Historical Blindness

In the conclusion of my series on Pre-Columbian Transoceanic Contact Theories, I look at numerous false claims that inhabitants of the British Isles made the first journeys to the Americas, taking us from myths about King Arthur to myths about the Knights Templar.  Visit factormeals.com/blind50 and use code blind50 to get 50% off! Direct all advertising inquiries to advertising@airwavemedia.com. V...

In the first of a 2-part series, I look at other claims of Pre-Columbian Trans-Oceanic Contact that precede the Norse claim as potentially the first culture to make transoceanic contact with the indigenous peoples of the Americas, examining diffusionist claims of African, Roman, Chinese, Japanese, Indian, and Polynesian contact.  Visit factormeals.com/blind50 and use code blind50 to get 50% off! D...

Admit it: you’re obsessed with royal families – watching them, gossiping about them, wanting to be them. It’s the stuff of fantasy. But for real life royals, the crown jewels can be more like shiny handcuffs. There are expectations and rules – and if you break them, the consequences are big, and very public. And there are royal families and wild royal tales from around the world and throughout his...

In this episode I finally take on the topic of Pre-Columbian Norse contact with North America and the controversial runestone discovered in Minnesota in 1898 that is touted as evidence that Scandinavians reached much further inland than we otherwise have evidence to prove. Direct all advertising inquiries to advertising@airwavemedia.com. Visit www.airwavemedia.com to find other high-quality podcas...

In this rerelease, as with the first, I have completely rewritten and rerecorded the second episode in an effort to demonstrate the eventual quality of the podcast to new listeners who choose to start at the beginning. There is a lot of new material, so I'm also releasing it as a bonus episode. In the new version, I have restructured my exploration of the Dare Stones hoax and included more recent...

In the conclusion to my season premiere, I investigate the genuinely puzzling disappearance of Flight 19, 5 bombers on a training run in 1945 whose vanishing, along with the rescue plane sent to find them, led to the creation of the Bermuda Triangle urban legend.  Direct all advertising inquiries to advertising@airwavemedia.com. Visit www.airwavemedia.com to find other high-quality podcasts! Find...

In this rerelease, I have completely rewritten and rerecorded the first episode in an effort to demonstrate the eventual quality of the podcast to new listeners who choose to start at the beginning. I will be replacing the old episode audio but also releasing it at as a bonus episode so that listeners who are caught up don't miss out on what's essentially an all new look at the topic. In the new v...

In the season premiere--part one of a two-part series--I look at how one genuine mysterious disappearance caused fabulists to search for other disappearances in the past and invent a grand mysterious paranormal phenomenon that doesn't really exist. This is the Legend of the Bermuda Triangle. Direct all advertising inquiries to advertising@airwavemedia.com. Visit www.airwavemedia.com to find other...

In this year's annual Xmas special, I put the Christ back into Christmas by refuting the fringe skeptical view that no such person as Jesus Christ ever existed. This topic forced us to examine what historical sources we can trust, how unreliable and yet how useful the New Testament may be to historians, and how the pagan continuity hypothesis leads to yet more unsupported, extreme conclusions.  Di...

In a special presentation, enjoy this Christmas episode from The Constant, a great podcast that examines history's blunders and misapprehensions, which I believe all Historical Blindness listeners will greatly enjoy! Last December, host Mark Chrisler took on Fox News' claims of a War on Christmas with a thorough look at the wars on Christmases past. Subscribe to The Constant at constantpodcast.com...

In this last full episode of the year before my holiday special, I tackle an alternative view of religion and history with some academic chops that also indulges in a great deal of conspiracy theory: the idea that all religion was actually inspired by the use of hallucinogens.  Direct all advertising inquiries to advertising@airwavemedia.com. Visit www.airwavemedia.com to find other high-quality p...

Hi listeners! As a Thanksgiving treat, I'm releasing a patron exclusive minisode relevant to the holiday that I released two years ago on Patreon. Sign up to support the podcast on Patreon and you can get minisodes like this between each release, making this a weekly podcast. In this piece, I discuss the myths surrounding the landing of the Pilgrims and how they have been used as a handy metaphor...

In this coda to my recent series, a capstone to my coverage of this topic generally and a transition to upcoming comics, I look at the syncretism of religious beliefs and UFO mythology, examining man's tendency toward religious experience as a theory of the origins of UFO claims. Direct all advertising inquiries to advertising@airwavemedia.com. Visit www.airwavemedia.com to find other high-quality...

In the feature-length conclusion to my series on UFO whistleblowers of the past, I look at the discredited Bob Lazar and his long debunked claims, and I show how the same people who promoted his hoax are literally behind David Grusch and his similar claims recently made before Congress. Direct all advertising inquiries to advertising@airwavemedia.com. Visit www.airwavemedia.com to find other high-...

In the EXTRA-long second part of my series looking at the lack of credibility of previous UFO "whistleblowers" in order to evaluate the reliability of recent claims made before Congress, I look at Bill Cooper, who went from UFO hoaxer to OG conspiracy wacko.  Direct all advertising inquiries to advertising@airwavemedia.com. Visit www.airwavemedia.com to find other high-quality podcasts! Find a tra...

We haven't had a congressional hearing on UFOs since 1966. Recently, a whistleblower named David Grusch testified before Congress about a government cover-up of the spacecraft and alien bodies they've retrieved. But people have come forward claiming such things before. What can their stories teach us about how trustworthy Grusch's claims may be?  Direct all advertising inquiries to advertising@air...

In a somewhat unorthodox episode, I share some meandering thoughts on modern technology and concerns about its potential harms, looking at some historical examples that may offer insights into the technological misgivings of today.  Direct all advertising inquiries to advertising@airwavemedia.com. Visit www.airwavemedia.com to find other high-quality podcasts! Find a transcript of this episode wit...

In the final installment of my series exploring the legends behind Indiana Jones films, I look at both the reality and the myth of Nazi gold trains, specifically looking at the tragedy behind the Hungarian gold train and the urban legend of a buried Nazi gold train in Poland.  Direct all advertising inquiries to advertising@airwavemedia.com. Visit www.airwavemedia.com to find other high-quality po...

In this standalone episode, I tell the story of the most successful and famous hoax to ever disgrace the field of paleontology, a fraud widely used by Creationists to discredit evolutionary science, but not before providing a robust defense of evolution science and deconstruction of Creationist arguments. Direct all advertising inquiries to advertising@airwavemedia.com. Visit www.airwavemedia.com...

In this new standalone installment of my now long-running series on the lore explored in Indiana Jones films, I look at the fabled crystal skull forgeries, claimed to be Pre-Columbian Mesoamerican artifacts as well as relics of Atlantis endowed with supernatural power. Direct all advertising inquiries to advertising@airwavemedia.com. Visit www.airwavemedia.com to find other high-quality podcasts!...

In another episode on myths that drove European conquistadors, I trace the Eurasian legend of the Fountain of Youth to the New World and find that it afterward became a historical myth, erroneously claimed to have been an indigenous American legend and falsely said to have been the object of Ponce de León's voyage to Florida.  Direct all advertising inquiries to advertising@airwavemedia.com. Visit...

In this standalone episode, I once again explore a topic central to an Indiana Jones film! In this one, I look at how the rumors of hidden cities of gold animated conquistadors in the 16th century, how such rumors started, and what truth there ever was to them.  Direct all advertising inquiries to advertising@airwavemedia.com. Visit www.airwavemedia.com to find other high-quality podcasts! Find a...

In this episode, after my dive into Grail lore, I explore the rabbit hole that is the Holy Lance of Longinus, another supposed crucifixion relic whose legend takes the researcher on a strange odyssey through disputed scriptures, apocryphal narratives, myths of classical antiquity, hagiographic fictions, and medieval fantasy, all the way to the delusions of modern conspiracy theory. Please help the...

In this new episode, once again exploring the legends and myths present in the Indiana Jones films, I look at the legend of the Holy Grail, exploring apocryphal accounts of the crucifixion, medieval Arthurian romances, and the eventual conspiracy beliefs that they inspired. Joining me on this episode is friend and patron of the show Dr. Sean Munger! You can find Dr. Munger's online class on the Gr...

In this standalone episode, I discuss the black legend of the Order of Assassins, a medieval sect of Islam known for their reliance on infiltration and murder who were misrepresented by other Muslims, misunderstood by Crusaders, and mythologized by Europeans, such that now they have become a staple of fantastical historical fiction and the subject of a massive video game franchise. Thanks HelloFre...