Bite-Sized American History

Ally Shanklin

Howdy y’all! Welcome to Bite-Sized American History! I’m your host Ally, and together we will walk through all of the wholesome, weird, and woeful things that America’s rich history has to offer us! From the wild and wacky events to the more disturbed and somber days, we’ll talk in-depth about the individual people, places, and things that helped shape the story of America! Overall, this will be a relaxed and low-stakes endeavor perfect for when you want to learn something new without feeling like you’re sitting in a lecture hall. I’m so glad you could join me- let’s do this!

Episodes

  1. 03/24/2025

    Episode 2: Ranch-y or Raunchy? Rajneeshpuram vs the City of Antelope

    Oh lordy lord...welcome back to a significantly shorter episode (as per request) that's NOT about the Vietnam Draft like I thought it would be, but about something a little more interesting. This go-around, we are heading to the ranches of Oregon, where…uh-oh! A sex cult has moved in next door! Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, better known as Osho, and his followers practice intense meditation and host wild orgies, and they want to kick the residents of the small ranch town of Antelope out because they aren't down with it! In order to create this utopia, everyone who isn't down with the sickness (haha, see what I did there?) is gonna GET a sickness, but not before the 15,000 person religious organization tries to take over town via election fraud, attempted murder, and various other crimes. Stay tuned to find out what on earth the Rajneeshees got up to (and what they renamed the city landfill!) ! Sources: https://sos.oregon.gov/archives/exhibits/ghost/Pages/agriculture-antelope.aspx https://www.anandasarita.com/blog/rajneeshpuram https://www.equip.org/articles/the-rajneesh-cult/ https://news.uoregon.edu/rajneesh_collection https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-12-20-mn-5279-story.html https://www.hnn.us/article/a-strange-but-true-tale-of-voter-fraud-and-bioterr https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/history/guru-bhagwan-shree-rajneesh-indicted-immigration-fraud https://blog.oup.com/2009/10/bioterrorism-beginnings/

    15 min

  2. 02/19/2025

    Episode 1: 8 Things About the Lincoln Family That I Think You Should Know

    Welcome to Episode 1: 8 Things About the Lincoln Family That I Think You Should Know! I cover the lives of Famous Americans Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln and discuss some of the more interesting things about them that I TOTALLY didn't learn in school. So, I you enjoy this one as much as I did, because I totally cried my eyes out every time I read about something sad! I’m predicting an even more informal shift in episodes so bear with me…i’m still finding my podcasting voice and cadence! Huzzah! Here are some of the sources I used for this episode: https://teachinghistory.org/history-content/ask-a-historian/19423  https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/LegislativeMoments/moments09RS/web/Lincoln%20moments%204.pdf https://www.mrlincolnandfriends.org/the-women/anne-rutledge/index.html  https://www.thehistoryreader.com/us-history/spiritualists-lincolns-white-house/ https://www.olympics.com/en/news/abraham-lincoln-usa-president-wrestling-champion https://www.mtlhouse.org/timeline https://www.loc.gov/collections/abraham-lincoln-papers/articles-and-essays/timeline/

    27 min

  3. 02/18/2025

    Welcome to Bite-Sized American History!

    WELCOME EVERYONE! Here's my little introduction explaining the jist and motives behind creating this podcast! I know, it isn't the fanciest but guys- i'm doing the best I can on a budget (aka FREE). So glad you could join me and i'm SUUUUPER excited to share some of these interesting little stories with you! Follow me on @bitesizedhistorypodcast and @allyshnkln

    3 min
  • 3 Episodes

About

Howdy y’all! Welcome to Bite-Sized American History! I’m your host Ally, and together we will walk through all of the wholesome, weird, and woeful things that America’s rich history has to offer us! From the wild and wacky events to the more disturbed and somber days, we’ll talk in-depth about the individual people, places, and things that helped shape the story of America! Overall, this will be a relaxed and low-stakes endeavor perfect for when you want to learn something new without feeling like you’re sitting in a lecture hall. I’m so glad you could join me- let’s do this!

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