The Backstory with Patty Steele

The Backstory with Patty Steele

Love a good, juicy story that goes beyond what we already know? We're talking scandalous presidential family members, a mass murder at a world-famous architect's home, stolen inventions, nude athletes at the first Olympics, compulsive liars, the arrival of the bikini, and so much more. History fanatic Patty Steele tells you the inside backstories you didn’t know you needed to know.

Episodes

May 12, 2026 8 mins

Do You Get Stressed Over News Stories About a Bunch of People Getting Sick With a Disease You’ve Never Even Heard Of? Lately, It’s the Hantavirus. But Here’s the Thing. These Outbreaks Have Been Around for Thousands of Years. Problem Is, You Can’t Ignore What’s Happening, but the Anxiety Can Really Gnaw at You. So It’s Better to Know the Origin Story, Because Like...

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Ever Get the Feeling That Your One Big Moment . . Might Be All There Is? That Was the Story of Apollo 11 Astronaut Buzz Aldrin, the Second Man to Walk on the Moon . . and as He Shared . . Also the First to Pee on the Moon. But His Return to Earth and the Struggle He Faced Trying to One Up That Footstep on the Lunar Surface, Is an Inspiration.

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On first blush, most of us say we’d like to live forever. But how far are you willing to go? How about freezing your body cryogenically so it can be resuscitated decades from now? The first guy did that almost 60 years ago. Folks like PayPal founder Peter Thiel have signed on, as have Britney Spears and Paris Hilton. But the big question is... what happens when you wake up? You’re a time...

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Even if we don’t love it, most of us rely on Amazon for a lot of our basic shopping needs. But 140 years ago, the Victorian version of Amazon arrived on the scene. The Sears catalog was just as huge as Amazon, at one point reaching 2/3rds of all Americans and accounting for 1% of the entire U.S. economy. They sold and delivered everything... even heroin!

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We comfort ourselves by thinking that murder is something that happens to people when they aren’t careful about when, where, and who they mix it up with. But sometimes, as in these two cases, the scariest stories are actually the ones you don’t see coming.

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What Did History . . Taste Like? Do You Ever Stop to Wonder Why We Eat Certain Foods? There Are Some Pretty Strange Bites Looking Back Over the Millennia. Not Just Unusual… Not Just Exotic… But Foods That Make You Stop, Tilt Your Head Like a Puppy, and Ask, Who on Earth Thought Eating That Was a Good Idea? It's All in the Marketing. We’re Talking Beaver Tails, Bird Tongues, and Whale Vomit . . to Name a Few.

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Humans are fascinated by space. We gaze up at the night sky and ask what and who is up there? Ancient cave drawings illustrated those thoughts thousands of years ago. Even “Disclosure Day” poses the question. But recently we’ve added one more question: does the government know something they’re not telling us?

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We watched the tragic story of JFK Jr. and Carolyn Bessette in the FX series “Love Story.” But while the love story of John’s parents, JFK Sr. and Jackie Kennedy, had major differences, it also had some striking similarities.

Feel free to DM me if you have a story you’d like me to cover . . on Facebo...

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What Happens to Your Life, if You're Sitting Right Next to a President When He's Assassinated? This Is the Shocking Story of the Folks Who Shared the Theater Box the Night Assassination of Abraham Lincoln Happened. Feel Free to DM Me if You Have a Story You’d Like Me to Cover . . on Facebook It’s Patty Steele and on Instagram Real Patty Steele

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In December of 1903, the Wright brothers made the first powered flight with a pilot in history. That’s only 122 years ago and yet here we are flying around the moon in Artemis 2. But the unknown dangers explorer types faced then... and still face... is mind blowing. In fact, manned space flight almost got stopped in its tracks by a secret government test. I’m Patty Steele. How much can t...

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We’ve been watching Artemis 2 and its $23 million dollar toilet journey to the dark side of the moon this week, but you have to ask a question. As we launch all these rockets, satellites, and space stations into the sky... what happens if they somehow come falling back to Earth? Well, it did happen almost 50 years ago, and folks around the globe spent a nervous few weeks... looking up.

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Artemis 2 blasted off this week on NASA’s first manned trip into deep space in over 50 years. How did we get there and where are we going? The answers are both fascinating and inspirational.

Feel free to DM me if you have a story you’d like me to cover . . . On Facebook it’s Patty Steele and on Instagram R...

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It’s Been 161 Years Since the Assassination of Abraham Lincoln. He’s Considered Our Greatest President. His Wife Mary Todd Lincoln However, Hasn’t Fared So Well in the Historical Narrative. But There’s a Deeper, More Complex Reason for That.

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Lizzie Borden was a church going New England heiress . . who was suspected of taking an ax to the heads of her father and stepmother back in 1892. But what led to the murders and the surprising verdict from the jury? Feel free to DM me if you have a story you’d like me to cover . . on Facebook it’s Patty Steele and on Instagram Real Patty Steele

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Swearing, cursing, cussing... giving somebody the finger. It’s kind of ubiquitous these days, but it’s been around for thousands of years. And now researchers say yelling out a favorite four-letter word can even lower your blood pressure. But where in the &^%* did it all start, and how has it evolved?

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We all wonder where the larger than life rock and roll stars of the mid 20th century originated. But the demon of Kiss, Gene Simmons, has had an unbelievable journey. And he credits one person with his inspiration.

Feel free to DM me if you have a story you’d like me to cover . . on Facebook it’s Patty Steele an...

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Watching reruns of The Andy Griffith Show and particularly Deputy Barney Fife, to this day make you feel happy. You feel like that part of America’s past was a time of calm and safety. But for Don Knotts, the guy that played Barney Fife, life never felt calm or safe. This is how he used his pain.

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March 13, 2026 8 mins

We’ve all had a nasty headache and run to grab some OTC pain relief, only to get thwarted by the childproof wrapping. But 7 still unsolved murders explain why our meds are wrapped so tight feel free to DM me if you have a story you’d like me to cover . . on Facebook it’s Patty Steele and on Instagram real Patty Steele

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Breakfast pre-1900 usually involved fried meats, eggs, biscuits, and potatoes. Then a kitchen fail at a health sanitarium led to a whole new way to eat your morning meal. After that, a vicious disagreement between the Kellogg brothers allowed one to build a multi billion dollar company with Corn Flakes, Rice Krispies and other cereal recipes he'd stolen from his brother.

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In the 1800s death was a lot more of a regular occurrence in people’s lives. Almost half of all children died by the time they were 5! So . . the Victorians developed some pretty unusual ways of processing that reality.

Feel free to DM me if you have a story you’d like me to cover . . on Facebook it’s Patt...

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