Introducing “Zombie History”

You’re listening to Zombie History. Conversations with significant people from the past… who are dead. I’m Ron Stauffer, and I’ll be your host on this conversational journey through history.Have you ever wondered what it would be like if you could find long-dead historical figures and talk to them about their lives and hear them explain, first-hand, why they did what they did?Or how the surrounding context of the particular era they lived in informed their decisions and actions? I sure have. What if you somehow had the ability to:* Ask Picasso where cubism came from and what his “blue period” was all about?* Learn why John the Baptist wore camel skins and ate locusts and honey in the desert?* Find out if Albert Einstein regretted encouraging the development of atomic weapons?* Get Napoleon’s own explanation for why he chose to invade Russia when it was clearly one of the biggest wartimes blunders in history?* …and discover who on earth John Hancock really was, and why a man with such a seemingly insignificant role in the American Revolution put such a ridiculously oversized signature on the Declaration of Independence?If that sounds interesting to you, join me in this podcast as I exhume the bodies of many significant historical figures, plop them down in a big, overstuffed chair in my living room, put a cigar in their mouths and a glass of brandy in their hands, and ask them the questions about their lives that have kept me up at night.Basically, I talk to dead people.When I meet new people in an unfamiliar environment, one of the most common icebreaker-type games starts with a question like:“If you could meet any historical figure, who would it be, and why?”I’ve never known exactly how to answer that. There are just SO many “historical figures” — how could I possibly choose just one? Do I have to choose just one?And even if I could decide who I wanted to meet, if I were somehow able to talk to that person face-to-face, what would I even say? What would I ask? What would he or she say in return? Would it be an interesting conversation or an incredibly awkward waste of time?Also, how on earth could I meet a historical figure from the past anyway? They’re dead! As we all know, “dead men tell no tales.”UNTIL NOW!In this experimental podcast, I will attempt to satisfy my historical curiosity in a way that we never could before. Using the power of artificial intelligence, I will identify people from long ago, resurrect their spirits, and create a NEW dialogue with an OLD figure in a conversation that is as historically informed as possible.Fair warning: I have never tried this before, and I’m not exactly sure how it will turn out. I don’t know where these fireside chats will go or what topics I’ll cover with each dead person.If that sounds interesting to you, subscribe to this podcast, and let’s see, together, where this grand experiment takes me as I uncover the greatest, newest ghost stories.Thanks for listening to Zombie History, where we provide history lessons from beyond the grave. For more information about the show, visit zombiehistory.com.This is Zombie History.HISTORY LESSONS… FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE.For more information about the show, visit zombiehistory.com.Zombie History is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit zombiehistory.com