Ridiculous History

By iHeartRadio

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 HowStuffWorks.

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Introducing: Haileywood

10.27.2021

Hi, Ridiculous History fans! We're excited for the launch of iHeartradio newest original podcast, Haileywood, hosted by journalist and podcasting veteran Dana Schwartz. It's a brand new show from iHeartRadio and we think you'll enjoy it too. Don't just take ...

Ridiculous History episodes:

10.27.2021 Introducing: Haileywood Hi, Ridiculous History fans! We're excited for the launch of iHeartradio newest original podcast, Haileywood, hosted by journalist and podcasting veteran Dana Schwartz. It's a brand new show from iHeartRadio and we think you'll enjoy it too. Don't just take ...
10.27.2021 How Haunted Houses Became A Thing Haunted houses are a big deal in the United States -- like Spirit stores, they seem to spring up every October -- but whence did they originate? When did people start paying to be scared? Learn more about your ad-choices ...
10.21.2021 New England versus Vampires, Part Two: Desperation and Desecration In part two of this two-part series, Ben is joined once again with guest host Alex Williams to explore the harrowing tale of the New England Vampire Panic, tracing how increasingly desperate communities resorted to ritualistic desecration of graves to ...
10.20.2021 New England versus Vampires, Part One: The Brutal, Terrifying Life of Early Colonists While historians continue to explore the details of the infamous Salem witch trials, another, earlier panic swept through New England -- something modern historians often refer to as the "Vampire Panic." In part one of this two-part series, Ben is ...
10.15.2021 Ada Lovelace, Part Two: The Analytical Engine After marrying and having three children, Ada dove back into the world of poetical science, continuing her correspondence with Charles Babbage as he tried to garner support for his ambitious, expensive analytical engine. In the second part of this two-part ...
10.12.2021 Ada Lovelace, Part One: How Lord Byron’s Daughter Became a Tech Visionary Today Ada Lovelace is hailed as one of the most important figures in the early history of computing -- but, during her childhood, her mother was worried she might take after her father, the famous poet (and infamous philanderer) Lord ...
10.07.2021 The King of Scotland Got Real Weird with Language Experiments Scottish King James IV was, by all accounts, a learned man. As a polyglot, he was especially interested in the origin of language -- so much so, in fact, that he allegedly conducted an experiment that would scandalize modern scientists: ...
10.05.2021 The Rum Riot of Portland, Maine On June 2nd, 1855, the good people of Portland Maine had reached a breaking point. The Mayor, an infamous hardline teetotaler, had just been caught approving the purchase of alcohol after making it illegal throughout town. In today's episode, the ...
09.30.2021 The Love of Candy Almost Drove a Cactus Extinct You might not associate cacti with candy -- on the surface, they seem to have very little in common, mainly because candy is sold in stores around the world, and cacti have a well-deserved, literally prickly reputation. Yet not too ...
09.28.2021 The Australian Prison Break of 1876, Part 2 In the second part of this two-part series, the guys return to the astonishing story of the Catalpa, exploring how the men prepared for and committed the actual jailbreak -- and how they got away. Listen in to learn more. ...
09.23.2021 The Australian Prison Break of 1876 Part 1 It sounds like something straight out of a heist film: a motley crew bands together in an international conspiracy to rescue six Irishmen from a jail in western Australia -- via whaling ship. Tune in to learn more about the ...
09.21.2021 37 Days of Peril, with Alex Williams Imagine you live in 1870, traipsing the wild frontier of North America with little more than an opera glass, a few friends and an arguably ill-informed sense of adventure. What happens when you get lost? This is the story of ...
09.16.2021 Robert Smalls Stole A Confederate Ship and Sailed to Freedom, Part Two: From Slavery to Congress In the second part of this series, the guys continue the story of Robert Smalls, from his daring Confederate steamer heist to his later, life-long activism and Congressional career. Listen in to learn more. Learn more about your ad-choices at ...
09.14.2021 Robert Smalls Stole A Confederate Ship and Sailed to Freedom, Part One: Planning the Heist Born into slavery, Robert Smalls dreamed of freedom for not just himself and his family, but all oppressed people. As the US became consumed in the Civil War, he hatched a daredevil plan to make this dream a reality -- ...
09.09.2021 Sky Pilot: The Man Who Brought Religion to Lumberjacks Life was tough for lumberjacks in the 1800s. Stuck in the middle of nowhere, often in brutal living conditions, the men of Minnesota's logging camps often had little relief from the dangerous, daily grind of logging season. Frank Higgins spent ...
09.07.2021 CLASSIC: Butter: Protestantism's Secret Ingredient? The Protestant Reformation remains one of the most significant cultural events in the Western world. Martin Luther's 95 Theses addressed numerous concerns with the Catholic church, including corruption and the practice of granting dispensations -- allowing people to, essentially, pay ...
09.02.2021 Ridiculous Live: The Humor and the Heavy Recently, Ben and Noel traveled to Podcast Movement to explore a fascinating, at-times difficult subject: How do you explore a heavy story in an approachable way, while still being honest, accurate and human? They're joined once again with Eli and ...
08.31.2021 Flu Julia: The Con Artist Nurse That Made Bank Off Of Misery During the flu pandemic of 1918, Julia Lyons saw opportunity amid chaos. Posing a visiting nurse in Chicago, she successfully swindled numerous desperate people through a variety of cons, always seeming to escape the long arm of the law. In ...
08.29.2021 Introducing: Newton's Law Hi, Ridiculous History fans! We know you love exciting history podcasts and we're happy to introduce you to Newton's Law. This podcast is part history, part true crime, and explores the fascinating law career of Issac Newton. We think you'll ...
08.27.2021 History's Dumbest Criminals, Part 2 In the second part of this series, the guys are joined once again by Pod Yourself A Gun's Vince Mancini and Matt Lieb to explore the startling story behind the infamous 1976 Chowchilla kidnapping, where a trio of young men ...
08.24.2021 History's Dumbest Criminals, Part 1 Mobsters are often romanticized in film and fiction -- but that doesn't mean they're always geniuses. In the first part of this series, Ben and Noel are joined by Matt Lieb and Vince Mancini, the hosts of Pod Yourself A ...
08.19.2021 That Time People Were Terrified of Libraries Today, libraries across the US and the rest of the world are seen as centers of free learning, presenting enormous opportunities for children and adults alike. However, not too long ago, people in the US and the UK were absolutely ...
08.17.2021 Ostracism: How Ancient Greeks Handled Uncool Politicians What if you could put troublesome citizens into time out for a decade? That's what ancient Athenians did through the practice of ostracism. This vote, which wasn't the same thing as a trial, resulted in a surprisingly progressive ten-year exile ...
08.15.2021 Introducing: Long Shot Hi, Ridiculous History fans! Since you love our podcast community, we think you'll also like the new iHeartMedia podcast Long Shot: The 250-Year Journey to the COVID-19 Vaccines. Check out the trailer to decide for yourself! About: Driven by a ...
08.12.2021 Military Cats, Part 2: Simon Saves the British When 17-year old British seaman George Hickenbottom saw an undernourished, ailing stray wandering the dockyards of Hong Kong, his heart melted. He smuggled the cat about the HMS Amethyst and named him Simon. Simon soon won over the captain and ...
08.10.2021 Military Cats, Part 1: Spies and Mascots When you think of military animals, you might imagine horses, dogs and elephants — but what about cats? As it turns out, humanity’s feline friends have walked side by side with soldiers since the days of ancient empires. In part ...
08.05.2021 That Time People Rioted Over a Hot Air Balloon These days hot air balloons are often thought of as anachronistic novelties -- but in the early days of aeronautics, they were considered fascinating, dangerous and deadly. In today's episode, the guys explore a strange story about a genuine riot ...
08.03.2021 An Alabama Town Built a Statue Honoring the Insect that Almost Destroyed It Enterprise, Alabama is home to a fascinating statue honoring the boll weevil, a tiny creature that once wreaked havoc across cotton country. So what inspired the good people of Enterprise to erect a statue honoring the insect that almost destroyed ...
07.29.2021 A Prince and His Poodle: The Supernatural Adventures of Rupert and Boy When the Earl of Rundel learned his acquaintance Prince Rupert was languishing in an Austrian prison during the Thirty Years' War, he gifted the prince a rare white hunting poodle as a companion. Rupert named his new pooch "Boy" and ...
07.27.2021 How One Guy Made Europe Fall In Love With Potatoes Today, the humble potato can be found in restaurants and dinner tables across the world -- but this wasn't always the case. In today's episode, Ben and Noel dive into the story of one spud-loving, potato-proselytizing man named Antoine-Augustin Parmentier, ...
07.22.2021 Weird Courtship Rituals, Part Two What exactly is Bhutanese "Night Hunting," and how does it work? How do some rural Cambodian communities navigate the tricky world of dating while living in communal homes? It's often said the course of true love never did run smooth ...
07.20.2021 Weird Courtship Rituals, Part One Would you whisper sweet nothings to your sweeheart through a six-foot tube with your Puritan grandmother in the room? Would you force feed your children to make them more attractive for a potential groom? It's often said the course of ...
07.15.2021 A Brief History of Underwear Underwear! Whether we're talking boxers, briefs, loincloths, brassieres or even lingerie, undergarments have a storied history in cultures across the planet. It's a tale touching on everything from shifting attitudes about morality to scientific innovations, fashion and more. In today's ...
07.13.2021 One Guy Was Certain Telepathic Snails Would Replace Telegraphs Since before the dawn of recorded history, human beings have been obsessed with talking to each other. This primal impulse inspired French occultist Jacques-Toussaint Benoît to propose a new, global communication system in the mid-1800s, a system he was certain ...
07.08.2021 The Duke of Portland Hated People and Loved Tunnels We've all had those days where we just need a little solitude, a quiet place away from the clamor and chatter of other people. However, William John Cavensidh-Scott-Bentinck, the 5th Duke of Portland, took this to an extreme. He spent ...
07.07.2021 Where do Lemonade Stands Come From? Today, most Americans think of lemonade stands with nostalgia. In decades past, this could be an enterprising kid's first brush with the world of business as they set out to make a fortune, one cup at a time. But where ...
07.01.2021 Painless Parker and the Dental Circus Edgar Parker, later better known as "Painless Parker," wasn't your ordinary dentist. When his first practice was struggling in 1892, he began to think outside of the figurative box, combining dentistry, showbiz and public spectacle in a way that'd never ...
06.29.2021 The Rise and Fall of Curative Plane Flights In the early 1920s, the still-new technology of powered aircraft amazed folks across the planet. People weren't quite sure what this technology could do, so when a plane flight appeared to restore Henry A. Renz, Jr's voice, experts and the ...
06.28.2021 That Time People Paid Rent With Eels Nowadays, most people pay rent with the currency of their given nation — but for a time in England, your rent might have been paid with eels (yes, literal eels). In today’s episode, Ben, Max and returning guest host Matt ...
06.22.2021 The Miracle of the Gulls: A Cricket War In 1848, times were dire for the Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake Valley. Massive swarms of crickets laid waste to everything in their path, destroying crops and endangering the community's chances of survival. The threat of starvation loomed. According to ...
06.17.2021 A History of Pregnancy Cravings, Part 2: Stereotypes, Superstitions and Science In earlier centuries, when science and spirituality were considered one and the same, the world was full of advice and warnings surrounding pregnancy cravings. In the second part of this two-part series, Ben and Noel explore how humans perceived these ...
06.15.2021 A History of Pregnancy Cravings, Part 1: Pickles and Ice Cream Pregnancy is amazing — and scary, and beautiful, and a thousand other things. The modern world has stereotypes and tropes aplenty about pregnancy, especially including the phenomena known as pregnancy cravings. But how far back does this go? In the ...
06.10.2021 The Carrington Event, Part II: Attack of the Sun! Less than 18 hours after Richard Carrington noticed something screwy on the sun’s surface, chaos erupted. Telegraph operators found their machines literally aflame. The Northern Lights were visible from Cuba. People and plants across the globe became convinced it was ...
06.08.2021 The Carrington Event, Part I: The Sun is Acting Strange When amateur astronomer Richard Carrington gazed through his telescope on the morning of September 1st, 1859, he noticed something weird about the surface of the sun -- it seemed to have clusters of dark spots. Later historians would recognize this ...
06.03.2021 Loveday: Henry VI's Well-intentioned, Terrible Attempt at Making Peace In an effort to prevent further conflicts in what would become known as the Wars of the Roses, King Henry VI called the warring parties to London, with a weird pitch -- they would resolve their disputes through diplomacy, culminating ...
06.01.2021 Classic: Why do British lawyers wear wigs? In today’s Classic episode, the guys travel back to their early days. For centuries some lawyers and judges in the U.K. have worn distinctive wigs during court proceedings. But why? Join Ben and Noel as they explore the strange history ...
05.27.2021 That Time Al Capone Ran A Soup Kitchen Al Capone is rightly remembered as of the most notorious gangsters in US history -- but for a time residents of Chicago also thought of him as a benefactor. As people struggled to survive the Great Depression, Capone, in an ...
05.26.2021 Introducing Episode 1 of Ridiculous Romance Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
05.26.2021 The Phantom Barber of Pascagoula For a brief period in 1942, the town of Pascagoula, Mississippi was terrorized by a strange criminal -- he would sneak into people's houses as they slept and cut off locks of their hair. In today's episode, Ben and Noel ...
05.20.2021 Joseph Bonaparte, Cryptid Hunter Napoleon’s lesser-known, older brother Joseph was, at times, the polar opposite of his conqueror sibling. Yet by merely being related to Napoleon, Joseph often found himself embroiled in geopolitical intrigue. In this episode, Ben and Noel explore Joseph’s rollercoaster of ...

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