Stuff You Missed in History Class

This 2020 episode covers the Public Universal Friend, who described themself as a genderless spirit sent by God to inhabit the resurrected body of a woman named Jemima Wilkinson. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcribed - Published: 29 November 2025

Tracy and Holly talk about their recent podcast trip to Morocco with listeners, arranged by Defined Destinations.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcribed - Published: 28 November 2025

The second installment of our episode on Charles Sumner picks up in the wake of his controversial antiwar speech. He next argued a school integration case before the Massachusetts supreme judicial court.

Transcribed - Published: 26 November 2025

The first installment of the deeper examination of Charles Sumner's life begins with his early years, including his close relationships with Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Samuel Gridley Howe.

Transcribed - Published: 24 November 2025

This 2019 episode covers Thomas Cook, a pioneer of the idea of a travel agency to manage tourist holidays. But Cook was initially motivated by his support of the temperance movement and his deeply held religious beliefs. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcribed - Published: 22 November 2025

Tracy and Holly talk about the proclivity for destruction that was part of the balloon craze. They also discuss cat trees and how hard it is to find one that's cute. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcribed - Published: 21 November 2025

Cat litter, it could be argued, kicked off the pet products industry. After its invention in the 1940s, other inventors started to come up with products that today are standard in the homes of people with pets.

Transcribed - Published: 19 November 2025

Ballooning became a huge fad starting in the late 18th century, and there was a surprising amount of rioting associated with it. Fervor, excitement, and intoxication in some instances, meant that balloon events were prone to get out of control.

Transcribed - Published: 17 November 2025

This 2018 episode covers the period in the late 1820s when north Georgia became the site of a gold rush that predated the California gold rush by two decades. It's also tied to some of the darkest parts of U.S. history regarding the treatment of Native Americans.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcribed - Published: 15 November 2025

Tracy shares the surprising benefit of not having access to a lot of specifics regarding the work of Mary Golda Ross. Holly talks about Marjorie Merriwether Post being a serial monogamist.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcribed - Published: 14 November 2025

Marjorie Merriweather Post is most often mentioned today as the person who built Mar-a-Lago. But she was a unique figure as a woman who helmed a huge corporation when she was still in her 20s in the early 20th century.

Transcribed - Published: 12 November 2025

Mary Golda Ross was the first Indigenous woman in the U.S. known to have become an engineer. Her impact on the field of aerospace engineering is hard to quantify, because much of her work is still classified.

Transcribed - Published: 10 November 2025

This 2019 episode covers Alexandre Dumas, who wrote hundreds and hundreds of works, including “The Three Musketeers,” “The Count of Monte Cristo,”  and even a dictionary of cuisine.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcribed - Published: 8 November 2025

Tracy discusses the challenge of parsing all the nuance of the French Revolution. Holly talks about how little Clarence Birdseye shared of his interior thoughts.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcribed - Published: 7 November 2025

Before Clarence Birdseye, frozen food was perceived as being low-quality and kind of gross. But after spending time in extremely cold climates, Birdseye figured out that speed freezing was the key to retaining freshness.

Transcribed - Published: 5 November 2025

The Great Fear was a panic during the French Revolution that spread through rural areas. It all started with a conspiracy theory.

Transcribed - Published: 3 November 2025

This 2019 episode is about general Thomas-Alexandre Dumas, who sounds like a character out of one of his son’s books. His life was a series of dramatic and daring adventures, including his rise up through the ranks of the French military.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcribed - Published: 1 November 2025

Holly talks about the unsubstantiated stories associated with the Villa de Vecchi in northern Italy. Tracy talks about getting angry about a passage she read in Wednesday's show. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcribed - Published: 31 October 2025

Hi, Stuff You Missed in History Class listeners! We're excited to share with you a sneak peek at iHeartPodcasts' latest release, Health Stuff! Health Stuff: On Health Stuff, hosts Dr. Priyanka Wali and comedian Hari Kondabolu tackle all the health questions that keep you up at night with hilarity and humanity. Together, they demystify the flashy trends, and keep you informed on the latest research. You can rely on Health Stuff to bring you real, uninhibited, and thoughtful health talk of the highest caliber, and a healthy dose of humor.   Listen to Health Stuff on the iHeartRadio App or wherever you get your podcasts!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcribed - Published: 29 October 2025

In late 1803, accounts of ghost sightings began to circulate in Hammersmith, England. This led to a tragic event, and a legal case that revealed some limitations in existing English law.

Transcribed - Published: 29 October 2025

Today’s topic is an abandoned mansion, but it was once a gorgeous and luxurious home designed for a prominent citizen of northern Italy. It’s often described as haunted and as having a dark history, but there are some interesting contradictions regarding that story.

Transcribed - Published: 27 October 2025

This 2021 episode covers Aleister Crowley, a truly prolific and deliberately transgressive occultist whose practices included sex and drug use. He influenced modern Satanism, as well as other new religious movements.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcribed - Published: 25 October 2025

Holly and Tracy talk about ghost experiences in their lives. Tracy thanks all the listeners who suggested ghost towns for this week's episode.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcribed - Published: 24 October 2025

We've had a lot of listener requests related to ghost towns, so this Halloween season, we've got six places in the U.S. that could be labeled as such. But not not all are empty today.

Transcribed - Published: 22 October 2025

This episode features several ghosts all associated with one place. And that place is a specific building with its own interesting history – the Theater Royal Drury Lane of London.

Transcribed - Published: 20 October 2025

This 2020 episode covers three of the many supernatural canines and hellhounds in our collective storytelling. Two are similar and from England, and one is a fun figure from southern Louisiana.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcribed - Published: 18 October 2025

Holly asks follow-up questions about a paper Tracy mentioned in the episodes this week. Tracy talks about the use of the Nintendo 3DS as a Louvre guide. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcribed - Published: 17 October 2025

Part 2 of this installment of Unearthed! features animals, swords, art, shoes, shipwrecks, and the miscellany category of potpourri.

Transcribed - Published: 15 October 2025

Part one of this quarter's installment of Unearthed! features things related to books and letters, and edibles and potables, and as we usually do, we are starting this installment of Unearthed with updates.

Transcribed - Published: 13 October 2025

Paul Robeson’s stances on political and civil rights issues and his communist affiliations catalyzed protests that were fueled with an undercurrent of racism and antisemitism.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcribed - Published: 11 October 2025

Holly discusses the complicated nature of the Loudun possessions. Tracy talks about the ways that entertainment media can cause fear.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcribed - Published: 10 October 2025

Peter Stubbe or Peter Stumpp, also known as the Werewolf of Bedburg, was part of a case in Germany where the concepts of witchcraft and lycanthropy were interconnected.

Transcribed - Published: 8 October 2025

In 17th century France a group of nuns described some unsettling visitations at their convent, which developed into a story of possession, political intrigue, and a moment in time that was rife with social tensions.

Transcribed - Published: 6 October 2025

This 2016 episode covers a haunting story from the early 1800s. Many narratives have blossomed from the Bell Witch story, but when you really try to look at the facts, they're few and far between.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcribed - Published: 4 October 2025

Tracy shares a story about getting poor directions from GPS. Holly talks about her theory regarding William Outlaw's confession, and both hosts discuss the spiders in their yards.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcribed - Published: 3 October 2025

Alice Kyteler's witchcraft trial shocked 14th century Ireland. Today, the charges against her are seen largely as nonsense, and more about personal vendettas and struggles for power.

Transcribed - Published: 1 October 2025

These diseases - West Nile Virus, Lyme disease, and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever - are named for the places where outbreaks happened. But they're also all things you get from being bitten by mosquitoes or ticks.

Transcribed - Published: 29 September 2025

This 2014 episode covers the collision of the S.S. Arctic with another ship in a fog in 1854. The resulting panic led to the deaths of most of the passengers.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcribed - Published: 27 September 2025

Holly talks about the many survivor accounts of the Medusa shipwreck, which were questioned regarding bias and intent. There's also a follow-up on what happened to Géricault's son.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcribed - Published: 26 September 2025

In the aftermath of the shipwreck, France was scandalized by what had happened as the details emerged. And artist Théodore Géricault became obsessed with it.

Transcribed - Published: 24 September 2025

The first episode of this two-parter covers the French mission to Senegal that the frigate Medusa led in 1816. Soon, the mission fell disastrously apart.

Transcribed - Published: 22 September 2025

This 2013 episode covers the years after the Industrial Revolution and the Civil War when the oyster supply became so scarce that people turned to oyster piracy.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcribed - Published: 20 September 2025

Holly shares a story about Augustin Fresnel's early career. Tracy discusses an article criticizing the Smithsonian and points out its incorrect contents.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcribed - Published: 19 September 2025

Maria Amparo Ruiz de Burton is known as one of the earliest Mexican-American authors published in English, and her life story is tied closely to the Mexican-American war and the establishment of California as a state.

Transcribed - Published: 17 September 2025

Augustin Fresnel didn’t live a long life, but he contributed significantly to the understanding of light and to the safety of coastlines. Neither of those had anything to do with his career.

Transcribed - Published: 15 September 2025

This 2020 episode talks about how Pettenkofer's ideas about cholera's spread weren’t exactly right, but they still had really beneficial impacts on the way we live.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcribed - Published: 13 September 2025

Tracy talks about her background writing copy for sanitation and cleaning products. She and Holly also discuss how the implementation of the Wells' recommendations could have prevented a lot of illness.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcribed - Published: 12 September 2025

Husband-and-wife team William Firth Wells and Mildred Weeks Wells conducted research that had the potential to make a big difference in the safety of indoor air. But it didn’t really have a significant impact on public health.

Transcribed - Published: 10 September 2025

All over the world, for all of human history – and probably going back to our earliest hominid ancestors – people have found ways to try to keep themselves clean. But how did soap come about?

Transcribed - Published: 8 September 2025

This 2021 episode covers John Dalton, famous for his work in atomic theory. But he wrote one of the first thorough descriptions of what he called “anomalous vision” – he realized he wasn’t perceiving color the same way as other people. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcribed - Published: 6 September 2025