History Uncovered

On the night of April 22, 1987, Ruthie Mae McCoy called 911 at about a quarter to nine to report that someone was trying to break into her Chicago apartment through the bathroom mirror.  She made two calls to 911 that night, and two neighbors who heard her screaming called as well, but nobody came to her aid. McCoy was found dead in her apartment two days later with one shoe off and one shoe on, lying in a puddle of blood. She had been shot four times by two young men who had indeed come in through her bathroom mirror.  And if this sounds like something out of an urban legend, that’s because it soon became one. Five years later, Ruthie McCoy’s murder helped inspire the cult classic horror film “Candyman.”https://allthatsinteresting.com/is-candyman-realCredits:https://allthatsinteresting.com/podcast-credits Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On July 30, 1945, the USS Indianapolis had just completed a top-secret drop off at Tinian Island in the Philippine Sea. Her crew of 1,195 believed their part in World War II had ended and now they could return home. But just after midnight, they were torpedoed by a Japanese submarine. The ship exploded and 300 men went down with it immediately. They were lucky.The remaining 900 were left adrift under an oppressive sun for four days before they were discovered missing. The sailors struggled to avoid hordes of circling sharks, but approximately 150 of them were eviscerated. When help finally arrived on August 2, only 316 men were left. https://allthatsinteresting.com/uss-indianapolis credits:https://allthatsinteresting.com/podcast-credits Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, we talk about some of the darkest elements of our otherwise revered Founding Fathers, and talk with Alexis Coe about her biography of George Washington, You Never Forget Your First.You’ve likely heard the legends about these men because they were unprecedented in our nation’s history, indeed they founded the nation. They were essential in drafting the U.S. Constitution, declaring our independence, and sculpting a nation out of turmoil. But these men were men, they were human and they existed in a time where both slavery and pistol dueling for bragging rights were acceptable behaviors. So naturally, there’s a crass and uncomfortable dimension to each of them. Let’s explore those.https://allthatsinteresting.com/founding-fathers-facts credits: https://allthatsinteresting.com/podcast-credits Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In early 1346, Mongol forces were already three years into their siege of the Crimean port city of Kaffa when their soldiers started coming down with a deadly disease. The sick fell quickly, suffering high fevers and grotesque inflammation, and vomiting blood before dying. Listen to learn about the siege of Kaffa, which may have been the origin of the Black Death in Europe.https://allthatsinteresting.com/when-did-the-black-plague-start credits: https://allthatsinteresting.com/podcast-credits  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On July 14, 1518, a woman identified only as Frau Troffea stepped out of her house in Strasbourg, Alsace -- in what is now France -- and started to dance. After many hours, drenched in sweat and twitching, she finally collapsed. Then, a few hours later, she got up and started again -- and then again the next day. By the third day, her feet were bruised and blood soaked through her shoes, but still she continued to dance. https://allthatsinteresting.com/dancing-plague Credits: https://allthatsinteresting.com/podcast-credits  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the spring of 1945, as the Allies approached victory over the Axis powers, Japan considered launching a terrifying attack on the U.S. mainland. Though the plan’s codename, "Operation Cherry Blossoms at Night," sounded perfectly innocent, the plot was anything but.https://allthatsinteresting.com/operation-cherry-blossoms-at-nightCredits:https://allthatsinteresting.com/podcast-credits Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On September 15, 2007, villagers in the remote Peruvian town of Carancas saw a glowing fireball soar toward Earth — then felt the meteorite crash into the ground. Not only was the meteorite able to reach Earth without burning up in our atmosphere — but its arrival sparked a mysterious plague that caused hundreds of people to inexplicably fall ill. These strange circumstances have baffled scientists to this day.https://allthatsinteresting.com/carancas-meteorite-sicknessCredits: https://allthatsinteresting.com/podcast-credits Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 1845, two ships carrying 134 men set sail from England in order to explore an unnavigated stretch of the arctic waters between Canada and Greenland in search of the long sought after Northwest Passage. They would never return again.https://allthatsinteresting.com/john-torrington-franklin-expeditionCredits: https://allthatsinteresting.com/podcast-credits Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In January of 1959, nine Soviet college students died under mysterious circumstances while hiking through the Ural Mountains in what's now known as the Dyatlov Pass incident.https://allthatsinteresting.com/dyatlov-pass-incidentIntro music taken from: Unify by Snowflake http://ccmixter.org/files/snowflake/59709 Used under the CC Attribution license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ Wind sound from: https://freesound.org/people/Bosk1/sounds/217186/ Used under the CC Attribution license   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On June 22, 1983, 15-year-old Vatican resident Emanuela Orlandi went missing and was never heard from again. Her disappearance has been linked to the Pope, Turkish insurrectionists, Italian mobsters, and even a potential covert Satanic orgy ring.Read more here: https://allthatsinteresting.com/emanuela-orlandi Sources: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jul/20/emanuela-orlandi-brother-anguish-vatican-missing-teenager-investigationhttps://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sparizione_di_Emanuela_Orlandihttps://www.spectator.co.uk/2013/06/gone-girl/https://www.blitzquotidiano.it/opinioni/nicotri-opinioni/emanuela-orlandi-scomparsi-sky-2814001/http://projects.thestar.com/projects/2014/10/22/rome_the_pope_the_vatican_and_the_twisted_mystery_of_a_kidnapped_girl.htmlhttps://emanuelaorlandi.altervista.orghttp://espresso.repubblica.it/plus/articoli/2017/09/27/news/a-londra-sulle-tracce-del-fantasma-di-emanuela-orlandi-1.310802 Il segreto di Emanuela Orlandi by Pino Nazio Intro music taken from: Unify by Snowflake http://ccmixter.org/files/snowflake/59709 Used under the CC Attribution license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices