Posted in History, Podcast, History Podcast, Storytelling, Culture, Society, Social Science, Learning, England, Scotland, Travel, Poet, Poetry, Writing, World History, Writer on Aug 10th, 2022
If you strolled through an English garden in the 1700s, you might have stumbled across someone employed in what just may be history’s weirdest job. Because, in Georgian Britain, it was all the rage to hire your very own ornamental garden hermit.
These hired hermits would live in solitude for years, never speaking, never washing, never leaving the grounds. They never cut their hair, their fingernails, or toenails, and would be clad in the outfit of an ancient Druid (or what everyone thought an ancient Druid would have looked like), all for the amusement of the rich elite and their guests.
In this episode we explore the particulars of this strange job and all the ways in which wealthy land owners would try to acquire hermits, as well as the lengths they would go to if they couldn’t find one.
We’ll also be meeting one of the last hermits around today, a man in a long line of recluses who have inhabited a cliffside in Saalfelden, Austria for the last 350 years.
While we’re at it, we pop into ancient Rome, take a stroll along Hadrian’s Wall, say hello to the Caledonians, and find out what a small hermitage in Tivoli, Italy has to do with 18th century garden hermits.
Join me as we explore what just may be history’s weirdest job.
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Posted in DefaultTag, History, American History, Podcast, History Podcast, Storytelling, Culture, Society, Psychology, Indigenous, War, Education, Learning, Biology, Ship, Sailing, Adventure, Shipwreck, England, Exploration, Journey, Biography, Literature, Travel, Poet, Poetry, Author, Writing, World History, Analysis, Writer, Military History on Jul 20th, 2022
In this finale episode on the incredible life of Joe Carstairs we examine Joe’s life after she earned her place in history as the fastest woman on water. In 1934 Joe purchased Whale Cay, an island in the Bahamas, then known as the British West Indies. Here she built a life in exile, and integrated herself into the economic and social history of the Bahamas.
We cover her experiences on the island, her attempts to aid both British and American forces during WW2, her meeting with the Duke of Windsor and Wallis Simpson, the complicated impact she had as a colonist, the death of Ruth Baldwin, the love of her life, her eventual move to Naples, Florida, and the last years of her life.
Join me as we conclude our series on the relentlessly interesting life of Joe Carstairs.
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Posted in DefaultTag, Animals, American History, History Podcast, Storytelling, Culture, Society, Learning, Literature, Victorian, Poet, Poetry, Author, Writing, Halloween, Folklore, Folktales, Fear, Art, Writer on Oct 31st, 2021
In 1845 Edgar Allen Poe first published his now iconic poem The Raven. Come hear the full reading of this legendary literary tale in this bonus Halloween mini episode.
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Posted in History, American History, Podcast, Storytelling, Society, Anthropology, Social Science, Indigenous, Education, Learning, Ship, Sailing, Adventure, Shipwreck, Survival Stories, Exploration, Expedition, Discovery, Journey, Travel, Poet, Poetry, Folklore, Folktales, World History, Paleolithic, Ice Age, Analysis, Prehistory, Prehistoric, Pictograph, Pictogram on Jun 30th, 2021
In 1928 Glen and Bessie Hyde struck out to make history. They wanted to raft down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon at a time when only 45 people in recorded history had dared to make that journey. If successful, they would set a new speed record, and Bessie would be the first woman in recorded history to make the voyage.
Their scow was found snagged in the river at mile 232, all their belongings still intact, but the young couple had vanished. Their disappearance sparked a mystery still told around canyon camp fires and has made them an inseparable piece of Grand Canyon lore. A diary, a skeleton with a bullet hole in the skull, and a campfire confession all stoked the flames of a century of mystery. Come hear their story.
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Posted in , , , , , History, Funerals, Podcast, History Podcast, Storytelling, Culture, Society, Anthropology, Social Science, War, Education, Learning, Biography, Literature, Travel, Victorian, Poet, Poetry, Author, Writing, Halloween, Religion, World History, Art, Scary, Writer, Abelard and Heloise, France, French History, Paris, Catacombs, Tomb, Graveyard, Napoleon, Napoleonic Wars, Military History, Paris Catacombs, Grave, Chopin, Isadora Duncan, Oscar Wilde, Moliere, Jim Morrison, Poland, Ireland on Oct 30th, 2019
Join me on a tour of Père Lachaise Cemetery and explore the tombs of some of histories most incredible icons including Jim Morrison, Oscar Wilde, Isadora Duncan, Abelard and Heloise, and Chopin. We examine the cemetery's history, make a side tour to the catacombs beneath Paris, and explore the dark moments in history that have occurred in Père Lachaise since its establishment by Napoleon. Let's go to Paris!
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Posted in , History, Podcast, History Podcast, Storytelling, Culture, Society, Anthropology, Social Science, Education, Learning, Study, Adventure, Polar, England, Mona Lisa, Journey, Biography, Cowboy, Scotland, Robert W. Service, Yukon, Gold Rush, Canada, Literature, Travel, Victorian, Poet, Poetry, Author, Writing on Oct 2nd, 2019
Poet, adventurer, bard of the Yukon, and British cowboy (that's a thing) Robert W. Service (1874-1958) is showcased in this week's history byte, followed by a retelling of his spookiest of poems, The Cremation of Sam McGee.
This is the first of THREE EXTRA episodes premiering this month just for your Halloween season enjoyment, so pumpkin up that coffee, put in those ear buds, dust off that Necronomicon, and go nuts.
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