How Curious

In 1909, two Oklahoma brothers aged just five and nine set off on horseback from near Frederick to Santa Fe—and back—alone. How Curious explores the extraordinary adventures of Bud and Temple Abernathy, and asks what their story reveals about childhood, independence and the American West of a very different era.

In 1975, as Saigon fell and tens of thousands of Vietnamese fled, a family in the small western Oklahoma town of Clinton opened their doors - and their community - to help resettle around 250 refugees. In this episode of How Curious, Rachel Hopkin visits the store still run by one of those original arrivals and hears firsthand accounts of the extraordinary welcome, the culture shocks, and the hard...

What happens when an Oklahoma picnic basket flies across a car floor on Route 66? You get Chicken in the Rough — Oklahoma’s original franchised menu item.

Discover the remarkable Kate Barnard — the fiery “Good Angel of Oklahoma.” Before women could vote, she became the state’s first woman elected to statewide office, fiercely battling child labor, prison cruelty, mistreatment of the mentally ill, and corruption involving Native American lands. Small in stature but unstoppable in spirit, this trailblazing reformer’s passionate fight for the vulnerabl...

In 1945, the U.S. government chose Searcy Field in Stillwater, Oklahoma, for a unique experiment: selling 475 surplus World War II combat aircraft in one giant field sale rather than scrapping them. This episode of How Curious tells the remarkable story of how a Hollywood stunt pilot became the winning bidder — and what he did with the planes afterward!

This year, the Medieval Fair of Norman celebrated its 50th iteration. What began as a small event of the University of Oklahoma's Norman campus has carved a niche into the city's life over the past five decades. Now located at Reaves Park south of the campus, it features a blend of education, entertainment, and commerce, with scores of vendors present for the event. How Curious host Rachel Hopkin...

This month’s How Curious episode covers the dazzling history of Miami, Oklahoma’s Coleman Theatre Beautiful — from its whirlwind 1929 construction to its vaudeville heyday, near‑loss, and remarkable community-led restoration. Join Rachel Hopkin as she explores the people, performances, and passions that kept this beloved Route 66 treasure alive.

WildCare Oklahoma in Noble is one of the nation’s largest wildlife rehabilitation centers. In this month’s How Curious, host Rachel Hopkin visits WildCare to find out how it got started, how it operates and how it manages to do the work it does, rehabbing thousands of injured or orphaned animals every year so that they can get back to their wild lives.

In this episode, How Curious host Rachel Hopkin visits the Moore-Lindsay Historical House Museum in Norman, Oklahoma. The first glimmerings of Norman as a named place began with a government survey team, then grew as it became a stop on the railroad. Then came the 1889 land run which turned Norman into a city virtually overnight. Ten years later, the Moore-Lindsay House was built. Rachel explores...

This month's How Curious dives into the story of what happened when Oklahoma City became the location of a bold experiment concerning sonic booms — a moment when science collided with everyday life. Through historical detail and voices from those who lived it, this episode looks at why the city became a testing ground, the surprising ripple effects on homes and businesses, and the larger questions...

This month’s How Curious episode has a Halloween theme as our intrepid host Rachel Hopkin dares to venture into one of Oklahoma’s reputedly most haunted properties.

In this month's How Curious, host Rachel Hopkin visits the sumptuous Marland Mansion in Ponca City, Oklahoma, and finds out the story behind its creation.

Animal shelters and rescues across Oklahoma are regularly transporting thousands of adoptable animals in need of homes out of state. In this episode, host Rachel Hopkin learns more about why Oklahoma has an overpopulation of cats and dogs and what is being done to alleviate it.

For a brief period from 1929-1930, the small town of Waynoka, Oklahoma, became the center of a pioneering coast-to-coast air transport service for the ultra-wealthy.

If you’re a regular listener, you’ll know that How Curious is typically a documentary strand that explores interesting Oklahoma stories. But we’ve had a number of listeners asking how How Curious is made. So this month, KGOU managing editor, Logan Layden, turns the tables on How Curious host/producer Rachel Hopkin to find out a little about her production process as well as what’s in the works cur...

The Prairie House - which stands a few miles outside of Norman, OK - was the creation of architect Herb Greene and was completed in 1961. It's been variously likened to a bird, a bison, a steeple, a shed, a boat, a haystack, among other things. It's also been hailed as “an excellent example of organic architecture”, an embodiment of the American School of Architecture, and a masterpiece. It's been...

In this month’s How Curious, host Rachel Hopkin looks into how, when, and why the parking meter was invented here in Oklahoma City back in the 1930s. In the course of her investigation she learns about the polymath behind it, inventive reactions to its installation such as tying a horse to the meter post and paying for the metered spot for a game of bridge, and some beautiful women in golden bikin...

Every year, the Asthma and Allergies Foundation of America puts out an Allergy Capital report which ranks the top 100 large US cities if you suffer from pollen-based seasonal allergies. Oklahoma City and Tulsa regularly make the top ten. In this episode, Rachel Hopkin looks into what makes the Sooner State so challenging for the seasonal allergy afflicted.

Nestled in the heart of Bricktown is a remarkable tribute to some of the most innovative and influential figures -- and instruments -- in music history. Join How Curious host and producer Rachel Hopkin in her exploration of the world-class American Banjo Museum.

This month's How Curious explores how the work of two African American property developers and entrepreneurs proved ground-breaking both within Oklahoma City and beyond on both a literal and metaphorical level.

A few months after How Curious host/producer Rachel Hopkin moved to Oklahoma, she was given a barite rose rock by two of her dear neighbors. It came in a box with a short text attached which stated that to hold it was “literally like holding a quarter billion years of history in the palm of your hand.” That gift provided the impetus for this episode, in which Rachel finds out more about this geolo...

It's almost impossible to imagine life without the shopping cart today. However, it was invented less than a hundred years ago. Rachel Hopkin explores how it came about, its pervasive impact, and the role that the Oklahoma inventor/entrepreneur/philanthropist Sylvan Goldman played in its success.

How Curious host/producer Rachel Hopkin the world's largest institution that’s solely dedicated to revealing and exploring the form and function of the skeletal system and which is based right here in OKC.

Seventy years ago, a landmark psychological study that has been described as a real life Lord of the Flies took place in an Oklahoma state park. But although the Robbers Cave Experiment, like the novel, focused on a bunch of schoolboys, it offered a very different perspective on human nature.

Which Oklahoman Got a Hippopotamus for Christmas? Today’s story features a local girl with a belter of a voice, several hippopotamuses, some zoo history, and a hit song.