Gems of History

The finale is here! To wrap up the show, and our series on Lizzie Borden, we discuss the lead up to the official trial as well as the nitty gritty details of both legal teams' arguments over the guilt and innocence of Lizzie. In the end, she is ultimately acquitted due to crafty legal maneuvering and a lack of evidence tying her to the crime, but that didn't, and still doesn't, stop people from believing wholeheartedly that she did it. Thank you all once again for listening to the show for the past few years, we truly couldn't have done it without you.

To wrap up the podcast, we are going back to a topic we covered way back at the beginning of the show and giving it another look - specifically, the Lizzie Borden murder case. On this episode, we discuss the timeline of events and give some background on who the family was and the setting in which they lived. The police eventually land on no other option but to arrest Lizzie Borden for the murder of her parents and take her to a proper trial. What are your initial thoughts?

We are taking a week off from research to prep for our final series, so this week we found some wild news stories to talk about! A Colorado funeral home with a stack of nearly 200 unburied bodies starts off the episode, then we get into brain chopsticks, violent incel murders, and butt-based chess cheats! This one truly goes all over the map.

One of the most devastating health crises of the past half century has been the onset of HIV. After first infecting a human victim in Africa in the early to mid 1900s, it spread across the world and has infected and killed millions. There is no cure at this point, but modern vaccine testing is starting to show some promise in a future preventative.

Following some of the most tumultuous times in modern American history, Richard Nixon stepped into the White House. He shot up through political ranks quickly, despite his lack of social prestige. At first, his tenure as President was promising. He reorganized social infrastructure and made pushes for civil rights. But behind everything,  the pressure of war, foreign ideals, and domestic unrest created a sense of paranoia within Nixon. This paranoia pushed him to make unethical decisions, leading to the most important event of his political career, the Watergate scandal.

Continuing with their coverage of Lewis and Clark, the boys this week discuss some of the more controversial takes from the expedition. Behind the mask of exploration, the Corps of Discovery more or less exploited the Native American hospitality and used their knowledge to complete a mission of expansion for the United States government. They paved the way for later western migration for Americans and the eventual crippling of the Native American culture through minimization of their numbers and placing them on reservations.

This week the boys dive into the well-trod story of Lewis & Clark and the Corps of Discovery. The group was one of the first expedition of white settlers to travel west across the United States and explore the country all the way to the Pacific coast. Along the way, they met with numerous Native American tribes and established friendly relations with them as well as cataloged hundreds of plants and animals that they found along the way.

Not many people celebrate death, but in Mexico they decided to change that. What started as an Aztec tradition is now one of the biggest holidays in the country, with families and friends gathering together to eat, drink, and honor their dead loved ones. El dia de Los Muertos is a time to once again commune with the deceased, portraying death as a part of the natural cycle of life and not something to be feared.

It's time to read some spooky tales from the internet once again! This installment includes evil magic, ghostly forest creatures, and creepy landlords! Happy Halloween everyone!

World War II heightened every emotion. Not only did anxiety and uncertainty reach new levels, but so did promiscuity and disregard for societal norms. In the darkness of the Blitz, the UK saw a spike in crime that strained the thin police force. Looting and assaults became more commonplace as the bombing runs disguised misdeeds. But one man was more interested in a darker type of criminal activity. He used the blackouts as a way to hide a spree of murders that would be likened to one of the most famous serial killers ever. He’s known as the Blackout Ripper.