Ridiculous History

As the Fox sisters became global superstars for their purported ability to speak with the dead, the Spiritualism movement became both a social phenomena and a booming business. Yet along with the rise of true believers and performing psychics, an army of skeptics and investigators rose as well... and the questions they asked eventually brought the entirety of the movement down. Join Ben, Noel, Max and returning special guest Jonath...

Language is beautiful and, in many cases, continually evolving. As a result, we end up with hundreds of strange idioms and figures of speech that we use on a daily basis, with little to no understanding of what they originally meant. Join the guys with special guests Frank Mulherin and Rowan Newbie, the creator of the Pitches podcast, as they explore the bizarre origins of your favorite turns of phrase in this week's Classic episod...

It's a pickle for the ages: What happens when you die? The Spiritualism movement may seem obscure today -- but back in the mid-19th century, this religious and social phenomenon absolutely rocked the modern world. In the first part of this special two-part episode, Ben, Noel and Max welcome back Jonathan Strickland (aka the Quizster) to explore the rise of this movement... and Jonathan promises to behave.

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After the fall of the Ottoman Empire, it didn't take the newly-independent nations of Greece and Bulgaria long to begin bickering over their borders. Throughout the early 1920s, small bands of peasants from both countries routinely crossed the border to steal livestock, damage property and harass locals. This untenable situation reached a breaking point in 1925, when a Greek border guard was fatally shot while crossing into Bulgari...

A beloved children's author. A spy. An ace fighter pilot, a notorious lady's man, and a strident antisemite: Roald Dahl was all these things and more. In the second part of this special two-part interview, the guys welcome back Aaron Tracy, the award-winning creator of The Secret World of Roald Dahl, to learn more about the man behind the author -- and get a few tips about writing along the way.

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Nowadays, most everyone knows a classic Roald Dahl story — yet who knows the man himself? In the first part of this special two-part interview, the guys welcome Aaron Tracy, the award-winning creator of The Secret World of Roald Dahl, as he blasts beyond the bluster of headlines and hedgerows of civility— exposing, for better or worse, the true life of one of the world's most beloved authors.

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What's the weirdest wartime heist you've ever heard of? In today's Classic episode, Ben, Noel and Max return to one of their favorites: On February 27, 1942, nine saboteurs set out in the middle of the night to blow up a Nazi-controlled heavy water plant in Norway. This operation was as crucial as it was complicated -- if the plant continued to function, the Nazis very well may have been able to construct an atomic bomb. Tune in to...

Despite being a relatively small country, the South East Asian nation of Thailand is famous across the planet for its unique, delectable cuisine. Heck, nowadays in the United States almost everyone is just a stone's throw away from a Thai restaurant -- so, how did we get here? Why are Thai restaurants suddenly everywhere? As Ben, Noel and Max discover in today's episode: this massive success is the result of a genuine (and deliciou...