Anachronismo‪!‬ Max, Jackie and Noel

We're back with the further adventures of the Koh-i-Noor diamond, the famously cursed and huge diamond of the Mughal empire as it makes it's way from it's homeland to the hands of Queen Victoria. It's a journey that has thrills, chills, spills and terrible deaths from diease and violence, as the diamond works it's dark magic.


Then, do you ever wonder if folks from the past looked up at the moon, thinking about what might be there and yearned to ... trade with it? Find out the science, theories and just plain lies that we told ourselves way back when as we delve into Moon People!

Just the core team today as we jump into the history of piggy banks and the New England vampire scare!


First, learn how piggy banks came to be, from a type of clay alled Pygge that was used to make money jars, to the pacific islands and boar-shaped pottery, to the innovation of the rubber plug. The piggy bank ranges far and wide!


Then, learn about how New Englanders of the 17 and 1800s reacted when Tuberculosis broke out in their communities, and the chain of reasoning that led them to conclude that vampires were to blame. If you ever exhume a skeleton with a stake in it's chest, you'll know that tuberculosis, organ burning and folk remedies were to blame!

John Serpico joins us to talk about the insane history of the papal interregnum. Now we know that talking about the period between the death of one pope and the election of the next sounds boring, but it was hog wild. When the old pope died, all the prisoners in vatican city were released, and the government was non-existent until a new pope was elected, which could take months or even years. So Rome turned into an all you can kill murderfest as prisoners sought revenge and people hired mercenaries to keep themselves safe. Incredible.


Then, Jackie tells us all about Annie Edison Taylor, the first person to go over Niagara Falls on purpose and live. Annie was a dance teacher who had fallen on hard times, over and over and over. After an attempt on her life when she was moving up north, she decided that her best way to swell the ranks of her dance school was to raise some publicity by going over the falls in a barrel of her own design.


Along the way we find out about Max's secret swordfighting past, the real way they elected popes, and the nature of waterfall whales.

Special guest Garth Goldwater joins us this week to talk about the Goat Man. Who was the goat man you ask? A shadowy figure in the night, dressed in a costume designed to strike terror into the hearts of criminals? A horrifying half-man half-ungulate abomination? A man who drove an iron cart pulled by goats, preaching about goat power for almost a hundred years? Yes. The last one. You got it! The Goat Man, or Charles "Chess" McCartney, was a figure of lore on the American highways from the 1900s up through the 80s. That's right, this dude who drank goat milk for every meal and burned tires to cook his food over was around the same time as Nixon. It's wild.


Then, Max brings us into the mysterious world of the ancient Athenian symposeum, the ancient tradition of drinking, talking, making merry, drinking some more, singing, eating,l drinking, telling stories about drinking, and drinking some more. The Athenians had intricate and weird customs around each of these, and special rooms to drink and party in. Ok, we know it just sounds like a frat party, but trust us, it's far stranger.

Today we're talking about the Year Without a Summer and the disaster that was 1904 Olympic Games.
The year was 1816. A series of volcanic eruptions had spewed dust into the atmosphere, lowering GLOBAL temperatures and leaving a blood-red fog in the sky. Crops failed, people died, and... Mary Shelly wrote Frankenstein?!? Sure it was a disaster, but tune in to find out how this year where everyone was hungry also inspired paintings, recipes, and the invention of the bicycle!


After that, Jackie takes us into the world of the 1904 Olympic games. The games, recently resurreted, were at odds with the World's Fair, which blackmailed the organizers into holding the games in St. Louis. No offense to ST Louie, but most European athletes just didn't want to go. And we can't really hold it against them, since the games were a twisted carnival of racism, poor planning, and the most incredibly stupid marathon we've ever heard of. A marathon with only 32 contestants and only 14 finishers. Between a stupidly hilly course, an experiment in dehydration and ANGRY DOGS, it's a miracle that no one died. And that's not even getting started on the racist 'human zoo' taking place back at home camp! It's insane, and you have to hear about it.

Happy new year all!
We return with two tales of weird history - first, Max reveals his research into the pipe smoking culture of Victorian England, with stops along the way to revel in the crazy things that we've done with and to tobacco over the ages. From Reeking Gallants to city-sized snuff factories, prepare to get weird.


Then, Noel takes us through the life of Ferdinand Waldo Demara, the most prolific imposter in history! By the time he was 30, Ferdinand had lived 10 different lives, in different places and professions, and not easy professions either. He impersonated a monk, a professor, a zoologist, a surgeon and so much more, with the aid of his photographic memory and incredible confidence.


Along the way, we make jokes about farting horses, incredulous popes, and teeny tiny baby pipes.