Stonedhenge: History and High Thoughts

Happy Halloween from Stonedhenge! Today, we are tracing the real, horrifying history behind the world's most famous monster: Dracula. We are taking a trip to 15th-century Eastern Europe to learn about Vlad III of Wallachia, better known as Vlad the Impaler. In this special Halloween episode, we explore how a medieval ruler became so terrifying that we are still making horror movies about him 5...

Pandas break every rule in evolutionary biology, leading fringe science theorists to believe they are actually artificial cryptids genetically engineered by a lost precursor civilization. In this episode, Tom introduces Travis to the wildest conspiracy theory about everyone's favorite clumsy bear. We cover: The Bamboo Apocalypse: Why an ancient empire would need to engineer a heavily armored,...

During World War II, the United States military needed a communication system that the Japanese couldn't intercept. Their solution? An unbreakable code built entirely on a Native language the U.S. government had spent generations trying to erase. In this episode, we break down the incredible story of the Navajo Code Talkers in the Pacific Theater. We cover: The Ultimate Irony: How boarding sch...

The Taiping Rebellion was the deadliest civil war in human history, and it all started because one guy got extreme exam anxiety. In this episode, we take the recording setup outside, and track the chaotic rise and fall of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in 19th century China. We cover: The Ultimate Breakdown: How Hong Xiuquan failed his civil service exams, had a fever dream, and decided he was the y...

Mansa Musa, the ruler of the Mali Empire, is widely considered the richest man in history. He had so much wealth that during his pilgrimage to Mecca, he accidentally crashed the entire economy of Cairo just by handing out too much gold. In this episode, we track the massive, gold-paved reign of Mansa Musa. We cover: The Salt Trade: How the Mali Empire built its wealth on trading gold and salt, bec...

We made it to our one-year anniversary! To celebrate 26 episodes of Stonedhenge, we decided to bust out the dab rig and get ridiculously high while talking about the 26th President of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt. Teddy Roosevelt's life reads like a season of television written by an overexcited golden retriever with a history degree. Travis walks us through TR's unhinged biography. We co...

Everything you learned from that Tom Cruise movie The Last Samurai isn't entirely accurate. In this episode, we are tracking the real history of the Satsuma Rebellion of 1877 and the incredibly chaotic fall of Japan's warrior class. We cover: The Panic Move: How Commodore Matthew Perry arriving with gunboats forced Japan to modernize at insane speeds. Emotional Arson: How the new Meiji government...

In this episode, we track the final, paranoid years of Alexander the Third of Macedon. We cover: The Drunken Boss: How Alexander adopted Persian court styles and ended up killing the man who previously saved his life, Cletus the Black, with a spear during a drunken argument. War Elephants: Alexander's push into the Indian subcontinent, where he fought King Porus and had to figure out how to de...

Alexander the Great built the massive Macedonian Empire by age 30 and died by 32. But as we find out today, being a "Great" figure in ancient history mostly just meant having an incredibly impressive blast radius. In this episode, we track the chaotic and violent military campaigns of Alexander the Third of Macedon. We cover: Macedonian Military Logistics: How his dad, Philip II, built a...

If you know King Richard the Lionheart, you probably know him as the "good" king from the Robin Hood movies who was off fighting the Crusades while his evil brother John took over. But the real history of Richard is way more complicated and absolutely wild. In this episode, we are digging into the real King Richard the Lionheart—a man who reigned as King of England for 10 years, but spent only abo...

When we last left Hernán Cortés, he had taken an emperor hostage and everything had blown up in his face. In this episode, we are tracking the brutal and chaotic end of the Aztec Empire. We cover: The Sad Night : How the Spanish made a daring escape out of the city in the middle of the night , and how men literally drowned to death because they refused to drop the gold they had stolen. The Microsc...

When Hernán Cortés sailed for the New World, he wasn’t just exploring...he was actively ignoring his boss and bringing "emotionally unstable men with swords" to a continent that had never seen them. In this episode, we are tracking the absolutely chaotic, blood-soaked story of Spanish colonialism and the conquest of the Aztec Empire. We cover: Sinking the Ships: Why the famous "burn the ships" mot...

Long before anyone was making movies about staring at goats, the US government panicked over a rumor and spent 20 years and millions of dollars trying to win a "psychic arms race" against the Soviet Union. In this episode, we are tracking the absolutely unhinged history of Project Stargate and the CIA's remote viewing program. We cover: The Psychic Submarine: How a remote viewer accu...

Long before the US was a global superpower, they were just a 30-year-old country that decided to pick a fight with the strongest navy in the world. Why? Because the British were essentially pulling a massive kidnapping spree and stealing American sailors right off their boats. In this episode, we are tracking the absolute chaos of the War of 1812. We cover: Revolutionary War 2: Why the US thought...

Long before competitive eating was a televised sport, getting kicked out of your parents' house for eating a quarter of a cow in a single day was just the start of the wildest medical mystery in French history. In this episode, we are tracking the absolutely revolting life of Tarrare, the 18th-century human garbage disposal. We cover: The Traveling Sideshow: Why eating live puppies, swallowing...

What if J. Robert Oppenheimer didn't actually invent the atomic bomb, but just rediscovered it? Today, we are flipping the script. Travis is taking a break from the research, and Tom is putting on his tinfoil hat to dive into the ultimate ancient conspiracy: The destruction of Mohenjo-Daro. We look at the impossible evidence suggesting a Bronze Age utopia was wiped off the map by a nuclear blast 4...

Long before anyone knew what a germ was, or had any basic common sense, getting sick basically meant a demon was pissed at you, or the moon was just in a bad spot. In this episode, we are tracking the absolute chaos of historical medicine from ancient Mesopotamia all the way to the Renaissance. We cover: The Humoral Theory: Why ancient doctors (and the guys who bled George Washington) thought drai...

In the Bible, humanity tried to build a tower to heaven, and God responded by smashing it and scrambling everyone's languages. Fast forward to the Middle Ages, and European Crusaders found the ruins and thought, "We should probably try that again." In this episode, we look at humanity's repeated urge to touch the sky and immediately regret it. We cover: The Literal Crime Scene: H...

What happens when thousands of heavily armed sailors suddenly get laid off? They steal an island and start their own businesses. In the early 1700s, unemployed privateers took over the Bahamian port of Nassau, declaring it the lawless "Republic of Pirates". In this episode, we hoist the black flag and dive into the Golden Age of Piracy. We cover: The Pirate Constitution: How pirate ships were actu...

Before coffee, humanity ran on "low battery mode"—mostly beer, wine, and going to bed at sunset. Then, an Ethiopian goat herder noticed his goats were dancing after eating some weird red berries, and suddenly, the world woke up. In this episode, we pour a fresh cup and trace the history of the world’s favorite legal drug. We cover: The Goat Origin Story: Did a goat named Kaldi actually d...

What happens when you put 2.5 million people in a city with no plumbing during a heatwave? You get the "Great Stink," a disaster so bad it literally stopped the gears of the British Empire. In this episode, we explore the summer of stench. We cover: Miasma Theory: The belief that "bad air" was the killer, leading doctors to prescribe "good smells" while ignoring the poop in the water. The "Committ...

In 1859, a failed businessman named Joshua Norton did the only logical thing left to do: he declared himself Emperor of the United States. Surprisingly, the city of San Francisco just... went along with it. In this episode, we dive into the life of America’s first and only monarch. We cover: How he tried to dissolve Congress (and why they ignored him). His vision for the Bay Bridge 60 years before...

In July 1518, a woman named Frau Troffea stepped into a street in Strasbourg and began to dance. She didn't stop for a week. Within a month, 400 people had joined her in a deadly, non-stop mania that baffled doctors and killed dozens. In this episode, we break down the strangest mass hysteria event in history, including: The "Cure" that Killed: Why city officials decided to try to cu...

In January 897 AD, Pope Stephen VI ordered his predecessor, Pope Formosus, to stand trial for perjury and illegal ambition. The only problem? Formosus had been dead for seven months. In this episode, we unpack the "Synodus Horrenda," the most gruesome ecclesiastical trial in history. We cover: The Setup: Why the church dug up a rotting corpse, dressed him in full papal vestments, and pro...

In late 1932, the Australian government declared war on a new enemy: 20,000 emus destroying wheat crops in Western Australia. They sent the Royal Australian Artillery armed with Lewis machine guns and 10,000 rounds of ammunition. The birds won. In this episode, we break down the most embarrassing military operation in history, including: The Commander: Major Meredith, who famously claimed the emus...