Our 99th Episode! This episode features the narration talents of musician Will Oldham, also known as Bonnie Prince Billy. Will tells the story of Rhyolite, a town once founded in Death Valley after the discovery of gold by Frank "Shorty" Harris. Today it is a ghost town. But first, Mick tells the story of the Bone Wars, when Othniel Charles Marsh and Edward Drinker Cope should have gotten along, but didn't. Still, they made some major paleontology and dinosaur discoveries. Stories written...

The Resolute Desk is a fixture in the Oval Office. American Presidents have used it during some of the country's most pivotal moments. But what does the Resolute Desk have to do with England's dangerous expeditions into the Arctic in the 1800s? Find out on this episode - and learn about ghost ships, the search for the Northwest Passage, and a gift in honor of international friendship and diplomacy. This episode is sponsored by/brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at...

Episode 98 goes to the Netherlands. There is something remarkable about the Dutch when it comes to glass lenses and scientific tools. Maybe Hans Lippershay invented the telescope. Maybe it was some kids in his town. Or maybe it was one of two other guys who seem to have come up with the idea at the same time and place. And as far as microscopes go, a dutch man named Antonie von Leeuwenhoek got obsessed with microscopes. He is remembered as the father of microbiology.

Episode 97 is all about ice cream. Eat it anytime of year - it's a treat that we might take for granted today. It used to be expensive, impossible, or potentially dangerous. From George Washington to Edmund Albius to Nancy Johnson to the Hokey Pokey Man, the stories around ice cream are richer than double chocolate chunk.

Episode 96 is all about Ice - in preparation for our following episode about Ice Cream. Boston's Frederic Tudor became the "Ice King" by taking ice to places in the world where it had never been before. But it wasn't easy Dr. John Gorrie was looking for ways to care for the sick and became one of the first humans to make ice himself. It sparked a cool revolution.

Episode 95 covers two great stories of international competition. First, The Field of Cloth and Gold was a historic summit that brought together Henry VIII and Francis I with the hopes of peace, competition, and maybe a bit of wrestling. Second, the 1904 Olympics put a Cuban runner named Felix Carvajal on the map. He didn't win the Olympic marathon, but his spirit made him the winner among the crowds who saw him.

Minerva Hoyt was a wealthy socialite who loved to escape to the desert of California and sleep in the sand. Her hard work and dedication in convincing people about the value of the desert led to preservation of today's Joshua Tree National Park. Col. Charles Young was born before the end of the Civil War and he would go on to be the third Black graduate from West Point Military Academy. When the Buffalo Soldiers under his command were put in charge of Sequoia National Park he became the first...

Episode 93: Milk has been a lot of things through the years, but it was often poisonous, spoiled or both. Learn about how far we've come in making milk safe, and who may or may not have helped us get to the root cause of what was making milk dangerous.  From Dr. Anna Bixby and the mystery of Milk Sickness to Gail Borden who invented condensed milk, it's been a long road to your grocery store. 

Did Captain Hanson Gregory invent the donut? Did the Lord Mayor of Nottingham get trucked by a truckle of cheese during the Nottingham Cheese Riots of 1766? Find out in this very special episode.

Episode 91 is about Anne Carrol Moore and The Western Library! Anne Carroll Moore is one of history's most important children's librarians, but not everyone is in love with her legacy. She still changed the world, and mostly for the better. And Louisville, Kentucky's Western Library is the first library in America built for, and staffed by African-Americans and it became a training ground for many librarians around the country.

In The Meatshower Part 2 (Electric Burgoo) the saga continues. Originally we aired a segment in 2019 to coincide with Mick's book "The Meatshower: The Mostly True Tale of an Odd and (Somewhat) Edible Occurrence," and since then, new information has come to light. A man named Frank Reiser has come into possession of a new specimen from the unusual 1876 phenomenon. We have an exclusive interview with Frank, and share the story of how he found it, what it means, and what we can learn from...

Episode 89 looks into the origin of time zones in America and Daylight Saving across the globe. There's bugs, sunburns, train crashes, dropping timeballs, and smashed pocket watches.

Episode 88 features two incredible Black Americans who were friends born in the 18th Century. James Forten (1766-1842) was a Revolutionary War Veteran who owned one of America's most successful sail-making companies. He was also influential abolitionist and early Civil Rights leader. His friend Francis "Frank" Johnson (1792-1844) was an equally influential musician. When he published his original piece of music "Bingham's Cotillion" he became the first published Black musician in American...

Episode 87: Potatoes and Rocks It’s our annual end-of-year episode dedicated to toys and we have some fun with Mr. Potato Head and Pet Rocks. From the first toy on a commercial to the earthiest fad, you might soon find yourself out digging in the dirt in search of one natural new friend or another!

Walt Whitman was inspired after hearing Ralph Waldo Emerson speak, and self-published a book of poems he would continue updating for his entire life. When not writing poetry, he worked as a nurse during the Civil War, and published some unusual exercise advice. Dr. Mary Edwards Walker is the ONLY woman in American history to be awarded the Medal of Honor. Her efforts during the Civil War were unmatched, but recognition has been hard to come by for her story.

Cuddly as a cactus and charming as an eel, he’s your new favorite snarky talk show host. Join The Grinch (and his faithful dog Max) each week as he rants against Christmas cheer and roasts celebrity guests like chestnuts on an open fire. Starring Saturday Night Live’s James Austin Johnson as the notorious curmudgeon and broadcasting straight from Who-Ville, will The Grinch send these famous folks back down Mt. Crumpit, or will they soften his stance against Christmas and grow his heart three...

Stephen Bishop was an enslaved man who became one of the most famous tour guides in the world. His unusual grave stands near Mammoth Cave National Park. Josie Laures joined a team to spend months in isolation in a cave, in the name of science!

Episode 84 is more tales of walking. Meet competitive and record setting pedestrians like Robert Barclay Allardice, Ada Anderson, Edward Payson Weston, and Haitian-American walking super-star Frank Hart. Also hear about two pedestrians who built entire homes with things found on their walks. Simeon Ellerton in England, and Ferdinand Cheval in France.

Episode 83 features the stories of two unusual men who walked a lot. One was a mysterious man in Northeastern America who spoke to nearly no one for years, despite walking a monthlong circular path. He was known as The Old Leatherman. Also, hear the story of Oxekula a man who boarded a boat from Russia, bound for America despite not knowing a soul, nor a lick of English. His mysterious journey through coastal Virginia caught everyone off guard since no one could understand his unusual...

Episode 82 features the story of the Transcontinental Railroad, including the famous Golden Spike. Also in this episode is the story of Joseph Kekuku, a boy from Hawaii who changed music after being inspired by a random occurrence, possibly involving another railroad spike. If you'd like to learn more about Kekuku and the role of Hawaii in music through the steel guitar, I recommend the book Kika Kila, by John Troutman. It was very important to creating this episode.

Episode 81: The Washington Monument is just one of many Obelisks in the world. Somehow several originals from Egypt have wound up all over the globe. And they inspired a stinky imitation in Australia, known as Thornton's Scent Bottle. The Washington Monument is the tallest, but it took DECADES for it to be completed - for a bunch of reasons. Don't forget to help out with our Survey - Here's the link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/thepast. We really appreciate it! Thank you to our sponsor...

Episode 80: Fabian Garcia, changed agriculture (and people's taste) with his ground breaking New Mexico No. 9 Chile, which is the genetic ancestor of nearly every chile grown in southwest America today. His dedication and intelligence with plants changed lives, livelihoods, and culture. Elliot Michener, on the other hand, was a career criminal whose life was changed for the better when he was put in charge of a garden on Alcatraz Island. Thank you to our sponsor Kids’ Chemical Solutions and...

Maria Mitchell was the first American to discover a new comet, which brought her great fame, but her career in the 1800s as a professor at Vassar College left her greatest legacy. In the next century, Ann Hodges was not looking to get involved in objects from space, but one of them crashed into her house anyway. The Past and The Curious is an Airwave Media Podcast

Melly Victor of Stoopkid Stories joins us for the story of Ella Fitzgerald's first performance at the famous Apollo Theatre. Also, we talk about the history of tuning, how the Treaty of Versailles that ended World War I also tried to standardize musical tuning, and how singers hurt their voices to keep up with instrumentalists raising the relative pitch.