Don't Look Now

Today's episode is a pretty grim one.  The Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys was a reform school operated by the state of Florida in Marianna, Fl that first opened in 1900.  While the name changed over the years, one thing didn't: constant rumors and reports of abuse at the school.  The school was finally closed in 2011 after pressure was brought from a group of former residents calling themselves the white house boys, nam...

This week's podcast deals with the Coup in Guatemala in 1954 where the CIA backed a coup and regime change in order to prevent a communist takeover or help the United Fruit Company's bottom line depending on who you ask.  The previous government had supported better working conditions and had redistributed uncultivated land away from large landholders (i.e. UFC) which triggered the United States' greatest fear at the...

Amy Robsart was born in 1532 in Norfolk, England to a fairly wealthy farming and grazing family.  When she was almost 18 she married Roberty Dudley, a younger son of the Earl of Warwick.  It was considered to be a love match as opposed to something political or to bind family lines together.  However, soon after they were married, Robert became an obvious favortie of Queen Elizabeth I and many thought the two might marry... if he d...

After a week off, we're back.  This week's topic is Davey Crockett of coonskin hat fame. Crockett is one of those larger than life characters that often seem to show up in early American history.  While most of us know him from The Ballad of Davey Crockett and movies about the Alamo, who was the real Davey Crockett.  Was he an American hero, or a drunk who abandoned his family?  Versions of Crockett's life range from...

Wolves were effectively irradicated from Yellowstone National Park in the early 20th century and were gone until reintroduced through human intervention in 1995.  While many could have predicted what the return of wolves might do to th elk population of the park, the truly remarkable thing is the overall effect on the park all the way down to amount of water runoff.  Take a listen this week and find out about the butterfly effect o...

While we sometimes talk about how the practice of medicine has evolved over time from pure magic and ritual to science-based practice, we often ignore the practice of veterinary medicine and how it evolved and developed.   If anything, people of the Middle Ages were more dependent on their animals and often had a very strong bond, so there was a large market for people that could heal everything from dogs to horses with their magic...

This week's podcast has a bit of a mobster flair.  It's a two parter with the first part dedicated to the life of Henry Hill, the subject of the movie Goodfellas and mentioned a bit previously on our podcast about the Lufthansa Heist.  From there we turn our attention to the Copacabana, the NY nightclub famed for some of it's early mob connections and amazingly still open today (if you believe in the Ship of Theseus)...

In today's episode we turn our attention to a non-cryptid animal that inspires fear in many,.. the shark.  The book and film Jaws have made many afraid to go in the water, but did you know that the events of the book are loosely based on events that happened early in the 20th century?  In July 1916 four people were killed by sharks in 11 days at the Jersey shore, some well inland on a river. The resulting fear and media explos...

The Duchess Elisabeth Amalie Eugenie in Bavaira, better known as Sisi, became the Empress of Austria in 1854 when she married Emperor Franz Jospeh the First.  She was not raised to be a public figure and never quite fit in as Empress.  While she was famed for being beautiful and intelligent, she generally hid from public view and had a controversial reign before being assassinated in 1898.  However, after her reign she has become s...

This week's podcast revolves around a couple of mental health issues and the story surrounding them.  The first is the Pellagratic Delirium or Pellagrous Encephalopathy.  This condition is due to lack of Niacin (vitamin B3) and became a widespread problem in the Venetian Empire after the introduction of corn meal to the diet of the poor population.  This outbreak resulted in the creation of multiple psychiatric hospitals that ...

This week's podcast is dedicated to the search for the Yeti, not the top end drink cooler, but the Cryptid that is rumored to roam the Himalayas eating yaks and sometimes people.  The Yeti has attracted the attention of some very famous mountaineers including Sir Edmund Hillary who spent a decent chuck of the late 50's searching for the creature and claimed to have found its prints on his legendary first summiting of Mt. ...

Mary Anning was a pioneer in the field of paleontology, working in the early 19th Century, she discovered many famous dinosaurs and marine reptiles such as Ichthyosaurus. Her contributions were often overlooked due to her gender and social status, which let to her being ineligible to join the Geological Society of London or often receive no credit for her contributions.  Among other things she is considered to be the subject of the...