Naked History

Dyllan Gasaway

Welcome to Naked History, the podcast that peels back the polished layers of the past to reveal the weird, wild, and wonderful truths beneath. Hosted by historian Dyllan Gasaway, this show dives into the untold tales, strange coincidences, and overlooked events that shaped the world. From volcanic eruptions that sparked literary masterpieces to strange coincedences, absurd inventions, historical what-ifs, and the mystery of it all, you've found the right place.

  1. Naked History - 1 Year Anniversary Special

    2d ago

    Naked History - 1 Year Anniversary Special

    One year. Dozens of stories. Far too many historical red flags. This week, Naked History celebrates its first anniversary with the official, deeply unserious, emotionally sincere Naked History Yearbook. Dyllan looks back at a year of weird little doors and big human messes. From the Paris Catacombs to the Emu War, the Great Molasses Flood, the Year Without a Summer, D.B. Cooper, Laika, and more. Along the way, we hand out awards for “Most Likely to Haunt a Tourist Attraction,” “Best Use of Birds as Military Resistance,” “Stickiest Public Safety Disaster,” and other categories that probably should not exist, but history insisted. It’s a celebration of the show’s first year, the stories that shaped its voice, and the lesson that keeps coming up again and again: history is rarely clean, never boring, and usually hiding something very weird under the fig leaf. Thank you for one year of listening, sharing, reviewing, and following us into the weirdest corners of the past. One year down. Still naked. Music Credit: "In The West" Kevin MacLeod (⁠⁠⁠incompetech.com⁠⁠⁠) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License ⁠⁠⁠http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/⁠⁠Music by Ievgen Poltavskyi from PixabayMusic by FreeMusicForVideo from PixabayMusic by Yauheni Kachan from PixabayMusic by ⁠Denis Pavlov⁠ from ⁠Pixabay⁠ Music track: lavender by massobeatsSource: https://freetouse.com/music

    40 min
  2. Ep 24 Debrief: Amelia Earhart: The Other Seat of the Lost Flight

    May 26

    Ep 24 Debrief: Amelia Earhart: The Other Seat of the Lost Flight

    Amelia Earhart didn’t vanish alone. In this Naked History: Debrief, we pull Fred Noonan out of the historical overhead bin and give Amelia’s navigator the spotlight he deserves. We dig into who Noonan was, why his role mattered, what details from Earhart’s final flight often get flattened into legend, and why the disappearance still grips us nearly a century later. We also look at the radio confusion, the tiny target of Howland Island, Amelia’s carefully managed public image, and the difference between a mystery with unanswered questions and a conspiracy theory wearing aviator goggles. Then, in This Week in History for May 25–31, we jump from JFK’s Moon speech to Dracula, and the Golden Gate Bridge. History loves a lone hero. Reality usually has a crew. Music Credits: "Our Story Begins" Kevin MacLeod (⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠incompetech.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Music track: lavender by massobeats Source: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://freetouse.com/music ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Royalty Free Music for Video (Safe)

    11 min
  3. Ep 24: Amelia Earhart: The Pilot, The Plane, and The Mystery Machine

    May 18

    Ep 24: Amelia Earhart: The Pilot, The Plane, and The Mystery Machine

    Before Amelia Earhart became one of history’s most famous mysteries, she was a person: restless, ambitious, media-savvy, stubborn, and very much done with a world that wanted women to stay decorative and grounded. In this episode of Naked History, we look past the question mark and into the life behind the legend. From homemade childhood roller coasters to early aviation death machines, from transatlantic fame to the publicity machine that turned Amelia into a national symbol, we follow the woman who used celebrity, skill, and sheer nerve to punch holes in the ceiling. Then we head into the final flight: the Lockheed Electra, Fred Noonan, Howland Island, the radio confusion, the massive search, and the mystery machine that has been feeding on her disappearance ever since. Because Amelia Earhart did not become important because she vanished. She vanished after already becoming extraordinary. This is the story of the woman, the plane, and the mystery machine. Music Credit: "In The West" Kevin MacLeod (⁠⁠⁠incompetech.com⁠⁠⁠)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License ⁠⁠⁠http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/⁠⁠Music track: lavender by massobeats Source: ⁠⁠⁠https://freetouse.com/music ⁠⁠⁠Royalty Free Music for Video (Safe)

    39 min
  4. Ep 23 Debrief: The Bonus Army: Thank You for Your Service, Please Take a Number.

    May 11

    Ep 23 Debrief: The Bonus Army: Thank You for Your Service, Please Take a Number.

    After the Bonus Army marched on Washington, the story did not just end in smoke, tear gas, and Douglas MacArthur aggressively failing the vibe check. In this Naked History: Debrief, we go back to the camp at Anacostia to ask what the Bonus Army really exposed: the gap between patriotic speeches and actual support, the government’s Olympic-level talent for turning promises into paperwork, and the very American habit of saying “thank you for your service” while quietly stapling a due date to the back. We’ll unpack how the veterans built a city out of scrap wood and broken promises, why officials feared them, and what this episode reveals about symbolic gratitude versus material care. Then, in This Week in History for the week of May 11th, we cover an assassinated British prime minister, Jamestown’s cursed little beginning, the Mexican-American War, the first regular U.S. airmail service, the first Academy Awards, and Brown v. Board of Education. Because history is never just one thing. Sometimes it’s a protest camp, a courtroom, a flying mailbag, and Hollywood learning how to clap for itself — all in the same week. Music Credits: "Our Story Begins" Kevin MacLeod (⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠incompetech.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Music track: lavender by massobeats Source: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://freetouse.com/music ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Royalty Free Music for Video (Safe)

    25 min
  5. Ep 23: The Bonus Army: When WWI Veterans Marched on Washington

    May 4

    Ep 23: The Bonus Army: When WWI Veterans Marched on Washington

    In the summer of 1932, thousands of World War I veterans marched on Washington, D.C., not to overthrow the government, but to ask it to keep a promise. They were hungry, unemployed, and desperate in the middle of the Great Depression. Years earlier, Congress had approved bonus payments for their wartime service, but the money was not scheduled to arrive until 1945. So the veterans came to the capital, built camps, lobbied Congress, and demanded payment now. What followed became one of the most shocking confrontations in American history: U.S. troops, led by Douglas MacArthur and including future World War II figures like Dwight Eisenhower and George Patton, moved against American veterans in the streets of Washington. This week on Naked History, we’re covering the Bonus Army — the march, the camp, the crackdown, and the haunting question at the center of it all: What does a country owe the people it sends to war? Music Credit: "In The West" Kevin MacLeod (⁠⁠⁠incompetech.com⁠⁠⁠)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License ⁠⁠⁠http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/⁠⁠Music track: lavender by massobeats Source: ⁠⁠⁠https://freetouse.com/music ⁠⁠⁠Royalty Free Music for Video (Safe)

    36 min
  6. Ep 22 Debrief: The Revolution After the Revolution

    Apr 20

    Ep 22 Debrief: The Revolution After the Revolution

    In this Naked History: Debrief, we head back behind the barricades of the Paris Commune for the strange, messy, and politically flammable leftovers from the main episode. Dyllan digs into the pieces that didn’t quite fit the first time around: why the cannons of Montmartre were more than just cannons, how Louise Michel became one of the Commune’s most defiant icons, why the myth of the pétroleuse turned revolutionary women into propaganda monsters, and what everyday life looked like when Paris tried to govern itself under siege. Then, in This Week in History, we cover April 20–26 — from Earth Day and Shakespeare to Hubble, Chernobyl, and the Library of Congress. Finally, we open up Myth-Taken to ask: was the Paris Commune really just a violent mob, or was it something more complicated, more hopeful, and much harder to dismiss? Hope, fear, bad government decisions, and just enough revolutionary soot to ruin the carpet. Music Credits: "Our Story Begins" Kevin MacLeod (⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠incompetech.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Music track: lavender by massobeats Source: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://freetouse.com/music ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Royalty Free Music for Video (Safe)

    23 min
  7. Ep 22: The Paris Commune: Hope, fear, and brutal endings

    Apr 13

    Ep 22: The Paris Commune: Hope, fear, and brutal endings

    In 1871, after war, siege, starvation, and political collapse, the people of Paris tried something extraordinary: they took over their own city. In this episode of Naked History, Dyllan Gasaway dives into the story of the Paris Commune — the seventy-two-day uprising that terrified Europe and became one of the most powerful symbols of revolution in modern history. What began as anger at government failure became a radical experiment in democracy, worker power, secular reform, and local control. For a brief moment, Paris imagined a different world. But the Commune’s story is not just one of hope. It is also a story of fear, civil war, fire in the streets, and a brutal repression that left thousands dead. This is the story of barricades, red flags, revolutionary women, political panic, and the violent end of a dream that still echoes through history. Music Credit: "In The West" Kevin MacLeod (⁠⁠⁠incompetech.com⁠⁠⁠)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License⁠⁠⁠http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/⁠⁠Music track: lavender by massobeats Source: ⁠⁠⁠https://freetouse.com/music ⁠⁠⁠Royalty Free Music for Video (Safe)

    34 min
  8. Ep 21 Debrief: D.B. Cooper: The Lasting Mystery and Legacy

    Apr 6

    Ep 21 Debrief: D.B. Cooper: The Lasting Mystery and Legacy

    After the jump comes the fallout. In this week’s Naked History: Debrief, Dyllan Gasaway digs into the details, oddities, and lingering questions that make the D. B. Cooper case so hard to shake. From the ransom demands and parachutes to the tie left behind on the plane, this companion episode explores the strange little pieces that kept the mystery alive long after the hijacker vanished into the night. Then in This Week in History, we move through a late-November stretch packed with world-shaping moments, from Darwin’s On the Origin of Species to the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb. And for this week’s third segment, Conspiracies & Curious Claims, we ask the question that has haunted the case for decades: who was Cooper, and why does America seem so determined to keep him a legend? A briefcase.A bourbon.A parachute.And a mystery that still refuses to land. Music Credits: "Our Story Begins" Kevin MacLeod (⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠incompetech.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License ⁠⁠⁠⁠http://⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Music track: lavender by massobeats Source: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://freetouse.com/music ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Royalty Free Music for Video (Safe)

    19 min
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About

Welcome to Naked History, the podcast that peels back the polished layers of the past to reveal the weird, wild, and wonderful truths beneath. Hosted by historian Dyllan Gasaway, this show dives into the untold tales, strange coincidences, and overlooked events that shaped the world. From volcanic eruptions that sparked literary masterpieces to strange coincedences, absurd inventions, historical what-ifs, and the mystery of it all, you've found the right place.

Information

  • Creator
    Dyllan Gasaway
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    50
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Dyllan Gasaway
  • Show Website
    Naked History