Rainy Day Rabbit Holes: History Unhinged

Rainy Day Rabbit Holes
  • 4.6 (31)
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Rainy Day Rabbit Holes explores unhinged history, wild scandals, and politicians behaving badly - those moments when history went completely off the rails. Funny, curious, and unapologetic, hosts Shea and Jody break down the past like a late-night hang with your besties who just happen to love history. Visit www.rainydayrabbitholes.com for more! Proud member of MSW Media Network.   Instagram https://www.instagram.com/rainydayrabbitholespod/   Facebook https://www.facebook.com/RainyDayRabbitHolesPodcast/   Support the show! https://www.patreon.com/c/RainyDayRabbitHolesPodcast

  1. Hero Pets: When Animals Save the Day

    2D AGO

    Hero Pets: When Animals Save the Day

    This week, Rainy Day Rabbit Holes is stepping a little off our usual path of unhinged history and strange stories—and doing so for a cause that means a lot to us. In honor of Podcastathon, a global event where podcasters shine a light on causes that matter, Shea and Jody are dedicating this special episode to PACK (People for Animal Care and Kindness)—a volunteer‑driven nonprofit right here in our community that helps pets and the people who love them stay together during hard times. Instead of rabbit holes full of chaos (don’t worry, we’ll be back to that soon), we’re sharing true animal hero stories that highlight loyalty, bravery, and compassion: A house cat who body‑checks a dog to save a childTwo guide dogs who led their blind owners out of the World Trade Center on 9/11A loyal rescue dog who refused to move until help followed her to her injured ownerAnd Shea’s own deeply personal PACK story involving a foster dog named Ruff who became familyThis episode is about the quiet, compassionate work that makes happy endings possible—late‑night texts, emergency vet care, temporary fosters, and people who show up when it matters most. If this episode makes you smile, cry, or hug your pet a little tighter, we hope you’ll consider supporting PACK and the work they do every single day. ❤️ How You Can HelpLearn more and donate: https://www.packgives.org/Support Podcastathon: https://podcasthon.org/🌧️ More Rainy Day Rabbit HolesWebsite, photos & sources: https://www.rainydayrabbitholes.comBonus episodes & ad‑free listening on Patreon (link on our site)Thank you for listening, for caring, and for helping us support an organization that makes our community kinder—for animals and humans alike. https://podcasthon.org/podcaster/rainy-day-rabbit-holes Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/history-unhinged-rainy-day-rabbit-holes/exclusive-content Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

    18 min
  2. 5 Minute Friday: Victorian Cannibal Poetry-The Cannibal Bride

    5D AGO · BONUS

    5 Minute Friday: Victorian Cannibal Poetry-The Cannibal Bride

    Last week we shared a strange little Victorian love poem about a cannibal bride. This week… things escalate. In this Five Minute Friday episode, Shea reads another cannibal-themed poem from the archives: “How Three Were Made One,” published in The White Pine News in 1891. The poem features a love triangle, a violent rivalry, and a punchline that only Victorian newspaper readers could find amusing. But it also reveals something interesting about the cultural moment that produced it. Nineteenth-century Americans and Europeans were fascinated with stories of “savages” and cannibals, and those ideas showed up everywhere—from adventure novels to newspaper jokes. This episode explores how those stereotypes appeared in everyday entertainment and why historians sometimes pay attention to odd little artifacts like this one. Because sometimes the strangest things in the archive tell us the most about the world people thought they lived in. Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/history-unhinged-rainy-day-rabbit-holes/exclusive-content Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

    6 min
  3. The Colorado Cannibal, Part 2: Dead, Dead, Dead

    MAR 11

    The Colorado Cannibal, Part 2: Dead, Dead, Dead

    Part 2 of 2 Alfred Packer should have been hanged. The verdict was clear. The sentence was delivered with venom. The public was ready to watch justice swing from a rope. And then—everything fell apart. In Part Two of the Colorado Cannibal story, the horror leaves the mountains and enters the courtroom, where legal loopholes, jurisdictional chaos, and a stunning legislative mistake derail what seemed like an open-and-shut case. As lawyers argue over maps, treaties, and vanished statutes, a convicted killer becomes something unthinkable: a celebrity. What follows is a saga of failed executions, rewritten charges, and a second trial that exposes just how fragile justice can be when laws change faster than crimes can be prosecuted. Witnesses dismantle the starvation defense. Evidence resurfaces. Sentences stretch into record-breaking territory. Then comes the twist no one expects—a fearless reporter, a newspaper war, gunfire in a newsroom, and a campaign that transforms a cannibal into a cause. By the time the dust settles, the question isn’t whether Alfred Packer was guilty. It’s how the system let him walk free. This is the conclusion of one of the American West’s most disturbing true crime stories—where the law blinks, history shrugs, and the legacy somehow ends with a cafeteria bearing his name. Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/history-unhinged-rainy-day-rabbit-holes/exclusive-content Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

    22 min
  4. 5 Minute Friday: Victorian Cannibal Poetry-Love and Theology

    MAR 6 · BONUS

    5 Minute Friday: Victorian Cannibal Poetry-Love and Theology

    While researching our recent episode on Alferd Packer, the Colorado Cannibal, Shea stumbled across something unexpected while digging through nineteenth-century newspapers: romantic poetry… about cannibals. Yes, really. In this Five—okay, probably Fifteen—Minute Friday, Shea reads a bizarre little poem from the San Antonio Daily Light (April 1, 1889) titled “Love and Theology.” It’s a Victorian-era love story involving a missionary, a cannibal maid, and a romantic misunderstanding that ends… poorly. Along the way we talk about why nineteenth-century readers were so fascinated with cannibal stories, how these tales showed up everywhere from travel writing to adventure novels, and why the “cannibal” became such a popular stereotype in Western culture. It’s weird. It’s funny. And it’s a fascinating little snapshot of the cultural imagination of the 1800s. Next week we’ll share another cannibal poem from the archives—this one even stranger, and with a few more uncomfortable historical layers. Victorian journalism was a wild place. Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/history-unhinged-rainy-day-rabbit-holes/exclusive-content Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

    6 min
  5. The Colorado Cannibal Part 1: Hunger in the High Country

    MAR 4

    The Colorado Cannibal Part 1: Hunger in the High Country

    Part 1 of 2 In the winter-shadowed mountains of 1870s Colorado, people disappeared with unsettling regularity. Most were claimed by weather, terrain, or bad luck. This story is different. Five men entered the high country chasing gold. Only one came back. What followed was not a simple tale of survival. It was a cascade of contradictions, shifting confessions, scattered bones, and a discovery so disturbing it permanently renamed the land itself. Sketches published in a national magazine revealed a scene that suggested planning, patience, and something far darker than desperation. As rumors spread and evidence surfaced, the line between hunger and intent began to blur. Supplies that shouldn’t have existed. Money that shouldn’t have been spent. Stories that changed just enough to stay ahead of the truth. And always, the same question lingering in the thin mountain air: what really happened out there? This is Part One of a two-part descent into one of the most infamous true crime stories of the American West—an episode that inspired films, legends, and a name still spoken with unease. The gore fades. The mystery deepens. And the mountains, as always, keep their secrets just a little longer. Can’t wait for the conclusion? Part Two of this story is already waiting. The manhunt, the trial, the lies unraveling in public, and the legal chaos that followed are all available right now on our Patreon. Visit rainydayrabbitholes.com to unlock ad-free episodes, bonus content, and early access to stories that go places polite history refuses to tread. You’ll also find photos, sources, and supplemental material connected to this episode on our website, beautifully designed by Letha Davis of easybrzy.com—because even dark history deserves a good-looking home. Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/history-unhinged-rainy-day-rabbit-holes/exclusive-content Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

    32 min
  6. 5 Minute Friday: The Squid King

    FEB 27 · BONUS

    5 Minute Friday: The Squid King

    This 5 Minute Friday episode takes one strange headline and follows it all the way to the edge of the map. In 2021, a small coastal town in Japan made international news after using COVID-19 relief funds to build a giant pink squid statue. Critics scoffed. The internet laughed. Headlines spread far beyond the town itself—including this BBC report that first caught our attention: 👉 BBC News: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-56978075 But the Squid King didn’t appear out of nowhere. After starting with that headline, we zoom out to explore the remote Noto Peninsula, a rugged corner of Japan shaped by fishing culture, isolation, and a long history of adapting to uncertainty. In places like this, visibility can mean survival—and sometimes that means embracing the absurd. Then, on January 1, 2024, the ground itself shifted. A powerful earthquake struck the peninsula, damaging towns and reshaping coastlines, reminding everyone just how precarious life in this region can be. In our 5 Minute Friday episodes, we share some of our favorite headlines and curious stories from around the world—short listens that spiral into much bigger ideas. Find more episodes, bonus content, and all things Rainy Day Rabbit Holes at: 🌧️ https://rainydayrabbitholes.com Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/history-unhinged-rainy-day-rabbit-holes/exclusive-content Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

    10 min
  7. 1904 Olympic Marathon

    FEB 25

    1904 Olympic Marathon

    In this episode, Jody tackles what may be the most unhinged athletic event ever sanctioned by adults with clipboards: the 1904 Olympic Marathon. Held in brutal heat, on dusty roads, with questionable medical advice and competitors who probably should not have been left unattended, this race quickly devolved into a survival experiment disguised as sport. What unfolds is a parade of bad decisions—athletes collapsing, hallucinating, hitching car rides, consuming alarming “performance enhancers,” and redefining what the word marathon was even supposed to mean. Jody walks us through the madness with sharp humor and just enough historical grounding to make the whole thing even funnier. The result is a story that feels less like Olympic glory and more like a cautionary tale about hubris, pseudoscience, and the early 20th century’s extremely loose relationship with safety. It’s history at its most absurd, and proof that sometimes the past doesn’t whisper lessons—it sprints toward you, covered in dust, doing something deeply inadvisable. For more strange history, deep dives, and delightful nonsense, visit our website at Rainy Day Rabbit Holes Podcast: 👉 rainydayrabbitholes.com Want bonus episodes, early access, and extra rabbit holes? You can support the show and unlock more chaos over on Patreon: 👉 patreon.com/rainydayrabbitholes History is weird. We intend to keep it that way. Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/history-unhinged-rainy-day-rabbit-holes/exclusive-content Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

    36 min
  8. The Business Plot: A Real Coup Against FDR?

    FEB 18

    The Business Plot: A Real Coup Against FDR?

    Did wealthy Wall Street elites try to overthrow President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1934? In this episode of Rainy Day Rabbit Holes, we dive into one of the strangest and least-taught chapters in American history: The Business Plot, an alleged fascist coup attempt against FDR during the Great Depression. In 1934, decorated Marine Corps Major General Smedley Darlington Butler—a two-time Medal of Honor recipient and one of the most respected military figures in the country—testified before Congress that powerful businessmen approached him with a shocking proposal. They wanted him to lead 500,000 veterans in a march on Washington, intimidate President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and install a new authoritarian-style government. Yes. In the United States. During the 1930s. The alleged conspirators were connected to major financial and industrial interests, including Wall Street power players and members of the American Liberty League. Butler claimed the plan involved replacing democratic authority with a “Secretary of General Affairs”—a role that functioned suspiciously like a dictator. The proposed justification? That FDR was too weak and too radical to govern. The House McCormack–Dickstein Committee investigated. They confirmed that discussions of such a plot had taken place. And yet—no one was prosecuted. Major newspapers dismissed the story as a hoax. The headlines faded. The plot slipped into obscurity. Why isn’t this taught in most history classes? Who benefited from burying it? And what does this moment reveal about the tension between corporate power and democracy in America? We explore: The economic chaos of the Great DepressionThe rise of fascist movements globally in the 1930sButler’s explosive testimonyThe media responseAnd why this story still echoes todayHistory is messy. Sometimes it’s buried on purpose. For photos, sources, and more unhinged deep dives into politics, culture, and the strange corners of American history, visit https://www.rainydayrabbitholes.com Our beautiful website was created by Letha Davis of https://www.easybrzy.com. If you love how our site looks and functions, Letha can build one for you too. Join us, stay curious, and let’s keep digging. Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/history-unhinged-rainy-day-rabbit-holes/exclusive-content Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

    46 min
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Rainy Day Rabbit Holes explores unhinged history, wild scandals, and politicians behaving badly - those moments when history went completely off the rails. Funny, curious, and unapologetic, hosts Shea and Jody break down the past like a late-night hang with your besties who just happen to love history. Visit www.rainydayrabbitholes.com for more! Proud member of MSW Media Network.   Instagram https://www.instagram.com/rainydayrabbitholespod/   Facebook https://www.facebook.com/RainyDayRabbitHolesPodcast/   Support the show! https://www.patreon.com/c/RainyDayRabbitHolesPodcast

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