On this podcast, we explore fantastical thinking, moral panics, conspiracy theories, and urban

legends, examine the forces that shape our culture, and tell the stories that create the

realities we share, and sometimes the realities we don't.

I'm your host, Chelsea Weber Smith.

And this is American History.

And all the Florida means life and youth and fun.

A land of joyous days and a yearning night.

Is there anything that calls out to the true tacky soul of America quite like a photo

op of an elephant acting as a golf caddy for the president of the United States?

According to the imprint that one elephant left on Miami Beach and the nation at large,

potentially not.

Oh how we Americans so dearly love a gimmick.

Myself very much included and these spectacles have always been potent tools to get our attention

and then our cash.

In our last episode, we discussed the meme Florida man that makes viral the most ridiculous

crime headlines and mug shots out of the state.

A social media phenomenon that's been keeping us entertained since 2013.

And what we haven't explored yet is another brand of Florida man, the Huckster, the charlatan,

the kind of Florida man that created the unreal allure of the sunshine state as we know

it today.

During the Florida land boom of the mid-1920s, Americans poured into what was then called

the last American frontier for what would become the 20th century's gold rush.

...