Episode 17: Danger In The Toy Aisle

Episode 17: Danger In The Toy Aisle

They were approved, tested, wrapped, and put under Christmas trees. In this episode, we examine the dangerous, baffling, and occasionally radioactive history of American toys.  From a 1950’s science kit that came with actual uranium ore and a government seal of approval, to a beloved Cabbage Patch doll with a motorized jaw, no off switch, and no ability to distinguish between a plastic carrot and a child's hair. Because progress in toy safety is real. It was also paid for. And not always cheaply.   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#16 Behind Confederate Lines

In 1861, Alabama seceded from the United States. Not everyone went along with it.   Deep in the hill country of northwest Alabama sat Winston County—a place of shallow soil, steep ridges, and small farmers who had no slaves, no plantations, and no interest in dying for a cause that wasn't theirs. When the state sent a delegate to the secession convention, Winston County sent a 21-year-old schoolteacher named Christopher Sheats with one instruction: Don't sign.   And he didn't.   In this episode, we travel to the county that told the Confederacy no… and paid the price for it in blood, imprisonment, and eighty years of punishment from a state that never forgave them for being right.   Because the South was never as unified as the monuments want you to believe.   🎧 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 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]