The Path of the Headless Horseman
In my first spooky episode for October, I look at the real, historical basis of Washington Irving's story, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, as w...
Radio and PodcastLive Radio & Podcasts
Society & Culture
Historical Blindness
The Historical Blindness podcast is a podcast about history’s myths, mysteries, and forgotten truths. By examining cases of outrageous hoaxes, pernicious conspiracy theory, mass delusion, ba...
Episodes
20 of 250 episodes
Hibernian Hokum: Irish Origins and the Stone of Destiny
In this new episode, I explore the various claims about the origins of the Irish people and a certain legendary magical stone, which require...
The Atlantis Fantasy - Part Three: Location, Location, Location
In the last part of my series on belief in the historicity of Atlantis, I look at the problems with all the many places proposed as the actu...
The Atlantis Fantasy - Part Two: A Convenient Fiction
In part 2 of my series on belief in the historicity of Atlantis, I look at how the myth was kept alive through the ages because it convenien...
The Atlantis Fantasy - Part One: The Platonic Idea
This series explores belief in the long-lived myth of Atlantis. In this first part, I look at the origin of the story in Plato's Timaeus and...
Common Séance; A History of Spiritualism - Part Two: Manifestly False
In the conclusion of my look at the practice of mediumship, its origins and its fraudulence, I trace the evolution of Spiritualism into a ne...
Common Séance; A History of Spiritualism - Part One: The Fox Sisters, Rap Artists
In this new 2-part series, I look at the practice of mediumship, its origins and its fraudulence. In Part One, I talk examine the originator...
The Shape of Things; An Intellectual History of Flat Earth Theory - Part Two: Stunt Performers and Grifters
In part two of my series on the history of Flat Earth Theory, I talk about the devotees of Flat Earthism, who promote it through publicity s...
The Shape of Things; An Intellectual History of Flat Earth Theory - Part One: Zetetic Astronomy
In part one of a new series on the history of Flat Earth Theory, I talk about ancient conceptions of the Earth's flatness, ancient proofs of...
Moonstruck! Debunking Apollo Hoax Claims - Part Two: Dignifying Lunarcy
In part two of my series on the long-lived claims that the Apollo program was a hoax, I look more closely at the "evidence" of denialists an...
Moonstruck! Debunking Apollo Hoax Claims - Part One: An Astronomical Amount of Evidence
In part one of a two-part series, I review all the positive evidence proving humanity reached the Moon to refute long-lived claims that the...
Wunderwaffe: The Myths of Nazi Supertechnology - Part Two, The Bell Hoax
In part 2 of my series on the myth that Nazis developed supertechnology, I look at the growth of this conspiracy theory and later hoaxes, li...
Wunderwaffe: The Myths of Nazi Supertechnology - Part One, The Vril Fiction
In part 1 of a 2-parter, I explore the myth that Nazis developed supertechnology, like flying saucers, looking at both the reality of German...
Versailles Time-Slip: The Moberly-Jourdain Incident
In this episode, I look into an early 20th century claim of a supernatural encounter with the past. Did two Oxford dons really see Marie Ant...
Under the Pink Triangle: Transgender Experience in Interwar Germany
In this episode, I continue to look at the topic of women's persecution under fascism then pivot, in observation of International Trans Visi...
The Martyrdom of Hypatia of Alexandria
In this episode, I kick off women's history month with the story of the much mythologized but undeniably symbolic and important Hypatia of A...
The Gun Controllers: Freedom, Firearms, and Fear of Black Power
In this episode, I talk about the history of gun rights and gun control as a history of systemic racism. Check out the sho...
Crispus Attucks, American Martyr
In this episode, I talk about Crispus Attucks, a figure in Black history both lauded as the first martyr of American liberty and maligned as...
Doomsday Deferred: The Failed Predictions of American Millennialism
In this episode, I recount TikTok's recent brush with rapture predictions and then survey America's deep history of failed millennialist pre...
The Great Alignment Lie
In this year's season premiere, I return to my series on the myths and legends of the Indiana Jones franchise, this time examining the ideas...