116 episodes

There are known knowns, known unknowns and unknown unknowns. But there are also unknown knowns. We are the Ancient and Esoteric Order of the Jackalope, a secret society devoted to unearthing and sharing this forgotten knowledge.

The Ancient and Esoteric Order of the Jackalope David White

    • History
    • 4.6 • 10 Ratings

There are known knowns, known unknowns and unknown unknowns. But there are also unknown knowns. We are the Ancient and Esoteric Order of the Jackalope, a secret society devoted to unearthing and sharing this forgotten knowledge.

    Jackass Forever [Joe Magarac: folklore or fakelore?]

    Jackass Forever [Joe Magarac: folklore or fakelore?]

    In the early Twentieth Century, Joe Magarac was the American steel industry's answer to Paul Bunyan. And then it was discovered he might not be an authentic folk tale, but a relatively recent invention...
    https://order-of-the-jackalope.com/jackass-forever/
    Key sources for this episode include Owen Francis's "The Saga of Joe Magarac: Steelman"; Jennifer Gilley and Stephen Burnet's "Deconstructing and Reconstructing Pittsburgh's Man of Steel: Reading Joe Magarac Against the Context of the 20th-Century Steel Industry"; Kevin J. Patrick's "Joe Magarac and the Spirit of Pittsburgh"; and Marshal W. Fishwick's "Sons of Paul: Folklore or Fakelore?".
    What I really recommend, though, is Irwin Shapiro's Joe Magarac and his U.S.A Citizen Papers. The dialect is charming instead of grating, the location- and period-authentic detail helps keep everything grounded, the jokes are actually funny, and the moral is still relevant today. And on top of that you have some really powerful illustrations by James Daugherty. Five stars, A+, would read again.
    Part of the That's Not Canon Productions podcast network. https://thatsnotcanon.com/
    Discord: https://discord.gg/Mbap3UQyCB
    Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/orderjackalope.bsky.social
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/orderjackalope/
    Tumblr: https://orderjackalope.tumblr.com
    Email: jackalope@order-of-the-jackalope.com

    • 22 min
    Vote for Pedro [Wyoming's own midget mummy]

    Vote for Pedro [Wyoming's own midget mummy]

    "Wyoming's own midget mummy" was found in the San Pedro Mountains in 1932 and mystified thousands before disappearing in 1950. but what was he? A little person, a baby, a fake? And where the heck did he get off to?
    https://order-of-the-jackalope.com/vote-for-pedro/
    Key sources for this episode include Aaron Mahnke's The World of Lore: Monstrous Creatures; Charles J. Cazeau and Stuart D. Scott's Exploring the Unknown: Great Mysteries Reexamined; Jeremy Fugelberg's "The Mysterious Pedro Mountain Mummy"; Richard Marshall's Mysteries of the Unexplained; and contemporary newspaper reports.
    And sincere apologies to the Cryptonaturalist (https://www.cryptonaturalist.com/) for biting his style.
    Part of the That's Not Canon Productions podcast network. https://thatsnotcanon.com/
    Discord: https://discord.gg/Mbap3UQyCB
    Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/orderjackalope.bsky.social
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/orderjackalope/
    Tumblr: https://orderjackalope.tumblr.com
    Email: jackalope@order-of-the-jackalope.com

    • 25 min
    Fuller Houses [R. Buckminster Fuller's various Dymaxion Houses]

    Fuller Houses [R. Buckminster Fuller's various Dymaxion Houses]

    R. Buckminster Fuller's Dymaxion House was a marvel of modern technology that promised to create freedom by liberating the mind and curing all of society's problems... so why aren't you living in one right now?
    https://order-of-the-jackalope.com/fuller-houses/
    Key sources for this episode include Jonathon Keats' You Belong to the Universe: Buckminster Fuller and the Future; Lloyd Steven Sieden's Buckminster Fuller's Universe: His Life and His Work; and Michael Brian Schiffer's Spectacular Flops: Game-Changing Technologies That Failed... but especially Lorettta Lorance's Becoming Bucky Fuller, which is both the most thorough and most critical biography of Fuller and definitely worth checking out.
    Part of the That's Not Canon Productions podcast network. https://thatsnotcanon.com/
    Discord: https://discord.gg/Mbap3UQyCB
    Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/orderjackalope.bsky.social
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/orderjackalope/
    Tumblr: https://orderjackalope.tumblr.com
    Email: jackalope@order-of-the-jackalope.com

    • 45 min
    Steampunk Google and the World City [Paul Otlet and the Mundaneum] by Alex Baumans

    Steampunk Google and the World City [Paul Otlet and the Mundaneum] by Alex Baumans

    Paul Otlet had a vision of an system that could search all the information ever created, from anywhere in the world, at the touch of a button... Too bad the most advanced technologies at his disposal were index cards.
    Transcript, links, and more at:
    https://order-of-the-jackalope.com/steampunk-google-and-the-world-city/
    Key sources for this episode include Alex Wright’s Cataloging the World: Paul Otlet and the Birth of the Information Age; Françoise Levie’s L’homme qui voulait classer le monde: Paul Otlet et le Mundaneum; Paul Otlet’s Traité de documentation: Le livre sur le livre; Paul Otlet, Fondateur du Mundaneum, Architecte du savoir, Artisan de paix; and the newspaper archive of the KBR.
    Presented by #42 (Alex Baumans). Pathologically interested in anything unusual and obscure. Closet goth, armchair general and amateur theologian. Favorite animals are ducks, octopodes and pigs. You will also find me surprisingly knowledgable about K-Pop girl groups.
    Special thanks to the Collection Mundaneum in Mons for their assistance (http://www.mundaneum.org/en) and for providing images for our use. This episode is released under a Creative Commons except for the images, which may not be reproduced without the express permission of the Mundaneum.
    Part of the That's Not Canon Productions podcast network. https://thatsnotcanon.com/
    Discord: https://discord.gg/Mbap3UQyCB
    Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/orderjackalope.bsky.social
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/orderjackalope/
    Tumblr: https://orderjackalope.tumblr.com
    Email: jackalope@order-of-the-jackalope.com

    • 45 min
    The First Battle of the American Revolution [the Battle of Point Pleasant]

    The First Battle of the American Revolution [the Battle of Point Pleasant]

    Everyone knows the first battles of the American Revolution were Lexington and Concord... unless, that is, you live in Point Pleasant, West Virginia.
    https://order-of-the-jackalope.com/the-first-battle-of-the-american-revolution/
    Key sources for this episode include Randolf C. Downes's "Dunmore's War: An Interpretation"; J.T. McAllister's "The Battle of Point Pleasant"; Virgil Lewis's History of the Battle of Point Pleasant, Fought Between White Men and Indians at the Mouth of the Great Kanawha River (Now Point Pleasant, West Virginia) Monday, October 10, 1774; Glen Williams' Dunmore's War: The Last Conflict of America's Colonial Era; and West Virginia History's "Manufactured History: Re-Fighting the Battle of Point Pleasant".
    Part of the That's Not Canon Productions podcast network. https://thatsnotcanon.com/
    Discord: https://discord.gg/Mbap3UQyCB
    Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/orderjackalope.bsky.social
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/orderjackalope/
    Tumblr: https://orderjackalope.tumblr.com
    Email: jackalope@order-of-the-jackalope.com

    • 21 min
    Neither Here Nor There [Melungeons]

    Neither Here Nor There [Melungeons]

    In which a mysterious lost people living in the mountains of Tennessee turn out to not be so mysterious after all... and maybe not even all that lost, if the Internet can be believed.
    Transcript, sources, and more: https://order-of-the-jackalope.com/neither-here-nor-there/
    Key sources for this episode include Anita Puckett's "The Melungeon Identity Movement and the Construction of Appalachian Whiteness", Ariela Gross's "Of Portuguese Origin: Litigating Identity and Citizenship among the Little Races in Nineteenth-Century America", Brewton Berry's Almost White, Jean Patterson Bible's Melungeons Yesterday and Today, Katherine Vande Brake's Through the Back Door: Melungeon Literacies and Twenty-First Century Technologies, Melissa Schrift's Becoming Melungeon: Making an Ethnic Identity in the Appalachian South, N. Brent Kennedy's The Melungeons: The Resurrection of a Proud People, Tim Hashaw's Children of Perdition: Melungeons and the Struggle of Mixed America, and Will Allen Dromgoole's The Malungeon Tree and Its Four Branches.
    Part of the That's Not Canon Productions podcast network. https://thatsnotcanon.com/
    Discord: https://discord.gg/Mbap3UQyCB
    Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/orderjackalope.bsky.social
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/orderjackalope/
    Tumblr: https://orderjackalope.tumblr.com
    Email: jackalope@order-of-the-jackalope.com

    • 26 min

Customer Reviews

4.6 out of 5
10 Ratings

10 Ratings

Ponterbee's2ndPhone ,

Honours To The Jackalope

Should be in Top Ten for History ~ as entertaining as it is informative, but more than to the point The Order Of The Jackalope is just totally, absolutely F U N - and I’m so glad I found it.

peepsteaks ,

Can’t believe this isn’t more popular

Really enjoying this podcast. Just found it a couple of days ago through an instagram recommendation. The stories are well researched and the host is personable and keeps it entertaining.

ihazidea ,

Incredible level of research

It’s a combination of “Strange, But True,” mixed with Paul Harvey’s “The Rest of the Story.” An eclectic collection or obscure & oddball tails with intense amounts of research brought together with a compelling narrative. If you like “Ripley’s Believe It or Not” or Hardcore History, it’s worth giving a couple of episodes a listen.

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