Come explore the Galloway Hoard with me, a Viking era treasure hoard found buried beneath a field in Galloway, Scotland back in 2014. Silver Viking arm bands, a rock crystal jar dating back to ancient Rome, a silver vessel from 4,000 miles away in present day Iran - these treasures hidden around the year 900 are incredible. But, upon closer inspection, they raise more questions than answers. Is this actually Viking treasure? Arm bands are very Viking. But then why do they have inscriptions on them written in Anglo-Saxon runes, a form of Old English? Why is there a Christian cross? Reference to a Bishop? And what does the mysterious inscription "DIS IS IIGNA F" mean? We'll uncover all of this and more to reveal a tumultuous time in an ever changing world. 

Support the show! 

• Join the Patreon (patreon.com/historyfixpodcast)
• Buy some merch
• Buy Me a Coffee
• Venmo @Shea-LaFountaine

Sources:

• National Museums Scotland "Discover the Galloway Hoard"
• Smithsonian Magazine "A Proposed Translation Hints at the Origins of the Mysterious Galloway Hoard"
• NorthLink Ferries "The Galloway Hoard - an interview with Martin Goldberg"
• Wikipedia "Galloway Hoard"

Shoot me a message!

Support the show

Listen to this full mini fix episode on Patreon! 

In the early morning hours of January 30, 1889 Crown Prince Rudolf, the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, murdered his 17 year old mistress and then took his own life at his hunting lodge in Mayerling, Austria. The details of this apparent murder suicide were pretty straightforward. But, in the confusion that followed, much was done to cover up the details of what actually happened. Evidence was covered up, misinformation was spread, and medical records were falsified. In the end, a seemingly cut and dry murder suicide was twisted into a complete mystery. That is, until 2015 when a hand written letter was discovered inside of a brown leather folder in a safety deposit box in Vienna. Let’s fix that. 

Sources: 

• The History Blog “Mary Vetsera’s Suicide Notes Found in Vienna Bank”
• Wikipedia “Mayerling Incident”
• Czech Center Houston Museum “The Mayerling Incident”
• Encyclopedia Britannica “Archduke Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria”
• Wikimedia Commons “Mayerling Final Letter”

Shoot me a message!

Support the show

This week we're delving into the assassination of the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, on June 28, 1914. This death was especially significant because it's often cited as the catalyst that started World War I. But that's never really made sense to me. Why would the death of this one man compel over 100 countries to involve themselves in the most horrific war the world had ever known, the Great War? Let's fix that. 

Support the show! 

• Join the Patreon (patreon.com/historyfixpodcast)
• Buy some merch
• Buy Me a Coffee
• Venmo @Shea-LaFountaine

Sources: 

• History.com "The Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand"
• Norwich University "Six Causes of World War I"
• The National WWI Museum and Memorial "June 28, 1914"

Shoot me a message!

Support the show

Listen to this full mini fix episode on Patreon! 

I have to talk about sweating sickness. For some reason it has always completely fascinated me. What was this mysterious and highly deadly illness that plagued mostly just the upper class in England during the Tudor dynasty? Why such a specific and unlikely target victim? Why did it go away just as suddenly as it appeared? Join me to examine the evidence and the theories and let me know in the comments... what do you think sweating sickness was?

Sources:

• https://pharmaceutical-journal.com/article/opinion/just-what-was-english-sweating-sickness
• https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3917436/ 
• https://www.healthdisgroup.us/articles/GJIDCR-11-163.php 
• https://www.britannica.com/science/sweating-sickness

Shoot me a message!

Support the show

Absinthe, a pale green drink consisting of mostly alcohol and small amounts of wormwood oil, has only recently been legalized in much of the western world after a nearly century long ban. Everyone knows the myths about absinthe - that it causes hallucinations, that it'll make you go crazy. They banned it for a reason after all right? It's powerful, dangerous stuff which, in many ways, makes it all the more alluring to the masses. But what if I told you that thujone, the psychoactive chemical found in wormwood, doesn't cause hallucinations at all? That the degeneration and "poisoning of the population" blamed entirely on absinthe at the turn of the 20th century was much likely to have been caused by the near 70% alcohol it contained? So why was absinthe really banned? Who turned the "green fairy" into the "green demon?" Let's fix that. 

Support the show! 

• Join the Patreon (patreon.com/historyfixpodcast)
• Buy some merch
• Buy Me a Coffee
• Venmo @Shea-LaFountaine

Sources: 

• Distillations Magazine "The Devil in a Little Green Bottle: A History of Absinthe"
• Healthline "Does Absinthe Really Make You Hallucinate?"
• Alandia "Absinthe History: From invention to ban and re-legalization"
• Food52 "The Folklore-Filled History of Absinthe"

Shoot me a message!

Support the show

For this mini fix, I asked you guys on Instagram to choose between 3 Queen Elizabeth I related topics and the majority of you picked the mysterious death of Amy Dudley! The results were:

• What the heck was sweating sickness - 24%
• The mysterious death of Amy Dudley - 44%
• The execution of Sir Walter Raleigh 32%

Make sure you follow me on Instagram (@historyfixpodcast) to cast your vote next time I do something like this! 

This not so mini fix was so dang interesting it stretched past the 30 minute mark, making it my longest mini fix ever. To listen to the full thing, you can subscribe to the Patreon for $5 a month or just pay $3 to listen to this one episode. Totally worth it! 

Support the show! 

• Join the Patreon (patreon.com/historyfixpodcast)
• Buy some merch
• Buy Me a Coffee
• Venmo @Shea-LaFountaine

Sources: 

• UK National Archives “Coroner’s Report”
• History Hit “Amy Dudley: Accident, Suicide, or Murder?”
• Wikipedia “Amy Robsart”

Shoot me a message!

Support the show

This week is all about a lady I've danced around for far too long: Queen Elizabeth I. Born an utter disappointment to literally everyone and declared illegitimate after her mother’s execution, disinherited as a toddler, the future throne snatched out from under her, Elizabeth would go on to shatter all possible expectations and would end her 44 year reign as one of the most beloved and successful queens, nay monarchs, the world has ever known. How? Let’s fix that. 

Support the show! 

• Join the Patreon (patreon.com/historyfixpodcast)
• Buy some merch
• Buy Me a Coffee
• Venmo @Shea-LaFountaine

Sources:

• Historic Royal Palaces "Elizabeth I, the last Tudor"
• BBC "Elizabeth I: Troubled child to beloved queen"
• Royal Museums Greenwich "Queen Eliabeth I facts and myths"
• royal.uk "Elizabeth I"
• UK National Archives "The Golden Speech"
• History Extra "Did Thomas Seymour sexually abuse the teenage Princess Elizabeth?"

Shoot me a message!

Support the show

In my off week, I'm popping into the Patreon feed to talk about the 1986 Challenger disaster, when the Challenger space shuttle burst into flames and blew apart, killing all 7 passengers onboard, while millions of people, including many children, watched live. What actually happened that cold January morning 40 years ago? And more importantly... why were the rocket engineer's dire warnings ignored? Let's fix that. 

Support the show! 

• Join the Patreon (patreon.com/historyfixpodcast)
• Buy some merch
• Buy Me a Coffee
• Venmo @Shea-LaFountaine

Sources: 

• NPR “40 years after Challenger: Lingering guilt and lessons learned”
• History.com “5 Facts You May Not Know About the Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster”
• NASA “The Crew of the Space Shuttle Challenger STS-51L Mission”

Shoot me a message!

Support the show

Join me this week as I delve into the history of reincarnation, the idea that, when you die, you can be reborn into the body of another. Where did the idea come from? Who believes in it today? And what evidence is there to support it? Let’s fix that. 

Support the show! 

• Join the Patreon (patreon.com/historyfixpodcast)
• Buy some merch
• Buy Me a Coffee
• Venmo @Shea-LaFountaine

Sources: 

• Medium "Reincarnation"
• Readers Digest "Chilling Reincarnation Stories: Meet 6 People Who Lived Before"
• Institute of Noetic Sciences "Exploring the History of Reincarnation Beliefs"
• Indian Journal of Psychiatry "The mystery of reincarnation"
• Encyclopedia Britannica "Reincarnation"
• Wikipedia "Reincarnation"

Shoot me a message!

Support the show

Head to Patreon to listen to this full mini fix episode! 

Join me inside Japan's Unit 731, a top secret human experimentation and biowarfare camp during World War II. The atrocities committed here against mostly Chinese prisoners are truly unthinkable. In fact, they're so hard to believe, many people straight up refuse to believe it. To this day, the Japanese government has never confirmed nor denied what went down at Unit 731. But when declassified records emerged in the US of all places in the 1990s, it became harder and harder to deny. 

Support the show! 

• Join the Patreon (patreon.com/historyfixpodcast)
• Buy some merch
• Buy Me a Coffee
• Venmo @Shea-LaFountaine

Sources:

• NPR "New details emerge about Japan's notorious WWII germ warfare program"
• The Asahi Shimbun "Former member of Unit 731 fights nightmares, atrocity deniers"
• Pacific Atrocities Education "Immunity for Atrocity: The US Cover Up of Unit 731 and the Corruption of Postwar Bioethics
• Pacific Atrocities Education "Human Experimentation at Unit 731"
• Wikipedia "Unit 731"

Shoot me a message!

Support the show