American Esoterica
American history, bite-sized. These are the stories that may have slipped through the cracks - the odd detours that have shaped our history and culture in small, but sometimes significant, ways.
Episodes
It could have been a day like any other...but it wasn't.
A pig, Robert's Rules of Order, Vancouver, and George Pickett. And the dumbest pseudo-war until the next one in this series.
There is still YET ANOTHER killing in Lafayette Square to discuss, but this story could've gone in a far worse direction. Come for the oddly pleasant death-dealing, stay for the host yelling at his dog for chewing on the studio acoustic panels.
Forget what you think you know about the deadliest fire in American history.
The real story that likely inspired a fake story, and it's way more heartbreaking. This one is a three-hankie episode.
We actually had genuine royalty in this country once, and no, I don't mean Beyoncé (or Queen Bey, as those of us who are true fans call her). And in New Jersey, of all places.
Remember that time that somebody almost assassinated JFK? Probably not.
A baker's dozen colonies? A regular dozen? Fourteen? Fifteen? Twenty-six? HOW MANY COLONIES WERE THERE?
Here's another round of lightning-fast-ish presidential trivia, from the devil to the Beast and everything in-between.
The tip of Lake Michigan is just the tip of the iceberg that spins out into a war between the states. Two states, that is.
THIS ONE'S GOT IT ALL, FOLKS - hucksters, country music, goat testicles, pirate radio, patent medicines, wire fraud, William Jennings Bryan...you name it! This is the bizarre story of how rural America fell in love with country music.
Meet Herman Hollerith - the founder of your digital world and archnemesis to The Count on Sesame Street.
We all know that THE story about George Washington isn't true, but what if what we've been wrong about all this time is that the story is KINDA true-ish?
Sometimes American cultural greatness runs in very concentrated pockets.
"Fool me once, shame on...shame on you. Fool me—you can't get fooled again..." - George W. Bush.
There's one order that holds the record for maybe the most antisemitic government act in American history, and it both complicates and haunts the legacy of someone otherwise perceived as a hero.
Attacking the Union from the south just wasn't cutting it. So why not attack from the north instead? GENIUS.
Lincoln loved the theater, although he might have a different opinion in retrospect. Yes, we're doing another Lincoln one. Yes, it includes some startling coincidences.
This one is about Beyoncé’s stepfather’s ex-wife’s uncle. (It's also the incredible story of a family that lifted each other to unheard-of heights.)
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