Ridiculous History

By iHeartPodcasts

Society & Culture History

What's Ridiculous History about?

History is beautiful, brutal and, often, ridiculous. Join Ben Bowlin and Noel Brown as they dive into some of the weirdest stories from across the span of human civilization in Ridiculous History, a podcast by iHeartRadio.

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Who the heck was Joseph War...

05.19.2022

When it's time to study the American Revolution in grade school, US kids tend to learn the same few names -- Betsy Ross, George Washington, Benjamin Banneker, Jefferson, Revere and so on. But, were it not for a single gunshot, ...

Ridiculous History episodes:

05.19.2022 Who the heck was Joseph Warren? When it's time to study the American Revolution in grade school, US kids tend to learn the same few names -- Betsy Ross, George Washington, Benjamin Banneker, Jefferson, Revere and so on. But, were it not for a single gunshot, ...
05.17.2022 Chocolate Syrup: From Medicine to Dessert Most people nowadays associate chocolate syrup with ice cream -- but back in the day, it was considered a legitimate medicine. In today's episode, Ben, Noel and Max explore the origins of chocolate from ancient Mesoamerica to the modern day. ...
05.12.2022 Historical Hypocrisy: The Confederacy's Weird Stance on "Individual Rights" While the Confederacy often portrayed itself as a champion of certain individual rights-- not applied to enslaved people, of course-- it didn't always practice what it preached. In today's episode, the guys explore how factions of the Confederate government used ...
05.10.2022 Juana Maria: The Real-life Story Behind "Island of the Blue Dolphins" No one knew the real name of the woman living alone on San Nicolas Island, but when she returned to civilization after decades in solitude, she was a hit with the locals at the nearby mission. Known for her exuberance ...
05.05.2022 Curling: The Most Ridiculous Sport? The time has come! In this special episode, the one and only Super Producer Max Williams takes point on the research into one of his long-standing fascinations: the curious sport of curling. As Max schools the guys on everything from ...
05.03.2022 Nobuo Fujita Bombed Brookings, Oregon -- and Then Became a Town Hero War is a brutal business, and it often leaves scars that last for generations. Two decades after he bombed Brookings, Oregon during World War II, former Imperial Japanese Navy pilot Nobuo Fujita returned to Brookings to give an official apology ...
04.28.2022 A Teetotaling Preacher Basically Invented Modern Tourism When's the last time you had a vacation, just for fun? Regardless of where you went, you probably want to tip your hat to Thomas Cook. As a traveling Baptist preacher, Thomas Cook walked thousands of miles on foot warning ...
04.26.2022 Ira Aldridge: Actor, Activist and Record-breaker As an African-American actor in the 1800s, Ira Aldridge had the odds stacked against him. Yet despite systemic racism, as well as negative attitudes about Americans in general, Aldridge went on to become the darling of the London stage. In ...
04.21.2022 Lithuanian Book Smugglers Vs. The Russian Empire When people think of rebellion, they often think of guerilla warfare, rousing speeches and protests. But what about books? When the Russian Empire sought to "Russify" much of what is now Lithuania, the Tsar's forces waged a war against culture, ...
04.19.2022 The Yule Lads Terrified Children Across Iceland Many countries have their own, distinct Christmas traditions, but Iceland's Yule Lads are especially disturbing. Born of a monsterous giantess, these thirteen creatures each specialize in certain types of harassment or theft, leaving gifts for good children, and rotten potatoes ...
04.14.2022 The Infamous Aurora UFO Incident of 1897 In April of 1897, something crashed from the sky, destroying a local windmill. As rumors and speculation grew, strange reports emerged -- could there have been a pilot? What was this craft, exactly, and why were some observers convinced it ...
04.12.2022 How The Evil May Day of 1517 Became the Perfect Propaganda Opportunity London of the 1500s was a bustling center of commerce, finance and industry -- and it attracted a fair number of foreign-born professionals, who sought their fortune in the metropolis. However, as epidemics and economic downturns made life worse and ...
04.07.2022 Day Drinkers (Sort of) Helped Stop Cholera in London Dr. Jon Snow -- no relation to the guy from A Song of Ice and Fire -- was in a pickle. Cholera was ravaging London, particularly in the Soho area, and no one knew how to stop it from spreading ...
04.05.2022 The Much-Maligned Reign of Swedish Queen Maria Eleonora We often assume wealth can solve everything, but unfortunately that's not the case -- and there are few better examples of this than the life of Maria Eleonora of Brandenburg, German princess and Queen of Sweden. In today's episode, the ...
03.31.2022 Weird Ways People Used to Communicate, Part II: Smoke Signals and Bottled Messages People these days are, for better or worse, increasingly accustomed to living in an area of constant communication. But how did people communicate over long distances before the rise of things like telegraphs, telephones and the internet? In the second ...
03.29.2022 Weird Ways People Used to Communicate, Part I: Only a Pigeon Away People these days are, for better or worse, increasingly accustomed to living in an area of constant communication. But how did people communicate over long distances before the rise of things like telegraphs, telephones and the internet? In this week's ...
03.24.2022 That Time A Dead Guy Won an Olympic Medal In his heyday, the story goes, Arrhichion of Phigalia was a renowned pankration champion, a brutal sport of the ancient Olympics. But he was getting on in years, and his days at the top seem numbered. In today's episode, the ...
03.23.2022 Julia Barnett Rice Waged an Elitist War on Noise If you, like the majority of humans alive today, live in a city, you're more than familiar with noise -- sirens, construction, traffic and more. In today's episode, the guys explore how one woman's mission to silence the tugboats near ...
03.17.2022 Ridiculous History Presents: A History of "Adult" Toys, Part 2 While it's a taboo subject in the modern day, it turns out people have been improvising ways to pleasure themselves since, well, the dawn of history. In the second part of this week's two-part takeover episode, Ben and Noel join ...
03.16.2022 Introducing: Ridiculous News Ridiculous News - not your average news show. We cover stuff you didn’t realize was news, from the wild and funny to the deep and hidden to the absolutely ridiculous. Hosted by Bill Worley and Mark Kendall Learn more about ...
03.15.2022 Ridiculous History Presents: A History of "Adult" Toys, Part 1 While it's a taboo subject in the modern day, it turns out people have been improvising ways to pleasure themselves since, well, the dawn of history. In this week's two-part takeover episode, Ben and Noel join Eli and Diana Banks, ...
03.10.2022 The Cobra Effect, Part 2: Four Pests and a Disastrous Success The Cobra Effect - a particularly extreme form of unintended consequences - isn't limited to India and Vietnam. In China, the technically successful Four Pests eradication campaign led to tremendous ecological disaster, as the mass murder of sparrows led to ...
03.08.2022 The Cobra Effect, Part 1: Snakes, Rats, and Unintended Consequences Back in the days of the British Raj, colonial leaders had a problem: Delhi was overrun with snakes. And not just any snakes -- cobras. These dangerous death noodles slithered through every nook and cranny in town. The solution? Put ...
03.04.2022 British Suffragettes Knew Jūjitsu As activists in the UK fought for the right to vote (and divorce, and inherit land), they ran into increasingly brutal actions on the part of police -- they were beaten, arrested, imprisoned, and even force fed when attempting hunger ...
03.02.2022 Introducing: Inventing Anna Hi, Ridiculous History fans! iHeartPodcasts and Shondaland are excited to announce Inventing Anna. The companion podcast of a Netflix series that will delve deeper into the story of Anna Sorokin - the fake heiress who stole the hearts – and ...
03.02.2022 A Tale of Two Hansons: Busting Myths About the 'First' US President It's no secret that people in the US often tend to mythologize the Founding Fathers -- so it shouldn't come as a surprise that people also, often, claim George Washington wasn't actually the first US president. What gives? Tune in ...
02.25.2022 Did Soldiers in World War I Really Team Up to Fight Wolves? World War I was a bloody, terrifying conflict for everyone involved -- and not just humans. In today's episode, Ben, Noel and Max accidentally run into deep emotions, going one hundred percent Team Wolf as they explore the ecological consequences ...
02.24.2022 Introducing: Big Brother Hi, Ridiculous History fans! The newest iHeart Original podcast, Big Brother: North Korea’s Forgotten Prince! It dives into the plot to assassinate the current dictator’s older brother and is hosted by actor Eden Lee. A shocking thriller and mystery that ...
02.23.2022 Slum Tourists: When Wealthy People Toured Chinatown ‘For Fun’ It’s true — back in the day, wealthy residents of cities from London to Chicago would pay for tours of disadvantaged communities, the same way that you might take your friends to a zoo today. The communities responded, staging events ...
02.18.2022 That Time Victorians Treated Seaweed like Pokemon Europe's Victorian Era was, in many ways, a study in contradiction. While society in general championed independent scientific research, institutions of the day rejected women as members. Seaweed collections became a way for these scientists to circumvent the dumb ideas ...
02.15.2022 Valentine's Day Is So Much Weirder Than We Thought Valentine's Day is a pretty normal holiday in the US and several other countries, and other parts of the world have similar holidays, focused on appreciating our loved ones. But as Ben, Noel and Max learn in today's special episode, ...
02.10.2022 Weirdest Celebrity Busts, Part II: Mr. David Lee Roth and a Drunken John Wayne What can Mr. David Lee Roth's run-ins with the law teach us about wholesomeness? Why did John Wayne have public, drunken beef with Harvard? In part two of this week's special two-part series, guests Zaron Burnett and Elizabeth Dutton, the ...
02.09.2022 Weirdest Celebrity Busts, Part I: Nixon Smuggled Weed, Arbuckle Was Innocent Did Richard Nixon smuggle weed? What can the Fatty Arbuckle scandal tell us about American society? In this week's special two-part series, guests Zaron Burnett and Elizabeth Dutton, the creators and hosts of Ridiculous Crime, join the guys to explore ...
02.03.2022 CLASSIC: X-Rays, Songs and Soviets: The Stilyagi Story Caught between the conflicting ideologies of the Cold War, Soviet teens were banned from collecting Western music -- smuggled records could be both rare and expensive. The solution? Discarded X-rays, also known as 'bone recordings'. Join the guys as they ...
02.02.2022 Tossed Popcorn, Part 2: Chaplin was a Jerk, Brando was Insane Don’t let the charming slapstick fool you — Charlie Chaplin was a monster to his lovers, coworkers and family. His former collaborator, Marlon Brando was even weirder and could be just as cruel. In the second part of this two-part ...
01.28.2022 Tossed Popcorn, Part 1: The Wizard of Oz and the Titanic It's no secret that Hollywood has been home to numerous lurid, disturbing -- and, sometimes, ridiculous -- tales over the decades. In the first part of this two-part series, the guys are joined with Lianna and Sienna, the creators of ...
01.25.2022 Peter Freuchen: Explorer, Raconteur, Movie Star and War Hero You may not have heard of Peter Freuchen, but in his day he was one of the world's most well-known polar explorers. He also wrote prolifically about his adventures, including his numerous brushes with death. And that's just the beginning ...
01.20.2022 Did Honduras and El Salvador Really Go to War over Soccer? If you read the international headlines in 1969, you'd think the Central American countries of Honduras and El Salvador loved football (soccer, for the US folks in the crowd) so much that they actually went to war over it. But ...
01.19.2022 The US Literally Had Nazi Summer Camps For many adults, the idea of 'summer camp' conjures up fond, nostalgic memories of childhood. And most folks see these outfits as great opportunities for children to learn, play and connect with their peers. Yet as the Nazi party rose ...
01.13.2022 The Emperor of the United States When San Franciscan businessman Joshua Norton lost his fortune in a Peruvian rice deal gone sour, he temporarily disappeared from the public eye. Not long after, he reemerged as Norton I, the self-proclaimed Emperor of the United States (and, later, ...
01.12.2022 The Trans-Saharan Ostrich Expedition of 1911 Most people haven't met an ostrich in person, but everyone knows what they are: the large, flightless birds have been around since before the rise of humanity, and throughout history people have admired their long, luxurious feathers. Back in the ...
01.07.2022 That Time Everyone Tried To Outlaw War War is ugly, horrific and, according to some, a necessary part of human civilization. Yet in the 1920s, world powers recovering from World War I sought to make the planet a safer (or, at least, less unsafe) place. Their solution? ...
01.04.2022 CLASSIC: Who Solves Murders in Antarctica? Antarctica is home to one of the most brutal climates on the planet, and the few humans living on this continent face profound isolation and cramped quarters. Often, tension rises as the months between supply runs pile up -- so ...
12.30.2021 The Lil Ice Age Was Way Less Cute Than It Sounds You've probably heard of the Ice Ages -- long periods of reduction in Earth's temperature, triggering massive expansion of glaciers and so on -- but you may not have heard of the "Little Ice Age," a time of regional cooling ...
12.28.2021 Nub City: Florida's Infamous Amputation Scam As towns go, Vernon, Florida is pretty tiny -- it has a small population, has struggled with economic depression, and doesn't get a ton of tourists. But that all changed several decades ago, when Vernon became a subject of national ...
12.23.2021 London's Tiger King, Part Two: Charles Jamrach Becomes a Problematic Hero By 1857, London's exotic animal trade was in full swing. Animals arrived at the city from across the world (often not surviving the journey), and Charles Jamrach was one of the most prominent animal dealers on the planet. At the ...
12.21.2021 London's Tiger King, Part One: When Exotic Animal's Were The Hottest Flex Walking through London today, you'll doubtlessly hear cacophonous traffic, sirens, construction, countless languages -- all the noises familiar to big cities... but, not too long ago, it would also have been normal to hear the roars of large animals in ...
12.16.2021 The Atlantropa Project, Part Two: What Happened to the Supercontinent? While the idea of draining (most of) the Mediterranean sounds... ambitious, to say the least, Herman Sörgel's vision met with a surprising amount of popular support. In the second part of this two-part episode, the gang explores the dark side ...
12.14.2021 The Atlantropa Project, Part One: Saving Europe via Supercontinent Like everyone in post-World War I Europe, Herman Sörgel was horrified by the devastation of a continent-wide conflict. He saw raging poverty, crippling unemployment, overpopulation and burgeoning geopolitical tensions, all of which led him to believe new conflicts were on ...
12.10.2021 People Used Bed Bugs as Medicine for Thousands of Years When you think of bed bugs, you probably think of dirty mattresses, irritating rashes and bites, and the dubious joy of calling an exterminator. However, in millennia past, people were convinced bed bugs, properly prepared, could cure everything from cataracts ...

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