Found Objects - a history podcast

To this day, 5% of Americans believe that the Apollo Moon landings were faked - that’s more than 16 million people. How did this theory start? And why, even in the face of overwhelming evidence, do some still believe it? This & the Flat Earth conspiracy theory will be discussed today on Found Objects history podcast. Listen wherever you stream podcasts!

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Meet William James Sydis, the “smartest man who lived.” Sydis’ IQ score is estimated by some, to be somewhere between 50 and 100 points greater than that of Albert Einstein. By the time he was just 18 months old, Sydis was able to read The New York Times. At age 2, he taught himself Latin, and by age 6, he was fluent in eight languages, including Greek, French, Russian, German, and Hebrew. Sidis is not a household name, but he was ...

One of the loudest voices in the early years of the Harlem Renaissance (1918-1930’s) was Madam C.J. Walker, a woman who defied the odds and became America's first female self-made millionaire with her Black haircare brand. Her journey is one of resilience, innovation, and empowerment in a time period where she faced hurdle after hurdle. Today, I tell the story of Madam C.J Walker and her daughter, A’Lilia Walker.

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Sharon Tate was a rising star in Hollywood in the 1960s, but she was also the 26-year-old, pregnant victim of the infamous Manson Murders of 1969. She and seven others were the unlucky random targets of Charles Manson’s murderous escapades. Today on Found Objects, we will explore the life of Sharon Tate before her untimely demise and the puppet-master, the man behind the curtain, Charles Manson himself.

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In 1971, a mysterious man known as D.B. Cooper hijacked a plane, extorted a hefty ransom from the US Government, and then once the goods were secured, jumped from the aircraft vanishing without a trace. Today on Found Objects, we take a look at one of aviation's most captivating mysteries and dive into the history of “skyjacking.”

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SOURCES:

99pi. “Skyjacking.” 99% I...

Have you ever wondered who created the “I love New York” advertising campaign? Whose idea was it for flight attendants in the ’60’s to wear custom Emilio Pucci designer outfits? The woman (and advertising genius) behind these ideas was Mary Wells Lawrence. And today on Found Objects, I’ll tell you her story.

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“A 70-Year-Old Cereal Mascot Suddenly Is More Relevant tha...

The story of the Titanic's sinking is a tragic tale to say the least. But it is one that has entranced the minds of so many. That is why it is still talked about so extensively to this day, AND why so many conspiracy theories exist about what ‘actually’ happened on board to cause its sinking. Today we are debunking popular Titanic conspiracy theories.

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SOURCES:

Hsu, Tiff...

The earliest renditions of the Olympics featured a whole lot of running and a whole lot of nudity. Today, there may be a little less nakedness, but running still remains a pillar of the modern Olympic Games. So it’s only fitting that we unpack one of the most bizarre events in the history of the games - the 1904 Marathon in St. Louis. Today on Found Objects, we will also delve into the origins of the games in Ancient Greece and the...

The hoaxes that you are probably most familiar with today are tied to legends. They are a means to justify an end. Think of the famous grainy photo of the Loch Ness Monster which was falsified to prove the monster's existence. Similarly, think of the sketchy video of Big Foot which was also tampered with to prove that Sasquatch was real. But what of the hoaxes that stand alone? The hoaxes that confuse or mislead even the ...

Did the heiress murder her friend? And, did the butler murder her?!

The historically wealthiest families in the United States may sound familiar to you. Consider the Rockefellers, the Vanderbilts, the Waltons, the Hearsts... But, you probably don’t immediately consider the Duke family, who pioneered the Tobacco industry. James Duke’s only daughter Doris Duke was a woman wrought with scandal throughout her life, a...

Phillip Franklin, vice president of the White Star Line, famously said: “There is no danger that Titanic will sink. The boat is unsinkable.” But as we know, the ‘unsinkable ship’ did in fact sink. And on board that fateful voyage, was one particular ‘famous’ couple of the time: Billionaire JJ Astor and his wife Madeleine, who was 5 months pregnant. From swirling rumors in Gilded Age society of the couple’s ‘fateful lust’ and mass d...

Buckle up! Today we're going driving. We'll be uncovering some curious truths involved in the history of car safety - and I promise, it won't be boring. Spoiler alert: one very useful feature used in cars today was invented by a blind man, windshield wipers have come a LONG way, and... cadavers were once used as test dummies. All of this + more in today's episode of Found Objects!

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What happened to Hollywood’s shining star, Marilyn Monroe? What happened during her short, ten years on the silver screen in Hollywood that destroyed her? The tale of her life and untimely death has been shrouded in mystery for decades. And what about her affair with JFK and Bobby Kennedy? And an FBI investigation? Did this have something to do with it all? All of the answers to these questions and more, on today’s episode of Found...

Wink at your grocer… ummm. what?! The Kellogg Brothers are responsible for the invention of cereal, and they traveled an interesting road before their genius product hit the shelves. But, they had an even crazier path after when the industry blew up. Today on Found Objects Podcast, we will explore it all - the birth of cereal and, with it, the fallout of the century.

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At the peak of their existence, the Pinkerton Detective Agency was *the* crime fighting machine in the United States. They hired the first female detective, notoriously saved Abraham Lincoln from being killed on a train by dressing him in a disguise, among other feats. But, they admittedly had their flaws as well. However, without the Pinkertons' contributions to the industry, we would not have the CIA, FBI, and law enfor...

TW: mentions of su*cide

At the age of eight, Barbara Newhall Follett wrote her first novel, inventing her own mythical world and language. She was a published author by age 12. But, child prodigy Barbara Follett would go on to vanish without a trace. When she was 25, after a fight with her husband, she grabbed her coat, a notebook, and $30 in cash, and left their Boston home, never to be seen again. Today on Found Objects, I tell he...

During World War II, tens of thousands of priceless paintings, sculptures + other art mediums (think: Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Rembrandt…) were stolen by Nazi forces. Plucked off of walls, ripped out of the hands of private collectors, discarded in rubble, burned in bonfires.. and yet, today, many of the stolen works are safely and legally hanging on the walls of museums. How were these priceless artworks rescued? Enter: “Protect wh...

Today on Found Objects, we explore one of the most famous (and most complicated) pair of sisters in history. Jackie Kennedy and Lee Radziwill. Find out why Jackie left Lee out of her Will. TLDR; It’s an all-too-familiar tale of: she loves me… she loves me not.

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SOURCES:

www.vogue.com/article/weddings-jackie-kennedy-aristotle-onassis-katie-holmes.

www.vanityfair.com/style/20...

The strange tale of Patty Hearst is one fraught with a stealthy kidnapping, a supposed change of heart, a girl gone wild, and one of the longest FBI manhunts in recent history. Today on Found Objects, we will unpack the events of Patty’s life from 1974 to 1975, from the kidnapping of a helpless college student to a criminal capture. Did this heiress go from good girl to terrorist? Tune in to find out.

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