The History of Mandingo Fighting

Ned the Elephant Fights Four Bulls

Ned was a cantankerous, 14,000-pound elephant who became infamous for getting drunk, breaking out of his constraints, and terrorizing his trainers. In 1913, his owners pitted him against multiple bulls in the Juarez bullring.

The History of Mandingo Fighting

In Quentin Tarantino's 2012 movie Django Unchained, slave owners force their slaves to fight one another for entertainment. Historians dismiss the idea of Mandingo Fighting, but primary sources show it really happened.

The Tlaxcalan Giant

In 1519, the Tlaxcalan Indians of Mexico showed Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortes a femur bone the length of person. They explained that the bone had come from a race of giants that their ancestors had driven to extinction. In this episode we look at Neanderthals, megafauna, and human migration into the Americas to try to explain the origins of the Tlaxcalan giant.