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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The Troubling, Hidden Histo...

05.13.2021

Today turpentine is a substance with any number of industrial uses -- but most people don't know much about it, and even fewer people know its history in the early days of the US. In today's episode, Ben welcomes returning ...

Ridiculous History episodes:

05.13.2021 The Troubling, Hidden History of Turpentine Today turpentine is a substance with any number of industrial uses -- but most people don't know much about it, and even fewer people know its history in the early days of the US. In today's episode, Ben welcomes returning ...
05.12.2021 Introducing: Ephemeral Season 2 Hey, Ridiculous History fans! We know you already love great podcasts, so here's another we think you'll enjoy - Ephemeral season 2. Check out the trailer and see for yourself. About Ephemeral: The best source on our cultural identity is ...
05.11.2021 A Race Across the World: From New York to Paris in 1908 In February of 1908, racing teams from multiple nations assembled for an unusual and ambitious race -- they planned to drive from Times Square across the planet to France. These were the early days of the automobile, and success was ...
05.06.2021 The Age of the Crakow, Part 2: A Fashion Arms Race, But For Your Feet In the second part of this episode, Ben and special guest Matt Frederick continue exploring the bizarre heyday of the poulaine. Tune in to learn more about the fickle, sometimes ridiculous, cycles of fashionable footware throughout history. Learn more about ...
05.04.2021 The Age of the Crakow, Part 1: Medieval Europe Went Nuts For Pointy Shoes It appears many eras in history have their own version of sneakerheads. In 15th-century Europe, nobles and commoners alike went absolutely nuts for a type of pointy shoe called the Crakow -- and people desperately wanted the longest, pointiest shoes ...
04.29.2021 How Pie in the Face Became a Comedy Classic, Part 2: The Fall (of the Pie) Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
04.27.2021 How Pie in the Face Became a Comedy Classic, Part 1: Rise of the Pie Today the old pie-in-the-face gag is a well-worn comedy trope — but how did it become so famous? In part one of this two-part series, Ben and Noel explore the surprising history of pies, cinema and comedy. Learn more about ...
04.22.2021 The Great Panjandrum: A Hilariously Terrible Idea As the British military brainstormed ways to break the German-built Atlantic Wall during World War II, desperation drove them to unorthodox ideas -- one of those, the Great Panjandrum, was a literal rocket-powered, rolling bomb. Tune in to learn how ...
04.20.2021 Dr. T. W. Stallings: One Man's Corvid-Hating Quest to Make Oklahoma Literally Eat Crow Times were tough during the Great Depression. Economic unrest, massive migration and falling crops left many people struggling to survive -- even the simple task of finding food from one day to the next became increasingly challenging. Amid this chaos ...
04.15.2021 Pineapples In Europe, Part 2: People Literally Rented Pineapples to Impress their Friends As the pineapple craze swept through Europe's upper class, aristocrats worked tirelessly to grow their own pineapples. This was no small feat, since pineapples aren't suited to the European climate. Still, some clever inventors and gardeners figured it out -- ...
04.14.2021 Pineapples In Europe, Part 1: A Weird, Cartoonishly Expensive Flex Today, pineapples are a common (and delicious) produce item found in grocery stores and markets across the world -- but not too many centuries ago, a single pineapple could cost the equivalent of over $8,000. In the first part of ...
04.08.2021 The Mysterious Dark Day That Terrified New England As New Englanders woke on the morning of May 19th, 1780, they realized something was... off. The sunrise looked oddly colored and dim. As the day wore on, the sky grew increasingly dark. Soon, it appeared midnight had come early. ...
04.06.2021 The Windham Frog Fight of 1754 As the French and Indian War escalated, the residents of Windham, Connecticut lived in constant fear of possible attacks, crop-ruining weather, disease and more. One late night in the summer of 1754, a loud, continual noise roused the entire town ...
04.02.2021 Ancient Mesopotamian Societies Sacrificed Substitute Kings to Eclipses Thousands of years before the current day, ancient civilizations accurately predicted both lunar and solar eclipses. They often believed these events were spiritual omens. When an eclipse came at an inauspicious time, multiple priestly classes scrambled to find a substitute ...
03.30.2021 The Mad Gasser of Mattoon, Part 2 As the small town of Mattoon captured national attention during the reign of the Mad Gasser, the investigation took a turn. Authorities were baffled by the deluge of reports -- and their inability to find any physical evidence other than ...
03.25.2021 The Mad Gasser of Mattoon, Part 1 As wartime fears peaked across the US during World War II, people throughout the nation were overwhelmed with fears of invading Nazis, secret biological weapons and more. For the residents of Mattoon, Illinois, these fears took a brief back seat ...
03.23.2021 A Currency for Colonies: The Strange Story of "Leprosy Money" For thousands of years people across the planet lived in fear of leprosy (now known as ‘Hansen's Disease). In many cases, people infected with the disease, or even just suspected of having it, were carted off to isolated colonies where ...
03.19.2021 Wyoming Tales, Part 2: Absaroka, the State That Almost Was Back in the 1930s, the residents of Wyoming, Montana and South Dakota felt the federal government— and the state legislatures— ignored them. They felt unheard, unheeded and, most importantly, moved to find solutions of their own. In this episode, Ben ...
03.17.2021 Wyoming Tales, Part 1: Walking in the Shoes of Big Nose George George Parrott was a career outlaw -- a known thief, murderer and would-be train robber. When justice finally caught up with him and his game, he was destined for the hangman's noose. Yet George's demise was only the beginning of ...
03.11.2021 The Rise and Fall of the Flea Circus, Part 2 In the second part of this two-part episode, Ben, Noel and special guest Gabe Luzier drill down into the nuts and bolts of flea circuses -- how did they actually work? Is it true that some flea circuses did not, ...
03.09.2021 The Rise and Fall of the Flea Circus, Part 1 Fleas -- they're one of the only animals Ben actually doesn't like! Yet, once upon a time, these bloodsucking nuisances were star performers in novelty acts across Europe and, later, North America. But what were they, exactly? Can you really ...
03.08.2021 History's Most Ridiculous (and Deadly) Beauty Trends It's a Ridiculous History takeover! In honor of International Women's Day, join the hosts of the podcast Stuff Mom Never Told You for this very special episode diving into the depths of history's most ridiculous beauty and fashion trends. Learn ...
03.04.2021 Billy Cottrell, the Tyrant Mayor of Cedar Key, Florida The politically-connected, cartoonishly belligerent Billy Cottrell was a terrible Mayor, hated and feared by the locals of Cedar Key, Florida -- and no one was sure what to do. At least, that is, until the Federal government got word of ...
03.02.2021 The US and the UK Almost Went to War over a Pig In 1859, a dispute between neighbors in the San Juan Islands of the Pacific Northwest led to the untimely death of a local (and very unlucky) pig. What could have been an easily resolved situation quickly ignited simmering tensions between ...
02.26.2021 Introducing: Black Cowboys Zaron Burnett’s dad didn’t want slavery to be his son’s only image of Black people in American history. So every night, he filled Zaron’s dreams with these incredible stories of Black cowboys. Despite what Hollywood taught us, one-in-four cowboys were ...
02.25.2021 The 1973 Michigan Pizza Funeral Illario 'Mario' Fabbrini was true American success story: An immigrant who built his own pizza empire just as this iconic food was becoming a normalized, nation-wide delicacy. When the business was brought low by allegations of tainted mushrooms, he did ...
02.23.2021 Elagabalus The Raunchy, Racy High Priest Who Became a Roman Emperor Born Varius Avitus Bassianus, the emperor now known as Elagabalus scandalized ancient Rome with his constant displays of extravagance, his numerous sexual escapades -- and his insistence that all people worship the sun god Elagabal (represented by a mysterious black ...
02.19.2021 John Wilkins Started a 17th-century Astronaut Program, Part 2: Wilkins (Tries to) Start a Space Program As John Wilkins began to put more serious thought into the idea of sending people to the moon, he reached out to fellow intellectuals in hopes of exploring the problem. So: How did they go about planning this ambitious endeavor, ...
02.17.2021 John Wilkins Started a 17th-century Astronaut Program, Part 1: Why not aim for the Moon? Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
02.12.2021 Turtle Soup, Part 2: Rise of the Mock Turtle In the second part of this series, the guys dive deeper into the story of turtle soup -- and how it soon gave rise to the more affordable, equally delicious 'mock turtle' soup. But what exactly is a mock turtle? ...
02.09.2021 Turtle Soup, Part 1: A Delicacy of Yesteryear Today it's uncommon to see turtle soup on most restaurant menus-- but, not too long ago, this was considered a top-notch delicacy, praised for its flavor, enjoyed by world leaders, and widely praised for its deep, unique flavor. In the ...
02.04.2021 Stab Yourself to Health and Happiness: The Bizarre Rise of the Lebensweker When a bug bit German inventor Carl Baunscheidt, he was struck with an epiphany of sorts -- could 'venting' the human body through the creation of artificial pores (today known as puncture wounds) allow a person to rid themselves of ...
02.03.2021 The Hatpin Peril Nowadays, hatpins are a somewhat archaic fashion accessory--but at the turn of the century, they were often used as weapons to deter ne'er-do-wells and scoundrels. Tune in to learn how hatpins became a symbol of women's rights (and an international ...
01.29.2021 It's a Cat's World, Part 2: The Rise of the Cat Show In the second part of this series, the guys explore the story of Harrison Weir, "The Father of the Cat Fancy." Learn how Weir led the charge to save the reputation of felines in Europe and abroad through the creation ...
01.26.2021 It's a Cat's World, Part 1: The Sacred and the Suspicious Whether you love them or hate them, there's no denying that cats hold a unique position in human society. They're (in)famous for making their own way -- "I tolerate you," the cat seems to say to its owner, "but I ...
01.22.2021 Dan Sickles, American Scoundrel, Part 2: The Civil War After literally getting away with murder, Dan Sickles joined the military, later leveraging the dubious events of his military career to reinvent himself as a war hero. Not everyone was convinced he was quite the paragon he purported to be. ...
01.20.2021 Dan Sickles, American Scoundrel, Part 1: How to Get Away with Murder Daniel Sickles was a real pill. For a time, the wealthy New Yorker was famous for his philandering -- and then he became famous for not only murdering a man in broad daylight... but getting away with it by pleading ...
01.14.2021 That Time New York Banned Spitting As tuberculosis spread throughout the US, New York City banned spitting. Learn how the Ladies’ Health Protective Association saved the Big Apple from a pandemic--and paved the way for the vote. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
01.13.2021 Introducing a New Season of Here’s The Thing with Alec Baldwin Hey, Ridiculous History fans! In case you haven’t heard, we recently launched a new season of Here’s The Thing with Alec Baldwin. Since you love [receiving show], we think you’ll like this one too. This season of Here’s The Thing ...
01.12.2021 Admiral Byrd and the Polar Dairy In 1933, on his second expedition to Antarctica, Richard E. Byrd took the unusual, highly-publicized step of bringing some non-human crew along: Klondike Gay Nira, Deerfoot Guernsey Maid and Foremost Southern Girl. These three cows--four, if you count the one ...
01.07.2021 Weird 21st Century Predictions from Ages Past, Part 2: Your Personal Plane, A World Without Disaster and Retiring on the Moon Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
01.05.2021 Weird 21st Century Predictions from Ages Past, Part 1: Tesla, Square Tomatoes and Pseudosteak It's the first Ridiculous History episode of the New Year! Ben, Noel and Casey are ringing it in with some predictions--not their own predictions, mind you. Instead the guys are diving into the predictions of luminaries from ages past, exploring ...
12.31.2020 The Old Rituals of New Years, Part 2: Neuroscience, Resolutions and the Rick Steves Fan Club What a year, right? If you're listening to today's episode, you have (almost) officially survived. I'm ringing in 2021 with Noel, Casey and the rest of our Ridiculous Historians in this, the second part of our exploration into the very ...
12.30.2020 The Old Rituals of New Years, Part 1: Slap the King and Dye those Eggs As 2020 (finally) draws to a close, people across the planet will celebrate the arrival of 2021 in any number of ways, including traditional foods, religious rites and more. But where do these rituals come from? Join Ben and Noel ...
12.24.2020 Holiday Classic: When the Puritans Canceled Christmas Nowadays Christmas is a globally-recognized holiday celebrated by millions of people, but in the past this wasn't the case. In fact, some groups of Christians detested the holiday, going so far as to ban it completely. So what led Puritans ...
12.22.2020 Holiday Classic: The Strange History of Antarctic Fruitcake Nowadays fruitcake is considered a stereotypical, often comical holiday punchline, but even in the modern day people across the planet can agree on at least one fruitcake fact: Those things are pretty darn durable! So how long could a fruitcake ...
12.18.2020 Goodyear and the Mystery of the Ghost Blimp In 1942, a U.S. Navy airship flew out over the Pacific to search for Japanese submarines. It lost radio contact and, hours later, slowly crashed in the San Franciscan suburbs. Inside the gondola, everything seemed to be in order -- ...
12.15.2020 Benito Mussolini was Super into Wearable Milk Today Benito Mussolini is probably best known as the founder of Italy's National Fascist Party, but he was also very, very into milk. So much so, in fact, that he funneled tons of funding into a strange new process: the ...
12.11.2020 Snowmen as Protest: The Miracle of 1511 During the brutal winter of 1511, residents of Brussels built more than one hundred snowmen... and these sculptures weren't the type of snow sculpture you see in the modern day. Instead, the city was filled with satirical, often lewd displays ...
12.09.2020 Introducing: 'Uprising: A Guide From Portland' Background and breakdown on 100 days of Portland insurrection, going in to the background, history of the current protests breaking down the struggles, successes and infrastructure that has made the uprising in Portland possible. Learn more about your ad-choices at ...

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