History Fix
In each episode of History Fix, I discuss lesser known stories from history that you won't be able to stop thinking about. Need your history fix? You've come to the right place.
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Episodes
144 episodes
Ep. 134 the Witch of Pungo: How Grace Sherwood Became the Only Convicted Witch In Virginia and What Her Story Has to Teach Us Now
As it sometimes does, this week's topic presented itself to me. Determined to find out why the little known story of a woman most people have never heard of needed to be told so badly, I dug in. Join me to uncover the story of Grace Sherwood fo...
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Episode 134
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Ep. 133 Axeman of New Orleans: How a Serial Killer Terrorizing New Orleans Acquired a Reputation as a Jazz Enthusiast
Welcome to Spooktober! It's my favorite month on History Fix because I get to bust out all of the spooky stories I've been saving. This week, we're talking about the notorious serial killer who operated in New Orleans in the nineteen teens know...
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Episode 133
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Ep. 132 Lost Cities Part 2: How Ancient Metropolises Have Been Forgotten to Some and Rediscovered
I'm back again this week with four more "lost cities" for you. First we'll explore the Egyptian city of Thonis-Heracleion that literally sank beneath the Mediterranean Sea and was rediscovered some 1,200 years later. Next, we'll hop over ...
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Episode 132
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Ep. 131 Lost Cities Part 1: How Ancient Metropolises Have Been Forgotten to Some and Rediscovered
We'll be visiting 8 lost cities over the next couple of weeks! This week we'll journey to an ancient city of mythic proportions that most thought to be fictional until it was actually discovered in the mid 1800s: Troy of Homer's Iliad ...
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Episode 131
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47:05
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Ep. 130 Shakespeare: How An Uneducated Nobody Penned the Greatest Collection of Literary Works Ever Written... or Did He?
William Shakespeare is undoubtedly one of the greatest literary geniuses of all time. Author of over 30 plays and over 150 poems, he masterfully knit together over 20,000 English words, all out inventing some 1,700 of them, to beautifully captu...
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Episode 130
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Ep. 129 Richard III: How the “Parking Lot King” Rose, Reigned, Fell, and Was Rediscovered Over 500 Years Later
In this week's episode, I delve farther into one of the character's from last week's episode about the War of the Roses: Richard III. Richard is a highly misunderstood historical figure, whose reputation was tainted by later Tudor propaganda du...
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Episode 129
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Ep. 128 War of the Roses: How the Real Life Game of Thrones Ended With An Unexpected Victor
Link to family tree! Game of Thrones is typically considered to be the most popular television show of all time based on its massi...
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Episode 128
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Ep. 127 Education: Why Our Failing Education System Has Missed the Mark for 12,000 Years
In this episode, I tackle the history of education from prehistoric hunter-gatherer days all the way to today. We'll look at the many motives that have shaped the education and formal schooling of children from the agricultural revolution, thro...
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Episode 127
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46:51
Ep. 126 Shackleton: How Endurance Expedition Leader Ernest Shackleton Pulled Off the Most Successful Failure
This week I'm tackling a topic that's been on my mind for quite some time: Ernest Shackleton and the Endurance Expedition. Shackleton was really a huge failure. Almost everything this man did failed. He failed to reach the South Pole first. He ...
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Episode 126
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Ep. 125 LSD: How This “Wonder Drug” Cycled Its Way Through Medical, Government, and Counterculture Communities
Discovered accidentally in the 1930s, studied as a possible psychiatric wonder drug, used by the CIA in highly unethical clandestine mind control experiments for project MKUltra during the cold war, adopted by the counterculture hippies of the ...
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Episode 125
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Ep. 124 Frances Grey: How the Vilified Mother of Lady Jane Grey May Not Have Deserved Her Reputation
This episode was supposed to be about Lady Jane Grey, the "Nine Days Queen" who was hastily placed on the English throne following the death of Henry VIII's son Edward VI, usurping his older sister Mary. But as I researched Jane Grey, I came ac...
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Episode 124
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Ep. 123 Joan of Arc: How a Teenage Peasant Girl Helped Turn the Tide of the Hundred Years War
Join me this week as I recount the unbelievable true story of Joan of Arc, the 16 year old peasant girl who dressed in mens clothing and led French armies to victory in the 1420s. Something like this happening today seems near impossible, but i...
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Episode 123
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Ep. 122 Salt: How the Cheapest Thing at the Grocery Store Was Once Worth Its Weight In Gold
This week is all about the history of salt! Yes, salt. You've probably never given it much thought. It sits in a salt shaker on your kitchen counter, spice rack, or cabinet. You can buy a pound of it for 76 cents at Walmart right now. But, beli...
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Episode 122
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33:35
Special Release Mini Fix #10: Varina Davis
Varina Howell Davis, wife of Jefferson Davis and First Lady of the Confederacy played the part well. She was educated, graceful, the picture of antebellum perfection. She hosted elegant soirees at the Confederate white house in Richmond, Virgin...
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Ep. 121 Thomas Jefferson: How America's Golden Boy Refused to Practice What He Preached
Thomas Jefferson was America's golden boy. Author of the Declaration of Independence, secretary of state under George Washington, vice president to John Adams, and 3rd president of the United States, he penned famous words like "all men are cre...
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Episode 121
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46:47
Ep. 120 Great Flood: What the Story of Noah's Great Flood Says About Our Collective Human Experience
Back this week with one final, somewhat nautical episode to round out the month of June. This week we're talking about the Great Flood of Noah's Ark fame. It's one of the best known bible stories. But did you know, it doesn't end there? Almost ...
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Episode 120
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Ep. 119 Magellan: How Ferdinand Magellan Claimed the Credit Without Actually Circumnavigating the Earth
In keeping with the nautical theme I accidentally adopted this month, I'll be exploring the rather misleading story of sixteen century Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan this week. Magellan's claim to fame is being the first person to circu...
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Episode 119
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38:44
Ep. 118 Shipwrecks Part 2: How Time Capsules of the Sea Have Provided Important Discoveries and Posed Difficult Questions
I'm back this week with four more shipwreck stories. We'll start with the horrific explosion of the Mississippi river steamboat, the Sultana in 1865. Next, we'll tackle the Titanic which famously sank in 1912, killing around 1,500 passengers. O...
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Episode 118
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Ep. 117 Shipwrecks Part 1: How Time Capsules of the Sea Have Provided Important Discoveries and Posed Difficult Questions
This week, we'll uncover the stories of four different shipwrecks. I'll start with an ancient Roman ship found near the Greek island of Antikythera which sank around 60 to 70 BC with mind blowing treasures on board. Next, I'll talk about the si...
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Episode 117
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Ep. 116 UNESCO: How the Preservation of Our Collective History Became a Global Mission with Gary Arndt
This week I teamed up with fellow podcaster and prolific world traveler, Gary Arndt, from the "Everything Everywhere Daily" podcast to talk about UNESCO, an or...
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Episode 116
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45:58
Ep. 115 Vietnam: War Through the Lens of a Conscientious Objector with Bruce Wasser
This week we're talking about the Vietnam War, one of the most unpopular wars in US history. Tomorrow is Memorial Day and while I very much want to honor and remember the over 58,000 Americans who lost their lives fighting for their country in ...
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Episode 115
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Ep. 114 The Found Colony of Roanoke?: How New Evidence Uncovered on Hatteras Island May Put the “Lost Colony” Myth to Bed Once and For All
This week I’m very excited to share with you some recent developments in the story of the “Lost Colony” of Roanoke. I’m joined by Scott Dawson, who runs the Lost Colony Museum in the town of Buxton, on Hatteras Island. For a long time, Scott ha...
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Episode 114
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57:21
Ep. 113 Infant Feeding: How Breastfeeding Has Been a Challenge and a Controversy Throughout Time
This episode is all about the history of feeding babies which has been necessary and yet surprisingly difficult since the beginning of mankind. In fact, it's so necessary that to forgo it, up until very recently, the last hundred years or so, w...
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Episode 113
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48:11
Ep. 112 Adolf Hitler Part 2: How a Monster Is Made - Lessons to Learn From the Rise of Germany's Infamous Dictator
This week, we'll continue digging into the story of infamous Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler, beginning where we left off last week with the Reichstag Fire, a suspicious incident that led to the destruction of democracy and withdrawal of civil liber...
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Episode 112
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Ep. 111 Adolf Hitler Part 1: How a Monster Is Made - Lessons to Learn From the Rise of Germany's Infamous Dictator
Throughout all of history there is one name that rises above all the others possibly as the most depraved, heinous, vile human being ever to have walked the planet. Humans worldwide almost unanimously agree, some from the start but most in hind...
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Episode 111
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