Softcore History

This week we cover the USS William D Porter. A Naval destroyer that, for better or worse, was so good at destroying that it almost killed FDR… twice. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Massachusetts Puritan colonist Hannah Duston was the first woman to ever have a statue erected in her honor in the United States. But was what she did worthy of a monument? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The American Confederacy in Brazil? This week we talk about the southern rebels who took the L in the Civil War and picked up shop to continue their Dixieland Delight in South America. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week Jake tries to dunk on Jesus and fails, Rob thinks Six Flags is the same as Disney, and we all learn about the pagan traditions that live on in modern Easter celebrations. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Human beings might be at the top of the planet's food chain but we've taken some L's to animals over the years, none worse than what happened to the Japanese soldiers who, near the end of World War II, retreated into the swamps of Burma's Ramree Island and found ancient, bloodthirsty predators waiting for them. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This is the story of the FIRST colonization of the Americas, some 13,000ish years ago. Humans arrived here for what turned out to actually be the second time and, like people are wont to do, they killed the other people living here and, more importantly, the giant nightmare monsters that called the Americas home. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The guys talk about the golden age of Hollywood's most unusual deaths, including a sketchy accidental fatality on William Randolph Hearst's yacht, a teenaged starlet's older lover's suspicious death, and a famous actress's suicide that was super obviously NOT a suicide. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week we learn about J.R. Brinkley, a shady doctor with even shadier practices that had an election stolen from him, his radio platform stolen, and probably stole some goat balls himself.https://www.patreon.com/softcorehistory Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Breaking down how the Russian invasion of Ukraine is just the latest in a long history of Russia trying to prove that it's way more powerful and important than it really is, from the nation declaring Moscow the "Third Rome" after the fall of Constantinople to its epic fails in the Crimean War and the Russo-Japanese War. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ching Shih was a prostitute who pulled herself up by the stilettos and became one of the most successful pirates in world history. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week we cover the Pazzi Conspiracy, a plot to assassinate the Medici banking family, and how the Pope kind of OK’d the whole thing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ancient Egypt seems like a long time ago, but this recovered sick leave document from 1250 BC proves that Egyptians were just like us: drunks who hated work and had a rough time when the women in their house were menstruating. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jessie Wiseman joins the boys as we burn on Helen Keller. Head to PolicyGenius.com to get your free life insurance quotes and see how much you could save. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We dive into the history of Africa’s most brutal dictator, Macías Nguema. From banning glasses and murdering statisticians to a holiday-themed massacre, this guy does it all. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Everyone hates the modern media, but when did the modern American media actually form? The invention of cable news? The Yellow Journalism of the late 19th Century? The answer is much older, and it’s all Mexico’s fault. (Sort of. Not really at all, actually.) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week we're talking Lufthansa heist and the dirtbags that inspired the movie "Goodfellas." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

No, he did not. Get Honey for FREE at JoinHoney.com/SOFTCORE.Head to policygenius.com to get your free life insurance quotes and see how much you could save. Get $50 off any purchase of $399 or more by using promo code SOFTCORE at Indochino.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Anti-German sentiment was at an all-time, absolutely bananas high during World War 1. Unfortunately for German immigrant Robert Prager, a local coal mining union used that as an excuse to lynch him just outside St. Louis, Missouri in 1918. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

New year, new you. We talk about the history of the most common resolution that generations of people fail each year: physical fitness. From Vikings lifting ship masts to Ancient Greek wrestlers fireman carrying full grown bulls up hills, exercising has always been a never ending journey to personal disappointment. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We go over the best Christmas traditions that have been lost to history including pets gaining the ability to speak human languages at midnight on Christmas Eve, Icelandic trolls who have a thirst for bones, and a Christmas party king called “The Lord of Misrule” who can command all partygoers to get as drunk as he or she desires. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoice...

From Santa getting his start by paying off prostitutes to Krampus’ weird foot situation and a cat in Iceland that eats kids for being too poor, Christmas traditions have some troubling origins(Carolers most of all).To start comparing quotes and simplify insurance-buying, check out Policygenius: https://policygenius.com/SOFTCORE. Thanks to Policygenius for sponsoring this video! Learn more about yo...

The guys cover how audio recordings have changed throughout time, and how the man keeps trying to keep us from stealing tunes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In honor of the Christmas season we break down the most famous virgin births in history from Jesus in the Quran to ancient Egyptian miracle births and multiple babies — including one in the Bible — who popped out of their moms as fully developed men. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jared Borislow joins Dan Regester and Rob Fox to talk about the true and horrifying story of real Pocahontas compared to her animated Disney counterpart. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The most detestable baseball team in history isn’t the Chicago Black Sox or the Houston Astros. It’s the 1911 Wyoming Penitentiary All-Stars, a baseball team made up of rapists and murderers who were told every time they won a game they would get years off their sentences, or get their death penalties commuted, so long as they made the state officials gambling on them money. Learn more about your...