Sorry if we sound a little stuffed up today, California got a little bit of a warm streak during winter and our allergies decided to make an appearance!

Have you ever wondered why Lewis Caroll’s Mad Hatter acted so strange in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland? Well today Mikael dives into the weird history behind the term “Mad As a Hatter” and the history of felting and hat making in Europe before discussing Caroll’s literary interpretation of the disease. From there the focus shifts to Danbury, Connecticut where Hatter’s Disease was so common it was known as the Danbury Shakes. Finally we connected the phrase “Mad As A Hatter” to the Lincoln assassination when Boston Corbett, a former hat maker turned Union solider, killed John Wilkes Booth and a lot of his issues were blamed on his history with the hatmaking industry.

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