Don't Look Now

Today's podcast is about one of America's favorite conspiracy theories, The Roswell Incident.  In 1947, debris was recovered from a ranch near Roswell, New Mexico that was recovered by personnel from the nearby Army Air Field.  The stuff of conspiracy began when the Army announced it had picked up a "flying disc" before retracting the statement the next day. The debris was then claimed to be that of a weather balloon although it was later reveled to be from a balloon made to monitor Soviet nuclear tests.  The discrepancy in the report let to the incident eventually being linked to recovery of an extra terrestrial space ship or even alien remains. However, these theories didn't crop up until well after the event in the 1970s.  Take a listen this week and see what you think.  

The Pack Horse Library Project was part of the WPA's attempt to relieve rural poverty in Kentucky.  Since many people in Appalachian Kentucky didn't have access to books, the "book ladies" of the Pack Horse library brought books to them in remote areas via packhorses.  The librarians would haul hundreds of books into the back country via horseback, serving rural communities and promoting literacy and education in communities that didn't have any books.  Women would ride routes that covered over 100 miles as then rotated through communities, sharing books and homemade "instructive literature". At the end of the WPA funding in 1943 the communities were again cut off from library access until the advent of the bookmobile in the 1950s.

While there might be some debate about what is indeed the world's oldest profession, what might be the world's oldest medical profession is that of the midwife.  Women have most likely been helping other women give birth since before modern humans were a thing.  Take a listen this week and learn about the history of the midwife... from revered helper, to outcast witch, and back again over the millennia, midwives have been a key part of brining new humans into the world for as long as there have been humans. 

This week we discuss the invention of the graham cracker... the tasty snack that is used for making smores, pie crusts, and other fun snacks.  However, its history is not what you might expect.  The original graham cracker was invented by the reverend Sylvester Graham in the late 1800s.  He was a proponent of avoiding lustful thought by eating the blandest food possible and made a completely dull tasteless cracker using unsifted flour and no salt or sugar.  It wasn't until much later that the cracker got an update and became the tasty treat it is today.

This week we look at one of the most ubiquitous things in modern dieting... calorie counting.  When did we first start paying attention to the caloric content of food and worrying about how much energy we were taking in vs. burning off?  The popularization of counting calories for weight loss and management was popularized by Lulu Hunt Peters, a doctor who had been the head of the pathology lab at Los Angeles County General Hospital and who was the first person to look at the calorie as something to pay attention to when trying to lose weight as opposed to simply a way to look at nutritive value of food.  Peters successfully used watching calorie intake to lose a substantial amount of weight and then became a very popular figure in the burgeoning weight loss industry writing "Diet and Health: With Key to the Calories" in 1918 which became a best seller.

Hello all!  This week we discuss humanitarian and urban missionary Margaret Prior and her founding of the American Female Moral Reform Society, a progressive group originally created to help the plight of poor women stuck in sex work in pre-Civil War New York City.  Prior worked tirelessly to help fellow women, believe in a hand out and a hand up. The society tackled the issues in a frank and forthright way, noting that there would be no sex work if men weren't purchasing it and if women were to be shamed for doing it then men should be shamed for buying it.  

Ever wondered why a worthless item being sold as a miracle cure is referred to as Snake Oil?  Like just about everything else in Modern America is dates back to the Chicago World's Fair in 1893.  Clark Stanley sold snake oil to relieve aches and pains.  The amazing thing is that Snake Oil really can help with these issues, unfortunately Snake Oil is something the Snake Oil salesman wasn't actually selling.  His concoction was full of things like turpentine mineral oil, defrauding people and resulting in Snake Oil becoming the common term for a patent medicine con.  Take a listen to his story this week and a few other choice con artists from the past who sold everything from psychic visions to the Eiffel Tower (twice).

This week's topic, coinciding with St. Patrick's Day, is Grace O'Malley.  O'Malley controlled a large portion of County Mayo in the late 1500s and was known as a pirate queen.  She famously met on equal terms with Queen Elizabeth I, and received her protection from Richard Bingham, the English lord nominally put in charge of the province of Connacht.

If you are like me, you mainly know Horace Greeley for the expression "Go West Young Man" and are generally aware that he was a newspaper editor.  You might be aware that he was a congressman and crossed paths with just about every famous person of the mid 19th century.  Abraham Lincoln (check), Karl Marx (check), Mark Twain (check), etc.  Take a listen this week and see how burnout can be a very bad thing.

This week we take a look at the top five archeology stories in the news, ranging from Greek sculpture finds in Athens, to an ancient woodhenge in Denmark, to kids tripping over ancient idols in Isreal, there's plenty up in the archeological world.

The Shroud of Turin is a mysterious cloth kept in the city of Turin/Torino, Italy that is purported to be the burial shroud of Jesus.  The shroud contains an image of a man baring the marks of crucifixion as if he had burned an image into it while laying on one half with the other half folded over him.  The whereabouts of the are first reported in the 1300s when it was ruled a fake.  However, over the years its claim to be the true burial shroud of Jesus has gained traction.  Now, many people flock to see it when it is displayed whether is truly ancient or not.

In the 8th Century an exorcism was performed on a 16 year old girl.  The girl began to speak in Latin, which she did not know, claiming to be a demon named Wiggo.  The demon claimed to have been roaming the countryside doing terrible things because the lack of piousness and Christian behavior of the people and their leaders allowed his presence.  Was this a case of demonic possession or a cover for the priest and chronicler to publish a critique of the powers that be under cover of claiming it was spoken by a demon.  Take a listen and see what you think.

On the 13th of July, 1955, Ruth Ellis became the last person to be executed in the United Kingdom.  Her story is a tragic one, beginning with childhood abuse and ending with the public shooting of her lover outside a London Pub possibly at the behest of another.  While she felt no remorse and didn't seek to appeal her conviction, her family is still working to clear her name to this day.

The Nazca lines have become famous over the years for their mysterious origins and purpose.  Residing in the high desert in Southern Peru, the lines were created by removing the top layer of desert rocks, exposing the different colored clay beneath.  Some of the lines appear to be an astronomical calendar, some are drawings of birds and beasts, and some seem to have no known purpose. The mystery of their purpose has led to them becoming a favorite topic of the pseudoscience community in recent decades as evidence of ancient aliens.  Take a listen and see what we do know about them, when they were made, and what their purpose might be.

If you were to think of the quintessential family feud that first thought for most Americans is the Hatfields and McCoys.  Two families whose fame is solely based on hating each other.  While their feud is famous, the actual details of it are not.  Most of us only know that McCoys hate Hatfields and Hatfields hate McCoys, not why that might be the case.  The podcast this week dives into the feud, what started it, what happed during its height, and what eventually became of it. Spoiler alert... they get along ok these days.

Today's episode is dedicated to a gem that is probably more famous for the rumors and often false history surrounding it then its own beauty... The Hope Diamond.  The Hope Diamond is now known to have been cut from a gem owned by the Royal Family of France and looted during the early days of the revolution.  A lore of the cure of the Hope Diamond made it famous and it now resides in the Smithsonian Museum in Washington D.C. where it can be visited by the public.  Take a listen to our podcast and learn a bit about the history of the stone and the rumors of the curse that is supposed to follow it.

This week's topic is the Lore of Thor.  Legends and religions involving Thor come from ancient Northern European roots and have spread around the world, most notably in recent years, the Marvel Cinematic Universe.  Ever wonder how a random god in the Norse pantheon became universally known today in the form of film and Thursdays?  If so, take a listen, our topic this week is for you.

The English countryside is often associated with many things, rivers, lakes, moors, hedgehogs, but not large predators. The largest official remaining predator in the UK is the badger.  While you might not want to back one into a corner, they're not about to go on a wild killing spree.  However, several locations in the UK report continued sightings of big cats.  Is there a hidden native cat roaming the moors of Cornwall?  Many people think they have spotted them, though the film footage is often as grainy and unreliable as people claiming to have filmed bigfoot.  Take a listen and see what you think is behind all of the big cat reports in the UK.

When you think about it, the human reaction to tickling is quite odd.  Why do we laugh when someone grazes your feet with a feather or digs their fingers into your unsuspecting ribs?  While a little tickling can be fun, it has been used as a device of torture in different societies throughout history.  Take a listen this week and find out all about tickle torture.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone!  This Christmas Eve we are coming to you with a podcast full of the history of several Christmas traditions.  If you've ever wondered why we have Christmas Tree ornaments, why the colors of Christmas are Red and Green, or why some of the figures in the Nativity scene always seem to be wearing the same color clothes we've got the answers (maybe...).