Sending human beings through the mail is not generally allowed, but plenty of people have tried it. The most notable person in US history to mail themselves is Henry “Box” Brown who escaped slavery in Virginia via a shipping company, […]

129 Phantom Time, the Dumbest Conspiracy Theory Ever

May 30th, 2017 19m 17s

One of the most dramatic (and dumbest) conspiracy theories of all time is the Phantom Time Hypothesis, put forward by the conspiracy theorist Heriber Illig. They hypothesis states that almost three centurires of the Middle Ages, AD 614 to 911,

82 For Amusement Only

May 26th, 2016 16m 41s

Anymore, pinball is an archaic amusement found in the corners of old arcades and bars, but in the mid twentieth century it was the center of a moral panic. Cities across the country banned pinball for its associations with gambling. […]

137 Isaac Newton and the Cat Door

Aug 7th, 2017 18m 7s

Popular legend holds that Isaac Newton invented not only calculus, but also the cat door. Unfortunately, this colorful legend is not supported by good evidence. Cats have been domesticated for thousands of years, with the oldest known domestic

237 A Danger Shared with Bill Lascher

1 month ago 36m 46s

A Danger Shared: A Journalist’s Glimpses of a Continent at War is the latest book from Portland journalist and author Bill Lascher. Bill joined us to talk about WWII in Asia through the eyes of journalist Melville Jacoby, his own […]

236 Piracy in the South China Sea with Rita Chang-Eppig

May 12th, 2023 29m 31s

By all reasonable metrics Shek Yeung, who raided the South China Sea in the early 1800s, is one of the most successful pirates of all time. In her new novel Deep as the Sky, Red as the Sea author Rita […]

235 Shakespeare Versus Hedgehogs

Mar 1st, 2023 15m 48s

William Shakespeare seems to have hated hedgehogs. We don’t quite know why, but it could have something to do with how the tiny animal is depicted by the Roman scholar Pliny the Elder. Special Thanks to Jamie Jeffers of The […]

234 Lupercalia

Feb 13th, 2023 14m 20s

Before Valentine’s Day, ancient Romans celebrated a festival of fertility in the shadow of the Palatine Hill. Lupercalia was a popular holiday that featured blood, goat sacrifice, and getting whipped by naked guys.

233 The Golden Fortress with Bill Lascher

Oct 9th, 2022 37m 28s

During the Dust Bowl city officials in Los Angeles, fueled by anti-communist paranoia and xenophobia, were determined to keep migrants out of California. To that end, they dispatched the LAPD to remote border crossing points far outside the cit

232 Navigating the Asian Maritime World with Eric Tagliacozzo

Jul 11th, 2022 42m 58s

Eric Tagliacozzo is a professor of history at Cornell University, and his new book In Asian Waters: Oceanic Worlds From Yemen to Yokohama outlines five centuries of maritime history in the Asian world. In this wide-ranging interview, we discuss

231 The History of Archaeology with Ann R. Williams

Jan 23rd, 2022 55m 18s

Archaeology has changed considerably over the past century. In this episode, we spoke with Ann R. Williams of National Geographic about the new book Lost Cities Ancient Tombs, significant discoveries from the past century, and what it means to

230 The Adventures of Mussolini’s Corpse

Nov 8th, 2021 11m 47s

After his death in 1945, Mussolini’s corpse was autopsied and thrown into a pauper’s grave. But, that was just the beginning of the cadaver’s posthumous career. Eventually the body was stolen by neofascists, hidden away for over a decade, and [

229 Douglas Wolk on All of the Marvels

Oct 12th, 2021 59m 3s

The Marvel Universe is massive. Marvel comics go back well over half a century, and span thousands upon thousands of pages. Reading all of them would be a Herculean undertaking. And one man, Douglas Wolk, did exactly that, and wrote […]

228 The Mustache Strike

Sep 6th, 2021 17m 31s

In 1907 French waiters went on strike, and won the right to wear facial hair.

227 The Rasputin Disclaimer

Aug 11th, 2021 22m 29s

Nearly every English-language movie has a disclaimer in the credits that says something like “This is a work of fiction. Any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events, is purely coincidental.” Obviously this isn’t true. His

August 2021 Announcement

Aug 2nd, 2021 2m 38s

226 Sara and Jack Gorman on Denying to the Grave

Jul 15th, 2021 32m 2s

Covid-19 has killed and sickened hundreds of thousands of people, and transformed our economy, how we work, and how we relate to each other. Even in the midst of this world-historic crisis, though, people deny it. Conspiracy theorists and naysa

225 Los San Patricios

Mar 17th, 2021 19m 57s

The Mexican-American War was not fought for good reasons. The war was one of imperial and expansionist ambition and territorial expansion, and even in the 1840s many Americans at the time knew they were on the wrong side of history. […]

224 Carlton F.W. Larson on Treason in the U.S.

Jan 24th, 2021 39m 28s

Treason is the only crime specifically defined in the U.S. Constitution, and talk of treason has been in the air for the last four years. Carlton F.W. Larson is a professor of constitutional law at University of California at Davis, […]

223 Grand Guignol Part Two: Tales of Terror!

Oct 31st, 2020 21m 8s

It’s not enough to just talk about the history of the Grand Guignol. We also want to bring you a little bit of what it was like to take in a night of horror there. On this special Halloween episode, […]

222 Grand Guignol Part One: Theater of Horror!

Oct 25th, 2020 29m 37s

The Grand Guignol was a small Parisian theater which regularly produced original works of horror. The theater, which operated from 1897 until 1962, showcased short plays about murder, insanity, dismemberment, disease, and other horrors, much to

221 Sasha Abramsky on Lottie Dod

Sep 18th, 2020 27m 21s

Sasha Abramsky is a journalist and author whose new book Little Wonder tells the story of Lottie Dod, the modern world’s first female sporting celebrity. Dod came to prominence as a tennis prodigy and later excelled in other sports like […]

220 Michel Paradis on Last Mission to Tokyo

Aug 7th, 2020 32m 12s

Today’s show is a conversation with Michel Paradis, attorney and author of Last Mission to Tokyo. Early in WWII the U.S. launched the Doolittle Raids against Japan, attacking the Japanese mainland for the first time. Most of the raiders were […

219 Patient Zero

Jul 11th, 2020 22m 55s

In 1987 journalist Randy Shilts chronicled the early years of AIDS in North America in his book And the Band Played On. Shilts’ reporting was mostly concerned with the failures of the U.S. government and healthcare infrastructure to respond to

218 Juneteenth

Jun 19th, 2020 17m 49s

Slavery in the United States did not end all at once. Even though the Emancipation Proclamation went into effect in 1863, the last enslaved persons in the United States didn’t know they were legally free until June 19th, 1865 when […]