Episodes
June 18, 2025
The Origin of Weird: Mary Toft and Her Rabbit Babies
How far would someone go to escape poverty? In 1726, Mary Toft, a destitute servant and mother of three who had recently suffered a miscarriage, concocted an outrageous scheme that would captivate England and eventually reach...
June 16, 2025
The Father, the Son and the Distilled Spirits: Uncle Nearest
"Who taught Jack Daniel how to make whiskey?" seems like a simple question with an obvious answer – until you discover the truth that was hidden for more than 150 years. When young orphan Jasper Newton "Jack" Daniel arrived at Reverend Dan Call's farm in 1850s Tennessee, he became fascinated with t…
June 9, 2025
Bubbles After All: The Wizard of Oz
Ever wonder what really happened behind the scenes of The Wizard of Oz? The yellow brick road was paved with dangerous stunts, toxic makeup, and shocking studio practices that would never be allowed today. From the moment we ...
June 4, 2025
The Origin of Weird: Louie Louie and the FBI Investigation
A simple rock recording session in 1963 snowballed into one of the FBI's most bizarre investigations when The Kingsmen recorded "Louie Louie" in a single take with just $50 and one hour of studio time. The perfect storm of fa...
June 2, 2025
Soap Opera Plot: Zlata Filipović
When 11-year-old Zlata Filipović received a blank diary in September 1991, she couldn't have known it would become a powerful testament to one of Europe's most devastating modern conflicts. As Yugoslavia fractured along ethni...
May 26, 2025
Buffoonery Chit-Chat
Ever wondered what happens when the history books close and the microphones stay on? In this special episode, Kate and Bradley pull back the curtain on the History Buffoons podcast, sharing the triumphs, challenges, and occas...
May 21, 2025
The Origin of Weird: Anti Comet Pill
Fear and opportunism collide in this fascinating dive into one of history's strangest mass panics. When scientists discovered cyanogen gas in Halley's Comet's tail before its 1910 arrival, what should have been a minor scient...
May 19, 2025
Two Polite Porcupines: Marie Antoinette
History often reduces Marie Antoinette to a single misattributed quote about cake and a guillotine blade, but the real woman behind the myth was far more complex and tragic. Born an Austrian archduchess and sent to France at ...
May 12, 2025
Tropical Text Message: PT-109 and JFK
The story of how a future president became an unlikely war hero starts with a wooden boat cut in half by a Japanese destroyer in the pitch-black waters of the South Pacific. Despite having a bad back that should have kept him...
May 7, 2025
The Origin of Weird: Weird Origins of Idioms
Words can be strange little time capsules. Take idioms - those peculiar phrases we use without questioning how bizarre they actually sound. "Jump the shark"? "Close to the chest"? "More than one way to skin a cat"? Who came up with these, and why do we still use them? In this linguistic adventure, …
May 5, 2025
Smack Dabble: Charles Lightoller
Charles Lightoller wasn't merely present for some of the 20th century's most significant maritime events – he survived them all with an almost supernatural resilience. Born into humble beginnings in Lancashire, England in 1874, Lightoller's life story reads like an adventure novel too extraordinary…
April 28, 2025
Run for the Roses: History of the Kentucky Derby
Fascinators, mint juleps, and a centuries-old tradition that nearly collapsed—the Kentucky Derby's rich history goes far beyond the track. How did a 24-year-old architect's twin spires design become an American icon? What cat...
April 23, 2025
The Origin of Weird: Theft of Einstein's Brain/Chess = Genius
What happens when a pathologist steals the brain of one of history's greatest geniuses? In one of the most bizarre tales from scientific history, we dive into the unauthorized removal of Albert Einstein's brain during his 195...
April 21, 2025
Unreasonably Warm: The Children's Blizzard of 1888
A warm January day suddenly plunged into lethal chaos across the American prairie. One moment, children were enjoying their first day back at school after weeks of bitter cold; the next, they were fighting for their lives in ...
April 14, 2025
You're Lucky You're A Person: Lizzie Cyr/Famous 5 Part 2
"You're not a qualified person." With these dismissive words, the Canadian government repeatedly denied women access to the Senate based on a narrow interpretation of constitutional language. But in 1927, five determined wome...
April 9, 2025
The Origin of Weird: "Poison" By Agatha Christie
Did you know a murder mystery novel once helped solve a real-life poisoning case? Agatha Christie's meticulous research and personal experience created stories so scientifically accurate they've saved actual lives. Join us as...
April 7, 2025
It Started Running: Lizzie Cyr/Famous 5 Part 1
The fascinating case of Lizzie Cyr begins with a simple arrest for "vagrancy" in 1917 Calgary and transforms into a landmark legal battle that would permanently alter women's rights in Canada. When Lizzie Cyr, a 29-year-old w...
March 31, 2025
Scenario 21: '72 Munich Olympic Games
The deadly attack on Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics stands as one of the most shocking moments in sports history - a terrorist operation that transformed what should have been a global celebration into a horrifi...
March 26, 2025
The Origin of Weird: Angel’s Glow
A mysterious blue-green glow emanated from the wounds of soldiers on the Shiloh battlefield in April 1862. Those with glowing injuries seemed to survive at higher rates than their comrades, earning the phenomenon the name "An...
March 24, 2025
Servant Sandwich: Elizabeth Bathory Part 2
When history remembers Elizabeth Bathory, it recalls a monster - the "Blood Countess" who allegedly murdered 650 young women and bathed in their blood to preserve her youth. But what if the most notorious female serial killer...
March 17, 2025
Sing Us Out Cher!: Elizabeth Bathory Part 1
The name Elizabeth Bathory evokes images of horror and blood-soaked legends, but behind the macabre reputation lies a fascinating historical figure shaped by the tumultuous forces of Renaissance Europe. Born in 1560 to a powe...
March 12, 2025
The Origin Of Weird: Ignaz Semmelweis
The shocking story of how simply washing hands could have saved countless women's lives—and why doctors refused to do it. Meet Ignaz Semmelweis, a Hungarian physician working in Vienna in the 1840s who made a disturbing obser...
March 10, 2025
Throw Back a Bottle of Beer: Zoot Suit Riots
When a fashion trend becomes a target for violence, what does that reveal about a society? In wartime Los Angeles 1943, young Mexican-Americans who wore zoot suits—characterized by their distinctive wide-legged, tapered pants...
March 4, 2025
Mongel or Mogul?: Annie Oakley
Annie Oakley, the legendary sharpshooter, defied all odds to become one of the most recognized figures in American history. This episode reveals how the young girl from Ohio, burdened by personal tragedy, transformed her life...