History Uncovered

In 1692, the quiet Puritan settlement of Salem, Massachusetts descended into madness when its residents suddenly began accusing each other of witchcraft. Now known as the Salem witch trials, this phenomenon would go on to be the largest witch hunt in American history. But what caused the Salem witch trials in the first place? https://allthatsinteresting.com/salem-witch-trials-causes----more----credits: https://allthatsinteresting.com/podcast-credits Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Elizabeth Short, aka the "Black Dahlia," was just 22 years old when she was brutally murdered in Los Angeles on January 15, 1947. It remains one of Hollywood's oldest cold cases to this day.Discover the grisly true story of the Black Dahlia murder case and learn who may have killed 22-year-old Elizabeth Short in Los Angeles on January 15, 1947.https://allthatsinteresting.com/black-dahlia-murdercredits:https://allthatsinteresting.com/podcast-credits Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In October 1974, ascendant horror writer Stephen King and his wife spent a night in a cavernous old hotel at the foot of the Colorado Rockies. With the winter barrage of snow and cold looming, the hotel was about to close for the season, leaving King and his wife as its sole guests. After eating in a grand yet empty dining room — with the chairs up on every table except his — and walking through the endless empty hallways, a new novel began to take shape in King’s mind. ⁠https://allthatsinteresting.com/the-shining-hotel credits: https://allthatsinteresting.com/podcast-credits Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On the morning of September 18, 1970, paramedics arrived at the Samarkand Hotel in London’s Notting Hill neighborhood to find Jimi Hendrix covered in vomit and unresponsive. The apartment door was wide open and nobody else was there. They rushed Hendrix to St. Mary Abbot’s hospital where Dr. Martin Seifert tried and failed to revive him. According to Seifert, the guitarist’s body was already cold and blue when he got to the hospital and he called the attempt to resuscitate him “merely a formality.” Jimi Hendrix was pronounced dead at 12:45 p.m. He was just 27 years old. The autopsy listed his cause of death as asphyxiation, and his death was presumed to be accidental. But other theories have emerged in the 50 years since that fateful day, including suicide and even murder.  https://allthatsinteresting.com/jimi-hendrix-death credits:https://allthatsinteresting.com/podcast-credits  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On August 18, 1920, the ratification of the 19th Amendment granted American women the right to vote after a century-long struggle. But the win was bittersweet as not all women were now welcome at the polls. Women of color had endured racism within the women’s suffrage movement from the start, at times being asked to start their own organizations or to hold their own separate demonstrations. Among those activists was Ida B. Wells-Barnett, a sharp and talented Black journalist, teacher, and demonstrator who spoke out extensively against both sexism and racism. This is her story.https://allthatsinteresting.com/ida-b-wellscredits:https://allthatsinteresting.com/podcast-credits Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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