14 episodes

Gather round, campers, and let me tell you a story! We'll cover the best true tales of mysteries, histories, true crime, and real heroes from all over the world. We'd love to have you pull up a seat to the campfire and give us a listen.

Campfire Stories: Astonishing History Tess Herdman

    • History
    • 4.6 • 10 Ratings

Gather round, campers, and let me tell you a story! We'll cover the best true tales of mysteries, histories, true crime, and real heroes from all over the world. We'd love to have you pull up a seat to the campfire and give us a listen.

    Episode 13: The Assassination of Harvey Milk and George Moscone

    Episode 13: The Assassination of Harvey Milk and George Moscone

    Come gather around the campfire and let me tell you about the assassination of LGBT+ Icon Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone. Milk and Moscone were both San Francisco politicians and civil rights leaders whose lives were cut short by their former colleague. Milk was a veteran, Wall Street statistician, and hippie who became one of the first openly gay elected official in America. Both men were dealing with a city and country that was bursting with political tension, clashes between the gay rights movement and the fundamentalist anti-gay movement, and violence against the LGBT+ community, sometimes from the very people sworn to protect them. Both new that the more they fought for inclusion and progress, the more their lives were in danger. They fought anyway. 
    How did Milk grow into one of the most well-known activists in America? What happened to make Supervisor Dan White turn on his former friend Milk and “the people’s mayor” Moscone? How was he protected after he committed an assassination? What legacy did these men leave behind? Let’s talk about it. 
    **This episode includes sensitive content (CW: death, suicide, LGBT hate crimes, police brutality, sexual content). Listener discretion is advised.**
    Make sure to subscribe so you don't miss an episode! Check out our links here to support the show, follow our social media, and see photos from the case: https://linktr.ee/CampfireStoriesPodcast Also check out our YouTube channel Campfire Stories: Astonishing History.

    If you are a member of the LGBT+ community and are looking for resources: https://www.hrc.org/resources/direct-online-and-phone-support-services-for-lgbtq-youth
    https://www.glaad.org/resourcelist 
    You can contact me at campfirestoriesbusiness@gmail.com Sources for every episode are available in the episode transcript on Buzzsprout. Music by: Zoliborz


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    • 1 hr 14 min
    Episode 12: The Crazy Fan Murder of Selena

    Episode 12: The Crazy Fan Murder of Selena

    Come gather around the campfire and let me tell you about the crazy fan murder of Selena Quintanilla-Pérez. 

    **This episode includes sensitive content (CW: death, murder, sexual violence, suicide). Listener discretion is advised.**
    Selena Quintanilla-Pérez has gone by many titles: the Queen of Tejano music, the Queen of Latin Music, the Queen of Tex-Mex, the Mexican Madonna, the Chicana Elvis, the Hispanic Marilyn Monroe, and the Queen of Corpus Christi. But to her family, her friends, and her millions of fans, she will forever be known by just one name: Selena. She was on the path to becoming one of the most famous musical artists in history and crossing over from Spanish-language music to the English-music and bilingual market. But one of her biggest fans and most trusted confidants would be the one who would take all of that away.  Let's talk about it.
    Make sure to subscribe so you don't miss an episode!
    Check out our links here to support the show, follow our social media, and see photos from the case: https://linktr.ee/CampfireStoriesPodcast
    You can contact me at campfirestoriesbusiness@gmail.com.
    Also check out our YouTube channel Campfire Stories: Astonishing History.
    Sources for every episode are available in the episode transcript on Buzzsprout.
    Music by: Zoliborz



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    • 46 min
    Episode 11: The Perilous Fate of the American Space Pioneers

    Episode 11: The Perilous Fate of the American Space Pioneers

    Come gather around the campfire and let me tell you about the Perilous Fate of the American Space Pioneers. Last episode covered the accidents and tragedies of the early Soviet space program, our rivals in the space race and partners in space exploration today. This episode is going to cover the disasters of the American Space program. What would have happened if Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin got stuck on the moon?  How did the Apollo 1 fire start? Who was the first American casualty of the space race?  Did NASA know Challenger was going to explode? Who was Christa McAuliffe? Could the Columbia disaster have been avoided? Let's talk about it. 
    **This episode includes sensitive content including real audio and graphic descriptions of deadly accidents. Listener discretion is advised.**
    Make sure to subscribe so you don't miss an episode! Check out our links here to support the show, follow our social media, and see photos from the case: https://linktr.ee/CampfireStoriesPodcast
    You can contact me at campfirestoriesbusiness@gmail.com. Also check out our YouTube channel Campfire Stories: Astonishing History. Sources for every episode are available in the episode transcript on Buzzsprout.
    Music by: Zoliborz



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    • 1 hr 9 min
    Episode 10: The Terrible Fate of Vladimir Komarov and the Lost Cosmonauts

    Episode 10: The Terrible Fate of Vladimir Komarov and the Lost Cosmonauts

    Come gather around the campfire and let me tell you about the fate of some of the early Soviet space pioneers, including the first death in any space program, Valentin Bondarenko, the failed mission of Soyuz 1, the amazing achievement of Yuri Gagarin, the chilling death of Vladimir Komarov, and the conspiracy theory about the lost cosmonauts.  The space race was full of incredible milestones in human history, but it also came with intense danger. Next episode we'll cover the sacrifices of the early American space program, but today we'll go over the terrible losses of the team at Star City, the stories the Soviets hid for decades, and some of the most interesting rumors and theories about what secrets might still be hidden. Why did the Soviets edit out men from official photos? Were trainees really wiped from history? Who were the early martyrs of the space program? Is there any truth behind the stories of the lost cosmonauts? Let's talk about it.
    **This episode includes sensitive content (CW: death, severe injury, suicide, war, aviation and other accidents). Listener discretion is advised. **

    I've been wanting to do this episode since I've started the podcast and this is definitely the one that has taken the most work but I'm so excited to share it with you. Thank you for all your support so far!

    Make sure to subscribe so you don't miss an episode!
    Check out our links here to support the show, follow our social media, and see photos from the case: https://linktr.ee/CampfireStoriesPodcast
    You can contact me at campfirestoriesbusiness@gmail.com.
    Also check out our YouTube channel Campfire Stories: Astonishing History.
    Sources for every episode are available in the episode transcript on Buzzsprout.
    Music by: Zoliborz
    Buzzsprout - Let's get your podcast launched!Start for FREEDisclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the show

    • 59 min
    Episode 9: The Elite Disappearance of Dorothy Arnold

    Episode 9: The Elite Disappearance of Dorothy Arnold

    Come gather around the campfire and hear about one of the most puzzling missing person's cases in U.S. history.
    It seemed to be a regular winter day when heiress Dorothy Arnold left home for a shopping trip. She was just going to buy a new dress. She was well-known, walking on packed New York City streets, wearing especially eye-catching clothing. Nothing seemed to be dangerous about it, and she assured her family she would be back in time for dinner. And then Dorothy vanished. What happened to her? Did she go missing by choice, escaping to a new life across the country or even across the Atlantic? Was she snatched off the street by a stranger? Did she perish in an underground medical procedure gone wrong? Whatever the truth really was, the case of Dorothy Arnold gripped international attention from the moment it was announced that she was gone.

    **This episode includes sensitive content (CW: death, suicide, medical malpractice, pregnancy, abortion). Listener discretion is advised.**

    Make sure to subscribe so you don't miss an episode!
    Check out our links here to support the show, follow our social media, and see photos from the case: https://linktr.ee/CampfireStoriesPodcast
    You can contact me at campfirestoriesbusiness@gmail.com.
    Also check out our YouTube channel Campfire Stories: Astonishing History.
    Sources for every episode are available in the episode transcript on Buzzsprout.
    Music by: Zoliborz
    Support the show

    • 33 min
    Episode 8 (Part 2): The Classified Code-Breakers of World War II

    Episode 8 (Part 2): The Classified Code-Breakers of World War II

    Come gather around the campfire and let me tell you a story about some of the smartest military teams you've never heard of. Today we’re going to be talking about the code-breakers  of World War II. Part 1 discussed Native American code-talkers. Part 2 will discuss Allied code-cracking teams including the stories of the Enigma, Alan Turing, Marian Rejewski, Elizabeth Friedman, and the Venona project.

    Most code-breaking departments of the time started with a few civilian staff members, including mathematicians, college students, and even a high school principal. How did these rag-tag teams turn into massive agencies? Who were these geniuses, many of whom never got the chance to discuss their heroic work during their lifetimes? How did these teams crack the most infamous Nazi code machine of all time, the Enigma? In the end, Allied code-crackers may have shortened World War II by as much as two years, potentially saving millions of lives. Come hear about how they did it.

    **This episode includes sensitive content (CW: death, war, suicide, antisemitism, homophobia). Listener discretion is advised.**

    Make sure to subscribe so you don't miss an episode!
    Check out our links here to support the show, follow our social media, and see photos from the case: https://linktr.ee/CampfireStoriesPodcast
    You can contact me at campfirestoriesbusiness@gmail.com.
    Also check out our YouTube channel Campfire Stories: Astonishing History.
    Sources for every episode are available in the episode transcript on Buzzsprout.
    Music by: Zoliborz
    Support the show

    • 39 min

Customer Reviews

4.6 out of 5
10 Ratings

10 Ratings

bigsexyboogie ,

Excellent Harvey Milk/George Moscone episode

Keep up the wonderful work!

pikgochu ,

Finally a digestible way to learn history

As someone with a short attention span, it’s rare that I enjoy learning about history but Tess makes it bearable with 20-30 min fun short stories .

Love this podcast!!

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