The Morbid History Podcast

Episode 16: The Poison Parlor

Progress has a price tag. And in Victorian America, it was usually fifty cents. In this episode, we pull back the ornate wallpaper of the nineteenth century and look at what was underneath. From the snake oil industry that dosed babies with morphine and sold radium water as a health tonic, to the Civil War physician who turned embalming into a national institution—and left one very specific instruction about his own burial. Because the Victorians weren't primitive. They were confident. And confidence, it turns out, is the most dangerous ingredient of all.   Original music in this episode is provided by the talented: SHDWLRKR [https://soundcloud.com/user-693376863] www.MorbidHistoryPod.com [https://www.thomasgloom.com/morbidhistorypod]

MM#15 Run Like Hell

She just wanted to run. That's all.   Twenty years old, bib number 261, tucked into the middle of the pack on a cold, rainy morning in Hopkinton, Massachusetts. She had trained over a thousand miles for this. She was ready.   The men in charge had other ideas. She finished anyway.   In this episode, we lace up and follow Kathrine Switzer through the 1967 Boston Marathon that changed women's sports forever—the attack that tried to stop her, the men who failed her, and the twenty-four miles she ran alone after the world told her to quit.   Because sometimes the most radical thing a woman can do is simply refuse to stop.   🎧 Take a bite of this Morbid Morsel. www.MorbidHistoryPod.com [https://www.thomasgloom.com/morbidhistorypod] Original music in this episode is provided by the talented: SHDWLRKR [https://soundcloud.com/user-693376863]

Episode 15: Justice, Adjusted

Some crimes have consequences. Others have currency.   In this episode, we examine history's untouchables—the scientists, executives, kings, and killers whose genius, wealth, or strategic value placed them beyond the reach of ordinary justice. From the Japanese bioweapons unit whose commanders were handed immunity in exchange for their data (Unit 731), to the Nazi rocket engineer America gave a new country and eventually the Moon (Wernher von Braun). Because there are two versions of justice. The one written in law. And the one that runs on who you are, and what you're worth, to the people in power.   The price was always paid. Just never by them.   Original music in this episode is provided by the talented: SHDWLRKR [https://soundcloud.com/user-693376863] www.MorbidHistoryPod.com [https://www.thomasgloom.com/morbidhistorypod]

MM#14 New Deal, Same As The Old Deal

They called it the New Deal.   A promise. A lifeline. It was the most ambitious expansion of federal protection for working Americans in the nation's history, and was designed to pull a broken country back from the edge of collapse.   But buried in the fine print were some sneaky words that changed everything.   In 1935 and 1938, Southern Democrats struck a deal with the Roosevelt Administration. They would support the New Deal, but made sure to carve out the occupations held overwhelmingly by Black Americans.   Three laws. Three trapdoors.   In this episode, we pull back the curtain on the New Deal's darkest compromise—how the legislation that saved white America was deliberately engineered to leave Black America behind. Because sometimes the most effective forms of racism aren't the ones written in fire. They're the ones written in fine print.   🎧 Take a bite of this Morbid Morsel. www.MorbidHistoryPod.com [https://www.thomasgloom.com/morbidhistorypod] Original music in this episode is provided by the talented: SHDWLRKR [https://soundcloud.com/user-693376863]

Episode 14: The Promised Land Lie

Every utopia has a founder. Every founder has a vision.   And someone always pays for it.   In this episode, we examine the dark history of intentional communities — promised lands built on someone else's labor, someone else's body, or someone else's silence. From a New York commune that ran America's first eugenics program and pivoted to silverware, to a 64,000-acre Oregon ranch whose vision of enlightened community ended in the largest bioterrorism attack in U.S. history.   Because utopias don't fail because people are incapable of community.   They fail when perfection becomes more important than consent. And the walls go up before anyone notices.    Original music in this episode is provided by the talented: SHDWLRKR [https://soundcloud.com/user-693376863] www.MorbidHistoryPod.com [https://www.thomasgloom.com/morbidhistorypod]