French Leave

a baseball superstar, an irate owner, and a clever workaround

In 1902 baseball player Nap Lajoie was prohibited by law from entering the state of Pennsylvania. How did this weird state of affairs come to pass?

Pleadings from Asbury Park

a fake marriage, a dead baby, and 21 absinthe frappes

The amazing story of Laura Biggar, the Anna Nicole Smith of 1901, and her crazy plot to steal an inheritance that may or may not have been rightfully hers.

Herb Washington

We've shared this on social media but not on the web site. Here it is... the first (and so far only) thing we've ever purchased off eBay.

Son of Eight Things We Like

There's no podcast this week, so if you need your fix of ephemera why not try one of these eight other podcasts, videos, and websites?

The Hot House

refining radium in the home, for fun and profit

Lots of people have dabbled with strange home businesses -- but only one of them set up a radium refining facility in the basement of his suburban duplex.

Milking It for All It’s Worth

let's get saucy and talk about béchamel

We delve into the world of sauces by talking about the history and use of the milkiest sauce of all - béchamel!

A Menace to the West

David Grundman goes shooting at a stationary target -- and breaks off more than he can handle

When a man fights a cactus, you probably don't expect the cactus to win.

Spirit Princess

one woman, thirty aliases, forty years and too many crimes to count

The greatest and most notorious Spiritualist swindler of all time was a woman from Kentucky who looked a bit like Lola Montez (if you squinted).

Death from Above by Chocolate

sometimes a story seems too good to be true because it is

In 1923, a plane flew over downtown Pittsburgh, dropped Baby Ruth candy bars on the crowd below, and caused widespread panic... or did it?