Maximilian I ( Ferdinand Maximilian Joseph Maria , Spanish : Fernando Maximiliano José María de Habsburgo-Lorena ; 6 July 1832 – 19 June 1867) was an Austrian archduke who reigned as the only Emperor of the Second Mexican Empire from 10 April 1864 until his execution on 19 June 1867. A younger brother of Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria , Maximilian had a distinguished career as commander-in-chief of the Imperial Austrian Navy . Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you’d...
Dec 02, 2020•41 min
The Jamestown [a] settlement in the Colony of Virginia was the first permanent English settlement in the Americas. It was located on the northeast bank of the James (Powhatan) River about 2.5 mi (4 km) southwest of the center of modern Williamsburg . [1] It was established by the Virginia Company of London as "James Fort" on May 4, 1607 O.S. (May 14, 1607 N.S. ), [2] and was considered permanent after a brief abandonment in 1610. It followed several failed attempts, including the Lost Colony of ...
Nov 25, 2020•35 min
The Atari video game burial was a mass burial of unsold video game cartridges , consoles, and computers in a New Mexico landfill site, undertaken by American video game and home computer company Atari, Inc. in 1983. Up until 2014, the goods buried were rumored to be unsold copies of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial , one of the biggest commercial failures in video gaming and often cited as one of the worst video games ever released , along with the Atari 2600 port of Pac-Man , which was commercially s...
Nov 18, 2020•38 min
General Gregor MacGregor (24 December 1786 – 4 December 1845) was a Scottish soldier, adventurer, and confidence trickster who attempted from 1821 to 1837 to draw British and French investors and settlers to "Poyais", a fictional Central American territory that he claimed to rule as "Cazique". Hundreds invested their savings in supposed Poyaisian government bonds and land certificates, while about 250 emigrated to MacGregor's invented country in 1822–23 to find only an untouched jungle; more tha...
Nov 11, 2020•45 min
Lucia Cole was an imaginary persona that tricked a number of online publications into releasing stories about her upcoming album and celebrity collaborations.
Nov 04, 2020•31 min
Theodore Edward Coneys (November 10, 1882 – May 16, 1967), known by the nickname "Denver Spiderman" , an American drifter who committed a murder in 1941 and subsequently occupied the attic of the victim's home for nine months. --- 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....
Oct 28, 2020•30 min
Times Beach is a ghost town in St. Louis County , Missouri , United States, 17 miles (27 km) southwest of St. Louis and 2 miles (3 km) east of Eureka . Once home to more than two thousand people, the town was completely evacuated early in 1983 due to TCDD —also known as dioxin —contamination. It was the largest civilian exposure to this compound in the history of the US. 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 fi...
Oct 21, 2020•44 min
The Battle of Hastings [a] was fought on 14 October 1066 between the Norman-French army of William, the Duke of Normandy , and an English army under the Anglo-Saxon King Harold Godwinson , beginning the Norman conquest of England . It took place approximately 7 miles (11 kilometres) northwest of Hastings , close to the present-day town of Battle, East Sussex , and was a decisive Norman victory. --- Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you’d like to support the show on a p...
Oct 14, 2020•32 min
The Battle of Stamford Bridge ( Old English : Gefeoht æt Stanfordbrycge ) took place at the village of Stamford Bridge, East Riding of Yorkshire , in England on 25 September 1066, between an English army under King Harold Godwinson and an invading Norwegian force led by King Harald Hardrada and the English king's brother Tostig Godwinson . After a bloody battle, both Hardrada and Tostig along with most of the Norwegians were killed. Although Harold Godwinson repelled the Norwegian invaders, his ...
Oct 07, 2020•36 min
The Hawaiian cowboy, the paniolo , is also a direct descendant of the vaquero of California and Mexico. Experts in Hawaiian etymology believe "Paniolo" is a Hawaiianized pronunciation of español. (The Hawaiian language has no /s/ sound, and all syllables and words must end in a vowel.) Paniolo, like cowboys on the mainland of North America, learned their skills from Mexican vaqueros . [109] --- Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you’d like to support the show on a per e...
Sep 30, 2020•31 min
The year 1816 is known as the Year Without a Summer (also the Poverty Year and Eighteen Hundred and Froze To Death ) [1] because of severe climate abnormalities that caused average global temperatures to decrease by 0.4–0.7 °C (0.72–1.3 °F). [2] Summer temperatures in Europe were the coldest on record between the years of 1766–2000. [3] This resulted in major food shortages across the Northern Hemisphere . [4] Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you’d like to support the...
Sep 23, 2020•37 min
Uri Geller ( /ˈʊri ˈɡɛlər/ ; [1] Hebrew : אורי גלר; born 20 December 1946) is an Israeli-British [2] illusionist, magician, television personality, and self-proclaimed psychic . He is known for his trademark television performances of spoon bending and other illusions. Geller uses conjuring tricks to simulate the effects of psychokinesis and telepathy . [3] [4] Geller's career as an entertainer has spanned more than four decades, with television shows and appearances in many countries. In 2015,...
Sep 16, 2020•33 min
Margaret Howe Lovatt (born Margaret C. Howe, in 1942) is a volunteer naturalist from Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands . In the 1960s, she took part in a NASA -funded research project in which she attempted to teach a dolphin named Peter to understand and mimic human speech. As a child, she was inspired by a book called Miss Kelly , a story about a cat that communicated with humans. This inspired her to research teaching animals to speak human language....
Sep 09, 2020•38 min
This episode contains is a list of cryptids, which are animals presumed by followers of the cryptozoology pseudoscientific subculture to exist on the basis of anecdotal or other evidence considered insufficient by mainstream science . While biologists regularly identify new species following established scientific methodology , cryptozoologists focus on entities mentioned in the folklore record and rumour. Entities that may be considered cryptids by cryptozoologists include Bigfoot , Yeti , the ...
Sep 02, 2020•34 min
The Amityville Horror is a book by American author Jay Anson , published in September 1977. It is also the basis of a series of films released from 1979 onward. The book is claimed to be based on the paranormal experiences of the Lutz family, but has led to controversy and lawsuits over its truthfulness. --- 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...
Aug 26, 2020•36 min
Prison breaks are a thing where you're in prison and you don't want to be there anymore so you leave. But not when you're allowed to. Sorry... there was no Wikipedia article to copy and paste from and I panicked. --- 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 19, 2020•34 min
The Burr–Hamilton duel was a duel fought at Weehawken, New Jersey , between Vice President Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton , the former Secretary of the Treasury. It occurred early in the morning of July 11, 1804 [1] and was the culmination of a long and bitter rivalry between the two men. Burr shot Hamilton, while Hamilton's shot broke a tree branch above and behind Burr's head. Hamilton was carried to the home of William Bayard Jr. where he died the next day. --- Our theme song was written a...
Aug 12, 2020•35 min
McCarthyism is the practice of making accusations of subversion or treason without proper regard for evidence. [1] The term refers to U.S. senator Joseph McCarthy (R-Wisconsin) and has its origins in the period in the United States known as the Second Red Scare, lasting from the late 1940s through the 1950s. [2] It was characterized by heightened political repression and a campaign spreading fear of communist influence on American institutions and of espionage by Soviet agents. [2] After the mid...
Aug 05, 2020•32 min
The Ku Klux Klan ( /ˌkuː klʌks ˈklæn, ˌkjuː-/ ), [a] commonly called the KKK or the Klan , is an American white supremacist hate group whose primary targets are African Americans , as well as Jews , immigrants , leftists , homosexuals , and, until recently, Catholics . [9] The Klan has existed in three distinct eras at different points in time during the history of the United States. Each has advocated extremist reactionary positions such as white nationalism , anti-immigration and – especially ...
Jul 29, 2020•37 min
Fyre Festival was a fraudulent luxury music festival founded by Billy McFarland , CEO of Fyre Media Inc, and rapper Ja Rule . It was created with the intent of promoting the company's Fyre app for booking music talent. The festival was scheduled to take place on April 28–30 and May 5–7, 2017, on the Bahamian island of Great Exuma . 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 ch...
Jul 22, 2020•51 min
The Hitler Diaries ( German : Hitler-Tagebücher ) were a series of sixty volumes of journals purportedly written by Adolf Hitler , but forged by Konrad Kujau between 1981 and 1983. The diaries were purchased in 1983 for 9.3 million Deutsche Marks (£2.33 million or $3.7 million) by the West German news magazine Stern , which sold serialisation rights to several news organisations. One of the publications involved was The Sunday Times , who asked their independent director, the historian Hugh Trev...
Jul 15, 2020•38 min
Anton Szandor LaVey [3] (born Howard Stanton Levey ; April 11, 1930 – October 29, 1997) was an American author, musician, and occultist . [4] He was the founder of the Church of Satan and the religion of LaVeyan Satanism . He authored several books, including The Satanic Bible , The Satanic Rituals , The Satanic Witch , The Devil's Notebook , and Satan Speaks! In addition, he released three albums, including The Satanic Mass , Satan Takes a Holiday , and Strange Music . He played a minor on-scre...
Jul 08, 2020•46 min
Youree Dell Harris (August 12, 1962 – July 26, 2016) was an American television personality best known as Miss Cleo , a spokeswoman for a psychic pay-per-call service called Psychic Readers Network from 1997 to 2003. [1] [2] Harris used various aliases, including Cleomili Harris and Youree Perris. [3] 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 detail...
Jul 01, 2020•37 min
The French invasion of Russia , known in Russia as the Patriotic War of 1812 ( Russian : Отечественная война 1812 года, romanized : Otechestvennaya voyna 1812 goda ) and in France as the Russian campaign ( French : Campagne de Russie ), began on 24 June 1812 when Napoleon 's Grande Armée crossed the Neman River in an attempt to engage and defeat the Russian Army . [15] Napoleon hoped to compel the Emperor of All Russia , Alexander I , to cease trading with British merchants through proxies in an...
Jun 24, 2020•40 min
Hedy Lamarr ( /ˈheɪdi/ ), born Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler (November 9, 1914 [a] – January 19, 2000), was an Austrian-American actress, inventor, and film producer. She was part of 30 films in an acting career spanning 28 years, and co-invented an early version of frequency-hopping spread spectrum . [1] [2]...
Jun 17, 2020•36 min
Franz Anton Mesmer ( /ˈmɛzmər/ ; [1] German: [ˈmɛsmɐ] ; 23 May 1734 – 5 March 1815) was a German doctor with an interest in astronomy . He theorised the existence of a natural energy transference occurring between all animated and inanimate objects; this he called " animal magnetism ", sometimes later referred to as mesmerism . (In modern times New Age spiritualists have revived a similar idea.[ citation needed ]) Mesmer's theory attracted a wide following between about 1780 and 1850, and contin...
Jun 10, 2020•29 min
Steven Frederic Seagal ( /sɪˈɡɑːl/ ; born April 10, 1952) is an American actor, producer, screenwriter, martial artist, and musician who holds American, Serbian, and Russian citizenship. 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....
Jun 03, 2020•47 min
Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin ( /ræˈspjuːtɪn/ ; [1] Russian: Григорий Ефимович Распутин [ɡrʲɪˈɡorʲɪj jɪˈfʲiməvʲɪtɕ rɐˈsputʲɪn] ; 21 January [ O.S. 9 January] 1869 – 30 December [ O.S. 17 December] 1916) was a Russian mystic and self-proclaimed holy man who befriended the family of Emperor Nicholas II , the last monarch of Russia, and gained considerable influence in late imperial Russia . Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you’d like to support the show on a per episode b...
May 27, 2020•33 min
A spite house is a building constructed or substantially modified to irritate neighbors or any party with land stakes . Because long-term occupation is not the primary purpose of these houses, they frequently sport strange and impractical structures. 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 20, 2020•33 min
A lottery is a form of gambling that involves the drawing of numbers at random for a prize. Lotteries are outlawed by some governments, while others endorse it to the extent of organizing a national or state lottery. It is common to find some degree of regulation of lottery by governments; the most common regulation is prohibition of sale to minors, and vendors must be licensed to sell lottery tickets. Though lotteries were common in the United States and some other countries during the 19th cen...
May 13, 2020•40 min
