PODCAST · history
The History Cache Podcast
by historycachepodcast
History better than fiction. The History Cache podcast excavates through the most primordial interiors of the human experience with in-depth research, an intelligent narrative, and a fairly inexcusable level of nerdery. A history podcast for the most curious of minds.
Episodes
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Sowing History: The Judean Date Palm’s 2,000 Year Old Comeback
For 1,000 years the Judean Date Palm has been extinct, likely wiped out due to human warfare which took a toll on the palm plantations that required copious amount of water and care in the harsh desert environment. The fruit from this particular species was said to be unusually sweet and was…
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From the Cache: Marjorie Courtenay-Latimer and the Coelacanth
It was believed the Coelacanth went extinct along with the dinosaurs around 66 million years ago when the Chicxulub impactor smashed into planet Earth…that was until Marjorie Courtenay-Latimer, curator of the East London Museum, found one in a pile of fish on a dock in South Africa in 1938. This...
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From the Cache: History’s Happy Little Accidents
From the cache! Until an all-new episode premiers this October, please enjoy this recast. Bob Ross, American painter and iconic TV host of the 80s and 90s, famously told us that there are no mistakes, only “happy little accidents.” There are numerous examples of history happening by...
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Unsinkable Sam
During the chaos of World War 2, soldiers on both land and sea found companionship and comfort in the animals they had with them. From horses to goats, the animals serving alongside the soldiers of WW2 saw action on battlefields the world over. Today we’re exploring the life of one particular...
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The Great Stink of 1858
During the summer of 1858, a drought coupled with a heatwave, the lack of a proper sewer system, industrial waste, a booming population, and an increase in the usage of new flush toilets all came together to form a perfect storm of putrid petulance in London that was so bad historians gave it its...
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The Second Life of Betty Robinson
In 1928 Betty Robinson astounded the sports world by winning the first Olympic gold medal in history awarded to a woman for the 100-meter race after only running competitively for five months. While training for the 1932 Olympics set to take place in her home county, Betty was involved in a…
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The Lady Franklin Bay Expedition Part 2: Their Legacy Remains
We continue the story of the tragic Lady Franklin Bay Expedition, also known as the Greely Expedition, in the Canadian Arctic. We pick back up and Camp Clay on Cape Sabine after the crew had fled their previous station when their relief ship had failed to arrive a second year in a row. At their…
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The Lady Franklin Bay Expedition Part 1: No Way Home
In 1881 an expedition to the Arctic led by Lieutenant Adolphus Greely and organized by the US Army set off for Lady Franklin Bay, Canada, well above the Arctic circle. The plan was to establish a temporary meteorological-observation station as part of the First International Polar Year, a…
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Ken Allen: The Hairy Houdini
In the 1980s a series of high profile escapes brought attention to an unlikely culprit. His name was Ken Allen and he just may be the greatest escape artist the animal kingdom has ever seen. Ken was a 250 pound Bornean orangutan born and raised at the San Diego Zoo. Ken escaped his enclosure...
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Édith Piaf: The Little Sparrow, Part 2
Few artists ever rise to the level of talent, fame, and legendary status attained by the remarkable Édith Piaf. Though her life seemed a whirlwind of celebrity and success, in reality La Môme Piaf, or the Little Sparrow, was struggling with a troubled past, depression, and a myriad of health…
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Édith Piaf: The Little Sparrow, Part 1
If heroes get remembered and legends never die, then Édith Piaf will live forever. Édith Piaf was a chanteuse unlike any other of her time. She rose to fame in the 1930s and led a life just as incredible as her music. From a street performer to an icon, Édith overcame incredible obstacles to…
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The Great 1908 New York to Paris Auto Race: The Finale
The finale is here! After nearly 22,000 miles, or over 35,000 kilometers, we finish the Great 1908 New York to Paris Auto Race. This episode covers the entire trek through Siberia and Europe. After nearly six months of a grueling auto race before gas stations, highways, asphalt, road maps, or…
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The Great 1908 New York to Paris Auto Race Part 3
The four remaining cars vying for victory in the 1908 New York to Paris auto race had covered one continent, now there were two to go. In an era before highways and gas stations, nothing about this race had gone as planned. Now, the German Protos was headed for Russia, the Italian Zust, American...
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The Great 1908 New York to Paris Auto Race Part 2
Eleven days into the legendary 1908 New York to Paris auto race, the fastest of the five remaining cars had covered less than 1,000 miles. In this episode our drivers finish shoveling their way across the eastern US, meet the mud of Iowa, the mountain passes of the American Rockies, and the…
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The Great 1908 New York to Paris Auto Race Part 1
In 1908 six cars lined up for the longest, most demanding race the world had ever seen. Their goal was to race, by automobile, from New York City to Paris, France. The route crossed three continents, was just under 22,000 miles (over 35,000 kilometers) long and, of course, nothing went as panned....
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When Harry Met Winnie: The True Story of Winnie the Pooh
In 1914 Harry Colebourn, a Canadian soldier and veterinarian from Winnipeg, was on his way to fight in WW1 when he purchased a bear cub at a train station. That bear would go on to help inspire one of the world's most beloved characters. Her name: Winnie. For nearly a century the stories of…
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Stingy Jack and the Origin of Jack-o’-Lanterns
It’s officially Halloween season and chances are you’ve already seen a considerable amount of Jack-o’-Lanterns. Perhaps you’ve even carved one yourself, taking part in a centuries old tradition. But where does this old Celtic custom come from? Today we explore the origins of Jack-o-Lanterns,...
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From the Cache: A Strange Experiment on Mackinac Island
From the cache! Until an all-new episode this October, please enjoy this recast on Dr. Beaumont's strange experiment on Mackinac Island. In 1822 French Canadian Fur Trader Alexis St Martin was shot in the side at a distance of less than one meter. The experiments following his miraculous survival...
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From the Cache: The Edmund Fitzgerald
From the cache! Until an all-new episode premiers this October, please enjoy this recast on the legendary Edmund Fitzgerald that originally aired in 2020. In 1975 the gales of November billowed out a monster storm over the waters of Lake Superior, and the crew of the Edmund Fitzgerald met it head...
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Ornamental Garden Hermits: History’s Weirdest Job
If you strolled through an English garden in the 1700s, you might have stumbled across someone employed in what just may be history’s weirdest job. Because, in Georgian Britain, it was all the rage to hire your very own ornamental garden hermit. These hired hermits would live in solitude for…
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Joe Carstairs Part 3: The Kingdom of Whale Cay
In this finale episode on the incredible life of Joe Carstairs we examine Joe’s life after she earned her place in history as the fastest woman on water. In 1934 Joe purchased Whale Cay, an island in the Bahamas, then known as the British West Indies. Here she built a life in exile, and…
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Joe Carstairs Part 2: The Fastest Woman on Water
In Part 2 we continue to explore the relentlessly interesting life of Joe Carstairs, known as the fastest woman on water. We cover her impressive series of wins, the records she broke, and her years long pursuit of the famed Harmsworth Trophy against Gar Wood, the cup’s all time most successful...
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Joe Carstairs: The Fastest Woman on Water Part 1
Joe Carstairs is remembered for being the fastest woman on water in the 1920s. She raced power boats, won trophies, and loved adventure and speed. But her life was so much more than races and fast machines. Born in 1900, Joe was a British eccentric, an heiress, openly a lesbian, and shed many...
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The Death of James Dean and the ”Curse” of Little Bastard
On September 30th, 1955 the life of film icon James Dean was tragically cut short while he was driving his brand new Porsche 550 Spyder, which he named “Little Bastard,” to its first race in Salinas when he was involved in a near head on collision. After the wreck, Little Bastard was declared a...
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Historic Pranks
Laughter is a universal language and today we celebrate humor through the ages by exploring three historic pranks. The first involves Anthemius of Tralles, one of the main architects involved in building the Hagia Sophia and a genius who really knew how to hold a grudge. Then we skip ahead…
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History’s Happy Little Accidents
Bob Ross, American painter and iconic TV host of the 80s and 90s, famously told us that there are no mistakes, only “happy little accidents.” There are numerous examples of history happening by accident--archaeologists accidentally stumbling upon a find, scientists accidentally discovering a...
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The Red Ghost: Lost Camels of the American West
In the 1880s a beast was rampaging through the deserts of Arizona. Known as the Red Ghost, this creature quickly became thrust into legend and folklore, but it was an echo of a real piece of history. The Red Ghost, which may have existed—not as a monster but as a camel—was a remnant of a piece of...
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Shackleton Update: ENDURANCE FOUND
Shackleton’s Endurance has been found! In this special bonus episode, we explore everything we know so far about the find. The Endurance was the ship that carried Shackleton and his crew towards what they thought would be an Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, which began in 1914. However, ice...
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On Cheating Death and Inventing the Saxophone
In 1846 Antoine-Joseph "Adolphe" Sax received his patent for the saxophone, but not before he cheated death at least seven times. He was so accident prone that his own mother didn’t believe he would survive childhood. His close calls with death earned him the nickname “Little Sax the Ghost.”…
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A Heist at Lincoln’s Tomb and the Snarky Farewell of Mr. Accordion
In 1876 a bumbling group of Chicago counterfeiters broke into Abraham Lincoln’s tomb in Oak Ridge Cemetery, Illinois, after formulating a plot to steal the president’s body and use it as leverage to get counterfeiter Benjamin Boyd released from prison. Boyd worked for small-time crime boss Big…
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The Real Treasure Island
350 miles off the cost of Costa Rica lies the legendary Cocos Island. Over the centuries it’s been a refuge for pirates, mutinous mariners, and the obsession of hundreds of treasure hunters. Some believe it was the original inspiration for Robert Louis Stevenson's novel Treasure Island. Though...
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Stagecoach Mary
There are many legendary figures who emerged from the American Wild West. In this all new episode we explore the life of the lesser known, though no less incredible, Mary Fields, who has come to be known as Stagecoach Mary. Born enslaved, Mary was emancipated around the age of 33 after the…
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Hans Trapp the Christmas Scarecrow
A mythical holiday legend grew from the life of Hans von Trotha, a medieval knight who served in both the German Palatinate and the French court of Louis XII. His life had some tumultuous twists and turns: excommunication, exile, and a row with a Benedictine abbot over Berwartstein Castle that...
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The 1904 Olympic Marathon: History‘s Most Ridiculous Race
The 1904 Olympic marathon is remembered as history’s most bizarre race. Running in tandem with the St. Louis World’s Fair, or the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, the 1904 Olympics were the first games hosted by the US. Given the disorganization, poor international turnout, and competition with the...
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When History Falls From the Sky
48.5 tons of meteoric material falls onto our planet every day, which has made for some stellar history. Today we explore history that has fallen from the sky. We begin in Egypt by examining the meteorite dagger of Tutankhamun, then we travel to Sylacauga, Alabama in the year 1954 when Ann...
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The Raven
In 1845 Edgar Allen Poe first published his now iconic poem The Raven. Come hear the full reading of this legendary literary tale in this bonus Halloween mini episode.
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Hulda of Bohemia: The ”Witch‘” of Sleepy Hollow
About 30 miles north of Manhattan lies the town of Sleepy Hollow. Made famous by Washington Irving’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, this nook in the Hudson Valley is home to legends and history alike. A real, lesser known figure in the history of this region is a woman the townsfolk called Hulda of...
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600 Years of Animals Put on Trial
We’ve been putting animals on trial probably as long as we’ve been putting one another on trial. In this episode we examine several animal trials spanning nearly a 600-year period. We cover six trials extending over three continents: A monkey in Hartlepool accused of espionage, a murderous pig in...
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Marjorie Courtenay-Latimer and the Coelacanth
It was believed the Coelacanth went extinct along with the dinosaurs around 66 million years ago when the Chicxulub impactor smashed into planet Earth…that was until Marjorie Courtenay-Latimer, curator of the East London Museum, found one in a pile of fish on a dock in South Africa in 1938. This...
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The Monte Vista Hotel: Where History Meets Lore
The Monte Vista Hotel in Flagstaff, Arizona is a place where history and lore are inseparably intertwined. Built in 1927, this 73-room hotel and cocktail bar has seen prohibition, a speakeasy, mysterious underground tunnels, historic radio broadcasts, Hollywood, and some swear a ghost or two.…
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The Real Scorpion King
Over 5,200 years ago a king rose to power in Upper Egypt. His name was Scorpion. Yes, there was a real Scorpion king, and we can piece together a fragmentary picture of his life through the archaeological evidence left behind. Though the details of his life are debated, it’s clear he was an...
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The Disappearance of Glen and Bessie Hyde
In 1928 Glen and Bessie Hyde struck out to make history. They wanted to raft down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon at a time when only 45 people in recorded history had dared to make that journey. If successful, they would set a new speed record, and Bessie would be the first woman in...
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Escape from the Amazon
It’s incredibly unlikely you’ll ever be involved in a plane crash. Its also incredibly unlikely you’ll ever be struck by lightning. Both of those things happened to Juliane Koepcke at the same time. In 1971, she and her mother were making their way from Lima to Pucallpa, Peru, when their plane...
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A Victorian Murder Most Foul
In 1879 the Victorian world was shocked by one of the most sensational murders it would ever see. When Kate Webster killed, dismembered, and boiled her employer Julia Martha Thomas, she went down in history as one of the most notorious killers of the 19th century. Find out all the gory details…
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Shackleton in 30 Minutes(ish)
This is the story of Shackleton and the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914-1916 as presented at this year’s 2021 Intelligent Speech Conference. The theme this year was escape and in the last expedition of the Heroic Age of Arctic Exploration, Shackleton and his crew pulled off the…
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Stealing the Mona Lisa
She has one of the most recognizable smiles in the world, but why is the Mona Lisa so famous? She is undoubtedly a masterpiece, but didn’t become a worldwide sensation until 1911 when Vincenzo Peruggia stole her from the Louvre museum in Paris. It has been dubbed by some as the greatest art theft...
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The Shark Attacks of 1916
Decades before the movie phenomenon of Jaws, our fear of sharks was ignited by a series of real shark attacks that all occurred within a 12-day period in the summer of 1916. Before these attacks along the New Jersey shore, many believed sharks were not capable of killing or attacking humans. This...
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Bessie Coleman: A Legend in Flight
The turn of the 20th century was an incredible time for aviation and in 1892, eleven years before the Wright Brothers’ famous flight, a pilot was born. Bessie Coleman, known as Queen Bess, was the first African American and the first Indigenous American to receive an international pilot’s license...
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Historical Oddities Part 2: The Incredible Afterlife of Outlaw Elmer McCurdy and the London Bridge of Arizona
In Part 2 of the Historical Oddities series, we uncover two strange pieces of history. In the 1970’s when the crew of the Six Million Dollar Man was shooting an episode inside a funhouse in Long Beach, California, they accidentally stumbled upon something unexpected…the dead, mummified body of…
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Historical Oddities Part 1: Frank Hayes, the Unsinkable Violet Jessop, and Jack the Incredible Baboon
History is weird sometimes. In this first episode of a two-part series, we discuss historical oddities, and highlight some of the most curious events and people history has to offer. Today we begin with Frank Hayes, an unstoppable jockey, and Sweet Kiss, a bay mare no one was betting on. She and...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
History better than fiction. The History Cache podcast excavates through the most primordial interiors of the human experience with in-depth research, an intelligent narrative, and a fairly inexcusable level of nerdery. A history podcast for the most curious of minds.
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historycachepodcast
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does The History Cache Podcast have?
The History Cache Podcast currently has 87 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is The History Cache Podcast about?
History better than fiction. The History Cache podcast excavates through the most primordial interiors of the human experience with in-depth research, an intelligent narrative, and a fairly inexcusable level of nerdery. A history podcast for the most curious of minds.
How often does The History Cache Podcast release new episodes?
The History Cache Podcast has 87 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to The History Cache Podcast?
You can listen to The History Cache Podcast on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts The History Cache Podcast?
The History Cache Podcast is created and hosted by historycachepodcast.
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