Castrati: The Wild History of Opera’s Castrated Superstars
Opera has everything: drama, sex, ridiculous costumes, murder—and apparently, a deeply concerning amount of testicle removal.This week, Jo and Amanda are getting into castrati, the male singers who we...
23 Sep 56min
Medieval Executioners | You Wouldn't Invite Him to Dinner, Would Absolutely Call Him at 2am
The city needed someone to carry out its justice, so it hired a guy, made him essential, and then treated him like a walking biohazard. This week we ruin the executioner: specifically Franz "Meister F...
16 Sep 33min
History of TV Dinners: Dear Swanson, My Wife Has Stopped Trying
In late 1953, Swanson had ten refrigerated train cars full of unsold Thanksgiving turkey and no plan. A salesman named Jerry Thomas, not a chef, not a food scientist, looked at 260 tons of poultry and...
2 Sep 46min
Syphilis: The Horrifying History
Syphilis is one of those diseases you think you know about until you actually learn its history. Then it gets significantly worse.In this episode of Barely Historical, Jo and Amanda dive into the horr...
19 Aug 55min
Victorian Postmortem Photography | The Internet's Been Lying to Us
Postmortem Photography | The Internet's Been Lying to UsIn 1867, a photographer walked into a Philadelphia parlor, set up a tripod next to the sofa, and photographed a woman who had died the day befor...
22 Juli 1h 9min
Lizzie Borden: America's First Influencer?
Did Lizzie Borden really kill her father and stepmother, or did America turn an acquitted woman into its first true crime celebrity?In 1892, two brutal hatchet murders shocked Fall River, Massachusett...
15 Juli 47min
The World Cup’s Wildest Stories | Stolen Trophies, Dictators & Pickles the Hero Dog
The World Cup is supposed to bring the world together. Instead, its history includes dictators, corruption, stolen trophies, political propaganda, murder, and one very good dog named Pickles.In this e...
8 Juli 47min
