The Backstory with Patty Steele

Hard to imagine that a little country hotel could have been the launching pad for the 30 ton device called ENIAC, that completely changed our world . . . the computer. This is the remarkable story of how a small haunted colonial inn became the unlikely birthplace of modern computing.

Feel free to DM me if you have a story you’d like me to cover . . . on Facebook it’s Patty Steele and on Instagram Real Patty Steele.

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Watching TV shows or movies, you'd think big jewelry heists depend on all sorts of high-tech gadgets. But it turns out, some of the biggest thefts in history actually relied on one thing: simplicity. But a simple mistake, like a half-eaten sandwich, can foil the perfect plan.

Feel free to DM me if you have a story you'd like me to cover . . on Facebook it's Patty Steele and on Instagram Real Patty Steele.

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Stevie Nicks has been in the spotlight this week after performing at the Madison Square Garden wedding of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelcie. But . . that wasn’t just an entertainment decision on the bride and groom’s part. This is the behind the scenes story.
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The time honored saying goes . . never discuss politics or religion in polite company. That seems truer today than ever. But is it? You think politics breaks up family ties now more than ever? It’s hard to believe that, like us, politics could fracture a Founding Father’s family. Ben Franklin was incredibly close to his son . . until William, then NJ’s royal governor, declared his allegiance to the King and went to prison for it. He and Ben never spoke again.

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It’s the nation’s 250th birthday! It’s a time to celebrate . . . like the Founding Fathers, who certainly knew how to tip a few back. This is a look at their drinking habits. And it’s next on The Backstory.
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As we head out for our summer vacations, some of us are lucky enough to be headed to the ocean. Blue skies, sunshine, blue water to the horizon. But there's always that nagging fear, as Jaws taught us, that underneath those frothing white waves, sharks may be lurking. This is the story of the deadliest shark attack in history.

Feel free to DM me if you have a story you'd like me to cover . . On Facebook it's Patty Steele and on Instagram Real Patty Steele.

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Watching the NBA Finals, a Lot of Us Became Mesmerized by the Size of These Athletes. A Lot of Those Guys Are 7 Feet or More. But Imagine Somebody Who Was a Full 2 Feet Taller Than Those Players. This Is Robert Wadlow’s Life.

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We all love The Wizard of Oz, right? So why was it a box office flop when it came out? And why was production so horrible for the cast and crew? It’s a story of what people put up with (and still put up with) to make it in Hollywood.

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This time of year, we're reminded that freedom is what America is all about. But as recently as 1972, there was still a living person who had been born into slavery. And another man lived to share his story of the very first Juneteenth . . . when freedom was finally brought to every state in the Union.

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We know over the course of decades, centuries, and millennia landscapes change... sometimes dramatically. But how can entire towns literally disappear overnight?

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Do you realize it was only a little over 140 years ago that the world began to adopt standardized time zones? You could take a 10am train to another town and arrive at 9:50am . . because most towns had their own clocks. For thousands of years we basically looked at the sun to tell time but transportation and communications changed everything. This is how they did it.

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Ever wonder what movies were like before the ratings codes kicked in back in the 1930s? Some were so wild, so bloody, and so sexy, Hollywood quickly realized they had to police themselves or the feds would move in!

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Marilyn Monroe was the ultimate bombshell. This week she would have turned 100 years old, but she’s still the iconic sex symbol of mid 20th century Hollywood. Despite her carefully crafted dumb blonde persona, she was also wildly intelligent. She had a library filled with books by authors like James Joyce and Dostoevsky. So . . how did she use that intelligence and what was her Achilles heel?

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The royals can seem like a bunch of people with too much money but with good intentions for their nation and their people. The scandals involving Charles and Diana . . and Harry and Megan are great tabloid fodder. But the 1936 abdication of King Edward VIII had a much darker backstory. It turns out he had a deeply close relationship with Adolf Hitler and the Nazis during World War II, and the royals had to do everything in their power to bury it.

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How are we gonna survive the craziness of our world . . the politics, out of control social media, and especially A.I.? Well . . it’s nothing new. Every period of rapid technological evolution in history has made folks fear that the end is near. This is a peek at the craziness of the 1920s.

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Ever wish you could simply disappear? Maybe you’re sick of a job, a relationship, or responsibilities you can’t see your way past. More than a few folks have done it, though admittedly it takes money and the ability to disconnect from everything in your life, not just the difficulties. It’s all about former masters of the universe creating a new domain.

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Sometimes failure is actually the mother of success. Take Walt Disney, who at the age of 21 had one animation company go bankrupt. By 27, his taste of success with a cartoon rabbit named Oswald was stolen by a partner who made a deal with an unscrupulous movie studio. So, it turns out Mickey Mouse was born out of desperation and the determination to never give up.

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As humans, our most serious drive is survival. So when we start worrying about apocalyptical events from what we do to ourselves or what others do to us, we make a plan. Doomsday bunkers of all sorts are popping up to protect everything from seeds to regrow our food supply . . to insanely luxurious underground escape spots for the one percenters.

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Do You Get Stressed Over News Stories About a Bunch of People Getting Sick With a Disease You’ve Never Even Heard Of? Lately, It’s the Hantavirus. But Here’s the Thing. These Outbreaks Have Been Around for Thousands of Years. Problem Is, You Can’t Ignore What’s Happening, but the Anxiety Can Really Gnaw at You. So It’s Better to Know the Origin Story, Because Like They Say… Knowledge Is Power.

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Ever Get the Feeling That Your One Big Moment . . Might Be All There Is? That Was the Story of Apollo 11 Astronaut Buzz Aldrin, the Second Man to Walk on the Moon . . and as He Shared . . Also the First to Pee on the Moon. But His Return to Earth and the Struggle He Faced Trying to One Up That Footstep on the Lunar Surface, Is an Inspiration.

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On first blush, most of us say we’d like to live forever. But how far are you willing to go? How about freezing your body cryogenically so it can be resuscitated decades from now? The first guy did that almost 60 years ago. Folks like PayPal founder Peter Thiel have signed on, as have Britney Spears and Paris Hilton. But the big question is... what happens when you wake up? You’re a time traveler with no way back...

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Even if we don’t love it, most of us rely on Amazon for a lot of our basic shopping needs. But 140 years ago, the Victorian version of Amazon arrived on the scene. The Sears catalog was just as huge as Amazon, at one point reaching 2/3rds of all Americans and accounting for 1% of the entire U.S. economy. They sold and delivered everything... even heroin!

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We comfort ourselves by thinking that murder is something that happens to people when they aren’t careful about when, where, and who they mix it up with. But sometimes, as in these two cases, the scariest stories are actually the ones you don’t see coming.

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What Did History . . Taste Like? Do You Ever Stop to Wonder Why We Eat Certain Foods? There Are Some Pretty Strange Bites Looking Back Over the Millennia. Not Just Unusual… Not Just Exotic… But Foods That Make You Stop, Tilt Your Head Like a Puppy, and Ask, Who on Earth Thought Eating That Was a Good Idea? It's All in the Marketing. We’re Talking Beaver Tails, Bird Tongues, and Whale Vomit . . to Name a Few.
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Humans are fascinated by space. We gaze up at the night sky and ask what and who is up there? Ancient cave drawings illustrated those thoughts thousands of years ago. Even “Disclosure Day” poses the question. But recently we’ve added one more question: does the government know something they’re not telling us?

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We watched the tragic story of JFK Jr. and Carolyn Bessette in the FX series “Love Story.” But while the love story of John’s parents, JFK Sr. and Jackie Kennedy, had major differences, it also had some striking similarities.

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What Happens to Your Life, if You're Sitting Right Next to a President When He's Assassinated? This Is the Shocking Story of the Folks Who Shared the Theater Box the Night Assassination of Abraham Lincoln Happened. Feel Free to DM Me if You Have a Story You’d Like Me to Cover . . on Facebook It’s Patty Steele and on Instagram Real Patty Steele

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In December of 1903, the Wright brothers made the first powered flight with a pilot in history. That’s only 122 years ago and yet here we are flying around the moon in Artemis 2. But the unknown dangers explorer types faced then... and still face... is mind blowing. In fact, manned space flight almost got stopped in its tracks by a secret government test. I’m Patty Steele. How much can the human body withstand as we attempt to explore the universe?

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We’ve been watching Artemis 2 and its $23 million dollar toilet journey to the dark side of the moon this week, but you have to ask a question. As we launch all these rockets, satellites, and space stations into the sky... what happens if they somehow come falling back to Earth? Well, it did happen almost 50 years ago, and folks around the globe spent a nervous few weeks... looking up.

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S...

Artemis 2 blasted off this week on NASA’s first manned trip into deep space in over 50 years. How did we get there and where are we going? The answers are both fascinating and inspirational.

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It’s Been 161 Years Since the Assassination of Abraham Lincoln. He’s Considered Our Greatest President. His Wife Mary Todd Lincoln However, Hasn’t Fared So Well in the Historical Narrative. But There’s a Deeper, More Complex Reason for That.

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Lizzie Borden was a church going New England heiress . . who was suspected of taking an ax to the heads of her father and stepmother back in 1892. But what led to the murders and the surprising verdict from the jury? Feel free to DM me if you have a story you’d like me to cover . . on Facebook it’s Patty Steele and on Instagram Real Patty Steele

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Swearing, cursing, cussing... giving somebody the finger. It’s kind of ubiquitous these days, but it’s been around for thousands of years. And now researchers say yelling out a favorite four-letter word can even lower your blood pressure. But where in the &^%* did it all start, and how has it evolved?

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We all wonder where the larger than life rock and roll stars of the mid 20th century originated. But the demon of Kiss, Gene Simmons, has had an unbelievable journey. And he credits one person with his inspiration.

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Watching reruns of The Andy Griffith Show and particularly Deputy Barney Fife, to this day make you feel happy. You feel like that part of America’s past was a time of calm and safety. But for Don Knotts, the guy that played Barney Fife, life never felt calm or safe. This is how he used his pain.

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We’ve all had a nasty headache and run to grab some OTC pain relief, only to get thwarted by the childproof wrapping. But 7 still unsolved murders explain why our meds are wrapped so tight feel free to DM me if you have a story you’d like me to cover . . on Facebook it’s Patty Steele and on Instagram real Patty Steele

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Breakfast pre-1900 usually involved fried meats, eggs, biscuits, and potatoes. Then a kitchen fail at a health sanitarium led to a whole new way to eat your morning meal. After that, a vicious disagreement between the Kellogg brothers allowed one to build a multi billion dollar company with Corn Flakes, Rice Krispies and other cereal recipes he'd stolen from his brother.

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In the 1800s death was a lot more of a regular occurrence in people’s lives. Almost half of all children died by the time they were 5! So . . the Victorians developed some pretty unusual ways of processing that reality.

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It was supposed to be minor, routine surgery. But the anesthesia had a strange effect on this Academy Award winning actress. Afterward, every thought, every conversation, and even things she saw . . literally turned into music in her head. This is what she did with the endless earworm.

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Imagine Being a World Famous Rock Star . . And at the Same Time Effectively Raising 3 Children With Disabilities. It’s the Amazing Story of Neil Young’s Devotion to His Family Life.

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