99 episodes

The Unusual History of Every Thing is a podcast for lovers of the weird history of common things in our world. Join cultural object preservationists Melanie Dellas and Karen Lacy as they uncover the unusual histories of every thing around us. New episodes every Tuesday!

The Unusual History of Every Thing Melanie Dellas and Karen Lacy

    • History
    • 4.9 • 25 Ratings

The Unusual History of Every Thing is a podcast for lovers of the weird history of common things in our world. Join cultural object preservationists Melanie Dellas and Karen Lacy as they uncover the unusual histories of every thing around us. New episodes every Tuesday!

    Earthworm Oil: From the Dirt to the Doctor?

    Earthworm Oil: From the Dirt to the Doctor?

    Typically, people nowadays don’t go into Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods and ask for earthworm oil, but from the 16th to 19th centuries, earthworm oil was used to treat various problems – kind of like how we use tea tree or coconut oils today. On this episode, we’ll show you how to use earthworm oil to treat many things, even gunshot wounds, because…well, why not? 

    • 13 min
    The Unusual History of TV Dinners: Giving Thanks to Thanksgiving

    The Unusual History of TV Dinners: Giving Thanks to Thanksgiving

    Who doesn’t love to come home from a long day of work, heat up some yummy food, turn on the TV and plop down on the couch to eat? Although many people still do enjoy a sit-down meal with the family that often doesn’t include a television, back in the 1950s when having a TV in the home was a new concept, people found themselves wanting to eat in front of it. On this episode, we thank Thanksgiving and an overabundance of turkeys back in 1953 for giving us the TV dinner. 

    • 7 min
    Crap, Crapper, and the History of the Toilet 

    Crap, Crapper, and the History of the Toilet 

    Happy World Toilet Day! In case you didn’t know, the World Toilet Organization (yes, there is one) declared November 19th to be World Toilet Day back in 2001. Why, you may ask? Well it all had to do with drawing attention to the fact that even today not every country has great sanitation, which of course spreads diseases like cholera, typhoid and hepatitis. On this episode, we flush out what humans did when poop became a problem and how it all led to a universal holiday. 

    • 26 min
    Witch Cakes: How Urine in a Cake Led to the Salem Witch Trials 

    Witch Cakes: How Urine in a Cake Led to the Salem Witch Trials 

    One of the things people in Europe and in America used to do to thwart a witch’s spells was to bake a witch cake. It sounds sort of good, being a cake and all, but you know that having the word “witch” in its name means something has to be wrong with it. And there was something wrong with it. Despite the fact that this supernatural dessert was meant to be used against witches, its ingredients left something to be desired: rye meal, ashes and the victim’s urine. On this episode, we’ll show you how a little urine in your cake can either curse you or cleanse you.  

    • 8 min
    Stingy Jack & the Devil: This Unusual History of Jack-O-Lanterns

    Stingy Jack & the Devil: This Unusual History of Jack-O-Lanterns

    When we in the west think of Halloween or All Hallow’s Eve, carving pumpkins is one of the first things that comes to mind. It’s a tradition parents share with kids, and even as adults we enjoy it. In fact, we spend a lot of time researching cool designs to carve and choosing the best pumpkins at the pumpkin patch. And let’s not forget gutting it and roasting the seeds! But why do we do all of this? How did turning pumpkins into jack-o-lanterns become a Halloween tradition? On this episode, we look at why we love to carve out pumpkins, eat their guts and use them to light up the darkness.  

    • 10 min
    Dumb Cakes: How to Find A Husband on Halloween

    Dumb Cakes: How to Find A Husband on Halloween

    They say the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, so using food to find a husband doesn't seem like such a bad idea. From the late 1600s to the mid-1900s, unmarried women in North America and the United Kingdom practiced a baking ritual on Halloween that was said to reveal who they would marry. They called the products of this ritual “dumb cakes.” The cakes themselves were simple: water, flour, sugar, salt. It was HOW you made them that was a bit more complicated. But finding a future husband is never easy! On this episode, we show unmarried women everywhere how to find a future spouse using nothing but cake and well-timed silence. 

    • 10 min

Customer Reviews

4.9 out of 5
25 Ratings

25 Ratings

heskidx. eeg ,

AMAZING

I was curious to listen to these podcasts so I clicked on one and I couldn’t stop listening to them. I heard some really interesting facts and I can’t wait to hear more!!

Simon Kaia ,

Great hosts

Love the hosts and stories they share!

ctde1952 ,

Best podcast!

Love the entertaining banter of the hosts, and the unusual history stories that keep me thinking long after I’ve heard it.

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