The Weird History Podcast

The Weird History Podcast


Latest Episodes

236 Piracy in the South China Sea with Rita Chang-Eppig
May 11, 2023

By all reasonable metrics Shek Yeung, who raided the South China Sea in the early 1800s, is one of the most successful pirates of all time. In her new novel Deep as the Sky, Red as the Sea author Rita

235 Shakespeare Versus Hedgehogs
March 01, 2023

William Shakespeare seems to have hated hedgehogs. We dont quite know why, but it could have something to do with how the tiny animal is depicted by the Roman scholar Pliny the Elder. Special Thanks

234 Lupercalia
February 13, 2023

Before Valentines Day, ancient Romans celebrated a festival of fertility in the shadow of the Palatine Hill. Lupercalia was a popular holiday that featured blood, goat sacrifice, and getting whipped

233 The Golden Fortress with Bill Lascher
October 09, 2022

During the Dust Bowl city officials in Los Angeles, fueled by anti-communist paranoia and xenophobia, were determined to keep migrants out of California. To that end, they dispatched the LAPD to remot

232 Navigating the Asian Maritime World with Eric Tagliacozzo
July 11, 2022

Eric Tagliacozzo is a professor of history at Cornell University, and his new book In Asian Waters: Oceanic Worlds From Yemen to Yokohama outlines five centuries of maritime history in the Asian world

231 The History of Archaeology with Ann R. Williams
January 23, 2022

Archaeology has changed considerably over the past century. In this episode, we spoke with Ann R. Williams of National Geographic about the new book Lost Cities Ancient Tombs, significant discoveries

230 The Adventures of Mussolini’s Corpse
November 08, 2021

After his death in 1945, Mussolinis corpse was autopsied and thrown into a paupers grave. But, that was just the beginning of the cadavers posthumous career. Eventually the body was stolen by neofa

229 Douglas Wolk on All of the Marvels
October 12, 2021

The Marvel Universe is massive. Marvel comics go back well over half a century, and span thousands upon thousands of pages. Reading all of them would be a Herculean undertaking. And one man, Douglas W

228 The Mustache Strike
September 05, 2021

In 1907 French waiters went on strike, and won the right to wear facial hair.

227 The Rasputin Disclaimer
August 11, 2021

Nearly every English-language movie has a disclaimer in the credits that says something like This is a work of fiction. Any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events, is purely c