A podcast for the casual fan of history. The Wikipedia reader. The kids who grew up with a dad who watched the same 10 hours of World War II specials on The History Channel. Join Dan Regester, Rob Fox, and Jake Goldman as they tastefully insert themselves into the past. The only thing we don't show is our research.
How did Pulitzer, Hearst, et al. sell papers? It wasn't with the high brow stuff. They sent reporters to hospitals to write about the gruesome murders and horrible (or embarrassing, alcohol fueled) injuries a city's residents had suffered that day. And it all went on one page. We break down one of those pages, from the August 23rd, 1897 edition of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
How did Pulitzer, Hearst, et al. sell papers? It wasn't with the high brow stuff. They sent reporters to hospitals to write about the gruesome murders and horrible (or embarrassing, alcohol fueled) injuries a city's residents had suffered that day. And it all went on one page. We break down one of those pages, from the August 23rd, 1897 edition of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. It's got everything from Italian hookers to race wars to sad old drunk ladies.
How did Pulitzer, Hearst, et al. sell papers? It wasn't with the high brow stuff. They sent reporters to hospitals to write about the gruesome murders and horrible (or embarrassing, alcohol fueled) injuries a city's residents had suffered that day. And it all went on one page. We break down one of those pages, from the August 23rd, 1897 edition of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. It's got everything from Italian hookers to race wars to sad old drunk ladies.
Sometimes you have to crack a few of your fellow Christian's eggs to make a Holy Land omelet. The 4th Crusade was a Pope's call to action gone horribly wrong, a few side missions that ultimately submarined the main quest, and one of the Catholic church's biggest blunders in their storied history of mistakes. Brought to you by Withernot Rugby Shirts. Get 20% off your order at withernot.com with the code POD20
It's our two year anniversary, and we're diving into the history of The Republic of West Florida. Learn how Florida is basically responsible for everything America is today, for better or worse.
The Kingdom of Himyar in modern-day Yemen may have converted to Judaism for political reasons in 380 A.D. but eventually they went harder than anybody to rep their beliefs. And by that we mean they slaughtered a bunch of Christians.
Jessie Wiseman joins the boys to talk about the lesser known details about the sinking of the Titanic.
Frano Selak is the luckiest unlucky person in history. Learn how he survived 7 brushes with horrible, violent death, and what he's up to today.
Newly released Vatican records detail how Hitler and the Nazis used the Catholic Church's sex abuse to blackmail Pope Pius XII into not being too mean to the Third Reich. Patreon.com/softcorehistory
Douglas Mawson ventured to Antarctica, TWICE, but it almost cost him his life. Find out how he almost died getting his literal rocks off in this week's episode.
In 1511 the people of Brussels, while suffering through a brutal winter known as "The Winter of Death", took to the streets and expressed their displeasure with the ruling classes and life in general by... sculpting snowmen and making them have sex with each other.
The guys talk about the coed killer's disdain for his mother, his adventures in cat killing, and his unintentional contribution to the field of criminal profiling.
In the late 19th Century, one Chicago family found itself living in a house that turned out to be aggressively haunted. But these weren't normal ghosts. These were cool ghosts who loved to party.
A psycho trust fund kid, an aging but talented performer, and Wyatt Earp. Dodge City, Kansas was not a great place to "love" and "be loved"... or just to live in general. There's a reason they say "Get the hell outta Dodge."
This week we talk about the assassin so nice, they named him twice; Sirhan Sirhan. We dive deep into the RFK assassination and some of its mysterious circumstances. We're just asking questions! If you're interested in a better way to use nicotine, visit https://www.Lucy.co, and be sure to use that promo code SOFTCORE
A recently discovered ancient city has changed everything -- seriously, everything — we know about human history, and it's covered in dicks.
A group of liquored up traveling clowns and volunteer firefighters go into a Toronto brothel in 1855. Mayhem ensues.
This week we cover the USS William D Porter. A Naval Destroyer that, for better or worse, was so good at destroying it almost killed FDR… twice.
Massachusetts Puritan colonist Hannah Duston was the first woman to ever have a statue erected in her honor in the United States. But was what she did worthy of a monument?
The American Confederacy in Brazil? This week we talk about the southern rebels who took the L in the Civil War and picked up shop to continue their Dixieland Delight in South America.
This week Jake tries to dunk on Jesus and fails, Rob thinks Six Flags is the same as Disney, and we all learn about the pagan traditions that live on in modern Easter celebrations.
Human beings might be at the top of the planet's food chain but we've taken some L's to animals over the years, none worse than what happened to the Japanese soldiers who, near the end of World War II, retreated into the swamps of Burma's Ramree Island and found ancient, bloodthirsty predators waiting for them.
This is the story of the FIRST colonization of the Americas, some 13,000ish years ago. Humans arrived here for what turned out to actually be the second time and, like people are wont to do, they killed the other people living here and, more importantly, the giant nightmare monsters that were living in the Americas.
The guys talk about the golden age of Hollywood's most unusual deaths, including a sketchy accidental fatality on William Randolph Hearst's yacht, a teenaged starlet's older lover's suspicious death, and a famous actress's suicide that was super obviously NOT a suicide.
This week we learn about J.R. Brinkley, a shady doctor with even shadier practices that had an election stolen from him, his radio platform stolen, and probably stole some goat balls himself. https://www.patreon.com/softcorehistory
Breaking down how the Russian invasion of Ukraine is just the latest in a long history of Russia trying to prove its way more powerful and important than it really is, from the nation declaring Moscow the "Third Rome" after the fall of Constantinople to its epic fails in the Crimean War and the Russo-Japanese War.
Ching Shih was a prostitute who pulled herself up by the stilettos and became one of the most successful pirates in world history.
This week we cover the Pazzi Conspiracy, a plot to assassinate the Medici banking family, and how the Pope kind of OK'd the whole thing.
Ancient Egypt seems like a long time ago, but this recovered sick leave document from 1250 BC proves that Egyptians were just like us: drunks who hated work and had a rough time when the women in their house were menstruating.
Jessie Wiseman joins the boys as we burn on Helen Keller. Head to PolicyGenius.com to get your free life insurance quotes and see how much you could save.
We dive into the history of Africa's most brutal dictator, Macías Nguema. From banning glasses and murdering statisticians, to a holiday themed massacre, this guy does it all.
Everyone hates the modern media, but when did the modern American media actually form? The invention of cable news? The Yellow Journalism of the late 19th Century? The answer is much older, and it's all Mexico's fault. (Sort of. Not really at all, actually.)
This week we're talking Lufthansa heist and the dirtbags that inspired the movie "Goodfellas."
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Anti-German sentiment was at an all-time, absolutely bananas high during World War 1. Unfortunately for German immigrant Robert Prager, a local coal mining union used that as an excuse to lynch him just outside St. Louis, Missouri in 1918.
New year, new you. We talk about the history of the most common resolution that generations of people fail each year: physical fitness. From Vikings lifting ship masts to Ancient Greek wrestlers fireman carrying full grown bulls up hills, exercising has always been a never ending journey to personal disappointment.
We go over the best Christmas traditions that have been lost to history including pets gaining the ability to speak human languages at midnight on Christmas Eve, Icelandic trolls who have a thirst for bones, and a Christmas party king called “The Lord of Misrule” who can command all partygoers to get as drunk as he or she desires.
From Santa getting his start by paying off prostitutes to Krampus' weird foot situation and a cat in Iceland that eats kids for being too poor, Christmas traditions have some troubling origins(Carolers most of all). To start comparing quotes and simplify insurance-buying, check out Policygenius: https://policygenius.com/SOFTCORE. Thanks to Policygenius for sponsoring this video!
The guys cover how audio recordings have changed throughout time, and how the man keeps trying to keep us from stealing tunes.
In honor of the Christmas season we break down the most famous virgin births in history from Jesus in the Quran to ancient Egyptian miracle births and multiple babies — including one in the Bible — who popped out of their moms as fully developed men.
Jared Borislow joins Dan Regester and Rob Fox to talk about the true and horrifying story of real Pocahontas compared to her animated Disney counterpart.
The most detestable baseball team in history isn't the Chicago Black Sox or the Houston Astros. It's the 1911 Wyoming Penitentiary All-Stars, a baseball team made up of rapists and murderers who were told every time they won a game they would get years off their sentences, or get their death penalties commuted, so long as they made the state officials gambling on them money.
Listen in as we breakdown the tale of drunken secret service agents, their night before the JFK assassination, and how no one thought it was that big of a deal except for one wet blanket.
Lord Byron was a rockstar poet considered to be the first modern celebrity. He gallivanted around the Mediterranean sleeping with any person that crossed his path, drank out of monk skulls, and owned his own zoo of animals.
The Salem Witch Trials were pretty much entirely fueled by bored tweens pretending to be possessed by innocent old ladies and poor people.
In another grisly tale from Germany, we dive into the Hinterkaifeck murders, the circumstances surrounding the nightmare, and the possible suspects.
Jessie Wiseman joins the boys to talk about serial killer Peter Kürten --better known as the Vampire of Dusseldorf -- who would drink and lubricated himself with the blood of his victims in 1920s Germany.
Ghosts who aren't invited to parties. Ghosts who like to watch ladies sleep. Impromptu amputation shows in basements. Gettysburg ghosts have it all. We run through the best ghost stories from America's most famous battlefield.
From flavoring food to enlarging your balls, the guys dive into the wonderful history of spices.
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