Death, Misery, Folly, and Ponies: The Chilling History of Polar Exploration Midnight Facts for Insomniacs

Who was the first explorer to reach the North Pole? How about the South? It turns out that at least one of those answers is complicated, and although the controversy may never be laid to rest, plenty of would-be arctic conquerors were themselves laid to rest during the golden age of polar exploration. Join MFFI for the fascinating, brutal, bloody, pony-packed tale of the race for polar glory. 
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In this episode:  
The "Top" of the World
Map Makers, Eurocentrism, and the West Wing
Polar Facts
90 Degrees Latitude
The Polar Day, the Tilt of the Earth, and Polar Seasons
Alert, Canada
Nautical Twilight
Thomas Nast and Santa Claus
Russia Claims the Pole
The Northwest Passage
Prices of Spices
Robert McClure and the HMS Investigator 
The Magnetic North Pole VS the True North Pole
The Lost Franklin Expedition of 1845
The Arsenic-Poisoning of Charles Francis Hall
The Crushing of George W Delong
The Crashing of Salomon August Andree
The Race Between Robert Peary and Frederick A Cook
The Contributions of Matthew Henson
Polar Bear Liver
The Race for the South Pole 
Roald Amundsum
Fridtjof Nansen and the Fram
The Night of the Ponies
Amundson Takes the Pole
Amundson Takes Another Pole
The Death of Amundson
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Episode Transcript
 
~ KNOWLEDGE IS POWER, AND SLEEP IS OVERRATED ~