Historical Blindness

This year, I look at various personifications of the Christmas holiday, from the mock kings of antiquity to the very complicated evolution of the holiday's modern poster boy, Santa Claus. It's a story of ancient gods and goddesses, mischievous elves, and a legendary saint, and how they all got mixed up and baked into one colorful holiday treat!  Much of the Christmas music on this episode, includi...

This is a re-release of a patron exclusive mini-episode that I produced as a companion to my episode on Holocaust denial earlier this year. If you want access to an ad-free feed and extra content like this, visit Patreon.com/HistoricalBlindness and pledge at whatever tier you can. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the conclusion of my Halloween series on werewolves and the 2019 pre-hiatus finale, I go further into the lore, considering the connection between werewolfery and insanity and the influence of Early Modern witch hunts on the conception of the werewolf. Be sure to visit the website at historicalblindness.com for images and links. Hope this one makes you howl... Learn more about your ad choices....

In the first part of my especially spooky Halloween series, I begin a hunt for the true nature of the werewolf, looking at its roots in antiquity and mythology and the evolution of the notion through folklore and etymology. In this first installment, I explore werewolf claims in relation to real wolf attacks, trace the idea of their vulnerability to silver, and suggest that the werewolf may have f...

In the final installment of this in-depth series, I move away from modern Russian revisionists to look at some classical revisionists who were otherwise highly respected as scholars but whose revised timelines and claims of vast conspiracy reflect poorly on their legacies. This episode leads me more into the science denial of revisionists, the mythological and religious basis of much chronology, a...

In Part Two of my chronicles, I discuss another Russian theorist who in the '50s and '60s challenged not only historical chronology but establishment astronomy and physics as well with his claims of ancient interplanetary collision. Be sure to visit the blog at historicalblindness.com for images, academic citations, and links to further reading.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.f...

A look at conspiracism and "alternate history" as a genre in Russian scholarship, and the theories of one Russian mathematician who would rewrite all of history using science. Be sure to visit the website at HistoricalBlindness.com for a full transcript, images, citations, and links to further reading.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As a coda to my series on Nazis and the occult, I felt compelled to address the modern myth that the Holocaust didn't happen or was exaggerated. In this episode, I examine Holocaust deniers and their fallacious arguments. Visit the blog at HistoricalBlindness.com for images, citations, and links to further reading. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the final installment of my series on Nazi Occultism, I finally get to the weird Nazi obsessions with lost civilizations and mythical artifacts. Like a true-life Indiana Jones villain, Himmler dedicated his pseudo-archaeological expeditions to proving misguided theories of anthropogenesis and cosmogenesis and to finding artifacts that may never have existed. Some legends, it seems, are true. Be...

In Part Two of my series, I question how involved in the occult Adolph Hitler was and look to the SS and Heinrich Himmler as the neo-pagan and mystical influence at the heart of Nazism. Be sure to visit historicalblindness.com and find the blog post for this episode to view images, follow links to further reading, and review my citations.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adcho...

Here is the episode whose release I delayed by a week. In it, I explore the dark roots of Nazism, from a neo-paganism preoccupied with the Nordic Pantheon, to a folksy back-to-the-land movement that evolved into a nationalist sentiment, to an ideology of racial supremacy all tied up with contemporary myths and pseudoscience. This will be the first in a series. As always, visit the blog at Historic...

Continuing from my series on the Great Sea Serpent, I examine another supposed aquatic monster, for a study of whether dinosaurs survived in the deep waters of the earth wouldn't be complete without an examination of the Loch Ness Monster legend. This one started out as a Blind Spot coda to the Leviathan series, but Nessie demanded her (his?) own full-length episode. Instead, as a coda to the last...

Here's part two of my series on sea serpents! In this episode, much like the mythological motif of a god wrestling against a serpent that represents chaos at the dawn of creation, we see science struggling against the notion of sea serpents in the 19th century, which would throw their scientific worldview into chaos. Be sure to visit the website at historicalblindness.com to view images and find l...

Without further delay, please enjoy this first installment in a series on the myths and mysterious sightings of sea serpents. In the last episode we discussed the extinction of the the dinosaur, but did all of them die off? Could there be some surviving dinosaurian species that has was the basis of our foundational sea monster and dragon myths, creatures that have been encountered by sailors throu...

In this episode, I examine another massive extraterrestrial impact, this one prehistoric and blamed for ending most life on earth. But what really caused the extinction of the dinosaurs? Do we know, or is it a blind spot in prehistory? Be sure to visit the website at historicalblindness.com to view the blog post with images and further reading.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm...

In this episode, I look at the Tunguska Event. This is a cosmic horror story about an explosion of mysterious origins in a remote wilderness. I tell the tale of the blast, its aftermath, its investigation over several decades, and the mystery that continues to surround it. Visit the blog at historicalblindness.com for images, links to further reading and citations for academic sources.  Learn more...

As a companion piece to my episode on the Awful Disclosures of Maria Monk, I look at another influential but dubious anti-Catholic book. In The Two Babylons, Alexander Hislop crafts a far reaching conspiracy theory founded on a questionable understanding of history to claim that Roman Catholicism has a secret pagan core. But pseudohistory, while academic sounding enough to convince many, is just f...

In this episode, as a response to the growing nativism in our our own time, I look at early 19th century anti-Catholic narratives, specifically escaped nun stories and convent exposes, and hoaxes that in some cases led to riots. Check out the blog at historicalblindness.com for images to go with this story, as well as a list of citations and some links to further reading.  Learn more about your ad...

I'm re-releasing my first Patreon bonus episode here for all my listeners to check out. Each month, I release a Blindside episode that serves as a companion piece for or a continuation of a recent episode. This first Blindside goes into the Red Barn Murder, which I had occasion to briefly mention in my episode on Spring-Heeled Jack back in October. Consider pledging as little as a dollar a month t...

As a coda to my series on the Killing of Dr. King, I look at some events that transpired in far more recent history than I customarily examine. In the 1990s, James Earl Ray's final attorney, one Dr. Pepper, managed to make a media circus of the case with the revelation of a dubious confession by someone other than Ray. Be sure to visit the blog at historicalblindness.com for images and links to fu...

In the third part of this series on the King assassination, I look at James Earl Ray's views on race and indications that he not only was planning King's assassination for some time, but also that he may have had accomplices. Introduction provided by Sebastian Major, host of Our Fake History. Be sure to check out his show if you aren't already listening! And visit the website at historicalblindnes...

Continuing my series on the MLK assassination, I examine Dr. King's relationships with people in power who some say might have arranged for his death, and I evaluate his convicted assassin's claims that he was a patsy set up by a mystery figure named Raoul. Be sure to visit the blog at historicalblindness.com to view images and find links to further reading.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visi...

In this premiere installment of a series on the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., I honor Dr. King ahead of the MLK holiday by telling the story of his life and work beginning my examination of the circumstances surrounding his much-debated death. Some soundbites on this episode are from the fantastic documentary King in the Wilderness. Be sure to visit the blog at historicalblindness....

Happy Holidays! As promised, my Christmas Special is here, in which I examine the origin of Christmas traditions with special guest Brian Earl of the Christmas Past podcast. Check out his show and his website at ChristmasPast.media.  All Christmas music on this episode is from composer Kevin MacLeod at incompetech.com, licensed under Creative Commons. Attributions below:   "Wish Background" Kevin...

As promised, here's more bonus content while on my hiatus. This is my first interview on the show. Mike Dash is a great historian who does fascinating work that I have drawn from in a few episodes. You can find work on Smithsonian.com and at his own blog, as well as in his numerous books. I hope you enjoy Mike's interview as much as I enjoyed speaking with him! Learn more about your ad choices. Vi...