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To fully end the Roman Republic and become Emperor Caesar Augustus, the young, wealthy patrician Octavian needed to get rid of the last man standing in his way: Mark Antony. But how could Octavian turn Rome against the Republic’s most decorated war hero and combat veteran — and Julius Caesar’s top lieutenant? Launch a propaganda campaign that said,…

The practice of rectal fumigation was a common medical practice in the 17th and 18th centuries that included tobbaco and smoke enamas to treat bowel obstruction, constipation, and even attempt to resusitate still born babies. We dive into one of the many reasons no one trusted doctors for a very, very long time. Subscribe to the Softcore History Pa…

Herodotus was a Greek historian and geographer often regarded as the "Father of History" who detailed the Greco-Persian War and his explorations throughout the ancient world. Many peers of his time found his works to be greatly exaggerated, misunderstandings, or totally false. Modern historians have grown to appreciate his accounts of events and se…

When the United States entered World War 1 no one was quite sure what to expect. What the Germans definitely didn't expect was a bunch of Doughboys armed with Winchester Model 97 pump-action shotguns -- aka Trench Brooms -- blasting gaping holes in their soldiers. The use of these shotguns became so infamous and terrifying that the Kaiser complaine…

Mithridates VI was the King of Pontus from 120 to 63 BC who biohacked his body into immunity from poison, survived being struck by lightning with nothing more than a tiny scar, and became a huge thorn in the side of the Roman Empire. Subscribe to the Softcore History Patreon for hundreds of hours of extra history content including listener history …

Never meet your heroes? How about never try to be friends with your fans. Charles Dickens found this out the hardest way possible when he let his fanboy and fellow famous author Hans Christian Andersen (The Little Mermaid, The Ugly Duckling) stay at his house for what was supposed to be a two-week visit. Five weeks later the Danish fairy tale autho…

Baldwin IV was King of Jerusalem from 1174 to 1185 and had the crusader state thriving despite constant attacks from outside Muslim forces led by the great Saladin and struggles with his own body turning on him from leprosy. Despite the physical limitations he still led his army out on the battlefields, made savvy decisions with the high court, and…

With J.D. Vance winning the Vice Presidency you'll probably hear about his wife Usha Vance being the first non-white Second Lady. This is true, but she is NOT the first non-white woman to be married to a Vice President. This is the story of Vice President Richard Johnson -- a legendary hero of the War of 1812 and the ninth Vice President of the Uni…

Teddy Roosevelt was one of the most important U.S. Presidents of the 20th century and a complete lunatic who was always up for an unneccesary challenge. Matt Cooper and Joel Benner join the show to talk about his deranged life outside of politics, The Colonel willing the Rough Riders to glory at San Juan Hill, and how he shaped football into the ga…

Béla Kiss is one of the most prolific serial killers you’ve never heard of. He had it all — great looks, his own successful business in tin, a mother that loved him too much — but when he caught his second wife cheating on him with a younger man, it unlocked a dark beast within. Jessie Wiseman joins to talk about how this once charismatic, well-lik…

Ross Bolen joins the show to talk about the ghosts that still linger from The Saint Valentine's Day Massacre, the most infamous mafia killing in American history. The victims of Al Capone's henchmen still haunt the area to this day, including the most unfortunate location (and people) you can imagine. Subscribe to the Softcore History Patreon for h…

Frederick II, the Holy Roman Emperor and King of Sicily from 1198 to 1250, was a curious man. Curious in that he loved doing medical experiments, no matter how totally useless and violent those experiments were. Suffice it to say the amateur surgeon learned a lot, but almost all of it was useless. Subscribe to the Softcore History Patreon for hundr…

The Bell Witch of Robertson County, Tennessee, on whom the horror film classic ‘The Blair Witch Project’ was based, tormented the Bell family farm from 1817 to 1828. In the meantime, the disembodied spirit attracted thousands of tourists, skeptics, and more. One visitor was none other than Old Hickory himself, determined to see if one of Satan’s un…

The Lemp Mansion in St. Louis, Missouri is one of the most haunted homes in the United States. Learn the history of the fabulously wealthy family of 19th-century beer magnates who lived in the mansion, how many of them came to their tragic ends within its walls, and how their ghosts now torment the mansion's visitors -- especially any women using t…

We start Halloween Horror Month 2024 with an infamous and unsolved mystery about three lighthouse keepers who went missing in the Flannan Isles of Scotland. Was it banshees? A ghost ship? Murder-suicide? Listen and decide for yourself. Subscribe to the Softcore History Patreon for hundreds of hours of extra history content including listener histor…

In 1751 Benjamin Franklin wrote "Observations Concerning the Increase of Mankind," a letter with a number of interesting observations and ideas, and also one head-scratcher (at least to readers from the present). In it, Franklin noted that he was tired of all the non-white immigrants coming to the New World and ruining white society in Pennsylvania…

Hatshepsut is the female Pharaoh you've never heard of. Why? Because the Egyptians erased her. But the queen turned queen regent turned full-on Pharaoh ruled for two decades and accomplished as much as just about anyone who ever sat on the throne, from conquering Kush to opening exotic trade routes in East Africa. There was also some brother-bangin…

Titanic Thompson would bet on anything, and usually win. And usually because he was cheating. It's one of the many reasons Titanic is the greatest gambler in American history. He hustled golf at country clubs with a young Ben Hogan. He hustled pool halls across the country with Minnesota Fats. He even cheated the man who fixed the 1919 World Series…

Winston Churchill was one of the most important historical figures of the 20th century, taking power over the United Kingdom in the midst of World War II. Jack Mandaville joins us to talk about the Last Lion's unhinged upbringing, blood ties to the United States, his storied military and writing careers, and his rise to power through British parlia…

Kyle Bandujo, podcaster and author of the new sports movie book "Movies With Balls", joins the show to talk about one of the most famous figures in American sports scandal history: Arnold Rothstein. Though he was most famous for allegedly fixing the 1919 World Series (a.k.a. the Black Sox Scandal), this distinction does the man's criminal history a…

Bleeding Kansas was a series of conflicts between abolitionists and pro-slavery forces after the passing of the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854. Election fraud, murder, and guerilla warfare were rampant during this five year window that decided whether Kansas would enter the union a free or slave state. Many historians consider it the prequel to the Am…

19th Century Southern lawyer-turned-sociologist and noted shut-in George Fitzhugh was "too online" 140 years before the internet was even invented. He stayed inside all day reading newspapers, books, and political pamphlets, rarely leaving home. As with anyone who shapes their worldview only by consuming media, Fitzhugh started to believe some pret…

The Wars of Roses were a series of civil wars fought for the English crown from 1455 to 1487. These bloody and nasty conflicts between the Houses of Lancaster and York inspired George R.R. Martin's Game of Thrones series to the point that you can make direct connections between the real historical figures and characters in his books. Subscribe to t…

An American meat shortage in 1910 caused people to get real desperate, real fast. Enter Louisiana Representative Robert F. Broussard, who proposed the American Hippo Bill, which would import hippos from Africa to be raised for food on Louisiana swamp ranches. Oh, what could have been. For this show and TWO additional ad-free episodes every week fol…

Presidents aren't only passive victims. Helpless bystanders as gunmen attempt to kill them. This week we discuss every American president who TOOK lives, from the ones you know like Andrew Jackson and Teddy Roosevelt, to the ones you never would've guessed. And these kills aren't by order or drone strike but, rather, done with their own bare hands.…

Gilded Age Americans were hungry for entertainment and because of this, somehow, the simple hobby of walking captivated the country. So much so that it briefly developed into our national sport and the most gambled-on athletic competition during the Victorian era. Pedestrianism was the name of the game and its athletes were looking to get any perfo…

Not all Protestant movements in the 16th Century had Martin Luther's success. Enter the Münster Rebellion, in which a bunch of anti-Catholic, anti-Lutheran lunatics took over a city, enacted full-on communism (except for its leaders, of course), legalized polygamy so hard it became a sport, and ultimately inspired some of the most metal church deco…

The First Punic War was the first of three conflicts between the established Carthaginians and the rising, upstart Roman Empire. For 23 years these two forces slugged it out in the Mediterranean Sea, Siciliy, and North Africa and suffered immense loses on both sides before the Romans ultimately pulled off the upset and laid the foundation for their…

If you’ve ever wondered why whale sightings are such a big deal or why we need to “save the whales”… it’s because the Soviet Union killed them all. Find out why the communist super power had such a lust for whale blood in this week’s episode. Subscribe to the Softcore History Patreon for hundreds of hours of extra history content including listener…

For decades Americans have sneered at the French for taking a big, fat L in World War 2 -- but are we too hard on France? How many of their contributions to this country -- let alone its freedom -- have we overlooked?? Special guest Jack Mandaville helps us dive in. Subscribe to the Softcore History Patreon for hundreds of hours of extra history co…

A brief overview of warfare's long, rich tradition of using animals in creative and horrifying ways, from Alexander the Great's war pigs all the way up to... pretty much modern day, actually. It's not great. Featuring special guest host Jessie Wiseman of Crime Corner. Listen to Crime Corner wherever you get podcasts! Subscribe to the Softcore Histo…

Joshua Norton was a 19th century English immigrant who became financially ruined after a deal went south with a Peurivian rice company. After a long legal battle that reached the California Supreme Court, banks took all of his assets and he wandered the streets of San Francisco for the next 20 years. Not one to accept his fate in the gutter, Joshua…

King Mannesah of Judah is considered one of the worst kings in the Old Testament but is that the reality of the situation or just the perspective of the authors of the Bible? It turns out he might have had some surprisingly good reasons for doing (some) of the supposedly egregious things he did. DONATE to Iris Faust's College Fund GoFundMe Here Sub…

In Jake’s final episode, he takes us down a rabbit hole of conspiracy theories -- and the history behind them -- that range from somewhat plausible to totally insane, and what unifies all of them. Subscribe to the Softcore History Patreon for hundreds of hours of extra history content including listener history questions, history movie watch-alongs…

Just about every Native tribe has passed down legends of a race of white giants that they defeated to take the Americas. The Cherokee call them the Moon People. The Utes and Paiutes spoke of a group of ten-feet-tall beings living in caves and ironically referred to them as "savages" and "cannibals." We discuss this mysterious society of mountain si…

Yasuke was a 16th century African slave that found his way to the far east working for Italian missionaries and became an obsession and friend to one of the most influential warlords in Japan. Yasuke eventually took over as Oda Nobunaga's personal weapon bearer, body guard, and -- many speculate -- earned full samurai status in just 15 months. But …

Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it, but the Chinese are studying history with the explicit hope that they do, in fact, repeat it. National Security and the Rise and Fall of Great Powers is the Chinese Communist Party's examination of how nations over the last 500 years -- from Spain and Portugal to Britain, the Soviet Union, and…

From cavemen to Rome to post-Civil War America and the present day, humans have been harvesting and eating oysters for hundreds of thousands of years. Jake, who just got back from working an oyster farm for a week (seriously), details how humans came to eat these little gooey delicacies, the wars we've fought over them, and the myths we've created …

In celebration of reaching 1,000 reviews on Apple Podcasts, and perhaps in a bit of method podcast hosting, Dan Regester attempts to tell the story of The London Beer Flood of 1814 while flooding his own body with a mixture of Guinness and whiskey. Like the flood itself, Dan's evening ends in disaster. (Maybe come back to this one if this is your f…

Malcolm Caldwell was a professor at the University of London who loved two things: Communism, and publicly cheerleading Pol Pot's regime in Cambodia. The latter, he insisted, was a beacon of hope for humanity and definitely not killing people by the millions. In 1978, Caldwell was granted an audience with his political and humanitarian hero, but af…

Thomas Midgley Jr. revolutionized the U.S. auto industry in the early 1900s. But, he may have also been responsible for a violent mid-century American crime wave and lowered IQs across the world. Subscribe to the Softcore History Patreon for hundreds of hours of extra history content including listener history questions, history movie watch-alongs,…

Hong Xiuquan was the leader of the Taiping Rebellion that killed over 30 million people, the self-proclaimed celestial brother of Jesus Christ, and an inspirational figure to future chairman of the Chinese Communist Party Mao Zedong. He (initally) had the backing of Karl Marx and was a massive thorn in the side of the Qing Dynasty for 14 years afte…

The Agapemonites were a Victorian religious cult that checked all the boxes. A leader who thought he was God and also immortal and needed multiple wives? Check, check, and check. A way to separate idiots from their money and possessions? Check. A creepy compound with high walls? Check. But even for a relatively early modern cult Henry Prince and hi…

In 1565 both the French and Spanish were competing to establish a colonial presence on Florida's east coast. That competition came to a quick and violent head (you'll see what we did there) and now the site of their confrontation might be the most haunted beach in America. Subscribe to the Softcore History Patreon for hundreds of hours of extra his…

Unit 684 was a secret group created by the South Korean Air Force in 1968 tasked with assasinating North Korean leader Kim Il Sung. After three brutal years training on a remote island and suffering multiple executions at the hands of their own trainers, the surviving members and former convicts threw a mutiny and hijacked a bus back to Seoul. Subs…

From ancient drug enemas to World War 1 era, steampunk-esque prostate vibrators, the history of doctors trying to treat what ails a man through his butt is as long as it is weird and gross and, quite often, extremely unfortunate. (Just ask a couple of our former presidents.) Subscribe to the Softcore History Patreon for hundreds of hours of extra h…

Hate landlords? You can thank Rome for them. (Just kidding, you'd be paying someone to live on their property either way you bastards, but you just might not call them "landlord.") Either way, the fall of the Western Roman Empire paved the way for Feudalism and traditional monarchy in the Middle Ages. Subscribe to the Softcore History Patreon for h…

The Donner-Reed Party was a group of American pioneers who migrated west to California in a wagon train and slowly tumbled into madness after months of mishaps, moronic moves, and murder. After a "shortcut" added weeks to their journey, the group ran out of food, supplies, transportation and turned to cannibalism to survive a brutal winter in the S…

Though Spanish Conquistador Hernán Cortés is credited with conquering the Aztec Empire the conquest might actually be thanks to his native female interpreter and first baby mama, La Malinche. The Indian noblewoman, who was sold into slavery as a child before being gifted to Cortés after a battle with Mayans and rising to become his interpreter and …