Arbor Day is 150 years old! Learn the origins of the day, plus how one small upstate New York town continues the annual celebration.

A woman dumps her fiancé at the altar to marry the minister, a jealous husband who used rattlesnakes to keep men away from his wife, and more!

It’s hard to believe, but when the first words were spoken on radio, it was dismissed as a novelty. It seems as if everyone thought that Morse code was the future. Everyone except for Reginald Fessenden.

In 1953, a paperboy discovered a nickel coin that led to the arrest of a high-ranking Soviet spy.

A live baby is auctioned off, a carnival knife thrower accidentally hits his human target, a dog warden with an unusual approach to keeping thieves out of the pound, and much more!

In 1936, Eddie Cantor asked his radio listeners to write essays describing how the United States could avoid war. With no set contest rules, something would go very wrong.

A man falls out of a window and is saved by a flagpole, seven tonsillectomies done in an assembly line fashion, and more!

The true story of Hollywood actress Edna Kirby who lived in a glass house for the better part of 25 years.

We review the classic movie "Sunset Boulevard." Directed by Billy Wilder, this movie tells the story of a struggling screenwriter who gets into a dangerous relationship with a faded Hollywood actress who dreams of a big comeback.

Christmas episode! A reindeer that bit a boy’s finger, a lawsuit over the world’s largest Christmas stocking, the first Christmas film ever made, and much more!

Tom McGee wanted nothing more for Christmas than to be able to spend time caring for his hogs. The only catch was that he needed to commit a crime and hope that a judge would sentence him to time on one of Georgia’s infamous chain gangs.

In this episode: A proud father who kidnapped his newborn daughter, a mother jailed for cooking a woodpecker, Einstein gives a student incorrect math advice, a snake that joined a woman in the bathtub, and much more!

A Catch-22: As long as a man remained on death row, he could live. If he tried to get off, he could die. Which would he choose?

The day corsets were arrested, a university lingerie auction, US Customs bans Alice Cooper’s panties, a fish who milked a cow, a box of cookies that started a fire, the highest-paid act at Woodstock, and more!

In 1911, Minerva Miller and two friends went to The Paterson Show to watch a movie. A ticket was 5 cents, but Mrs. Miller was told that she would have to pay 25 cents because she was black. She decided to challenge the theater's racist policy.

A 72-year-old woman who married a 20-year-old man, a 16-year-old girl arrested for cursing, a woman who had some run-ins with modern appliances, speaking English deforms the mouth, a husband who refused to buy his wife false teeth, and more!

In 1941, 5-year-old Pamela Hollingworth disappeared into the dense forest of New Hampshire's White Mountains. Murder? Kidnapping? Find out what really happened to Pamela Hollingworth.

Boy runs away because he can't master Latin, a mother who loaned her son to a stranger, a man who survived a Nazi firing squad, cows killed by lightning, man's leg broken three times, 200 hog call records stolen, a helicopter melon thief, & more!

In 1932, Redondo Beach school superintendent Elliott B. Thomas mysteriously disappeared and his office was ransacked. Was he kidnapped? Could he have been killed? Or was something else going on? Also, learn about a new chemical element called Administratium.

A 106-year-old woman seeks a husband, 5 phonograph records is admission to a dance, Australia gives the US an albino kangaroo, Johnny Cash promoting the Home Equipment Co., A country could be 49th US state, and more!

In 1933, Helen Vasko was diagnosed with a malignant eye tumor that threatened her life. Her parents would not consent to surgery and the case ended up in court. Listen to find out which side won this landmark case.

When Isabel McHie was pulled off of a train in Battle Creek, Michigan in 1935, she confirmed to the world that she truly was eccentric. It was a reputation that continued long after she died.

In this episode, my wife Mary Jane joins me to review the classic movie "The Hitch-Hiker." Directed by Ida Lupino, this movie was inspired by the crimes of mass murderer Billy Cook, which was told in podcast #148 titled "Badman Billy Cook."

There's a killer on the road. The mostly forgotten true story of the manhunt for mass murderer Billy Cook in 1951. His crime spree was the inspiration for a verse in one of rock's most classic songs.

In this episode, I make an important announcement about the future of the podcast.