Kings, and queens, monarchs and emperors often rise to the throne by birthright alone. There’s no campaigning, no election, no popular vote, no competition whatsoever. They are simply born with the right to rule. They just happened to be the first son of a first son of a first son in a family that was once deemed “royal” for whatever reason and it stuck. Does this make them the best candidate to rule an entire country? An empire? Well, no. Many of them were crowned as mere children, babies even. But did you know, some of them were so unfit to rule, even as adults, they’ve inspired an entire literary archetype? Let’s fix that. 


Sources: 

• History Channel "10 Allegedly Mad Monarchs"
• Historylists.org "Top 10 Mad Kings and Queens"
• Earlychurchhistory.org "Nebuchadnezzar's Madness"
• Virginia Museum of Fine Arts "Who Is Caligula?"
• History Channel "Caligula"
• National Library of Medicine "Caligula: a neuropsychiatric explanation of his madness"
• arstecnica.com "Did lead poisoning cause downfall of Roman empire?"
• History Channel "The delusion that made nobles think their bodies were made of glass" 
• Ancient Origins "Mad Monarchs and Outrageous Emperors"
• unofficialroyalty.com "Philip of Austria"
• History Channel "George III"

Support the show! 

• Buy Me a Coffee
• Venmo @Shea-LaFountaine

Shoot me a message!

Support the show

Towering 450 feet above the Egyptian desert lies the Great Pyramid of Giza, its rugged, crumbling facade a mere ruin of its former glory. It was once clad in blinding white limestone, fit so tightly together the seams were invisible. A capstone of pure gold crowned the top, reflecting the sun’s light for miles like a beacon of triumph for a flourishing civilization. The textbooks teach us that the Great Pyramid was built around 4,500 years ago as a tomb for the pharaoh Khufu. But did you know, that might not be true. At all. Let’s fix that.


Sources:  

• PBS article "A scan discovers a sealed, 30-foot-long hallway inside Giza pyramid"
• Australian Museum article about Egyptian art
• teslasciencecenter.org
• The Why Files “Tesla Knew the Secret of the Great Pyramid”
• Joe Rogan Experience interview with Graham Hancock
• History Channel article about the great pyramids of Egypt
• Smithsonian article about ancient Egyptian pyramids
• PBS interview with archaeologist Mark Lehner
• Megalithic Marvels  podcast episode called“ Graham Hancock on the Great Pyramid and Acoustic Levitation” 
• https://www.dorner.at/en/news/betonblog/history-concrete

Support the show! 

• Buy Me a Coffee
• Venmo @Shea-LaFountaine

Shoot me a message!

Support the show

Nikola Tesla was one of the greatest scientific minds of all time. He developed machinery that allowed us to harness the alternating current which is still our main form of electricity to this day. He invented the Tesla coil which is still used in countless modern electronics plus fluorescent light bulbs, neon light, and spark plugs, you know, like, what starts your car. He’s responsible for major breakthroughs and advancements in electric lighting, x-rays, drones, radios, phosphorescence, electrotherapy, radar, electron microscopes, microwave ovens, and robotics. But did you know, Tesla’s plans for the future of technology were way beyond all that and, quite literally, could have saved the world? Let’s fix that. 

Sources: 

• history.com
• Encyclopedia Britannica Online
• PBS article
• livescience.com article
• Union of Concerned Scientists blog
• The Why Files YouTube video
• Unexplained Mysteries podcast episode "Nikola Tesla"
  
  

Support the show! 

• Buy Me a Coffee
• Venmo @Shea-LaFountaine

Shoot me a message!

Support the show

It’s a summer day in Strasbourg, France. The year is 1518. A woman named Frau Troffea steps into the city square and starts to dance. There’s no music and yet she twists and turns for hours while onlookers watch, confused. Occasionally, she collapses from exhaustion only to get back up and resume her frenzied dancing soon after. This goes on day after day and soon some 400 others have joined her, many of them dancing themselves to death. The “Dancing Plague of 1518” is believed to have been caused by “mass hysteria” - a psychological phenomenon that causes irrational behaviors, thoughts, and even physical symptoms among a group of people. But did you know, this isn’t the only time mass hysteria has reared its ugly head? Let’s fix that. 

Sources: 

• https://www.history.com/news/mysterious-illnesses-mass-hysteria
• https://www.britannica.com/event/dancing-plague-of-1518
• https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20220512-the-people-who-danced-themselves-to-death
• https://www.healthline.com/health/mental-health/mass-hysteria
• https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/a-brief-history-of-the-salem-witch-trials-175162489/
• https://www.history.com/news/salem-witch-trials-accusers
• https://allthatsinteresting.com/mad-gasser-of-mattoon
• https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/article-abstract/488986#:~:text=The%20name%20hysteria%20is%20derived,Celsus%2C%20Arataeus%2C%20and%20Soranus.
• https://www.npr.org/2022/11/01/1133375223/the-first-female-crash-test-dummy-has-only-now-arrived
• https://www.rosenfeldinjurylawyers.com/news/do-men-or-women-get-in-more-car-accidents/

Support the show! 

• Buy Me a Coffee
• Venmo @Shea-LaFountaine

Shoot me a message!

Support the show

In 1911 Shipbuilder magazine featured an ocean liner under construction in Belfast, Ireland. It was called Titanic and it was the largest moveable object ever built. With new state of the art technology, the magazine claimed Titanic was “practically unsinkable,” a reputation that stuck… until April of 1912 when the RMS Titanic began its maiden voyage from Southampton, England to New York harbor. Four days later, the ship lay at the bottom of the North Atlantic, its massive hull ripped in two and 1,500 passengers dead. Few stories have captivated our minds like the sinking of Titanic. And no, of course it wasn’t actually unsinkable. But did you know, it really shouldn’t have sunk? Let’s fix that.


Youtube video of Alvin footage

Sources: 

• https://www.history.com/topics/early-20th-century-us/titanic 
• https://www.history.com/news/why-did-the-titanic-sink
• https://www.history.com/news/titanics-watery-grave-located 
• https://www.britannica.com/topic/Titanic/Discovery-and-legacy
• https://ultimatetitanic.com/titanic-construction/
• https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/news/2023/2/miraculous-story-of-the-youngest-titanic-survivor-millvina-dean-737507#:~:text=Of%20the%202%2C208%20people%20on,Millvina%20Dean%20
• A Short History of podcast episode about Titanic
  
  

Support the show! 

• Buy Me a Coffee
• Venmo @Shea-LaFountaine

Shoot me a message!

Support the show

“Downton Abbey” is a popular period drama set in Edwardian England that details the life of the Crawley family, their motley crew of servants and of course Dame Maggie Smith playing the ever witty and sharp tongued granny. Love her. But Downton, with its iconic Gothic facade is a real place. It’s actually called Highclere Castle and, did you know the real story of its inhabitants is truly stranger than fiction? Let’s fix that. 


Sources: 

• Stuff You Missed in History Class  podcast “The Cursed Tomb of King Tut”
• Unexplained Mysteries podcast “Curse of the Pharaohs - King Tut’s Tomb”
• https://www.latimes.com/travel/la-tr-downton-20140105-story.html
• https://www.readersdigest.ca/culture/highclere-castle-downton-abbey/
• https://www.veranda.com/luxury-lifestyle/a36175010/highclere-castle-history/
• https://blog.newspapers.com/highclere-castle-the-real-life-downton-abbey/
• https://www.elle.com/culture/movies-tv/a28984430/downton-abbey-crawley-family-true-story/
• https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/1888680
• https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/sep/15/lady-almina-downton-carnarvon-review
• https://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/the-real-downton-abbey-sordid-affairs-153592
• https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/George_Herbert,_5th_Earl_of_Carnarvon
• http://www.unmuseum.org/mummy.htm

Support the show! 

• Buy Me a Coffee
• Venmo @Shea-LaFountaine

Shoot me a message!

Support the show

“Murder is murder whether committed by the villain skulking in the dark or by uniformed men stepping to the strains of martial music. Murder is murder and somebody must answer.” Those are the words of John G Burnett, a translator for the US Army during the forced removal of indigenous Americans that took place between 1830 and 1850. During this “displacement,” tens of thousands of indigenous people lost their lives along what’s commonly referred to as the “Trail of Tears” in an American genocide that got swept under the rug. But did you know, that “somebody” Burnett referred to, the one responsible… Did you know his face is on the $20 bill to this day? Let’s fix that. 


Sources: 

• https://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/andrew-jackson
• https://thehermitage.com/learn/andrew-jackson/childhood/
• http://encyclopediaofalabama.org/ARTICLE/h-2350
• https://www.bostonteapartyship.com/facts-continental-army
• https://www.neh.gov/humanities/2014/marchapril/feature/hannah-andrew-jacksons-slave#:~:text=By%20the%20time%20he%20was,Hermitage%20and%20a%20Mississippi%20plantation.
• https://www.history.com/news/andrew-jackson-presidency-controversial-legacy#:~:text=He%20strongly%20supported%E2%80%94and%20profited%20from%E2%80%94slavery.&text=Records%20show%20he%20beat%20his,chains%20when%20they%20were%20recovered.
• https://dailyhistory.org/How_did_the_United_States_acquire_Florida
• https://ualrexhibits.org/tribalwriters/artifacts/Family-Stories-Trail-of-Tears.html#Fleming
• History Uncovered podcast episode about the Trail of Tears
• Dark History podcast episode about Andrew Jackson

Support the show! 

• Buy Me a Coffee
• Venmo @Shea-LaFountaine

Shoot me a message!

Support the show

In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue. I’m sure you’re familiar with the singsong mnemonic meant for remembering the year Christopher Columbus stumbled upon islands in the Caribbean. This set off a chain reaction of European exploration that transformed two continents. But did you know Viking explorers actually reached North America 500 years before Columbus? Let’s fix that. 


Sources: 

• https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118307261
• https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/footprint-study-is-best-evidence-yet-that-humans-lived-in-ice-age-north-america-180978757/
• https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-vikings-a-memorable-visit-to-america-98090935/#:~:text=But%20more%20and%20more%20scholars,too%20cold%20even%20for%20Vikings.
• https://www.history.co.uk/articles/harald-hardrada-the-last-viking
• https://www.express.co.uk/news/royal/1497931/Queen-Elizabeth-Family-tree-related-to-William-the-Conqueror-evg
• https://www.history.com/news/10-things-you-may-not-know-about-william-the-conqueror
• https://scandinaviafacts.com/why-dont-the-vikings-get-credit-for-discovering-america-2/
• https://www.britannica.com/story/did-the-vikings-discover-america
• https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2013/10/14/232120128/how-columbus-sailed-into-u-s-history-thanks-to-italians
• https://www.history.com/news/6-things-we-owe-to-the-vikings
• A "Short History of" podcast episode about Vikings

Support the show! 

• Buy Me a Coffee
• Venmo @Shea-LaFountaine

Shoot me a message!

Support the show

Computer science is a field completely dominated by men. Charles Babbage, Alan Turing, Tim Berners-Lee, Steve Jobs, the list goes on and on. But on that list, pretty high up on that list is Ada Lovelace. Although the world overlooked her contributions for an entire century, did you know the very first computer programmer was actually a woman? Let’s fix that. 

Sources: 

• Biography.com
• Encyclopedia Britannica Online
• computerhistory.org
• sciencehistory.org
• Stuff You Missed in History Class podcast episode titled “The Ada Lovelace Episode: Who Was the Enchantress of Numbers?”
• Ridiculous History podcast 2 part episode on Ada Lovelace

Support the show! 

• Buy Me a Coffee
• Venmo @Shea-LaFountaine

Shoot me a message!

Support the show

He was said to embody the devil himself - extraordinarily tall with a wild black beard and hair tied up with lit fuses. His eyes, like embers, burned with a demonic glow and even the fiercest of men cowered at the sight of his flag. History paints Blackbeard as one of the most feared pirates of the seven seas, but did you know there’s no evidence that he actually killed anyone? Let’s fix that. 


Sources: 

• “The Republic of Pirates” by Colin Woodard
• "A Short History of…" podcast episode titled “Blackbeard the Pirate”
• https://www.britannica.com/event/Queen-Annes-War 
• "General History of The Pyrates" by Captain Charles Johnson

Support the show! 

• Buy Me a Coffee
• Venmo @Shea-LaFountaine

Shoot me a message!

Support the show