History Buffoons Podcast

Have you ever wondered if our souls might carry memories from past lives? The story of Dorothy Eady challenges everything we think we know about consciousness and history.

After falling down the stairs at age three and being pronounced dead in 1907 London, Dorothy awoke with strange memories of a distant place. Her parents were bewildered when their daughter began speaking with an unusual accent and crying to "go home" despite being in their family house. When they took her to the British Museum's Egyptian galleries hoping to cheer her up, young Dorothy ran to the artifacts, embracing statues and declaring "these are my people." Upon seeing a photograph of the Temple of Seti I at Abydos, she pointed and said, "This is my home," while wondering where the gardens and trees had gone.

As Dorothy grew older, her connection to ancient Egypt only deepened. She became convinced she was the reincarnation of Bentreshyt, a temple priestess who had fallen in love with Pharaoh Seti I and taken her own life when she became pregnant. After moving to Egypt in 1931, she dedicated her life to working in the Department of Antiquities, eventually settling near the Temple of Seti I in Abydos where she became known as "Om Seti." 

What makes Dorothy's case truly extraordinary are the archaeological discoveries she facilitated. She identified wall paintings in pitch darkness that had never been publicly documented, located a previously unknown garden exactly where she claimed it would be, and pointed out a hidden tunnel beneath the temple that later surveys confirmed. These discoveries earned her profound respect from even the most skeptical archaeologists. When she died in 1981, she faced death without fear, saying simply, "Death holds no terror for me."

Whether you believe in reincarnation or not, Dorothy Eady's story will leave you questioning the boundaries between science, spirituality, and the mysteries of human consciousness. Listen now and decide for yourself—was she truly a soul returned from ancient Egypt, or something else entirely?

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

This website contains affiliate links. This means that if you click on a link and purchase a product, I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. This helps support the running of this website and allows me to continue providing valuable content. Please note that I only recommend products and services that I believe in and have personally used or researched. 

What would you confess to if your life depended on it? In 1692, Mary Clements Osgood faced this impossible choice when she was blindfolded, led before a Salem courtroom, and accused of witchcraft after afflicted girls stopped convulsing at her touch.

Mary's story reveals the twisted logic of the Salem Witch Trials, where respected community members could be transformed into "brides of Satan" overnight. As the wife of a prominent Andover citizen and mother to thirteen children, Mary seemed untouchable – until political instability and religious paranoia created the perfect storm for scapegoating. Under relentless questioning, she eventually confessed to meeting "the devil as a black man" with a book, flying through the air, and attending witch gatherings.

But what makes Mary's case extraordinary is what happened next. Unlike many accused, she publicly recanted her confession, declaring it "wholly false" and a product of "violent urging and unreasonable pressings." Her brave testimony, published by Increase Mather, helped turn the tide against spectral evidence and forced confessions, ultimately contributing to the end of the witch hunt hysteria.

The podcast also uncovers a surprising literary connection – Mary Clements Osgood was a direct ancestor of Samuel Clemens, better known as Mark Twain. Her story demonstrates how easily justice can be perverted when fear overrides reason, and how a single person's courage can help restore sanity even in the darkest moments.

Have you ever stood up against mass hysteria, even when it was dangerous to do so? Share your thoughts and join the conversation about modern witch hunts and scapegoating. Subscribe and follow @HistoryBuffoonsPodcast for more untold stories that changed the course of history.

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

This website contains affiliate links. This means that if you click on a link and purchase a product, I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. This helps support the running of this website and allows me to continue providing valuable content. Please note that I only recommend products and services that I believe in and have personally used or researched. 

The wooden box seemed impossibly small – just three feet long, two feet eight inches deep, and two feet wide. But for Henry Brown, it represented something far more significant than its dimensions: the path to freedom.

In March 1849, Brown made the desperate decision to mail himself from slavery in Richmond, Virginia to liberty in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His extraordinary gamble came after suffering the greatest loss imaginable – watching helplessly as his wife Nancy and their three children were sold away to a Methodist minister, marched off in chains never to be seen again. "I followed them with aching heart," Brown later wrote, "but they gave me no word, no glance, though I saw the tears falling from my wife's face like rain."

With nothing left to lose, Brown and two accomplices – a free Black dentist and a white shoemaker with abolitionist sympathies – crafted an audacious escape plan. Shipping himself as "dry goods" with just three air holes and a bladder of water, Brown endured a harrowing 27-hour journey. Despite "THIS SIDE UP" markings, careless handlers repeatedly positioned the box upside down, forcing Brown to endure excruciating periods with his full weight pressing on his neck and head. At several points, he nearly died from the position, once losing consciousness completely.

When abolitionists finally opened the box in Philadelphia, they found Brown alive but exhausted. His successful escape transformed him into "Henry Box Brown," a celebrity in abolitionist circles who published a memoir and spoke publicly about his experiences. Yet his story contains troubling contradictions – while he gained personal freedom, he never attempted to locate or rescue his family. Instead, when the strengthened Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 made America more dangerous for escaped slaves, Brown fled to England, where he spent 25 years as a performer, marrying an English woman and starting a new family.

Brown's wooden crate stands as a powerful symbol of both the desperate measures enslaved people would take to secure freedom and the profound injustice of a system that made such measures necessary. What would you sacrifice for liberty? And once free, what obligations remain to those left behind? Subscribe now to explore more extraordinary stories that challenge our understanding of history and human nature.

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

This website contains affiliate links. This means that if you click on a link and purchase a product, I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. This helps support the running of this website and allows me to continue providing valuable content. Please note that I only recommend products and services that I believe in and have personally used or researched. 

Ever wondered what would happen if your town elected a goat as mayor? In this delightfully quirky episode, Bradley teams up with a special guest co-host – his young son Xavier – to explore the fascinating story of Lincoln the Goat, who became the honorary mayor of Fairhaven, Vermont in 2019.

The father-son duo dive into how this small town of just 2,500 people transformed a playground fundraiser into an unconventional election, charging $1 per vote for various animal candidates. Lincoln, a three-year-old Nubian goat, emerged victorious and served a one-year term complete with a mayoral sash and appearances at community events. Xavier's spontaneous interjections and repeated mentions of the mysterious "Mayor Ruffles" add an endearing layer of chaos and charm to the storytelling.

As we discover, Fairhaven isn't alone in its animal leadership. From the beer-drinking goat mayor of La Jeta, Texas, to the four-term canine leader of Cormorant Village, Minnesota, these unusual elections have become beloved traditions across America. Bradley even shares fascinating goat facts – their rectangular pupils provide nearly 360-degree vision, some can climb trees, and they're natural escape artists. Throughout this heartwarming exploration of civic creativity, we're reminded how communities can come together through humor and unconventional ideas, proving that sometimes the most memorable leaders have four legs instead of two.

Join us for this playful dive into one of history's most charming political oddities, and subscribe to History Buffoons wherever you get your podcasts. Connect with us on social media or email [email protected] with your questions and ideas for future episodes!

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

This website contains affiliate links. This means that if you click on a link and purchase a product, I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. This helps support the running of this website and allows me to continue providing valuable content. Please note that I only recommend products and services that I believe in and have personally used or researched. 

Hidden in the mist-shrouded valleys of Tennessee's Little Greenbrier cove, six remarkable women defied the march of progress for nearly half a century. The Walker Sisters—Margaret, Martha, Mary Polly, Nancy, Louisa, and Hedy—lived entirely self-sufficiently on their family homestead while the world around them transformed through two World Wars and the dawn of modern America.

When the U.S. government began purchasing land in the 1920s to create Great Smoky Mountains National Park, these six unmarried sisters stood their ground against progress. Unlike the hundreds of families who sold their properties and relocated, the Walkers refused to abandon the only home they'd ever known. Their 122-acre farm, where they grew food, raised livestock, spun wool, and made medicine from mountain herbs, represented a way of life already vanishing from American memory.

After years of resistance, they finally compromised in 1941, selling their land but securing lifetime rights to remain in their tulip poplar log cabin. National fame arrived unexpectedly in 1946 when the Saturday Evening Post published "Time Stood Still in the Smokies," transforming these mountain women into reluctant celebrities. Visitors flocked to see their spinning wheels, handwoven cloth, and apple orchards—living relics from another century who ground corn in hand-cranked mills and heated their home with wood they chopped themselves.

One by one, time claimed the sisters—Hedy in 1947, Martha in 1951, Margaret in 1962, and finally Louisa in 1964. Today, their preserved homestead stands as a testament to independence, self-sufficiency, and the power of sisterhood. Hike the mile-long trail to their cabin and discover a story of extraordinary women who lived by their father's simple philosophy: "If God gave you two hands and a good spring house, you don't need anything else."

National Park Service – Great Smoky Mountains National Park: The Walker Sistersnps.govnps.gov
National Park Service – Historic Structure Report on the Walker Sisters Home (1969)nps.govnps.gov
Walker Sisters Place (Wikipedia)en.wikipedia.orgen.wikipedia.org

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

This website contains affiliate links. This means that if you click on a link and purchase a product, I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. This helps support the running of this website and allows me to continue providing valuable content. Please note that I only recommend products and services that I believe in and have personally used or researched. 

The tale of America's wealthiest woman reads like fiction, yet Hetty Green's extraordinary life defied all expectations of Gilded Age wealth. Born in 1834 to a prosperous Quaker family, young Hetty wasn't groomed for society balls—she was trained in finance, reading financial newspapers to her grandfather by age six and managing the family ledgers by thirteen.

While robber barons of her era flaunted their fortunes with mansions and diamonds, Hetty took a radically different approach. The "Witch of Wall Street" amassed a fortune that would make today's billionaires blush while living in cheap apartments, wearing the same black dress until it fell apart, and eating oatmeal warmed on radiators. Her financial philosophy was deceptively simple: buy low when nobody wants something, sell high when everybody does. During the Civil War, she purchased devalued "greenbacks" that others considered worthless, holding them until their value skyrocketed when backed by gold in 1875.

What drove this extraordinary contradiction? For Hetty, money represented something beyond material comfort—it was freedom in a world where women had precious little. By the time she died in 1916 following an argument about milk, her fortune had grown to $100-200 million (approximately $2.5-5 billion today), surpassing the wealth of J.P. Morgan, the Vanderbilts, and the Astors. Her children ultimately rejected her extreme frugality, with her son Ned embracing luxury while her daughter Sylvia became a philanthropist. Beyond the caricature of miserliness lies the story of a financial genius who understood that true wealth isn't what you spend—it's what you keep. Subscribe now to hear more remarkable stories of history's most fascinating and overlooked figures.

Striving for Unity in Your Walk by David Mora

https://www.faithlafayette.org/resources/sermons/striving-for-unity-in-your-walk?location=north#:~:text=The%20family%20was%20deprived%20of,The%20New%20York%20Social%20Diary

Hetty Green – Her Stingiest Stories That Would Make Her a Billionaire Today By Kanza Panhwar

https://openskynews.com/hetty-green-her-stingiest-stories-that-would-make-her-a-billionaire-today/046916/#google_vignette

The Peculiar Story of the Witch of Wall Street By Kat Eschner

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/peculiar-story-hetty-green-aka-witch-wall-street-180967258/#:~:text=,enemy%20of%20Hetty%2C%20called%20her

Another Look at Hetty Green, The Witch of Wall Street By Leslie Landrigan

https://newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/another-look-hetty-green-witch-wall-street/#:~:text=When%20she%20turned%2020%2C%20her%C2%A0Quaker%C2%A0,government%20bonds%20with%20the%20money

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

This website contains affiliate links. This means that if you click on a link and purchase a product, I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. This helps support the running of this website and allows me to continue providing valuable content. Please note that I only recommend products and services that I believe in and have personally used or researched. 

Ever wonder how laughing gas went from Victorian party entertainment to dental offices? Our journey through the life of Humphrey Davy reveals the surprisingly wild origin story behind one of medicine's most unusual discoveries.

Born in 1778 in Cornwall, England, Davy was an unremarkable student from a simple town where wrestling and cockfighting were preferred to intellectual pursuits. After being apprenticed to a local surgeon following his father's death, Davy began conducting chemistry experiments that drove his family crazy – his sister complained about ruined dresses while friends joked he might "blow us all into the air." 

The turning point came in 1798 when Davy joined the Pneumatic Institution, a medical research facility studying how gases affected the human body. While other scientists were cautious, Davy took the bold step of regularly inhaling nitrous oxide himself. What followed were what could only be described as the world's first "whippet parties," where Davy invited fellow scientists and poets to experience this mysterious gas. Their reports ranged from feeling "the most pleasurable thing I've ever experienced" to the delightfully bizarre "I feel like the sound of a harp" and "I see God and also I have no toes."

Davy's meticulous documentation of these experiences in a 580-page book included the prophetic observation that nitrous oxide "may probably be used with advantage during surgical operations" – though it would take another 40+ years before American dentist Horace Wells would make the connection between the recreational gas and painless dental procedures. Even then, a botched public demonstration (where the patient woke mid-procedure) temporarily derailed nitrous oxide's medical future.

The story of laughing gas reminds us that the line between recreational substances and medical breakthroughs is often surprisingly thin, and that some of our most valuable medical tools came from scientists willing to experiment on themselves first. Join us as we explore how a young scientist's parties changed the future of pain management forever.

Curious about more bizarre medical discoveries or have a strange historical tale you'd like us to investigate? Email us at [email protected] or find us on social media as History Buffoons Podcast.

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

This website contains affiliate links. This means that if you click on a link and purchase a product, I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. This helps support the running of this website and allows me to continue providing valuable content. Please note that I only recommend products and services that I believe in and have personally used or researched. 

What drives a soldier to charge toward enemy lines one minute before a ceasefire? Henry Gunther's tragic story serves as a haunting reminder of war's senseless waste.

Born to German-American parents and growing up in a predominantly German neighborhood in Baltimore, Gunther was drafted into WWI in mid-1918 after initially avoiding enlistment due to his heritage. As a supply sergeant in France, his fate took a devastating turn after writing a letter home describing the brutal conditions and discouraging his friend from enlisting. Military censors intercepted it, considering it a violation of the Espionage Act. Though not court-martialed, Gunther was demoted to private, casting a shadow of suspicion over him due to his German background.

The humiliation transformed him. Fellow soldiers noticed how he volunteered for dangerous missions and became obsessed with proving his loyalty. Even after being shot in the wrist, he bound the wound and reported for duty without complaint. His opportunity for redemption came on November 11, 1918 – the day the Armistice was signed.

Though the peace agreement had been formalized at 5 AM, Allied commanders insisted fighting continue until 11 AM. At 10:44, Gunther's unit received orders to hold position. When they encountered a German machine gun nest, the enemy soldiers had already stopped firing, waiting for the official ceasefire. Despite warnings from both sides, Gunther suddenly charged forward alone. At 10:59 AM, one minute before peace, he was cut down by machine gun fire.

The military posthumously restored his rank and awarded him the Distinguished Service Cross. His gravestone in Baltimore reads: "highly decorated for exceptional bravery and heroic action that resulted in his death one minute before the armistice."

Gunther wasn't alone in his unnecessary death – nearly 2,738 Allied soldiers died in the hours after peace was signed but before it took effect. His story forces us to confront war's absurdity and the tragic cost of military pride. Join us as we explore this heartbreaking chapter of history that forever changed how we memorialize November 11th.

The Last Official Death of WWI Was a Man Who Sought Redemption by Christopher Klein

herocards.ushistory.com

Armistice left some New York Guard Soldiers with mixed feelings

By Eric Durr New York National Guard

history.comnationalguard.mil

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

This website contains affiliate links. This means that if you click on a link and purchase a product, I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. This helps support the running of this website and allows me to continue providing valuable content. Please note that I only recommend products and services that I believe in and have personally used or researched. 

The forgotten criminal dynasty that ruled Illinois before Capone even knew their names. Meet the Shelton brothers – Carl, Earl, and Bernie – three farm boys who transformed themselves into the most powerful bootleggers in southern Illinois during Prohibition and later controlled Peoria's entire vice scene.

When Prohibition turned alcohol illegal, the Sheltons built an empire of roadhouses, stills, and speakeasies across "Little Egypt" in southern Illinois. Their rivalry with former gang member Charlie Birger escalated into what can only be described as private warfare, complete with armored cars, machine guns, and even aerial bombings that left dozens dead. All while law enforcement conveniently looked the other way in exchange for what one sheriff called "a really nice Christmas bonus."

By the 1940s, the Shelton brothers had relocated to Peoria, transforming Illinois' second-largest city into what became known as a "Wide Open City." They established the Peoria Amusement Company, running hundreds of slot machines, gambling dens, and brothels while maintaining what they called "gangland peacekeeping." During World War II, with two military bases nearby, soldiers with paychecks made the Sheltons wealthier than ever.

The brothers survived assassination attempts from Chicago mobsters, maintained political connections that kept them untouchable, and brought a strange form of order to the criminal underworld. As one historian noted, "As long as the Sheltons were running things, you weren't getting robbed at random." But their empire couldn't last forever. Between 1947 and 1950, a mysterious assassination campaign eliminated all three brothers, with the killers never identified.

Discover the remarkable story of how three brothers built and lost an empire that rivaled Al Capone's, leaving behind a legacy that's been largely forgotten by history. If you enjoy untold stories of Prohibition gangsters, territorial wars, and mysterious unsolved assassinations, you won't want to miss this episode.

Tara McClellan McAndrew, NPR Illinois – "Booze, Blood And Bombs: Prohibition In Southern Illinois" (2020)nprillinois.orgnprillinois.org

Joel J. Hutchcroft, Shooting Times – "A Bloody Band of Bootleggers: The Shelton Brothers Gang" (2021)shootingtimes.comshootingtimes.com

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

This website contains affiliate links. This means that if you click on a link and purchase a product, I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. This helps support the running of this website and allows me to continue providing valuable content. Please note that I only recommend products and services that I believe in and have personally used or researched. 

Ever wondered what would happen if you tied 45 giant weather balloons to a lawn chair? In 1982, truck driver Larry Walters answered this question with an adventure that transformed him from an ordinary man with a dream into an aviation legend.

After being denied his childhood ambition of becoming an Air Force pilot due to poor eyesight, Larry took matters into his own hands. Armed with a Sears aluminum lawn chair (which he named "Inspiration One"), weather balloons acquired through forged military requisition forms, a BB gun, and a six-pack of beer, Larry cut the anchor cord expecting a gentle ascent to 30 feet. What followed was anything but gentle.

Instead of floating lazily above his neighborhood, Larry rocketed to 16,000 feet, drifting into controlled airspace near Los Angeles International Airport. Commercial pilots radioed the control tower about "a man in a lawn chair floating at 16,000 feet holding a pistol." When he accidentally dropped his BB gun – his only means of popping balloons to descend – Larry found himself truly at the mercy of the winds.

The journey ended with Larry tangled in power lines, causing a neighborhood blackout before he climbed down unharmed into the waiting arms of bewildered police officers. When reporters asked why he'd attempted such a dangerous stunt, his deadpan reply became iconic: "A man can't just sit around."

Though the FAA fined him $1,500, Larry's lawn chair eventually found its way into the Smithsonian, and his flight inspired an extreme sport called "cluster ballooning." His story reminds us that sometimes the most extraordinary adventures come not from elaborate planning but from simple, determined dreams and the courage to look ridiculous in pursuit of them.

What wild dream have you been putting off? Maybe Larry's story is the sign you've been waiting for to take that leap of faith – though perhaps with better safety precautions than a BB gun and a six-pack.

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

This website contains affiliate links. This means that if you click on a link and purchase a product, I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. This helps support the running of this website and allows me to continue providing valuable content. Please note that I only recommend products and services that I believe in and have personally used or researched.