Dig: A History Podcast

Creepy, Occult & Spooky Series #4 of 4.  People are often surprised to learn that yes, even death has a history. In fact, death can be a powerful tool for unlocking the ways that people thought about themselves, their world, and one another – both for historians, and for people of different cultures trying to relate to one another. Today, we’re talking about death and how two vastly different cultures used it to try to relate to one another in early modern Canada. Find Show Notes, Further Reading, and a complete transcript at: https://digpodcast.org/2017/11/11/death-huron-wendat-feast-dead/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Creepy, Occult & Spooky Series #3 of 4.  There wasn’t a soul in London, much less the neighborhood of Smithfield market, who hadn’t heard of the Cock Lane ghost. In 1762, the narrow London street was crowded with throngs of onlookers and busy-bodies who wanted to know if the rumors were true. A young girl at 20 Cock Lane , Elizabeth Parsons, was said to be possessed by a restless spirit. The Cock Lane ghost’s biggest claim to fame was its alleged knocking and scratching at all hours of the night and day. Witnesses devised a code to communicate with the ghost who claimed to have been murdered by her lover two years earlier. This had Londoners up in arms. Everyone took a side. Methodists and Anglicans viciously argued over the possibility of contact with the dead. London newspapers wrote daily updates about the séances, investigations and hearings that sought to uncover the truth behind Scratching Fanny, as the ghost was named, and her suspicious death. Londoners used the mysterious happenings at Cock Lane as a vehicle to debate religious difference, pre-marital sex, fraud, murder, and the vulnerability of some of London’s greatest minds in the face of superstition. Find Show Notes, Affiliate Links and a Transcript here! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Creepy, Occult & Spooky Series #2 of 4.  In 1978, John Carpenter created a horror film that would arguably change the genre, certainly led the way in slasher films, and all on a $325,000 budget, with a 21 day shoot and no big star names to speak of. The second film was released in 1981; the third in 1982; four and five were ‘88 and ‘89, respectively. The 1980s were particularly ripe for a horror storyline centered around Halloween - celebrated by a community of neo-pagans, and demonized by the New Christian Right for its pagan roots. In the US, this was a period of anxiety about Satanic cults, nerds playing Dungeons and Dragons in dank basements, and the dark stranger handing out razor-bladed candy to naive and unsuspecting trick or treaters. These anxieties were capitalized on by clever filmmakers, and the tone of the Halloween franchise shifted from the horror of the ordinary to the supernatural, the pagan, and even the importers of Halloween--the Irish! Show Notes, Further Reading, and a full transcript are available at https://digpodcast.org/2017/10/29/halloween-ii-vi-samhain/    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Creepy, Occult & Spooky Series #1 of 4. We commemorate and document life through photographs, and have been doing so since the 19th century. But photography has also been used to document death. In this episode we are discussing Victorian postmortem photography. This has received a lot of interest on the internet lately as Victorian memento mori photographs have become rather popular on certain internet sites. And although many of the pictures on those sites are in fact postmortem photographs, many are not. They are either completely fake, or they are pictures of living people being passed off as postmortem photos. Find show notes, affiliate links and the transcript at digpodcast.org Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

War, Conflict and Violence Series #4 of 4. Today’s discussion is about the creation of historical memory and how one war in particular, The Texas War of Independence, is remembered. But also how historical memory of that war is profoundly colored by the memory of the Civil War through what is known as the Lost Cause. Find Show Notes, Further Reading, and a complete transcript of this episode at https://digpodcast.org/2017/10/08/lost-cause-texas-slavery/  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

War, Conflict and Violence Series #3 of 4. Dealing with the history behind why we have Confederate memorials and what they mean, but also talk about something fun: guerrilla warfare – the irregular forms of war that took place largely in the Western reaches of the Civil War's borders.  For Show Notes, Further Reading, and a complete transcript of this episode, visit https://digpodcast.org/2017/10/01/guerrilla-warfare-civil-war/  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

War, Conflict and Violence Series #2.5 of 4. The military revolution changed every detail of military service, provided a profession for sons who were not their fathers’ heirs, sparked concerns over hygiene, fashion, taxation, necessitated the development of the modern nation-state as we know it and made Europe, a small insignificant region of the world, a hegemonic force for centuries to come. All this and more on today’s episode. Find Show Notes, Further Reading, and a complete transcript at: https://digpodcast.org/2017/09/24/military-revolution/  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

War, Conflict and Violence Series #2 of 4. In early modern Europe—that’s about 1500 to 1800—warfare changed dramatically, mostly due to the rise of gunpowder weapons. The introduction of artillery and shoulder arms to early modern European warfare had immediate consequences such as changing fortress design, necessitating the switch from cavalry to infantry, and the building of large standing armies. Find Show Notes, Further Reading, and a complete transcript for this episode at: https://digpodcast.org/2017/09/24/military-revolution/  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

War, Conflict and Violence Series #1 of 4. While today, press coverage treats Christianity’s alignment with political conservatism as a foregone conclusion, there is a larger milieu of liberal and progressive activism with Christian social justice. Join Averill and special guest Mark Lempke, PhD, for this special episode exploring George McGovern and the elusive Christian Left. Get the transcript and bibliography, and info about our guest host Mark Lempke, at digpodcast.org Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Sex Series, Episode #4 of 4. Get a complete transcript and bibliography at digpodcast.org. We have an image of puritans as cold, severe, hyper-strict and religious people, and while that’s not entirely false, it’s also not entirely true. From the very beginning, Early Americans were thinking about sex. The courts were burdened with hundreds of cases in which people broke the laws regarding sexual morality, such as premarital or extramarital sex or pregnancy out of wedlock. There was also a panic around a rise in bestiality!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices