Hey yall! This is part two of the Texas Revolution deep dive and in this one we focus on the sister republic of Texas down in Yucatan. Texas might not be as unique in its independence than we like to think...

Shownotes:

• https://www.theyucatantimes.com/2020/03/the-republic-of-yucatan/
• https://militaryhistorynow.com/2022/04/28/the-yucatan-republic-how-a-mayan-independence-movement-became-a-sideshow-of-the-mexican-american-war/
• Episode art is an 1848 map of Yucatan by Augustus Le Plongeon
• Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/mountaineer/through-the-clouds

Howdy y'all and welcome back to History Spelunkers. In this episode we discuss the Texas Revolution and all of the convoluted history that led up to it. In this episode yes we do remember the Alamo, it just takes us about a while to get to that point.

Shownotes:

• Episode art is The Fall of the Alamo by Robert Onderdonk;Public Domain via Wiki Commons
• https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/texas-revolution
• https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/santa-anna-antonio-lopez-de
• https://libraries.uta.edu/usmexicowar/node/4883
• https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/revolutionary-army
• Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/mountaineer/through-the-clouds

Almost everyone loves animals. Join us as we go through the list of the famous pets of the POTUS. Now including a surprising number of alligators!

Shownotes:

• Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/mountaineer/through-the-clouds
• Episode Photo is of First Lady Grace Coolidge and her racoon Rebecca; in the public domain through the Library of Congress and Wikimedia Commons
• https://www.forbes.com/advisor/pet-insurance/pet-ownership-statistics/#:~:text=Dogs%20are%20the%20most%20popular,and%20baby%20boomers%20(24%25).
• https://www.monticello.org/research-education/thomas-jefferson-encyclopedia/sheep/
• https://www.lancasterhistory.org/all-the-presidents-pets/
• https://www.whitehousehistory.org/presidents-as-horsemen
• https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/alligators-white-house-pets/
• https://ethiopianism411.wordpress.com/2012/11/14/americas-first-presidential-hyena/
• https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/laddie-boy-harding-dog-collar/iQF5o_cxt0aaiA?hl=en
•  https://coolidgefoundation.org/resources/the-coolidge-pets/
• https://americacomesalive.com/the-truman-dogs/
• https://www.nps.gov/thri/learn/kidsyouth/teddybearhistory.htm

Aloha everyone! In this episode we travel to the beautiful paradise in the middle of the Pacific know as the Hawaiian Islands. Hawaii is one of the few states in these United States that can have the privilege of being their own independent nation. So today's question: why are these islands no longer independent?

Shownotes:

• Episode photo is of the US Sailors and Marines from the USS Boston during the 1893 coup which deposed the monarch.
• Good books on the subject:
• How to Hide an Empire by Daniel Immerwahr
• A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn
• Hawaii's Story by Hawaii's Queen by Queen Lili'uokalani
• The Morgan Report: https://books.google.com/books?id=tBkiAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA363#v=onepage&q&f=false
• The Blount Report: https://libweb.hawaii.edu/digicoll/annexation/blount.php
• https://imagesofoldhawaii.com/raising-the-united-states-flag/
• https://bulletin.punahou.edu/ending-the-kapu/
• https://talesofhawaii.net/2020/10/20/kapu-system-of-traditional-hawaiian-religious-practice/
• https://www.britannica.com/topic/flag-of-Hawaii
• chrome-extension://bdfcnmeidppjeaggnmidamkiddifkdib/viewer.html?file=https://files.hawaii.gov/dcca/reb/real_ed/re_ed/ce_prelic/land_in_hawaii.pdf
• https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/captain-cook-killed-in-hawaii
• Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/mountaineer/through-the-clouds

Welcome back to the continuation of our tragic tale of one of the most infamous events to ever occur on the high seas: The wreck of the whaleship Essex. Once we finish learning about the fates of these poor souls we go on to examine a variety of related stories.

CW: death, murder, and cannibalism... a lot of cannibalism

• Cover art is a sketch by Thomas Nickerson of the whaleship Essex compared to the whale which sank it; public domain access via Wikimedia commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Essex_photo_03_b.jpg
• https://www.britannica.com/topic/cannibalism-human-behaviour
• https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2000/05/essex-200005
• https://www.britannica.com/topic/Essex-whaling-ship
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R_v_Dudley_and_Stephens#Cultural_impact
• https://www.google.com/books/edition/Arthur_Gordon_Pym/GvhDAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0
• https://www.google.com/books/edition/Moby_Dick/XV8XAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0
• Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/mountaineer/through-the-clouds
• https://iwc.int/en/

There she blows! In this episode of the podcast we find ourselves out on the high seas learning about the origins of one of the world's most famous pieces of literature: Herman Melville's Moby Dick. Prepare for a truly wild voyage into the obscure...

CW: violence towards animals

Shownotes:

• Opening audio is from the 1956 film edition of Moby Dick staring Gregory Peck and Dir. by John Huston
• Episode art- Nantucket Water Skid by Clifford W. Ashley. (1930) in the public domain accessed via the Wikimedia commons
• Audiobook of Moby Dick that I listened to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zg84olIrn-k&ab_channel=AudiobooksUnleashed
• https://slimemoldsyd.medium.com/the-match-that-killed-all-the-turtles-the-galapagos-versus-massachusetts-b68818a82d4e
• https://nha.org/visit/museums-and-tours/whaling-museum/
• https://www.britannica.com/animal/sperm-whale
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nantucket
• Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/mountaineer/through-the-clouds

Hello History Spelunkers!! Welcome back to a new episode just in time for the most wonderful time of the year. The world can seem like a pretty dark place at times, but there is a magic to this season that brings a bit of joy back into the world. And on some occasions that magic is powerful enough that it truly can bring peace on earth…if only for awhile.

Shownotes

• Donation Links: If you are able to please give.
• UNICEF--https://www.unicefusa.org/
• Doctors Without Borders--https://donate.doctorswithoutborders.org/
• International Rescue Committee--https://www.rescue.org/
• UN Refugee Agency-- https://www.unrefugees.org/
• Save The Children--https://www.savethechildren.org/
• Episode art is a colorized photo of a group of British and German soldiers fraternizing in No Man's Land during the 1914 Christmas truce, courtesy of Cassowary Colorizations, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
• Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/mountaineer/through-the-clouds
• https://www.express.co.uk/news/royal/546523/Duke-of-Cambridge-Prince-William-Visit-Memorial-WWI-Christmas-Day-football-match
• https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/the-real-story-of-the-christmas-truce
• https://www.britannica.com/event/The-Christmas-Truce
• https://www.theworldwar.org/exhibitions/christmas-truce-winter-1914
• https://www.visionofhumanity.org/the-christmas-truce/
• https://gwern.net/doc/economics/1984-axelrod-theevolutionofcooperation-ch4-theliveandletlivesysteminwwi.html
• https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A25206-2004Dec24.html
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Christmas_Letter#/media/File:Open_Christmas_letter_from_the_Suffragettes_of_Manchester_(11350682363).jpg

Saluton! Bonvenon al alia epizodo!

No, this is not gibberish you are seeing, this is the wonderful language of Esperanto. This language was invented to change the world and solve world peace! It may not have succeeded yet, but Esperantists would argue it's only a matter of time. Join us as we explore the world's most successful constructed languages and the perils its speakers experienced throughout its history.

Shownotes:

• Portrait of L. L. Zamenhoff; Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons
• Apologies for all of the botched pronunciations, upon further study I realize i should've read a bit more, before attempting to speak the language.
• Intro is a clip from Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country followed by an excerpt from a performance of Hamlet in Klingon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RF0k4qV1I1Y&t=357s&ab_channel=boydclanvirginia
• https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/why-hitler-and-stalin-hated-esperanto-the-135-year-old-language-of-peace-180980472/
• https://www.discoveringbelgium.com/bizarre-belgium-neutral-moresnet/
• https://sites.law.wustl.edu/WashULaw/harris-lexlata/esperanto-the-neutral-global-language/
• https://www.vice.com/en/article/5dpa3q/how-klingon-became-a-real-language
• Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/mountaineer/through-the-clouds
• If you stay to the end you can hear my attempt at the Hamlet "To Be or Not To Be" speech in Esperanto

Hello everyone and welcome back to another episode of History Spelunkers. In today's episode we are going to delve into the question of why time works the way it does and what is the whole deal about daylight savings time. The short answer is that it is all arbitrary and that the pillars of our society will crumble like sand if we think about them for too long. If you want the more detailed answer, then you will just have to dive down the rabbit hole.....

Shownotes:

• Episode photo is from when the US Senate changed their clocks for the first daylight savings time observed by the country in 1918
• https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/may/09/samoa-plans-to-move-clocks-24-hours
• https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/what-happened-the-last-time-the-us-tried-to-make-daylight-saving-time-permanent-180979742/
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Republican_calendar
• https://www.britannica.com/topic/Gregorian-calendar
• https://www.britannica.com/science/Julian-calendar
• https://restofworld.org/2023/newsletter-latin-america-mexico-end-daylight-savings/
• https://www.rbth.com/travel/329966-times-zones-russia
• https://www.geographyrealm.com/geography-of-the-international-date-line/
• https://greenwichmeantime.com/articles/history/conference/
• Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/mountaineer/through-the-clouds

Happy Halloween from History Spelunkers! In this year's holiday episode instead of focusing on a monster or two from folklore, we are going to talk about horror movies. And this year we are going to keep things close to home and discuss films set in Texas, starting with one of the most famous horror films of all time: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre!

Content warning! for lots of murder, sexual assault, gore, violence, and other horror stuff.

Shownotes:

• Episode art is a photo of actors Gunnar Hansen (Leatherface) and William Vail (Kirk) as they take a break during filming. Taken from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre official website: https://thetexaschainsawmassacre.com/making-the-original-texas-chainsaw-massacre-1974/
• https://www.interviewmagazine.com/film/tobe-hooper
• https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ed-Gein
• https://www.texasmonthly.com/true-crime/the-houston-mass-murders-what-really-happened/
• https://www.texasmonthly.com/the-culture/texarkana-murder-mystery/
• https://vault.fbi.gov/texarkana-phantom-moonlight-murders/texarkana-phantom-moonlight-murders
• Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/mountaineer/through-the-clouds
• Intro clip is from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

Movie List that were Mentioned

• The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) Dir. Tobe Hooper
• The Town That Dreaded Sundown (1976) Dir. Charles B. Pierce
• The Town That Dreaded Sundown (2014) Dir. Alfonso Gomez-Rejon
• Alien (1979) Dir. Ridley Scott
• Audition (1999) Dir. Takashi Miike
• The Houses October Built (2014) Dir. Bobby Roe
• Last Shift (2014) Dir. Anthony DiBlasi
• Talk to Me (2022) Dir. Danny and Michael Philippou
• The Cabin in the Woods (2011) Dir. Drew Goddard
• Saw (2004) Dir. James Wan
• The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003) Dir. Marcus Nispel
• Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation (1994) Dir. Kim Henkel
• Friday the 13th (1980) Dir. Sean S. Cunningham
• A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) Dir. Wes Craven
• Scream (1996) Dir. Wes Craven
• The Conjuring (2013) Dir. James Wan
• The Nun II (2023) Dir. Michael Chaves

I might have missed a couple but there are a lot of options.

Welcome back to part two of this special episode of History Spelunkers. In this one we continue talking about the origins of the sport of fencing, with a special focus on how western culture transitioned to stabbing people with swords for honor to instead doing it for points!

Shownotes:

• Episode art is "Säbelmensur" by Georg Mühlberg c. 1900
• Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/mountaineer/through-the-clouds
• By the Sword: A History of Gladiators, Musketeers, Samurai, Swashbucklers, and Olympic Champions by Richard Cohen
• Julie d'Aubigny: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julie_d%27Aubigny
• Helene Mayer: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helene_Mayer
• Example of a Mensur Scar: Dr. Thomas Krüger, Bonn, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Peter_Pieper_(2002).jpg
• https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/the-long-history-behind-fencers-hitdetecting-electrified-gear#:~:text=It%20wasn't%2C%20in%20fact,been%20practiced%20since%20time%20immemorial.
• https://www.academia.edu/25105787/Fencing_sport_weapon_handles_grips_the_short_chronology_and_history
• http://museumofamericanfencing.com/wp/category/fencing-history/
• https://www.britannica.com/sports/fencing
• https://www.nytimes.com/1988/06/25/sports/in-fencing-a-new-day-for-women.html
• https://olympics.com/en/news/the-sabre-the-only-weapon-to-have-been-at-every-games-since-1896

Welcome back to another episode! The gauntlet is at your feet, will you answer the call? Today we begin our talk on the strange history of dueling in western society during the 16th through 19th centuries. We explain how people came up with the idea and how its popularity grew throughout the centuries.

Shownotes:

• Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/mountaineer/through-the-clouds
• Cover art is An Interrupted Duel by Marcus Stone c.1868; Marcus Stone, CC BY 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
• Intro clip is from Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975), directed by Terry Jones and Terry Gilliam
• Giant Sword Photo: Zweihander

Welcome back one and all to another episode of History Spelunkers. Today our journey into the niche and obscure will take us back to the American Civil War. Mostly when one thinks of this conflict they imagine fighting in the fields of Gettysburg, Vicksburg, or Shiloh. But have you ever thought about the gray and blue duking it out off the shores of Northern France? Learn about that battle and more in today's episode!

Shownotes:

• Photo Engraving of the Sinking of the CSS Alabama by Harper's Weekly Magazine. In the public domain accessed via Wikimedia Commons
• The song clips are from the 1961 recording of Tennessee Ernie Ford performing "Union Dixie"
• https://www.history.navy.mil/our-collections/photography/wars-and-events/the-american-civil-war--1861-1865/the-battle-of-cherbourg.html
• https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/kearsarge-and-alabama
• http://encyclopediaofalabama.org/Article/h-973
• https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/1932/june/it-happened-bahia
• https://www.britannica.com/event/Saint-Albans-Raid
• https://vermonthistory.org/st-albans-raid
• https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/brazil-confederate-flag-civil-war-americana-santa-barbara/2020/07/11/1e8a7c84-bec4-11ea-b4f6-cb39cd8940fb_story.html
• Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/mountaineer/through-the-clouds

Welcome back to another episode of History Spelukers. Heads up, today's episode might be a bit depressing because there is a lot of terrible things that get talked about. In this episode we dive into the most high profile members of the famous family of American Royalty: the Kennedys. We also attempt to lay out the evidence for why some believe that their family is cursed...

!Content warning!- this one is basically entirely about death and medical misfortune

Shownotes:

• Family Photo of the Kennedy family at Hyannis Port in 1931. Public Domain through the Federal Government. Accessed via Wikimedia Commons.
• Opening Music from the musical Camelot (1960): Music by Frederick Loewe and Lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner
• https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/15/us/kennedy-family-curse/index.html
• https://www.historyhit.com/the-kennedy-curse-a-timeline-of-tragedy/
• https://www.historyhit.com/inside-the-myth-what-was-kennedys-camelot/
• https://www.life.com/history/jackie-movie-life-magazine/
• Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/mountaineer/through-the-clouds

Welcome back one and all to Season 2 of History Spelunkers! Starting of our journey into the niche and obscure we are going back in time and across the pond to give you the strange tale of the time someone tried to steal the Crown Jewels of England.

Shownotes:

• https://britishheritage.com/history/man-steals-crown-jewels#:~:text=Known%20as%20one%20of%20the,madness%20and%20ended%20in%20arrest.
• https://www.gla.ac.uk/explore/avenue/ourpast/thedaringcaptureofthestoneofdestiny/
• https://www.britannica.com/topic/Stone-of-Scone
• Picture of the Crown Jewels is in the public domain, access via Wikimedia Commons
• Audio of God Save the King is from King Charles III coronation ceremony (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sqse9O9j3kg&ab_channel=TheRoyalFamilyChannel)
• Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/mountaineer/through-the-clouds

In this, the final episode of Season 1, we mesh two topics: the history of Santa Claus and the history of Coca-Cola promotions. It works, I promise, you just need to trust the process...

Shownotes:

• https://seekingalpha.com/article/131886-why-is-pepsico-buying-its-bottlers
• https://www.coca-colacompany.com/company/history/five-things-you-never-knew-about-santa-claus-and-coca-cola
• https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/what-is-designation/heritage-highlights/did-oliver-cromwell-really-ban-christmas/#:~:text=The%20rejection%20of%20Christmas%20as,1660%2C%20Christmas%20was%20officially%20illegal.
• https://www.coca-colacompany.com/company/history/the-story-of-one-of-the-most-memorable-marketing-blunders-ever
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBCKnhFwE_4&t=28s&ab_channel=mycommercials
• Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/mountaineer/through-the-clouds
• 
  

This is part 2 of our series on Thanksgiving. Today we focus on what happened after the first meal and how the relationship between the colonists and the Indigenous people rapidly deteriorated. But to not be entirely depressing we also end the episode talking about some of the weird traditions that have become associated with the holiday.

Shownotes:

• Photo of Plymouth rock is from the public domain via wikimedia commons
• Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/mountaineer/through-the-clouds
• King Philip's War: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNXDplgft_g&ab_channel=Atun-SheiFilms
• Pequot War: http://pequotwar.org/about/
• https://indiancountrytoday.com/archive/native-history-its-memorial-dayin-1637-the-pequot-massacre-happened

Happy Thanksgiving! Join us as we discuss the history of the holiday and the background of both the Pilgrims and the Indigenous people who played a part with it.

Shownotes:

• Intro clip is from Rick and Morty. An [adult swim] show from the minds of Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon. Specifically Season 5 Episode 6.
• Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/mountaineer/through-the-clouds
• Episode art is John Leon Gerome Ferris' painting The First Thanksgiving 1621.
• Puritainism: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPLP1T1RA_A&t=1281s&ab_channel=RyanReeves

Happy Halloween!! We couldn't get enough cryptid content so I had to share this list of bizarre creatures. Let us know which ones are your favorite as historyspelunkers@gmail.com!

Happy Halloween to all you witches, ghouls, and other spooks that go bump in the night!! We are back at it with a look at the history behind some famous Halloween monsters that haunt our imagination (and perhaps even our reality)…

Shownotes:

• Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/mountaineer/through-the-clouds
• Opening Clip is the Main Theme from John Carpenter's Halloween (1978) (please don't sue us)
• https://texashillcountry.com/houston-batman-flying-monster/
• Shout out to the Old Gods of Appalacia Podcast! https://oldgodsofappalachia.com/
• The book about the demon aliens I was talking about was Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke
• https://www.mothmanmuseum.com/
• 24/7 Livecam of the Mothman Statue in Point Pleasant: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9AEnutatnI&ab_channel=MothmanCam