Our American Stories

On this episode of Our American Stories, every October, porches glow with carved pumpkins and streets fill with costumed children, but the roots of Halloween reach much deeper than candy and costumes. The holiday began as All Hallows’ Eve, a night of remembrance that blended Christian and Celtic traditions. When Irish and Scottish immigrants arrived in the United States, they carried those customs with them, reshaping the celebration into something distinctly American.

Historians Lesley Bannatyne and Lisa Morton explain how an ancient ritual became a modern holiday; and why Halloween in America continues to reflect both superstition and joy. Lesley Bannatyne is the author of Halloween: An American Holiday, an American History, and Lisa Morton is the author of Trick or Treat: A History of Halloween.

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On this episode of Our American Stories, for more than a century, horror movies have found new and terrifying ways to keep us on the edge of our seats. It began with the eerie shadows of German Expressionism and the unforgettable monsters of Universal’s Dracula and Frankenstein. Then came Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, the supernatural terror of The Exorcist, the slasher craze of the 1970s and 1980s, and eventually the low-budget phenomenon of The Blair Witch Project.

Just in time for Halloween, YouTube creator Matt Castro takes us through the history of horror movies.

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On this episode of Our American Stories, Louis Prima never seemed to play a song so much as throw a party. It was a style he came by naturally, growing up among the Sicilian families, brass bands, and jazz funerals of New Orleans, with the sound of Louis Armstrong’s trumpet ringing in his ears. By the 1930s, Prima had taken that New Orleans spirit to the nightclubs of New York’s 52nd Street. He blew his horn, cracked jokes, worked the crowd, and wrote a song called “Sing, Sing, Sing” that would become one of the defining hits of the swing era.

But Prima had plenty more music in him. He proudly celebrated his Italian-American roots during World War II, found a whole new audience in Las Vegas alongside Keely Smith and Sam Butera, and eventually became the unforgettable voice of King Louie in The Jungle Book. Our own Greg Hengler shares the life story of a man who spent five decades making America laugh, sing, and dance.

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On this episode of Our American Stories, most of us know the name Jacuzzi. We’ve seen it on hot tubs, bathtubs, and maybe even enjoyed a soak in one ourselves. But behind that familiar name is the remarkable story of an Italian immigrant family, two brothers who came to America in 1907, and a long history of inventions that had nothing to do with hot tubs. The Jacuzzis built airplanes, developed pumps for farmers, and weathered personal tragedies before arriving at the invention that would make their family name famous.

Our own Montie Montgomery tells the story of Candido Jacuzzi and his young son Kenneth, who suffered from severe juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. When doctors recommended hydrotherapy to ease the boy’s pain, Candido turned to what he knew best: pumps.

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On this episode of Our American Stories, James Smithson was born into wealth but denied a name. As the illegitimate son of the Duke of Northumberland, he spent his life pursuing science instead of status, studying minerals and publishing quietly across Europe. In his will, Smithson made a choice no one expected: he left his fortune to the United States, a nation he had never visited, with the condition that it be used “to increase and diffuse knowledge.” That gift created the Smithsonian Institution, a collection that would grow into the world’s largest museum complex.

Wyatt Hensley, a history education major at the University of Pittsburgh and a two-time winner of Constituting America’s We the Future contest, shares the story.

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On this episode of Our American Stories, as a teenager on Mississippi’s Gulf Coast, Valerie Habeeb endured years of sexual abuse by an older man who exploited the absence of her father and the vulnerability she carried with her. She kept what happened secret for years, carrying shame, anger, and pain into adulthood even as the people around her believed she had everything together.

Lee Habeeb shares his wife’s journey of faith and forgiveness, from reconciling with her mother and the father who had abandoned her to eventually forgiving the man who abused her. Through her Christian faith, Valerie came to believe that forgiveness did not erase the past, but freed her from being ruled by it.

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On this episode of Our American Stories, at 16, Russ Jones planned to spend his summer sleeping in. His mother had other ideas. One morning in 1976, she pulled off the covers and told him she did not want to see him again until he had found a job.

After spending the day applying all over Kansas City, Russ finally walked into the Carriage Club and landed a job as a busboy. Russ reflects on the first job that helped shape the way he has approached work ever since.

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On this episode of Our American Stories, Olympian, World War II airman, Pacific castaway, and prisoner of war, Louis Zamperini lived one of the most extraordinary lives in American history. In this rare recording, he tells his own remarkable story—from his troubled childhood and the 1936 Berlin Olympics to surviving 47 days adrift at sea, enduring brutal captivity in Japan, and ultimately finding peace through forgiveness and faith.

While Unbroken introduced millions to Zamperini's story, some of its most powerful chapters were left out of the film. You'll hear them here—from Louis himself.

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On this episode of Our American Stories, Robert Borelli once believed the Mafia offered the clearest path to power. As a teenager growing up in Brooklyn, he set out to become a gangster, drawn to the respect, money, and status he saw around him. Instead, that path led him in and out of prison, and eventually to rock bottom.

But inside a jail cell, at his lowest point, Borelli cried out to God for change. What followed was a transformation that gave him a new purpose in life, one rooted in faith and service to others.

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On this episode of Our American Stories, Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan and Antonin Scalia often approached the Constitution from very different directions, but Kagan admired his intellect, his writing, and the enormous influence he had on American law.

Speaking at the dedication of George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School, Kagan reflects on Scalia’s role in advancing textualism and originalism, his gift for challenging students, and the wit and confidence that made his opinions impossible to ignore.

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