1001 Heroes, Legends, Histories & Mysteries Podcast

"The Miracle of the Sun and the 3 Secrets of Fatima"- We originally did this story about a year ago, and just came back to it recently knowing that there was more to tell...actually a story within a story, and one that needs telling, in light of the challenges the world and the Catholic Church are facing. The story of The Miracle of The Sun, which is probably the most witnessed religious miracle i...

"the Last Fight In The Coliseum" by Charlotte Yonge -The year is 404 -A.D. Rome is changing under the new direction of Christian emperors. The Roman Coliseum is still home to 86,000 spectators all demanding entertainment, and all very conditioned to spectacles of death and bloodshed. All that is about to come to an end. Charlotte Mary Yonge (1823-1901) was a prolific English writer known for the q...

"The Hunt For the Real Moby Dick" -In 1839 journalist Jeremiah Reynolds, writing for the New York Knickerbocker Magazine, caught up with the whaling ship "Penguin" off the coast of Chili, and interviewed the first mate, getting the eyewitness account of the hunt for and capture of the whale known as 'Mocha Dick", a 90 foot white whale that had been responsible for attacking and sinking the whaling...

"Unsinkable Molly Brown- A Rags To Riches Story of a Titanic Survivor"-Born Margaret Tobin Brown to poor Irish immigrants in Hannibal Missouri in 1867, "Maggie" Brown worked stripping tobacco leaves to support her family until the age of 18, when she moved with her sister to Leadville, Colorado to help establish a blacksmith shop. There she met James Joseph (J.J.) Brown, a miner who was also a son...

"The Legend of Snowshoe Thompson" is one of the most enduring tales of the American West. A Norwegian immigrant, Thompson tried his hand at gold mining during the gold rush in California and Nevada but when he married, he went to work delivering mail through the snowed in passes of the Sierra Mountains of Eastern California and Western Nevada, fashioning "snowshoes" mounted on long pieces of oak,...

"The Silent Witness at Appomattox"- This episode tells the little known story of the McLean family's unwilling participation at both ends of the Civil War, beginning with their Northern Virginia farmhouse being bombarded at the Battle of Bull Run in 1861, prompting them to move. They choose to move to safer climes 120 miles south in the quiet village of Appomattox Courthouse, where one of the last...

Urban Legends III- Our stories: 1. Did the mob bury Jimmy Hoffa in Giants Stadium? 2. Do Toilet Alligators Exist?  3. Guardian Angels  4. The Haunted Mudhouse Mansion in Ohio  5. A Craigslist Golddigger Meets Her Match  6. Was the Eagles "Hotel California" about Satanism?  7. An Irish Ghost Story   Hoffa: Detroit Free Press article, also discovery.com "Mythbusters" Gators:  www.sewergator.com   An...

"Quantrill's Raiders and Bloody Kansas"- In August of 1863, an armed force of 400 men descended upon the anti-slavery town of Lawrence, Kansas and proceeded to systematically destroy it.  Seven years before, Lawrence Kansas was sacked and burned mainly due to its being known as an anti-slavery town. Then, the war in Kansas, an anti-slavery state, and Missouri, a pro-slavery state, had already star...

"The Boys of Point Du Hoc"- D-Day #WWII  The most dramatic and deadly event of D-Day, June 6, 1944, and there were many, occurred as the Army Rangers 2nd Battalion stormed the 100 foot high vertical cliffs of Pointe Du Hoc at Normandy ti silence a well-fortified German gun battery. In 1984, on the 40th anniversary of D-Day, President Ronald Reagan offered a tribute to these men, whom he called "Th...

"Zombies With Dante"- Guest host Dante Stack takes us on a sometimes eerie ride into zombie history through the ages, the rise and popularity of zombies, and the reasons zombies terrify and fascinate us. Sources: Syrian Smashed Skulls: article from newsscientist.com Medieval History Thietmar-podcast: Footnoting History.com Do Zombies Really Exist? Podcast  stuff you should know.com The Serpent and...

"Grace Sherwood: the Witch of Pungo"-The true story of Virginia's Grace Sherwood, who was the last person to be tried and convicted as a witch in the state of Virginia. Her accusers were many, and while her husband lived they both went to court often to try to defend their reputation and name.  She was a midwife and healer, and sometimes the line of demarcation between "healer" and "witch" was har...

"The Man Who Created Agent 007"- The story of Bond creator Ian Fleming, his crucial role in British military intelligence, his first books, and his career. With special insight into the early James Bond movies and Sean Connery.  Sources:  Amis, Kingsley (1966) The James Bond Dossier: London Pan Books Black, Jeremy, (2005) The Politics of James Bond: From Fleming's Novel To The Big Screen, Univ. Ne...

"The Great Train Crash in Crush, Texas"-On Sept. 15th, 1896, the KATY railroad staged a big publicity stunt in North Central Texas that drew an estimated 40,000 onlookers. The draw: a staged crash of two steam powered locomotives. A carnival atmosphere prevailed all day as the railroad delivered crowds eager to witness the event and have some fun in the process. But when the locomotives collided a...

"The Mystery of the Ghost Ship Mary Celeste"-The ubrupt disappearance of the Mary Celeste's Captain, his wife and two year old daughter, and the remaining crew of seven, in December of 1872 in the North Atlantic, has been the subject of countless books, articles, and speculation for nearly 150 years. The Mary Celeste was discovered adrift with no one aboard. Evidence showed that the occupants on b...

"Baron Von Steuben: The Man Who Saved The American Revolution"- In the bleak winter of 1777 the American Continental Army was in miserable condition. The enemy had scored decisiove victories in New York and at Brandywine and was warmly ensconsced in Philadelphia while Washington's beleagured troops, 10,000 of them, lacked food, clothing, and arms in their bleak encampment at Valley Forge. General...

Those Amazing Urban Legends II contains a mixture of urban legends and humurous stories including: 1. The Curse of the Bambino 2. Death By Wedding Rice 3. The Legend of Bunny Man 4. Disney's Urban Legends 5. The Kangaroo Thief 6. The Groom's Revenge 8. The English Assignment 9. The Day It Rained Whale Blubber 10. Puff the Magic Dragon. Show bloopers after wrap up at end.  Learn more about your ad...

"Julia Child's Recipe For Shark Repellant"-One of TV's most beloved chefs was also one of the OSS's most beloved agents in WWII, according to documents recently declassified at the CIA. Listen to her story here, and join us at www. Facebook.com/1001Heroes with your memories of Julia Child. You can find all our episodes at www.1001storiespodcast.com. Interview with Emeril Lagasse from Wine Spectato...

"How PJ Holland Found His Family"-Imagine for a moment that you have been alive for over 80 years and never been part of a family. You have no parents, real or adopted, no brothers or sisters, no cousins...nobody. Then,thanks to the kindness of a friend and some luck, the answers suddenly are there. This is the story of PJ Holland. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoic...

"Dr. Livingstone, I Presume?"-Born John Rowland to a prostitute in England in 1841 who promptly abandoned him, Henry Morton Stanley emigrated to America in 1861, joined the Confederate Army, was wounded at Shiloh, captured, and became a "galvanized" Yankee, before joining the Union Navy. He became a freelance writer and was hired by the New York Herald to take on an extremely dangerous mission-tha...

"John DeLorean's Legacy and Back To the Future"- The story of John DeLorean, the legendary GM auto designer, including his rise and ultimate fall, when DeLorean Motor Company went bankrupt. The DeLorean DMC-12 was the car chosen as the time machine for the movie "Back To The Future". John Delorean's rise and fall, and the story of Back To The Future along with some movie details you can look for n...

"Jack Jouett's Midnight Ride" -"Listen my children, and you shall hear, of the midnight ride of Paul Revere...". So goes the immortal poem of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in describing Paul revere's famous ride to warn American patriots that the British were approaching Boston. But there was another ride, one much less famous but likely much more important, made by a patriot named Jack Jouett in Cha...

"The Girl Who Fell From the Sky"- This is the true story of 17 year old Julianne Koepcke, who survived a 10,000 foot fall when the plane she was traveling in broke apart in a thunderstorm over Peru. The only survivor, she kept her wits and survived 10 days lost and alone in the Amazon rain forest before being found and reunited with her father.  Check out her book at "When I fell From The Sky" at...

"The Story of the Four Chaplains"- Of the 920 men who left NewYork  on the U.S.A.T. Dorchester on january 23rd, 1943, only 230 survived the torpedo attack brought upon them by a German u-boat. Four chaplains accompanied 668 men on their way to frigid, watery graves along with the ship. Had it not been for the incredible heroism of these chaplains, the number of dead would certainly have been much...

"History's Greatest Heavyweight Fight: Hannibal vs Scipio Africanus"- It would make an epic film-with Hannibal's 40,000 soldiers and 90 elephants meeting Scipio's rising Roman legions in the Battle of Zama, home turf for the empire of Carthage in what is present day Tunisia on the North coast of Africa.  Hannibal, at age 45, and known as a brilliant military tactician, faces a much younger and now...

"Custer's Last Stand-the Last Man Standing"The incredible story of 7th cavalry trooper Frank Finkel, who for fear of being branded as a deserter, waited 44 years to tell his story of what happened once the action started and Custer's attack began. In the years after the Battle of the Little Bighorn, 70 so-called "lone survivors" had come forward, only to have their stories discounted as lies. Than...