Stuff You Missed in History Class

Tracy and Holly discuss the anger-making aspects of working on the story of the Flint sit-down strike. They also discuss the way Holly happened upon the story of Wilson Bentley and what his personality was like.

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Bentley was a Vermont farmer and amateur meteorologist who became known to many during his lifetime as the Snowflake Man. 

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Flint, Michigan was at the heart of auto manufacturing for General Motors in 1936. And while the strike was largely centered around Flint, it also involved workers at GM factories all over the U.S.

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This 2018 episode covers Violet Paget, more often known by her pen name Vernon Lee, who was a historian and an art and literary critic. She wrote on myriad subjects including music, travel, aesthetics, psychology and economics. And she was well known for her ghost stories.

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Holly and Tracy discuss how Vernon Lee factored into the story of Amy Levy's life. They also talk about what a pain in the neck Theodore Hook must have been.

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Today we have a series of prank stories that aren’t quite substantial enough to be their own episodes. We’ve got a joke that became a living legend, a large-scale prank that created havoc, and a televised hoax that reminds us all of the importance of critical thinking. 

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Levy was recognized as an extraordinary literary talent of the 1880s. But after her tragic early death, she receded into the background of history. 

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This 2013 episode covers the taxidermist Potter, who had preserved and mounted 98 birds by the time he was 19. In 1880, his work had grown to a point where it had to be moved to a building, which became his museum. Potter's museum collection continues to enthrall collectors and enthusiasts.

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Holly and Tracy discuss Perkin's idealism, and how many things in their lives are impacted by his work. Then they discuss "Who killed Cock Robin?' and Tracy's fascination with it as a child.

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Today’s episode is the next installment of our Six Impossible Episodes series, and our second one on nursery rhymes. This one explores the historical context of Jack and Jill, London Bridge, Cock Robin and others. 

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For Perkin, the creation of the first synthetic dye was the beginning of a career that combined chemistry and business to great success. And he got to see the world of industry change in response to his innovation.

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This 2014 episode covers how pigments and dyes have historically come from all manner of animals, vegetables and minerals. From ochre to cochineal red to the rarest of purples, color has been an important part of human life for centuries.

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Tracy talks about the coincidences she encountered while researching this week's episodes. Talk then turns to how complicated Ida Tarbell's story is.

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Tarbell saw her family and community clash with Standard Oil when she was growing up. This second part covers her work for McClure’s Magazine and the most important journalistic work of her life – “The History of the Standard Oil Company.” 

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Ida Tarbell was one of the first investigative journalists, and the biggest work of her life involved exposing exploitive and illegal business practices at Standard Oil. Part one covers her early life, which led her to that story.

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When Prince Pedro of Portugal was married off in the 1300s, he only had eyes for his new wife's lady in waiting. This 2017 episode about the relationship between Inês and Pedro has everything: romance, deception, murder, and a corpse crowned as queen.

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Tracy and Holly discuss the possible inspiration for Maggie Lena Walker's name, and then discuss favorite recipes as inspired by a listener mail. They also speculate on Pepper's personality, and how he opened up education to a wide audience.

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While the ghost illusion he created for theaters dominates his life story, Pepper's life story has a number of twists and turns. It’s got several professional disagreements, world travel, and even an attempt to control the weather. 

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Maggie Lena Walker was the first Black woman in the U.S. to charter a bank – she was also the first Black woman in the U.S. to serve as a bank’s president. But the bank was only one of her many endeavors which focused on improving the lives of the entire Black community.

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This 2011 episode from previous hosts Sarah and Deblina covers the life of Mary-Elizabeth Bowser, who was released from enslavement by Elizabeth Van Lew, then went on to become an agent in Van Lew's "Richmond Ring" of Civil War spies.

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Tracy and Holly discuss the inherent problems with looking at the story of the princes in the tower, particularly many people having the same name. Then they discuss the frustration of discovering the Montaukett Nation's legal status with the state of New York.

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Olivia Ward Bush-Banks was a Harlem Renaissance writer who also supported writers and artists, hosted salons, and taught drama courses. She was well-known during her lifetime, but her name recognition has faded over time. 

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Sir Thomas More’s version of what happened to the sons of Edward IV has long dominated popular understanding of it. But the conflict between the House of York and the House of Lancaster has many layers, and any account is colored by the alliances of who gave it.

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This 2017 episode examines how, after a traumatic event, strange things began happening around Esther Cox. In the 1870s, Amherst, Nova Scotia was abuzz with theories as to whether the phenomena were the work of a poltergeist, strange electrical charges, or a hoax.

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Holly and Tracy talk about their experiences with haunted houses, then discuss watching "The Exorcist," and the dynamics in play in Roland Doe's story.

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The 1973 horror film “The Exorcist” was inspired by a 1949 alleged possession case in a suburb of Washington, D.C. Roland Doe’s story is more tame than the fiction version, and looking at it is really an examination of psychology and lore. 

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Interest in being scared on purpose -- for fun -- led to the development of haunts as entertainment over the last several hundred years. But the 20th century saw explosive growth in haunted house culture, and a tragedy in the 1980s led to new safety regulations for haunted attractions.

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This 2011 episode from previous hosts Sarah and Deblina covers the story of Marie Tussaud and her famous wax figures. So who exactly was she, and how did she create one of the world's most popular museums?

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Tracy and Holly discuss a surprise change to the research process for Unearthed! episodes. They also talk about analysis of post-mortem stomach contents, and discuss memories of a deceased, beloved actor.

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Part 2 of our October 2021 coverage of items literally or figuratively unearthed covers exhumations, shipwrecks, books and letters, and edibles and potables. And it starts with potpourri - things that don't quite fit anywhere else.

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This October 2021 instance of Unearthed! covers updates, some oldest things, animals and graves. There's also an exception to the show's moratorium on including coin hoards in unearthing episodes.

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This 2018 episode covers an even from June 30, 1908, when at approximately 7:15am, the sky over Siberia lit up with what was described by witnesses as a massive fireball, or the sky engulfed in fire. For the last century, scientists have been trying to figure out exactly what happened.

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Tracy and Holly discuss problematic aspects of trials and the parts of Rice's story that they each found themselves thinking about. Then, Palmer's status as a doctor is discussed, as well as the weird but unsubstantiated parts of his story that didn't make it into the episode.

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William Palmer often turns up on lists of historical serial killers. Though his trial for murder is generally considered a settled case, it was judged without any hard evidence. 

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Rice amassed a big enough fortune to establish a whole university – and become a target for murder. But is that actually how he died?

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This 2017 episode covers Hernandez v. Texas, which addressed civil rights for Mexican Americans, was the first case to be argued before the Supreme Court by Mexican American attorneys, and set a new precedent in how the 14th Amendment was interpreted in terms of race and ethnicity.

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Tracy shares her limited knowledge of Crowley before she started researching the podcast, and the incomprehensible nature of some of Crowley's writing. They also discuss the many ways that Cagliostro has popped up in media through the years, and what has often been called his wife's betrayal.

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He’s connected with everything from petty crime to mysticism to claims of nearly eternal life to one of the most famous deceptions in all of history. Cagliostro's life is veiled in the mythology he created for himself, but what remains when you peel back the mythos?

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In late 1888, five women were brutally murdered in a slum neighborhood of London. The violent killer earned himself a nickname - Jack the Ripper. But everything you think you know murders and those murdered women is wrong.

In a new 15-part series, historian Hallie Rubenhold tells you the real story of those victims and how they came to be in the path of a serial killer - completely overturning the Ripper story we've been told up until now.

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Crowley was a truly prolific and deliberately transgressive occultist whose practices included sex and drug use, and he went on to influence modern Satanism, as well as some other new religious movements.

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This 2016 episode tells the story of a small theater in Paris which was open from 1897 to 1962, and became famous for its grisly, terrifying plays.

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Holly and Tracy discuss the career of Tod Browning and how difficult it is to know the true nature of certain aspects of the filmmaker's life.

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Tod Browning’s contributions to the horror film genre are massive. And the films that are most responsible for that reputation are covered in this episode, among other projects and the latter portion of Browning’s life. 

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Browning’s story is both fascinating and difficult; he was a golden boy of Hollywood for a time, but also plagued with personal problems. He has a cult following today, and was legitimately groundbreaking, but he was also problematic. 

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This 2017 episode covers an early 18th century engraver-turned-artist who made his mark on the art world by producing satirical prints in series that commented on morality and society. And some of his work is used today as a teaching tool.

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Holly and Tracy discuss the Lincoln's relationship with the spiritual, and whether they can themselves juggle. Tracy shares a fun story of collectible genever bottles and there's discussion of favorite gin drinks.

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Like many spirits, gin was originally meant for medicinal or alchemical use. But eventually, people started combining juniper with alcohol to make a beverage rather than a medicine. And that's the just the start of gin's history, which gets rather dark at times.

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Colchester claimed to be psychic and probably did warn President Abraham Lincoln that he was going to be assassinated. He became an icon for Spiritualism in the U.S. in the 19th century, only to be rejected by that same movement. 

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This 2010 episode from past hosts Sarah and Deblina covers Arthur Conan Doyle's brilliant protagonist Sherlock Holmes, who became world-famous. But was Sherlock Holmes based on a real person?

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Holly and Tracy talk about the apples from the childhoods, fruit-based desserts, and a cocktail that Holly stumbled across while researching nachos. Grace Humiston's tricky name is mentioned, as well as the more frustrating aspects of her story.

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