The Ancient and Esoteric Order of the Jackalope

"New York, NY"

The city so nice they named it twice! The city so weird it features heavily in the following episodes!

a woodcut depicting the Confederate raid on St. Albans, VT

Rapscallions!

"surprised and excited"

A grab bag of Confederate plots: Fake peace conferences! Robbing banks! Burning down cities! Kidnapping the vice president!

Categories: History, Series 14

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Thomas Henry Hines

Rapscallions!

"Patience is Sour"

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

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Dorothy Cadwell Taylor

The Realest Housewife of Beverly Hills

confidante of kings, movie stars, and mobsters

The Countess di Frasso was the most famous hostess in the world, who threw parties for kings; actors, athletes and aviators; Nazis and mobsters.

Categories: Arts & Culture, Biography, Eccentrics & Prophecies, Entertainment & Media, People & Places

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The Reverend May S. Pepper

A Good Thing to Die By

the Reverend May S. Pepper and Bright Eyes

This one has it all: the afterlife, evil stepmothers, Kickapoo princesses, the Romanovs, bigamy and fraud, ghost farts and spirit chickens.

Categories: Biography, Footsteps into the Unknown, Hoaxes, Frauds & Forgeries, People & Places, Series 13

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illustration from an edition of The Awful Disclosures of Maria Monk

Nuns on the Run

The Awful disclosures of Maria Monk

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

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Charles Brewster Ross

Your Heart’s Sorrow

the 1874 abduction of Little Charley Ross

In 1874 four-year-old Charley Ross was kidnapped in front of his family's Philadelphia home... and became America's first case of kidnapping for ransom.

Categories: Intriguing & Unsolved Mysteries, People & Places, Series 11

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