A Popular History of Unpopular Things

The USS Scorpion Disaster

Join Kelli as she goes over what happened to the USS Scorpion, a skipjack-class nuclear-powered attack submarine that disappeared in May of 1967. It was found five months

The Great Moon Hoax

Join Kelli for another weird episode where she looks at the Great Moon Hoax of 1835. For six days straight in 1835, the New York Sun (not the same publication as the one

The Navajo (Diné) Long Walk

Join Kelli as she finally starts tackling the impact of westward expansion on indigenous populations in the United States. In this episode, we focus on the Navajo, or Din

The Bloody Benders

Join Kelli as she talks about a serial killer out of Kansas in the post-civil war era. Taking advantage of westward expansion and a tense climate, the Bender family - Ma,

The Erfurt Latrine Disaster

Join Kelli as she goes over a very stinky situation that happened in 1184 in Erfurt, part of the Holy Roman Empire and home base of King (and later Emperor) Henry VI. As

The Voynich Manuscript

Join Kelli in this shorter history on the mysterious Voynich Manuscript, an early Renaissance-era book written in a made up language (dubbed Voynichese) with strange diag

The Story of Peter the Wild Boy

Join Kelli as she goes over the story of a feral boy found in the woods outside of Hamelin, Germany. He was brought to King George I's court in England and named Pet

The Cannibalism of Johan de Witt

Join Kelli as she goes over a strange event from the 17th century Dutch Republic - the time a political leader was killed, strung up, dismembered, and then cannibalized. 

The Story of Boudica, Warrior Queen

Join Kelli as she goes over the popular legend of Boudica, the short-lived queen of the Iceni peoples in Iron Age Britain. Much of what we know about Boudica comes from

The Roman Black Banquet

Join Kelli as she talks about Rome's first ever Black Banquet, hosted by Emperor Domitian in 89 CE.  Today's episode covers some Roman history including the cr

The French Pig Trial of 1457

Join Kelli as she looks into the weird world of European animal trials, focusing on the French Pig Trial at Savigny in 1457, where a sow owned by Jehan Bailly was put on

The Eilean Mòr Lighthouse Mystery

Join Kelli as she goes over the mystery of the Eilean Mòr lighthouse. In December of 1900, the three men keeping the lighthouse on the Flannan Isles - James Ducat, Thoma

The Tragic Tale of Typhoid Mary

Join Kelli as she goes over the history surrounding Typhoid Mary. We'll go beyond the typhoid-laden peaches and fresh ice cream! When we take a step back and look at

The Belgian Congo

Join Kelli as she goes over the Congo Free State, owned not by Belgium, but by its King - Leopold II. During the 19th century in Africa, seven European countries - Brita

The 1381 English Peasant's Rebellion

Join Kelli as she goes over the history of the English Peasant's Rebellion, 1381. The Black Death had severely impacted England - not just in high mortality rates,

The Tanganyika Laughter Epidemic

Join Kelli as she goes over the history behind the Tanganyika Laughter Epidemic, an event that started with three schoolgirls in late January 1962 and spread to nearby vi

The Guatemala Syphilis Experiments

Join Kelli as she goes over another case where the US government experimented on humans - but this time, they purposefully infected Guatemalans with syphilis, taking what

The Stonehenge Mystery

Join Kelli as she goes over Stonehenge. We'll start with the basics - what stonehenge is, what it's made of, who might have built it, how they built it, what a

The Scottish Cannibal, Sawney Bean

Join Kelli as she goes over a tale of a Scottish incestuous cannibal family - the Beans. As legend goes, they lived in a cave in southwest Scotland, only venturing out

The Holmesburg Prison Experiments

Join Kelli as she goes over yet another example of US doctors experimenting on their own people. Starting in the 1950s, dermatology Dr. Albert Kligman came to the Holmes