Quick, All Due to a Misunderstanding
May 08, 2018
Are all US Presidents actually related?
May 03, 2018
What's the deal with two-dollar bills?
May 01, 2018
How James Bond Created a Mexican Dia de los Muertos Tradition
Apr 26, 2018
Did Richard Nixon Unwittingly Smuggle Drugs for Louis Armstrong?
Apr 24, 2018
3 Times Society Refused to Accept New Books on Science
Apr 19, 2018
That Time We Erased a (HUGE) Waterfall
Apr 17, 2018
The Poetic Justice of Death by Molten Gold
Apr 12, 2018
Japan, Baseball and the Curse of the Colonel
Apr 10, 2018
That Time the US Built a Flying Aircraft Carrier
Apr 05, 2018
Yes, Those Are Corpses in the Diorama
Apr 03, 2018
Weird People Who Built Weird Things
Mar 29, 2018
What was the West Point Eggnog Riot?
Mar 27, 2018
Lyndon Johnson Chatted on the Phone More than a Teenager
Mar 22, 2018
When Germany Sacrificed Sausage For War
Mar 20, 2018
Arsenic: The Assassin's Dream Weapon
Mar 15, 2018
The Killer Marketing Campaign Behind Guy Fawkes
Mar 13, 2018
When Ancient India Beat Machiavelli to the Punch
Mar 08, 2018
The Rise of Harvey Wiley's Poison Squad
Mar 06, 2018
Step Aside, James Bond: The Strange Stories of Espionage Animals
Mar 01, 2018
How MLK influenced Star Trek
Feb 27, 2018
What was the 'Great Stink' of London?
Feb 22, 2018
How Farmers Built A Barbed Wire Phone Network
Feb 21, 2018
The Strange Story of Canadian Margarine Bootleggers
Feb 15, 2018
When People Waged War Over Eggs
Feb 13, 2018
The Wild West Was Actually Pretty Chill
Feb 08, 2018
How A Grudge Match Launched the Ford GT40
Feb 06, 2018
Vitamin Donuts Were A Real Thing
Feb 01, 2018
The Rotten, Sausagey Secret Origin of Botox
Jan 30, 2018
The Weird World of Meat Jell-O (Gelatin Origin Story)
Jan 25, 2018
London Made a Train for the Dead
Jan 23, 2018
Roald Dahl: Children's Author and Secret Agent
Jan 18, 2018
When did ALL-CAPS type become YELLING?
Jan 16, 2018
Why does the Guinness Beer Company Track World Records?
Jan 11, 2018
Digging Up James K Polk (For the Third Time)
Jan 09, 2018
Presidents Love Their Ridiculous Pets
Jan 04, 2018
The Atomic Whoops: When the US Air Force Bombed South Carolina
Jan 02, 2018
Waging War With Hallucinogenic Honey
Dec 28, 2017
Ben Franklin Tried To Reinvent the Alphabet
Dec 26, 2017
The Strange History of Antarctic Fruitcake
Dec 21, 2017
When the Puritans Canceled Christmas
Dec 19, 2017
Baguettes and Vacation: France versus Bakers
Dec 14, 2017
What's the deal with smashing cake at weddings?
Dec 12, 2017
Conquest via Bird Poop: One Island at a Time
Dec 07, 2017
When Scientists Hid Under Beds To Spy On Kids
Dec 05, 2017
When People Thought They Were Made of Glass
Nov 30, 2017
Nazis, Churchill and Chocolate
Nov 28, 2017
When (and why) did the US start calling its citizens consumers?
Nov 23, 2017
Does the US Confederacy still exist in Americana, Brazil?
Nov 21, 2017
Did a real-life rainmaker almost drown San Diego?
Nov 16, 2017
X-Rays, Songs and Soviets: The Stilyagi Story
Nov 14, 2017
Who solves murders in Antarctica?
Nov 09, 2017
How White America Tried to Destroy Chinese Restaurants
Nov 07, 2017
Butter: Protestantism's Secret Ingredient?
Nov 02, 2017
Wharram Percy Versus The Undead
Oct 31, 2017
The Wild Hippos of Pablo Escobar
Oct 24, 2017
Why do British lawyers wear wigs?
Oct 24, 2017
Ridiculous History: Episode Zero
Oct 20, 2017
Ridiculous History: Trailer
Oct 18, 2017