Episode of a Thousand Downloads: Sawney Bean

What kinds of milestones come to mind when you think of 1000? Do you think of scientific achievements, sports statistics or something else? For Horrific History, it isn’t surprising that when we recently exceeded our 1000th download milestone we thought of murder, cannibalism, incest and the folk tale of Sawney Bean. As a special thank you to our loyal listeners who have made this all possible we’re releasing a special edition bonus episode with a slightly different format as co-hosts Curtis Bender and Eric Slyter examine this old legend and its origins.

 

A multi-generational incest family, murder, cannibalism, executions, amputations and […]

Mementos of You

Plaster cast of mokomokai (Indigenous to New Zealand); a photo of an actual head will not be shared on Horrific History out of the desire to be sensitive to the Maori.

After your death, what do you think your survivors (friendly or foe) might keep to remember you? Perhaps a photo or some inanimate object which carried a lot of meaning to you both? Or do you think they might want something more personal, like a lock of hair or your ashes? It’s a nice thought, isn’t it? But what if they wanted to keep your rotting skin, your head or even just your re-purposed skull or bones? Eric Slyter and Curtis Bender hunt for the gruesome details on various kinds of human trophies in history beginning with the Scythians, Norse Vikings, and Aztec festivities honoring Xipe Totec (Our Lord the Flayed One) before ending with Maori mokomokai.

 

Skull cups, garments made of rotting skin and […]

30 May / 2017

Radium Girls

The Horrible Case of the Shining Women

You may remember hearing about the Radium Girls in our For a Healthy Glow: Radiation Poisoning episode, and we’ve added a great resource to our Store for those of you who want to learn more about their important part in history! There’s a physical book, The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America’s Shining Women,  for those bibliophiles who need something to hold onto.

 

 

But for you audiophiles who prefer to absorb knowledge through listening to audio books or podcasts, we found […]

A Horrible Inheritance

What is the worst thing you can imagine receiving as an inheritance or “legacy gift”? What if the worst your parents could give you was their shared DNA? Sure, we know we’re going to get a combinations of physical traits, for better or worse, from our parents but some people have terrible genetic odds due to the close relations of their parents! From Neanderthal discoveries found in modern day Siberia to the royal affairs (and marriages) of royalty in Egypt and Spain and ending with the modern Colt family incest cult in Australia, this episode gets around! Co-hosts Curtis Bender and Eric Slyter will be filling this Horrific History Podcast with the tragic details on what can happen when you keep the genes inside the family!

 

Hapsburg’s jaws, club feet and cleft palates, […]

16 May / 2017

A High Price for Passage

What is a rite of passage for your young one worth when you’ll be paying it off for years to come? A timely follow up to our recent episode Black Broth and Broken Vines, the linked article is an exercise in contrasts. #NoSqueamAllowed!

 

Photo credits: The copyright for all photos in this post belong to the photographer, Delphine Blast.

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Poison, Pokers & Pee, Oh My…

The gauntlet has been thrown and the challenge issued. Co-hosts Curtis “Curlystache” Bender and Eric “Iron Fist” Slyter each receive two opportunities to stump their opponent (and you) on horrible deaths and lives of the famous people in history who met those untimely demises. From ancient Egypt and Greece to medieval England and finally ending in 16th Century Denmark, we have suicides, murders, executions and assassinations. Conspiracy theories abound, and you’ll get all the explosive details as we probe history to separate fact from fiction.

 

A sadistic ruler who had an affinity for toxins, poisons and venom; a deposed king with Arthurian expectations who suffered from rotten luck and terrible choices which would aid a posthumous propaganda campaign; and an eccentric nerd who was willing to defend mathematics at risk of life or limb or […]

It should come as no surprise to listeners of One Night With Venus Part 1 and Part 2 that a syringe full of mercury injected into a vagina was considered top-of-the-line medical treatment in the 16th Century. How often do you get to own such an, um, penetrating insight into the subject? Remember: No squeam allowed!

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Slideshow photo credit: CC BY-SA 3.0, Link

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Making Your Blood Boil

How well do you cope with being under pressure? Does it make your blood boil? Do you keep calm like a Soviet astronaut pulling a cool move out of The Martian?

 

From Polynesian pearl diving taravana and the discovery of Boyle’s Law, Horrific History co-hosts Eric Slyter and Curtis Bender uncork the most explosive and gory details of decompression sickness in history. To help you acclimate to the increased squeam-atmospheres of pressure, they begin with animal experimentation, caisson disease, Nazi Germany experiments involving (live?) human brain dissection and […]

How could we have missed the radioactive boar phenomenon in our episode For a Healthy Glow, about radiation poisoning? Better late than never! Of course, given the nature of the subject matter, we’ll be reporting on Fukushima for a long time to come. Remember, #NoSqueamAllowed!

Blog post photo credit (from article): Toru Hanai/Reuters

Slideshow photo credit: Cloudtail the Snow Leopard Wild boar via photopin (license)

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Black Broth & Broken Vines

What would you suffer or risk to become a full member of your community? Would you jump from extreme heights with only a vine to catch you? Would you allow your body to be surgically and permanently changed without the benefits of modern medicine like anesthesia? Would you kill?

 

Co-hosts Eric Slyter and Curtis Bender discuss real historical rites of passage in this Horrific History episode, covering documented examples from Spartans to more modern accounts of land diving from Papua New Guinea. From extreme heights (and horrible deaths), to murder and ending with genital mutilation we’re covering some of the rituals you may be glad you don’t have to do for your life milestones, right down to the penile subincision. As always: No squeam allowed! […]