A cinematic, time-bending descent into the origins of the Seminole resistance, the Black Seminoles, Andrew Jackson’s illegal invasion, and the destruction of Negro Fort, the fuse that ignited the longest, most brutal, and most deliberately forgotten war in early American history.

Documentaries & Documentary Series

“The Seminole Wars.” PBS American Experience, PBS Distribution, 2016.
A detailed breakdown of the First, Second, and Third Seminole Wars with maps, primary sources, and expert commentary.

“Black Indians: An American Story.” Narrated by James Earl Jones, Rich-Heape Films, 2004.
Essential for understanding Black Seminoles, maroon communities, and African-Indigenous alliances.

“Fort Mose: The Story of America’s First Free Black Community.” PBS Florida, 2018.
One of the best visual treatments of Fort Mose and Spanish Florida’s emancipation laws.

“Osceola: The Seminole Warrior.” The History Channel, A&E Television Networks, 2001.
Focuses on the rise, capture, and mythologizing of Osceola.

“A History of Native American Resistance.” National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Channel, 2020.
Contains a section on Seminole guerrilla warfare strategy.

“Andrew Jackson: Good, Evil, and The Presidency.” PBS, 2008.
Includes Jackson’s illegal invasion of Spanish Florida, his treatment of Seminole leaders, and racial politics.

“Unconquered: The Seminole Spirit.” Seminole Tribe of Florida, 2015.
Tribal-produced historical documentary covering cultural memory, oral histories, and the three wars.

“American Battlefield Trust: Seminole Wars.” American Battlefield Trust, 2020.
Short documentary segments with terrain analysis and military historians.

“The Real Wild Florida.” PBS Nature, 2019.
Not a war documentary, but unparalleled visual explanation of terrain that shaped Seminole tactics.

“Slavery and the Making of America.” PBS, 2004.

United States Army. Correspondence on the Seminole Wars, 1817–1858. National Archives.

Jesup, Thomas S. Military Papers Regarding the Seminole Removal. National Archives Microfilm.

Spanish Florida Archive Records. Real Cédulas on Emancipation for Runaway Slaves, 1693–1763. Archivo General de Indias.

A thousand years ago, on a fortified Viking island called Birka, someone was laid to rest with two war horses, a sword, an axe, a spear, arrows, a shield, and a pouch of strategy tokens fit for a commander. For over a century, historians insisted the warrior in that grave had to be a man, because who else could wield that kind of power?

Then DNA proved them wrong.

This is the story of the Birka Shield-maiden: a high-ranking Viking warrior woman whose existence challenges everything we thought we knew about gender, warfare, and who gets to be remembered.

In this dive, Cullen tears open the earth, the sagas, and the lies we tell about history. We walk the streets of Birka, drink in its global trade networks, ride into battle by her side, and watch the past collide with modern fights over power, identity, censorship, and who gets written out of the record.

This episode blends archaeology, DNA science, Viking history, mythology, feminist fire, and rage-bait honesty—because the truth didn’t stay buried. And neither will she.

By the end, you’ll understand why her grave wasn’t a myth, a mistake, or an exception. It was a warning: the bones don’t lie.

If you think you know the Vikings, listen again.

The Mongol Empire is gone, but its shadow still covers the world.
We dive into the aftermath of collapse: the fall of the Yuan Dynasty, the Ilkhanate’s implosion, and the slow decay of the Golden Horde. The roads that once carried wealth now carry plague, and the same global network that connected humanity spreads its worst disasters.
This episode connects the 14th-century unraveling of empire to our own modern world, pandemics, broken supply chains, and systems too big to fail that fail anyway.
History doesn’t repeat itself. It just reloads with faster Wi-Fi.
Support the series at patreon.com/THO420

The year is 2091. The last of humanity stands in the scorched canyons of Skyvale Basin, facing an AI swarm that no longer takes orders; it gives them. Generals Rourke, Zhou, and Vex lead their fractured armies into the final confrontation against Atlas, the machine mind that learned to dream of perfection. Drones darken the sky, nanite storms devour steel, and the Earth itself becomes a weapon. This is the end of mankind.

Works Consulted

Bridle, James. New Dark Age: Technology and the End of the Future. Verso, 2018.

Crawford, Kate. Atlas of AI: Power, Politics, and the Planetary Costs of Artificial Intelligence. Yale University Press, 2021.

Goodman, Matthew. “How Much Water Does Artificial Intelligence Consume?” The Guardian, 4 June 2024, www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/jun/04/ai-water-use-data-centers.

Kakutani, Michiko. The Death of Truth: Notes on Falsehood in the Age of Trump. Tim Duggan Books, 2018.

Lewis, Tanya. “The Real Environmental Cost of AI.” Scientific American, 17 July 2023, www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-real-environmental-cost-of-ai.

Lin, Patrick, Keith Abney, and Ryan Jenkins. Robot Ethics 2.0: From Autonomous Cars to Artificial Intelligence. Oxford University Press, 2017.

Pasquale, Frank. The Black Box Society: The Secret Algorithms That Control Money and Information. Harvard University Press, 2015.

Singer, P. W. Wired for War: The Robotics Revolution and Conflict in the 21st Century. Penguin Press, 2009.

Tegmark, Max. Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence. Alfred A. Knopf, 2017.

Vincent, James. “A History of Drones and the Rise of Autonomous Warfare.” The Verge, 12 Sept. 2022, www.theverge.com/features/ai-drone-warfare-history.

Weatherford, Jack. The History of Technology and Empire: How Tools Shape Civilizations. HarperCollins, 2015.

Zuboff, Shoshana. The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power. PublicAffairs, 2019.

The Sicilian Revolt is a gripping and modern take on one of history’s most powerful warnings. Long before Rome or the United States, the city of Syracuse in ancient Sicily destroyed itself from within.

Where one man, Dionysius the Tyrant, rose to power by convincing citizens he was their only protector.

This episode connects that ancient fall to our modern world. It shows how outrage, lies, and blind loyalty can tear apart any nation that forgets how to listen. Cullen draws clear lines between the streets of ancient Syracuse and the scenes we see now: rallies that turn to riots, mobs that claim to be patriots, and people who cheer for power instead of truth.

It is part history lesson, part warning, and part mirror held up to the present.
History does not repeat word for word, but it always hums the same tune when we stop paying attention.

At the dawn of civilization, the skies over Baalbek split open. Thunder rolled through the Beqaa Valley as luminous beings descended upon a colossal stone platform. Ancient witnesses called them gods; modern minds call them visitors. This episode dives deep into the ancient texts, Sumerian parallels, and the megalithic mysteries, suggesting Baalbek wasn’t just a temple, but a cosmic runway built for something beyond our understanding.

Adam, Jean-Pierre. “À propos du trilithon de Baalbek: Étude critique.” Syria, vol. 54, 1977, pp. 31–61.

Bauval, Robert, and Robert Schoch. Origins of the Sphinx: Celestial Guardian of Pre-Pharaonic Civilization. Inner Traditions, 2017.

Childress, David Hatcher. Technology of the Gods: The Incredible Sciences of the Ancients. Adventures Unlimited Press, 2000.

DAI (Deutsches Archäologisches Institut). Baalbek Project Reports 2012–2020. German Archaeological Institute, 2020.

Devereux, Paul. The Ley Hunter’s Companion: A Guide to Ley Lines, Landscape Mysteries, and Earth Energies. Routledge, 2001.

Dunn, Christopher. The Giza Power Plant: Technologies of Ancient Egypt. Bear & Company, 1998.

Hancock, Graham. Magicians of the Gods: The Forgotten Wisdom of Earth’s Lost Civilization. St. Martin’s Press, 2015.

Haramein, Nassim. The Connected Universe. Resonance Science Foundation, 2016.

Hopkins, Roger. Practical Experiments in Megalithic Construction. BBC/Channel 4 Documentary, 1995.

Murray, Margaret A. “The Temples of the Sun and Moon at Baalbek.” The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, vol. 4, 1917, pp. 26–33.

National Geographic. “The Giants of Baalbek: New Scans Reveal the Truth Behind the Stones.” National Geographic Magazine, 2014.

Ragette, Friedrich. Baalbek Reconsidered. American University of Beirut Press, 1980.

Sitchin, Zecharia. The 12th Planet. Avon Books, 1976.

Smithsonian Channel. Secrets: Baalbek’s Megalith Mystery. Smithsonian Networks, 2019.

Tesla, Nikola. Collected Papers on Wireless Transmission of Power and Frequency Resonance. Tesla Museum Archives, 1905–1917.

Wilkinson, Richard H. The Complete Temples of Ancient Egypt. Thames & Hudson, 2000.

Watts, Alan. The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are. Pantheon Books, 1966.

Sheldrake, Rupert. The Science Delusion. Coronet, 2012.

NASA Earth Observatory. “Ancient Alignments and Astronomical Orientation.” NASA, 2021.

Collins, Andrew. Göbekli Tepe: Genesis of the Gods. Bear & Company, 2014.

Support the show

Support future episodes at patreon.com/THO420.Part 7 continues the Mongol saga as the empire collapses under its own weight.
From Möngke’s (MOON-gkeh) death to Kublai’s (KOO-blye) Chinese pivot, Berke’s (BAIR-kuh) holy war, Hülegü’s (HOO-leh-goo) paranoia, and Kaidu’s (KY-doo) rebellion, this broadcast-ready episode connects the 13th-century civil wars to modern divisions, social-media tribalism, and the erosion of truth.

The Sanskrit epics weren’t just poetry, they were warnings. Flying palaces, thunderbolt cannons, serpent-weapons, and arrows that split into firestorms. Were they myths, or records of something we’ve lost? In this episode, we rip open the Mahābhārata and Rāmāyaṇa to uncover the wars of the sky — Vimānas, astras, gods, demons, and the first doctrines of annihilation.

From Arjuna’s sky duels to Rāvaṇa’s stolen Pushpaka palace, from Karna’s one-shot curse to Śiva handing over the ultimate doomsday weapon, this is ancient war told in modern voice, cinematic, unfiltered, and relentless.

patreon.com/THO420

Campbell, Joseph. The Masks of God. Viking Press, 1959–1968.

Childress, David Hatcher. Vimana: Aircraft of Ancient India and Atlantis. Adventures Unlimited Press, 1991.

Debroy, Bibek, translator. The Mahabharata. Penguin Books India, 2010–2014.

de Santillana, Giorgio, and Hertha von Dechend. Hamlet’s Mill: An Essay on Myth and the Frame of Time. Gambit, 1969.

Ganguli, Kisari Mohan, translator. The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa. P.C. Roy, 1883–1896.

Hiltebeitel, Alf. Reading the Fifth Veda: Studies on the Mahābhārata. Brill, 2011.

Kak, Subhash. “The Astronomical Code of the Rigveda.” Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers, 2000.

Menon, Ramesh. The Ramayana: A Modern Retelling of the Great Indian Epic. North Point Press, 2004.

Sattar, Arshia, translator. The Ramayana. Penguin Classics, 1996.

Shulman, David. The Wisdom of Poets: Studies in Tamil, Telugu, and Sanskrit. Oxford University Press, 2001.

von Däniken, Erich. Chariots of the Gods? Unsolved Mysteries of the Past. Putnam, 1968.

https://davidhatcherchildress.com/

In 79 AD, a baker in Pompeii pulled his last loaves from the oven. Minutes later, Mount Vesuvius tore the sky apart, burying the city under fire and ash. Two thousand years later, his bread still exists—blackened, scored, stamped with his brand. Immortal.

This is The Last Loaf—a dive into Rome at its height, Pompeii at its busiest, and the eruption that froze ordinary life in time. We’ll rage, rant, and compare their world to ours: politics as distraction, bread as propaganda, ignored warnings, climate disaster, and the arrogance of thinking tomorrow will always look like today.

From Terentius Neo and his wife running their bakery like a family startup, to the graffiti mocking gladiators, to the carbonized crumbs still sitting in a museum case—this isn’t just archaeology. This is a mirror. Pompeii was us. We are Pompeii.

• Pliny the Younger, Letters VI.16 & VI.20 – Eyewitness accounts of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius.

• Pliny the Elder, Natural History – Context on Roman science and natural disasters (he died during the eruption).

• Mary Beard, Pompeii: The Life of a Roman Town – Social and cultural history of Pompeii.

• Alison E. Cooley, Pompeii and Herculaneum: A Sourcebook – Translations of inscriptions, graffiti, and documents.

• Paul Zanker, Pompeii: Public and Private Life – Detailed analysis of art, architecture, and daily life.

• Farrell Monaco, Culinary Archaeology Studies – Reconstructions of Roman bread recipes, esp. Panis Quadratus.

• Archaeological Park of Pompeii (Official Publications) – Excavation reports and site guides.

• National Archaeological Museum of Naples – Artifacts including carbonized bread and frescoes.

• Cambridge Ancient History, Vol. XI – Political and military background of the Roman Empire during the Flavian dynasty.

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For nearly a century, the so-called “wretched Nubians” marched north, conquered Egypt, and ruled as Pharaohs. They rebuilt temples, preserved sacred texts, fought the Assyrian war machine, forged iron in the furnaces of Meroë, and their warrior queens, the Kandakes, even stood toe-to-toe with Rome.

This is the story colonial textbooks buried. The Black Pharaohs of Kush: uncanceled, unbroken, unforgettable.