Unhinged History

Unhinged History

Unhinged History is a history podcast combining humor and the crazy stories you never learned in school. Theresa and Angie explore antics and hijinks throughout history. Each week they come together and share the bizarre stories they’ve only recently learned. Uncover facts like Napoleon getting attacked by bunnies or details of the Beer Flood of 1814. Their favorite topics cover historical hoaxes, random war stories, unsolved mysteries, spies, and stories that make you question everything you thought you knew.

Episodes

Episode 166 | Get the Red String Ready

March 27, 2026 • 59 mins
This week’s unhinged stories feature two women largely forgotten by history. Starting off strong, Theresa tells the story of Madame Montour, the interpreter who spoke English, German, and several Native American languages. Her work as an interpreter brokered several treaties. We have one small problem with Madame Montour – she is history’s most unreliable narrator. Follow along as Theresa lays out a myriad of conflicting sources....
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Episode 165 | Making a Murder Board in My Kitchen

March 20, 2026 • 87 mins
This week’s Unhinged History features two women with outrageous stories. Angie kicks things off with the story of Elizabeth Bathory, you know, the Blood Countess. She’s rumored to have murdered over 600 virgins to bathe in their blood in hopes of maintaining her youth and beauty. But what if all of that was created by the men in her life who owed her money? Angie pulls back the rumors and shares what we know and can prove about t...
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Episode 164 | Painting the Town Red, Literally

March 13, 2026 • 67 mins
Some stories just warm you up inside like a Hot Toddy. Today, Theresa starts us off with a story from her comfort era: World War II, as she shares the tale of Soviet sniper, Lyudmila Pavlichenko. This badass earns a sniper diploma before graduating from college, which proves beneficial as she ends up fighting as one of only 2,000 female snipers. While only 500 of these women would survive the war, Lyudmila thrives, racking up 309 c...
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Episode 163 | LKGFO

March 6, 2026 • 58 mins
Listen to this week’s episode as Angie tells a story about a man Theresa’s already learned about. She shares the story of Anders Lassen, the incredible Danish man who joined Colin Gubbins’ Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare and made the SOE what it was known for. This episode pairs well with: Paddy Mayne Colin Gubbins Odette Samson The SAS Train Raid You Never Heard of...
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Episode 162 | I Found Freedom Instead

February 27, 2026 • 70 mins
What a strange and wonderful mashup of unhinged history stories we have for you today. When we think of Tudor England, we often overlook the individuals of African descent who lived and worked there. Today, Angie corrects that. Come learn about the various people historians uncovered. Theresa takes a different route as she shares the story of Darius McCollum. Darius loves one thing more than anything else in the world: trains. Hi...
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Episode 161 | In Europia...

February 20, 2026 • 57 mins
What an episode of two indomitable people! Today, Theresa kicks things off by telling the story of Dr. Daniel Hale Williams. Dr. Dan is credited with completing the first open-heart surgery. This was in the mid-1800s, before the creation of rib spreaders, bypass machines, or any other devices that would make his life easier. Even better, his patient survives. To further boost his creds, this incredible human created the first rac...
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Episode 160 | An Ad for the National Parks Service

February 13, 2026 • 58 mins
Today’s mash-up of stories leads to some very unexpected places as Angie shares the story of Belle da Costa Greene. Belle ends up being the first Black female librarian of Mr. J. P. Morgan. This woman ends up being the Pepper Potts to Morgan, as she controls art and literature that gets bought and added to his personal collection. Then, surprising no one, Theresa takes us in a very different direction as she recounts the tale of ...
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Episode 159 | They Haven’t Repo’ed the Couch Yet

February 6, 2026 • 51 mins
Few white dudes of history have ever earn so much respect from the Black community does, and for good reason. This week, Theresa takes over the entire episode and shares the unhinged life of John Brown. Starting with his early years, raised in a home that was both steeped in religion and abolitionism, John Brown’s path led him to campaign to end slavery. During his life, he would earn the respect of Fredrick Douglass, as he polar...
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Episode 158 | Just Looking for a Fist Fight

January 30, 2026 • 69 mins
The stories we tell here at Unhinged History are predictable, and today offers no variation from the trend. Theresa begins by telling the story of Elijah Parish Lovejoy. This abolitionist would believe two things in this life: that slavery is wrong, and as a journalist, he had the freedom of speech. These convictions would result in four printing presses getting destroyed by mobs and him getting shot five times. Angie, while st...
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Episode 157 | Those Are Fighting Words

January 23, 2026 • 66 mins
Sometimes the events covered in Unhinged History are as zany as they are unexpected. Other times, things get dark. This week, Theresa shares the life of Charles Sumner, the senator who was beaten for giving an abolitionist speech. This attack would polarize the country and start it on the path toward the Civil War. Angie apparently didn’t get the memo that Theresa was telling such a tale, because she takes us further into the d...
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Episode 156 | Sorta Super Sucks

January 16, 2026 • 47 mins
Have you ever heard about the enduring mystery surrounding the fate of the Amber Room? You know that massive room crafted with walls of solid amber, gold leaf, and mirrors? Angie starts by sharing the room’s inception and how King Frederick I commissioned it. She talks about how it was gifted to Russia, where it sat in boxes for years before getting reassembled and improved upon. Then Angie goes into how Hitler wanted the Amber R...
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Episode 155 | A Strip Bar for Scientists

January 9, 2026 • 56 mins
Whatever you were expecting, this ain’t it. Theresa brings us an unsettling tale about a group of scientists in the 1970s who placed Felicia, a ferret, in a particle accelerator for scientific purposes. Apparently, they needed to clean out the four miles of tubes, and what better way than a diaper-wearing ferret? Angie struggles to find a transition to her story when she pivots to recap the 1527 Sack of Rome. She ends up naming a...
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Episode 154 | Unbothered By Law

January 3, 2026 • 55 mins
Buckle up, kids. Today, for no explainable reason, Angie and Theresa swap stories. Angie jumpstarts the episode by telling everyone about the role in the Dutch resistance that Audrey Hepburn played. Theresa takes to the skies when she shares the story about Thomas Fitzpatrick, the man who was drunk and on a bet stole and landed a plane on the streets of the Washington Heights neighborhood in NYC – twice. Apparently, the second time...
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Episode 153 | And Dad Discovered Therapy

December 26, 2025 • 75 mins

In another week of unexpected history, Theresa kicks things off with a story from Brazil. Meet Antonio Conselheiro, a man crushed by life who turns to following God. He wanders the back country of Brazil, preaching the Good News and fixing churches. He ends up building a community with recently freed Black people who have nowhere else to turn. 

Because no good deed goes unpunished, farmers who lost their laborers raise an army, and...

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Episode 152 | 3 Elephants in Cheese

December 19, 2025 • 60 mins
First off, did you know there is a black market for luxury cheeses? Angie shatters Theresa’s understanding of things when she shares the “Grate Cheese Heist of 2024.” Listen to how a massive amount of artisanal cheese is stolen and unaccounted for. Then Theresa shifts gears and shares the WWII story of Agent Zigzag. This British citizen, Eddie Chapman, moves from criminal to German spy to British double-agent. There are love affa...
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Episode 151 | Gertrude – Keep Your Hands to Yourself

December 12, 2025 • 55 mins
Old-timey history has tons of greats. Previously, Theresa and Angie lamented not having modern greats, until today. Theresa shares the Great Madison Butter Fire of 1991. Join us as she regales Angie with the tale of 12,500 tons of dairy products going up in flames, releasing a river of cream and melted butter. This blaze took eight days to put out and was quite the event. Angie shifts the episode's tone dramatically as she tells ...
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Episode 150 | Pull a Helms Deep

December 5, 2025 • 67 mins
This week, Angie shares many of the factors that excite her about history. She shares an overview of the Ottoman Empire, Mehmed II’s rise to power, and how his path crosses with a young Wallachian prince, Vlad Tepes. Once you add in the socio-political stances of the European kingdoms and the fear of Muslim takeovers, you now see how Pope Pius II funded the military campaigns of Vlad Tepes, who would go on to earn the spot in his...
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Episode 149 | Thicker Than Dog Snot

November 28, 2025 • 59 mins
Whatever you were expecting for today’s episode, this ain’t it. Theresa jumps right into the podcast, telling the story of Cherokee Beloved Woman, Nanyihe (aka Nancy Ward). This woman, from the age of 17, commands respect from her people as she attempts to help them navigate a world of English settlers moving in. Some say she’s the hero, while others view her as a traitor. Angie takes a sharp left turn in the storytelling to sh...
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Episode 148 | We’re in the Middle of Our Disaster Year

November 21, 2025 • 70 mins

Each week, we come up with some absolutely bonkers stories, and this week is no different. 

Angie shares how Holland dealt with an unpopular Grand Pensionary (think prime minister). Johan de Witt sparked such anger among the crowd that on August 20, 1672, they tore him apart and ate his remains. 

Theresa gingerly side-steps the cannibalism and shares how Cherokee Chief Sequoyah fell in love with the concept of written language and ...

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Episode 147 | Google, Help a Sister Out

November 14, 2025 • 57 mins
This week, Unhinged History honors the achievements of native Americans and their history. We hear a lot about the Navajo codetalkers of WWII, but how much do you know about the Choctaw codetalkers of WWI that inspired the Second World War version? If you’re like most of the world, you don’t know much. This week, Theresa takes Angie on a romp through history as she shares the origins of the United States using the languages of in...
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