These articles and episodes are ©2019-2024 by their respective authors, and published by the Ancient and Esoteric Order of the Jackalope. They are licensed under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0 License. All rights reserved, all wrongs reversed.
Designed by #13 at Lodge #777.
What strange and unusual stories lurk in our mysterious past? The Ancient and Esoteric Order of the Jackalope is here to plumb the depths of history and bring the most interesting stories straight to your ears!
It was 1584 and Ivan IV, Ivan the Terrible, Tsar and Grand Prince of all Russia, was dead. The boyars of Russia now had a momentous decision to make: who would rule? Only two of Ivan’s children had managed to survive to adulthood: the Tsareviches Ivan and Fedor. Fortunately for Russia, Ivan’s oldest son Ivan […]
Categories: History, Hoaxes, Frauds & Forgeries, Series 15
Published:
A grab bag of Confederate plots: Fake peace conferences! Robbing banks! Burning down cities! Kidnapping the vice president!
Categories: History, Series 14
Published:
In which we take a trip to see the only remaining bits of the USS Michigan, and then spend the rest of our time obsessing about rubber ducks and latkes.
Categories: History, Supplement
Published:
The only thing standing between John Yates Beall and Johnson's Island was the USS Michigan... that and a terrible con man and the cowardice of his own men.
Categories: History, Series 14
Published:
When I learned that Ohio has a "John Hunt Morgan" heritage trail, and its end point was about a 45 minute drive away, well, I just had to check it out.
Categories: History, Supplement
Published:
Thomas Henry Hines had a cunning plan to free Confederate prisoners-of-war and establish a "Northwest Confederacy." Too bad it was doomed to fail.
Categories: History, Series 14
Published:
Legend says Lord Cornbury was New York's worst governor: a nepo baby failson, a bully, a bigot, a corrupt spendthrift, a sex pest. Was he all that awful?
Categories: Biography, History, Popular Facts & Fallacies, Series 14
Published:
The Canadian revolution seemed over... and then the Redcoats seized an American ship, set it on fire, and sent it plunging over Niagara Falls.
Categories: History, Series 13
Published:
Josephine Bunkley wanted to raise awareness of problems wit the convent system... but her "allies" just wanted to use her story to win elections.
Categories: History, Series 13
Published:
In 1835 Maria Monk claimed that Montreal's Hôtel-Dieu convent was a vice den. She was making it all up... but Americans desperately wanted to believe her.
Categories: History, Hoaxes, Frauds & Forgeries, Series 13
Published:
In August 1834 Bostonians burned down a convent full of nuns, thanks to religious prejudice and the suspicious testimony of a lazy teenager with a grudge.
Categories: History, Series 13
Published:
Mormons believe that Jesus once lived in the Americas. Some of them once believed he lived on the outskirts of Walla Walla, WA from 1868-1880.
Categories: Eccentrics & Prophecies, History, Series 12
Published: