Kings of Pain

who gets the credit for an important discovery?

In October 1846, the world discovered surgical anesthesia. Four men would spend the next two decades fighting over which one of them deserved the credit.

Categories: History, Series 12, The Marvels of Science

Tags: Baltimore, MD Boston, MA civil law Cleveland, OH crime France Presented by #13 quackery

Published: October 17, 2022

Westward Huss

in which America asks the question: whither Vinland?

For years, archaeologists have searched in vain for the location of Leif Eriksson's Vinland. They should have just asked the good people of New England.

Categories: Hoaxes, Frauds & Forgeries, People & Places, Popular Facts & Fallacies, Series 8, The Quest for the Past

Tags: Barry Fell Boston, MA Canada Eben Norton Horsford Jöns Jacob Berzelius Leif Eiriksson Maine Massachusetts Native Americans New England Antiquities Research Association (NEARA) Norumbega Nova Scotia Presented by #13 runes Thorfinn Karlsefni Thorvald Eiriksson Vikings Vinland

Published: October 4, 2021

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).

Categories: Biography, Hoaxes, Frauds & Forgeries, Series 3

Tags: "General" Joseph Hubert Diss Debar "Prince" Michael Keyfor Mills Ann O'Delia Diss Debar Baltimore, MD Boston, MA Canada Chicago, IL crime David Livingston Mackay Detroit, MI dime museum Dr. Cyrus Reed Teed "Koresh" Florida Fort Myers, FL Freeman Bernstein Harmony Society Illinois Koreshan Unity London, England Massachusetts Michigan New York, NY Presented by #13 religion Spiritualism Theosophical Society Theosophy United Kingdom Windsor, ON

Published: March 23, 2020