High Tales of History

We are at episode 50! To celebrate, we have fellow history podcaster Arjun Hundal of Deep Into History joining the smoke circle for some "episode 50 worthy" stories   In this episode, Laurel goes through a centuries-long weaving thread of The Blue diamond, later confirmed to be the Hope Diamond.  We get revolution, mystery, intrigue, a jewel heist and...a curse? Next, KT takes us to South America...

Welcome to episode 49! To round out Native American Heritage Month, we have two more stories on Indigenous history! KT kicks things off with a historical figure that tied into episode 48–Crazy Horse, the Oglala Sioux warrior and leader. Did you know he was born with beautiful curls?! Next up, Laurel fast forwards to 1969 and the 19 month Native occupation of Alcatraz Island as a watershed moment f...

Welcome to episode 48! November is Native American Heritage Month and we wanted to highlight some Indigenous stories! First, Laurel starts with the story of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy and how their society inspired suffragists in Women’s Rights Movements of the 19th and early 20th centuries! Next, KT takes us through the life of Lakota Sioux warrior and chief, Sitting Bull.  *~*~*~*~ ...

Happy Halloween! We couldn’t let our favorite month go by without some friends and we invited Brendan Dowd from History Nerds United to hang out! Our stories include musicians who are rumored to have made a deal with the devil; witches, pirates and spooky shipwrecks; and a bizarre cryptid who hangs out in some equally bizarre woods! *~*~*~*~* Mentioned in the Story: Devil's Trill Sonata Caprice No...

A saint for a Halloween episode?!  I know it might seem backwards, but, let me tell you: this is NOT a saint you want to mess with.  Her story is violent with scenes that would be appropriate for a horror movie.  St. Olga is the patron saint for the city of Kyiv but I personally like to think of her as the patron saint of "f*ck around and find out."  In our tale...people do and...

It's my sister and cohost KT's birthday on the day this comes out (October 14th)! Unfortunately, she's been down HARD with illness this past week and we were unable to get her half of today's episode recorded.  Instead we have an hour long episode on the Satanic Panic of the 1980s and 90s.  It was a wild time in contemporary history (did it ever really end?) and you may even have your ow...

Welcome to the first Halloween episode of the month!  The sisters grab their weed, a glass of Hellfire Punch and settle in for some spooky tales...such as the infamous Hellfire Clubs of 18th century England and Ireland.  Like mystery history? KT takes us through the disturbing unsolved mystery of the Inuit villagers who suddenly disappeared from the frozen landscape of Lake Anjikuni... M...

Today's episode is a celebration of culture for Hispanic and Latinx Heritage Month which runs from September 15th through October 15th.  KT starts with the history of this designated month: why not just one calendar month instead of split months?  Why is Latin or Latinx often included in the title? Is this celebrated in other countries besides the U.S.?  Once we cover the history and importance of...

Welcome to episode 42! Laurel kicks things off with a story about a Black woman named Henrietta Lacks, who passed away from an unbelievably aggressive form of cervical cancer.  Her legacy runs deep and wide as the same cells that took her life help science and medicine in life-saving and astonishing ways to this day.  Unfortunately, as much as we have all been impacted by her legacy, the...

Whew, It's a long episode title! It's nearly as maxed out as the fun we had making it!  It's Laurel's birthday weekend and she wanted to throw a little party in the smoke circle and invite some friends over.  Aaron Odom from Euripides, Eumenides: A Theatre History Podcast comes by to hang out with the sisters and share some stories about entertainment in Ancient Rome, which was usually v...

Come hang out with your friends in the smoke circle!  We have snacks and exciting stories for you!  In this episode, KT kicks things off with her favorite kind of history--mystery history--and recounts the tale of the ill-fated Mary Celeste.  The ship was found abandoned in the Atlantic Ocean in 1872 and no one was able to figure out the mystery for ages.  Is it solved?  H...

Welcome to episode 39! In this episode we take it back...way back...we stop in Ireland during the Viking invasions and KT takes us through the rule of Olaf Guthfrithson who conquered southern Ireland and later, Northumbria in present day Scotland and northern England.  Next, Laurel gives an anthology of dogs throughout history--from their domestication tens of thousands of years ago, hitting...

Welcome to episode 38, the birthday episode!  On July 16th, 2021, we released our first ever episode! In our "podaversary" episode, KT covers the WWII story of Operation Mincemeat, which was a mission to fool Axis power into moving their troops elsewhere with false intelligence.  HOW they try to make it happen is a stranger than fiction, "too bananas to work" story you'll have to hear to...

Welcome to episode 37! In this one, Laurel talks about The Third Wave Social Experiment that was conducted at a Palo Alto, California high school in a 1967 contemporary world history class.  Within a very short span of time, the experiment gets out of control--both for the students and the teacher conducting it and it leaves everyone with a bone-chilling outcome... Next, KT tells the story of...

Have you heard about the Lavender Scare?  It began in the late 1940s and continued for over 30 years, effected thousands of lives and yet it is one of the least known about events in American history.  During McCarthyism and the Red Scare, while Senate subcommittees were going after Communists in a very public way, they were also searching for, finding and purging LGBTQ+ individuals work...

Welcome to Hightailing Through History, where one of the hosts forgets to fully introduce the show and therefore has to introduce it in the show notes.  It's episode 35! In this one, KT has an excellent and fun story about the history of Superman and his evolution over the years.  This month (June) he celebrates his 84th birthday!  After the Man of Steel, Laurel does the history of...

In episode 34, Laurel struggles through the intro and can't remember whose name is whose...so that's a solid start.  KT starts things with the story of how the Kingdom of England came about.  During Viking invasions through the land, Alfred the Great and his descendants worked to unite the various kingdoms against "The Great Heathen Army."  After spending some time in 8th and 9th ce...

Welcome to the inadvertent Adventurers Episode! This week the sisters each chose men with very adventurous spirits for their stories.  First, KT starts off with the tale of fierce pirate Captain William Kidd.  Next, Laurel follows it up with the story of a bagpipe-playing, broadsword-wielding, longbow-shooting soldier in WWII named "Mad Jack" or "Fighting Jack" Churchill. *~*~*...

Welcome to episode 32!  What do the world's first computer programmer and Godzilla have in common? Absolutely nothing but that's how Hightailing Through History works, folks.  First, Laurel takes the smoke circle through the story of Ada Lovelace, considered by many historians to be the first computer programmer and considered by all to be Lord Byron's daughter (Ugh. Byron.)  After,...

Welcome to episode 31! This week, the sisters gather the Smoke Circle and the wine flows and the weed hazes the room!  KT first tells us about the worst serial killers from early history whom you've never heard of...We just have to say we are so glad they lived centuries ago....yikes.  Next, Laurel brings the lift and ends us all--literally--on a high note with the history of the phrase...

Welcome to episode 30! The sisters have an exciting sesh for you all today! First and foremost, thank you to each and every one of you who have put us over the 1,100 listens mark (as of the publishing of this episode) You are all amazing and we thank you for sharing your precious time with us!  As for the episode itself, KT first takes us through the not-so-known history of Jack Daniel's Dist...

Episode 29 Folks! It's here! In it, the sisters sync their mind powers and both do their story on a rebel woman with a legacy in education.  KT starts things off with the story of Belle Baruch, daughter of financier Bernard Baruch, who conserved a vast stretch of the American east coast and lived as an openly gay woman in the early 20th century.  Next, Laurel tells the tale of Fatima Al-...

In episode 28 we have ninjas! Revenge! Cities burning to the ground! Women as leaders!  Women as warriors! All the things!  Laurel tells the Smoke Circle about the Celtic Iceni Queen Boudicca (aka Boudica) whose quest for revenge against the Roman Empire is something out of a Quentin Tarantino film.  KT follows it up with the story of Mochizuki Chiyome, the woman who led a group of...

It's time for episode 27 and to celebrate (for no reason whatsoever) we have a special guest to join us!  We welcome Daniel Burghard, author of the book The Things They've Seen, to hang in the smoke circle and share a story of his own!  Daniel lives in Berlin and his book is a collection of firsthand accounts of those who have experienced life in Germany during both World War II and the...

It's time for episode 26!  In this episode, we both cover different warrior women.  The first, Ida B. Wells-Barnett, was a warrior of the pen and the second, were the (possible?) female Viking warriors known as shield maidens.   This episode is all about the laaaaaadies... *~*~*~*~*~*~ The Socials! Email -- hightailinghistorypod@gmail.com Instagram -- @hightailinghistory Facebook --...