Distorted History Podcast
I'm a history teacher and musician and every other week I cover a topic from American history ranging from the important to the cultural to the weird and unusual. Also once a month I produce a bonus episode focusing on the creation on a piece of music be it a modern rock album to classical music or the lore of video game.
William Walker the man who would conquer Nicaragua Part 4 Vanderbilt
After having his transit company stripped of its contracts and property by the upstart filibuster William Walker. Cornelius Vanderbilt one of the richest men in the United States makes it his mission to destroy Walker and everything that he has build in Nicaragua.
Ad free version available through Patreon subscription. Available on Spotify and through podcast aps that use RSS feeds. For more information:
https://www.patreon.com/distortedhistory
Please Rate and Review the podcast
To contact me:
Email: distortedhistorypod@gmail.com
Twitter @DistortedHistor https://twitter.com/DistortedHistor
...
William Walker the man who would conquer Nicaragua Part 3 Winning Nicaragua
William Walker fresh off his failure to conquer and create a new republic out of two Mexican states leaps at the chance to try again. This time by heading down to Nicaragua after being invited by one side of an on going civil war to join their fight by leading a force of filibusters.
Ad free version available through Patreon subscription. Available on Spotify and through podcast aps that use RSS feeds. For more information:
https://www.patreon.com/distortedhistory
Please Rate and Review the podcast
To contact me:
Email...
Sound Stories Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
Feeling the pressure to surpass the somewhat disappointing Vol. 4 Black Sabbath contends with a serious case of writers block and some not so supernatural shenanigans in a spooky English castle.
Ad free version available through Patreon subscription. Available on Spotify and through podcast aps that use RSS feeds. For more information:
https://www.patreon.com/distortedhistory
Please Rate and Review the podcast
To contact me:
Email: distortedhistorypod@gmail.com
Twitter @DistortedHistor https://twitter.com/DistortedHistor
Bluesky @distortedhistory.bsky.social
If you would like to support the podcast...
William Walker The Man who would Conquer Nicaragua Part 2 Mexico
Seemingly determined to make a name for himself and play the hero. William Walker attempts to lead an invasion of the Mexican states of Baja California and Sonora in the name of creating his own republic and saving the people there from the attacks of the Apache.
Ad free version available through Patreon subscription. Available on Spotify and through podcast aps that use RSS feeds. For more information:
https://www.patreon.com/distortedhistory
Please Rate and Review the podcast
To contact me:
Email: distortedhistorypod@gmail.com
Twitter @DistortedHistor https...
William Walker The Man who would Conquer Nicaragua Part 1 Filibusters
William Walker would go down in history as the man who looked to take over the country of Nicaragua only to be defeated by the combined forces of 5 Central American Republics. In this episode we look at the early beginnings of Walker's life to see what inspired such outlandish acts. While also looking at the phenomenon of filibusters: individuals who would lead private military campaigns to take over foreign countries and/or join active rebellions in other nations.
Ad free version available through Patreon subscription. Available on Spotify and through podcast aps that use RSS feeds. For more...
Sound Stories Black Sabbath Vol. 4
I look back at the story behind Black Sabbath's 4th album Vol. 4 and how it helped to lead to the eventual breakup of the band's original line up.
Ad free version available through Patreon subscription. Available on Spotify and through podcast aps that use RSS feeds. For more information:
https://www.patreon.com/distortedhistory
Please Rate and Review the podcast
To contact me:
Email: distortedhistorypod@gmail.com
Twitter @DistortedHistor https://twitter.com/DistortedHistor
Bluesky @distortedhistory.bsky.social
If you would like to support the podcast: ko-fi.com...
Tulsa Race Massacre Part 2 The Burning of Greenwood
As the city of Tulsa devolved into a violent race riot the white mob soon turned their attention to the prosperous African American district of Greenwood aka Black Wall Street.
Ad free version available through Patreon subscription. Available on Spotify and through podcast aps that use RSS feeds. For more information:
https://www.patreon.com/distortedhistory
Please Rate and Review the podcast
To contact me:
Email: distortedhistorypod@gmail.com
Twitter @DistortedHistor https://twitter.com/DistortedHistor
Bluesky @distortedhistory.bsky.social
If you would like to support the podcast...
Tulsa Race Massacre Part 1 Black Wall Street
The Greenwood district in Tulsa Oklahoma was a thriving Black community. In 1921 though this community which had earned the nickname Black Wall Street would be burned down in possibly the worst 'race riot' in American history.
Ad free version available through Patreon subscription. Available on Spotify and through podcast aps that use RSS feeds. For more information:
https://www.patreon.com/distortedhistory
Please Rate and Review the podcast
To contact me:
Email: distortedhistorypod@gmail.com
Twitter @DistortedHistor https://twitter.com/DistortedHistor
Bluesky @distortedhistory.bsky.social
If you...
Blues and the Mississippi Flood of 1927 Part 11 Goin to Chicago (Finale)
What if any impact will the investigations into the Red Cross relief camps have? Meanwhile many African Americans who survived the flood and those relief camps decide they can no longer live in the south after all they have experienced. In doing so they take their culture including their music with them.
Ad free version available through Patreon subscription. Available on Spotify and through podcast aps that use RSS feeds. For more information:
https://www.patreon.com/distortedhistory
Please Rate and Review the podcast
To contact me:
Email: distortedhistorypod@gmail...
The Ill Fated Journey of Conquistador Cabeza de Vaca Part 3 Spiritual Healers (Finale)
The 4 former conquistadors turned castaways turned 'slaves' escape and find a new life as healers as they continue their journey to the Spanish controlled lands of Mexico.
Ad free version available through Patreon subscription. Available on Spotify and through podcast aps that use RSS feeds. For more information:
https://www.patreon.com/distortedhistory
Please Rate and Review the podcast
To contact me:
Email: distortedhistorypod@gmail.com
Twitter @DistortedHistor https://twitter.com/DistortedHistor
Bluesky @distortedhistory.bsky.social
If you would like to support the podcast: ko-fi.com/distortedhistory
The Ill Fated Journey of Conquistador Cabeza de Vaca Part 2 Shipwrecked in Texas
After failing to conquer Florida the would be conquistadors set sail in hastily built rafts hoping to reach the safety of a Spanish outpost in Mexico. Their journey however doesn't go quite as planned and the survivors find themselves in a very unexpected position.
Ad free version available through Patreon subscription. Available on Spotify and through podcast aps that use RSS feeds. For more information:
https://www.patreon.com/distortedhistory
Please Rate and Review the podcast
To contact me:
Email: distortedhistorypod@gmail.com
Twitter @DistortedHistor https://twitter.com/DistortedHistor<...
Blues and The Mississippi Flood of 1927 Part 10 Greenville Exposed
Red Cross relief camps throughout the flooded region in general tended to have issues when it came to seeing to the needs of African American refugees. The situation in Greenville however is particularly bad as Black refugees there are practically returned to a state of enslavement.
Ad free version available through Patreon subscription. Available on Spotify and through podcast aps that use RSS feeds. For more information:
https://www.patreon.com/distortedhistory
Please Rate and Review the podcast
To contact me:
Email: distortedhistorypod@gmail.com
Twitter @DistortedHistor https://twitter...
The Ill Fated Journey of Conquistador Cabeza de Vaca Part 1 Florida
Spanish conquistador Cabeza de Vaca would be among the first Europeans to see and travel through the regions that would one day become the American southwest and northern Mexico. This however was not a purposeful journey but instead the result a series of disastrous mishaps. Starting with an expedition to conquer the lands of the Gulf Coast region starting in Florida.
Ad free version available through Patreon subscription. Available on Spotify and through podcast aps that use RSS feeds. For more information:
https://www.patreon.com/distortedhistory
Please Rate and Review the...
The Tragedy of the Donner Party Episode 5 Rescue and Relief
With the arrival of the survivors of the Forlorn Hope expedition word was finally out about the desperate situation the Donner party was in. Yet even these rescue efforts could not save them from their terrible fate.
Ad free version available through Patreon subscription. Available on Spotify and through podcast aps that use RSS feeds. For more information:
https://www.patreon.com/distortedhistory
Please Rate and Review the podcast
To contact me:
Email: distortedhistorypod@gmail.com
Twitter @DistortedHistor https://twitter.com/DistortedHistor
Bluesky @distortedhistory.bsky.social
If...
The Tragedy of the Donner Party Episode 4 The Forlorn Hope
Now trapped in the mountains without enough food to get through the winter the members of the Donner party attempt to go and get help. This expedition designed to bring back aid however would come to be known as the Forlorn Hope as it becomes one of the main reasons why this story gets passed down through history.
Ad free version available through Patreon subscription. Available on Spotify and through podcast aps that use RSS feeds. For more information:
https://www.patreon.com/distortedhistory
Please Rate and Review the podcast
To...
Blues and the Mississippi Flood of 1927 Part 9 Charley Patton and the Klan comes to Greenville
While much of the mainstream white press has nothing but praise for the relief efforts being led by presidential hopeful Herbert Hoover there is an ugly reality just underneath the surface. Nowhere is that reality uglier than in Greenville Mississippi. Yet before we get into the virtual return of slavery in the city we first look at the history of Greenville and why what happens there is both surprising and inevitable.
Ad free version available through Patreon subscription. Available on Spotify and through podcast aps that use RSS feeds. For more information:
https://www.patreon.com/distortedhistory<...
The Tragedy of the Donner Party Episode 3 Trapped in the Mountains
With Hastings supposed short cut proving to be anything but the Donner Party desperately try to make it across the Sierra Nevadas before winter sets in. Luck however is not on their side and the soon become trapped in the mountains.
Ad free version available through Patreon subscription. Available on Spotify and through podcast aps that use RSS feeds. For more information:
https://www.patreon.com/distortedhistory
Please Rate and Review the podcast
To contact me:
Email: distortedhistorypod@gmail.com
Twitter @DistortedHistor https://twitter.com/DistortedHistor
Bluesky @distortedhistory...
The Tragedy of the Donner Party Episode 2 The Hastings Cutoff
During their journey to California the various families that would make up the Donner Party make a fateful choice to leave behind the well traveled and proven trail to take the so called Hastings Cutoff. Doing so because it promised to shave some 200 miles off their journey but somethings are too good to be true.
Ad free version available through Patreon subscription. Available on Spotify and through podcast aps that use RSS feeds. For more information:
https://www.patreon.com/distortedhistory
Please Rate and Review the podcast
To contact me:
...
Blues and the Mississippi Flood of 1927 Part 8 Barbecue Bob and the Trouble with New Orleans
We deviate from the main thrust of our narrative to talk about the life and music of blues musician Robert Hicks aka BBQ Bob. Then we look at the curious case of New Orleans the richest city in the south. Where the city's bankers and businessmen in an effort to protect their own wealth and power sought to have a levee destroyed thereby flooding another community.
Ad free version available through Patreon subscription. Available on Spotify and through podcast aps that use RSS feeds. For more information:
https://www.patreon.com/distortedhistory
...
The Tragedy of the Donner Party Episode 1 Manifest Destiny
The ultimate fate of the Donner party is a well known one but this week we see the beginnings of their fateful journey and the reasons why they left their homes to start over in California.
Ad free version available through Patreon subscription. Available on Spotify and through podcast aps that use RSS feeds. For more information:
https://www.patreon.com/distortedhistory
Please Rate and Review the podcast
To contact me:
Email: distortedhistorypod@gmail.com
Twitter @DistortedHistor https://twitter.com/DistortedHistor
Bluesky @distortedhistory.bsky.social
If you w...
Christiana Riot Episode 3 Flights and Trials
Following the brave act of resistance by William Parker and the others in Christiana Pennsylvania the national press dubs it a riot. Meanwhile even as those directly involved make a run for it others are arrested and put on trial.
Ad free version available through Patreon subscription. Available on Spotify and through podcast aps that use RSS feeds. For more information:
https://www.patreon.com/distortedhistory
Please Rate and Review the podcast
To contact me:
Email: distortedhistorypod@gmail.com
Twitter @DistortedHistor https://twitter.com/DistortedHistor
Bluesky @distortedhistory.bsky...
Blues and the Mississippi Flood of 1927 Part 7 Bessie Smith
As performer's around the country rally to raise money to aid those affected by the flood the Empress of the Blues Bessie Smith's 'Back Water Blues' become the sound track of this disaster.
Ad free version available through Patreon subscription. Available on Spotify and through podcast aps that use RSS feeds. For more information:
https://www.patreon.com/distortedhistory
Please Rate and Review the podcast
To contact me:
Email: distortedhistorypod@gmail.com
Twitter @DistortedHistor https://twitter.com/DistortedHistor
Bluesky @distortedhistory.bsky.social
If you would like to...
Christiana Riot Episode 2 Fight for Freedom
The Gorsuch posse find more than they bargained for as they arrive in Christiana Pennsylvania. As they learn that not only do people not want to be enslaved but that they're willing to fight for their hard won freedom.
Ad free version available through Patreon subscription. Available on Spotify and through podcast aps that use RSS feeds. For more information:
https://www.patreon.com/distortedhistory
Please Rate and Review the podcast
To contact me:
Email: distortedhistorypod@gmail.com
Twitter @DistortedHistor https://twitter.com/DistortedHistor
Bluesky @distortedhistory.bsky.social<...
Christiana Riot Episode 1 Fugitive Slave Act
With the future of the United States balanced upon a knife's edge due to the question of slavery the Compromise of 1850 hold's the promise of easing those tensions. Yet part of that Compromise the new fugitive slave act only serves to bring the country closer to civil war as southern slaveholders look to recapture the people who had fled to the north seeking freedom. This series then focuses on some of the clashes that resulted from this law like the one that happened in Christiana Pennsylvania between slave holder Edward Gorsuch and the enslaved men who had fled from his...
1916 New Jersey Shark Attacks Part 3
After a pair of shark attacks along the Jersey shore a large shark was swimming up the Matawan Creek. Where despite efforts to raise the alarm a young boy's life could be claimed by the wayward shark. The traedy though was not yet over.
Ad free version available through Patreon subscription. Available on Spotify and through podcast aps that use RSS feeds. For more information:
https://www.patreon.com/distortedhistory
Please Rate and Review the podcast
To contact me:
Email: distortedhistorypod@gmail.com
Twitter @DistortedHistor https://twitter...
Blues and the Mississippi Flood of 1927 Part 6 The Nation Takes Note
In this episode following the levee collapse at Mounds Landing and the flooding of Greenville Mississippi the nation finally takes notice of the ongoing disaster in their midst. Meanwhile I also look at the life of blues musician Big Bill Broonzy and his song about the 1927 flood Southern Flood blues.
Ad free version available through Patreon subscription. Available on Spotify and through podcast aps that use RSS feeds. For more information:
https://www.patreon.com/distortedhistory
Please Rate and Review the podcast
To contact me:
Email: distortedhistorypod@gmail.com<...
1916 New Jersey Shark Attacks Part 2
After the first officially recorded shark attack in American history people continued to flock to the Jersey shore. With many openly dismissing that any danger whatsoever existed. Soon though the region would be thrown into a panic as more fell victim to the 'shark plague.'
Ad free version available through Patreon subscription. Available on Spotify and through podcast aps that use RSS feeds. For more information:
https://www.patreon.com/distortedhistory
Please Rate and Review the podcast
To contact me:
Email: distortedhistorypod@gmail.com
Twitter @DistortedHistor https...
1916 New Jersey Shark Attacks Part 1
As thousands flocked to the Jersey shore in the summer of 1916 none could anticipate the horrors that awaited them. At least in part because no one at the time believed that sharks were dangerous. Indeed never before in American history was their an officially recorded incident of a shark attacking a person. That however would change when over the span of 12 days 5 people would be attacked by a shark or sharks.
Ad free version available through Patreon subscription. Available on Spotify and through podcast aps that use RSS feeds. For more information:
https://www.patreon.com/distortedhistory
Blues and the Mississippi Flood of 1927 Part 5 Mounds Landing
The Mississippi River could no longer be contained as even the vaunted federal levees started to fail.
The nation as a whole though would not fully take notice of this unfolding disaster until the events at the Mounds Landing levee on the morning of the 21st of April 1927. As the destruction unleashed at this sight would prove to be impossible to ignore
Ad free version available through Patreon subscription. Available on Spotify and through podcast aps that use RSS feeds. For more information:
https://www.patreon.com/distortedhistory
Please Rate and R...
The Labor Uprising of 1877 Part 4
As the strike spreads into the mid-west the cities of St. Louis and Chicago see massive demonstrations that look to shut down not just thie railroads but all their industries and businesses.
Ad free version available through Patreon subscription. Available on Spotify and through podcast aps that use RSS feeds. For more information:
https://www.patreon.com/distortedhistory
Please Rate and Review the podcast
To contact me:
Email: distortedhistorypod@gmail.com
Twitter @DistortedHistor https://twitter.com/DistortedHistor
Bluesky @distortedhistory.bsky.social
If you would like to s...
The Labor Uprising of 1877 Part 3
As blood of workers ran through the streets of Baltimore and Pittsburgh. Blood that was shed by soldiers of the government at the behest of the railroad corporations the great strike of 1877 continued to spread to states like New York and Ohio.
Ad free version available through Patreon subscription. Available on Spotify and through podcast aps that use RSS feeds. For more information:
https://www.patreon.com/distortedhistory
Please Rate and Review the podcast
To contact me:
Email: distortedhistorypod@gmail.com
Twitter @DistortedHistor https://twitter.com/DistortedHistor<...
Blues and the Mississippi Flood of 1927 Part 4 Lonnie Johnson
As the federal levees along the Mississippi are barely holding some are forced to labor and put their lives on the line to try and hold the rising waters back. A subject which legendary bluesman Lonnie Johnson covers in one of the 2 songs he penned about this disaster.
Ad free version available through Patreon subscription. Available on Spotify and through podcast aps that use RSS feeds. For more information:
https://www.patreon.com/distortedhistory
Please Rate and Review the podcast
To contact me:
Email: distortedhistorypod@gmail.com
Twitter @D...
The Labor Uprising of 1877 Part 2
Events which started in the small railroad community of Martinsburg West Virginia soon begin to spread as railroad workers all around the country are insnpired by their actions. The response by the railroad corporations and their allies in the government however soon result in violence
Ad free version available through Patreon subscription. Available on Spotify and through podcast aps that use RSS feeds. For more information:
https://www.patreon.com/distortedhistory
Please Rate and Review the podcast
To contact me:
Email: distortedhistorypod@gmail.com
Twitter @DistortedHistor https://twitter...
The Labor Uprising of 1877 Part 1
The year 1877 saw workers across the country rise up in defiance as a massive strike effort swept across the nation.
Ad free version available through Patreon subscription. Available on Spotify and through podcast aps that use RSS feeds. For more information:
https://www.patreon.com/distortedhistory
Please Rate and Review the podcast
To contact me:
Email: distortedhistorypod@gmail.com
Twitter @DistortedHistor https://twitter.com/DistortedHistor
Bluesky @distortedhistory.bsky.social
If you would like to support the podcast: ko-fi.com/distortedhistory
Ad free version available through P...
Blues and the Mississippi Flood of 1927 Part 3 Backwater Rising
Unusual weather starting in the summer of 1926 pours a huge amount of water in the Mississippi valley. This soon leads to flooding displacing people from their homes and the creation of blues songs illustrating these experiences.
Ad free version available through Patreon subscription. Available on Spotify and through podcast aps that use RSS feeds. For more information:
https://www.patreon.com/distortedhistory
Please Rate and Review the podcast
To contact me:
Email: distortedhistorypod@gmail.com
Twitter @DistortedHistor https://twitter.com/DistortedHistor
Bluesky @distortedhistory.bsky.social
If you...
Fossil Wars Part 4 The Feud Goes Public (Finale)
After years of back and forth the feud between paleontologists Edward Drinker Cope and OC Marsh erupts onto the front page of one of the most widely read newspapers in the nation.
Ad free version available through Patreon subscription. Available on Spotify and through podcast aps that use RSS feeds. For more information:
https://www.patreon.com/distortedhistory
Please Rate and Review the podcast
To contact me:
Email: distortedhistorypod@gmail.com
Twitter @DistortedHistor https://twitter.com/DistortedHistor
Bluesky @distortedhistory.bsky.social
If you would like to support...
Fossil Wars Part 3 Dinosaurs
The bitter feud between paleontologists OC Marsh and Edward Drinker Cope enters its most famous phase as they compete over a treasure trove of never before seen massive dinosaur bones.
Ad free version available through Patreon subscription. Available on Spotify and through podcast aps that use RSS feeds. For more information:
https://www.patreon.com/distortedhistory
Please Rate and Review the podcast
To contact me:
Email: distortedhistorypod@gmail.com
Twitter @DistortedHistor https://twitter.com/DistortedHistor
Bluesky @distortedhistory.bsky.social
If you would like to support the...
Sound Stories: Blues and the Mississippi Flood of 1927 Part 2 Levees Only
A rivalry over who should have control over the Mississippi results in more decisions being made that would make the 1927 flood all but inevitable.
Ad free version available through Patreon subscription. Available on Spotify and through podcast aps that use RSS feeds. For more information:
https://www.patreon.com/distortedhistory
Please Rate and Review the podcast
To contact me:
Email: distortedhistorypod@gmail.com
Twitter @DistortedHistor https://twitter.com/DistortedHistor
Bluesky @distortedhistory.bsky.social
If you would like to support the podcast: ko-fi.com/distortedhistory
A...
Fossil Wars Part 2 The feud heats up in the west
As both paleontologists Edward Drinker Cope and OC Marsh head west to discover fossils their once friendly rivalry begins to take a decidedly ugly turn.
Ad free version available through Patreon subscription. Available on Spotify and through podcast aps that use RSS feeds. For more information:
https://www.patreon.com/distortedhistory
Please Rate and Review the podcast
To contact me:
Email: distortedhistorypod@gmail.com
Twitter @DistortedHistor https://twitter.com/DistortedHistor
Bluesky @distortedhistory.bsky.social
If you would like to support the podcast: ko-fi.com/distortedhistory
<...
Fossil Wars Part 1 Friends?
Paleontologists OC Marsh and Edward Drinker Cope started out seemingly as friends. Men who were exploring a whole new area of scientific study However the pair soon would become the bitterest of rivals.
Ad free version available through Patreon subscription. Available on Spotify and through podcast aps that use RSS feeds. For more information:
https://www.patreon.com/distortedhistory
Please Rate and Review the podcast
To contact me:
Email: distortedhistorypod@gmail.com
Twitter @DistortedHistor https://twitter.com/DistortedHistor
Bluesky @distortedhistory.bsky.social
If you would like...