History Spelunkers

In the thrilling conclusion of our deep dive into the Lincoln Assassination, we focus on the Manhunt for John W. Booth and the other conspirators and their historic trial. Apologies on some of the audio quality for the first couple of minutes and at the very end of of the episode; there were technical difficulties in during editing. Also content warning for description of severe medical wounds.

Shownotes:

• Episode art: Lincoln Borne by Loving Hands, oil painting by Carl Berch depicting his eyewitness view of the transporting of President Lincoln's body away from Ford's
• Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/mountaineer/through-the-clouds
• Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination That Changed America Forever by Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard
• Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer by James L. Swanson
• Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell
• https://fs.blog/lincolns-last-public-address/ 
• http://livinghistoryofillinois.com/pdf_files/Trial-of-the-Assassins-and-Conspirators-for-the-Murder-of-President-Abraham-Lincoln.pdf 
• https://lincolnconspirators.com/the-trial/may-15-1865
• https://www.nps.gov/rich/learn/historyculture/the-trial-of-jefferson-davis-cancelled-february-15-1869.htm
• https://www.fjc.gov/history/exhibits/circuit-court-opinions/Case-of-Davis
• https://www.nps.gov/drto/learn/historyculture/fort-jefferson.htm
• https://drmudd.org/about-dr-mudd/
• Presidents Reagan and Carter's letters on the Dr. Mudd situation, on pages 48-60 of https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/public/2023-05/40-744-5752507-019-012-2023.pdf

Welcome back to another episode of History Spelunkers! In today's episode is part one of our in depth discussion about the Lincoln Assassination, and the surrounding conspiracy leading up to the moment John Wilkes Booth pulled the trigger.

Shownotes:

• Episode art: Benn Pitman's print of the assassination conspirators, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
• Episode music special: "The Ballad of Booth" by Stephen Sondheim from the musical Assassins
• Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/mountaineer/through-the-clouds
• Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination That Changed America Forever by Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard
• Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer by James L. Swanson

In this episode we revisit the Mormons and discuss how their early history caused a series of schisms which led to the plethora of so-called "Mormon denominations". These include presidential debates, a King of Beaver Island, and massive governmental raids!

Shownotes:

• https://northernmichiganhistory.com/james-strangs-assassination/
• https://gtjournal.tadl.org/2015/the-murder-of-james-jesse-strang-ruler-of-the-mormon-colony-at-beaver-island-1856/
• Special Thanks to American Zion: A New History of Mormonism; Book by Benjamin Park
• Music is an excerpt from "All-American Prophet" from The Book Of Mormon (Original Broadway Cast Recording) (2011) written by Trey Parker, Robert Lopez, Matt Stone.
• Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/mountaineer/through-the-clouds
• LDS Resource on Polygamy: https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/polygamy-latter-day-saints-and-the-practice-of-plural-marriage
• https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/mormons-polygamy/
• https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2025/06/02/church-that-traces-back-joseph/
• https://kutv.com/news/local/process-begins-to-select-new-church-of-jesus-christ-of-latter-day-saints-leadership
• https://youtu.be/W-jrlaqqw00?si=A7KOuIwPqfaSzyHc
• https://youtu.be/r1ssF7PV27c?si=M4ydSZ58UlYF6S-9
• https://youtu.be/Fiorzo4nOwg?si=I27tylzqrVYFuoGX
• https://youtu.be/FtkYSuRY8Jc?si=w1V3au6w0ZBPWEhN
• https://youtu.be/aaDm_m9yYRQ?si=6UKiZD8KfD2_idhR

Happy Halloween! Do you believe in ghosts? Well you aren't alone a lot of people believe that those who have gone on before us occasionally come back to help us on our own journeys. The Victorians Era had a lot of people believing in it, probably because they had people who were able to directly communicate with them. So dive into today's episode to find out what the ghosts were saying.

Shownotes:

• Episode art is an engraving of the Fox Sisters, Margaretta and Catherine are on the left and center respectively, 1852, public domain via Wikimedia Commons
• "This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War" by Drew Gilpen Faust
• Audio clip is from Episode 102 of tv show Penny Dreadful created by John Logan
• Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/mountaineer/through-the-clouds
• https://blog.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/2021/10/14/understanding-the-1920s-spiritualism-revival/
• https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/05/31/why-did-so-many-victorians-try-to-speak-with-the-dead
• https://www.canterbury.ac.nz/about-uc/what-we-do/uc-in-the-community/exhibitions-and-collections/southern-spirits/history-of-spiritualism
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0XMn095fd0&ab_channel=KazRowe
• https://www.encyclopedia.com/science/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/hayden-maria-b-ca-1852
• https://iapsop.com/spirithistory/spiritualists_petition_to_congress.html
• https://www.weirdhistorian.com/everything-you-need-to-know-about-spirit-slate-writing-and-of-course-kindred-phenomena/
• https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/61871
• https://www.encyclopedia.com/science/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/slate-writing
• https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/spirit-trumpets-dead-speak
• https://www.britannica.com/topic/ectoplasm-occultism
• https://www.britannica.com/science/ideomotor-effect
• https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/11950/pg11950-images.html
• Table Turning: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrYamQTDagE
• Telegrams From the Dead (1994), PBS documentary available on Youtube via blackcentury, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xk-lJJ3RdgI

Hello one and all! History Spelunkers is back with even more of the niche history content you love. In today's episode we look at a class of animals who have gone above and beyond in serving alongside their humans on the fields of war. While we thank all military animals for their service we wanted to highlight some who's tales were just too incredible to believe were true.

Shownotes:

• Episode photo is Sgt. Stubby with his military medals. Public domain via Wikimedia commons
• Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/mountaineer/through-the-clouds
• https://www.history.com/articles/the-last-major-cavalry-charge-70-years-ago
• https://www.marines.mil/News/Marines-TV/videoid/296891/
• https://portal.ct.gov/MIL/MAPO/History/People/Stubby-the-Military-Dog
• https://sleeplessmusingsofawellgroomedmoustachedman.wordpress.com/2013/07/31/kurt-the-wonder-doberman-one-of-many-canine-heroes/
• https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-life/life/2009/08/15/heroic-warrior-canines-name-put-on-memorial
• https://uswardogsheritagemuseum.org/a-dog-called-chips/
• https://lenatoritch.com/project/chips-the-war-dog/
• https://digital.library.ucla.edu/catalog/ark:/21198/zz0002qbjp
• http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/devon/7072669.stm
• https://pigeons-of-war.com/2022/10/26/pigeon-heroes-of-the-great-war-spike/
• https://web.archive.org/web/20131106012209/http://www.history.army.mil/news/2013/131025a_pigeon.html 
• https://www.marines.mil/News/Marines-TV/videoid/651326/dvpTag/Animation/
• https://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2022/11/23/the-marine-who-was-a-duck-yes-an-actual-duck/
• https://time.com/archive/6782570/marines-good-old-siwash/ 
• https://time.com/4731787/wojtek-the-bear-history/
• https://www.britannica.com/animal/Wojtek-the-Bear

How many balls could a football foot, if a football could foot balls?

In today's episode, (our 50th WOW!!) worlds collide as the jocks and the nerds meld minds and the History Spelunkers becomes a sports podcast. Some of the issues we tackle in our conversation are as follows: How old are different sports? Does it makes sense for the United States to have their own football? Is soccer the better name? Can Kelvin pronounce indigenous names? Dive down the Rabbit hole to find out!!

SHOWNOTES:

• Episode art is a sketch of a Calcio Storico game from the 1600s, public domain via Wikimedia Commons
• Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/mountaineer/through-the-clouds
• 
  
• https://darwinshistoryofsoccer.weebly.com/history.html
• https://web.archive.org/web/20121225025856/http://www.fifa.com/classicfootball/history/the-game/origins.html
• Highest Scoring College Game: https://www.ncaa.com/news/football/article/2024-09-14/georgia-tech-222-cumberland-college-0-history-weird-facts
• Highest Scoring College Game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doZzrsDJo-4&ab_channel=JonBois
• Aussie Rules: https://www.nma.gov.au/defining-moments/resources/australian-rules-football
• First College Football Game: https://scarletknights.com/sports/2022/7/25/sports-m-footbl-archive-first-game-html.aspx
• Medival Football -- Calcio Storico: https://italysegreta.com/calcio-storico/
• Italian Fascist Football -- Volata: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ie7y2DSkfW0&ab_channel=ArchivioLuceCinecitt%C3%A0
• Harpastrum: https://www.topendsports.com/sport/extinct/harpastum.htm
• Episkyros: https://www.britannica.com/sports/ball-sports#ref265840
• Eton Wall Game: https://www.etoncollege.com/news-and-diary/school-news/a-most-eton-sport-the-wall-game/
• Gaelic Football: https://www.gaa.ie/my-gaa/getting-involved/football-history-and-evolution
• Rugby: https://www.britannica.com/sports/rugby
• Modern Mob football: https://apnews.com/article/royal-shrovetide-ashbourne-ancient-soccer-murder-880658c923b33288df42af109d25e458
• Austus fusion sport: https://www.topendsports.com/sport/extinct/austus.htm

That is the question every man through time has faced. In today's episode we will delve into the social, political, and economic pressures that have influenced whether or not men as a class favor hair on their face throughout history.

Shownotes

• Episode Photo is of President Rutherford Hayes, POTUS with the longest beard, public domain accessed via Wikimedia Commons
• Sound clip is from an interview of the Duck Dynasty cast on Jimmy Kimmel Live show, from youtube
• Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/mountaineer/through-the-clouds
• https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/who-had-best-civil-war-facial-hair-180951965/
• https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-30037914
• https://daily.jstor.org/hair-gender-and-social-status-in-ancient-egypt/ 
• https://uk.bulldogskincare.com/blogs/news/when-in-rome-the-ancient-history-of-traditional-shaving#:~:text=Beards%20among%20Romans%20was%20revived,out%20of%20fashion%20ever%20since.
• https://www.grunge.com/790046/why-ancient-egyptians-shaved-all-their-hair/ 
• https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-30037914
• https://www.jstor.org/stable/3829878
• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9555278/
• https://www.historyextra.com/period/victorian/a-brief-history-of-beards/
• https://www.truefittandhill.com/blogs/journal/history-of-beards-and-facial-hair
• https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/beards-mustaches-weird-history
• https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/stubble-and-statecraft-how-beards-grew-political
• https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2020/1/28/21077676/beard-change-politics-beto-orourke-al-gore-david-letterman-conan-obrien
• https://www.politico.com/magazine/gallery/2015/12/politicians-with-beards-000559/?slide=0
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facial_hair_in_the_military
• https://www.wou.edu/history/files/2015/08/Walsh-Devan.pdf
• https://www.indianamuseum.org/blog-post/whiskers-for-votes-or-why-abraham-lincoln-grew-a-beard/
• https://medium.com/@evgeny_o/why-the-greeks-grew-a-beard-while-the-romans-did-not-5d52a91c989#:~:text=The%20Romans%20believed%20that%20a,age%20solemnly%20shaved%20it%20off.
• https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/SMIGRA*/Barba.html

Happy Holidays, History Spelunkers! What would you do to get your booze on? Well the cadets at the prestigious United States Military Academy at West Point are apparently willing to do a lot...

Shownotes:

1. Episode art: The centennial of the United States Military academy at West Point, New York. 1802-1902, 1904, Internet Archive Book Images, No restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons
2. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/egg-nog-its-all-fun-and-games-until-someone-starts-a-holiday-riot-180949281/
3. https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/university-of-virginia-riot-of-1836/

Everyone gets up to some crazy stuff in college. For many it is the first time they are experiencing their first bouts of freedom and responsibility. Obviously the first thing we plan on doing with these new powers is to do something .... bizarre, but hey it cant be too weird if we are all doing it .... Right?

Content Warning: Animal Abuse

Shownotes:

1. https://www.stltoday.com/news/archives/1952-mizzous-panty-raids-get-out-of-hand-the-national-guard-is-called-in/collection_47206b6e-f118-582c-b94f-411669d47431.html
2. https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2022/12/1/panty-raids-retrospection/
3. https://jimnicar.com/2014/11/24/the-great-panty-raid-of-november-1961/ 
4. https://americanhistory.si.edu/explore/stories/1939-year-goldfish-gulping
5. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/great-goldfish-swallowing-craze-1939-180954429/
6. https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2019/01/netherlands-catfish-swallowing/581359/ 
7. https://digitalcollections.library.gsu.edu/digital/collection/ajc/id/7252/ 
8. https://www.chattanoogan.com/2014/4/7/273658/The-Memorable-Streaking-Craze-Of-The.aspx
9. https://www.americanheritage.com/streaking-fad
10. https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/gallaudet-rat-graves
11. https://thedailytexan.com/2020/02/10/one-special-fish-named-loompa-brings-ut-austin-community-together/ 
12. Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/mountaineer/through-the-clouds
13. Episode Art: Photo of a successful Panty Raid at the University of Southern California accessed at the UT History Corner, link https://jimnicar.com/2014/11/24/the-great-panty-raid-of-november-1961/ 

Content Warning: Racial and Sexual Violence

Welcome back to another episode of History Spelunkers. In this episode we learn about the Ku Klux Klan and how they managed to become such a large and influential organization during the 1920s. It is important to know one's enemy in order to fight against them effectively.

Shownotes:

1. Episode Art is a photo of a KKK march in Washington D.C. in 1928, public domain, accessed via Wikimedia commons
2. Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/mountaineer/through-the-clouds
3. https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/ku-klux-klan
4. https://www.tpr.org/show/texas-matters/2017-03-17/texas-matters-how-the-kkk-took-control-of-texas-and-how-dan-moody-broke-them
5. https://www.austincc.edu/jlw/klan
6. https://billofrightsinstitute.org/essays/the-ku-klux-klan-in-the-1920s
7. https://digitalcommons.chapman.edu/vocesnovae/vol11/iss1/2/
8. https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/12/second-klan/509468/
9. https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/lily-white-movement
10. https://www.jstor.org/stable/2197800
11. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/grant-kkk/
12. https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/ku-klux-klan-in-the-reconstruction-era/
13. https://lynchinginamerica.eji.org/explore
14. https://plaintalkhistory.com/monroeandflorencework/context/lynching.html
15. https://www.tuskegee.edu/news/tuskegee-university-hosts-lynchings-and-liberators-exhibition-throughout-february#:~:text=Tuskegee%20University%20now%20houses%20the,African%20Americans%20and%201%2C297%20whites.
16. https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/packets/1
17. https://wacohistory.org/items/show/200
18. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc279068/m2/1/high_res_d/1002659471-morris.pdf
19. https://baylor-ir.tdl.org/bitstream/handle/2104/5376/richard_fair_thesis.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
20. https://texaspolitics.utexas.edu/archive/html/exec/governors/12.html
21. https://vtuhr.org/articles/10.21061/vtuhr.v11i1.145
22. https://guides.loc.gov/chronicling-america-birth-of-a-nation#:~:text=Pressure%20from%20black%20voters%20causes,ban%20screenings%20of%20the%20film.&text=An%20African%20American%20newspaper%20in%20Denver%20argues%20against%20film%20coming%20to%20town.&text=Group%20of%20ministers%20in%20Iowa%20passes%20resolution%20denouncing%20film.&text=Birth%20of%20a%20Nation%20banned%20in%20Ohio.
23. https://egrove.olemiss.edu/womenkkk/
24. https://19thnews.org/2020/12/first-came-suffrage-then-came-the-women-of-the-ku-klux-klan/
25. https://labs.library.vcu.edu/klan/learn