The CIA Paid War Spies with Stuff From the Sears Catalog
When CIA agent Jon Wiant began growing a spy operation in Vietnam, he ran into a pickle: the locals he wanted to hire lived in rural areas along the boarder with Laos, and they existed primarily in a ...
21 Huhti 202028min
The Bottle Jumping Hoax (And Riot)
In 1749 London, a mob of people gathered outside The Theatre Royal -- the city was abuzz with excitement over a recent advertisement promising an amazing performance: a magician was planning to perfor...
17 Huhti 202032min
The Bizarrely Disturbing History of People Jumping Out of Cake
It's an old trope, and a familiar one: Four and twenty blackbirds flying from a pie, a scantily-clad woman emerging from a giant cake. Nowadays it's often thought of as a trope in folklore -- but wher...
15 Huhti 202045min
HL Hunley: The Mysterious Demise of a Civil War Submarine, with Rachel Lance
On the evening of February 17th, 1864, the HL Hunley became the first submarine in history to successfully sink an enemy ship. Immediately after this attack, the HL Hunley disappeared. More than a cen...
10 Huhti 202043min
Dromomania: The Wanderlust Disease
In the 1890s, France found itself in the groups of a bizarre, troubling epidemic -- scores of men were, apparently, wandering off in a trance-like state, only to come to their senses days or weeks lat...
8 Huhti 202035min
Key West, Florida Declared a One-Minute War on the United States
It's true -- once upon a time the isolated town of Key West, Florida not only seceded from the Union, but declared war on the United States (for about sixty seconds). Tune in to learn more about the s...
3 Huhti 202045min
That Time the US Literally Banned Sliced Bread
You've probably heard the old saying "the best thing since sliced bread" -- and back in the day, people in the US were genuinely over the moon about presliced bread, thanks to the work of Otto Rohwedd...
1 Huhti 202051min
Two Green Children Mystified Woolpit, England
Imagine you're working in a field in the tiny community of 12th-century Woolpit, England, and encounter two green-skinned children with no knowledge of your language, a strangely specific diet, and a ...
27 Maalis 202047min
