The winter of 1609 to 1610 is referred to as the “Starving Time” in Jamestown, Virginia - England’s first permanent settlement in the Americas. A perfect storm of events - poor harvest, disease, violent relations with indigenous neighbors, an influx of new settlers without any new provisions, and an actual hurricane led to the starvation and death of around 80% of Jamestown settlers that winter. Survivors resorted to eating unconventional meals in order to survive - horses, dogs, cats, rats, and even the bodies of the dead. Various first hand accounts written by settlers reported survival cannibalism during the starving time, with no evidence to back it up. But, did you know, in 2012, archaeologists working at Jamestown finally uncovered solid forensic evidence to confirm those claims? Let’s fix that. 

Sources:

• Jamestown Rediscovery website
• Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History "Discovering Jane"

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Chief Powatan stands shrouded in flickering shade amongst the forests of coastal Virginia, his arm raised, wooden club poised to strike the man who lay cowering beneath him. This man, with his pale skin and fair hair, is one of them. The ones trying to claim their ancestral lands. The ones who steal their precious food and burn their villages to the ground. This man must die. Suddenly, a streak of golden skin, a flash of black hair, and his beloved Pocahontas now lies beneath the club. She stares up at him, eyes flashing. “If you kill him, you’ll have to kill me too.” Pocahontas may very well be the best known indigenous historical figure ever. That’s mostly thanks to the 1995 animated Disney film. You know the one, where Pocahontas falls in love, despite herself, with the dashing Captain John Smith, heartthrob of every 90’s tween. It’s all very romantic. But did you know, the real John Smith completely fabricated his relationship with Pocahontas in order to cast himself as the hero in his own twisted history? Let’s fix that. 

Sources: 

• PBS NOVA "The Science of Jamestown"
• Williamsburg Yorktown Daily "Women's History Month: The Real Story of Pocahontas"
• Encyclopedia Virginia "Thomas Savage"
• National Park Service "Pocahontas: Her Life and Legend"
• Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History "Struggling to Survive"
• Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History "Discovering Jane"
• Short History of podcast episode "Pocahontas"

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It’s 1719, Daniel Defoe flips through the freshly printed pages of his latest novel. It took him just six months to write but he has a good feeling about this one. He runs his finger along the title page, “The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe” printed in bold black ink. He feels good about this story, a story that landed on his lap, really. And his hunch would prove correct. The new novel would sell through 4 editions before the end of the year and over the next century or so it would come to be printed in more editions and translations than any other book in Western literature, besides the bible, of course. You’re likely familiar with Robinson Crusoe, even if you haven’t read the book. It’s become the quintessential story of adventure and survival. But did you know, the story of Robinson Crusoe is based on the real life survival of an actual man? Let’s fix that. 

Sources: 

• Smithsonian Magazine "The Author of Robinson Crusoe Used Almost 200 Pseudonyms"
• Chateau de Versailles "The Duke of Anjou, King of Spain 1700"
• National Health Service "Scurvy"
• US Naval Institute "Finding the Cure for Scurvy" 
• Smithsonian Magazine "The Real Robinson Crusoe"
• Short History of podcast "The Real Robinson Crusoe"

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In 1522 Catalina Suarez finally arrived in New Spain, excited to see her beloved husband after 3 years apart. Soon after her long awaited arrival, however, her excitement was deflated. She immediately learned her husband, Hern​​án Cortés, had been having an affair with his enslaved indigenous translator Doña Marina, who was often called La Malinche. And worse, the two had a child together. No matter, Catalina was determined to repair the relationship and assume her rightful position as consort to the governor of New Spain. Three months later, Catalina was dead of reported “natural causes.” But did you know, the evidence actually suggests that Catalina Suarez’ death was far more sinister than the records would have you believe? Let’s fix that. 

Sources: 

• Cultura Colectiva "The Tragic Fate of Catalina Suarez and La Malinche"
• archyde.com "The withering death of Hernán Cortés’ first wife: between the Black Legend and the mystery"

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"When we gazed upon all this splendor at once, we scarcely knew what to think, and we doubted whether all that we beheld was real. A series of large towns stretched themselves along the banks of the lake, out of which still larger ones rose magnificently above the waters. Innumerable crowds of canoes were plying everywhere around us; at regular distances we continually passed over new bridges, and before us lay the great city of Mexico in all its splendor." Those are the words of Bernal Díaz del Castillo, a Spanish soldier, upon first seeing the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan in 1519. At the time, the Aztec Empire was the most powerful Mesoamerican kingdom of all time, with 80,000 square miles of territory and some 15 million inhabitants. Just 2 years later, the empire would crumble, utterly defeated by European forces staking a claim for Spain. But did you know, the leader of this exploit, Hernán Cortés, had defied Spanish authority and run off to conquer the Aztecs with less than 500 soldiers? Let’s fix that.

Sources: 

• New York Times "After 500 Years Cortes Girlfriend Is Not Forgiven"
• New York Historical Society "Live Story: Malitzen (La Malinche)"
• Thoughtco "Ten Facts About Hernán Cortés"
• bizarreandgrotesque.com "Gonazlo Guerrero and Geronimo de Aguilar, Two Spanish Men who Were Captured by the Mayans"
• The Borgen Project "Facts About Indigenous Poverty in Mexico"
• History.com "How Hernán Cortés conquered the Aztec Empire"
• New World Encyclopedia "Battle of Tenochtitlan"
• Live Science "Hernán Cortés: Conqueror of the Aztecs"
• houstonculture.org "The Indigenous People of Central Mexico"

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The decade of the 1920s is often referred to as the “Roaring Twenties.” You can probably picture it now: jazz trumpets blare while women in shiny dresses dance the Charleston with their beaus and sip fancy martinis. It’s fast, it’s loud, it’s fun, it’s one big party, like New Years Eve every night. Night clubs, cocktails, rock and roll, all of these cultural staples evolved out of the roaring twenties. But take the alcohol away and, I’m not sure they would have roared quite as loudly. Surprisingly, the twenties took place during a 13 year period in the United States known as prohibition, when the manufacture, transport, and sale of alcoholic beverages was illegal. Despite this, Americans went to great lengths to keep the party roaring. The government had its work cut out for it to enforce this new ban on alcohol. But, did you know, they took that enforcement so seriously, it resulted in the deaths of over 10,000 Americans? Let’s fix that. 

Sources:

• Chicago Tribune "The Bender that Started America"
• Teaching American History "Entertainment of George Washington at City Tavern, Philadelphia"
• The Mob Museum "Women Led the Temperance Charge"
• University of Rochester "Stanton/Anthony Friendship"
• History.com "How Prohibition Fueled the Rise of the Ku Klux Klan"
• The Whiskey Wash "What Exactly Was Medical Whiskey 'Treating' Anyway?"
• National Library of Medicine "Poison's Legacy"
• Short History of podcast episode "Prohibition"
• Stuff They Don't Want You to Know podcast episode "The Prohibition Conspiracy"

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Upon his death in 1547, England’s King Henry VIII was interred in a vault beneath the floor of St. George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle. He had chosen this spot, specifically because it was where his beloved 3rd wife, Jane Seymour had been buried a decade earlier. It’s sweet right? Together in life and death, like star crossed lovers, buried side by side. But did you know, Henry never intended to remain buried next to Jane and actually had much grander plans for his remains? Let’s fix that. 

Sources: 

• The Freelance History Writer "Where is King Henry VIII Buried and Why Doesn't He Have a Tomb?"
• Wikimedia Commons "Coffins in the Vault of King Henry VIII St. George's Chapel Windsor"

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It’s May 1536. Anne Boleyn has just been beheaded at the tower of London. The crowd falls silent. Onlookers are shocked. Some didn’t believe it would really happen. There’s some hesitant cheering, some applauding. The queens ladies in waiting scream, wail, fall to the ground. One rushes forward and gathers Anne’s head in a white cloth. Others drag her body from the stage. Somewhere a cannon fires. Anne is carted away. She’ll be buried in a shallow, unmarked grave. Meanwhile, as the cannonfire fades away, Henry VIII hops on a barge. His wife’s decapitated body is still warm and yet, he moved on long ago. He has his sights set on another woman, Jane Seymour. By the end of the month, he’ll make her his third wife.

Sources:

• Tudor Times "Why Did Jane Seymour Die In Childbed?"
• The Tudor Society "Christina of Denmark"
• Local Histories "Women in the 16th Century"
• Historic Royal Palaces "Thomas Cromwell"
• Historic Royal Palaces "Catherine Howard"
• English History "Queen Catherine Howard to Master Thomas Culpepper"
• Smithsonian Magazine "The Myth of Bloody Mary"
• Royal Museums Greenwich "Why is Mary I Known as Bloody Mary?"
• Encyclopedia Britannica "Elizabeth I Achievements"
• History Extra podcast series "Six Wives"

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Divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived. Henry VIII went down in history, not so much for what he accomplished as king of England but for one tantalizing fact - he had six wives. Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Catherine Howard, Katherine Parr - these six women are often defined by their association with Henry VIII, she was wife number 2, she was number 5, she was number 6, their very humanity reduced to a number. Not Catherine, not Anne, not Jane, just “Henry VIII’s wife.” But these women were more than just wives, they were individuals, each with their own story, all of them overshadowed by the desperation of a man determined to continue his legacy. But did you know, in his absurd quest for a male heir, Henry VIII ripped his country apart, changing the religion of the entire nation, executing his closest advisors, tormenting his wives, and ultimately failing miserably? Let’s fix that. 

• Historic UK "Henry VII"
• National Library of Medicine "The English Sweating Sickness"
• Historic Royal Palaces "Life at the Tudor Court"
• The Tudor Society "The Pregnancies of Katherine of Aragon"
• The Freelance History Writer "Catherine of Aragon's Speech at Blackfriars"
• Short History of podcast episode "Henry VIII"
• History Extra podcast series "Six Wives"

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The year is 79 AD. A bustling Roman port city sits nestled at the base of a mountain. Ships bob in the harbor, their nets heavy with fish and crabs to sell at the markets. Already the vendors have gathered, offering fresh pomegranates, pots of honey, spiced wine. In the forum a group huddles excitedly around a sign, recently erected, announcing the date of the next gladiator battle. Children run by, chasing a cat, giggling. They duck into an alley past a man who has just emerged through the low doorway of a tabernae, squinting in the sunlight. Above, a woman leans out an open window. She shakes out a cloth and hangs it up to dry. It seems an ordinary day in Pompeii, a city in the Campania region of ancient Rome. But everything is about to change. That seemingly innocent mountain isn’t just a mountain, it’s a volcano and it’s about to erupt, burying Pompeii in over 13 feet of rock and ash, rendering it uninhabitable, and preserving it for 1,500 years. But did you know, Pompeii wasn’t so much forgotten as it was left, undisturbed, like a time capsule for future generations to dig up? Let’s fix that. 

Videos to watch: 

• "A Day in Pompeii" (8 minute simulation)
• "Footage of the 1980 Mount Saint Helens Eruption" (3 minutes) 

Sources:

• Short History of podcast episode "Pompeii"
• History Extra podcast episode "Pompeii: everything you wanted to know"  
• History.com "Mount Vesuvius Erupts"
• Oregon State University "Vesuvius"
• Encyclopedia Britannica Online "Pompeii History of Excavations"
• pompeii.org.uk "House of Julia Felix"
• cupolahouse.org "Historic home survives through the centuries"

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