The Internet Says it’s True

A simple white headstone in Arlington National Cemetery hides one of the most remarkable stories in American history. This week, Michael Kent traces the life of Army Specialist Richard Leroy McKinley, the tragic SL-1 nuclear reactor accident, and the extraordinary engineering that created the only radioactive grave in Arlington. What began as a routine maintenance procedure became a turning point in nuclear safety and left behind a...

Did a Japanese admiral really say America could never be invaded because there would be "a rifle behind every blade of grass?" It's one of the most repeated quotes in American history, cited in speeches, books, and debates for decades. This week, Michael Kent follows the trail back through wartime records, biographies, and historical research to discover where the quote actually came from, why historians reject it, and how one sent...

Originally released May 2nd, 2022. Was Sammy Davis Jr. a member of the Church of Satan? It's widely known that he converted to Judaism after the auto accident that took his eye, but this week, a listener sent us an article about Sammy Davis Jr. the Satanist. In this episode, we talk about the life of this multi-faceted entertainer and the claim in question. Then we chat with Comedian and Producer of CBus Comedy, Lisa Berry!

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A college student saw a Pepsi commercial, did the math, and tried to claim a United States Marine Corps Harrier jump jet. What followed became one of the most famous advertising lawsuits in American history and inspired the hit Netflix documentary Pepsi, Where's My Jet? This week, Michael Kent explores the true story behind the Pepsi Points promotion, the courtroom battle that followed, and why one joke commercial is still taught i...

What do you do when you've directed a movie... but you don't want your name on it?

This week, Michael explores one of Hollywood's strangest traditions: Alan Smithee, the fictional film director created by the Directors Guild of America for filmmakers who had lost creative control of their projects. Along the way, you'll hear how one Western accidentally created a decades-long Hollywood secret, why critics u...

In 1969, future President Jimmy Carter stood outside a Lions Club meeting in rural Georgia and saw something in the sky he couldn't identify. Decades later, the report remains one of the most famous UFO sightings ever associated with a U.S. president. Was it Venus, a military-related phenomenon, an optical illusion, or something else entirely? This week, we follow the facts, separate the myths from the history, and explore why a si...

A computer sound effect sparked one of the funniest stories in tech history. This week, Michael explores the decades-long trademark war between Apple Computer and the Beatles' Apple Corps, a conflict that stretched from the late 1970s into the age of the iPod and iTunes. Along the way, an Apple engineer slipped a sarcastic message into the Macintosh operating system, creating the legendary "Sosumi" alert sound. What started as a le...

A symbol of freedom standing atop the United States Capitol seems like the perfect representation of American ideals. But what if one of the people most responsible for bringing that symbol to life was himself enslaved? This week, Michael explores the remarkable true story of Philip Reid, the skilled craftsman whose expertise helped make the Statue of Freedom possible, and the extraordinary irony of a monument to liberty being comp...

Originally released September 15, 2025. During the Civil War, hundreds of people assigned female at birth served in male disguise. Some did it out of patriotism, some for love, and for others, it was about living as the gender they knew themselves to be. In this episode, we uncover the stories of Albert D.J. Cashier, Lyons Wakeman, Frank Thompson, Samuel Blalock, Mollie “Melvin” Bean, and Mary “John” Burns &...

In 1898, workers building a railroad bridge in East Africa began disappearing during the night. Rumors spread that supernatural forces were stalking the camp, but the truth was terrifying enough: two lions had begun hunting humans. This week, Michael explores the true story of the Tsavo Man-Eaters, the months-long campaign of fear that threatened one of the British Empire's largest engineering projects, and the scientific mystery t...