We’re ruining our first person as Kate tells us the dirt on thrill-seeking American hero (and fan of Nazi Germany) Charles Lindbergh. 

It’s a story that’s all the more frustrating because it could have been so romantic! Charles’ early days sound like a thrilling fairytale, and he could have been a highly influential catalyst for positive change. Instead, Charles devolved into a stubborn, deeply problematic figure who insisted on expressing opinions that would put him at odds with President Roosevelt and tarnish the Lindbergh legacy forever. 

Oh, and then there’s the womanizing.

We hope you (don’t) enjoy this deeply disappointing look at Lindbergh’s life and controversies.

References

https://www.biography.com/history-culture/charles-lindbergh

https://www.mnhs.org/lindbergh/learn/controversies

https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/concentration-camps-1939-42

http://www.charleslindbergh.com/ny/105.asp

https://www.biography.com/history-culture/charles-lindbergh

https://www.mnhs.org/lindbergh/learn/aviation/early#:~:text=Learning%20to%20fly,Aircraft%20Corporation%20in%20Lincoln%2C%20Nebraska. 

https://www.cam.ac.uk/stories/transatlantic-100

https://www.mnhs.org/lindbergh/learn/aviation/promoting

https://www.mnhs.org/lindbergh/learn/aviation/anne

https://www.mnhs.org/lindbergh/learn/aviation/commercial

https://www.fbi.gov/history/famous-cases/lindbergh-kidnapping

https://scholarship.law.duke.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1726&context=lcp

https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/object/nmah_688713

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2621292/

https://www.airandspaceforces.com/PDF/MagazineArchive/Magazine%20Documents/2014/August%202014/0814lindbergh.pdf

https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/dachau

https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/the-nuremberg-race-laws

https://www.mnhs.org/lindbergh/learn/controversies

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/lindbergh-fallen-hero/

https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/invasion-of-poland-fall-1939#:~:text=German%20troops%20invaded%20Poland%20on,declared%20war%20on%20Nazi%20Germany.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Ford

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/mar/05/america-first-was-not-a-pro-nazi-organisation

https://www.cfr.org/blog/twe-remembers-charles-lindberghs-des-moines-speech#:~:text=Lindbergh%20couldn't%20have%20been,United%20States

https://www.mnhs.org/lindbergh/learn/other-occupations/environmentalist

https://www.mnhs.org/sites/default/files/-paragraphs/image/edit/cal_700x470_environmentalist.jpg

https://www.mnhs.org/lindbergh/learn/family/double-life

https://www.today.com/popculture/book-lindbergh-had-children-europe-wbna8088935

If you know something we can ruin, send the topic and a brief hint at how it's ruined to [email protected]. Let us know if you'd like us to credit you if we choose your topic!

Follow us on Patreon for updates, video episodes, and lots of fun bonus content (even for unpaid members). You can also follow us on YouTube and Instagram.

You can also follow Kate and Larkin! Kate is on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. Larkin is on TikTok and Instagram.

In Part 2 of our Mother’s Day Special, Larkin tells Kate the story of not-so-good mom Leonarda Cianciulli, the Soap Maker of Correggio. 

We don’t want to call her a “bad” mom, because she was doing everything she could to protect her child. But the methods she used move her out of “good mom” territory pretty fast. 

Leonarda had been told by a fortune teller that she would outlive all of her children. So when she found out her oldest son was planning to enlist in WWII, she went to extremes to keep him safe. Transferring her cooking and soap-making skills into witchcraft, she set about casting a spell of protection for her precious boy. But to save a life she had to sacrifice a life. Or- as it turned out- three. 

This is a great episode to put on while you’re in the bath, but we don’t recommend snacking on tea cakes (or anything else) while you listen. 

If you want a deeper dive into the Cianciulli case, the fantastic true crime podcast RedHanded did a two-parter on it (episodes 186 and 187). You can find it on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcasts.

And find books written by Kate's mom, Tessa Bridal, here: https://www.goodreads.com/author/list/8918.Tessa_Bridal

TW: Graphic Violence, Sexual Assault, Suicide

References:

https://mail.murderpedia.org/female.C/c/cianciulli-leonarda.htm    

https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-27257822

If you know something we can ruin, send the topic and a brief hint at how it's ruined to [email protected]. Let us know if you'd like us to credit you if we choose your topic!

Follow us on Patreon for updates, video episodes, and lots of fun bonus content (even for unpaid members). You can also follow us on YouTube and Instagram.

You can also follow Kate and Larkin! Kate is on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. Larkin is on TikTok and Instagram.

In honor of Mother’s Day, we decided to do our first two-part episode! Kate and Larkin will be doing a story swap, with Kate covering a good mom from history and Larkin covering a… not-so-good mom. Even though it’s not a traditional Now It’s Ruined, both episodes are deeply dark and depressing, so don’t worry: Mother’s Day will still be ruined.

In our first episode, Kate shares the incredible story of Sojourner Truth and her fight to free her son from slavery. Truth is famous for her participation in the abolitionist and women’s suffrage movements. But long before she was hanging out with the likes of Frederick Douglass and Susan B. Anthony, she bravely walked into a courthouse and asked a grand jury to help her get her son back from an illegal sale to Alabama. The case made legal history, which is why Kate (who’s technically still a lawyer) was so enthusiastic to nerd out about it.

Despite being our good mom story, it is still a rough one. We recommend having tissues nearby. 

Look out for part two tomorrow, when we'll take our first foray into the world of true crime as Larkin tells us about Leonarda Cianciulli, the Soap Maker of Coreggio.

TW: Violence against children

https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/sojourner-truth

https://www.google.com/books/edition/Narrative_of_Sojourner_Truth/i3HhAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PR6&printsec=frontcover

https://www.thesojournertruthproject.com/the-readings

https://www.npr.org/2020/02/27/809723362/in-the-1700s-an-enslaved-massachusetts-woman-sued-for-her-freedom-and-won

https://freedomcenter.org/voice/henrietta-wood/

https://rep.club/products/sojourner-truth-a-life-a-symbol?srsltid=AfmBOopEbv9dOdn6x7N2QY5M_x-G0-FGrcfA2zpRz4taWbymmp3hcJlG

https://apnews.com/article/new-york-education-slavery-kingston-government-and-politics-3b0d38ed6e556d77ba074f58dfb3c131

If you know something we can ruin, send the topic and a brief hint at how it's ruined to [email protected]. Let us know if you'd like us to credit you if we choose your topic!

Follow us on Patreon for updates, video episodes, and lots of fun bonus content (even for unpaid members). You can also follow us on YouTube and Instagram.

You can also follow Kate and Larkin! Kate is on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. Larkin is on TikTok and Instagram.

Malaria has plagued humans for centuries. It was written about by the ancient Mesopotamians, Greeks, Romans, Hindus, and Chinese. The cure was waiting quietly in the bark of a tree in South America- A place malaria never touched until European colonizers brought it there.

What does this have to do with gin and tonics, you ask? Give a listen to find out.

References

https://www.britannica.com/plant/juniper

https://www.craftginclub.co.uk/ginnedmagazine/what-is-gin-made-from-and-how-is-it-made

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9714995/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK555962/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK215638/

https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-hccc-worldcivilization/chapter/the-indo-aryan-migration-and-the-vedic-period/#:~:text=The%20Vedic%20Period%20refers%20to,with%20them%20specific%20religious%20traditions. 

https://www.mayoclinicproceedings.org/article/S0025-6196(12)65320-8/fulltext

https://www.britannica.com/plant/Cinchona

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20200527-the-tree-that-changed-the-world-map

https://daily.jstor.org/cinchona-a-legacy-of-extraction-and-extirpation/

https://www.britannica.com/topic/East-India-Company

If you know something we can ruin, send the topic and a brief hint at how it's ruined to [email protected]. Let us know if you'd like us to credit you if we choose your topic!

Follow us on Patreon for updates, video episodes, and lots of fun bonus content (even for unpaid members). You can also follow us on YouTube and Instagram.

You can also follow Kate and Larkin! Kate is on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. Larkin is on TikTok and Instagram.

In our gnarliest episode yet, Kate teaches Larkin the unfortunate history of the chainsaw. You’ll learn about human evolution, the religious makeup of Ireland, and a fly-by-night surgical procedure performed by a professional cow castrator. Hold on to your people parts, because this one gets graphic. 

TW: Medical trauma, childbirth trauma, abortion trauma

Helpful links:

How to connect Patreon to other podcasting apps: https://support.patreon.com/hc/en-us/articles/115005429546-Which-podcast-apps-will-my-custom-audio-RSS-link-work-with

Read the full account of the first recorded C-Section in the United States here.

References (Current as of 4/9/2025):

https://www.pharmacytimes.com/view/fun-fact-unfortunately-chainsaws-were-invented-for-childbirth

https://www.iflscience.com/we-regret-to-inform-you-that-chainsaws-were-originally-invented-for-childbirth-58685

https://www.healthline.com/health-news/husband-stitch-is-not-just-myth

https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/body/23025-pubic-symphysis

https://www.ajog.org/article/S0002-9378(22)00733-5/fulltext

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39581635/

https://www.commonwealthfund.org/press-release/2018/us-women-more-likely-die-pregnancy-and-childbirth-and-skip-care-because-cost

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-cesarean/c-section-complication-risk-rises-with-mothers-age-idUSKCN1RN2SN/

https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/issue-briefs/2024/jun/insights-us-maternal-mortality-crisis-international-comparison

https://sph.tulane.edu/study-finds-higher-maternal-mortality-rates-states-more-abortion-restrictions

https://www.ahrq.gov/sites/default/files/wysiwyg/research/findings/nhqrdr/2023-NHQDR-appendixes-ACDE.pdf

https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/women-and-pain-disparities-in-experience-and-treatment-2017100912562

https://www.nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/cesarean/part1.html#:~:text=Perhaps%20the%20first%20written%20record,unable%20to%20deliver%20her%20baby. 

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1258/jmb.2009.009019

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/epdf/10.1177/003693300404900218

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gigli_saw (Tsk, tsk)

https://www.nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/cesarean/part3.html

https://www.cnn.com/2015/01/30/europe/ireland-symphysiotomy/index.html

https://www.americamagazine.org/politics-society/2023/06/01/irish-catholic-census-religion-decrease-245404

https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2022/11/22/church-ethos-and-role-in-healthcare-or-education-can-no-longer-be-funded-by-state/#:~:text=Twelve%20of%20Ireland's%2018%20private,conglomerate%2C%20Bon%20Secours%20Mercy%20Health. 

https://www.thejournal.ie/readme/column-symphysiotomy-was-seen-as-a-gateway-to-childbearing-without-limits-401570-Apr2012/

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/dec/12/symphysiotomy-irelands-brutal-alternative-to-caesareans

If you know something we can ruin, send the topic and a brief hint at how it's ruined to [email protected]. Let us know if you'd like us to credit you if we choose your topic!

Follow us on Patreon for updates, video episodes, and lots of fun bonus content (even for unpaid members). You can also follow us on YouTube and Instagram.

You can also follow Kate and Larkin! Kate is on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. Larkin is on TikTok and Instagram.

In our first full episode, Larkin ruins false eyelashes with tales ranging from ancient Egypt to the present day. You’ll learn things like what fashions are currently trending among orcas, how Pliny the Elder died, and which director of a famously racist film had eyelashes glued to a starlet’s lids with spirit gum. Plus, a foray into werewolf dust (don’t ask, just listen) and Henry Cavill’s smooth tsking. 

Orca Fads:

https://www.livescience.com/animals/orcas/orcas-start-wearing-dead-salmon-hats-again-after-ditching-the-trend-for-37-years

Henry Cavill Tsk Video: https://www.reddit.com/r/HenryCavill/comments/1gdmw2g/smoothest_tsking_ever/

Support the show

If you know something we can ruin, send the topic and a brief hint at how it's ruined to [email protected]. Let us know if you'd like us to credit you if we choose your topic!

Follow us on Patreon for updates, video episodes, and lots of fun bonus content (even for unpaid members). You can also follow us on YouTube and Instagram.

You can also follow Kate and Larkin! Kate is on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. Larkin is on TikTok and Instagram.

If you know something we can ruin, send the topic and a brief hint at how it's ruined to [email protected]. Let us know if you'd like us to credit you if we choose your topic!

Follow us on Patreon for updates, video episodes, and lots of fun bonus content (even for unpaid members). You can also follow us on YouTube and Instagram.

You can also follow Kate and Larkin! Kate is on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. Larkin is on TikTok and Instagram.

In this first mini-episode, recorded a few years ago before we really knew what we were doing, Kate fills Larkin in on the horrifying history of how the hammock came to Europe. It's a tale of greed and bloodshed starring colonizer- and famously terrible navigator- Christopher Columbus. 

Sound quality will improve in subsequent episodes! But we thought this was a good taste of what you can expect from the show. We're planning to re-do the episode in more detail at some point down the line. 

Learn more about the Taíno people.

Read A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies by Bartolomé de Las Casas.

Support the show

If you know something we can ruin, send the topic and a brief hint at how it's ruined to [email protected]. Let us know if you'd like us to credit you if we choose your topic!

Follow us on Patreon for updates, video episodes, and lots of fun bonus content (even for unpaid members). You can also follow us on YouTube and Instagram.

You can also follow Kate and Larkin! Kate is on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. Larkin is on TikTok and Instagram.

If you know something we can ruin, send the topic and a brief hint at how it's ruined to [email protected]. Let us know if you'd like us to credit you if we choose your topic!

Follow us on Patreon for updates, video episodes, and lots of fun bonus content (even for unpaid members). You can also follow us on YouTube and Instagram.

You can also follow Kate and Larkin! Kate is on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. Larkin is on TikTok and Instagram.