Train Dreams
Did That Really Happen?
This week we're covering the history of the Pacific Northwest from the late 19th century to 1968 with Train Dreams! Join us as we learn about boot memorials, Chinese and Chinese-American railroad workers, women working as fire lookouts, and more! Sources: Dina Gachman, "The History of Lady Lookouts," Smithsonian Magazine, available at https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/female-fire-lookouts-have-been-saving-wilderness-over-century-180977352/ Photo of Hallie Daggett and Her Dog, Fish and Wildlife: https://www.fws.gov/media/hallie-daggett ...
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Hedda
Did That Really Happen?
This week we're traveling back to the 1950s with Hedda! Join us as we learn about pretty little things, 1950s fashion, sparklers, women working as professors, and more! Sources: "Celebrating the Legacy of England's First Female Professor," King's College, available at https://www.kcl.ac.uk/celebrating-legacy-of-englands-first-female-professor "Gender Breakdown for Teachers in History," Making History, available at https://archives.history.ac.uk/makinghistory/resources/statistics/gender.html Peter West, "Five Lessons on Bringing Truth Back to Politics from Britain's First Female Philosophy...
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The Book of Clarence
Did That Really Happen?
This week we're traveling back to first-century Jerusalem with The Book of Clarence! Join us as we learn about Mary Magdalene, Barabbas, Biblical sick burns, and more! Sources: Martínez-Cruz, B., Mendizabal, I., Harmant, C. et al. Origins, admixture and founder lineages in European Roma. Eur J Hum Genet 24, 937–943 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/ejhg.2015.201 Gresham D, Morar B, Underhill PA, Passarino G, Lin AA, Wise C, Angelicheva D, Calafell F, Oefner PJ, Shen P, Tournev I, de Pablo R, Kuĉinskas V, Perez-Lezaun A, Marushiakova E, Popov V, Kalaydjieva L. Origins and divergence of the...
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Akira
Did That Really Happen?
It's a new year, so it's time for our New Year's tradition of taking a look at movies that tried to predict the future. This year, we're traveling to the year 2019 with Akira! Join us as we learn about the Tokyo Olympics, biker gangs, technical schools, riots, and more! Sources: 2020 Host City Election Announcement: https://www.olympics.com/ioc/2020-host-city-election Image of the Stadium: https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1087204/olympic-stadium-for-tokyo-2020-completed' January 2019 image, Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Kokuritsu_Kasumigaoka_Rikujo_Kyogijo-23a.jpg...
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Frankenstein (2025)
Did That Really Happen?
This week we're traveling back to the 19th century with Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein! Join us as we learn about syphilis, big-ass blunderbusses, the Evelyn Tables, Arctic expeditions, and more! Sources: An account of divers schemes of arteries and veins, dissected from adult human bodies, and given to the repository of the Royal Society by John Evelyn, Esq; F. R. S. To which are subjoyn'd a description of the extremities of those vessels, and the manner the blood is seen, by the microscope, to pass from the arteries to the veins in quadrupeds when living: with some chirurgical...
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The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman
Did That Really Happen?
This week we're traveling back to a full century of American history with The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman! Join us as we learn about naming of enslaved people, "paddy rollers", Black communities in East Texas, and more! Sources: Sparks, Elmer E, and Celia Black. Interview with Celia Black, Tyler, Texas. Tyler, Texas, November , 10, 1974. Pdf. https://www.loc.gov/item/afc1975009_afs17476/. Sparks, Elmer E, and Charlie Smith. Interview with Charlie Smith, Bartow, Florida. Bartow, Florida, None , 3, 1975. Pdf. https://www.loc.gov/item/afc1975023_afs17510/. Jennifer Davis, "A Voice from the...
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Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
Did That Really Happen?
This week we're traveling back to 18th-century France with Perfume: The Story of a Murderer! Join us as we learn about tanneries, the town of Grasse, infanticide, perfumers' guilds, and more! Sources: https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/perfume-the-story-of-a-murderer-2007 https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/perfume_the_story_of_a_murderer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfume:_The_Story_of_a_Murderer_%28film%29 A.O. Scott, https://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/27/movies/27perf.html Tracey Rizzo (2004) Between dishonor and death: infanticides in the causes célèbres of eighteenth-century...
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Walker
Did That Really Happen?
This week we're going back to a weird, weird version of 19th-century Nicaragua with Walker! Join us as we learn about William Walker's ill-fated efforts in Sonora, the Filibuster War, the El Nicaraguense newspaper, and more! Sources: Monty Python's Flying Circus Sketch: "Sam Peckinpah's 'Salad Days'": https://youtu.be/XL54pji1nfA?si=o0UbrhVH1ewe3p3J Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walker_(film) Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/walker Roger Ebert's Review: https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/walker-1987 Craig J Clark, "Alex Cox Says Goodbye--and Good Riddance--To...
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Freaky Tales
Did That Really Happen?
This week we're traveling back to 1987 Oakland with Freaky Tales! Join us as we learn about punk v. skinhead battles, Sleepy Floyd, Operation Ivy, and more! Sources: Southern Poverty Law Center, Timeline of the Racist Skinhead Movement: https://www.splcenter.org/resources/reports/timeline-racist-skinhead-movement/ Christopher Phelps, "Skinheads: The New Nazism," Marxists.org: https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/newspape/atc/10048.html Steve Knopper, "Nazi Punks Fuck Off: How Black Flag, Bad Brains, and More Took Back Their Scene from White Supremacists,"...
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Citizen X
Did That Really Happen?
This week we're traveling back to the Soviet Union of the 1980s with Citizen X! Join us as we learn about the people who hunted Andrei Chikatilo, the myth of eyes retaining the last image they see before they die, blood typing tests, leather jackets, and more! Sources: Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizen_X Monday Morning Critic Interview with Chris Gerolmo: https://youtu.be/OTgt3qA8bE4?si=KPSXouQ0xBQoTONS Rare Historical Photos: 1980s Soviet Fashion: https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/soviet-fashion-from-1980s/ Ebay, Vintage NKVD Coat:...
info_outlineThis week we're going back to 16th-century Peru with Aguirre, The Wrath of God! Join us as we learn about Spanish women who went on expeditions, the real Lope de Aguirre, the wild stories behind the production of this film, and more!
Content Warning: This episode contains discussions of incest and sexual abuse.
Sources:
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aguirre,_the_Wrath_of_God
Roger Ebert Review: https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-aguirre-the-wrath-of-god-1972
Geoff Andrew, "Great Beginnings: Aguirre, The Wrath of God," BFI: https://www.bfi.org.uk/features/great-beginnings-aguirre-wrath-god
Michael Atkinson, "Werner's World," Criterion, available at https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/6529-werner-s-world?srsltid=AfmBOopmJcoczeWFdUu2Io46q1vEQHdNjG8DzsLtojNkiAPjPhGS0E8U
Anya Jeremko-Greenwald, "11 Craziest Things That Have Happened During the Making of Werner Herzog's Films," IndieWire: https://www.indiewire.com/features/general/11-craziest-things-that-have-happened-during-the-making-of-werner-herzogs-films-58559/
Kate Connolly, "Klaus Kinski Repeatedly Raped Me During My Childhood, Claims Daughter," The Guardian, available at https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jan/10/klaus-kinski-rape-claims-daughter
Roger Ebert Interview with Werner Herzog: https://web.archive.org/web/20190626115333/https://www.rogerebert.com/interviews/a-conversation-with-werner-herzog
Lope de Aguirre to Philip, King of Spain, 1561, letter, translated by Tom Holloway, Modern History Sourcebook, Fordham University. https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/mod/1561aguirre.asp
Hernán Neira, "The Philosophical Underwriting of a Rebellion: Pedro de Ursua and Lope de Aguirre's Expedition in Search of El Dorado," Chasqui 37, no.2 (2008): 106-126. https://www.jstor.org/stable/29742271
Descubrimiento del río de las Amazonas según la relación hasta ahora inédita de Fr. Gaspar de Carvajal, con otros documentos referentes á Francisco de Orellana y sus compañeros; publicados á expensas del Excmo. Sr. duque de T'Serclaes de Tilly, con una introducción histórica y algunas ilustraciones por José Toribio Medina
Beatriz Pastor, "Lope de Aguirre the Wanderer: Knowledge and Madness," Disposito 11, no.28/29 (1986): 85-98. https://www.jstor.org/stable/41491291
Pedro Simon, The expedition of Pedro de Ursua & Lope de Aguirre in search of El Dorado and Omagua in 1560-1 Translated from Fray Pedro Simon's Sixth Historical Notice of the Conquest of Tierra Firme by William Bollaert (London: Hakluyt Society, 1861). https://archive.org/details/expeditionofpedr00simrich
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Lope-de-Aguirre
Rocio Quispe-Agnoli, "Taking Possession of the New World: Powerful Female Agency of Early Colonial Accounts of Peru," Legacy: A Journal of American Women Writers 28, 2 (2011)
Eloisa Gomez-Lucena, "Who Were the Women Conquistadores in the Americas?" National Geographic, available at https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/women-conquistadoras-spain-america