History Lessons for Misanthropes

In this episode we discuss the life of Mary Ann Shadd, a teacher, activist, and journalist in the mid-1800s. She was a freeborn black woman who was exposed to the abolitionist movement from a young age, which inspired her to spend her life fighting for the rights of black people in Canada and the United States. While one would think the abolitionist community would welcome any support, Mary Ann's tenacity and drive rubbed many abol...

In this episode, we look at the life and troubled career of Maila Nurmi, who created the Vampira character in 1954. Before creating her iconic glamour ghoul, Maila had a hard time breaking into show business both in Hollywood and Broadway. She struggled with a strict upbringing while not fitting into the expected life for young women. We discuss the relationships she had with elite members of Hollywood, and the later exploitation b...

In this episode we discuss a possession in New France, when a young women named Barbe Hallay was tormented by demons. This is a story of colonization in the 17th century, a land that is trying to keep it's colonial population Catholic in the face of hardships, and a nun who desperately wants sainthood. Was Barbe really possessed? Was it her way of maintining bodily autonomy in a way that was fixable by the church? Are any of these ...

This is the second part of the story of Kenneth Anger. 

The episode begins after Kenneth parts ways with Bobby Beausoleil, and decided to leave San Francisco. His time in England was spent wooing rock stars and socialites, and establishing himself as a man of mystery, magick, and LSD. All the while he was making films and chasing the fame he refused to bend for.

We also think this is the first episode we've done about someone still...

In this first part of a 2-part series, we discuss the early life of Kenneth Anger. Born in Santa Monica, California in 1927, Kenneth was a queer film-maker who idolized Aleister Crowley. He was at the cutting edge of counter-culture, capturing the zeitgeist of gay culture, occulture, and hippie culture. He made films that would inspire film makers from Stan Brakhage to John Waters, establishing his place as the king of mid-20th-cen...

In this episode, Lou discusses the life, achievements (both good and bad) of German chemist Fritz Haber.  Fritz Haber is a Nobel Laureate who devised a method to extract nitrogen from the air into a form that would be used in farming, feeding billions of people.  However, his contributions to science also included warfare that would brand him as the inventor of chemical warfare, and by many of his time as a war criminal. 

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In this episode we discuss the Affair of the Poisons, a brief period in late 17th century Paris where some of the top courtiers got a little bit murder-y. It's a fascinating look at how laws are different for the wealthy and beautiful, and how lower class men and women are prosecuted differently. The story is filled with jealousy, sacrilige, murder, and a plot against King Louis XIV.

Episode suggested by Nicole at Madame Pheonix  

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This episode begins with sharing news about the end of a long fought border dispute between Canada and Denmark, known as the Whiskey War. 

The main subject of the episode is the work of Magnus Hirschfeld, the German doctor who established the first institue of sexual science in Berlin in 1918. The foundation of his medical practice was fighting for the rights of LGBTQ+ people, fighting against the laws and morals of the period. 

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In this episode, we discuss the life of the Swedish artist and mystic, Hilma af Klint. She has been a relatively unknown artist for the past century despite experimenting with abstraction several years before Kandinsky. Her work was completed with the help of spirits who she communicated with, and despite a great interest in esoteric beliefs in the early 20th century, her use of unconventional inspiration, combined with being a wom...

In this episode we discuss the career of possibly the most famous astrologist in all of history, Michel de Nostradame, aka Nostradamus. Join us as we discover how his Jewish family converted to Christianity in the 15th century, his attempt at becoming a self-education physician, his rise to fame among the numerous astrologers in France, and finally how he became the go-to prognosticator of all of history's greatest disasters.

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