The Great Moon Hoax of 1835, Part 1
In August 1835, the New York Sun ran a series about some utterly mind-blowing discoveries made by Sir John Herschel...
29:58
holly frey podcasts
Immigration History: Lower East Side Tenement Museum, Part 1
The U.S. is, at its heart, a nation of immigrants. The Lower East Side Tenement Museum works to preserve the history...
36:57
Immigration History: Lower East Side Tenement Museum, Part 2
The second half of our interview with Dr. Annie Polland from the Lower East Side Tenement Museum focuses on specific...
32:29
Saponification is the process of turning to soap, and in certain conditions, cadavers do it. The Soap Lady is one of...
26:20
S.A. Andrée and the 1897 North Pole Balloon Mission
Andrée hoped to succeed in reaching the North Pole where others had failed by doing it by air. With a seemingly...
45:01
The Sham Battle and the Cochecho Massacre
It was half performance for the British troops, and half actual sham, and it led to an attack on Dover by the...
26:01
In the late 1800s, seven sisters with musical talent and incredibly long hair made waves in the circus and on the...
38:09
In the late 1800s, seven sisters with musical talent and incredibly long hair made waves in the circus and on the...
37:34
Once you examine Louisa May Alcott's life story, the inspirations for her writing become clear. Her parents were...
33:52
Two Other Alcotts: Bronson and May
Louisa was not the only notable Alcott. Her father, Bronson Alcott, made a name for himself as a philosopher and a...
33:37
The eldest daughter of Theodore Roosevelt was a firebrand who never shied away from the public eye. She was nicknamed...
36:32
The famed Battle of the Alamo was toward the end of the Texas Revolution — a sort of pivot just before the last...
30:09
The St. Kitts Slave Revolt of 1834
Until the 1830s, the dominant industry on St. Kitts was sugar, and the majority of the people living there were...
29:28
The Wright Brothers: An Interview With David McCullough
David McCullough, two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize, talks about his research and discoveries about the Wright...
48:45
A Brief History of Time Capsules
People feel very strongly about time capsules, even though the contents are often a little underwhelming. What...
33:58
The American Hippo Ranch Plan, Part 1
In 1910, the U.S. had a meat shortage and a water hyacinth overgrowth problem. The obvious solution to the double...
27:58
The American Hippo Ranch Plan, Part 2
Once the effort to import hippos to the U.S. got the backing of a politician, two men with wild and intertwined...
28:28
Much like many of the other mad royals that have been discussed on the podcast through the years, Charles IX of...
31:27
Tracy and Holly talk with fellow podcaster Nate DiMeo of The Memory Palace about his research and writing process....
47:32
Henry Gerber and Chicago’s Society for Human Rights
In the 1920s, the Society for Human Rights was founded in Chicago with the intent to decriminalize homosexuality. The...
31:30