History Fix

In keeping with the nautical theme I accidentally adopted this month, I'll be exploring the rather misleading story of sixteen century Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan this week. Magellan's claim to fame is being the first person to circumnavigate the globe, to sail all the way around the Earth, a full circle. That really is Magellan's only claim to fame. Except for one thing. He never even did that. Did you know that, despite claiming all the credit posthumously, Magellan only made it about three quarters of the way around the world? One of his five ships did return to Spain after a mostly disastrous voyage but Magellan was no longer on board. So who should really claim the credit? Who was the first person to circumnavigate the Earth? Let's fix that. Support the show! Join the Patreon (patreon.com/historyfixpodcast)Buy some merchBuy Me a CoffeeVenmo @Shea-LaFountaineSources: History.com "Why the Magellan Expedition Was So Treacherous"Encyclopedia Britannica "Ferdinand Magellan"BBC "Ferdinand Magellan"History Skills "Magellan was NOT the First Person to Sail Around the World..."History.com "Was Magellan the First Person to Circumnavigate the Globe?"Shoot me a message!

I'm back this week with four more shipwreck stories. We'll start with the horrific explosion of the Mississippi river steamboat, the Sultana in 1865. Next, we'll tackle the Titanic which famously sank in 1912, killing around 1,500 passengers. On to another famous ship, the Endeavor. The Endeavor was the British naval ship used by explorer Captain James Cook during his first voyage of discovery which landed him in Australia, New Zealand, and Tahiti in the mid 1700s. Later the ship changed hands and was eventually used and intentionally sunk during the American Revolutionary War. Finally, I'll end with what is, quite possibly, one of the most controversial shipwrecks ever found, the San Jose. This Spanish galleon has been called the "holy grail" of shipwrecks because it was supposedly carrying treasure worth up to 17 billion dollars today when it went down in 1708. As five plus countries argue over the San Jose's treasure, the ethical question remains - what should be done with these shipwrecks?Support the show! Join the Patreon (patreon.com/historyfixpodcast)Buy some merchBuy Me a CoffeeVenmo @Shea-LaFountaineSources: American Battlefield Trust "The Sultana Disaster"Wikipedia "Sultana"New York Times "Civil War Hull Is Reported Found"Live Science "Digital "resurrection" of the Titanic sheds light on fateful night the ship tore apart"National Geographic Press Release "National Geographic reveals groundbreaking underwater scan..."The Times "At last, the Titanic wreck is left to rust in peace"Wikipedia "James Cook"Australian National Maritime Museum "Evidence Identifying Endeavor"The Guardian "Discovery provides further evidence shipwreck is Captain Cook's Endeavor, maritime scientists say"The Guardian "Worm-eaten shipwreck of Captain Cook's Endeavor under threat from more marine animals"BBC "The fierce battle over over the 'Holy Grail' of shipwrecks"Shoot me a message!

This week, we'll uncover the stories of four different shipwrecks. I'll start with an ancient Roman ship found near the Greek island of Antikythera which sank around 60 to 70 BC with mind blowing treasures on board. Next, I'll talk about the sinking of King Henry VIII's flagship, the Mary Rose, in 1545 and it's rediscovery twice in the 400 years since. Then we'll move on to my personal favorite, the Queen Anne's Revenge, which was intentionally run aground by the infamous pirate Blackbeard in 1718 and rediscovered in 1996. Finally, the HMS Victory which sank in the English Channel in 1744, one of the largest and most mysterious naval tragedies in British history. We'll take a closer look at the artifacts that came off of these wrecks and what they can teach us about the people once onboard. And, we'll dive into some difficult ethical questions. What is a shipwreck really? A museum? A treasure chest? A graveyard? And should that affect how we handle these discoveries?Support the show! Join the Patreon (patreon.com/historyfixpodcast)Buy some merchBuy Me a CoffeeVenmo @Shea-LaFountaineSources: Scientific American "An Ancient Greek Astronomical Calculation Machine Reveals New Secrets"Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution "Antikythera Shipwreck"Royal Museums Greenwich "Mary Rose"maryrose.org "The Mary Rose in History"Museum Crush "11 Tudor Treasures Recovered from the Wreck of the Mary Rose"Queen Anne's Revenge Project "Discovery of the Shipwreck"Wikipedia "Queen Anne's Revenge"BBC "HMS Victory: The English Channel's 'Abandoned Shipwreck'"The Guardian "Wreckage of HMS Victory's Predecessor Discovered in Channel After 265 Years"Time Magazine "The HMS Victory, Famed Shipwreck, Is Found"Shoot me a message!

This week I teamed up with fellow podcaster and prolific world traveler, Gary Arndt, from the "Everything Everywhere Daily" podcast to talk about UNESCO, an organization with a mission to save natural wonders and cultural heritage sites around the world. You'll hear the story of how UNESCO got it's start, specifically the painstaking dismantling, transport, and reconstruction of one some ancient Egypt's greatest wonders, threatened by modern development, and how the world came together to save it. You'll also hear about Gary's travels, including his favorite and least favorite UNESCO sites.  Support the show! Join the Patreon (patreon.com/historyfixpodcast)Buy some merchBuy Me a CoffeeVenmo @Shea-LaFountaineSources: Everything Everywhere "Everything You Wanted To Know About UNESCO World Heritage Sites But Never Bothered to Ask"JSTOR Daily "An Epic Face-Lift: Moving Abu Simbel Out of the Nile"UNESCO "Working Together: Abu Simbel"UNESCO Archives Film Collection: "The World Saves Abu Simbel" documentary National Geographic "Saving the Temples of Abu Simbel"Wikipedia "Abu Simbel"Shoot me a message!

This week we're talking about the Vietnam War, one of the most unpopular wars in US history. Tomorrow is Memorial Day and while I very much want to honor and remember the over 58,000 Americans who lost their lives fighting for their country in Vietnam, around one third of them drafted, that's not exactly the focus of this episode. Instead, I want to explore a side to the war we don't often think about. I want to explore what happens if you're drafted, but you  know you can't do it. You can't go fight in a war, kill people, lots of people, for a cause you don't believe in, a war you are morally opposed to. Because for many, that was the reality. So what are you going to do? What options do you have? Join me and special guest Bruce Wasser, author of "90: A Conscientious Objector's Journey of Quiet Resistance" to uncover Bruce's experience as a conscientious objector during the Vietnam War. Purchase Bruce's book here!Check your birthdate draft number hereWatch a video of the December 1, 1969 birthdate draft lottery hereSupport the show! Join the Patreon (patreon.com/historyfixpodcast)Buy some merchBuy Me a CoffeeVenmo @Shea-LaFountaineSources: BBC "The Vietnam War"History.com "How the Vietnam War Ratcheted Up Under 5 US Presidents"Selective Service System "Vietnam Lotteries"PHData "Analyzing the 1969 Vietnam War Draft Lottery"Shoot me a message!

This week I'm very excited to share with you some recent developments in the story of the “Lost Colony” of Roanoke. I'm joined by Scott Dawson, who runs the Lost Colony Museum in the town of Buxton, on Hatteras Island. For a long time, Scott has been working with British archaeologist Dr. Mark Horton to excavate sites of old Native American villages in Buxton, left by a group known as the Croatoan. What they have discovered recently may just be the first real “smoking gun” evidence to prove what really happened to the colonists. And, no spoilers, but it's pretty much exactly what we should have already realized happened.Support the Croatoan Archaeological Society here!  - cashatteras.comEarlier Roanoke Colony Episodes - Episode 27 (part 1) and episode 28 (part 2)Support the show! Join the Patreon (patreon.com/historyfixpodcast)Buy some merchBuy Me a CoffeeVenmo @Shea-LaFountaineSources: "The Head in Edward Nugent's Hand" by Michael Leroy ObergIsland Free Press "‘Smoking gun' evidence of Lost Colony's relocation to Hatteras Island makes international news"Shoot me a message!

This episode is all about the history of feeding babies which has been necessary and yet surprisingly difficult since the beginning of mankind. In fact, it's so necessary that to forgo it, up until very recently, the last hundred years or so, was a death sentence for the infant. We don't often think about feeding babies. It's something mothers take care of behind the scenes, part of the invisible load. We certainly don't pause to think about the history of it, the immense challenges faced throughout the ages. But we should. As necessary as infant feeding is, as necessary as it has always been, society still does not make it easy for mothers to pull off. And that should concern you, even if you aren't a mother, even if you aren't a baby. Because you were once, and so was I, and so was literally everyone. Let's fix that. Support the show! Join the Patreon (patreon.com/historyfixpodcast)Buy some merchBuy Me a CoffeeVenmo @Shea-LaFountaineSources: The Journal of Perinatal Education "A History of Infant Feeding" by Stevens, Patrick, and PicklerCDC "Trends in Breastfeeding Among American Mothers"US Department of Labor "FLSA Protections to Pump at Work"Mamava "The History of Breastfeeding"GinPolMed Project "A history of breastfeeding"Time Magazine "Desperate Women, Desperate Doctors and the Surprising History Behind the Breastfeeding Debate"NC Health News "Distant echoes of slavery affect breastfeeding attitudes of Black women"Shoot me a message!

This week, we'll continue digging into the story of infamous Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler, beginning where we left off last week with the Reichstag Fire, a suspicious incident that led to the destruction of democracy and withdrawal of civil liberties in Germany. As you'll see, once those civil liberties were gone, Hitler was free to do as he pleased and what "he pleased" happened to include a world war and the mass murders of millions. We'll examine how it all went down, how he was finally stopped, and assess the risk of another Hitler-like monster rising to power today. Support the show! Join the Patreon (patreon.com/historyfixpodcast)Buy some merchBuy Me a CoffeeVenmo @Shea-LaFountaineSources: National WWII Museum "How did Adolf Hitler Happen?"History.com "Adolf Hitler"BBC "Adolf Hitler: Man and Monster"Time Magazine "Adolf Hitler: Man of the Year, 1938"The Atlantic "How Hitler Dismantled a Democracy in 53 Days"The Conversation "Understanding how Hitler became German helps us with modern-day extremists" The Atlantic "What the Press Got Wrong About Hitler" History Extra "Hitler's millionaire backers: how Germany's elite facilitated the rise of the Nazis" The Globalist "Trump and Hitler: How Accurate a Comparison?"Vanity Fair "Hitler's Doomed Angel"BBC "Hitler's Appointment as Chancellor, 1933" Wikipedia "Hitler Family"US Holocaust Memorial Museum "How and why did ordinary people across Europe contribute to the persecution of their Jewish neighborsJewish Virtual Library "When Did the World Find Out About the Holocaust?"Smithsonian Magazine "The True Story of the Reichstag Power and the Nazi Rise to Power"US Holocaust Memorial Museum "The Reichstag Fire"Shoot me a message!

Throughout all of history there is one name that rises above all the others possibly as the most depraved, heinous, vile human being ever to have walked the planet. Humans worldwide almost unanimously agree, some from the start but most in hindsight, that this man was pure evil. Yes, I am talking of course about the infamous dictator Adolf Hitler. BBC writes quote “Few names from history inspire such immediate and emphatic revulsion as that of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler. His hands are stained with the blood of millions killed in the devastation of the Second World War and the horror of the Holocaust. But Hitler was not born a brutal tyrant, he became one,” end quote. He became one. Well that begs the question, of course, how did he become one? How does a normal Austrian boy born to a family of modest means come to take over another country's government so fully that he acquires the power to engage the entire world in a bloody war while simultaneously murdering millions of innocent men, women, and children? Oh, what, you thought Hitler was German? Turns out, there's a lot the masses don't know about Adolf Hitler and his rise to power. And as we well know, to forget history is to risk repeating it. Let's fix that. Support the show! Join the Patreon (patreon.com/historyfixpodcast)Buy some merchBuy Me a CoffeeVenmo @Shea-LaFountaineSources: National WWII Museum "How did Adolf Hitler Happen?"History.com "Adolf Hitler"BBC "Adolf Hitler: Man and Monster"Time Magazine "Adolf Hitler: Man of the Year, 1938"The Atlantic "How Hitler Dismantled a Democracy in 53 Days"The Conversation "Understanding how Hitler became German helps us with modern-day extremists" The Atlantic "What the Press Got Wrong About Hitler" History Extra "Hitler's millionaire backers: how Germany's elite facilitated the rise of the Nazis" The Globalist "Trump and Hitler: How Accurate a Comparison?"Vanity Fair "Hitler's Doomed Angel"BBC "Hitler's Appointment as Chancellor, 1933" Wikipedia "Hitler Family"Shoot me a message!

In April of 1722 Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen and his crew stumbled upon a tiny island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. They sailed for the Dutch West India Company in search of Terra Australis Incognita, a hypothetical undiscovered continent that doesn't actually exist. The land they found instead was just a 64 square mile speck some 1,200 miles from the nearest island and over 2,000 miles from the nearest continent. This island, which they spotted on Easter Sunday, was incredibly small and incredibly remote. And yet, remarkably, there seemed to be people living there. Roggeveen and his crew were confused, as were the handful of Europeans who made occasional landfall in the centuries that followed. None of them could understand the mysterious people of Easter Island. Where did they come from? How did they get there? Why did they carve massive stone heads? How did they move them? There were so many unanswered questions that have led to a complete lack of answers even today. But the real mystery is, why didn't anyone just ask the Rapanui people themselves? Perhaps, if they had, Easter Island, Rapa Nui wouldn't be the mystery it is today. Join me this week to finally learn about Rapa Nui. We'll examine recent DNA evidence that completely debunks past theories and we'll finally listen to the Rapanui people whose rich oral traditions, storytelling, have survived despite it all.Support the show! Join the Patreon (patreon.com/historyfixpodcast)Buy some merchBuy Me a CoffeeVenmo @Shea-LaFountaineSources: UNESCO "Rapa Nui National Park"Smithsonian Magazine "The Secrets of Easter Island"Smithsonian Magazine "Easter Island's Ancient Population Never Faced Ecological Collapse, Suggests Another StudyNature "Ancient Rapanui genomes reveal resilience and pre-European contact with the AmericasEBSCO "European Discovery of Easter Island"Wikipedia "History of Easter Island"PBS NOVA Online "Secrets of Easter Island"Shoot me a message!

In the 1950s, a strange story emerged about a ship called the USS Eldridge docked at a naval shipyard in Philadelphia. According to a man aboard another ship docked nearby, in October of 1948 the hull of the Eldridge suddenly glowed an eery blueish green and then the entire ship disappeared, became invisible. But that's not all. After it turned invisible, it then suddenly teleported 300 miles away to another naval shipyard in Norfolk, Virginia and back. The crew aboard the Eldridge reportedly suffered ill effects, disorientation, burns, and some of them even had body parts fused to the hull of the ship. This witness, a man named Carl Allen or sometimes Carlos Allende, claimed that what he had seen was a top secret government experiment gone wrong, an experiment that had been covered up ever since. But what was the Philadelphia Experiment really - a government conspiracy or a hoax turned urban legend? Let's fix that. Support the show! Join the Patreon (patreon.com/historyfixpodcast)Buy some merchBuy Me a CoffeeVenmo @Shea-LaFountaineSources: Naval History and Heritage Command "Philadelphia Experiment"Wikipedia "Philadelphia Experiment"Military.com "This Is the Truth Behind WWII's Creepy Philadelphia Experiment"Wikipedia "Carl Meredith Allen"ussslater.org "Destroyer Escort Anecdotes"How Stuff Works "How the Philadelphia Experiment Worked"Skeptical Inquirer "Solving a UFOlogical Murder: The Case of Morris K. Jessup"Wikipedia "Morris Ketchum Jesup"Shoot me a message!

This week we're exploring what is, quite possibly, the weirdest and most mysterious of all the holidays: April Fools' Day. The real trick? No one even knows where this holiday came from or why we celebrate it. We'll dive in to some of the origin theories, from ancient Rome to medieval fables to Renaissance poetry. We'll also take a look how the holiday has evolved throughout time, including some of the greatest pranks ever pulled on April Fools' Day. Support the show! Join the Patreon (patreon.com/historyfixpodcast)Buy some merchBuy Me a CoffeeVenmo @Shea-LaFountaineSources: Library of Congress Blogs "April Fools: The Roots of an International Holiday"History.com "April Fools' Day"NPR "April Fools' Day might be the world's longest running joke. No one knows how it began"A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities BU Today "How a BU Prof April-Fooled the Country"Encyclopedia Britannica "Julian Calendar"History.com "9 Outrageous Pranks in History"Shoot me a message!

I have danced around the story of Mary Tudor, oldest daughter of Henry VIII, for far too long. It's finally time to recognize Mary with her own episode, the perfect story to wrap up Women's History Month. This is a tragic story. The lot cast upon Mary was often cruel and unjust, her life marred by trauma and heartache. But it's also a story of triumph, an underdog rising up, overcoming insurmountable challenges to claim her rightful place as England's first ever queen regnant. Despite being villainized by history ever since, cast as "Bloody Mary," the stuff of childhood urban legends and sleepover games, Mary was no more evil than her father and brother who came before her or her sister, Elizabeth I, who came after her. So what happened? Why has the myth of "Bloody Mary" persisted for so long and who was Mary Tudor, Queen Mary I, really? Let's fix that. Support the show! Join the Patreon (patreon.com/historyfixpodcast)Buy some merchBuy Me a CoffeeVenmo @Shea-LaFountaineSources: Royal Museums Greenwich "Why is Mary I Known As 'Bloody Mary?'"History Extra "The lost heirs of Henry VIII"Smithsonian Magazine "The Myth of Bloody Mary"History.com "What Inspired Queen 'Bloody' Mary's Gruesome Nickname?"The Fitzwilliam Museum "Mary Tudor"Tudor Extra "The Illness, Death, and Burial of Mary I"Wikipedia "Mary I of England"Wikipedia "The Education of a Christian Woman"Shoot me a message! Persons of InterestFrom murderers to money launderers, thieves to thugs – police officers from the...Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify

Amidst the chaos of 19th century New York City, one poor immigrant woman named Ann Lohman managed to climb her way out of the slums and into a brownstone mansion on 5th avenue. But her means of doing this rubbed some people the wrong way. Ann, alias Madame Restell, was a notorious abortionist operating in the city with satellite offices in Philadelphia and Boston. She built an empire selling married women birth control and performing procedures to help them end unwanted pregnancies. Soon after she began this profitable practice, there were many who hoped to take her down, put a stop to it. But not for the reasons you might expect. Not for the reasons people oppose abortion today. Turns out, abortion, though mostly unseen and unspoken of, has been mostly an accepted necessity throughout history. It wasn't until the mid 1800s when women like Madame Restell rose up, challenging the status quo that abortion became controversial. Let's fix that. Support the show! Join the Patreon (patreon.com/historyfixpodcast)Buy some merchBuy Me a CoffeeVenmo @Shea-LaFountaineSources: Smithsonian Magazine "Madame Restell: The Abortionist of 5th Avenue"Science History Institute "How Notorious Abortionist Madame Restell Built a Drug Empire"The New York Historical Society "Life Story: Ann Trow Lohman, a.k.a Madame Restell"The New York Historical Society "Urbanization"Johns Hopkins University "A Brief History of Abortion in the US"CNN "Abortion is ancient history: Long before Roe, women terminated pregnancies"Shoot me a message!

We're going medieval this week to rectify some misconceptions about castles. Despite what many believe and what's put out there in fairy tales, castles are a very specific thing built in a specific time and place for a specific purpose. We'll examine the medieval period (AKA the middle ages or the dark ages) in Europe to better understand why and how castles were built and what they were used for. We'll also unpack the story of lesser known heroine, Nicola de la Haye, who defied gender norms to defend England's Lincoln Castle against invaders on more than one occasion, successfully withstanding siege after siege. Support the show! Join the Patreon (patreon.com/historyfixpodcast)Buy some merchBuy Me a CoffeeVenmo @Shea-LaFountaineSources: How Stuff Works "How Castles Work"History.com "Middle Ages"Wikipedia "Castles"Road Trips Around the World "Why Are There So Many Castles in Europe?"History in the Margins "From the Archives: a Woman's Home Is Her Castle"Catherine Hanley "Nicola de la Haye"Summoning Magna Carta "Who Was King John?"Royal UK "Royal Residences: Windsor Castle"Historic Royal Palaces "The Story of the Tower of London"Shoot me a message!

This week, we're going all the way back to ancient Greece. We'll examine the story of Aspasia of Miletus, a woman who came to Athens around 450 BC and quickly became the talk of the town. Her name appears over and over again in writing from the time, Socrates wrote about her, Plato, Plutarch, Cicero the orator, Xenophon the historian, Athenaeus the writer, Aristophanes the comic playwright, Pericles the leader of the city-state of Athens. One woman's name was on all of their minds: Aspasia of Miletus. They loved her. They hated her. They called her a great mind, a teacher, a master of rhetoric. They called a prostitute, a cheap whore, a brothel madam. They gave her credit for writing great speeches passed on to men. They gave her credit for starting great wars, the ruin of Athens. But who was Aspasia really and why was everyone talking about her? Join me to find out! Support the show! Join the Patreon (patreon.com/historyfixpodcast)Buy some merchBuy Me a CoffeeVenmo @Shea-LaFountaineSources: Prisoner of History: Aspasia of Miletus and Her Biographical Tradition by Madeleine M. Henry (affiliate link) National Geographic "Greek City States"Lake Forest College "Everybody's a Little Bit Sexist: A Re-evaluation of Aristotle's and Plato's Philosophies on Women" by Kayla HuberEncyclopedia Britannica "Pericles: Athenian Statesman"World History Encyclopedia "Aspasia of Miletus"World History Encyclopedia "Women in Ancient Greece"PBS "Aspasia"Brooklyn Museum "Aspasia Place Setting"Wikipedia "Aspasia"History of Women Philosophers and Scientists "Aspasia of Miletus"University of Chicago "Aspasia of Miletus"Shoot me a message!

This week, we'll delve into a cautionary tale: the "Radium Girls." These women were employed to paint glow in the dark numbers on watch faces and dials in the 1920s and 30s using radium paint. Assured that the paint was safe, the girls were instructed to shape their paintbrushes into sharp points with their own lips. But, turns out, ingesting radioactive radium paint isn't safe at all, and as the women became sick and sicker and died, the companies they worked for chose to gaslight them, refusing to take responsibility all while lining their pockets with profits. But these women fought back, standing up while laying down and their fight set an important precedent we can't afford to forget. Let's fix that. Support the show! Join the Patreon (patreon.com/historyfixpodcast)Buy some merchBuy Me a CoffeeVenmo @Shea-LaFountaineSources: International Atomic Energy Agency "What is Radiation"US Department of Energy "Nuclear Fuel Facts: Uranium"Library of Congress Blogs "Radium Girls: Living Dead Women"Wikipedia "Radium Girls"Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center "Hot Times in 'Radium Hospital'"Mariecurie.org "Marie Curie the scientist"American Physical Society "Henri Becquerel Discovers Radioactivity"Northern Public Radio "Ottawa's 'Radium Girls' At Forefront of Worker Protections"Encyclopedia Britannica "Radium Girls: The Women Who Fought For Their Lives in a Killer Workplace"Shoot me a message!

This week, Joan Collins from the Pea Island Preservation Society joins me again to discuss Richard Etheridge, the first Black man to serve as keeper in the US Life Saving Service. Born into slavery, Etheridge fought for the Union army during the Civil War. Afterwards, he returned home to the Outer Banks of North Carolina where he re-entered service as a life saver, more specifically, surfman number 6, the lowest ranking position. Join me this week to learn how Etheridge distinguished himself time and again, climbing through the ranks despite all obstacles, despite the color of his skin, to lead, to serve, to fight, on behalf of humanity.  Check out the Pea Island Preservation SocietySupport the show! Join the Patreon (patreon.com/historyfixpodcast)Buy some merchBuy Me a CoffeeVenmo @Shea-LaFountaineSources: "Fire on the Beach: Recovering the Lost Story of Richard Etheridge and the Pea Island Lifesavers" by David Wright and David Zoby (affiliate link)"Etheridge Homeplace: a History" by Penne SmithUnited States Coast Guard "Captain Richard Etheridge, Keeper, USLSS"National Park Service "Richard Etheridge"Wikipedia "Pea Island Life Saving Station"American Battlefield Trust "Richard Etheridge and the Pea Island Life Saving Station"The Outer Banks Voice "Darrell Collins Passed to the Great Beyond"United States Coast Guard "The Long Blue Line 'To Never Halt or Falter'"Coastwatch "Pea Island Surfmen Prove Themselves on a Heroic Night"US Life Saving Service Heritage Association "History of the USLSS"Wikitree "John Burgess Etheridge"Shoot me a message! Courtroom ConfidentialThe true crime podcast where headline-making trials meet expert legal analysis.Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify

Between mainland North Carolina and the narrow stretch of barrier islands we call the Outer Banks, sits a tiny island, just 12 miles long and around 3 miles wide. Dotted with rich maritime forest and bordered by brackish salt marsh on all sides, it's home to two sleepy towns aptly named Manteo and Wanchese. This is Roanoke Island of course, of Lost Colony fame. But some 300 years later, in the mid 1800s, it was home to another colony entirely, one you've probably never even heard of, a colony whose population soared to just under 4,000 people in a matter of a few years. That's more than the combined populations of Manteo and Wanchese today. This was the Roanoke Island Freedmen's Colony and its history, its story, some might argue, has become even more lost than the Lost Colony itself. Let's fix that. Check out the Pea Island Preservation SocietySupport the show! Join the Patreon (patreon.com/historyfixpodcast)Buy some merchBuy Me a CoffeeVenmo @Shea-LaFountaineSources:"Ironclads and Columbiads: The Civil War in North Carolina" by William R. Trotter (affiliate link)"Time Full of Trial: The Roanoke Island Freedmen's Colony" by Patricia C. Click (affiliate link)National Park Service "The Battle of Roanoke Island"National Park Service "Richard Etheridge"Wikipedia "Battle of Roanoke Island"National Park Service "The Freedmen's Colony on Roanoke Island"Wikipedia "Freedmen's Colony of Roanoke Island"roanokefreedmenscolony.comLetter from Richard Etheridge and William BensonRoanoke Island Festival Park "The Freedmen's Colony"National Park Service "Freedom Comes to Roanoke Island"Shoot me a message!

In this episode, we'll uncover the truly impressive accomplishments of Benjamin Banneker, a free Black man living in rural Maryland in the 1700s. Banneker was a self taught astronomer who helped to lay out the boundary for the construction of Washington DC. He also built his own working clock and wrote and published almanacs for the years 1792 to 1797. He also called Thomas Jefferson out for being a hypocrite, my personal favorite accomplishment. But, despite all of the truly impressive things he really did, he's mostly remembered for things he did not do: planning the city of Washington DC, constructing the first clock in America, writing the first almanac in America, etc. Join me to examine how and why his already impressive enough real life accomplishments have been embellished by historical telephone. Let's fix that. Check out RingTree here and use promo code historyfix to get 25% off your first month!Support the show! Join the Patreon (patreon.com/historyfixpodcast)Buy some merchBuy Me a CoffeeVenmo @Shea-LaFountaineSources: "The Life of Benjamin Banneker" by Silvio BediniThe White House Historical Association "Benjamin Banneker the Black Tobacco Farmer Who the Presidents Couldn't Ignore"Wikipedia "Benjamin Banneker"Wikipedia "Mythology of Benjamin Banneker"Encyclopedia Britannica "Pierre Charles L'Enfant"Shoot me a message!

This week, we'll delve into the mind blowing life of Josephine Baker, a Black performing artist who took Paris by storm starting in the 1920s. She sang, she danced, she barely wore any clothing, and she had a pet cheetah named Chiquita that regularly terrorized the orchestra pit. But Josephine Baker was so much more than that. from St. Louis street rat to world famous performer, first Black female movie star to French spy during World War II, entrepreneur to US civil rights activist, mother of twelve… I think you will find that Josephine Baker is nothing if not completely unexpected. Let's fix that.  Check out RingTree here and use promo code historyfix to get 25% off your first month!Support the show! Join the Patreon (patreon.com/historyfixpodcast)Buy some merchBuy Me a CoffeeVenmo @Shea-LaFountaineSources: The New Yorker "Josephine Baker Was the Star France Wanted - and the Spy It Needed"CBS News "The legacy of Josephine Baker"The Guardian "From the archive, 26 August 1974: An interview with Josephine Baker"Wikipedia "Josephine Baker"Slate "Josephine Baker's Rainbow Tribe"Spiegel International "Josephine Baker's Rainbow Tribe"The Conversation "Josephine Baker's 'Rainbow Tribe' and the pursuit of universal brotherhood"Shoot me a message!

This week I'll explore the social history of the cannabis plant including its use since ancient times as a fiber, medicine, and for its psychoactive properties both ritualistically and recreationally. I'll explore how cannabis first made its way to the Americas and how it became a main crop of colonial planters that they were actually required by law to grow. I'll explore it's use in 19th century American medicines and do some digging to find out why it came to be banned in 1937 following an influx of Mexican immigrants who brought recreational use of "locoweed" or "marijuana" with them. You're in for a wild ride!  Check out Vital Spring premium mineral replenisher hereCheck out befree Adaptive Clothing hereSupport the show! Join the Patreon (patreon.com/historyfixpodcast)Buy some merchBuy Me a CoffeeVenmo @Shea-LaFountaineSources: NPR "The Mysterious History of Marijuana"CBS News "The man behind the marijuana ban for all the wrong reasons"DEA "Drug Scheduling"Wikipedia "History of Cannabis"American Addiction Centers "History of Marijuana"History.com "Marijuana"University of Georgia "History of Marijuana Regulation in America"Nature Magazine "A Potted History"Encyclopedia Britannica "Why Is Marijuana Illegal in the US?"Mount Sinai "Herbal Medicine"FindLaw "Marijuana Possession Laws by State"American Association of Medical Colleges "Alcohol related deaths are spiking. So why don't we take alcohol addiction more seriously?"Associated Press "US poised to ease restrictions on marijuana in historic shift, but it'll remain controlled substance" Wikipedia "Datura stramonium"National Park Service "Wildlife in the Tropical Rainforest"Shoot me a message!

Thomas Alva Edison has always been portrayed as the greatest, most prolific by far American inventor. The man obtained over a thousand patents in his lifetime and is credited with inventing or improving upon devices that changed our world, our lives forever: the lightbulb, the phonograph, the motion picture camera, telegraphs, telephones, x-rays, and batteries. The list goes on. His contemporaries were blown away. But in recent decades, many have come to doubt Edison's genius. More recent Edison critics take a look at his impressive body of work with scrutiny. "He didn't really invent all of those things," they say. Modern minds are split on Thomas Edison. He's either a great American hero, inventor of our modern world, or an idea stealing fraud who ripped off other great minds and claimed the credit. But who was he really? Was Thomas Edison the real deal or do we need to rewrite the history books, giving back credit where credit is due? Let's fix that.Check out Vital Spring premium mineral replenisher hereCheck out befree Adaptive Clothing here Support the show! Join the Patreon (patreon.com/historyfixpodcast)Buy some merchBuy Me a CoffeeVenmo @Shea-LaFountaineSources: Library of Congress "Life of Thomas Alva Edison"National Park Service "Edison Biography"US News "Many Minds Produced the Lightbulb That Illuminated America"Forbes "Nikola Tesla Wasn't God and Thomas Edison Wasn't the Devil"Ranker "Here Are All The Things That Thomas Edison Didn't Actually Invent, But Took The Credit For Anyway"Wikipedia "Thomas Edison"Shoot me a message!

Check out zipOns from befree Adaptive Clothing here! This week we'll take a look at the 6 Hanoverian monarchs: George I, George II, George III, George IV, William IV, and Victoria. We'll examine how George I, a German, came to be king of Great Britain and Ireland despite being only 57th in line for the throne and how German monarchs continued to rule the country for the next 187 years and beyond. What mark did the Hanover dynasty leave on Britain? How does it still effect them today? I think you'll be surprised to learn just how German Britain actually is! Support the show! Join the Patreon (patreon.com/historyfixpodcast)Buy some merchBuy Me a CoffeeVenmo @Shea-LaFountaineSources: Historic Royal Palaces "The Georgians"History Hit "The 6 Hanoverian Monarchs In Order"Encyclopedia Britannica "House of Hanover"UK National Archives "The Death of Queen Anne"PBS "What Illness Did King George III Have?"German History Society "Britain and Germany: A Love-Hate Relationship?"BBC "Queen Nazi salute film: palace 'disappointed' at its use"The Guardian "Genetic study reveals 30% of white British DNA has German ancestry"The Telegraph "How German the Royal Family Actually Is"Indian Express "How German Are the British Royals?"Shoot me a message!

Check out zipOns from befree Adaptive Clothing here! In the 1950s a mysterious man appeared at Tokyo's Haneda airport. He looked normal enough, just a regular looking mid-thirties white guy in a suit there on a business trip. But when he presented his passport to airport officials, they were puzzled. The passport was unlike any they had ever seen before. It listed the man as being from a nation called Taured, a nation they had never heard of, a nation they were pretty sure didn't exist. When asked to point out Taured on a map, the man became confused. He pointed to the Principality of Andorra on the border of France and Spain. “It's supposed to be right here,” he said “it's been here for over a thousand years.” He couldn't understand why his country was no longer listed on a world map. Airport officials took the man to a hotel room for the night until they could interrogate him further the next day. They placed two guards outside the room to ensure he didn't escape but in the morning, the mystery man from Taured was gone without a trace. In the years since, many have speculated that the man from Taured came from another dimension, an alternate reality in which Taured really did exist between France and Spain. But how much of this story is actually true and how much is just the product of the game of historical telephone? Let's fix that.  Support the show! Join the Patreon (patreon.com/historyfixpodcast)Buy some merchBuy Me a CoffeeVenmo @Shea-LaFountaineSources: Snopes "The Mystery of the Man from Taured"All That's Interesting "Inside the Legend of the Mysterious Taured Man"Wikipedia "John Zegrus"Reddit post by user taraiochiUK Parliament "Frontier Formalities"Shoot me a message!

This week, we'll get lost in the mind boggling mystery that is the Dyatlov Pass case, when 9 experienced hikers died under suspicious and unexplainable circumstances while traversing Russia's Ural Mountains in 1959. When a group of ski/hikers led by 23 year old student Igor Dyatlov failed to return after a 3 week journey, search parties were sent. They quickly found the group's abandoned tent, cut open from the inside. Not long after that, the bodies were discovered. But the condition of the bodies raised more questions than it answered. No single theory adequately explains how the 9 hikers died. Was it an avalanche? Weapons testing by the Russian military gone wrong? A yeti??? When Russia reopened the investigation in 2019, Swiss avalanche researchers used an unconventional method to try to prove or disprove the avalanche theory. They reached out to the creators of Disney's animated film "Frozen" to get their snow animation code. What did their simulations tell us? Is it case closed for the Dyatlov Pass incident or does the mystery persist? Check out photos from the hiker's cameras hereSupport the show! Join the Patreon (patreon.com/historyfixpodcast)Buy some merchBuy Me a CoffeeVenmo @Shea-LaFountaineSources: BBC News "Dyatlov Pass"History.com "The Dyatlov Pass Incident: Why the Hiker Deaths Remain a Mystery"National Geographic "Has Science Solved History's Greatest Adventure Mystery at Dyatlov?"Smithsonian Magazine "Have Scientists Finally Unraveled the 60 Year Mystery Surrounding 9 Russian Hiker's Deaths?"Live Science "Russia's 'Dyatlov Pass' conspiracy theory may finally be solved 60 years later"Wikipedia "Dyatlov Pass Incident"Collider "'Frozen' May Have Helped Solve a Half-Century Old Mystery"Business Insider "Animation used for 'Frozen' helped solve a mysterious 62-year-old avalanche case"Shoot me a message!

I'm back this week with yet another inspiring underdog story... but make it Christmas! This week, I'll trace the origins of one of the most beloved Christmas characters, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, all the way back to his roots on the desk of a department story copywriter in 1939 Chicago. Robert L. May was down on his luck when his boss at Montgomery Ward asked him to write a children's book that the store could hand out to customers at Christmas time. He was in debt, his wife was dying of cancer, he was struggling to support his 4 year old daughter, and he was far from achieving his dream of becoming a great American writer. But, just like his underrated title character, Robert rose to the occasion and gave the world something it needed, something that mattered.Read May's original Rudolph manuscript and listen to his daughter Barbara May Lewis read it here! Support the show! Join the Patreon (patreon.com/historyfixpodcast)Buy some merchBuy Me a CoffeeVenmo @Shea-LaFountaineSources: Time Magazine "The Surprisingly Sad True Story Behind 'Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer'"NPR "The History of 'Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer'"Chicago Tribune "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer..."Wikipedia "Robert L. May"American Business History Center "Gimbel Brothers Department Stores: Dust to Dust"On Location Tours "'Elf' Filming Locations"Wikipedia "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer"The Hollywood Reporter "'Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer' Most Beloved Holiday Movie, Poll Finds"Wikipedia "Johnny Marks"Shoot me a message!

Just in time for the 121st anniversary on Tuesday, I bring to you the story of two brothers from Ohio, Wilbur and Orville Wright, who changed the world forever with their groundbreaking first flight on December 17th, 1903. Though it lasted just 12 seconds, it marks the first powered, sustained, and controlled airplane flight, something humans had tried and failed to do for centuries. Join special guest Adonis A. Osekre and me as we delve into the story of the Wright brothers to uncover just how remarkable their achievement really was. Purchase "Windswept Dreams: The Wright Brothers' Legacy from Kitty Hawk's Dunes and Beyond" by Adonis A. OsekreCheck out askadonis.comSupport the show! Join the Patreon (patreon.com/historyfixpodcast)Buy some merchBuy Me a CoffeeVenmo @Shea-LaFountaineSources: "Remarkable Women of the Outer Banks" by Hannah Bunn West"Windswept Dreams: The Wright Brothers' Legacy from Kitty Hawk's Dunes and Beyond" by Adonis A. OsekreEncyclopedia Britannica "Wright Brothers"National Air and Space Museum "Meet the Wright Family"National Air and Space Museum "Who Were the Wright Brothers?"National Air and Space Museum "Before the Wrights Were Aviators"National Air and Space Museum "Researching the Wright Way"National Air and Space Museum "You Just Invented the Airplane, Now What?"National Air and Space Museum "Katherine Wright: the Wright Sister"Shoot me a message!

I'll pick up where I left off last week, with the storming of the Bastille and the fall of the "ancien regime." We'll explore how, over the next few years, this new France will become more of a hellscape than a paradise. As a radical group, the Jacobins, seizes control, distopia ensues with the September Massacres of 1792, the "Reign of Terror" spanning 1793 to 1794, and the executions of the monarchy. We'll explore how this chaos paves the way for France's next ruler, Napoleon Bonaparte, to seize power for better or for worse. And, we'll look at 4 takeaway lessons from the French Revolution that we can still learn something from today. Support the show! Join the PatreonBuy some merchBuy Me a CoffeeVenmo @Shea-LaFountaineSources: Age of Revolutions "4 Cautionary Tales from the French Revolution for Today" by Christine Adamsbiography.com "Louis XVI"history.com "French Revolution"history.com "Marie Antoinette"Encyclopedia Britannica "French Revolution"US Office of the Historian "The United States and the French Revolution"Chateau de Versailles "Death of Louis XIV"UTEP "What the French Revolution Can Teach Us About Inflation"Napoleon.org "The Republican Calendar"Encyclopedia Britannica "Charlotte Corday"The Collector "Marie Antoinette's Death: How Did She Die and Why?"Five Minute History "Napoleon: Hero or Tyrant?"Shoot me a message!

This week I discuss the events leading up to the outbreak of the French Revolution during the summer of 1789. You'll learn how Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette came to find themselves on the French throne at a time when the system, that had worked for centuries, was beginning to fail. Shifting social classes, failing harvests, population booms, and economic busts will begin to fuel a runaway sensational media. As the newspapers and pamphlets hit the streets, stirring up fear and panic, pandemonium breaks out amongst the people who arm themselves with weapons and sheer determination to end the toxic "ancien régime."Support the show! Join the PatreonBuy Me a CoffeeVenmo @Shea-LaFountaineSources: biography.com "Louis XVI"history.com "French Revolution"history.com "Marie Antoinette"Encyclopedia Britannica "French Revolution"US Office of the Historian "The United States and the French Revolution"Chateau de VersaillesShoot me a message!

On November 11, 1620, forty-one men aboard the ship the Mayflower signed a document of great importance. With their signatures they vowed to create fair and just laws and to work together for the good of the Plymouth colony. This document, the Mayflower Compact, was the first to outline self-governance in the so called “New World” and it would go on to serve as a foundation for both the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution. Our government was practically built upon the Mayflower Compact signed by those men. But not all of them would uphold the vows they made that day. One in particular, John Billington, would go so far against them as to become the first convicted murderer in American history. In the words of Governor William Bradford “He is a knave, and so will live and die.” But it wasn't just John Sr., his whole family wreaked havoc on the colony, prompting Bradford to call them “one of the profanest families amongst them.” Join me this week to learn more about John Billington, the murderer on the Mayflower.Support the show! Join the PatreonBuy Me a CoffeeVenmo @Shea-LaFountaineSources: "History of Plimoth Plantation" by William Bradford (1630)"Mourt's Relation: A Journal of the Pilgrims at Plymouth" by Edward Winslow (1622)Mayflower 400 "The Mayflower Story"New England Historical Society "John Billington Gets Lost"History.com "Who Was the First Convicted Murderer in America"The Mayflower Society "The Billington Family"Mayflower 400 "America's first murderer was executed for killing fellow Plymouth settler"Wikipedia "John Billington"Shoot me a message! Great Business StoriesA great business story thoroughly researched and brought to life by Caemin &...Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify

Buy a History Fix shirt!   It's the greatest adventure story ever told, Lewis and Clark's daring pursuit to cross thousands of miles of rugged terrain, to explore the rest of the continent, to finally reach the Pacific Ocean, gaze out over its vast expanse, with their faithful guide by their side of course, Sacagawea. You know Sacagawea, she's the most famous American woman of all time. I'm not kidding. She's the only one with her face on a coin, with more statues than any other woman in American history. It's safe to say her story absolutely captivated Americans. I mean, truly, what is not to love about a young mother fearlessly guiding white men through the wilderness with a baby strapped to her back? But did you know, she didn't actually serve as a guide for most of the expedition? That's not even why they brought her along. And did you know that, despite having her face on a coin and all of those statues, we know very little at all about the real Sacagawea? We're not even sure how to properly say her name. Let's fix that. Support the show! Join the PatreonBuy Me a CoffeeVenmo @Shea-LaFountaineSources: National Women's History Museum "Sacagawea"Encyclopedia Britannica "Lewis and Clark Expedition"National Park Service "Sacagawea"National Geographic "Sex, Dog Meat, and the Lash: Odd Facts About Lewis and Clark"Grunge "The Messed Up Truth About the Lewis and Clark Expedition"State Historical Society of North Dakota "Was Meriwether Lewis Murdered or Did He Commit Suicide?"The Lewis and Clark Rediscovery Project "Agaidika Perspective on Sacagawea"The New York Times "After 500 Years, Cortes's Girlfriend Is Not Forgiven"Shoot me a message! Great Business StoriesA great business story thoroughly researched and brought to life by Caemin &...Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify

Buy a History Fix shirt!Join the Patreon!Starting in the 1800s, the US government forcibly removed hundreds of thousands of indigenous children from their homes and sent them to boarding schools hundreds of miles away where they ruthlessly tried to destroy all traces of their culture, to assimilate them into white society. Upon arrival, their hair was cut off, their names were changed, and they were regularly beaten for speaking their native languages. At these schools, children faced hard labor, starvation, physical and sexual abuse, and even death. In recent years, hundreds of bodies have been discovered in unmarked graves at the sites of these old schools across the country but estimates of the dead reach into the thousands if not tens of thousands. The US government did this, and then it conveniently forgot about it until very recently, like a couple weeks ago recent. Let's fix that. Support the show! Join the PatreonBuy Me a CoffeeVenmo @Shea-LaFountaineSources: The National Native American Boarding School Healing CoalitionAdministration for Children and Families "Healing from the Trauma of Federal Residential Indian Boarding Schools"US Department of the Interior "Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative"National Museum of the American Indian "Struggling with Cultural Repression"New York Times "The Native American Boarding School System"Associated Press "President Biden to apologize for 150 year Indian boarding school policy"NPR "Federal Indian boarding schools still exist, but what's inside may be surprising"PBS "Boarding school history 'a sin on our soul,' Biden says in historic apology to Native communities"Time Magazine "The History of Native American Boarding Schools Is Even More Complicated than a New Report Reveals"Shoot me a message!

In the Black Hills region of South Dakota stands a massive American monument, the faces of four US presidents blasted into the side of a mountain. George Washington represents the birth of the nation. Thomas Jefferson represents its growth. Theodore Roosevelt development and Abraham Lincoln preservation. Mount Rushmore National Memorial hosts more than 2 million visitors each year who gaze upon the stoic stone faces of our forefathers and feel… proud. Proud of what we've accomplished as a country. Proud of our freedom, our liberty which these four men fought hard to help us achieve. But not everyone looks upon those faces with pride and patriotism. For some Americans, it's more like a deeply seeded festering resentment, anger, outrage, and sadness. Because what most of those 2 million visitors do not know, what they do not learn during their visit to the park, is that the mountain upon which those faces were carved is sacred land, stolen from native people during the Black Hills gold rush of the 1870s. But not only was it stolen, it was desecrated, destroyed, defaced. Because, you see, the mountain was already a memorial, the Six Grandfathers, who stood side by side, stoically watching over Lakota lands until they were erased by the faces of their enemies. Let's fix that. Support the show! Join the PatreonBuy Me a CoffeeVenmo @Shea-LaFountaineSources: National Park Service "Mount Rushmore National Memorial"Native Hope "The Six Grandfathers Before It Was Known As Mount Rushmore"Ted Ed "The dark history of Mount Rushmore"Readers Digest "The Racist History of Mount Rushmore"National Geographic "The Strange and Controversial History of Mount Rushmore"PBS American Experience "Native Americans and Mount Rushmore"Iowa State University "Report seeks to recognize meaning of Mount Rushmore for Native people"National Park Service "Charles E. Rushmore"Shoot me a message! Cold Case Western AustraliaThey're the crimes that continue to haunt grieving family members and the wider...Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify

This week, I'll explore the peculiar true story that inspired William Peter Blatty to write the  book and screenplay for the 1973 hit film "The Exorcist."  This is the story of a boy around 14 years old who experienced something truly bizarre back in 1949. And unlike Regan in the exorcist, whose story is completely fabricated, this one is well documented, with lots of credible witnesses. And while we've known his story for quite some time, we only just learned his identity a few years ago. And he's not at all what you'd expect. Let's fix that. Support the show! Join the PatreonBuy Me a CoffeeVenmo @Shea-LaFountaineSources: Father Raymond Bishop's Case Files The Washington Post "Priest Frees Mount Rainier Boy Reported Held in Devil's Grip"Skeptical Inquirer "Who is Roland Doe, the Boy Who Inspired the Exorcist?"Saint Louis University "SLU Legends and Lore: the 1949 St. Louis Exorcism"The Guardian "Boy whose case inspired The Exorcist is named by US magazine"Wikipedia "The Exorcist"Collider "What is the Highest Grossing Horror Movie of All Time?"The American Society of Cinematographers "Owen Roizman on Filming The Exorcist"The New York Post "Deaths, injuries, and a fire: How the original "Exorcist" set was its own horror movie"The New York Post "What really happened to Ronald Hunkeler, who inspired 'The Exorcist?'"Shoot me a message! Blue Grit Podcast: The Voice of Texas Law EnforcementHost: Clint McNear and Tyler Owen discussing topics, issues, and stories within the...Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify

It's January of 1692 and there's something very wrong with 9 year old Betty Parris. Her father, the minister Samuel Parris, rushes to her bedside. Betty screams. Her body writhes under the blankets, twisting and contorting into grotesque shapes. She grunts, she moans, she snorts, and shrieks. She grabs a candle from the bedside table and hurls it across the room uttering a shrill scream as if defending herself from some invisible apparition. Soon, Betty's 11 year old cousin Abigail Williams is similarly afflicted. The girls are tormented, tortured, terrified, but by what? Parris calls in a doctor who takes one look at their bizarre behavior and quickly makes up his mind. This is the devil's work. When accusations and confessions of witchcraft follow soon after, the snowball begins its descent, growing and growing as it rolls into one of the most haunting events in American history. But what caused the madness of the Salem Witch Trials? There were no witches in Salem. How did the peculiar outbursts of a 9 year old girl lead to the deaths of 25 innocent people and 2 dogs? Was it conspiracy? Insanity? Unchecked patriarchy? Religion gone wrong? Was it food poisoning? And most importantly, could it happen again? Let's fix that. Support the show! Join the PatreonBuy Me a CoffeeVenmo @Shea-LaFountaineSources: Smithsonian Magazine "A Brief History of the Salem Witch Trials"History.com "Salem Witch Trials"Peabody Essex Museum "The Salem Witch Trials of 1692"Penn Today "Possessed: the Salem witch trials"History.com "Salem Witch Trials: Who Were the Main Accusers?"Wikipedia "Salem witch trials"Shoot me a message!

This week, I'll examine several cases of historical hauntings. These are ghost stories where you actually get to find out the single most important question... who was that? We'll go all the way back to ancient Babylon, cruise through ancient Greece and Rome and then spend some time in London and, later, Washington DC. Several of the "ghosts" we'll hear about have even been subjects of past History Fix episodes! There will be queens, there will be presidents, there will be weird old guys rattling chains, and you'll even get to here my very own personal ghost story! Happy Spooktober y'all! YouTube video of "ghost" footage from Hampton Court PalaceSupport the show! Join the PatreonBuy Me a CoffeeVenmo @Shea-LaFountaineSources: history.co.uk "8 Famous Ghosts From History"history.com "History of Ghost Stories"Washington Post "Is the White House Haunted?"Historic Royal Palaces "Historic Hauntings at Hampton Court Palace"Smithsonian Magazine "3,500 Year Old Babylonian Tablet May Contain Earliest Known Depiction of a Ghost"VRoma "Pliny Book Seven Letter 27 to Sura"Live Science "Poltergeists: Noisy Spirits"Shoot me a message!

Mary Shelley was just 18 years old when the idea for Frankenstein struck her on a rainy night in Geneva, Switzerland. Cooped up on vacation with nonstop rain, famous poet Lord Byron had challenged the group of literary geniuses to come up with a ghost story. Mary struggled. She could think of nothing. Then one night, as she struggled to sleep, she was hit with what she referred to as a "waking dream." What followed would come to define the science fiction genre, both inspiring and horrifying readers for centuries to come. But who was Mary Shelley, the creator? Who was she to bear such a creature? How did she manage to embody all that horror, that pain, that grotesque abnormality, gothic morbidity? Well, the more you know about the life of Mary Shelley, the more it all makes sense. Let's fix that. Support the show! Join the PatreonBuy Me a CoffeeVenmo @Shea-LaFountaineSources: The New Yorker "The Strange and Twisted Life of 'Frankenstein'" New York State Library "Mary Shelley's Monster Turns 200"Wikipedia "Mary Shelley"Biography.com "Mary Shelley"Snopes "Did Mary Shelley Lose Her Virginity on Her Mother's Grave?"JSTOR "Mary Shelley's Obsession With the Cemetery"Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy "William Godwin"Shoot me a message!

This is part 2 of last week's episode on Christopher Columbus. This week, you'll learn about Columbus' disastrous third voyage to the Americas when he finally pays the price for governing like a power hungry tyrant. And yet consequences, of course, will be few, and he'll return once again for his fourth and final voyage. We'll also delve into the shockwaves sent out by Columbus' actions, how his decisions have negatively affected us to this day, and why it's time to shift our view of him once and for all. Support the show! Join the PatreonBuy Me a CoffeeVenmo @Shea-LaFountaineSources: NPR "Think You Know the Real Christopher Columbus?"Grist "Here's the real story of Columbus that people prefer to ignore"History.com "Christopher Columbus"BBC "Christopher Columbus"Wikipedia "Voyages of Christopher Columbus"University of Baltimore "Historical Clinicopathological Conference 2005 : Christopher Columbus"Shoot me a message!

Few humans in history have sent out more shockwaves than Christopher Columbus. His four voyages to the Americas changed our whole existence, culturally, spiritually, ethnically, economically, politically, geographically, morally possibly more than any single person ever has. When Columbus' ships first dropped anchor off the islands of the Bahamas on October 12, 1492, as the anchor struck the sandy bottom of the crystal blue Caribbean waters, it issued in a new era, the modern era. Columbus has gone down in history as a hero, the forefather of our forefathers. But in reality, he was far more villain than hero. Let's fix that. Support the show! Join the PatreonBuy Me a CoffeeVenmo @Shea-LaFountaineSources: NPR "Think You Know the Real Christopher Columbus?"Grist "Here's the real story of Columbus that people prefer to ignore"History.com "Christopher Columbus"BBC "Christopher Columbus"Wikipedia "Voyages of Christopher Columbus"Shoot me a message!

Before Henry VIII, before Louis XVI, there was a dynasty in Italy so corrupt, so scandalous, gluttonous, hedonistic, that the others don't even compare. But this was not a royal family. These were not kings, they were popes, cardinals, bishops. These were holy men, men of the church. Men whose unholy actions may very well have helped spark the dissatisfaction that led to the protestant reformation. These men were part of the house of Borgia, one of the most infamous families in Italy by the turn of the 16th century. They lied, they cheated, they murdered, they did whatever they had to do to get what they wanted - power. But they weren't all men. One well known daughter of the House of Borgia, Lucrezia Borgia, has had her name drug through the mud right along with her disreputable male relatives. She's been called a murderer, a whore, accused of incest and even witchcraft. History has cast Lucrezia as an evil seductress deserving of the Borgia reputation that her father and brother gained. But was she really? Or was she, like so many women of her time, simply a pawn in the hands of men behaving very badly? Let's fix that. Shoot me a message!

The bloody history of childbirth is riddled with death and despair. It's a burden that was carried almost entirely by women, behind closed doors, something men took no part in. And, because of that, we know very little about it today. What we do know is that it was an extremely dangerous affair. Mortality was so high, many women wrote a will as soon as they found out they were pregnant. The 18th century saw the beginning of the "medicalization" of childbirth when inexperienced forcep bearing male doctors got involved and began a crusade to put a stop to midwifery. But, ironically, childbirth didn't get any safer after that. It actually got deadlier, at first. Support the show! Join the PatreonBuy Me a CoffeeVenmo @Shea-LaFountaineSources: Birth Injury Help Center "The History of Childbirth"Designing Motherhood "Birthing Furniture: An Illustrated History"What to Expect "500 Years of Childbirth History in Under 2 Minutes"Oregon Health and Science University "A Brief History of Midwifery in America"The Guardian "I enjoyed researching the bloody history of childbirth - then I had a baby"World Health Organization "Maternal Mortality"Slate "The Disturbing, Shameful History of Childbirth Deaths"Statistica "Percentage of physicians in select specialties in the U.S. who were women as of 2023"Shoot me a message!

On March 25th, 1911, a fire erupted on the 8th floor of the Asch building in New York City. The 8th, 9th, and 10th floors of this building housed the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory which employed around 500 people, mostly young immigrant women, to sew women's blouses under sweatshop conditions. The owners, Max Blanck and Isaac Harris, believed the building to be fireproof and refused to take any fire safety measures. They also locked the exit doors, fearful that the women would steal from them if allowed to leave before their bags could be searched. Due to this negligence, 123 women and 23 men died, burned alive, trapped in locked stairwells or waiting for the only elevator. Many of the victims were forced to jump from 8th and 9th floor windows, their broken bodies littering the sidewalk below. This horrifying tragedy was a wakeup call for labor conditions in the US, leading to the passing of more than 30 health and safety laws. But what of Blanck and Harris? Were they punished? Did they learn their lesson? Of course not.  Support the show! Join the PatreonBuy Me a CoffeeVenmo @Shea-LaFountaineSources: Cornell University website about the Triangle Factory FireHistory.com "Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire"US Department of Labor "History of Labor Day"OSHA "The worse day I ever saw"The New York Times, March 26, 1911 "141 Men and Girls Die in Factory Fire"Encyclopedia Britannica "Triangle shirtwaist factory fire"Shoot me a message!

Michael Rockefeller was the great grandson of John D. Rockefeller, the founder of Standard Oil and the richest man in the world. He was also the son of Nelson Rockefeller, New York governor, Vice President of the United States, and a well known art collector. Michael had big shoes to fill. To do that, he followed in his father's art collecting footsteps, traveling to the Asmat region on the west coast of New Guinea to collect wood carvings for his father's Museum of Primitive Art in Manhattan. The Asmat people were hunter gatherers living in the jungle with almost no western contact. They led a very different life than Michael, practiced head hunting and cannibalism. Michael admired the Asmat, their culture, their art. But he never truly understood them. He couldn't. So when his sailboat capsized near the village of Otsjanep and he disappeared attempting to swim to shore, never to be seen again, his family assumed he had drowned. But did Michael Rockefeller really drown? Or was his fate far more violent? Let's fix that. Support the show! Join the PatreonBuy Me a CoffeeVenmo @Shea-LaFountaineSources: "Savage Harvest: A Tale of Cannibals, Colonialism, and Michael Rockefeller's Tragic Quest for Primitive Art" by Carl HoffmanSmithsonian Magazine "What Really Happened to Michael Rockefeller"The Met Museum "Bis Pole"Rockefeller Archive Center "John D. Rockefeller"PBS American Experience "Biography: Nelson A. Rockefeller"NPR Author Interviews "Cannibals and Colonialism: Solving the Mystery of Michael Rockefeller"Shoot me a message!

Perched between the ocean and the sound in Nags Head, completely dominating the narrow sliver of land that makes up part of North Carolina's Outer Banks, is a monumental sand dune, a mountain of lush golden sand. This dune system, known as Jockey's Ridge, is somewhere around 4,000 years old and can reach heights of over 100 feet. It's majestic, it's miraculous, the tallest living sand dune on the east coast, a unique ecosystem home to a myriad of coastal creatures, a landmark and navigation tool dating back hundreds if not thousands of years, a playground for generations of children, and the most visited state park in North Carolina. But, did you know that back in the 1970s, Jockey's Ridge was slated for demolition to make way for a condominium complex? And did you know that three young children and their fearless mother put their foot down, quite literally, to save it? And that I have one of those children here with me today? Let's fix that.Check out the Friends of Jockey's RidgeCheck out hannahwestwrites.comSupport the show! Join the PatreonBuy Me a CoffeeVenmo @Shea-LaFountaineSources:"Remarkable Women of the Outer Banks" by Hannah Bunn West"Save Our Sand Dunes" by Hannah Bunn WestWRAL News "Buried Treasure: Old castle hidden beneath NC's largest sand dune fully visible again"Atlantic Realty "9 Things You Didn't Know About Jockey's Ridge"Coastal Review "'Save Our Sand Dunes' recalls fight to save Jockey's Ridge"North Beach Sun "Buried Treasures - What is Under Jockey's Ridge?"OBX Stuff "History of the Nags Head Soundside Resort at Jockey's Ridge State Park"Coast Review "Jockey's Ridge most visited as NC parks shatter records"The Virginian Pilot "The Moving Mountain Jockey's Ridge Shift is Mystery, For Now"Outer Banks History Center "David Stick Papers"Shoot me a message!

Polio has been around since ancient times but it was a very quiet disease for most of history, affecting few people and raising little alarm. It wasn't until the 20th century that polio began to appear among the masses, terrifying epidemics, a mysterious disease that seemed to target children out of nowhere, paralyzing them, killing them. No one knew how it spread. No one knew how to treat it. No one knew how to stop it. They quarantined. They avoided swimming pools and water fountains. They lived in fear. But the strange thing was, these polio epidemics were only happening in developed countries in Europe and North America, countries that had recently gone to great lengths to ensure improved hygiene and sanitation. Good hygiene, cleanliness, was supposed to prevent the spread of disease. How had it backfired so horrifically with polio? Let's fix that.Support the show! Join the PatreonBuy Me a CoffeeVenmo @Shea-LaFountaineSources: Yale Medicine Magazine "Breaking the back of polio" Wikipedia "History of Polio"Encyclopedia Britannica "Polio through history"PBS "Candy Land"BBC "The man in the iron lung"World Health Organization "History of the Polio Vaccine"Mayo Clinic "Polio"CDC "Covid-19 Mortality Update"Shoot me a message!

Send us a Text Message.Check out Outer Lore! In January of 1812 a schooner named The Patriot disappeared off the coast of North Carolina's Outer Banks. This dangerous stretch of coastline has claimed some 3,000 ships, earning it the nickname "Graveyard of the Atlantic." Aboard the Patriot was Theodosia Burr Alston, daughter of infamous US vice president Aaron Burr, on her way to visit her father in New York. The disappearance of The Patriot and its famous passenger remain a mystery to this day. The discovery of a portrait resembling Theodosia that supposedly washed up with a shipwreck along the Outer Banks only adds to the mystery. Is the Nags Head portrait really Theodosia Burr? What really happened to her? A storm? Mutiny? Pirates? Is it possible she survived? Support the show! Join the PatreonBuy Me a CoffeeVenmo @Shea-LaFountaineSources: Library of Congress Blogs "The Unsolved Mystery of Aaron Burr's Daughter" ECU Joyner Library Special Collections "Unsolved North Carolina Mysteries: The Case of Theodosia Burr Alston"South Carolina Historical Society "December, 1812: Theodosia Burr Alston is Lost at Sea" allthatsinteresting.com "Inside the Mysterious Disappearance of Aaron Burr's Daughter, Theodosia Burr Alston"teachingamericanhistory.org "The Mysterious Disappearance of Theodosia Burr Alston"DigitalNC "The Real Life 'Hamilton' Sequel Set in Nags Head"National Constitution Center "Aaron Burr's trial and the Constitution's treason clause"The Aaron Burr Association "The Tragedies in Aaron Burr's Life"Encyclopedia Britannica "Aaron Burr"ThoughtCo "Dueling in the 19th Century"Support the show! Join the PatreonBuy Me a CoffeeVenmo @Shea-LaFountaine

Send us a Text Message.In 1975, the Khmer Rouge stormed into Cambodia's capital city of Phnom Penh victorious after 5 years of civil war. The people rejoiced. They thought the victors were there to liberate them, to restore peace and order after years of fighting. That couldn't have been farther from the truth. Over the next 4 years, the Khmer Rouge communist regime would force people into the countryside to work in rice fields night and day, where many died of starvation and disease. They killed the weak, the slow, the intellectuals, anyone who thought for themselves was a threat. In just 4 years, an estimated 2 million Cambodians were murdered by the Khmer Rouge. How could this happen? Join me to discover how the pieces came together, how this violent regime used fear and manipulation to control the masses, and how we can stop it from happening again. Knowledge is power.   Sources: worldhistory.org "Khmer Empire"history.com "Khmer Rouge"United States Holocaust Memorial Museum "Cambodia"University of Minnesota "Cambodia"Children of Cambodia's Killing Fields "Worms from Our Skin"Holocaust Museum Houston "Genocide in Cambodia"Support the show! Join the PatreonBuy Me a CoffeeVenmo @Shea-LaFountaine

Send us a Text Message.This episode explores the famed poison, Aqua Tofana, that desperate housewives used to murder their husbands in 17th century Italy. I'll delve into the legend of Giulia Tofana, the apparent namesake behind the poison who was supposedly responsible for the deaths of 600 men in the mid 1600s and do my best to separate fact from fiction to uncover what in the world was going on in Italy and, more importantly, why. Sources: mikedashhistory.com "Aqua Tofana: slow poisoning and husband killing in 17th century Italy"SyFy "Giulia Tofana, the Italian Serial Poisoner Who Became a Legend"National Centre for Domestic Violence "Giulia Tofana - Serial Killer or Heroine?!"allthatsinteresting.com "Meet Giulia Tofana: the 17th century professional poisoner said to have killed 600 men"TBS News "When makeup can kill: The sinister tale of Giulia Tofana"Encyclopedia Britannica "Drawing and Quartering"Support the show! Join the PatreonBuy Me a CoffeeVenmo @Shea-LaFountaine

Send us a Text Message.Coffee may seem like an innocent breakfast beverage to accompany your bacon and eggs, a mid afternoon office pick me up. But did you know, coffee is so much more than that? Did you know that coffee helped spark human enlightenment, the scientific revolution, the industrial revolution, capitalism, helped build the world as we know it? Let's fix that. Sources:Gastropod "Grounds for Revolution: The Stimulating Story of How Coffee Shaped the World"National Coffee Association "The History of Coffee"Encyclopedia Britannica "History of Coffee"Eater "How America's Coffee Got Bad - and Then Got Great"Coffee or Die "A Brief History of Coffee in the United States"US Justice Department "Khat Fast Facts"New York Times "Who are Sufi Muslims and Why Do Some Extremists Hate Them?"Mirage News "NASA Experiment with Spiders & Mind-Altering Drugs"Support the show! Join the PatreonBuy Me a CoffeeVenmo @Shea-LaFountaine

Send us a Text Message.George Washington - most of you know him as America's first president, Revolutionary War hero, founding father, face of the one dollar bill, chopped down a cherry tree, wooden teeth, real man's man if you know what I mean. I think that's all most people know or think they know about him. But the cherry tree thing, that never happened. The wooden teeth? They weren't made of wood. I don't think many people actually know George Washington's story - who he was, what he did, what his life was like, the good, the bad, the truth. Let's fix that. Sources: Encyclopedia Britannica "George Washington"Mount Vernon "George Washington"Encyclopedia Virginia "George Washington and Slavery"The Atlantic "George Washington Was a Master of Deception"Cracked "14 Highly Uncomfortable Facts About George Washington"JSTOR "Were George Washington's Teeth Taken From Enslaved People?"Mount Vernon "Cherry Tree Myth"Mount Vernon "George Washington, Spymaster"Support the show! Join the PatreonBuy Me a CoffeeVenmo @Shea-LaFountaine