The Thrift-Shop Pope
After Vatican II, many traditionalist Catholics around the world decided that the heresies of the Pope meant that the papal throne was actually empty. For one member of that group, the only solution w...
24 Okt 202335min
The Cage of the Ottoman King
When Mehmed III, sultan of the Ottoman Empire, died, his young son Ahmed took the throne. Tradition dicrated that Ahmed should have killed any rivals to the throne, specifically his half-brother, Must...
17 Okt 202341min
The Stories of the Tsar Monk
In 1836, a stranger arrived to a remote Russian town on a snow-white horse. The man spoke fluent French and had a noble bearing, but he refused to give any information about where he came from or who ...
10 Okt 202333min
The Hidden Life of Henry VIII's Fool (With Peter K. Andersson)
William Somer (or Will Summers), Henry VIII's fool, became known to history as a famous wit, the man who spoke truth to power and advocated for the common people. But in reality, the man's life was mo...
3 Okt 202333min
The Arsenic Wife (Part 2)
Marie Lafarge's trial was a sensation. But when chemists begin to disagree on their conclusions, who's to say what the real story is? NOTE: This is the second part of our discussion of the trail of Ma...
26 Sep 202333min
The Arsenic Wife (Part 1)
In 1840, the trial of Marie Lafarge scandalized France. Marie was a woman from noble birth, raised in all of the right social circles in Paris, who ended up married to an iron-master, heavily in debt....
19 Sep 202337min
The Tragic True-Crime Life of Lady Lucan
[CONTENT WARNING: this episode contains depictions of violence and spousal abuse.] On November 7, 1974, John Bingham, 7th Earl of Lucan committed a horrible crime: attacking his wife, Veronica, Lady L...
12 Sep 202338min
The Great Hope of Spain
King Alfonson XII of Spain died without a male heir—but there was hope: his wife was six months pregnant. And as great fortune would have it, the Queen gave birth to a healthy baby boy, who would be A...
5 Sep 202345min
