While the ballads of gun-slinging outlaws like Jesse James and Billy the Kid play on, there’s another Old West gang that has been largely forgotten. This group of young boys – black, Native American, or of mixed-race – emerged from the shadows in a politically charged, yet severely flawed, rebellion. Have you ever heard of…
Episodes
Episode 5: About that Time Kissing Was Outlawed in Canoes on Boston’s Charles River
Long before Fats Domino found his thrill on Blueberry Hill or making out in the backseat of a station wagon on Lover’s Lane was hip, young couples took to the water. But they weren’t out there for a midnight swim. They didn’t make a splash or even get wet. In the late 1800s and early…
Episode 4: Vermont’s Legendary Wampahoofus Circled the Green Mountains Long Before Bigfoot or Yeti
Deep in the Green Mountains of Vermont, history runs as rich as the pristine waters that ebb and flow between the rocky peaks. Many stories have originated from within this lush countryside. Some accounts are true. Others came to life in the imaginations of restless souls. Long before Bigfoot and Yeti became well-known in Western…
Episode 3: World War II’s Rumor Clinics Dispelled the Scuttlebutt and Tale Tales
Rumors, like most forms of gossip, are usually rooted in half-truths and outright falsities. Yet, during World War II, these insatiable tidbits of hearsay threatened to undermine civilian morale and even cause unrest within the military community when they nearly spiraled out of control. A network of “morale wardens” tracked down the latest scuttlebutt, and…
Episode 2: Step Inside Madam Fan Jones’ Bawdy Blue House of 19th Century Pleasure
There was once a stretch of land so wicked and rowdy, it became known as the Devil’s Half Acre of Bangor, Maine. Historians affectionately refer to this legendary destination of merriment and mayhem as Satan’s playground – a place where loggers, sailors, and other workingmen gathered to spend their hard-earned cash on whiskey and women.…
Episode 1: The Former Slave Who Became an Executioner
Death is a part of life that makes most of us… uncomfortable. But there are many faces of death – some more troubling than others. Take, for example, executions. Imagine being the individual tasked with the job of death. Right or wrong, however moral or unjust, the history of execution dates to the earliest footprints of…
Coming Soon: Historium Unearthia
Freelance journalist and lifelong history sleuth, Crystal Ponti, introduces Historium Unearthia – a podcast celebrating history’s lost and untold stories… the ones overshadowed by the more memorable and talked about events, people, and “things” from our past. But these are no ordinary stories. These are the weird, the macabre, the unbelievable. The stories that make your…