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In 1932, 9-year-old Lennie Gwyther rode 600 miles to see the opening of the...
In 1932, 9-year-old Lennie Gwyther set out to ride a thousand kilometers to see the opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Along the way he became a symbol of Australian grit and determination. In this...
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In 1957, English doctor John Bodkin Adams was accused of killing his patients...
In 1957, an English doctor was accused of killing his patients for their money. The courtroom drama that followed was called the "murder trial of the century." In this week's episode of the Futility...
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In the 1930s, an Englishman decided to fly to Mount Everest and climb it alone
In 1932, Yorkshireman Maurice Wilson chose a startling way to promote his mystical beliefs: He would fly to Mount Everest and climb it alone. In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast...
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In 1957, an underdog Mexican team stunned the world of Little League baseball
In 1957, 14 boys from Monterrey, Mexico, walked into Texas to take part in a game of Little League baseball. What followed surprised and inspired two nations. In this week's episode of the Futility...
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A new podcast explores the CIA's involvement with writing a hit song for the...
Journalist Patrick Radden Keefe has done plenty of extensive and gripping longform journalism, including his most recent book, Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland (which...
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Boxer Johann Trollmann challenged the Nazis' presumption of his ethnic...
In the 1930s, Sinto boxer Johann Trollmann was reaching the peak of his career when the Nazis declared his ethnic inferiority. In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll describe...
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In 1911, the Mona Lisa was stolen from the Louvre
In 1911, the Mona Lisa disappeared from the Louvre. After an extensive investigation it made a surprising reappearance that inspired headlines around the world. In this week's episode of the Futility...
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In 1942, English anthropologist Ursula Graham Bower organized Indian hill...
In 1937, Englishwoman Ursula Graham Bower became fascinated by the Naga people of northeastern India. She was living among them when World War II broke out and Japan threatened to invade their land....
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Six lateral thinking puzzles
Here are six new lateral thinking puzzles to test your wits and stump your friends — play along with us as we try to untangle some perplexing situations using yes-or-no questions. Show notes Please...
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In 1925, Aimé Tschiffely set out to ride two horses from Buenos Aires to New...
In 1925, Swiss schoolteacher Aimé Tschiffely set out to prove the resilience of Argentina's criollo horses by riding two of them from Buenos Aires to New York City. In this week's episode of the...
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Two settlers disappeared from a small Eastern Pacific island in 1934
In 1929 a German couple fled civilization to live on an uninhabited island in the Eastern Pacific. But other settlers soon followed, leading to strife, suspicion, and possibly murder. In this week's...
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A New Hampshire POW camp in World War II was unexpectedly transformed by...
In 1943, the U.S. established a camp for German prisoners of war near the village of Stark in northern New Hampshire. After a rocky start, the relations between the prisoners and guards underwent a...
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Hear David Lynch introducing "Eraserhead" at a screening in 1978
From the UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive: Through the project "Saving Film Exhibition History: Digitizing Recordings of Guest Speakers at the Pacific Film Archive, 1976 to 1986",...
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In 1939 a Great Dane joined the Royal Navy
The only dog ever enlisted in the Royal Navy was a Great Dane who befriended the sailors of Cape Town in the 1930s. Given the rank of able seaman, he boosted the morale of British sailors around the...
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In the 1500s, four Spanish colonists were marooned in an unexplored North...
Marooned in Florida in 1528, four Spanish colonists made an extraordinary journey across the unexplored continent. Their experiences changed their conception of the New World and its people. In this...
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In 1890, cinema pioneer Louis Le Prince boarded a train and disappeared
In 1890, French inventor Louis Le Prince vanished just as he was preparing to debut his early motion pictures. He was never seen again. In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll...
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In 1829 a group of convicts stole a ship in Tasmania and made their way into...
In 1829 a group of convicts commandeered a brig in Tasmania and set off across the Pacific, hoping to elude their pursuers and win their freedom. In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast...
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Catholic Priests used to perform abortions, and it was considered a lesser...
A few years, the Irish Times' Women's Podcast looked into the historical relationships between the Catholic Church and abortion, based on extant old religious texts (mostly from Ireland). There's lots...
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There are a surprising number of unsolved murders involving Grateful Dead fans
https://traffic.megaphone.fm/CAD5174552137.mp3 Dead and Gone is a new podcast about dead Deadheads. Hosted by True Crime troubadours Payne Lindsey of Up and Vanished and Jake Brennan of Disgraceland,...
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Twitter CEO has a "bitcoin clock" on his kitchen counter, as seen in his...
If you want to know the price of your favorite cryptocurrencies, this $300 Blockclock is a costly way to do it. But that's how Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey rolls, as evidenced by the device seen on his...
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How it feels to get sonic blasted by an LRAD
Twenty Thousand Hertz is a great podcast that explores sound, in all the ways it manifests. Case in point: "The Deterrent Tone," a recent episode that focuses on Long Range Acoustical Devices, the...
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A Pulitzer Prize-winning nation security reporter explains why Magneto was right
In Grant Morrison's 2003 X-Men storyline Riot at Xavier's, an angry adolescent mutant named Quentin Quire rallies a few other outcasts and foments a student-led revolution at the Xavier School for...
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How megaplex movie theatres shaped the movie industry — for better, and for...
The movie theatre industry — distinct from the movie making industry — was in trouble even before COVID-19 turned Passively Sitting In The Dark Near Other People For Two Hours While Staring At A...
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How Tim FitzHigham became the Commodore of Sudbury Quay by rowing a bathtub...
Imagine if you will, I'm out rowing in the middle of the English Channel. It's a lovely stretch of water, it's very difficult to row however, and I'm rowing quite quickly. Really-really, quite quickly...
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There is an ice cream-fueled shadow economy near Ben & Jerry's headquarters...
Planet Money delves into the ice cream-fueled shadow barter economy created near Ben & Jerry's Vermont home, where "Each Ben & Jerry's employee is allowed to take home three free pints of ice...
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Don't drink bleach, folks
If you're looking for a new podcast to binge, here's a great one. It's called Smoke Screen: Deadly Cure, and it tells the story of the Grenon family, who created the Genesis II Church of Health and...
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"Run, Hide, Repeat" podcast tells disturbing story of a childhood full of...
Here's a great podcast that tells a bizarre, disturbing, and incredibly sad story. It's hosted by Pauline Dakin, and is based on her 2017 memoir, "Run, Hide, Repeat," which won the 2018 Edna Staebler...
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"Amazingly metal" dragon fire at Disneyland
On Saturday night, the fire-breathing dragon in Disneyland's "Fantasmic!" show caught on fire, destroying the prop, and causing six cast members to be treated for smoke inhalation. New York Times story...
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"Scamanda" podcast tells the story of a cancer scammer
If you're looking for a new podcast and you like true stories about grifters and scammers, here's one you should download right away! It's called "Scamanda" and tells the story of Amanda Riley who, in...
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Watch these adorable (and hilarious) dogs being groomed
There's something really soothing and satisfying about watching dog grooming videos, and I think "Dogs by Logan" creates some of the best. The social media accounts featuring the videos—and dog...
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