The Great Chicago Fire was a conflagration that burned from Sunday, October 8, to Tuesday, October 10, 1871. The fire killed up to 300 people, destroyed roughly 3.3 square miles (9 km2) of Chicago , Illinois , and left more than 100,000 residents homeless. [2] Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you’d like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here . Be sure to check our website for more details....
Aug 15, 2018•47 min
A vibrator is a sex toy that is used on the body to produce pleasurable erotic stimulation . Most 2010-era vibrators contain an electric-powered device which pulsates or throbs, which is used to stimulate erogenous zones such as the clitoris , the vulva or vagina , penis , scrotum or anus . There are many different shapes and models of vibrators. Some vibrators designed for women stimulate both the clitoris and the vagina. Some vibrators designed for couples stimulate the genitals of both partne...
Aug 08, 2018•50 min
The Darien scheme was an unsuccessful attempt by the Kingdom of Scotland to become a world trading nation by establishing a colony called "Caledonia" on the Isthmus of Panama on the Gulf of Darién in the late 1690s. The aim was for the colony to have an overland route that connected the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. From the beginning it has been claimed historically that the undertaking was beset by poor planning and provisioning, divided leadership, a lack of demand for trade goods particularly...
Aug 01, 2018•39 min
The Bermuda Triangle , also known as the Devil's Triangle , is a loosely-defined region in the western part of the North Atlantic Ocean , where a number of aircraft and ships are said to have disappeared under mysterious circumstances. Most reputable sources dismiss the idea that there is any mystery. The vicinity of the Bermuda Triangle is amongst the most heavily traveled shipping lanes in the world, with ships frequently crossing through it for ports in the Americas, Europe and the Caribbean ...
Jul 25, 2018•39 min
Mary Mallon (September 23, 1869 – November 11, 1938), also known as Typhoid Mary , was an Irish-American cook. She was the first person in the United States identified as an asymptomatic carrier of the pathogen associated with typhoid fever . She was presumed to have infected 51 people, three of whom died, over the course of her career as a cook. [1] She was twice forcibly isolated by public health authorities and died after a total of nearly three decades in isolation. [2] [3] Our theme song wa...
Jul 18, 2018•36 min
Tsar Bomba ( Russian : Царь-бо́мба, tr. Tsar'-bómba , IPA: [t͡sarʲ ˈbombə] , lit. Tsar Ivan bomb/King of Bombs ;) was the Western nickname for the Soviet RDS-220 hydrogen bomb ( code name Ivan [3] or Vanya ), the most powerful nuclear weapon ever created. Its test on 30 October 1961 remains the most powerful explosive ever detonated. It was also referred to as Kuzma's mother ( Russian : Ку́зькина ма́ть, tr. Kúz'kina mát' , IPA: [ˈkusʲkʲɪnə ˈmatʲ] ), [4] possibly referring to First secretary Niki...
Jul 11, 2018•35 min
Cocaine , also known as coke , is a strong stimulant mostly used as a recreational drug . [10] It is commonly snorted , inhaled as smoke, or dissolved and injected into a vein . [9] Mental effects may include loss of contact with reality , an intense feeling of happiness , or agitation . [9] Physical symptoms may include a fast heart rate , sweating, and large pupils . [9] High doses can result in very high blood pressure or body temperature . [11] Effects begin within seconds to minutes of use ...
Jul 04, 2018•47 min
The Principality of Sealand , more commonly known as Sealand , is a micronation that claims Roughs Tower , an offshore platform located in the North Sea approximately 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) off the coast of Suffolk , England, as its territory. Roughs Tower is a disused Maunsell Sea Fort , originally called HM Fort Roughs, built as an anti-aircraft defensive gun platform by the British during World War II . [3] [4] Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you’d like to support...
Jun 27, 2018•37 min
The Tulsa race riot , sometimes referred to as the Tulsa massacre , [2] [3] [4] [5] Tulsa pogrom , [6] [7] [8] or Tulsa race riot of 1921 , took place between May 31 and June 1, 1921, when a white mob attacked residents and businesses of the African-American community of Greenwood in Tulsa , Oklahoma . [1] This is considered one of the worst incidents of racial violence in the history of the United States . [9] The attack, carried out on the ground and by air, destroyed more than 35 blocks of th...
Jun 20, 2018•38 min
Phantly Roy Bean, Jr. (c. 1825 – March 16, 1903) was an eccentric U.S. saloon-keeper and Justice of the Peace in Val Verde County, Texas , who called himself "The Law West of the Pecos ". According to legend, Judge Roy Bean held court in his saloon along the Rio Grande on a desolate stretch of the Chihuahuan Desert of southwest Texas. After his death, Western films and books cast him as a hanging judge , although he is known to have sentenced only two men to hang, one of whom escaped. Our theme ...
Jun 13, 2018•33 min
The Hatfield–McCoy feud or the Hatfield–McCoy war as some papers at the time called it, involved two rural families of the West Virginia – Kentucky area along the Tug Fork of the Big Sandy River in the years 1863–1891. The Hatfields of West Virginia were led by William Anderson "Devil Anse" Hatfield while the McCoys of Kentucky were under the leadership of Randolph "Ole Ran'l" McCoy . Those involved in the feud were descended from Ephraim Hatfield (born c. 1765) and William McCoy (born c. 1750)....
Jun 06, 2018•38 min
Timothy Dexter (January 22, 1747 – October 23, 1806) was an American businessman noted for his writing and eccentricity . --- To see us live in Chicago on August 11th, click here . --- Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you’d like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here . Be sure to check our website for more details. Skit Music: "Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 in G, Movement I (Allegro), BWV 1049" Kevin MacLeod ( incompetech.com ) Lic...
May 30, 2018•38 min
The Sacred Band of Thebes ( Ancient Greek : Ἱερὸς Λόχος , Hieròs Lókhos ) was a troop of select soldiers, consisting of 150 pairs of male lovers which formed the elite force of the Theban army in the 4th century BC. Its predominance began with its crucial role in the Battle of Leuctra in 371 BC. It was annihilated by Philip II of Macedon in the Battle of Chaeronea in 338 BC. --- To get tickets to see Citation Needed Live in Chicago, click here . --- Our theme song was written and performed by An...
May 23, 2018•32 min
This episode is a list of inventors whose deaths were in some manner caused by or related to a product, process, procedure, or other innovation that they invented or designed. --- Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you’d like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here . Be sure to check our website for more details....
May 16, 2018•41 min
Hirō "Hiroo" Onoda (小野田 寛郎 Onoda Hirō , 19 March 1922 – 16 January 2014) was an Imperial Japanese Army intelligence officer who fought in World War II and was a Japanese holdout who did not surrender in August 1945. After the war ended Onoda spent 29 years holding out in the Philippines until his former commander traveled from Japan to informally relieve him from duty in 1974. [1] [2] He held the rank of second lieutenant in the Imperial Japanese Army. Our theme song was written and performed by...
May 09, 2018•35 min
Fecal microbiota transplant ( FMT ), also known as a stool transplant , [1] is the process of transplantation of fecal bacteria from a healthy individual into a recipient. FMT involves restoration of the colonic microflora by introducing healthy bacterial flora through infusion of stool, e.g. by colonoscopy , enema , orogastric tube or by mouth in the form of a capsule containing freeze-dried material, obtained from a healthy donor. A limited number of studies have shown it to be an effective tr...
May 02, 2018•44 min
A code duello is a set of rules for a one-on-one combat, or duel . Codes duello regulate dueling and thus help prevent vendettas between families and other social factions. They ensure that non-violent means of reaching agreement be exhausted and that harm be reduced, both by limiting the terms of engagement and by providing medical care. Finally, they ensure that the proceedings have a number of witnesses. The witnesses could assure grieving members of factions of the fairness of the duel, and ...
Apr 25, 2018•44 min
A tulip, known as "the Viceroy" ( viseroij ), displayed in the 1637 Dutch catalog Verzameling van een Meenigte Tulipaanen . Its bulb was offered for sale between 3,000 and 4,200 guilders (florins) depending on size ( aase ). A skilled craftsworker at the time earned about 300 guilders a year. [1] Tulip mania ( Dutch : tulpenmanie ) was a period in the Dutch Golden Age during which contract prices for some bulbs of the recently introduced and fashionable tulip reached extraordinarily high levels ...
Apr 18, 2018•30 min
The Great Stink was an event in central London in July and August 1858 during which the hot weather exacerbated the smell of untreated human waste and industrial effluent that was present on the banks of the River Thames . The problem had been mounting for some years, with an ageing and inadequate sewer system that emptied directly into the Thames. The miasma from the effluent was thought to transmit contagious diseases, and three outbreaks of cholera prior to the Great Stink were blamed on the ...
Apr 11, 2018•30 min
Carl Tanzler Tanzler in 1942 Born February 8, 1877 Dresden , German Empire Died July 3, 1952 (aged 75) Pasco County, Florida , U.S. Occupation radiology technician Spouse(s) Doris Tanzler Children Ayesha Tanzler, Clarista Tanzler Carl Tanzler , or sometimes Count Carl von Cosel (February 8, 1877 – July 3, 1952), was a German-born radiology technician at the Marine-Hospital Service in Key West, Florida . He developed an obsession for a young Cuban-American tuberculosis patient, Elena "Helen" Mila...
Apr 04, 2018•35 min
Biosphere 2 is an American Earth system science research facility located in Oracle, Arizona . It has been owned by the University of Arizona since 2011. Its mission is to serve as a center for research, outreach, teaching, and lifelong learning about Earth, its living systems, and its place in the universe. It is a 3.14-acre (1.27-hectare) [1] structure originally built to be an artificial, materially closed ecological system , or vivarium . It remains the largest closed system ever created. [2...
Mar 28, 2018•50 min
In this week's episode, Heath decides to pull an audible and not use a Wikipedia article at all, so that I have to improvise the description box. So... how about them basketballs, huh? Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you’d like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here . Be sure to check our website for more details.
Mar 21, 2018•54 min
Roy Cleveland Sullivan (February 7, 1912 – September 28, 1983) was a United States park ranger in Shenandoah National Park in Virginia . Between 1942 and 1977, Sullivan was hit by lightning on seven different occasions and survived all of them. For this reason, he gained a nickname "Human Lightning Conductor" and "Human Lightning Rod". Sullivan is recognized by Guinness World Records as the person struck by lightning more recorded times than any other human being. [3] Our theme song was written ...
Mar 14, 2018•30 min
The voyage of the James Caird was a small-boat journey from Elephant Island in the South Shetland Islands to South Georgia in the southern Atlantic Ocean, a distance of 800 miles (1,300 km). Undertaken by Sir Ernest Shackleton and five companions, it aimed to obtain rescue for the main body of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914–17, stranded on Elephant Island after the loss of its ship Endurance . Polar historians regard the voyage as one of the greatest small-boat journeys ever und...
Mar 07, 2018•42 min
The Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition (1914–17), also known as the Endurance Expedition , is considered the last major expedition of the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration . Conceived by Sir Ernest Shackleton , the expedition was an attempt to make the first land crossing of the Antarctic continent. After the conquest of the South Pole by Roald Amundsen in 1911, this crossing remained, in Shackleton's words, the "one great main object of Antarctic journeyings". [1] The expedition failed to ac...
Feb 28, 2018•38 min
Enrique of Malacca ( Spanish : Enrique de Malaca ; Portuguese : Henrique de Malaca ), was a native of the Malay Archipelago who became a slave of the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan in the 16th century. Italian historian Antonio Pigafetta , who wrote the most comprehensive account of Magellan's voyage, named him "Henrique" (which was Hispanicised as Enrique in official Spanish documents). Pigafetta explicitly states that "Henrique" was a native of Sumatra . According to biographer-philoso...
Feb 21, 2018•46 min
Heaven's Gate was an American UFO religious millenarian cult based in San Diego , California , founded in 1974 and led by Marshall Applewhite (1931–1997) and Bonnie Nettles (1927–1985) until their deaths. [1] On March 26, 1997, police discovered the bodies of 39 members of the group, who had participated in a mass suicide in order to reach what they believed was an extraterrestrial spacecraft following Comet Hale–Bopp . [2] [3] Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you’d l...
Feb 14, 2018•50 min
Erik Jan Hanussen , born Hermann Steinschneider (2 June 1889, in Vienna – 25 March 1933, in Berlin ), was an Austrian Jewish publicist, charlatan and clairvoyant performer. Acclaimed in his lifetime as a hypnotist , mentalist , occultist , and astrologer , Hanussen was active in Weimar Republic Germany and also at the beginning of Nazi Germany . He is said to have instructed Adolf Hitler in performance and the achievement of dramatic effect. [1] Our theme song was written and performed by Anna B...
Feb 07, 2018•36 min
Charles Ponzi , (born Carlo Pietro Giovanni Guglielmo Tebaldo Ponzi ; March 3, 1882 – January 18, 1949), was an Italian swindler and con artist in the U.S. and Canada. His aliases include Charles Ponci , Carlo , and Charles P. Bianchi . [1] Born and raised in Italy, he became known in the early 1920s as a swindler in North America for his money-making scheme. He promised clients a 50% profit within 45 days, or 100% profit within 90 days, by buying discounted postal reply coupons in other countri...
Jan 31, 2018•42 min
On January 28, 1986, the NASA shuttle orbiter mission STS-51-L and the tenth flight of Space Shuttle Challenger (OV-99) broke apart 73 seconds into its flight, killing all seven crew members, which consisted of five NASA astronauts and two payload specialists . The spacecraft disintegrated over the Atlantic Ocean , off the coast of Cape Canaveral , Florida , at 11:39 EST (16:39 UTC ). Disintegration of the vehicle began after an O-ring seal in its right solid rocket booster (SRB) failed at lifto...
Jan 24, 2018•40 min
