Stuff you Missed in History Class
Mary Anning, Princess of Paleontology
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The Origin of Cheeses
Cheese has been around for more than 9,000 years. But ...
Cheese has been around for more than 9,000 years. But how did humans learn to make it? Journey with Tracy and Holly to ancient Anatolia, where, people had begun to store milk in pottery and take other steps that set the stage for this delicious invention.
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Albert J. Tirrell, the First Sleepwalking Killer
On Oct. 27, 1845 Mary Ann Bickford’s body was found ...
On Oct. 27, 1845 Mary Ann Bickford’s body was found in her Boston boardinghouse room. Her paramour Albert J. Tirrell was eventually charged with murder. Tirrell hired Rufus Choate to defend him, and Choate claimed his client had episodes of somnambulism.
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Australia’s Rabbit-proof Fence
Many English settlers brought animals and plants to Australia, including ...
Many English settlers brought animals and plants to Australia, including rabbits. The rabbit population exploded, and rabbit-controlling fences were started by the 1880s. Work on the State Barrier Fence began in 1901, and it's still maintained today.
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Emu War of 1932
After World War I, Australian and British soldiers moved to ...
After World War I, Australian and British soldiers moved to rural Australia. In 1932, about 20,000 emus began making their way through Campion and Walgoolan, severely damaging wheat farms. The military tried to help, but may have just made things worse.
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The Contentious Invention of the Sewing Machine
The mechanization of stitching happened by way a series of ...
The mechanization of stitching happened by way a series of inventions, several of which finally came together. Though Elias Howe is often credited with inventing the sewing machine, his invention had more to do with the combination of existing ideas.
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The Trial of Goody Garlick
Decades before the Salem trials, an East Hampton woman was ...
Decades before the Salem trials, an East Hampton woman was tried for witchcraft. Before Lion Gardiner's daughter died, she accused Goody Garlick of bewitching her. Goody Garlick had hearings in two towns, during which she was accused of other bewitchings.
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The Famous Speech Chief Seattle Never Made
The Suquamish chief is best remembered for a speech he ...
The Suquamish chief is best remembered for a speech he gave upon discovering that Governor Stevens wanted land to build a railroad. However, the speech’s origins are nebulous (and in some quotations completely fabricated). Tune in to learn.
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The Life of Johnny Appleseed
The image of Johnny Appleseed walking around in rags, barefooted ...
The image of Johnny Appleseed walking around in rags, barefooted with a bindle, planting apple trees and moving on is actually pretty accurate. Join Holly and Tracy to learn how John Chapman struck out for the frontier and became an American legend.
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The Voynich Manuscript
The Voynich manuscript is named after Wilfrid Voynich, who acquired ...
The Voynich manuscript is named after Wilfrid Voynich, who acquired it in 1912 from a Jesuit library. There are many theories as to what this book from the 1400s contains, but no one knows whether it’s a cypher text, a lost language or gibberish.
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The Mystic Margery Kempe
Born in the 1300s, Margery had 14 children with her ...
Born in the 1300s, Margery had 14 children with her husband before dedicating her life to God. In her 40s, she began a vision-inspired pilgrimage to visit holy sites, and these travels became the basis for her spiritual autobiography,
