If there's one thing we associate with the British, it's tea. But for most of their history, the British lacked access to tea except through their highly contentious and often one-sided trade relationship with the far-off nation of China. That relationship only began to change with the mass smuggling of opium into China by British traders -- as well as the theft of the secrets of making tea by the Scottish botanist Robert Fortune.

Episode 81: Robert Fortune, Tea Thief

Built in the waning days of the 19th century, the Eiffel tower was erected as the entrance arch to a world fair and survived two world wars to become a towering beacon of Parisian resilience and French resistance. As a modern icon of romance, every day, dozens upon dozens of couples pose and propose in front of the tower as a symbol of their love. In the early 20th, century, however, the Eiffel tower was seen as something of a tacky, modernist eye-sore -- a dangerous pile of rubbish and rust.

To con artist Victor Lustig, however, the tower was much more: the perfect scam.

Episode 84: Victor Lustig, the Man Who Stole the Eiffel Tower

There have historically been two kinds of phenomena known as ghost ships -- the first, a mysterious apparition crewed by the souls of the damned, and the second, the sudden and unexplained disappearance of a ship's very real human crew. The Mary Celeste, an entirely normal American shipping vessel began as the latter when her crew vanished on a routine crossing of the Atlantic, but her story slowly morphed into the former over the next century. The true fate of the Mary Celeste's crew is likely far more mundane and far more disturbing.

Episode 85: The Ghost Ship Mary Celeste

Before Leonardo DiCaprio, before Rock Hudson, before Clark Gable, before even Charlie Chaplin, the biggest star in American television was none other than Roscoe Arbuckle. A larger than life character from the age of silent film, Arbuckle was a talented performer, dancer, and singer who made hundreds of popular (and profitable) movies. He was better known, however, for his immense size, which earned him the name "Fatty" Arbuckle.

All that came crashing down thanks to a lurid scandal which has obscured his legacy to this day.

Episode 86: Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, Part One - The Rise

In 1921, Roscoe Arbuckle was one of the most famous men in the United States and among the wealthiest actors in the nascent Hollywood. That all ended when a lurid murder trial for the death of Virginia Rappe led to him being a persona non grata, his films banned all around the English-speaking world.

Episode 87: Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, Part Two - The Fall

The quest for the Northwest Passage -- a navigable sea route through the Canadian arctic -- was long and dangerous. Even so, when Sir John Franklin led two ships, the Erebus and Terror, on a last mission to complete mapping of North America's icy archipelago, there was every reason for confidence. 

The Terror and Erebus were last seen by European whalers off the coast of Greenland in the summer of 1845, after which they simply disappeared into the frozen north.

Episode 88: Franklin's Lost Expedition

Lizzie Borden took an axe
Gave her mother forty wacks
When she saw what she had done
She gave her father forty-one [Citation Needed]

Episode 89: The Borden Axe Murders -- Part One

Lizzie Borden, despite being acquitted of all charges, has remained the primary suspect in her parents double-homicide for over a hundred years. Was she really the killer? And is there any way to know for sure?

Absolutely not.

Episode 90: The Borden Murders -- Part Two

For hundreds of years, Canada and the United States have been each others closest neighbours, strongest allies, and largest trading partners... except for all the times they were at each others throats. The Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Pork and Beans War, and the Pig War -- 50% actual wars, 50% backwoods hijinks. 

This past is one far more recent than one might think, including two declassified documents from the early 20th century -- Defense Scheme One and War Plan Red.

Episode 91: The Canadian Plan to Invade the United States

We expect nurses and doctors to provide knowledge, health, and most of all, safety. But medical professionals compose a distinct subset of serial killers, known as Angels of Death.

Episode 92: Angels of Death, Part One - Charles Cullen

A major distinction between different types of serial killers - and different types of Angels of Death - is motive. Traditionally, male serial killers are more likely to be motivated by sex and female serial killers more motivated by material comfort. However, that it not always the case... particularly not when it comes to killers like Jane Toppan.

Episode 93: Angels of Death, Part Two - Jane Toppan

1820, at the height of whaling, the Nantucket whale-ship Essex suffered an unheard of tragedy - being attacked and sunk by an 80 foot sperm whale. But unlike the book it inspired, this was far from the end for the captain and crew.

Episode 94: The REAL Moby Dick

What do rural Indian villagers, middle-class Japanese baby boomers and 19th century Inuit women have in common? They all suffered from culture-bound psychological disorders not found anywhere else in the world, and we're talking about all of them in this podcast. Join us as we discuss people who get pregnant with puppies, the national Japanese marriage crisis, and the daredevil women of Greenland.

Episode 11: Cuckoo for Culture

Christine and Lea Papin were ordinary, underpaid French maids, right up until the day they brained their employers with a pewter jug and plucked out their eyes with their bare hands. The sisters have gone down in history as one of the most dramatic examples of 'folie a deux', a poorly-understood phenomenon where madness becomes contagious. Tune in this week for discussion of folie a deux, an explanation of why cannibalism is better than eating rabbits, and the invention of the worst children's breakfast cereal ever made.

Episode 16: Folie a Deux, Part One - The Papin Sisters

Oh, happy Habsburgs: one of the most successful royal dynasties in European history, best known for inbreeding itself into extinction. One fine scion of this noble family, the last of the Spanish Habsburgs, was Charles II, known as Charles the Hexed for all the horrifying ways his family's genetics ruined his life and his face. Today we're talking inbreeding, morganatic marriage, and the oft underappreciated benefits of adulterous affairs with peasants.

Episode 17: King Charles II Of Spain Part One - Livin' la Genética Loca

In 1989, Janel's home province of New Brunswick was paralyzed with fear when a convicted killer made a daring escape from a maximum security prison. The killer, Allan Legere, began a 7-month reign of terror to get back at his hometown, securing his place as one of Canada's deadliest - but generally unknown - serial killers. Join us to hear a discussion of Legere's crimes, a probably-too-detailed explanation of arson techniques, and Jessica having an asthma attack live on air.

Episode 26: The Monster of the Miramichi

In the early years of the Great Depression, farms are struggling, wheat prices are falling, and an invading army comes closer, pushing the farmers of West Australia to desperation. The Emu are coming, and This Means War.

Credit to Marc Anderson for recordings of Emu vocalizations.
Credit to Constable Matthew Creek of the Royal Australian Air force for "Last Post".

Episode 32: The Great Australian Emu War

Louis XIV of France, the archetypal king of the age of absolute monarchy, ruled France for over 70 years, presiding over one of her greatest golden ages and the height of her affluence and influence. His lesser known brother, Philippe d’Orleans, due to an accident of birth, lived forever in his brother’s shadow, the inevitable loser in a lifelong sibling rivalry. Philippe, however, was not an easy man to ignore. Join us this week for effeminate prices, royal hypocrisy, and the blatant misuse of Freudian psychodynamics.

Episode 40: Monsieur Philippe d'Orleans, Prince of France

The death of a parent is always hard, but especially when you're the one who stabbed them. In our second and final episode on the Baekeland family, we explore the aftermath of Barbara Baekeland's murder, follow Antony Baekeland's journey through the penal system, and discover that Brooks Baekeland is literally the worst, even in a story about parent-child incest and matricide.

Episode 42: The Baekelands Part Two - A Boy's Best Friend

What happens when you grow up without light, sound, or social interaction of any kind? What does that kind of extreme deprivation do to the developing brain of a child? These were the questions that faced researchers upon the discovery of Susan Wiley, known as "Genie", a deeply abused child who had spent most of her life locked in a small room with only her paranoid father's outbursts and furtive meals snuck in by her mother for human contact. Genie became famous as a case of horrific childhood neglect, but later became notable as an example of how research interests, unbounded by rigorous guardrails, can go terribly, terribly wrong.

Episode 44: Genie the Feral Child, Part One - Wild Child

Humanity has used and cultivated plants for their medicinal, stimulant, and hallucinogenic properties for thousands of years. It was only in the modern era that we first learnt to isolate the organic compounds within those plants and to unleash their true potential. We have been living with the consequences both good and bad ever since.
Join us this episode as we discuss the development of methamphetamine, its link to Nazi military strategy, and Jessica's theory that Nazis are just wrong about everything, even when it's not The Race Thing.

Episode 46: Methamphetamine and Nazi Germany

We continue the story of Guy Burgess, Old Etonian and Communist Spy. Burgess rose within the ranks of elite British Society, whitewashing his colourful political history, and collecting information on behalf of the USSR. Meanwhile, Jessica and Janel enjoy the many silly names of early 20th century Britain and openly fantasize about women in red rubber body suits.

Episode 49: Guy Burgess, part two -- Did I Mention Today That I am Definitely a Spy?

With American intelligence drawing ever closer to the Cambridge ring, a plan is hatched to exfiltrate Donald Maclean -- a plot in which Guy Burgess had a key role. The revelation of the depth of Soviet infiltration would shake the very foundation of trust and cooperation between the the great western powers of the age.

Episode 50: Guy Burgess, part three -- an Englishman in Moscow

His true name unknown, his eating habits legendary, and his hunger unending, the man known only as Tarrare remains a medical mystery to this day.

Episode 51: Tarrare, the World's Hungriest Man

November 15, 1977 Megumi Yokota, a 13 year old girl who lived in a small Japanese village, was supposed to come home directly after badminton practice. She never arrived. Police immediately suspected that she had been kidnapped, but no ransom note was ever delivered. Decades later, the truth of Megumi's disappearance would finally be revealed. She had indeed been kidnapped on her walk home through her peaceful little village -- by the nation of North Korea.

Episode 56: The Abduction of Megumi Yokota, Part One -- Taking Everyone Who Isn't Nailed Down

In 1932, during the waning hours of prohibition and the dawn of the Great Depression, a group of unscrupulous criminals, headed by speakeasy owner Tony Marino, came up with a dastardly plot to come up with some quick cash: to take out three life insurance policies on a haggard, homeless drunk named Michael Malloy. They figured Malloy wasn't far off from the grave, and they wouldn't need to lift a finger to send him on his way. But it turns out that Iron Mike Malloy was a lot more durable than they ever suspected.

Episode 63: The Unkillable Michael Malloy

Nyleen Marshall was a typical little girl who vanished on a warm Saturday in June, 1983 from Helena National Forest in Montana. Despite a robust search effort, she was never found. Evidence soon emerged, however, that she may not have simply disappeared, but rather she may have been taken.
Join Jessica and Janel as they discuss the motivations of stranger kidnappings, the odd coincidences associated with the Marshall case, and the proper care and feeding of Mormon missionaries.

Episode 69: the Abduction of Nyleen Marshall

At the turn of the 20th century, two teams of experienced explorers raced to be the first to plant their flag at the southernmost point of the globe for the sake of personal and national glory. They were well financed, well trained, and well equipped, but the harsh conditions of the Antarctic, the final unexplored continent, could be deadly and any mistake could be their last.
Join us today as Jessica and Janel discuss the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration and the leadership of Robert Falcon Scott, as Jessica likewise Goes Off about vitamin deficiencies.

Episode 70: The Race to the South Pole, Part One

Before the Cold War race to the moon between the USA and the USSR, there was the purely peaceable race to the South Pole between the British Empire and the recently independent nation of Norway. The Norse were led by Roald Amundsen with his traditional, low-tech approach of sled dogs and skis, while the British were led by Naval stalwart Robert Falcon Scott and his experimental strategy of motor sledges and horses.

Join Jessica and Janel as they discuss frostbite, dog cannibalism, and H.P. Lovecraft's deep fear of penguins.

Episode 71: Race to the South Pole, Part two

The year is 1907 when the household maid of a wealthy family living on well-to-do Park Avenue in Manhattan suddenly grows ill. Soon after, the family's only daughter likewise grows sick and dies. The cause? Typhoid, a disease associated with poverty and poor sanitation.
Upon investigation, signs pointed to the recently hired head cook -- Mary Mallon, a perfectly healthy woman who had never before had the disease. Her story would become the go-to case study for asymptomatic disease transmission and would earn her both decades in medical isolation and the cruel nickname "Typhoid Mary".

Episode 72: Mary Mallon AKA Typhoid Mary

In 1914, Sir Ernest Shackleton, veteran polar explorer, announced his most daring expedition to date: a land crossing of the Antarctic continent. The journey would be perilous, but fame and fortune would be his likely reward should he make it back alive. However, even before they set ashore, they found themselves trapped by sea ice, adrift, certain of only one thing: help wasn't coming.

Episode 73: Ernest Shackleton and the Drift of the Endurance

During WWI, the deep natural harbour of Halifax, Canada was the most important seaport in North America. All neutral merchant traffic, military convoys, and army recruits coming and going from the eastern seaboard came through Halifax first, including shipments of munitions intended for the European front. December 6, 1917, 9:05:35 A.M., the realities of war would have tragic consequences for the people of Halifax and Dartmouth with the biggest accidental explosion the world has ever known.

Episode 74: Halifax Explosion, part one -- The Accident

When the munitions ship, the Mont Blanc, exploded in the Halifax harbor, thousands died in an instant, while thousands more were injured, tens of thousands left homeless or buried in the rubble. The devastation took Halifax decades to fully recover from. For two generations, many Haligonians refused to even discuss the tragedy, meaning their stories died with them. Join us for our second episode on the Halifax Explosion, discussing the terrible consequences of a single unlucky accident.

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