Unhinged History

Episode 139 | Coordinating Their Chaos

Theresa is back at it. This story has a little bit of everything you expect from one of her stories. WWII. Female spies. A missing leg. Join us as she shares the tale of Virginia Hall. This renowned spy has an incredible story, and there is so much to unpack.
 
This story pairs well with:
Odette Samson and Peter Churchill

Episode 138 | They’re Formal. Classy.

Angie continues with her love affair with SAS member Paddy Mayne. Join us as she takes us through his work during WWII. Paddy is quite the hero. While demurely accepting medals for his valor, our favorite Irishman is leading his troops miles behind enemy lines and making the lives of the Axis powers rough.
This story pairs well with:
Paddy Mane’s Intro to the SAS
 

Episode 137 | Another Missing Leg Story

Angie is riding her Paddy Mane trip for the second week. This week, she covered Paddy Mane's tumultuous start to military service and how he met the founders of the SAS. 
Theresa takes us in a wildly different direction as she circles back on a previous story. Before she'd covered William Riker, the cult-founder of Holy City in episode 132. Today she covers William Riker's lawyer, Melvin Belli. This man fired a cannon from the roof of his office and flew the Jolly Roger flag when he won cases. 
This episode pairs well with: 
Paddy Mane's Early Years
Melvin Belli's Cult-Founding Client

Episode 136 | Kill Squad in Your Back Pocket

History is strange and weird. Today's mash-up of stories proves it.
 
Theresa picks up where she left off last week. (Last week, she shared about that time North Korea sent 31 commandos into South Korea to take out their president.) This week, South Korea responds by forming their own squad, only spoiler alert: things go fantastically awry.
 
Angie collects her bearings before sharing the early years of her favorite SAS member, "Paddy" Blair Mane. Join us as she tells about him hunting South African springbok in formal wear and more.
 
These stories pair well with:
The Blue House Raid The SAS Raid You Never Heard Of

Episode 135 | A Renaissance Garden Gnome

History is jam-packed with stories you've never heard, and today's episode brings together two such tales. Angie starts with sharing Josef Mencik – the last knight, or the Knight of Strakonice. This Czech man of noble standing starts to enter the historical narrative by buying a castle, a suit of armour, and then stands up to a Nazi tank division.
 
Theresa takes the rest of the episode in a wildly different direction when she shares, The Blue House Incident, or that time North Korea snuck 31 commandos into Seoul and got them within 300 meters of the president's palace before the mission went sideways.
 
These stories pair nicely with:
The Wide Awakes
The SAS raid no one knew about

Episode 134 | Best Kept Open Secret

Do you remember how in the past, Theresa and Angie explained the start of WWI as that time a Serbian shot an Austrian, so Britain declared war on Germany?
 
Well today, Theresa does a deep dive and explains how a secretive organization within the Serbian government referred to as The Black Hand is the group that trained the assassins who killed Archduke Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie.
 
This episode pairs well with:
The SAS raid no on knew about

Episode 133 | Your Butter Stinkith

It isn't every week Angie brings the pain, yet here we are. This week Angie shares the Lebensborn program. During this 9-year program, the Third Reich attempted to breed more soldiers. It starts with unwed Aryan mothers going to country estates to give birth and ends with the SS kidnapping children who looked the part.
 
Theresa offers a palate cleanser by sharing Harvard's Bad Butter Rebellion. Listen to the pre-Revolutionary War era hysterics over Harvard's dining hall serving rancid butter and the chaos that ensues.
 
This episode pairs well with:
The Children's Crusade of 1212The Eggnog Riots

Episode 132 | God Forbid a Man Have a Hobby

Angie and Theresa bring you another set of bizarrely wonderful stories to prove that yet again, people are unpredictable.
 
Angie shares the wildly unhinged tale of the Emu War, or that time Australian farmers waged war against birds, and lost so so badly. It's hard to imagine pitting a machine gun against a flock of birds and losing, but here we are.
 
Refusing to leave well enough alone, Theresa shares the story of Willaim Riker, not the one from Star Trek, but the one who founded the Holy City cult in the mountains near Santa Cruz, California.
 
This episode pairs well with:
The Pig WarThe Ghost Buster Ruling