History For Sleep with the Drowsy Historian

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Step into the dim, uneasy world of the medieval barber-surgeon — where the same razor that scraped a chin might, moments later, open a vein. In this slow, immersive descent, you’ll live through the life of an apprentice turned master of the trade, where grooming and crude medicine blurred into one grim routine. From sweeping up hair tangled wi...

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From ancient Greek kings cursed by the gods, to Celtic families condemned to wander as wolves, to the burning stakes of sixteenth-century France and Germany — the werewolf has stalked the European imagination for centuries. Far older than Hollywood transformations under a full moon, the werewolf was once a terrifying explanation for famine, ma...

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Tonight we descend into the unforgiving hollers of Appalachia, where poverty, hunger, and suspicion push men into a trade that can only end in ruin. You are a moonshiner in the late 19th to early 20th century, dragging copper into the woods, hiding jars beneath sacks of corn, and listening for revenuers in the dark. The corn you grow feeds not...

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Warriors of the Middle Ages are often remembered as fearless knights in shining armor — paragons of courage, duty, and faith. Chronicles tell us they rode boldly into battle, defended castles with honor, and fought without hesitation. But the reality, as always, was far darker. Behind the myths of chivalry lay sieges marked by starvation, raid...

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Step inside the fire-lit halls and frost-choked battlefields of the Viking Age, where the berserker legend was born. Far from the glorified verses sung by skalds, the life of a berserker was one of isolation, suspicion, and ruin. Feared by enemies, distrusted by comrades, and consumed by a frenzy that promised strength but delivered only exhau...

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Tonight, we descend into the rise and fall of a 1990s grunge rocker — a nameless figure swallowed by the noise of Seattle’s scene. From damp basements and dive bars to major label contracts and blinding stages, the dream of authenticity curdles into exploitation, exhaustion, and erasure. Along the way, duct-taped amps, thrift-store flannel, an...

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The Renaissance is remembered as an age of clarity, reason, and rediscovered beauty — but it was also an age lived through smoke, drink, and tincture. From wine-soaked debates in Florentine taverns to incense-thickened chapels, from apothecary jars of opium and mandrake to the first bitter sips of coffee, this was a world where enlightenment o...

Step into the suffocating darkness of the Victorian coal mines, where children as young as nine were sent underground and men spent their lives breathing in dust that slowly turned their lungs to stone. This is the horrifying story of a coal miner’s life — from boyhood in the pits to the slow, breathless death of black lung. Industry promised progress, but for miners, progress meant hunger, accidents, and a cough that never left.

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Tonight’s descent takes us inside the belly of the Tiger I, the most feared tank of the Second World War — and one of the most miserable to command. You are a young German officer on the Eastern Front, handed the “honor” of leading a Tiger. From the outside, it appears invincible, a fortress of steel and fire. Inside, it is suffocating, deafen...

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Step into the shadows of medieval life—not as a knight in shining armor, but as the boy who carried his burdens. In this immersive historical story, you’ll experience the world of a squire: taken from home as a child, bent beneath endless chores, beaten into obedience, and erased from history in service to another man’s glory. Far from the tal...

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Step into the harsh reality of a colonial winter, where survival was never guaranteed and every day was a contest against hunger, cold, and isolation. Through vivid scenes and wry historical narration, we explore the relentless work of preparing for the freeze, the drafty homes that could never quite keep the cold out, the monotonous meals tha...

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In the long shadow of the First World War, a quieter battle was being fought in back rooms, boarding houses, and rain-soaked streets. This story follows one forgotten life through the interwar years — from the first dose to the slow, irreversible descent that follows.

This is not a tale of vice or rebellion, but of survival measured in pape...

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Step into the long, complex story of Ireland — from its ancient myths and stone monuments, through centuries of invasion, rebellion, famine, and cultural transformation, to the modern nation we know today. In this calm, unhurried narration, we journey through over 5,000 years of Irish history, weaving together politics, daily life, folklore, a...

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In the winter-choked ruins of Stalingrad, survival wasn’t a matter of heroism — it was a matter of not freezing, starving, or being in the wrong place when the shells landed. This is the story of the Soviet conscript’s war: the endless queues for gear that didn’t fit, the crack of mortar fire through the fog, and the slow, bitter fight against...

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Step into the gaslit world of Victorian Britain, where public morality stood tall in the daylight, but private indulgence flourished behind drawn curtains. In this slow, immersive journey, we explore the many intoxicants of the 19th century — from genteel tea rituals to discreet opium dens, from fashionable laudanum tinctures to the laughter-f...

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Step into the dim, incense-thick air of a 14th-century European village — where illness, misfortune, or even a fainting spell might brand you as someone in need of an exorcism.

In this immersive, second-person historical story, you’ll experience the ritual from inside: the cold stone church, the scrutiny of the exorcist, the prayers and com...

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Step into the mud, the mist, and the silence that follows the shelling. In the First World War, death didn’t always arrive with a bullet — sometimes it came drifting on the wind. This is the story of a newly recruited British soldier, hearing whispered warnings about gas attacks in the trenches… until the day the rumors become reality.

Told...

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The year is 1861, and you are 19 years old. You were promised glory, brotherhood, and a cause worth dying for. What you got was frostbite, dysentery, and a rifle that barely fires.

In tonight’s immersive descent into forgotten history, we follow the brutal reality of life as a Confederate foot soldier during the American Civil War. From muddy e...

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Tonight’s descent into forgotten history takes us behind the vermilion walls of the Forbidden City — where you are not a warlord, not a rebel, not a victim of plague or execution. No, your fate is far more prestigious. And far more suffocating.

You are a child emperor of China.

Crowned before you understand the characters in your own name. Worsh...