History Spelunkers

Happy Halloween! Welcome back to another spooky episode of History Spelunkers in which we discuss the stories that led us to the modern perception of the most infamous of blood sucking beasties.... the vampire!!!

Shownotes:

• Episode art is a scene from the 1922 film Nosferatu.
• The Vampyre: A Tale by John Polidori; accessible via Project Gutenberg, https://www.gutenberg.org/files/6087/6087-h/6087-h.htm
• Dracula by Bram Stokerl accessible via Project Gutenberg, https://www.gutenberg.org/files/345/345-h/345-h.htm
• Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu; accessible via Project Gutenberg, https://www.gutenberg.org/files/10007/10007-h/10007-h.htm
• Varney the Vampire by James Malcolm Rymer and Thomas Peckett Prest, accessible via the Internet Archive, https://archive.org/details/VarneyTheVampyre/page/n1/mode/1up
• Treatise on the Apparitions of Spirits and on Vampires or Revenants of Hungary, Moravia, et al. by Antoine Augustin Calmet; accessible via Project Gutenberg, https://www.gutenberg.org/files/29412/29412-h/29412-h.htm
• https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/grave-mercy-brown
• https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/new-englands-mystery-vampire-was-likely-farmer-named-john-180972815/
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=teFCP69trOI&ab_channel=CaitlinDoughty
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EQ_axr1y7Y&ab_channel=KazRowe
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sF9FIPSLMeM&ab_channel=ESOTERICA
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CS-KMoEjXBQ&t=509s&ab_channel=Let%27sTalkReligion
• Portrait of Vladislav Dracula, Unknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vlad_Tepes_002.jpg
• Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/mountaineer/through-the-clouds

Hello all, and happy Election Season! 2024 is shapeing up to be one of the most dramatic and consequential year for national elections around the world. In the US many voters have expressed a desire for more options than the two main political parties, and they might be told that "this is how its always been". In this episode, we work to undo that myth and examine the long history of "third parties" in this country and hear about the most successful.

Shownotes:

• Episode Art: 1912 Progressive Party Campaign Button; Anonymous/Unknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
• https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/evolutionofparliament/parliamentaryauthority/revolution/overview/whigstories/
• Political Platforms: https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/app-categories/elections-and-transitions/party-platforms
• https://news.gallup.com/poll/651278/support-third-political-party-dips.aspx
• https://www.state.gov/briefings-foreign-press-centers/elections-2024/third-parties-in-elections
• Former and Current Third Party Legislators:
• https://www.senate.gov/senators/SenatorsRepresentingThirdorMinorParties.htm
• https://history.house.gov/Institution/Party-Divisions/Party-Divisions/
• https://ballotpedia.org/Current_independent_and_minor_party_federal_and_state_officeholders
• Political Platforms for Minor Parties:
• https://www.lp.org/platform/
• https://www.gp.org/platform
• https://constitutionparty.com/principles/platform/
• https://www.prohibitionparty.org/platform
• https://www.solidarity-party.org/platform
• https://pslweb.org/program/
• Wizard of Oz Analysis: https://americanhistory.si.edu/explore/stories/populism-and-world-oz
• Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/mountaineer/through-the-clouds
• https://www.archives.gov/files/legislative/resources/ebooks/two-party-system.pdf
• https://guides.loc.gov/federalist-papers/full-text
• John C. Calhoun Picture: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2e/John_C_Calhoun_by_Mathew_Brady%2C_1849.jpg

Are you a fan of a nice summer day? How about a cool fall wind? Do you like the look of a light snowfall in your yard? What if you could have whatever you wanted at a moments notice and all you had to do was call your local government? Well what if I told you that thanks to your tax dollars, you just might be able to get a permit for that.....

Shownotes:

• https://www.newsweek.com/fact-check-did-donald-trump-suggest-nuking-hurricanes-1535171
• https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?path=/prelim@title15/chapter9A&edition=prelim#:~:text=No%20person%20may%20engage%2C%20or,Secretary%20may%20by%20rule%20prescribe.
• https://www.tdlr.texas.gov/weather/
• https://archive.org/details/Galaxy_v19n03_1961-02/page/n36/mode/1up?view=theater
• https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/weather-modification 
• https://orau.org/health-physics-museum/collection/nuclear-weapons/hiroshima/black-rain.html
• https://www.science.org/content/article/can-nuclear-fallout-make-it-rain 
• https://web.archive.org/web/20150828101449/http://www.knmi.nl/publications/fulltexts/hailcannons2_preprint.pdf 
• http://www.douglas-self.com/MUSEUM/COMMS/hailcan/hailcan.htm
• https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/when-us-government-tried-make-rain-exploding-dynamite-sky-180970193/
• https://grist.org/politics/believe-it-or-not-trump-isnt-the-first-to-propose-nuking-hurricanes/
• https://www.theverge.com/2018/4/10/17218872/nasa-rocket-engine-test-stennis-space-center-cloud-generation
• https://www.nytimes.com/video/arts/television/1247465789178/excerpt-conspiracy-theory.html
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXuc7SAyk2s&ab_channel=FOX10Phoenix
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wl2JnXjwWBM&ab_channel=WFAA
• Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/mountaineer/through-the-clouds
• Episode art is a sketch of the 1901 International Hail Cannon Congress; Plumandon, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

In the Americas the United States is considered the first experiment at non-monarchical rule and democracy. But what if I told you that there might be a group that might've tested the sails of democracy on the high seas?

Show Notes:

• Episode art is a photo of one of the few Jolly Roger flags that we know existed. The photo belongs to Karlsson, Anneli, CC BY 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
• Recommend reading: The Republic of Pirates: Being the True and Surprising Story of the Caribbean Pirates and the Man Who Brought Them Down by Colin Woodard; https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/442239.The_Republic_of_Pirates
• Text of A General History of the Pyrates by Capt. Charles Johnson https://www.gutenberg.org/files/40580/40580-h/40580-h.htm
• Pirates of the Caribbean clip audio clip https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSPBKt-x2Cw (OG belongs to Disney)
• Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/mountaineer/through-the-clouds

With there being so many states, it understandable that sometimes it would be confusing to know which one you are in. But it gets more confusing when people begin arguing over which state you should be in and are willing to stab you if you disagree with them.

Shownotes:

• Episode art is a map of Ellis Island from the NPS that shows the approximate boundary of the original island
• https://www.michigan.gov/dmva/about/history/military-events/highlights/the-toledo-war
• https://www.heritage.org/immigration/heritage-explains/the-toledo-war
• https://ohiomemory.ohiohistory.org/archives/4196
• https://newengland.com/today/living/new-england-history/vermontflag/
• https://www.statueofliberty.org/ellis-island/overview-history/
• https://www.nps.gov/elis/faqs.htm
• Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/mountaineer/through-the-clouds

Hey yall! This is part two of the Texas Revolution deep dive and in this one we focus on the sister republic of Texas down in Yucatan. Texas might not be as unique in its independence than we like to think...

Shownotes:

• https://www.theyucatantimes.com/2020/03/the-republic-of-yucatan/
• https://militaryhistorynow.com/2022/04/28/the-yucatan-republic-how-a-mayan-independence-movement-became-a-sideshow-of-the-mexican-american-war/
• Episode art is an 1848 map of Yucatan by Augustus Le Plongeon
• Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/mountaineer/through-the-clouds

Howdy y'all and welcome back to History Spelunkers. In this episode we discuss the Texas Revolution and all of the convoluted history that led up to it. In this episode yes we do remember the Alamo, it just takes us about a while to get to that point.

Shownotes:

• Episode art is The Fall of the Alamo by Robert Onderdonk;Public Domain via Wiki Commons
• https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/texas-revolution
• https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/santa-anna-antonio-lopez-de
• https://libraries.uta.edu/usmexicowar/node/4883
• https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/revolutionary-army
• Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/mountaineer/through-the-clouds

Almost everyone loves animals. Join us as we go through the list of the famous pets of the POTUS. Now including a surprising number of alligators!

Shownotes:

• Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/mountaineer/through-the-clouds
• Episode Photo is of First Lady Grace Coolidge and her racoon Rebecca; in the public domain through the Library of Congress and Wikimedia Commons
• https://www.forbes.com/advisor/pet-insurance/pet-ownership-statistics/#:~:text=Dogs%20are%20the%20most%20popular,and%20baby%20boomers%20(24%25).
• https://www.monticello.org/research-education/thomas-jefferson-encyclopedia/sheep/
• https://www.lancasterhistory.org/all-the-presidents-pets/
• https://www.whitehousehistory.org/presidents-as-horsemen
• https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/alligators-white-house-pets/
• https://ethiopianism411.wordpress.com/2012/11/14/americas-first-presidential-hyena/
• https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/laddie-boy-harding-dog-collar/iQF5o_cxt0aaiA?hl=en
•  https://coolidgefoundation.org/resources/the-coolidge-pets/
• https://americacomesalive.com/the-truman-dogs/
• https://www.nps.gov/thri/learn/kidsyouth/teddybearhistory.htm

Aloha everyone! In this episode we travel to the beautiful paradise in the middle of the Pacific know as the Hawaiian Islands. Hawaii is one of the few states in these United States that can have the privilege of being their own independent nation. So today's question: why are these islands no longer independent?

Shownotes:

• Episode photo is of the US Sailors and Marines from the USS Boston during the 1893 coup which deposed the monarch.
• Good books on the subject:
• How to Hide an Empire by Daniel Immerwahr
• A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn
• Hawaii's Story by Hawaii's Queen by Queen Lili'uokalani
• The Morgan Report: https://books.google.com/books?id=tBkiAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA363#v=onepage&q&f=false
• The Blount Report: https://libweb.hawaii.edu/digicoll/annexation/blount.php
• https://imagesofoldhawaii.com/raising-the-united-states-flag/
• https://bulletin.punahou.edu/ending-the-kapu/
• https://talesofhawaii.net/2020/10/20/kapu-system-of-traditional-hawaiian-religious-practice/
• https://www.britannica.com/topic/flag-of-Hawaii
• chrome-extension://bdfcnmeidppjeaggnmidamkiddifkdib/viewer.html?file=https://files.hawaii.gov/dcca/reb/real_ed/re_ed/ce_prelic/land_in_hawaii.pdf
• https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/captain-cook-killed-in-hawaii
• Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/mountaineer/through-the-clouds

Welcome back to the continuation of our tragic tale of one of the most infamous events to ever occur on the high seas: The wreck of the whaleship Essex. Once we finish learning about the fates of these poor souls we go on to examine a variety of related stories.

CW: death, murder, and cannibalism... a lot of cannibalism

• Cover art is a sketch by Thomas Nickerson of the whaleship Essex compared to the whale which sank it; public domain access via Wikimedia commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Essex_photo_03_b.jpg
• https://www.britannica.com/topic/cannibalism-human-behaviour
• https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2000/05/essex-200005
• https://www.britannica.com/topic/Essex-whaling-ship
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R_v_Dudley_and_Stephens#Cultural_impact
• https://www.google.com/books/edition/Arthur_Gordon_Pym/GvhDAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0
• https://www.google.com/books/edition/Moby_Dick/XV8XAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0
• Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/mountaineer/through-the-clouds
• https://iwc.int/en/