Distorted History Podcast

While much of the mainstream white press has nothing but praise for the relief efforts being led by presidential hopeful Herbert Hoover there is an ugly reality just underneath the surface. Nowhere is that reality uglier than in Greenville Mississippi. Yet before we get into the virtual return of slavery in the city we first look at the history of Greenville and why what happens there is both surp...

With Hastings supposed short cut proving to be anything but the Donner Party desperately try to make it across the Sierra Nevadas before winter sets in. Luck however is not on their side and the soon become trapped in the mountains. Ad free version available through Patreon subscription. Available on Spotify and through podcast aps that use RSS feeds. For more information: https://www.patreon.com/...

During their journey to California the various families that would make up the Donner Party make a fateful choice to leave behind the well traveled and proven trail to take the so called Hastings Cutoff. Doing so because it promised to shave some 200 miles off their journey but somethings are too good to be true. Ad free version available through Patreon subscription. Available on Spotify and thro...

We deviate from the main thrust of our narrative to talk about the life and music of blues musician Robert Hicks aka BBQ Bob. Then we look at the curious case of New Orleans the richest city in the south. Where the city's bankers and businessmen in an effort to protect their own wealth and power sought to have a levee destroyed thereby flooding another community. Ad free version available through...

The ultimate fate of the Donner party is a well known one but this week we see the beginnings of their fateful journey and the reasons why they left their homes to start over in California.  Ad free version available through Patreon subscription. Available on Spotify and through podcast aps that use RSS feeds. For more information: https://www.patreon.com/distortedhistory Please Rate and Review th...

Following the brave act of resistance by William Parker and the others in Christiana Pennsylvania the national press dubs it a riot. Meanwhile even as those directly involved make a run for it others are arrested and put on trial. Ad free version available through Patreon subscription. Available on Spotify and through podcast aps that use RSS feeds. For more information: https://www.patreon.com/di...

As performer's around the country rally to raise money to aid those affected by the flood the Empress of the Blues Bessie Smith's 'Back Water Blues' become the sound track of this disaster. Ad free version available through Patreon subscription. Available on Spotify and through podcast aps that use RSS feeds. For more information: https://www.patreon.com/distortedhistory Please Rate and Review the...

The Gorsuch posse find more than they bargained for as they arrive in Christiana Pennsylvania. As they learn that not only do people not want to be enslaved but that they're willing to fight for their hard won freedom. Ad free version available through Patreon subscription. Available on Spotify and through podcast aps that use RSS feeds. For more information: https://www.patreon.com/distortedhisto...

With the future of the United States balanced upon a knife's edge due to the question of slavery the Compromise of 1850 hold's the promise of easing those tensions. Yet part of that Compromise the new fugitive slave act only serves to bring the country closer to civil war as southern slaveholders look to recapture the people who had fled to the north seeking freedom. This series then focuses on so...

After a pair of shark attacks along the Jersey shore a large shark was swimming up the Matawan Creek. Where despite efforts to raise the alarm a young boy's life could be claimed by the wayward shark. The traedy though was not yet over. Ad free version available through Patreon subscription. Available on Spotify and through podcast aps that use RSS feeds. For more information: https://www.patreon....

In this episode following the levee collapse at Mounds Landing and the flooding of Greenville Mississippi the nation finally takes notice of the ongoing disaster in their midst. Meanwhile I also look at the life of blues musician Big Bill Broonzy and his song about the 1927 flood Southern Flood blues. Ad free version available through Patreon subscription. Available on Spotify and through podcast...

After the first officially recorded shark attack in American history people continued to flock to the Jersey shore. With many openly dismissing that any danger whatsoever existed. Soon though the region would be thrown into a panic as more fell victim to the 'shark plague.' Ad free version available through Patreon subscription. Available on Spotify and through podcast aps that use RSS feeds. For...

As thousands flocked to the Jersey shore in the summer of 1916 none could anticipate the horrors that awaited them. At least in part because no one at the time believed that sharks were dangerous. Indeed never before in American history was their an officially recorded incident of a shark attacking a person. That however would change when over the span of 12 days 5 people would be attacked by a sh...

The Mississippi River could no longer be contained as even the vaunted federal levees started to fail.  The nation as a whole though would not fully take notice of this unfolding disaster until the events at the Mounds Landing levee on the morning of the 21st of April 1927. As the destruction unleashed at this sight would prove to be impossible to ignore Ad free version available through Patreon s...

As the strike spreads into the mid-west the cities of St. Louis and Chicago see massive demonstrations that look to shut down not just thie railroads but all their industries and businesses.  Ad free version available through Patreon subscription. Available on Spotify and through podcast aps that use RSS feeds. For more information: https://www.patreon.com/distortedhistory Please Rate and Review t...

As blood of workers ran through the streets of Baltimore and Pittsburgh. Blood that was shed by soldiers of the government at the behest of the railroad corporations the great strike of 1877 continued to spread to states like New York and Ohio. Ad free version available through Patreon subscription. Available on Spotify and through podcast aps that use RSS feeds. For more information: https://www....

As the federal levees along the Mississippi are barely holding some are forced to labor and put their lives on the line to try and hold the rising waters back. A subject which legendary bluesman Lonnie Johnson covers in one of the 2 songs he penned about this disaster.  Ad free version available through Patreon subscription. Available on Spotify and through podcast aps that use RSS feeds. For more...

Events which started in the small railroad community of Martinsburg West Virginia soon begin to spread as railroad workers all around the country are insnpired by their actions. The response by the railroad corporations and their allies in the government however soon result in violence Ad free version available through Patreon subscription. Available on Spotify and through podcast aps that use RSS...

The year 1877 saw workers across the country rise up in defiance as a massive strike effort swept across the nation.  Ad free version available through Patreon subscription. Available on Spotify and through podcast aps that use RSS feeds. For more information: https://www.patreon.com/distortedhistory Please Rate and Review the podcast To contact me: Email: distortedhistorypod@gmail.com Twitter @Di...

Unusual weather starting in the summer of 1926 pours a huge amount of water in the Mississippi valley. This soon leads to flooding displacing people from their homes and the creation of blues songs illustrating these experiences. Ad free version available through Patreon subscription. Available on Spotify and through podcast aps that use RSS feeds. For more information: https://www.patreon.com/dis...

After years of back and forth the feud between paleontologists Edward Drinker Cope and OC Marsh erupts onto the front page of one of the most widely read newspapers in the nation. Ad free version available through Patreon subscription. Available on Spotify and through podcast aps that use RSS feeds. For more information: https://www.patreon.com/distortedhistory Please Rate and Review the podcast T...

The bitter feud between paleontologists OC Marsh and Edward Drinker Cope enters its most famous phase as they compete over a treasure trove of never before seen massive dinosaur bones. Ad free version available through Patreon subscription. Available on Spotify and through podcast aps that use RSS feeds. For more information: https://www.patreon.com/distortedhistory Please Rate and Review the podc...

A rivalry over who should have control over the Mississippi results in more decisions being made that would make the 1927 flood all but inevitable.  Ad free version available through Patreon subscription. Available on Spotify and through podcast aps that use RSS feeds. For more information: https://www.patreon.com/distortedhistory Please Rate and Review the podcast To contact me: Email: distortedh...

As both paleontologists Edward Drinker Cope and OC Marsh head west to discover fossils their once friendly rivalry begins to take a decidedly ugly turn. Ad free version available through Patreon subscription. Available on Spotify and through podcast aps that use RSS feeds. For more information: https://www.patreon.com/distortedhistory Please Rate and Review the podcast To contact me: Email: distor...

Paleontologists OC Marsh and Edward Drinker Cope started out seemingly as friends. Men who were exploring a whole new area of scientific study However the pair soon would become the bitterest of rivals. Ad free version available through Patreon subscription. Available on Spotify and through podcast aps that use RSS feeds. For more information: https://www.patreon.com/distortedhistory Please Rate a...