Now It's Ruined

Larkin runs over the history of Halloween, including some fun (and not so fun) LGBTQ+ traditions, the appropriation of the holiday by the Church, and the surprisingly sexy origin story of Jack ‘O’ Lanterns. Sprinkled with a little human sacrifice and capped off with a discussion of racism and sexism, this episode contains all the miserable Now It’s Ruined hits that will have you going, “Oh my god, and but of course.” 

CONTENT WARNING: Gun violence

References

THEM: “The Long History of How Halloween Became a Sacred Queer Holiday” Oliver Haug, Oct. 26, 2023
https://www...

We’re opening spooky month with a brand new episode about a man who loved to ruin people’s spooky fun!

Harry Houdini was not only a talented magician and escape artist, he was also a crusader against fake mediums and spiritualists. He spent huge amounts of time, effort, and money debunking frauds and educating the public on their tricks. 

Though we do discuss some of his shortcomings, this episode isn’t a true ruin. But this Halloween marks the hundredth anniversary of Houdini’s famous death, so we decided a discussion of his ruinous streak wo...

Our last upcycle before we come back in October is all about The Christmas Rebellion, aka the Baptist War, which started in Jamaica on Christmas Day in 1831.

Led by enslaved Baptist deacon Samuel Sharpe, The Christmas Rebellion was one of the largest slave rebellions in history, with 60,000 of the island’s 300,000 enslaved people taking part. It contributed heavily to England’s abolition of slavery, a practice that claimed the lives of millions of Africans.

This episode has a bit of information overlap with our full-length hammocks episode (which we put out a few months after reco...

Our September upcycle kicks off with the tale of a dramatic ongoing battle to prevent the resurgence of a particularly nasty pest in the U.S.

If you’d really like to challenge yourself, we recommend putting this on while you cook. If you’re still able to eat after listening to Larkin describe festering wounds, flesh-eating maggots, and blood mixed with rotting meat and eggs, congratulations! You’re as voracious as cochliomya hominivorax, aka the Screw Worm. 

Since recording this episode, there have been new sightings of screw worms in the United States, specifically in Texa...

On October 22, 1989, a stranger snatched Jacob Wetterling off the street near his home in St. Joseph, Minnesota. For nearly 27 years, nobody knew what happened to him. 

The story takes one infuriating turn after another as police missteps kept Jacob from being found for over two decades. Eventually, the full, tragic story was revealed.

Kate grew up less than an hour from St. Joseph and has been haunted by Jacob’s case for as long as she can remember. When she realized the anniversary of his disappearance coincided with a bonus episode due date, she decided to...

We know we said we were going to upcycle, but instead let’s recycle!

Kate and Larkin are joined by comedian and former marine biologist Forrest Shaw (CONAN, Netflix Is a Joke), who enlightens them about plastic and recycling. Plastic has gone from a miracle substance that was meant to save the elephants to the bane of the planet’s existence. But this isn’t all doom and gloom! Forrest wants us all to know that recycling does work (though not as well/often as we’d like it to), and we can all make a real differen...

Do Cornflakes and graham crackers make you want to touch yourself? No? Good, that’s part of the goal.

Kate takes Larkin on a journey through the history of sexual repression and how it led to a health food movement focused on avoiding the “sin of self-pleasure.” Proponents of this movement included Sylvester Graham and John Harvey Kellogg, who we have to thank for graham crackers and Cornflakes (though it was John Harvey’s brother, W.K., who invented the latter). 

This was a randy one that contains some graphic sexual content, so CONTENT WARNING:: Sexual ab...

Larkin blindsides Kate with a truly upsetting ruin regarding one of the world’s favorite treats. Learn how chocolate went from ritualistic beverage to corporate juggernaut, built on the backs of people who will never have the luxury of tasting it. 

Content Warning: Violence, torture, child abuse

It’s practically impossible to find ethically sourced cocoa products, but here’s the list Larkin mentions: https://foodispower.org/chocolate-list/

References

YouTube Video - Carla Martin: Cocoa Crisis

https://youtu.be/_a4si2TCw0U

YouTube Video - Carla Martin...

In honor of America’s 250th birthday, Kate ruins one of the most consistently idealized figures in American history: George Washington.

Content Warning: Violence, gore, slavery, genocide, and rape

Support Kate’s Series: https://www.dogoodpoints.com/fund/meat-cute-series

Ken Burns documentary, The American Revolution: https://www.pbs.org/kenburns/the-american-revolution/?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=23864638707&gbraid=0AAAAAooDyp12zonjrN5VFMNZ7Gpx9qeJ9&gclid=CjwKCAjw0dPRBhAPEiwAE5vTTn5usyE90QRx1DmrrCX8SyT92PBZkYbv64z7M6U_ZKkEtlkFpvil4hoCwREQAvD_BwE

Mount Vernon Slavery Database:

https://www.mountvernon.org/george-washington/slavery/slavery-database

Comp...

Online privacy isn’t just about your cookie settings. Corporations like Facebook have filed some truly creepy patents that reveal their ability to track everything from dust on your camera lens to who you talked to the most at a party. Target may even know you’re pregnant before you do…

Kate and Larkin are joined by Ben Silver, who made them stutter, hide, and nearly walk away as he reveals all the information companies have about us. Grab your tinfoil hats and prepare to be unsettled. 

About Ben Silver:

Ben holds an undergr...

Happy Pride! In the spirit of the season, Kate tells the story of Alan Turing. During World War II, Turing designed a machine that could decrypt tens of thousands of Nazi communications per month, likely shortening the war by several years and saving millions of lives. 

He was lauded as a hero… until it was revealed he was gay. His conviction for “gross indecency” led to the tragic end of a brilliant visionary who pushed computer science forward by leaps and bounds. 

Kate also gives a very high-level overview of the history of computers through the mid...

Kate acts as the Scully to Larkin’s Mulder as Larkin walks her through the evidence (of varying credibility) for Nessie’s existence. And like Scully, Kate winds up being less skeptical than when she started. 

We weren't intending to upcycle this week, but we had a guest drop last-minute and didn't have time to put something else together in a thoughtful way. We'll be back all new on the next one with a (sad) story for Pride!

References

https://www.nature.scot/landscapes-and-habitats/habitat-types/lochs-rivers-and-wetlands/freshwater-lochs

​​https://www.historyhit.com/painted-p...

Extra virgin olive oil is one of the most useful, healthy substances on earth. Eating just two tablespoons a day can help prevent heart problems, cancer, and even Alzheimer’s. 

But that’s assuming you have real EVOO, which… you probably don’t. And you might have paid the mafia for the knockoff sitting on your shelf.

Kate, now an olive oil obsessive, enlightens Larkin on the incredible history and science behind olive oil, before discussing the issue of oil fraud that plagues the industry. Then, she gives some tips on how to find good oil from...

Happy 4/20! In honor of the informal holiday, we’re giving you this episode two entire days early!

If you celebrate, grab your favorite means of ingestion and listen as Larkin talks all things sticky and icky, breaking down the history of how cannabis was used as an excuse for racism and anti-immigrant sentiment, eventually leading to its criminalization. The movement against this hearty “herb” has fueled oppression, fed the prison-industrial complex, and stalled research about the potential benefits. Plus, the formerly social drug is now increasing social isolation among 1 in 15 American adults. 

References

Kursges...

Kate and Larkin welcome fashion enthusiast and content creator KP Deluxe, who tells us about the predictably racist, patriarchal origins of sizing in fashion. KP outlines our journey from bespoke, customizable pieces to the fast fashion nightmare of today, and how the realities of women’s bodies were repeatedly ignored in favor of mass production. 

Follow KP/Styled Over Substance on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. 

Check out Ifemi, the ready-to-wear line for plus-sized women, and sign up to be notified when it drops.

References

https://fashionhistory.fitnyc.edu/1860-1869/

http...

We’re upcycling this week to give Kate a break as she prepares for a panel at Wonder-Con (March 27, 2026 at 6 pm in room 207!). Thankfully we have a timely one for you: The story of the boycott, a great example of community advocacy that’s quite relevant today. Plus, it’s about the Irish, so the fact that it was recently St. Patrick’s day lined up nicely as well! 

Get ready to learn about the man behind the movement, mediocre white man Charles Boycott. Boycott worked as a land agent for the oppressed tenant farmers of British-occupied Ireland i...

It’s our 1-year anniversary!!! To thank you for making our first year so fantastic, we finally did the full-length episode on hammocks that we’ve been promising since we started with the mini-sode a year ago. 

Kate dives more into the history and culture of the Taino people, including their invention of the hammock, as well as the deeply horrific details of their encounters with the Spanish, instigated by Christopher Columbus. 

This episode comes with an enormous CONTENT WARNING for graphic violence, including against children and infants, as well as torture, rape, and suicide. 

R...

Dodger Stadium is an icon of Los Angeles. The massive structure comes complete with a parking lot that can accommodate 16,000 cars. And that parking lot was built on the remains of a community that was literally dragged from their homes so they could be leveled for new construction. 

Join us as Larkin sorts through the tale of displacement and discrimination behind one of the largest ballparks in the U.S.

References

Follow Minna Lee Jameson: https://www.instagram.com/minnaleejamison

LA Dodgers

https://www.laalmanac.com/sports/sp06.php

Happy Olympics! Get ready to learn a TON of ruinous stuff about the games, from the unpleasant inventor of the torch relay to how the 1984 games changed the way Los Angeles was policed. 

Washington Whistles Network: https://linktr.ee/wa.whistles

Support legal aid in Minnesota: https://legalrightscenter.org/

Support the Peoples’ Bail Fund of Minnesota: https://pbfmn.org/

Support the ACLU: https://action.aclu.org/give/now

Minneapolis Mutual Aid Linktree with tons more places to give: https://linktr.ee/mplsmutualaid

Follow Lee Stedman: https://www.ins...

This week, Kate and Larkin are thrilled to chat with professional cosplayer Alia Pyatt, aka Magical Black Girl Alia, who discusses her experiences as a Black female cosplayer. While her time in cosplay has been overwhelmingly positive, she’s also seen her fair share of racism, sexism, and ableism in the community. Tune in to learn about the rampant gatekeeping that has driven many cosplayers out of a hobby that was once an escape for them. 

CW: Suicide. If you or someone you know is experiencing thoughts of suicide or self-harm, visit this support site for help.

Gynecological exams and procedures are notoriously unpleasant, and the field is frustratingly under-researched. It seems like it’s already ruined, so why do an episode on it?

Well, Larkin has an abundance of unpleasant history to add to the mix, including a long line of men known as the “fathers” of the practice, who committed horrific acts while barely advancing their understanding. From murdering the poor to performing unanesthetized surgeries on enslaved people, graphic atrocities abound. 

Listener discretion is definitely advised.

Content Warning: Medical Trauma, Birth Trauma

References

If...

New Year’s Resolutions are a common way to set goals for the upcoming year. But they can also cause self-doubt and unnecessary pressure. Anti-burnout coach Rhia Batchelder teaches Kate and Larkin about the puritanical origins of the tradition and gives tips on how to make resolutions that will actually motivate you, without driving you into a shame spiral.

Book a free assessment with Rhia on her website, rebuildwithrhia.com, and follow her on TikTok and Instagram for more amazing insights and advice. 

References

https://www.history.com/articles/the-history-of-new-years-resolutions

https://www...

It’s a Now It’s Ruined holiday special! 

Kate breaks the usual format to bring you three shorter Christmas-related ruins. She discusses a cannibalistic scarecrow, the murder-riddled true story behind Good King Wenceslas, and how the Vikings permanently deforested Iceland. 

Happy holidays!

Special thanks to Elisa Hanssen, aka Elisa in Iceland, for helping us pronounce Icelandic words! Follow her on Instagram and TikTok.

References

Hans Trapp

http://frenchmoments.eu/hans-trapp/#t-1702120300802

https://usghostadventures.com/haunted-stories/25-days-of-christmas/hans-trapp-the-christmas-cannibal-scarecrow/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palati...

Kate dives into the Lindbergh Baby kidnapping, exploring the crime, evidence, and theories about who was involved. She and Larkin discuss whether they think the man convicted of the crime acted alone, if the kidnapping was an inside job, and whether Charles Lindbergh’s interest in eugenics motivated him to get rid of his sickly child. 

CW: Violence against children

References

The Baby Alice Thumb Guard

https://www.fbi.gov/history/famous-cases/lindbergh-kidnapping

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/lindbergh-kidnapping/

https://www.rutgers.edu/news/was-lindbergh-kidnapping-inside-job

Need a break from your family this Thanksgiving? Come celebrate Now It’s Ruined-style! Larkin busts the idyllic myth of the first Thanksgiving before giving a rundown of how nutritional standards were shaped by the military-industrial complex and horrific experiments on Indigenous Canadian children. 

CW: Graphic Violence, Food Trauma, Medical Trauma

If you’d like to make a difference to people who are living with food insecurity, check out https://www.feedingamerica.org/ for opportunities to give back. 

References

History of nutrition science

https://www.bmj.com/content/bmj/361/bmj.k2...

There are lots of fun facts about bananas: They’re radioactive, they may be the oldest fruit in the world, and they’re technically berries! So how did the bright yellow, comedy-inspiring fruit cause massacres, coups, and human rights violations? It’s a colonialist tale as old as time, full of not-so-fun facts about bananas and the men who steamrolled entire countries in order to sell them. 

References

https://www.epa.gov/radtown/natural-radioactivity-food

https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2021/02/10329710/how-to-eat-a-banana-correctly

https://gardenbetty.com/a-banana-plant-is-an-herb-or-little-known-banana-facts/

https://www.sciencefriday.com/articles/why-don...

Happy Halloween! We’re joined again by our guest and muse, Erica Vogel, who busts some myths- and tells us some disturbing truths- about the concept of tainted Halloween candy. Where did this panic come from? How many children have been poisoned by candy? Has anyone ever actually found a razor blade in their taffy apple? Wtf is a taffy apple? And what the hell was Ann Landers’ problem with Halloween? Hear about all this and more in this fun (but still upsetting) episode that will have you saying, “Oh my god and but of course.”

Content warning...

In honor of Indigenous Peoples' Day, we wanted to dive into the life of the incredible Indigenous American athlete, Jim Thorpe.

Despite a life marked with abuse, racism, alcoholism, and loss, Jim became the greatest athlete of the 20th century (we’d say ever), as well as an exceedingly generous member of his community. On top of his athletic accomplishments, Jim created a legacy of selflessness and love, truly living up to the name given to him by his Sac and Fox family: Wa-Tho-Huk, or Bright Path. 

Jim’s story also leads us to a discu...

How would you describe Hello Kitty? Cute? Innocent? A cat? You’d be partly right, but hold up on that last one…

Larkin walks us through the history and legacy of Hello Kitty, shares some facts about her that make Kate absolutely furious, and describes how a culture of cute helped heal the economy (and image) of post-war Japan.

References

Yano, Christine R. (2013) Pink Globalization - Hello Kitty’s Trek Across the Pacific. Duke University Press, Durham and London

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/hello-kitty-kawaii-imperial-japan?showLogin=true&cds_email=bGFya2luLmJs...

Happy American football season! Let’s talk about head trauma.

Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) is a neurodegenerative disease that’s especially common in athletes. CTE has cascading effects that can cause memory loss, aggression, and other disturbing cognitive and personality changes, and football ranks second-highest on the list of sports with the most CTE exposure. This episode will teach you more about this upsetting disease, why certain positions in football may carry a higher risk (it’s not all about concussions), and how the NFL dismissed the problem for decades while players suffered and died. 

Trigger...

Since we had “too much fun” in our last episode about emus, Kate decided to bring us back down hard with an episode about a seemingly innocuous topic: Road signs. 

We all see road signs all the time. But have you ever wondered who makes them? Then answer is the same as for many products in the United States: Prisoners.

This episode covers the history of road signs in the U.S., the history of prisons around the world, and how America’s prison system was built on forced labor from the very start. We also go...

In this episode, we ruin (and somehow simultaneously enhance) our first animal, the emu. Larkin tells us terrifying facts about these giant dinosaur birds, then goes into the story of the “Emu War” that took place in post-WWI Australia. It’s a distinctly fun episode that will also depress you with stories of trench warfare and, as ever, colonialism.

References

https://www.science.org/content/article/why-did-new-zealands-moas-go-extinct

https://www.britannica.com/animal/elephant-bird

https://www.britannica.com/animal/moa

https://www.britannica.com/animal/emu

https://animals.sandie...

We're sorry to upcycle again so soon, but we're actually kind of excited because this is one of our favorite things we've recorded.

In it, Larkin outlines her effort to track down the red-eyed, child-eating cryptid she talked about in our False Eyelashes episode. It turns out she may have invented a Now It's Ruined original cryptid, the Dusty Werewolf. But her journey to identify it led her to many fascinating child-stealing cryptids from around the world! Listen to learn about Manananggals, Gytrashes, and more (oh my!).

We'll be back with a brand new episode...

Welcome to the episode that gave Kate “the deepest ick” of any we’ve done yet. And don’t worry, it’s not about factory farms or the morality of eating meat. 

We all know bacon and eggs as an iconic breakfast combo. But have you ever thought about why we eat it for breakfast? 

It’s because it was sold to the American public by a master of propaganda: Edward Bernays.

Bernays revolutionized the advertising industry by using psychology to appeal to people’s feelings rather than their logic. He manipulated the world of fashion...

In our slightly belated second Pride episode, Larkin discusses the dark history behind the pink triangle, a symbol of activism in the LGBTQIA+ community. Once used by the Nazis to identify gay male prisoners in concentration camps, the symbol was reclaimed in the 80s and used as a call to action during the AIDS crisis. Listen and learn about queer trailblazer Magnus Hirschfeld, which member of Hitler’s regime was openly gay, and Kate’s one red flag about Colin Hanks (slightly off-topic but cut us some slack).

TW: Violence and SA, particularly directed at the LGBTQIA+ comm...

Content Warning: This episode contains detailed descriptions of a deadly building fire. Listener discretion is advised.

Due to the unexpected passing of Kate's mom, we're upcycling our first Patreon bonus episode so we don't leave you without content for a week. More ruinous content will come your way soon, but we appreciate your understanding and support during this tough time. 

We didn't know much about this tragedy before we researched it for the show, and it was even worse than we remembered. We hope it's educational (and entertaining) for you.

You can find p...

Happy Pride!!! 

In our first guest episode, Kate and Larkin are joined by Erica Vogel, author of the book Advice from Your Trans Aunty and the episodic Substack memoir Blue Sky Bird. Erica has spent the majority of her life solving a wide variety of trials and tribulations as both a closeted and out transgender woman. Drawing from her experiences, her education, and her interactions with thousands of transgender people, she provides a point of view focused on personal agency as a transgender individual. She is a frequent public speaker on trans affairs in and out of w...

We’re ruining our first person as Kate tells us the dirt on thrill-seeking American hero (and fan of Nazi Germany) Charles Lindbergh. 

It’s a story that’s all the more frustrating because it could have been so romantic! Charles’ early days sound like a thrilling fairytale, and he could have been a highly influential catalyst for positive change. Instead, Charles devolved into a stubborn, deeply problematic figure who insisted on expressing opinions that would put him at odds with President Roosevelt and tarnish the Lindbergh legacy forever. 

Oh, and then there’s the womanizing.<...

In Part 2 of our Mother’s Day Special, Larkin tells Kate the story of not-so-good mom Leonarda Cianciulli, the Soap Maker of Correggio. 

We don’t want to call her a “bad” mom, because she was doing everything she could to protect her child. But the methods she used move her out of “good mom” territory pretty fast. 

Leonarda had been told by a fortune teller that she would outlive all of her children. So when she found out her oldest son was planning to enlist in WWII, she went to extremes to keep him safe. Transfer...

In honor of Mother’s Day, we decided to do our first two-part episode! Kate and Larkin will be doing a story swap, with Kate covering a good mom from history and Larkin covering a… not-so-good mom. Even though it’s not a traditional Now It’s Ruined, both episodes are deeply dark and depressing, so don’t worry: Mother’s Day will still be ruined.

In our first episode, Kate shares the incredible story of Sojourner Truth and her fight to free her son from slavery. Truth is famous for her participation in the abolitionist and women’s suff...