In the heart of southeast Utah, water and gravity have sculpted one forgotten national park into a rugged landscape. Rich in human history and natural beauty, this vast and untamed terrain is also an epicenter of legend and lore. Have you ever heard of Canyonlands National Park? DOWNLOAD NOW Credit: For this episode, I had…
“So full of artless jealousy is guilt, it spills itself in fearing to be spilt,” wrote Shakespeare in his famous play Hamlet. Perhaps, in the spectrum of human emotions, there is no deeper feeling than guilt. This strong emotional reaction manifests when we believe—or when we come to realize—that we’ve done something wrong or violated…
On Christmas night in 1843, a horrific crime rattled Staten Island. Within days, suspicion attached itself to one woman. Decades before Lizzie Borden gained notoriety, this young woman was accused of a horrific crime and dubbed the “Witch of Staten Island.” Have you ever heard of Polly Bodine? DOWNLOAD NOW Credit: For this episode, I…
Before Chatty Cathy made us flinch, the Wizard of Menlo Park not only perfected the lightbulb, he also gave us a creepy humanoid with a nightmarish shrill. Have you ever heard of Thomas Edison’s talking dolls? DOWNLOAD NOW Credit: For this episode, I had the pleasure of speaking with Paul Israel, the director and general…
In 1921, a white mob entered an affluent district known as Black Wall Street. They opened fire into crowds of innocent people, burned homes and businesses to the ground, and forced countless others to flee. For decades, the attack was hidden from textbooks and even oral histories. Have you ever heard of the Tulsa Race Massacre? DOWNLOAD…
In the Late Middle Ages, the Kingdom of Hungary rose from the ashes, leaving behind a dismal episode in Hungarian history. The mid-15th century soon marked the nation’s Golden Age. At the height of its prosperity, a revered ruler, hailed the Raven King, commanded an eminent presence on the European stage. But, in the end, it wasn’t…
Slow as molasses in January is a common American idiom for something that is painfully slow. The history of this expression dates to the turn of the twentieth century and to one very specific event. On an unseasonably warm winter day in 1919, only a few weeks into the new year, Boston, Massachusetts suffered one of…
A series of unexpected events in 1811 and 1812 caused some strange phenomena and gave birth to countless legends. Sand volcanoes. The Mississippi running backward. Miles-long chasms opening in the earth. But only some of these weird occurrences are the truth. Have you ever heard of the New Madrid earthquakes? DOWNLOAD NOW Credit: For this…
In 1892, Charles C. Willoughby became the first archaeologist to excavate sites in Maine that contained powdered red ochre and artifacts in clusters that he interpreted as graves. His discovery led to an assumption that would later be proven wrong. Have you ever heard of the myth of the Red Paint People? DOWNLOAD NOW Credit:…
More than a century before the United States was even formed, some African slaves escaped forced servitude and formed the first free black community in the nation. The enclave was founded and led by an extraordinary military commander who has never received proper acknowledgment in history books. He gave the lost hope, the fledgling refuge,…
