Shows
A Popular History of Unpopular ThingsThe Original Dracula, Vlad the ImpalerJoin Kelli as she goes over the ORIGINAL Dracula- Vlad Dracula, the Impaler. Although the fictional character is only loosely based on Vlad, the two are inextricably linked forever because of Bram Stoker's Dracula. So today, we'll go over the real Vlad Dracula - who is he, what did his world look like, and how did he earn the moniker "the Impaler?" Then, we'll look at the connections between the real Vlad and his Hollywood counterpart.Happy 2024 spooky APHOUT season! 🎃👻💀The translation for the German "Prince Dracula" pamphlet:https://web.english.upenn.edu/~mgamer/Etexts/pr...2024-09-2929 minA Popular History of Unpopular ThingsThe Delphine LaLaurie Murder MansionJoin Kelli as she goes over the legend of Madame Delphine LaLaurie, a torturess from New Orleans who tortured, mutilated, and killed at least 20 slaves at her mansion on 1140 Royal Street. But like we saw with the Blood Countess Elizabeth Bathory... is LaLaurie's story grossly exaggerated? How much is fact, and how much is fiction?Let's dive into the mysterious world of New Orleans legend to find out what really happened in Delphine LaLaurie's Murder Mansion.Support me on my Patreon - your support helps keep this podcast going!...2024-09-1525 minA Popular History of Unpopular ThingsThe Mignonette ShipwreckJoin Kelli as she goes over ANOTHER shipwreck that ended in cannibalism - that of the Mignonette, a sailing yacht that went down in the South Atlantic. But the Mignonette wasn't really seaworthy, and should never have been out that far... so when a rogue wave destroyed it, and the four men on board had to take their chances on a small dinghy with essentially no supplies... it didn't end well for one of them.Support me on my Patreon - your support helps keep this podcast going!A Popular History of Unpopular T...2024-09-0127 minA Popular History of Unpopular ThingsThe Spanish InquisitionJoin Kelli as she goes over the history behind the Spanish Inquisition. How and why did Spain hunt down heretics to purge the country of non-Catholics? And there will be a LOT of medieval torture devices in today's episode!Support me on my Patreon - your support helps keep this podcast going!A Popular History of Unpopular Things PatreonFollow the APHOUT YouTube channel!Intro and Outro music credit: NedricFind him on all streaming services and Y...2024-08-1830 minA Popular History of Unpopular ThingsThe Great Plague and Great Fire of LondonJoin Kelli as she goes over the Great Plague of London, 1665-1666, which ended in part thanks to the Great Fire of London, 1666.These are two big events that killed off a good chunk of London's population and destroyed four-fifths of the city. The new London that was built was better suited to withstand fires and plague, and though it still had some sanitation problems, the days of plague-infested roofs and damaging fires was over.Support me on my Patreon - your support helps keep this podcast going!A Popular History...2024-08-0427 minA Popular History of Unpopular ThingsThe Black DeathJoin Kelli for her fiftieth episode where she explores her favorite topic - The Black Death!It's an all-out disease fest, where she goes over the symptoms of plague, how it spread, who it impacted, what it was like for people living with it, and how it impacted the Medieval world.Thank you for helping APHOUT come so far - and this is only just the beginning!Support me on my Patreon - your support helps keep this podcast going!A Popular History of Unpopular Th...2024-07-2140 minA Popular History of Unpopular ThingsThe Hindenburg DisasterJoin Kelli as she goes over the Hindenburg Disaster. On May 6, 1937, the Hindenburg Zeppelin exploded and caught fire as it was landing at the Lakehurst Naval Air Station in New Jersey. 36 of the 97 people on board died - some in the initial explosion, some from jumping off the airship at height, and some from some horrific burns once they escaped the flaming vessel. It had huge ramifications for the airship industry and the popularity of blimps, zeppelins, and other dirigibles. Support me on my Patreon - your support helps keep this podcast going!A...2024-07-0731 minA Popular History of Unpopular ThingsThe Fukushima Nuclear DisasterJoin Kelli as she goes over the Fukushima Nuclear Disaster, where a massive 9.0/9.1 earthquake 80 miles off the eastern coast of Japan triggers a tsunami that killed tens of thousands and caused millions in damages. But the earthquake and tsunami also knocked out power to the Fukushima Daiichi power plant, which had terrible, terrible consequences...In this episode, we briefly revisit what happened with Chernobyl so we can compare it to Fukushima, as both disasters received the same nuclear "disaster" rating. But what really happened with Fukushima, and what lessons can we learn from this most recent nuclear...2024-06-2331 minA Popular History of Unpopular ThingsThe Medusa ShipwreckJoin Kelli as she goes over the tragedy of the Medusa Shipwreck. When a French frigate bound for Senegal hits a sandbank and sinks, some get on the lifeboats, while a large portion are stuck on a hastily erected raft. The raft was too heavy and abandoned by the boats, and 147 people on board this flat wooden rectangle were left to try and survive without provisions, a compass, a proper sail, or a rudder. And it doesn't end well.Special shoutout to my newest cannibal Patron - Joaquin! Thank you for your support!Support...2024-06-0939 minA Popular History of Unpopular ThingsThe Victorian Houses of DeathJoin Kelli as she talks about Victorian-era hospitals in London, known as the Houses of Death because of their fatality rates. These were the most unsanitary of places, and today we'll go into all the nitty-gritty details of what they looked like. We'll also learn about some of the gross surgeries that went on inside Houses of Death before going over how they changed with the advent of anesthetics and antiseptics.Buckle up, this one is pretty gross. But hey - at least you get a break from cannibalism this week. No promises for the next topic ;)2024-05-2629 minA Popular History of Unpopular ThingsThe Tale of Liver-Eating JohnsonJoin Kelli as she goes over the tale of Liver-Eating Johnson, a mountain man in the early 19th century American frontier who became legendary for how he avenged the murder and scalping of his Flathead indigenous wife. A book, called Crow Killer, really popularized his life - so much so that it was turned into a movie, Jeremiah Johnson, released in 1972 and starring Robert Redford. But is this a true story? Or is it just an embellished legend of a mountain man?Let's look at the (abridged) story, then look at some efforts at debunking...2024-05-1226 minA Popular History of Unpopular ThingsThe Order of the PugJoin Kelli as she dives into the world of the Freemasons, Secret Societies, Religious Tension, Political Conflict, and... pugs? In 1738, Pope Clement XII issued a papal bull denying any Roman Catholics from joining the Freemasons. It was a targeted hit at the religious and political tensions surrounding two sects of the Freemasons - the Jacobite Lodge and the Hanoverian Lodge - who argued over their main religious identity and political affiliations. But as a result of the papal bull, Catholics were no longer allowed to join any Freemason group.So, to get around this, the...2024-04-2824 minA Popular History of Unpopular ThingsThe Kentucky CannibalJoin Kelli as she tells the story of Levi Boone Helm, a frontiersman-turned-outlaw who committed murders across the West at the height of the California Gold Rush. But that's not all this serial killer did - he was also a cannibal. And he bragged about it.It's another mid-19th-century tale of the dark side of western expansion. With lots of cannibalism.So let's dive into the historical context of the time to see if we can place Boone Helm in his contextual place, the American West during westward expansion.Support me...2024-04-1432 minA Popular History of Unpopular ThingsThe Werewolf of BedburgJoin Kelli as she goes over a trial from the peak years of Early Modern Europe's so-called werewolf panic - the trial of Peter Stumpp, the Werewolf of Bedburg. Peter confessed to all kinds of horrible, evil, depraved things. As a result, he was executed on the breaking wheel in a particularly gross and bloody fashion. But was he actually guilty? Was he a murderer? Or was he tortured into confessing as a scapegoat for the times?Let's dive into the historical context and available primary source data to learn about Peter Stumpp, the Werewolf o...2024-03-3127 minA Popular History of Unpopular ThingsThe Centralia Underground Mine FireJoin Kelli as she talks about the inspiration for the Silent Hill games and movies - the ghost town of Centralia! In 1962, a fire set the underground coal mines on fire, and they've been burning to this day. Experts believe that the fires will continue to burn underneath Centralia for another 250 years!While Silent Hill and its scares don't exist, the horrors inflicted on Centralia may be even scarier...Support me on my Patreon - your support helps keep this podcast going!A Popular History of Unpopular Things Patreon2024-03-1728 minA Popular History of Unpopular ThingsThe Lizzie Borden Hatchet MurdersJoin Kelli as she takes a look at a historic killer - Lizzie Borden - who was accused of killing her father and stepmother with a hatchet in 1892. But despite everything pointing toward her, she was acquitted by the jury. Kelli offers up an explanation as to why she was not found guilty of a crime she most likely committed, and it (of course) has to do with the historical context! What was life like in New England in 1892? And how did that contribute to her acquittal?Support me on my Patreon - your support helps k...2024-03-0330 minA Popular History of Unpopular ThingsThe Deadly Antarctic ExpeditionsJoin Kelli as she talks about THREE expeditions to Antarctica in the Heroic Age of Exploration. The first, led by Roald Amundsen, was the first to reach the geographic South Pole. At the same time, Robert Falcon Scott was leading his own expedition to the South Pole, but Amundsen beat him there. Unfortunately for Scott, his expedition faced extreme weather and bad luck on the way back, and none returned alive. The third, led by Douglas Mawson, was an attempt to map out more Antarctic land, but that trip also suffered tragedies. These are three epic tales...2024-02-181h 02A Popular History of Unpopular ThingsThe Jamestown ColonyJoin Kelli as she goes over the difficulties of the early years of the first successful English settlement in North America - Jamestown. From the bloody flux to survival cannibalism, brutal executions to starvation and madness, the foundation of what would later become the United States was built on all the gross, nasty stuff we love here on the APHOUT podcast.Support me on my Patreon - your support helps keep this podcast going!A Popular History of Unpopular Things PatreonFollow the APHOUT YouTube channel!2024-02-0452 minA Popular History of Unpopular ThingsThe Sinking of the USS IndianapolisJoin Kelli as she goes over what happened to the USS Indianapolis, the ship that brought atomic bomb parts to Tinian Island so they could be assembled - and dropped - on Hiroshima. Though the ship completed her mission, making Oppenheimer's and the Manhattan Project's work come to life in the form of a nuclear bomb, the USS Indianapolis suffered a catastrophic - and fatal - blow when it crossed paths with a Japanese submarine.This is the story of the ship. Kelli discusses its important cargo, gives context on WWII and why the ship was in t...2024-01-2153 minA Popular History of Unpopular ThingsThe Kuru Cannibal DiseaseJoin Kelli as she talks about a prion disease called Kuru. Prion diseases occur when misfolded proteins duplicate and clog up the brain, and cause things like Mad Cow Disease, Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, and Kuru. Kuru was specific to the Fore people of Papua New Guinea, and at its peak, killed 200 women and children people a year. But to get Kuru, they must have consumed the brains of the infected dead...Let's dive deep into the Fore peoples, prion diseases and more cannibalism.New year, same old me. Happy 2024!Support me on my P...2024-01-0731 minA Popular History of Unpopular ThingsThe Inca MummiesJoin Kelli as she discusses the Inca Empire and their religious practices - including capacocha, the practice of sacrificing children and leaving them to mummify on mountain peaks.Support me on my Patreon - your support helps keep this podcast going! You'll get exclusive benefits for being a historian, explorer, or cannibal on the APHOUT Patreon! Click the link below to join today!A Popular History of Unpopular Things PatreonFollow the APHOUT YouTube channel!Intro and Outro music credit: NedricFind him...2023-12-2431 minA Popular History of Unpopular ThingsThe Tuskegee Syphilis StudyJoin Kelli as she discusses the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, an experiment on black men (without their consent) where the US Public Health Service and the CDC allowed them to live with untreated syphilis infections for 40 years - despite there being a cure: penicillin.In this episode, Kelli goes over the scientific context of what syphilis is and how one contracts it, then ties it to the historical context of why the US government allowed 399 black men to suffer from late-stage syphilis when they could have given them the cure. It's racism, sure, but we'll dive deeper to e...2023-12-1044 minA Popular History of Unpopular ThingsThe Cannibal IslandJoin Kelli as she discusses a Stalin Soviet-era plan to deport unwanted citizens and petty criminals to an island in the middle of Siberia - without proper shelter, supplies, or food. It only took a few days before the island's new inhabitants broke down and started to consume the flesh of their fellow prisoners.In this podcast, we review the historical context of 1930s Stalin-era plans to starve the people in the name of progress and communism. Spoiler - it doesn't end well. In addition to discussing the Cannibal Island, more commonly known as Nazino Island, Kelli...2023-11-2638 minA Popular History of Unpopular ThingsThe Waco SiegeJoin Kelli as she explores the history that led up to the Waco Siege, where ATF agents conducted a failed raid against Branch Davidian leader David Koresh at his Mount Carmel compound in Waco, Texas. The result of this botched mission was a 51 day standoff. In the end, 4 ATF agents and 82 Branch Davidians were dead, and the whole place burned to the ground. It was a massive failure in communication between the ATF, FBI, Hostage Rescue Team, and negotiators - one of the biggest fumbles in our history. But it wasn't the first.In addition to the...2023-11-121h 01A Popular History of Unpopular ThingsThe History of HalloweenJoin Kelli as she explores the Celtic roots of Halloween - from Samhain and Celtic mythology, to Puritan fun-sponges, to Irish immigration, and into Spirit Halloween stores, we'll learn the history behind the second biggest holiday in the US!Support me on my Patreon - your support helps keep this podcast going! You'll get exclusive benefits for being a historian, explorer, or cannibal on the APHOUT Patreon! Click the link below to join today!A Popular History of Unpopular Things PatreonIntro and Outro music credit: Nedric...2023-10-2923 minA Popular History of Unpopular ThingsThe Halifax ExplosionJoin Kelli as she goes over the biggest, manmade, non-nuclear explosion in history - the Halifax Explosion.On December 6th, 1917, a French ship filled with explosives was heading into Halifax Harbor, in Nova Scotia, Canada. At the same time, the Norwegian ship Imo was leaving to pick up supplies from New York to ship over to Europe to help with WWI. Unfortunately for thousands of people at Halifax, both at sea and on land, the two collided. The ensuing explosion killed upwards of 1,600 people, injured over 9,000 more, demolished the town, and cemented itself as the biggest (non-nuclear) ex...2023-10-1524 minA Popular History of Unpopular ThingsThe Monongah Mine DisasterJoin Kelli as she goes over the deadliest mine explosion in history - the Monongah Mine Disaster of 1907.In the industrial world of the early 20th century, there was little regulation over safety in the workplace or fair wages. The Monongah mine in West Virginia was no exception. Fine coal dust in the air, coupled with pockets of methane gas, made conditions incredibly unsafe. When the rail carting mine cars out of the mine snapped, 19 beds filled with coal went careening back into the deep Appalachian mine. Sparks ignited the coal dust and methane, and the result...2023-10-0145 minA Popular History of Unpopular ThingsThe Minnesota Starvation ExperimentHappy First Birthday to the APHOUT podcast! It's been a wild ride full of cannibalism, adventures gone wrong, and all kinds of gore, and I can't wait to keep it going!---Join Kelli as she discusses the Minnesota Starvation Experiment, a test during WWII where 36 unpaid volunteers willingly starved themselves half to death to get concrete data on starvation and how to rehabilitate the starved.Though nobody died from starvation... the results were pretty shocking. And of course, cannibalism makes an appearance.Support me on my Patreon...2023-09-1746 minA Popular History of Unpopular ThingsThe Great Wall of ChinaKelli, along with Anna and Paul of the Engineering History Podcast, do another joint episode on the Great Wall of China! Join us as we tackle how and why the Great Wall was built, starting with the Qin Dynasty and then tracing it through the Ming Dynasty. While Kelli muses on the legitimacy of dead bodies in the walls, Anna explores the engineering of sticky rice and Paul enthuses about the Mongols and the reasons for wall building in the first place.Support me on my Patreon - your support helps keep this podcast going! You'll...2023-09-031h 29A Popular History of Unpopular ThingsThe Human Honey CandyJoin Kelli as she explores the myth of the mellified man, a medicinal candy made out of mummified, honeyed corpses. If you thought the Western Europeans were the only ones to consume their dead for medicine, well... get ready to hear what Li Shizhen has to say about mellification.Support me on my Patreon - your support helps keep this podcast going! You'll get exclusive benefits for being a historian, explorer, or cannibal on the APHOUT Patreon! Click the link below to join today!A Popular History of Unpopular Things Patreon2023-08-2017 minA Popular History of Unpopular ThingsThe Mongol Bone PyramidsJoin Kelli as she explores the history of the Mongol Empire and how we go from Genghis Khan to Timur, a Turco-Mongol leader who is responsible for building an empire off of the deaths of 17 million people in the late 14th and early 15th centuries. His infamous calling card? Leaving pyramids and towers made of the skulls of the dead he killed at the entrance to each city, a powerful reminder not to cross him or his empire.Support me on my Patreon - your support helps keep this podcast going! You'll get exclusive benefits for...2023-08-0627 minA Popular History of Unpopular ThingsThe Cannibal PlateauJoin Kelli as she goes over the story of Alfred Packer, who was accused of killing and eating his five hiking companions in the San Juan Mountains of southwest Colorado. He definitely engaged in cannibalism, but he disputed the murder charges. Was he a murderer? Or did he just eat his fellow man to survive in the harsh winters of the Colorado Rockies?This is the story of the man who inspired Matt Parker and Trey Stone's 1993 cult classic Cannibal! The Musical. So get ready to be grossed out with this latest episode of wild west cannibalism!2023-07-2350 minA Popular History of Unpopular ThingsThe Mount Everest Rainbow ValleyJoin Kelli as she explores Rainbow Valley, a place in the death zone of Mount Everest, high up above 8,000 meters (over 26,000 feet), where your body slowly dies off, cell by cell, because of the extreme cold and lack of oxygen. The Rainbow Valley is made colorful by the jackets of the dead climbers that you'll have to climb over on your way to the peak of our world, the summit of Mount Everest.Oh, also, many other disgusting things litter the mountain other than body parts and corpses - TONS of trash and piles of human feces...2023-07-0948 minA Popular History of Unpopular ThingsThe Irish Potato FamineJoin Kelli as she explores the history of the Irish Potato Famine. We know that a fungal disease, blight, swept through Ireland in from 1845 to 1852, wiping out most of the potatoes. But where did blight come from? Did it only affect the Irish? If blight was elsewhere, why were they the ones so badly affected? Was it only potatoes affected? And if so, why were there not alternative food sources? How bad did it really get during the peak years of the famine? And what do the British have to do with all of this?Follow the...2023-06-2544 minA Popular History of Unpopular ThingsThe Radium GirlsJoin Kelli as she gives the history of the Radium Girls - young women who worked in factories painting watches and dials with paint containing RADIUM. The girls were encouraged to use their lips to keep the brushes pointy, and as a result, they were consuming alpha radiation particles from the radioactive radium. The result? Disintegrating bones, rotting necrotic tissue, and painful death.Follow the APHOUT podcast for more stories! It also helps me grow the show!Sources referenced:The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America’s Shining Women by Kate Moore2023-06-1132 minA Popular History of Unpopular ThingsThe Jack the Ripper MurdersJoin Kelli as she explores the history of late 19th century's East End of London, where Jack the Ripper made his infamous, and gruesome, killings of five women before disappearing into the darkness in the fall of 1888.Though he was never found, his murders give us a chance to explore the lives of women, the poor, and the working classes in the gritty, industrial life of England's biggest city.This episode is the second of a two-episode look into two late 19th-century murderers - Holmes and Jack the Ripper - and how they became integral...2023-05-2847 minA Popular History of Unpopular ThingsThe HH Holmes Murder CastleJoin Kelli as she explores the real history behind HH Holmes - born Herman Webster Mudgett - and how he became known as America's first serial killer. Was he the man we know him as today? Or is his story of a murder house and the deaths of tourists in Chicago just a legend?This episode is part of a two-episode look into two late 19th century murdered - Holmes and Jack the Ripper - and how they became integral parts of our histories as infamous killers. Sources referenced:H. H. Holmes...2023-05-1448 minA Popular History of Unpopular ThingsThe Auckland Island ShipwrecksJoin Kelli as she tells the story of two shipwrecks that took place on Auckland Island in 1864, at the same time, though neither knew the other was there. One wreck tells the tale of a group that banded together in the face of adversity and used their creativity and strength to survive. The other wreck is more like an adult version of Lord of the Flies; the situation quickly devolved into chaos, with most survivors dying of starvation. Let's find out how and why two shipwrecks, on opposite sides of the same island, had such vastly different outcomes.2023-04-3042 min