Door Key

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The final episode of the 2024 Spooktacular talks about the life of Harry Houdini. Houdini would rise from a challenging childhood to becoming a world-renowned escape artist and magician. This episode talks about his iconic acts, his marriage to Bess, and his role in debunking fraudulent mediums during the Spiritualism movement. This episode also talks abo...

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The fourth episode of The Spooktacular looks at listed causes of death in 1632! It's a fascinating look into 1632, highlighting the main health issues and social conditions of the time. This list also shows the vulnerabilities and challenges faced by people and communities. By looking at these causes of death, we gain valuable insights into the daily...

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The third episode of the Spooktacuar is about The Donner Party! This was a group of American pioneers who left for California in 1846. They took a shortcut known as the Hastings Cutoff, which turned out to be much longer and more treacherous than expected. The group would then get delayed by harsh weather and become trapped by snow in the Sierra Nevada mo...

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This episode of the Spooktacular is about The Sweating Sickness! This mysterious and deadly disease swept through England and Europe in the late 15th and 16th centuries. Beginning in 1485, this contagious illness caused sudden onset symptoms, and would often lead to death within hours.

This episode explores the chaotic historical context of outbreaks of Th...

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This first episode of 2024’s Spooktacular explores the history of Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in the Americas, established in 1607. The settlers faced a series of catastrophic challenges: a severe drought, poor relations with the indigenous tribes of the surrounding area, and not enough food. These challenges would lead to a year inf...

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This episode looks into the infamous Hatfield-McCoy feud.
This was a bitter and violent rivalry between two American families along the West Virginia-Kentucky border from 1863 to 1891.
This episode discusses how the feud started with wartime grievances, and then escalated with personal vendettas, a notorious pig dispute, and eventually brutal vi...

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This episode discusses the Princes in the Tower mystery! After the death of King Edward IV, his sons princes Edward and Richard went into the Tower of London to await Edward’s coronation. Their uncle Richard, who was regent, seized the throne and was crowned King Richard III. The two princes were never seen again, and the mystery of what happened to them ...

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This episode discusses Marie Curie, who was born in Warsaw in 1867. She eventually moved to Paris, where she conducted groundbreaking scientific research with her husband Pierre Curie. Marie was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize. Marie and Pierre discovered the elements polonium and radium, and also coined the term ‘radioactivity’. During the First Wor...

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This episode discusses the life of Helen Keller. Born in 1880, Helen was left blind and deaf from an illness at 19 months old. She overcame great challenges with the help of her devoted teacher, Anne Sullivan. From groundbreaking achievements like becoming the first blind-deaf person to earn a BA degree to her impactful advocacy work, Helen's legacy ...

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Door Key has reached the milestone of five thousand downloads! This is a bonus episode to say thank you - going over some of my favorite moments throughout Door Key’s episodes.

Thank you so very much for listening to Door Key - here’s to the next five thousand downloads!

Here are links to each of the episodes that were mentioned in this episode:

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Door Key is talking about Zheng Yi Sao, the Pirate Queen this episode!

Zheng Yi Sao lived in China during the late 1700s and early 1800s, and from humble beginnings ended up becoming not only history's most successful female pirate, but one of the most successful pirates in history, period. Zheng Yi Sao is the epitome of the phrase ‘Well-behaved women...

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My friend historian, political scientist, and author Jackson van Uden and I had a conversation about totalitarian regimes and the movie ‘The Death of Stalin’. The movie is a satire, so we were able to talk about this dark subject from a different lens than usual.

Jackson’s info: 

• website: https://historywithjackson.co.uk/
• podcast ‘History with ...

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During the episode about Rasputin, I promised to tell the story of what happened to the Romanovs after the death of Rasputin - this episode makes good on that promise!

What would happen next would not be good: Russia’s Prime Minister would step down, and Tsar Nicholas II would be forced to abdicate his throne, and a Provisional Government would be formed. ...

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June is Pride Month, and Door Key is celebrating that by talking about Sally Ride!

Sally Ride was an American astronaut and physicist. She joined NASA in 1978, and in 1983 became the first American woman and the third woman to fly in space. She was the youngest American astronaut to have flown in space. Sally Ride is also the first astronaut know...

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June is Pride Month, and Door Key is celebrating that by talking about The Stonewall Uprising today!

The Stonewall Uprising was a series of protests by members of the LGBTQ+ community. These protests were in response to a police raid of the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village, New York that started on June 28, 1969.

These protests did get violent, but they w...

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Rasputin was a Russian mystic and holy man who lived from 1869 to 1916. He's best known for having befriended the imperial family of Nicholas II, the last Emperor of Russia. He gained considerable influence in the final years of the Russian Empire.
This episode talks about Rasputin’s life, and explores how he became so influential to the Russian ...

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I love history, but I also love all things Spooky and True Crime!

So when I got a chance to team up with Traci and Jeremy from the Total Conundrum podcast to discuss some historical True Crime, I was in!
 
In this episode: Traci, Jeremy, and I discuss the mystery of the Villisca Axe Murders of 1912.

They talk about True Crime, Cr...

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My friend Holley Snaith is a historian, author, and editor.
She was kind enough to spend some time talking with me to tell me about her amazing career.
I hope you enjoy listening to this conversation as much as I enjoyed having it!

Here's a link to Holley's website: https://www.holleysnaith.com/

Social Media:
Linke...

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this episode is about the actress clara bow.
clara was an actress during the silent movie era, and successfully transitioned to 'talKies'. she wAs in the movie 'it', and became known as 'the it giRl'.
clara bow caMe to personify the roAring twentIeS with her flapper style and wAys. Clara led A sad, but fascinaTing lif...