A Popular History of Unpopular Things

Join Kelli as she goes over what happened to the USS Scorpion, a skipjack-class nuclear-powered attack submarine that disappeared in May of 1967. It was found five months later, 2 miles down on the Atlantic seabed, broken into pieces. It's entire crew of 99 men sank with it.
Was it an attack? Did it implode? What caused her to sink?
Though tons of theories have been crafted, because we don't *actually* know what happened, we'll use our favorite philosophical tool (Occam's Razor) to determine which of the many theories is the most likely.
Sources to Read:
Stephen Johnson, Silent Steel: The Mysterious Death of the Nuclear Attack Sub USS Scorpion. John Wiley & Sons: Hoboken, NJ. 2006.
US Navy FOIA Reading Room, specifically the Scorpion Case Files https://www.secnav.navy.mil/foia/readingroom/SitePages/Home.aspx?RootFolder=%2Ffoia%2Freadingroom%2FCaseFiles%2FScorpion%20Submarine&FolderCTID=0x012000CD3AEB341204C14DB4C7B99C57E99B26&View=%7B988EEA5C%2DDFDB%2D4A5D%2D8414%2DB7A63DACECE2%7D
Support the show
Intro and Outro music credit: Nedric | Yello Kake
Follow me on Instagram for episode updates! @beardhistory
If you want to support the show, donate to the cause at Buy Me a Coffee

Join Kelli for another weird episode where she looks at the Great Moon Hoax of 1835.
For six days straight in 1835, the New York Sun (not the same publication as the one that exists today) published a fantastical story about life on the moon. The scientific series of articles talked about witnessing lumbering bipedal moon-bison, crystal spires, temples, men with wings, and more. It was captivating... and although it was complete fiction, many believed it to be fact.
In today's episode we go over the story, how it was received, and how this whole affair fits into the historical context of penny press newspapers in the early- to mid-nineteenth century.

Sources:
Text of the original newspaper articles
The Moon Hoax, 1859. https://library.si.edu/digital-library/book/moonhoax00lock
Stephanie Hall, “Belief, Legend, and the Great Moon Hoax,” Library of Congress, 2014. https://blogs.loc.gov/folklife/2014/08/the-great-moon-hoax/
 ““The Great Moon Hoax” is published in the “New York Sun”” History Channel. https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/august-25/the-great-moon-hoax
Sarah Zielinski, “The Great Moon Hoax Was Simply a Sign of Its Time.” Smithsonian, 2015. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/great-moon-hoax-was-simply-sign-its-time-180955761/
Sierra Laddusaw, “Life on the Moon in Two Acts.” University of Michigan. https://clements.umich.edu/publication/the-heavens/life-on-the-moon/
 
Support the show
Intro and Outro music credit: Nedric | Yello Kake
Follow me on Instagram for episode updates! @beardhistory
If you want to support the show, donate to the cause at Buy Me a Coffee

Join Kelli as she finally starts tackling the impact of westward expansion on indigenous populations in the United States. In this episode, we focus on the Navajo, or Diné, who were forcibly removed from their homeland starting in the winter of 1863.
Get ready for a nice, long historical context! :) 
Sources:
Books
Blood and Thunder: The Epic Story of Kit Carson and the Conquest of the American West by Hampton Sides
Diné: A History of the Navajos by Peter Iverson feat. photographs by Monty Roessel
Navajo Stories of the Long Walk Period, publ. By Navajo Community College Press
Articles
Hwéeldi - The Long Walk - https://Dinélanduse.org/hweeldi/
Documentaries/Videos
The Long Walk: Tears of the Navajo (2009) on PBS
Sisnaajini: A Navajo Story - Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve on YouTube
Support the show
Intro and Outro music credit: Nedric | Yello Kake
Follow me on Instagram for episode updates! @beardhistory
If you want to support the show, donate to the cause at Buy Me a Coffee

Join Kelli as she talks about a serial killer out of Kansas in the post-civil war era. Taking advantage of westward expansion and a tense climate, the Bender family - Ma, Pa, John, and Kate - were responsible for the murders of at least 11 people... including an 18-month-old baby girl.
Today we explore their dark, dingy, bug-infested cabin to find out what happened to these weary travelers on the Great Osage Trail, looking for a homestead plot and a better life, who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Sources:
Slavevoyages.org
Hell's Half-Acre: The Untold Story of the Benders, a Serial Killer Family on the American Frontier by Susan Jonasus
Support the show
Intro and Outro music credit: Nedric | Yello Kake
Follow me on Instagram for episode updates! @beardhistory
If you want to support the show, donate to the cause at Buy Me a Coffee

Join Kelli as she goes over a very stinky situation that happened in 1184 in Erfurt, part of the Holy Roman Empire and home base of King (and later Emperor) Henry VI.
As Henry gathered some squabbling nobles to deal with a petty land dispute, the building they were in collapsed under the weight of 60+ people. And two stories below, in the basement of the building, was a cesspit full of... well, you know.
It was a putrid predicament, a malodorous mess, a nauseating nightmare. Get ready for another gross episode with lots of tangents and, somehow, yet another reference to the Protestant Reformation.
Support the show
Intro and Outro music credit: Nedric | Yello Kake
Follow me on Instagram for episode updates! @beardhistory
If you want to support the show, donate to the cause at Buy Me a Coffee