A podcast about myths we think are history and history that might be hidden in myths! Awesome stories that really (maybe) happened!
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In this throwback episode Sebastian takes you to an episode that is one of his personal favorites. Is it "secretly" one of the best episode of OFH? The character of Stagger Lee has been one of America’s most enduring folk heroes. There have been over 400 songs written about the swaggering, gun-toting, bad man. He has gone by many names: Stacks Lee, Stagolee, Staxs O’Lee. Sometimes he is presented…
With a new star-studded film adaptation of The Odyssey bringing Homer's world back to the big screen, it’s the perfect time to share a teaser clip from our friends at You're Dead To Me. It's the BBC comedy podcast that takes history seriously, bringing together experts and comedians to explore the people, stories and ideas that shaped our world. If you like what you hear you can find full episodes…
In this throwback episode Sebastian takes you to the conclusion of one of the podcast's most discussed series. The island of Rapa Nui, or Easter Island, has been called “the clearest example of a society that destroyed itself.” For years it was taken for granted that the people of Rapa Nui had depleted their natural resources in pursuit of bigger and better stone statues called Moai. However,…
In this Throwback Episode Sebastian revisits one of the best loved series from Season 6. Easter Island, or Rapa Nui as the indigenous islanders call it, may be the most misunderstood place on planet Earth. For centuries outsiders have tried to unravel what they perceived to be the islands many mysteries. How did stone age people manage to get to such a remote island? How did these people build the…
In this Throwback Episode Sebastian revisits one of his favourite episodes from Season 7 and brings in some new critiques that did not make it into the original show! The legendary hybrid creature known as the gryphon was said to have the body of a lion and the head and wings of an eagle. Despite this fantastical descriptions the ancient Greeks and Romans truly seemed to have believed that…
Rhiannon Giddens is a multi-instrumentalist, a singer, and a composer. She is a MacArthur Genius fellow, a Pulitzer Prize winner, and one the most dynamic voices in American folk and roots music performing today. She’s also one of the knowledgeable people you can possibly talk to when it comes to history of the banjo and American music generally. In the finale of season 11 Ms. Giddens joins…
On this Bonus Episode Sebastian takes questions about the recent series on the Knights of the Air and the one-off on the Midnight Ride. The host grapples with questions about the American perception of Canadian history, tarring and feathering, WWI weaponry, and Paul Revere's plagiarized engravings. Sebastian also gives some important updates about the end of Season 11, the start of Season 12, and…
Paul Revere is one of the best remembered heroes of the American Revolution. The Boston silversmith is often credited with rousing the Massachusetts countryside to resist the King's army as they moved against the towns of Lexington and Concord. However, he popular understanding of the famous "midnight ride" was largely shaped by a romantic poem written 85 years after the fact by Henry Wadsworth…
By 1916 the airplane had proven itself as an important new weapon in the Great War. Arguably just as important was the image of the glamorous flying aces. Entire flying units, like France's Lafayette Escadrille made up of American volunteers, were created with the hope of generating positive press that could bring the United States into the war on the side of allies. When America did join WWI in…
At the outbreak of First World War airplanes were still a novelty on the battlefield. Originally planes were used for reconnaissance and the pilots were usually unarmed. This quickly changed and soon airplanes were being outfitted with machine guns and tasked specifically with destroying enemy aircraft. Fighter pilots were a new type of warrior, but ironically they started to be described in…
In this bonus episode Sebastian takes questions about episode 249, 250, and 251. First, he does his best to grapple with how morality should factor into history education. Then a listener provides an epic email about Orson Welles' legendary production of "Voodoo Macbeth" and cursed run of Romeo and Juliet. Finally, Sebastian looks at the weird legacy of the phrase "bunga bunga." Tune-in and find…
When the HMS Dreadnought was launched in 1906 it completely revolutionized naval warfare. It made all previous ships obsolete and helped spur an arms race between Britain and Germany. For many the Dreadnought was symbol of the militarism that was sweeping Europe before World War One. Then in 1910 the ship was targeted by pranksters, who managed to get access to Dreadnought by impersonating…
Every theatre kid can tell you that Shakespeare's Tragedy of Macbeth is a cursed play. Some believe that even saying the name of the play in a theatre where it is not being performed can jinx a production. Stories of misfortune, injury, and death haunt productions of Macbeth like the ghost of a slain friend. It has been suggested that the curse of Macbeth goes all the way back to it's first…
The Roman Empire is often remembered for it's grand works of architecture and formidable military. However, for most of its history Rome's economy was underpinned by the labour of millions of individuals who had been forced into slavery. Despite the fact that enslaved people quite literally built Rome, their lives were rarely recorded by the ancient historians. In her new book Not Built In a Day…
In this bonus episode Sebastian takes question from the listeners about the recent episodes on Henry Box Brown and Snow White. First, we hear some comments from a listener in Iceland who wanted to weigh in on the North American Vikings. Then Sebastian unpacks some tricky questions about the line between activism and entertainment. Finally the host muses about the Mandela Effect and considers an…
The Brothers Grimm once write that "Snow White" was Germany's best known folktale. When the beloved fairytale served as the inspiration for the famous 1937 Disney film the story reached new levels of international recognition. There are many elements of the Snow White tale that seem to be timeless mythic tropes, but there are some in Germany who believe that the character may have been based on a…
One of the most celebrated stories from the Underground Railroad is that of Henry Box Brown, the man who mailed himself to freedom. In 1849 Henry Brown successfully had himself shipped out of slavery in a packing crate from Richmond, Virginia, to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Brown's ingenious and audacious escape from slavery immediately caught the attention of abolitionists all over the country.…
In this bonus episode Sebastian takes questions about the recent series on the Viking voyages to North America. In it he reckons with the history of slavery in the Norse world, guesses at why the southern Vinland of settlement of Hóp remains undiscovered, and muses about doppelgängers. Tune-in and find out how controversial episode art, tidal lagoons, and absurdist saga writers all play a role in…
For centuries the western Norse colony of Vinland was known only to scholars of the Icelandic Sagas. But in the 19th century the work of a few Scandinavian historians helped revive interest in these previously obscure tales. When the Danish historian Carl Christian Rafn published in his work in English in 1837, many American's were exposed to the idea that the Norse had beaten Columbus to North…
The only literary sources we have about the Viking settlements west of Greenland come from the Icelandic Sagas. The only problem is that the Sagas can be totally off-the-wall. Corpses reanimate and speak prophecies, giant-eyed doppelgängers vanish into thin air, and one-legged creatures murder unsuspecting Norse explorers. But, this same sources also describe interactions between the Norse and the…
Between the 9th and 11th centuries Norse explorers undertook a series of remarkable journeys through the North Atlantic. Iceland and Greenland were settled by medieval farmers eager to find new uninhabited lands. But just how far west did these seafarer's manage to travel? The unique Icelandic texts known as the sagas tell tales of journeys to a fertile and abundant country south west of Greenland…
In this Bonus Episode Sebastian takes questions from listeners about the series on the original Ponzi Scheme. The host investigates the history of the expression "robbing Peter to pay Paul", locates early usages of the phrase "getting Ponzied", and muses about whether all expansionist empires are actually just big Ponzi Schemes. Sebastian also throws out a possible replacement for "Watergate" as…
Charles Ponzi's remarkable rise and fall played out over the course of a wild eight month period. He went from being a failed importer-exporter mired in debt to Boston's most talked about self-made millionaire in a matter of weeks. After rebranding his company as the Securities Exchange Company, Ponzi started offering remarkable 50% returns to investors after only 90 days. But almost immediately…
The name Charles Ponzi has become synonymous with financial frauds. In 1920 the formerly obscure Italian immigrant suddenly became one of the most famous men in Boston when his Securities Exchange Company started offering investors remarkable returns. Ponzi claimed that he had discovered an ingenious method of using postal coupons to profit off international exchange rates. However, before the…
In this Bonus Episode Sebastian takes questions about the recent series on Buffalo Bill and the Wild West Show. He unpacks Bill's influence on the cowboy hero archetype, dives into the contentious history of scalping, and learns some fun facts about Bill's legacy in Belgium. Tune-in and find out how historical reenactors, P.T Barnum, and questionable mascots all play a role in the story! Join us…
Buffalo Bill's Wild West first started touring outdoor arenas in 1883. What started as a western themed circus soon grew in ambition. In the quest to appeal to respectable middle-class family audiences Buffalo Bill was soon promoting his show as an educational experience. The Wild West was supposedly an authentic exhibition of Western American history and culture. Elaborate historical reenactments…
Buffalo Bill Cody was one of America's great mythmakers. The man born William Cody reinvented himself as the west's greatest rider, scout, and buffalo hunter before taking his schtick to the American stage in the early 1870's. Buffalo Bill would eventually develop his frontiersman act into the Wild West Show, an outdoor exposition that was part circus, part rodeo, and part historical reenactment.…
In this bonus episode Sebastian takes questions about the recent episodes on Thailand's legendary elephant duels and the seafaring Welsh Prince Madoc. The host does his best to pinpoint the "real" last elephant duel and takes questions from a practicing druid. We also hear from a Welsh listener with some fascinating thoughts about the Madoc episode. Join us in Greece in 2026! Check out the…
There's a story that in the year 1170 a Prince from Wales, named Madoc, led a group of Welsh colonists over the Atlantic to North America. This group allegedly mingled with the local indigenous people and eventually assimilated into their culture. However, they left behind their language. For centuries it was believed that a lost tribe of welsh-speaking indigenous people lived somewhere in…
One of the most pivotal moments in the history of Thailand was the Battle of Nong Sarai in 1593. This confrontation between the Burmese Tuangoo Dynasty and the proto-Thai kingdom of Ayutthaya is remembered as the setting for an epic elephant duel. King Naresuan of Ayutthaya was said to have challenged the Burmese crown prince to single combat on elephant back. His victory that day become symbolic…
In this Bonus Episode Sebastian takes questions from listeners about the recent episodes on Werewolves and Witches. Sebastian explores the connection between rabies outbreaks and vampire/werewolf mythology. Listeners weigh in on the psychological meaning of the Egyptian god Anubis. We break down some witchy myths associated with English alewives and explore the inspiration for Shakespeare's…
In 1487 a scandal prone Dominican inquisitor published one of the most notorious witch-hunting manuals in history. The Malleus Maleficarum , or Hammer of the Witches, argued that Europe was under siege by witches and that these witches were almost exclusively female. The book was one of the first widely available texts that presented witchcraft as a uniquely female evil. By the end of 1500's women…
Stories about human beings transforming into wolves are as old as literature itself. Even the ancient Mesopotamian Epic of Gilgamesh featured a story of a man becoming a wolf. The Werewolf may be one of our most ancient and historically durable monsters. Could Werewolf stories reflect a distant, if blurry, historical memory? Belief in real werewolves seems to have peaked during the witch-panics of…
In this bonus episode Sebastian answers questions from listeners about the recent series on the Parthenon Marbles. The host tangles with the ethics of repatriation requests from notorious dictators, the role of the Parthenon Marbles in inspiring the Greek Independence movement, and the path towards a true "universal museum." Sebastian also wrangles with the notorious "If I don't do it, somebody…
The Parthenon Sculptures have been hugely controversial objects from the moment that they arrived in England. The British public has long been split over the morality of keeping these famous works of art in London. In the early 1800's the famous poet Lord Byron went so far as to write angry poems castigating Lord Elgin for defiling Athena's temple. Over the last 200 years the topic of the…
The Parthenon Sculptures, also known as the Elgin Marbles, are some of the most controversial museum objects in the world. In the early 19th century the Scottish aristocrat Thomas Bruce, the seventh Earl of Elgin, used his position as Ambassador Extraordinary to the Ottoman Empire to gain access to Athens' historic acropolis and remove priceless works of ancient art from the Parthenon. Since that…
In this throwback episode Sebastian takes you to the conclusion of this fan-favorite season 3 series. Almost as long as people have been telling stories about Robin Hood, historians have been trying to find the real person who inspired the legend. Over the centuries dozens of researchers have cooked up elaborate theories in an attempt to locate the man who became the myth. Were any of them…
In this throwback episode Sebastian takes you back to this fan favorite episode from Season 3. Robin Hood is easily one of the most beloved characters in English storytelling. For centuries the forest outlaw has been the ultimate hero of the downtrodden. He steals from the rich, gives to the poor, and resists tyranny in all of its forms. But, is Robin Hood just a fictional character, or could…
From Jonestown to Heaven’s Gate, to the Octopus Murders and the Waco Siege, the world is full of deception, manipulation, and destruction. Listen to Conspiracy Theories, Cults, and Crimes every Wednesday as we explore the real people at the center of the world’s most shocking secrets and nefarious organizations. Conspiracy Theories, Cults, and Crimes is a Crime House original powered by PAVE…
In this throwback episode Sebastian takes you back to the conclusion of one of OFH's most popular series. In classic samurai films the swordsman Miyamoto Musashi was always presented as rough but honourable. The real Musashi may have been considerably more complicated. If we look closely at some of the samurai’s most famous duels, we may find reason to question Musashi’s reputation as the ultimate…
In this throwback episode Sebastian revisits an incredibly fun series from Season 3. The samurai swordsman Miyamoto Musashi is the archetypal lone-wolf warrior. Legend has it that in course of his life he fought over sixty duels and never once lost. His psychological strategies and unique two-sword fighting style made him one of the most famous martial artists in Japan’s history. However, many of…
The beloved children's novel The Wonderful Wizard of OZ has been celebrated as the quintessential American fairytale. But, many believe that the book is more than just a pleasing adventure story for kids. It's been argued that hidden in the text is a subtle allegory that satirizes the politics of late 19th century America. Some believe that the author L. Frank Baum used his fantasy story to make a…
In this Bonus Episode Sebastian answers questions from listeners about the recent series on President McKinley. He discusses the challenges associated with using a book written by Karl Rove, conspiracy theories around the destruction of the USS Maine, and the complicated political legacies of Theodore Roosevelt and Marc Hanna. One listeners also provides some fun 19th century political…
It's impossible to assess the historical reputation of President William McKinley without tangling with the Spanish-American War. In this final part of the William McKinley trilogy Sebastian gets into the debate around what actually lead to the war. Could a war with Spain have been avoided? Was McKinley pushed into it by a manipulative American press? How did the outcome of the "splendid little…
The 1896 election of William McKinley has been noted as an inflection point in American politics. But, historians are often conflicted about what story they want to tell. It could be seen as moment when Americans rejected a populist firebrand, critical of the wealthy and appealing to working class consciousness. It could also be seen as the moment when American industrialists, bankers, and other…
The 25th President of the United States, William McKinley, has recently been in the news. In the 2025 inaugural address it was announced that Alaska's highest peak would once again be known as Mt. McKinley to honour the former President, who was apparently a "great businessman" who made America "very rich." Like many, Sebastian found this newfound interest in president McKinley rather curious. For…
In this Bonus Episode Sebastian takes questions about his recent exploration of mermaid mythology. He gets into the difference between Selkies and Mermaids, and wades into the murky waters of Scottish oral tradition. There is also some discussion of the 2012 hoax documentary Mermaids: The Body Found. Tune in and find out how aquatic apes, near sighted sailors, and good looking seals all play a…
Mermaids are part of countless mythological traditions found the world over. Almost ever culture has a belief in some form of human-fish hybrid. In the west the modern mermaid evolved as combination of the sirens in Homer's Odyssey and water spirits described by Pliny the Elder. In medieval times they became symbols of sin: temptresses leading lustful men astray. In 16th century, just as belief in…
In this interview episode Sebastian speaks with podcaster, author, and host of Let's Talk About Myths, Baby Liv Albert. Liv has spent the last 8 years and 700 episodes of her podcast exploring the nuances of Greek and Roman mythology. Sebastian and Liv dive deep into the world of classical myth and talk about the myriad ways that the ancients understood their legendary tradition. In this free…
In this bonus episode Sebastian responds to listener questions and comments about the Spartan series. He gets a chance to give some more details about the Helots and Spartan women. He also muses at length about the role of historical fiction. If you want to be part of the next bonus feel free to send an email to ourfakehistory@gmail.com . Take your personal data back with Incogni! Use code…