The Reluctant Historian

This week, Liz and Dakota look at where Halloween came from, and what's it's original purpose for celebration was. With roots in Celtic traditions, Halloween has changed greatly over the centuries.

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This week, Liz and Dakota look at a famous beast from Korean folklore: The Kumiho. Taking a peek at a few different tales, they try to understand where this myth came from, and what it represents.

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This week, Liz and Dakota look at a spooky haunting from Tennessee, thought to be the most well documented American haunting, and maybe the inspiration for Poltergeist, Paranormal Activity, The Blair…

This week, Liz and Dakota start spooky season by taking a look at the stories of poisoned Halloween candy, and wondering if there is any validity to the belief that there are marauding murderers out …

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This week's Wicked Wednesday looks back at England's most prolific lady serial killer, Mary Ann Cotton. Taking you through her crimes, Liz and Koda explore how she was able to get away with so much …

This week, Liz gets really passionate about research, looking back the most devastating manmade explosion in the pre-atomic age. Dakota is bored.

Episode Notes

https://downtownhalifax.ca/land-acknowle…

This week, Liz didn't have time to write an episode, so she's reading from lists of weird historical facts while Dakota loses his mind.

Episode Notes

https://bestlifeonline.com/historical-facts/

https:/…

This week, Liz and Dakota look back at America's first recorded serial killer, and talk about whether he truly understood what a hotel was, or if he was just confused by a motel.

Episode Notes

https://…

This week, Liz and Dakota look at the history of queerness on the wild west's frontier.

Episode Notes

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_homosexuality

Article: Paradise of Bachelors: The Social Wo…

This week Liz and Dakota get silly looking at the history of the Tomato in Europe and America, and at the story of that time a town put a bushel of tomatoes on trial for being evil.

Episode Notes

https…

This week, Liz and Dakota share some little known Saskatchewan history, the story of the Cypress Hills Massacre

Episode Notes

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cypress_Hills_Massacre

https://www.pc.gc.ca/a…

This week, Liz and Dakota look at the many different uses for honey - as torture, and as medicine!

Episode Notes

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compendium_of_Materia_Medica

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/…

This week, Liz and Dakota talk about one of the most infamous cases of spontaneous human combustion: Mary Reeser. Then they get into theories explaining the phenomenon and whether it actually exists…

This week, Liz and Dakota look at a secret fraternity from Germany where the believers adhered to the characteristics of a very strange being.

Episode Notes

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Freemasonry

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This week, Liz and Dakota look back at one of the experiments conducted by a member of the secretive Order of the Dolphin, in an attempt to learn about extraterrestrial life.

Episode Notes

https://allt…

In this episode, Liz and Dakota get a little silly looking at the papal bull, "Vox in Rama", and how Pope Gregory IX set out to find witches in his midst.

Episode Notes

https://medium.com/illuminatio…

This week, Liz and Dakota look at a strange phenomenon that occurred in the months following the biggest earthquake and subsequent tsunami that hit Japan in 2011: hundreds upon hundreds of ghost sigh…

This week, Liz and Dakota look back at the nefarious story of the US government and how they poisoned their citizens during the Prohibition Era.

Episode Notes

https://slate.com/technology/2010/02/the-l…

This week, Liz and Dakota talk about a bizarre, if sticky disaster - The Great Boston Molasses Flood. Looking at some of the problems that surrounded the tank's construction, Liz and Dakota imagine …