High Tales of History

Welcome to episode 98 and part two of The History of Divination! After leaving the Ancient Romans in part one, we fast forward to the Tudors and the Elizabethan Era. We'll meet Dr. John Dee, who was Queen Elizabeth I's trusted seer and learn about the attitudes around magic and divination before Elizabeth's successor begins his witch hunts. We'll also uncover the secrets of the tarot, and step int...

Welcome to episode 97 (season 5, episode 3) of High Tales of History! We knew you'd be here because we saw it happen in our scrying mirror. We have our friend Saundra in the Smoke Circle with us for a two part episode on divination through history. Saundra is a psychic medium and intuitive tarot card reader and we have a blast all hanging out and taking a long trip back to the many divination prac...

In episode 96, the sisters jump into some women's history beginning with the amazing and long history of Black midwifery in America. In early America, enslaved Black midwives (as well as Indigenous women) were responsible for birthing nearly all children in the United States. Today, Black midwives only make up between 5 to 9% of the profession while Black women are three to four times likely to di...

Welcome to the season five opener! It's episode 95 (we will be reaching 100 during this season!) and we have invited our musician bestie, Matty Baker, on to chat about the very long and very deep history of American protest music! From Yankee Doodle to Kendrick Lamar; from the Revolutionary War through the Black Freedom Struggle, Vietnam and queer identity, bounce through American history and the...

**The following episode is a bonus "pre-season five" Half Baked mini-episode released for all. The rest of our Half Baked episodes are a part of our Patreon Best Buds Club. Come join Laurel in the Smoke Circle in her old man sweater and get a taste of the Half Baked as we talk the badass that is Harriet Tubman. How much do you know about Harriet Tubman? In this half baked mini episode, L...

Welcome to episode 94, our season 4 finale! In it, we take a trip down the yellow brick road and meet the man behind the curtain--L. Frank Baum and talk about the creation of his immortal book, The Wizard of Oz. Over the years since the release of the book, many parables and metaphors have been applied to the story as well as inspirations for its characters. Together the sisters spark up, and dive...

Hi there! We saved you a spot in the smoke circle! Puff, puff, pass y'all!  Otherwise, KT has some "Cab Sav" for you if you're interested. This week's episode covers a wide span of history starting with Laurel's story of more recent times about the Feather Heist of a scientifically and historically priceless collection of rare birds from the British Natural History Museum.  It is WILD so buckle in...

It's episode 93 and it is time for some HIGH seas and some HIGH-sts (heists, we might have been trying a bit too hard there with the word play) First up, Kt takes us to Korea during Japan's invasions of the nation, commonly known as the Imjin War in Korea's Joseon Period (1392 to 1910). There we meet Korea's great admiral, Yi Sun-sin, who won several key battles against the odds, helping to turn t...

It's episode 92 and we're talking about t*ts and shipwrecks! First up, we dive into North America's Great Lakes and learn about the first known shipwreck in 1679--Le Griffon--and bookend it with the last major shipwreck, the SS Edmund Fitzgerald. We also talk about the Great Storm of 1913 and the weather systems that can make the Great Lakes so dangerous! After the break, we saddle up our horses,...

Welcome to the Halloween Episode! In episode 91, we first take a dive into one of history's greatest adventure mysteries--The Dyatlov Pass Incident which has been unsolved for over 65 years! In the middle of winter in 1959, 9 experienced hikers disappeared in the Ural Mountains and died under mysterious circumstances. Theories range from avalanche to yeti attack to murder by the KGB. In 2019, Russ...

Well howdy and welcome to episode 90 of High Tales of History! For the month of October we are taking a trip into spooky and horrible histories and in episode 90, we are taking a trip to Europe to hear all about their werewolf trials which came out of the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries' anxieties about religious and political clashes as well as a gross attempt to find a scapegoat for these changes...

Welcome to Season 4, Episode 2 (ep.89)In this episode, Kt hits us with some important medical history--the discovery, I mean, CO-discovery of insulin--and the hot drama that *CO* discovery created! After the break, Laurel brings the story of young Audrey Hepburn and her teens years as a helper in the Dutch Resistance in her heavily Nazi-occupied town. *~*~*~*~* Mentioned in the Episode: Togo and t...

Welcome to season four! To kick it off, we go to the not so distant past to a remarkable archeological find in Bosnia in 2019--a (probably) 14th century sword in the stone! From there, we travel back further into history to meet the inventor of the one of the most disruptive pieces of technology in at the turn of the 20th century--the diesel engine, created by Rudolf Diesel. While crossing the Eng...

It’s episode 87, our last one for season 3! To end it on a bang, we are doing some adventure and true crime history! We are joined by Laurel’s husband, Kristian, back from Season One Episode 4 to hear about another wild race from history—the 1908 Great Car Race in which six cars went on a race from New York to Paris. We follow it up with George Remus, known as King of the Bootleggers as well as qu...

Welcome to episode 86! We are celebrating our three year anniversary of the show with a topic that kicked it all off for us: a kickass female pirate. In this episode we meet al-Sayyida al-Hurra, a queen of her city-state of Tétouan in present-day Morocco. Due to a lack of formal navy against the might of the Portuguese and Spanish fleets, she created one out of privateers and pirates. Her ragtag c...

It's episode 85! We are rounding out our celebration of Pride month by going back to the 19th century, four years after the end of the American Civil War, to attend the earliest drag balls in Harlem, New York. Over time, these balls turned into the house ballroom culture and the dance competitions that birthed voguing. After the break, KT takes us through time and around the world to look at t...

It's episode 84 and we have history! And horses! And non-binary 18th century preachers! We. Have. Everything. Kt, our resident Horse Girl and Horsetorian, takes us on a tour through history to meet some of its most famous equine figures--from Alexander the Great's Bucephalus to Roy Rogers' Trigger. Next, Laurel travels through history to Revolutionary War era America to meet a non-binary preacher,...

In episode 83, KT wraps up her two part series on fantasy authors and friends with J.R.R. Tolkien, author of The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings series. (In our previous episode, she covered C.S. Lewis) From his service in World War One to his time teaching at Oxford and Cambridge to his amazing world building of Middle Earth, KT takes us through the life of J.R.R. Tolkien--there and back again....

Welcome into the wardrobe for episode 82! At the back you'll find the Smoke Circle where we have snacks, history and...gin. Laurel first takes you to 18th century London when the greater access to spirits made gin a hot commodity and everyone a hot mess...or worse. After the break, KT shares the life and creative mind of Clive Staples Lewis, better known as C.S. Lewis. Lewis authored over 30 b...

Welcome to episode 81! In this episode, Laurel covers the story of the RMS Titanic's sinking and how it remained undiscovered on the ocean floor for the next 73 years until a top secret Cold War mission led to its (almost accidental) discovery in 1985. After we get back on dry land, KT brings us a long awaited topic near and dear to her heart: metal music. From its early foundations and icons...

Welcome to season three! We are thrilled to be back with you and thrilled to be back with one of our favorite guests, Dr. Darren R. Reid, history professor at Coventry University in Coventry, England. We previously had Dr. Reid on in episodes 52 and 53 (linked below if you want to hear!) to talk to us about Indigenous representation in popular movies and they quickly became listener favorites. Thi...

It's our season 2 finale so hop in your wicker basket and get ready for some wild intergalactic travel we have guest Justin McHenry in the Smoke Circle to talk about a fake place that has some very real history--Lemuria! Justin has written the book "Lemuria: A True Story of a Fake Place" which takes the reader from its real origins in 19th century science all the way through its adop...

Welcome to season 2, episode 7! We're celebrating Black history in the Smoke Circle! First up, Laurel takes us back to roaring 20s Paris to meet Josephine Baker, the Jazz Age star, who was not only a singing and dancing star in the early 20th century, but also was a spy for the French Resistance during WWII and spent her later years as an activist for the Civil Rights Movement in America. Next...

We're celebrating all different kinds of love in the Smoke Circle for Valentine's Day! First up, Laurel travels through time recounting iconic stories of love and friendship suggested by listeners--from John Adams and Thomas Jefferson to Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas. Next, Kt travels through the life and family tree of Norman king William I--also known as William the Conqueror. *~*~*...

Welcome to part two of the history of American comics with comic book historian and writer, Kevin Garcia. Kevin joins the Smoke Circle to discuss American comic's great (roughly) 150 year history and how intertwined they are with the history of America itself. Through comic books, readers can see reflections of American policies, commonly held beliefs, attitudes about America's place in th...