Unhinged History

This week, Angie and Theresa share a secret mind-meld, and both tell seafaring stories.

Theresa kicks things off by telling the story of Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry. Oliver Perry is the brother of Commodore Matthew Perry, who has been involved in several episodes. It’s Oliver Perry who would fight in the naval battle of Lake Erie, in the War of 1812, and raise a flag saying, “Don’t Give Up the Ship.”

Angie keeps the nautical theme going with the tale of Gráinne O’Malley, aka Grace O’Malley, the pirate queen herself. Gráinne is born to Irish chieftains, well-educated, and thrives on the water. This combination would make her quite the pain in the arse for the English.

This story pairs well with:
Nakahama Manjiro aka John Mung (one of the times Matthew Perry appears)
Jeanne de Clisson

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This week, Angie kicks things off with Judge Crater's disappearance. Now, for those of us playing at home, this was the old-timey scandal. Judge Crater had links to presidential candidate Franklin Delano Roosevelt and had cashed out a ton of money. He was dubbed "the missingest man in New York.”

Warning: this is a cold case, and it annoyed Theresa.

Pivoting sharply, Theresa heads back to the origins of Vancouver, Washington, and follows the handiwork of a six-foot-tall nun named Mother Joseph. This absolute badass would build over 30 hospitals, schools, and orphanages throughout her career in the PWN and establish the Providence Medical system, still in operation today.

This story pairs well with:
The Mysterious Disappearance of Agatha Christie
The Woman Who Founded Vancouver, Washington: Esther Short
The Weird Case of the Meowing Nuns

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Email us: Unhinged.HistoryPod@gmail.com

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This week, Theresa and Angie do what they do best.

Theresa kicks things off with the story of Mary Ellen Pleasant. This incredible capitalist, becomes a millionaire in 1800s San Francisco, invests heavily in Black communities, all while fighting lawsuits accusing her of fraud, theft, and even voodoo. Of course, Theresa is a huge fan.

Angie takes things up a notch by sharing the tale of Boudica. That’s right. Buckle up for the British heavy hitter. Boudica, who was already outspoken against the Roman overloads, develops a burning rage after getting flogged and witnessing her daughters’ sexual assaults. So she does what any reasonable person does: rouses a rabble of up to 100k countrymen and burns the Roman world to the ground.

This story pairs well with:
John Brown
Artemesia 

Join Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/UnhingedHistory
Email us: Unhinged.HistoryPod@gmail.com

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Edit: In this episode, Theresa uses a term for indigenous Australians that is both outdated and harmful. At the time, she was unaware of this. Since this episode went live, we've been made aware of this. Moving forward, we will not be using that language and have donated to SharingStoriesFoundations.org. This group works with First Nations communities to keep the languages alive. 

Life is weird and seemingly anachronistic from time to time, and so are the stories that make up our history.

Theresa starts with one such story, sharing the story of John Batman, the founding father of Melbourne, Australia. She relishes getting to expose the dirt on this man, his syphilis, the fact that he originally named Melbourne “Batmania,” and was carried around in a wicker batmobile. Just know if she ever tells a story about a founding father, it will always go like this.

Meanwhile, Angie tells a wildly different tale, and she shares the 1950s heist of the Stone of Destiny, or that time a group of Scottish college students broke into Westminster Abby and stole the rock upon which all Scottish kings were crowned since 1249.
 
This story pairs well with:

Ona Judge
Irish Crown Jewel Heist

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Email us: Unhinged.HistoryPod@gmail.com

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We have a special guest for our listeners this week. Nikki from the History Unlocked with Nikki podcast joins us and kicks things off by telling us one unhinged story.

She tells us about the Cadaver Synod, which is the posthumous trial of Pope Formosus. This dude was dug up and tried by the current pope, who was deposed. The next pope condemned the affair, but he didn’t last long, and his replacement dug up Pope Formosus and tried him again. It was a whole thing.

Then, Theresa tells us the story of Petrus Gonsalvus, the historical basis of Beauty and the Beast. This poor guy was born as a slave, with werewolf syndrome (hypertrichosis). This genetic rarity resulted in him being given as a gift to France’s King Henry II at his coronation. Henry decides to see if this beast can be educated. Henry’s wife, Cathrine de Medici, ups the ante and wants to see if he can procreate. So she arranges his marriage to an unwitting woman.

When four of their children also experience hypertrichosis, they are taken from the family and given away to nobles as pets.

In a bid to improve the tone of the podcast, Angie shares the life of Theresa’s favorite name, Dick Gorgeous. Gorgeous is the man who stole the Irish Crown Jewels, and when you listen to his background, you can really understand how his whole life led to this event.

This story pairs well with:
The pope who wrote the dirty book
Mulan
The Irish Crown Jewel Heist

Join Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/UnhingedHistory.
Email us: Unhinged.HistoryPod@gmail.com

Head to Social Media and be Social With Us:
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@unhinged.history
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/unhinged.historypod
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@unhingedhistory

Don’t forget to rate, review, and subscribe. As a small, independent podcast, we rely heavily on those small actions to help. They’re free, and so are you. Hopefully.