Hometown History

Chicago, Illinois. May Day is a pretty big deal in Europe. And you may have seen the colorful parades and the banners. May Day is all about workers' rights, equality, and social justice. Most of us know that the day exists. But do we really know the truth about May Day? The reason it is celebrated each year. To uncover the truth, we need to step back in time. Our journey begins in the late 19t...

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. A stormy night, a top-secret experiment, and a naval destroyer with the power to become invisible. Some mysteries were perhaps never meant to be solved. The disappearance of D.B. Cooper, the Bermuda Triangle, and the Malaysian Flight 370, to name a few. The longer we go without answers to these questions, the more time the public has to come up with conspiracy theories....

San Francisco, California. Alcatraz. We have always seen it portrayed as this mysterious, impenetrable fortress, like in The Rock with Sean Connery and Nicolas Cage, and even in video games like Call of Duty. But there is a lot more to this isolated island prison than meets the eye, or that you can even imagine for that matter. TIMELINE 1850: in the United States. 1865: it sank right off the coast...

Nassau, Bahamas. Now, when you hear the word pirate, you might imagine one of two things. Either Jack Sparrow, a swashbuckling hero who loves rum, but arguably not more than he loves the open sea. Or something more dangerous, like Somalian pirates who raid crews and cargo ships. The stories we hear and the movies we watch all paint a very specific picture of pirates. But there's much more to p...

Washington, DC. After the Civil War in 1875, America seemed to be moving toward recovery from the trouble of the last few years. Still, hidden in the shadows, there was a plot brewing. A plot involving a secret society, a scandal, and barrels of whiskey. In today's episode, we are exploring an important chapter of U.S. history in the late 18th century, the Whiskey Ring of 1875. This takes us t...

Dayton, Ohio. It's no secret, or at least I hope it isn't, that the government sometimes hides things from the general public. Whether it's a scandal or a dangerous secret that might jeopardize humanity, there's no end to the events we simply don't get told about in real time. And a shining example of this is Project Blue Book. TIMELINE 1870: When she was about seven years old,...

San Jose, California. , and today I have a bizarre one for you. Settle in, and by the time we're done, you will either book your tickets to tour this mansion, or never want to go within 100 feet of it. Lights flicker in the dead of night, casting eerie shadows on a mansion frozen in time. The air hangs heavy with an overworldly stillness, as if the very walls are holding their breath, conceali...

On March 31, 1880, thousands of people gathered in Wabash, Indiana, holding their breath in complete darkness. At exactly 8 PM, four arc lights blazed to life on top of the courthouse, flooding the streets with brilliance equal to 3,000 candles. The crowd erupted in awe, some fell to their knees, others groaned in shock. Wabash had just become the world's first electrically-lighted city, and n...

Baltimore, Maryland. Before we begin, a quick disclaimer. This episode discusses historical events involving people who were enslaved and contains terms that reflect the period's language, including the names of institutions. These terms are not used derogatorily, but are presented for historical accuracy and context. A time when freedom was a distant dream, when heavy chains clinked louder th...

Roanoke Island, North Carolina. In the late 16th century, a group of English settlers landed on Roanoke Island, ready to start a new life in the New World. But soon they all vanished without a trace. Poof, gone. So, where did they go? And in today's episode, we're going to try to solve a mystery. The mystery of the lost colony of Roanoke. Let's rewind. The Roanoke colony was an attempt...

Dayton, Tennessee. We have heard some bizarre topics here on Hometown History, but this case grew into a national debate. The debate began back in the 1920s, and we still don't have an answer that everybody agrees on. In today's episode, we're looking at the Scopes Monkey Trial, which turns out to be a riveting case orchestrated by just three people in Dayton. The name is as intriguing...

Chicago, Illinois. Privilege, arrogance, notoriety. These words describe the essence of today's episode. In today's episode, we are looking at a dark and chilling chapter from America's history, involving incredibly intelligent young men who decided to use their intelligence for evil rather than good. This story takes us back to the year 1924. TIMELINE 1886: Things really turned ugly a...

Jacksonville, Florida. Today I've got something quite unusual, something a majority of the world have no idea about. The movie-making capital of the world, as we know, is Hollywood, located in California, and it's become a reference point for the American film industry. And the people associated with it. TIMELINE 1908: Edison and his principal competitors, including Eastman Kodak, reached...

Washington, DC. Welcome back to Hometown History. It's no surprise to anyone that sometimes government officials are corrupt, but this scandal will still manage to shock you. This story involves national security, oil companies, and, of course, corruption at the highest levels of the U.S. government. This is the Teapot Dome Scandal. The Teapot Dome Scandal was a major event in American history...

On March 3, 1876, Mary Crouch was making soap outside her Bath County, Kentucky home when something impossible happened: chunks of meat began falling from a clear sky. This wasn't rain or hail, witnesses described it as pieces of flesh, roughly two inches square, covering an acre of land and clinging to fences like grotesque decorations. Locals tasted it. Scientists analyzed it. Newspapers fro...

Washington, DC. In the pages of world history, all nations have seen the rise and fall of dynasties, the evolution of ideas, and the breaking of barriers. From Margaret Thatcher in Britain, to Angela Merkel in Germany, Benazir Bhutto in Pakistan, to Jacinda Ardern in New Zealand, women have ascended to the highest seats of leadership. Proving that capability isn't confined to gender. But there...

In 1697, after Abenaki raiders killed her newborn infant before her eyes, Hannah Duston of Haverhill, Massachusetts became a captive, forced to march toward Canada. Days later, she killed ten of her captors, including six children, and escaped with their scalps. Colonial minister Cotton Mather transformed her story into a parable of Puritan righteousness, portraying her as a biblical hero striking...

It's the 19th century. New York City is blossoming. And amidst this growth, there's a buzz around a new institution that's popping up that will change the cultural landscape forever. Today, this institution sits on Fifth Avenue, hosting events like the Met Gala. Nestled on the edge of New York City's Central Park, this institution has become synonymous with art, culture, and histor...

New York City, New York. December 11th, 1969, a date the Met Museum won't soon forget. The night was chillingly cold, with a thick fog rolling through the streets of New York City, obscuring the facade of the famous museum. Inside, the gallery stood silent and majestic, every piece of art exuding the aura of centuries gone by. Unknown to the guards and the visitors who had left for the day, a...

Baltimore, Maryland. In the darkest days of World War II, when entire nations were trapped in the clutches of brutal regimes, and the winds of despair howled through occupied streets, there was a light, a beacon of determination, courage, and hope. Her name was Virginia Hall, known only to a select few, but her exploits were the stuff of legends. Working tirelessly behind enemy lines, she became a...

In the shadow of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, a more sinister American program was brewing. Project Sunshine had an innocuous nameâ€"but between 1955 and 1970, the US government orchestrated a horrifying operation that would remain classified for decades. When rumors began to surface about "baby body snatching," most dismissed them as conspiracy theories. They were wrong. Behind laboratory...

Moscow, Russia. It takes a special something to strike mortal fear into the hearts of Nazi German soldiers. To be deemed a witch by these forces is nothing short of an honor. An honor afforded to female pilots in the Soviet Air Force. They were hated and feared so much that any German pilot who managed to down their plane was automatically awarded the Iron Cross Medal, typically awarded for braver...

Charlotte, North Carolina. In the pages of American history, stories of gold, greed, and glory often cast their glimmering shadow. But before the famous California gold rush, a lesser-known, yet equally compelling chapter unfolded. A chapter ignited by a child's curiosity in a shiny rock found in the heart of North Carolina. So, the year is 1799 in the rolling countryside of North Carolina. Th...

Washington, DC. It's Christmas Eve, 1926. New York City was adorned with a sparkle of snow and a festive glow. Families gathered in their homes, and the streets were bright with carols and holiday cheer. But in the corridors of Bellevue Hospital, a nightmare was unfolding. A man stumbled through the doors. His face flushed, his eyes wide, with an unexplainable terror. He claimed that Santa Cla...

Hershey, Pennsylvania. We all know the classic American story about the evil capitalist like Citizen Kane. He bullies his way to the top, crushes his rivals, and loses all human decency along the way. This story is the opposite of that story. This is the story of the good capitalist Milton S. Hershey of Hershey Candy Bar fame, who looked out for his employees and founded two thriving company towns...