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Strange Epochs: History's Most Extraordinary True Stories
History is full of events so remarkable, so inexplicable, that they seem like they couldn't possibly be real. And yet they are.
Every week, host Shawn Spainhour takes you deep inside one of history's most extraordinary true stories. Not the events you studied in school — the ones that got left out. The ones historians still argue about. The ones that make you question everything you thought you knew about the past.
From medieval mass hysteria to unsolved disappearances, from forgotten wars to events that defied every reasonable explanation — Strange Epochs brings history to life the way it actually felt to the people who lived it. Immersive. Atmospheric. Completely true.
This isn't a history lecture. It's an experience.
Episodes explore stories like:
The Dancing Plague of 1518 — when hundreds of people danced uncontrollably for days and couldn't stop
The Cadaver Synod — when a Pope put a dead man on trial
The Great Emu War — when the Australian military lost a war against birds
The Tunguska Event — the largest unexplained explosion in recorded history
The Lost Colony of Roanoke — America's oldest unsolved mystery
Hinterkaifeck — the farmstead murder that was never solved
The Voynich Manuscript — a book no one has ever been able to read
The Ghost Army of WWII — the secret unit that won battles with illusions
New episodes every Tuesday.
If you love history podcasts like Fall of Civilizations, Hardcore History, or Cautionary Tales — Strange Epochs is your next listen.
Subscribe now and never miss an episode.
| Episode | Date |
|---|---|
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The Great Stink: How a Smell Forced Parliament to Act — London, 1858
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Nov 11, 2026 |
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The Mary Celeste: A Ship Found Empty at Sea — Atlantic Ocean, 1872
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Nov 04, 2026 |
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The Miracle of Calanda: The Man Whose Amputated Leg Came Back — Aragon, Spain, 1640
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Oct 27, 2026 |
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The Dyatlov Pass Incident: Nine Hikers, One Tent Cut From Inside — Ural Mountains, 1959
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Oct 20, 2026 |
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The Great Molasses Flood: A Twenty-Five-Foot Wave in Boston — Boston, 1919
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Oct 13, 2026 |
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The Tanganyika Laughter Epidemic: When an Entire Region Could Not Stop — Tanzania, 1962
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Oct 06, 2026 |
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The Great Impostor: The Man Who Became Everyone — 1951
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Sep 29, 2026 |
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The Lost Colony of Roanoke: One Hundred and Fifteen People, One Word, No Answers — North Carolina, 1590
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Sep 22, 2026 |
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The Black Death Flagellants: When Europe Bled for God — Germany, 1349
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Sep 15, 2026 |
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The Mad Parliament: The Day Barons Cornered a King — Oxford, England, 1258
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Sep 08, 2026 |
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The Ghost Army: Inflatable Tanks, Sound Effects, and the Artists Who Fooled the Nazis — Europe, 1944
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Sep 01, 2026 |
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The Somerton Man: A Body, a Code, and a Mystery That Won't Close — Adelaide, Australia, 1948
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Aug 25, 2026 |
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The London Beer Flood: When a Wave of Porter Killed Eight People — St. Giles, London, 1814
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Aug 19, 2026 |
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The Taiping Rebellion: The Bloodiest Civil War You've Never Heard Of — China, 1850
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Aug 12, 2026 |
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The Mad Monk of Portugal: The Hidden King Who Never Came Back — Morocco, 1578
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Aug 05, 2026 |
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The Bell Witch: America's Most Documented Supernatural Case — Robertson County, Tennessee, 1817
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Jul 29, 2026 |
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The Great Moon Hoax: Bat-Men, Blue Unicorns, and the Newspaper That Fooled New York — 1835
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Jul 22, 2026 |
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The Cottingley Fairies: The Hoax That Fooled Sherlock Holmes — Yorkshire, 1917
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Jul 15, 2026 |
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Thomas Jefferson Still Survives: A Fourth of July Special — July 4th, 1826
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Jul 05, 2026 |
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The Kentucky Meat Shower: It Rained Flesh in Bath County — Kentucky, 1876
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Jul 01, 2026 |
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The War of the Bucket: Two Cities, One Wooden Pail, Thousands Dead — Italy, 1325
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Jun 24, 2026 |
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The Voynich Manuscript: A 500-Year-Old Book No One Can Read — Yale University
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Jun 17, 2026 |
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Hinterkaifeck Murders: Six Dead, One Killer Who Stayed — Bavaria, 1922
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Jun 10, 2026 |
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The Tunguska Event: The Largest Impact in Recorded History — Siberia, 1908
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Jun 03, 2026 |
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The Phantom Time Hypothesis: Did Someone Steal 297 Years of History? — Europe, 996
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May 27, 2026 |
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The Pig That Was Executed: Justice, Animals, and the Medieval Mind — France, 1457
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May 20, 2026 |
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The Year Without a Summer: When a Volcano Froze the World — Global, 1816
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May 12, 2026 |
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The Defenestration of Prague: Three Men, One Window, Thirty Years of War — Prague, 1618
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May 05, 2026 |
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The Great Emu War: Twenty Thousand Emus vs. the Australian Army — 1932
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Apr 28, 2026 |
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The Mad Gasser of Mattoon: An Invisible Terror Stalks Mattoon, Illinois — 1944
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Apr 21, 2026 |
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The Cadaver Synod: A Dead Pope on Trial
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Apr 14, 2026 |
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The Dancing Plague of 1518: Strasbourg’s Mass Hysteria
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Apr 10, 2026 |