Hidden Lens History Podcast

Hidden Lens History
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Hidden Lens History is a bite-sized history podcast built from strange newspaper stories. In about five minutes, hear one remarkable, bizarre, funny, or forgotten story pulled from the archives. I dig through old newspapers looking for stories worth following, then chase them wherever they lead. Strange crimes. Ridiculous inventions. Scams. Disasters. Bizarre contests. Famous people doing strange things. Ordinary people having very unusual days. Like why did one newspaper call July 4 a clerical error? How did a greased-pig contest become illegal in Minnesota? And what happens when a headline from 100 years ago turns into a festival 94 years later? I check the claims, find the photographs and records, and try to figure out what actually happened. See the original clippings, images, and sources at hiddenlenshistory.com. The strange side of history, one newspaper at a time. – Chris www.hiddenlenshistory.com

  1. Oct 6

    The Real Boy Behind Seinfeld’s Babe Ruth Joke

    In this episode, I follow the real story behind one of Seinfeld’s best baseball jokes. In 1926, Babe Ruth promised seriously ill 11-year-old Johnny Sylvester that he would hit a home run for him in the World Series. Ruth didn’t hit one. He hit three. The story became baseball legend, was rewritten by Hollywood, and eventually resurfaced nearly 70 years later in Kramer’s promise to Paul O’Neill. But the original newspaper story is stranger, and better, than the version most people remember. Read the full story and see the original newspaper clippings:Hidden Lens History: https://www.hiddenlenshistory.com/p/the-real-boy-behind-seinfelds-babe Sources:The Daily Messenger — October 6, 1926Daily Notes — October 7, 1926Journal Gazette and Times-Courier — October 7, 1926World-News — October 8, 1926The Tribune — October 12, 1926Daily News — October 12, 1926Daily News — October 14, 1926La Crosse Tribune — September 9, 1942Taylorville Daily Breeze-Courier — December 24, 1948 Get full access to Hidden Lens History at www.hiddenlenshistory.com/subscribe

  2. Sep 30

    Houdini Tested His Own Coffin

    One hundred years ago today, Harry Houdini climbed into a glass-topped, airtight coffin outside a furniture store in Worcester, Massachusetts, and stayed there for about an hour while a crowd watched. The newspapers promoted it as the coffin Houdini expected to be buried in when he died. Thirty-one days later, Houdini was dead. In this episode of Hidden Lens History, we follow Houdini’s strange final public stunt, what actually happened inside the coffin, and the eerie timing that makes the September 30, 1926 newspaper coverage so remarkable. Read the story and see the images here: https://www.hiddenlenshistory.com/p/houdini-tested-his-own-coffin Sources: Worcester Telegram, Sept. 29, Sept. 30 & Oct. 1, 1926; Worcester Evening Gazette, Sept. 30, 1926; Belleville News-Democrat, Oct. 26, 1926; Library of Congress, Item No. 96518807. Get full access to Hidden Lens History at www.hiddenlenshistory.com/subscribe

  3. Sep 22

    A Third Term?

    Exactly 100 years ago today, Americans were wondering whether Calvin Coolidge might break one of the country’s oldest presidential traditions and seek what some considered a third term. A September 22, 1926 political cartoon showed Coolidge standing beside a vase labeled “3rd Term Precedent,” while the Republican elephant encouraged him to take a swing at it. The question was more complicated than it sounds today. In this episode of Hidden Lens History, we follow the debate, an earlier fight over Theodore Roosevelt’s third-term campaign, and the remarkably short statement Coolidge eventually used to answer the question. Read the full story and see the original September 22, 1926 cartoon:https://www.hiddenlenshistory.com/p/a-third-term Hidden Lens History opens newspapers from exactly 100 years ago, finds something worth sharing, and follows it as far as it can. Get full access to Hidden Lens History at www.hiddenlenshistory.com/subscribe

  4. Sep 21

    Babies on Display

    In Washington, D.C., on September 21, 1926, the Florence Crittenton Home opened its annual fall fundraiser with an unusual attraction: babies placed in a downtown storefront window for passing shoppers to see. The display ran from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and contemporary reporting described it as an appeal for donations to support the women and infants in the home's care. Even stranger, this was not a one-time stunt. A surviving photograph from 1914 shows the same organization holding a similar baby exhibit years earlier. In this episode of Hidden Lens History, we look at this strange little piece of everyday life from exactly 100 years ago. Read along and see the photo here: https://www.hiddenlenshistory.com/p/babies-on-display Hidden Lens History finds strange, forgotten, funny, tragic, and remarkable stories in newspapers exactly 100 years later. Subscribe to get one FREE every day. 100 year old headlines. A century of hindsight. #History #HiddenHistory #1926 #WashingtonDC #NewspaperHistory Get full access to Hidden Lens History at www.hiddenlenshistory.com/subscribe

  5. Sep 20

    The 7-Minute Movie That Got a Man Arrested

    This episode follows a headline from September 19th, 1926 about a man who gets arrested after showing a film in his theater. On a Sunday. Which was illegal in Springfield Missouri at the time. Learn more about this wild story that ended up in a Missouri Supreme Court Ruling that affected things for decades. All on the same front page as the Great Miami Hurricane. Read along and subscribe here: https://www.hiddenlenshistory.com/p/the-7-minute-movie-that-got-a-man Or go watch episodes on YouTube. -Chris Get full access to Hidden Lens History at www.hiddenlenshistory.com/subscribe

  6. Sep 18

    Apparently Queens Liked To Fish

    One hundred years ago today, newspapers across America reported an oddly specific royal fishing contest from the Italian Alps: Queen Elena of Italy caught 268 trout. Her husband, King Victor Emmanuel III, caught 179. Their son Umberto managed 16. That number sounded ridiculous, so I went looking. What I found was a queen who was genuinely obsessed with fishing: rods and reels from across Europe, a device for counting trout, competitions with the King, and even a story about having herself tied to a tree so she could reach a better fishing spot. And on the exact same day, halfway around the world, Queen Elena was making headlines for something completely different: bobbed hair. Hidden Lens History follows real newspaper stories exactly 100 years later and sees where they lead. Head over to read the story and see the images on our Substack; https://www.hiddenlenshistory.com/p/the-queen-who-caught-268-trout Get full access to Hidden Lens History at www.hiddenlenshistory.com/subscribe

  7. Sep 17

    A Dr. Said He Changed His Own Eye Color

    In 1926, Dr. J. D. Levine claimed he had changed his own eyes from brown to blue simply by changing what he ate. That was only the beginning. Levine traveled around North America lecturing on iridology, a system he believed allowed him to read the condition of the human body through the iris. Clear blue eyes meant health. Brown eyes meant toxins. Sailors supposedly benefited from sea air. Irish blue eyes? Levine credited potatoes and buttermilk. He even described the human eye as a kind of radio receiver, picking up “vibrations” from elsewhere in the body. So who was J. D. Levine? Did he really believe what he was teaching? And what happened when researchers eventually tested the claims behind iridology? This episode of Hidden Lens History began with one strange sentence in a newspaper published 100 years ago today and went considerably further than expected. Hidden Lens History follows real newspaper stories from exactly 100 years ago and sees where they lead. Read the story and see the original newspaper clippings on Hidden Lens History: https://www.hiddenlenshistory.com/p/a-dr-said-he-changed-his-own-eye Get full access to Hidden Lens History at www.hiddenlenshistory.com/subscribe

  8. Sep 16

    Honeymoons In Jail Don’t Go So Big

    Two weeks after her wedding, a 21-year-old woman sat in the Indianapolis city jail and gave a newspaper reporter her advice for other brides. Her advice was that when your husband plans a honeymoon, you should make sure he owns the means of transportation. Emma Catherine Jenkins and her husband had five dollars left. He'd gone to New Albany, Indiana looking for work. They asked a hotel manager if they could sit on the front porch until the 1:30 in the morning train, and while they were sitting there another guest pulled up and left his keys in the car. The Indianapolis Times ran the whole thing as a comedy piece. Jail bride, hubby, advice to girls, photograph and all. But she tells the reporter exactly what happened, start to finish, and the story underneath the jokes is two broke kids two weeks married with two dollars left for gasoline. She's the one who confessed, and nobody made her. And when her husband offered to take the entire charge so she could walk out, she said no. This episode is mostly her. She's a better talker than I am. Original newspaper page and her photograph: https://www.hiddenlenshistory.com/p/honeymoons-in-jail-dont-go-so-big Get full access to Hidden Lens History at www.hiddenlenshistory.com/subscribe

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About

Hidden Lens History is a bite-sized history podcast built from strange newspaper stories. In about five minutes, hear one remarkable, bizarre, funny, or forgotten story pulled from the archives. I dig through old newspapers looking for stories worth following, then chase them wherever they lead. Strange crimes. Ridiculous inventions. Scams. Disasters. Bizarre contests. Famous people doing strange things. Ordinary people having very unusual days. Like why did one newspaper call July 4 a clerical error? How did a greased-pig contest become illegal in Minnesota? And what happens when a headline from 100 years ago turns into a festival 94 years later? I check the claims, find the photographs and records, and try to figure out what actually happened. See the original clippings, images, and sources at hiddenlenshistory.com. The strange side of history, one newspaper at a time. – Chris www.hiddenlenshistory.com

Information

  • Creator
    Hidden Lens History
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    15
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Hidden Lens History
  • Show Website
    Hidden Lens History Podcast