The Knights Templar are basically a conspiracy in themselves.  It’s hard to think of another organization that has as much of a reach as the Templars.  They are guardians of the holy grail, a mystical order, have magical secret rights, and are the forefathers of secret organizations.  Historically. the Templars were a religious military order, watching over pilgrims who were travelling on Crusades, guarding fortresses, and fighting Muslims in the Holy Land.  Let’s look into how the Templars became one of the most mysterious organizations in history—and you won’t believe how short that history really is.

Sources: 

1.    Cybulskie, Danièle. “The Afterlife of the Templars: FIGHTING INJUSTICE TO RULING THE WORLD.” Medieval Warfare, vol. 6, no. 5, 2016, pp. 34–37.

2.    Day, Elizabeth. “Da Vinci Code bestseller is plagiarism, authors claim.” The Telegraph, October 3, 2004.

3.    Holt, Andrew. “The New Knighthood: BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX AND THE TEMPLARS.” Medieval Warfare, vol. 6, no. 5, 2016, pp. 13–17.

4.    Howe, John. “The Rule: MILITARY SECRETS OF THE KNIGHTS TEMPLAR.” Medieval Warfare, vol 6 no 5, 2016, pp. 20–25.

5.    Koch, Ariel. “The New Crusaders: Contemporary Extreme Right Symbolism and Rhetoric.” Perspectives on Terrorism, vol. 11, no. 5, 2017, pp. 13–24.

6.    Konieczny, Peter. “Who Were the Templars?: THE RISE AND FALL OF A MILITARY ORDER.” Medieval Warfare, vol. 6, no. 5, 2016, pp. 6–9.

7.    LACY, NORRIS J. “‘The Da Vinci Code’: Dan Brown and The Grail That Never Was.” Arthuriana, vol. 14, no. 3, 2004, pp. 81–93.

8.    Menache, Sophia. “The Templar Order: A Failed Ideal?” The Catholic Historical Review, vol 79 no 1, 1993, pp. 1–21.

9.    What Should We Believe About the Knights Templar?  Parts 1 and 2.  Our Fake History Podcast.  Host: Sebastian Major.  2022

10.    Tyerman, Christopher. God’s War: A New History of the Crusades. Harvard University Press, 2006.

The Marriage of Princess Margot of France and Prince Henry of Navarre was supposed to bring peace between the warring Catholic and Protestant factions in France.  But since we know history around here, we know this was not meant to be.  There was peace… for a few days.  Then everything went tits up when all the Protestant leaders and their families were ordered to be executed by none other than the Queen Regent of France, Catherine de’ Medici.

1.    Catherine de’ Medici, Italian Orphan.  Stuff You Missed in History Class Podcast hosted by Candace Keener and Sarah Dowdey.  2010.

5.    St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre.  In Our Time: History Podcast.  2003.

The worst commercial nuclear accident to happen on American soil occurred in small-town Pennsylvania in 1979. On the International Nuclear Event Scale, TMI scores a 5. What followed was not only a massive cleanup but also massive corporate and government cover-ups with the motivation to silence those who would whistleblow against the state of nuclear regulation and industry.  

Sources:  

1.    10 Reasons to Oppose Nuclear Energy.  Green America. https://www.greenamerica.org/fight-dirty-energy/amazon-build-cleaner-cloud/10-reasons-oppose-nuclear-energy  

2.    Accidents at Nuclear Power Plants and Cancer Risk. National Cancer Institute.  https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/risk/radiation/nuclear-accidents-fact-sheet

3.    Backgrounder on the Three Mile Island Accident. US NRC. https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/fact-sheets/TMIle-isle.html

4.    Meltdown: Three Mile Island.  Netflix 

5.    Nuclear Power.  Wikipedia 

6.    The Nuclear Nightmare That Almost Took Out the East Coast.  New York Post.  https://nypost.com/2022/05/04/how-a-brave-engineer-saved-the-us-from-nuclear-catastrophe-new-doc/  

7.    Three Mile Island Accident. World Nuclear Association.  https://world-nuclear.org/information-library/safety-and-security/safety-of-plants/three-mile-island-accident.aspx

The history surrounding the process to illegalize cannabis sativa is long and complex.  The illegalization of cannabis is mainly attributed to the crusade of one man, Harry Anslinger.  Whether his crusade is attributed to racism, a quest for power, or a mission to help people by cutting off the source of drug use—we will discuss them all in this episode.

Sources:

1.    ANSLINGER, HARRY JACOB, AND U.S. DRUG POLICY. https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/anslinger-harry-jacob-and-us-drug-policy  

2.    Anslinger: The Untold Cannabis Conspiracy Podcast. Annie Rouse. 

3.    Chapter 7.1 Drug Use in History. Social Problems. Minnesota Libraries Publishing, 2010. Creative Commons License (CC BY-NC-SA). 

4.    Reefer Madness. Eric Schlosser.  The Atlantic, August 1994.  https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1994/08/reefer-madness/303476/

5.    Shanghai Opium Conference. https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/shanghai-opium-conference

6.    Why the US Made Marijuana Illegal. https://www.history.com/news/why-the-u-s-made-marijuana-illegal

7.    Wikipedia (Harry J. Anslinger; Marihuana Tax Act 1937; Victor Licata; Uniform State Narcotic Drug Act)

Catherine the Great is one of the most infamous, powerful, and beloved rulers of all time. But she did not get to that throne by chance. Nay, she saw her opening and went directly through it—but not without some conspiracy. She committed her miraculously bloodless coup with both friends, lovers, and with those she won over with her political genius and philosophy (and a promise of vodka).

Sources:

1.    Henri Troyat, Catherine the Great, 1994.  (If you enjoyed this episode, I highly recommend this book, it’s very entertaining and thorough) 

2.    YouTube, Biographics : Catherine the Great: Russia’s Greatest Empress 

3.    YouTube, Exploring History : How Catherine the Great Came to Power 

4.    "Catherine the Great and the Coup that Made Her Empress,” History.co.uk  

5.    Zoé Oldenbourg-Idalie, “Catherine the Great Empress of Russia,” Britannica.com

Operation Midnight Climax was a government-sanctioned, sub-project of MK-Ultra - a sex and drug-fueled romp that spanned 12 years, from NY to CA.  Midnight Climax was virtually untouchable, while illegally dosing unsuspecting civilians with LSD, and run by a power-hungry sociopath and his evil scientist supervisor.

Sources: Midnight Climax Podcast written by Jake Rosen History.com

The CIA's Appalling Human Experiments With Mind Control

HISTORY Channel AHRP.org : 1953–1964: Operation Midnight Climax

CIA’s lurid ventures into sex, hookers and LSD

Alliance for Human Research Protection (ahrp.org) Freedom of Information Act Electronic Reading Wikipedia WikiTree

George Hunter White (1908-1975) | WikiTree FREE Family Tree