Weird Island

Sometimes when I’m researching, I waste a bunch of time researching something only slightly related to the episode topic. Like the time I read an entire book about apples while researching the Tree Root that Ate Roger Williams. Today, instead of a regular episode, for each topic I’ve covered, I’m going to share one fun or interesting fact I learned while researching that didn’t make its way into t...

I've been making this podcast for a year! So instead of bringing you a normal story, I thought I'd tell you my own. 

People began eating turtle soup in the 1700s, and they kept eating it through the early 1900s. Companies like Campbell’s and Heinz made canned turtle soup (and something called mock turtle soup). And it wasn’t just available. It was a real culinary obsession. In the early days, there would be these big, elaborate parties, called Turtle Frolics, where people would get together to enjoy it. Includin...

In 1896, the very first auto race on an oval track took place at the Rhode Island State Fair, just one year after the first city-to-city auto race in the world took place. Cars were so new, no one knew what to call them. Horseless wagons? Motor wagons? Motocycles? Electric Traps? Episode Source Material:  Left Turns In The Ocean State | Hemmings Scientific American Volume 75 The Autocar: A Journal...

How did the Turk’s Head building get its name? Well, it’s actually built on the site of a colonial house and a store that had an unusual sign mounted outside--a wooden carving of an Ottoman Sultan. The store became known as "at the Sign of the Turk's Head."  To visit: 1 Turk’s Head Place, Providence, RI 02903 Episode Source Material: Providence in Colonial Times | Gertrude Selwyn Kimball Old Provi...

In the middle of downtown Pawtucket, there’s an old, no longer functioning drinking fountain that most people assume is just a statue. But it’s one of only a handful of remaining Temperance Fountains, donated to the city by a man who believed that the solution to drunkenness might just be a glass of fresh, cold water.  To Visit: Corner of Roosevelt Ave and Main Street, Pawtucket RI | You can map t...

Episode Description:  While he never lived in Rhode Island, Edgar Allan Poe famously spent time here at the end of his life. He courted a Providence writer, Sarah Helen Whitman, and spent time at her East Side home, Swan Point Cemetery and the Athenaeum.  Episode Source Material:  About… – Edgar Allan Poe: Rhode Island Sarah Helen Whitman, Providence Poet Who Dumped Edgar Allan Poe - New England H...

A mini episode this week, with another animal escape. Frosty the Polar Bear escaped from the now-closed Slater Park Zoo, twice! Episode Source Material: Life After Slater Park Fanny the elephant to be freed Newport Daily News Newspaper Archives, May 25, 1979, p. 13 Newport Daily News Newspaper Archives, May 23, 1979, p. 13 'JATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES INVENTORY-- NOMINATION FORM flNAME fl...

WaterFire is the quintessential Providence experience, centering around a series of nearly 100 bonfires along the three rivers that pass through the middle of downtown Providence. But just 40 years ago, you might not have even known that those rivers existed. If you think WaterFire isn’t weird, well, maybe it isn't. But the fact that, at one point, Providence completely covered its rivers, is.  Ep...

The Polar Express has become a Christmas classic, but did you know it was written right here in RI by author Chris Van Allsburg?  Episode Source Material:  Chris Van Allsburg Christmas at the Van Allsburgs' | Holiday House Tour - New England Today About Chris Van Allsburg AT HOME WITH: Chris Van Allsburg; Bad Things Happen To Good Houses - The New York Times A Conversation with Chris Van Allsburg...

The star of this week’s episode is a 58 foot long, 9 foot tall, 4,000 pound termite named Nibbles Woodaway. But you might know him better as the Big Blue Bug.  Episode Source Material:  Big Blue Bug Get To Know Us | The Big Blue Bug Of RI, MA & CT World's Largest Bug, Providence, Rhode Island Creator of RI's Big Blue Bug dies The Big Blue Bug in Providence is broken. What might happen next Big Blu...

The first presidential phone call took place in Rhode Island, when Alexander Graham Bell called 19th President Rutherford B. Hayes as he attended a clambake at Rocky Point Park.  To Visit: Rocky Point Ave. | Nothing to see but a sign, but you can stand where the first Presidential phone call took place, if that’s a thing you want to do.  Episode Source Material:  Rutherford B. Hayes has first phon...

Could a rumor that a sea lion escaped Roger Williams Zoo and made it all the way to the bay possibly be true?  To Visit: Roger Williams Zoo | 1000 Elmwood Ave, Providence, RI 02907 Episode Source Material:  Roger Williams History Roger Williams Park - Wikipedia Horace Cleveland Rhode Island Providence 1T

We’re heading to Woonsocket this week to check out a mural painted on what was an unassuming concrete wall you wouldn’t think twice about. But this concrete wall actually has an incredibly interesting backstory, one with ties to the Titanic.  To Visit: Cass Ave, Woonsocket, RI - across from Woonsocket High School Episode Source Material:  The Southern New England Railway Southern New England Railw...

In 2006, Rhode Islander Ron Wallace grew the first 1,500 lb. pumpkin--something no one thought was possible. Then in 2012, he became the first person in the world to grow a pumpkin weighing 2,000 lbs. Now his goal is to be the first to grow a 3,000 lb. pumpkin…  Hear about what it takes to grow a giant pumpkin, then try for yourself: Giant Pumpkin Seeds Wallace's Whoppers Episode Source Material: ...

Out in Foster, Rhode Island a ghost is rumored to haunt the place of his death. A factory that once stood along the Ponaganset river. And his presence has been noted so often and for so long in this place that it actually became Rhode Island’s only officially documented Haunted location. To Visit: In the woods off Route 6 and Ramtail Road, Foster, RI WARNING: This episode includes talk of death an...

Come meet me! I’ll be telling stories at the Cumberland Library on Wednesday, October 20th at 6:30PM. Check out this mini episode to learn the unique history of the Cumberland Library and its past life as a Trappist Monastery.  Event Details:  Wednesday, October 20th at 6:30PM Cumberland Public Library, 1464 Diamond Hill Rd, Cumberland, RI 02864 Weird Island: A Night of True Tales about Our Little...

Belcourt Castle, the third biggest mansion in Newport, was built as a bachelor pad for Oliver Belmont and his many horses. Over the years, it developed a reputation for its paranormal activity.  To Visit: 657 Bellevue Ave, Newport, RI 02840 - Tours on Weekends Episode Source Material:  Belcourt of Newport Ghost Hunters Investigate Newport's Belcourt Castle 'Ghosts of Belcourt Castle' - News - The...

Don't just listen, see inside Barnaby Castle yourself at this years HALLOWEEN PARTY! Tickets at: http://www.kaitlyn-alyece-events.com/barnaby-castle   Last week we explored the story of Barnaby Castle and the first person convicted of committing murder via the mail. This week, we’ll dive deeper into that murder mystery and ask, what if the man who was convicted didn’t do it?  Plus, hear from one o...

Barnaby Castle, on Broadway in Providence, is this unusual looking building designed to suit its original owner, this larger-than-life personality and self-made millionaire named Jerothmul Bowers Barnaby. But while the story of J.B. Barnaby is interesting enough on its own, it’s actually his death that launches the most fascinating and odd part of this story - because his death set off a series of...

Pawtucket has it’s very own, tiny little “Walk of Fame” that Roadside America has dubbed “either the saddest or most optimistic Hollywood Walk of Fame.” I've got a Live Episode coming up on Monday, September 20th at 7:30pm! It's on Zoom, and if you wish to attend please email  info@eghps.org and the East Greenwich Historic Preservation Society will send you the Zoom link! Episode Source Material: ...

In 2013, singer Taylor Swift showed up in Rhode Island with $17.7MM in cash and purchased a summer home called High Watch. Then, she wrote a song about it (see: “the last great american dynasty”). This is the real history behind Taylor Swift’s Rhode Island home.  Episode Source Material:  Holiday House (Watch Hill) The Outrageous Life of Rebekah Harkness, Taylor Swift’s High-Society Muse The story...

In the entrance of the Rhode Island state house there is a cannon with a cannonball stuck in its muzzle. And for 100 years, no one checked to see if that cannon was filled with explosive gunpowder.  To Visit: Rhode Island State House | 82 Smith St, Providence, RI 02903 Episode Source Material:  Our Story: The Lives and Legacy of Those Who Served in Battery B First Rhode Island Light Artillery On t...

Some people spend months or years trying to visit the highest point in every state. Rhode Island’s is Jerimoth Hill, and it’s the 5th lowest highest point in the U.S. But if you think that means it’s always been easy to get to, think again.  To Visit: The trailhead is right on Route 101/Hartford Pike, approximately 0.8 miles east of the Connecticut state line. Parking is across the road from the t...

Precious Blood Cemetery in Woonsocket is one of Rhode Island’s most haunted cemeteries, after a natural disaster left spirits searching for their loved ones--and even their own body parts! In addition to its paranormal activity, this cemetery features interesting graves, including that of Marie Rose Ferron, America’s first stigmatic.  Episode Source Material Precious Blood Cemetery – Woonsocket, R...