Welcome to Sleepytime History — true stories from the pages of history for a full night's rest.

In this episode, we explore the true story of Alexander Selkirk, a Scottish sailor whose name may be lesser known, yet whose quiet endurance would echo through literature and legend for centuries. In the early 1700s, Selkirk found himself aboard a privateering vessel in the vast Pacific, caught in rising tensions with his ship’s captain. Trusting his instincts over command, he made a fateful choice — to be left ashore on a small, uninhabited island rather than continue the voyage.

What followed was not a tale of despair, but one of remarkable resilience. Selkirk was marooned with only a few possessions: a musket, a knife, some clothing, a Bible, and his determination. Surrounded by dense jungle and the sound of waves breaking along the shore, he built his own shelter, hunted wild goats, and learned to live in harmony with the rhythms of nature.

For over four years, he survived entirely alone — his only companions the animals around him and the inner reflections of a man shaped by solitude. While the world carried on without him, Selkirk endured storms, illness, and silence, slowly transforming into someone more attuned to the land than to the life he once knew at sea.

His eventual rescue came as suddenly as his marooning. When a passing ship spotted his signal fire, Selkirk emerged from the forest lean, weathered, and calm — a man utterly changed. He would later return to a world that could scarcely understand what he had lived through. Yet his story, quietly passed from sailor to writer, would inspire Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe, sealing Selkirk’s place in the quiet corners of history.

This is a tale of survival not through violence or conquest, but through quiet resolve — a reminder of how deeply the human spirit can endure, and how sometimes, isolation can become a mirror for strength.

Let this gentle story of solitude and resilience guide you into a peaceful night’s sleep.

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Welcome to Sleepytime History — true stories from the pages of history for a full night's rest.In this episode, we explore the true story of Hugh Glass, an American frontiersman whose name has quietly echoed through the wilderness of early American legend. In 1823, while serving as a scout for a fur trading expedition along the upper Missouri River, Glass was attacked by a grizzly bear in the remote Dakota wilderness. Gravely injured and unable to walk, he was left for dead by the two men assigned to care for him — one a seasoned trapper, the other a young Jim Bridger, not yet the figure history would come to know.But Glass did not die.What followed was a six-week journey of quiet, unimaginable endurance. With no weapons, no supplies, and a broken leg, he crawled more than two hundred miles through plains, forest, and river — surviving on roots, berries, and sheer will. He allowed maggots to clean his wounds, used driftwood to float along riverbanks, and accepted brief help from Indigenous people he met along the way.This is not just a tale of survival, but of resolve — of a man who moved forward not with fury, but with a steady, determined refusal to surrender. When he finally returned to the world of men, Glass did not seek revenge. Instead, he made peace with what had been done, confronted those who left him, and walked quietly back into the wilderness once more.The story of Hugh Glass is one of grit and silence, of movement through pain, and of the long echo of survival that lingers long after the footsteps fade.Let this quiet story of survival and endurance guide you into a restful night’s sleep.If you're new here, share where you're tuning in from or request a story for a future bedtime episode. And if you enjoy these peaceful history stories, please like and subscribe — it helps us continue sharing calm, true tales from the past.

Welcome to Sleepytime History — true stories from the pages of history for a full night's rest.

In this episode, we explore the extraordinary true story of Hiroo Onoda, a Japanese intelligence officer whose life took a path few could have imagined. Sent to the Philippine island of Lubang during the final years of World War II, Onoda was tasked with conducting guerrilla warfare and intelligence gathering — with strict orders never to surrender, and to hold his position until given direct command to withdraw.

When the war ended in 1945, the message never reached him in a way he could trust. Leaflets were dropped, announcements made, but to Onoda — trained in military deception and deeply loyal to his orders — these were all seen as enemy tricks. And so, he remained.

For nearly three decades, he lived in the dense, humid jungle, surviving on what the land and local villages could offer. At times, he moved silently in the shadows, convinced that the war still quietly raged on. Years turned to decades. The world changed. But Onoda’s sense of duty — unwavering and deeply ingrained — anchored him to a mission he believed was still unfinished.

It wasn’t until 1974, when a former comrade was brought to the island to relieve him of duty in person, that Onoda finally laid down his rifle. He emerged from the jungle in full uniform, cleaned and mended, and saluted the modern world that had long since moved on.

This story is not only one of isolation and endurance, but also of belief, loyalty, and the quiet, complex strength it takes to live by conviction — even when all signs suggest the world has changed.

Let this quiet story of endurance and devotion guide you into a restful night’s sleep.

If you're new here, share where you're tuning in from or request a story for a future bedtime episode. And if you enjoy these peaceful history stories, please like and subscribe — it helps us continue sharing calm, true tales from the past.