Typically, people nowadays don’t go into Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods and ask for earthworm oil, but from the 16th to 19th centuries, earthworm oil was used to treat various problems – kind of like how we use tea tree or coconut oils today. On this episode, we’ll show you how to use earthworm oil to treat many things, even gunshot wounds, because…well, why not?
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13:40
The Unusual History of TV Dinners: Giving Thanks to Thanksgiving
Who doesn’t love to come home from a long day of work, heat up some yummy food, turn on the TV and plop down on the couch to eat? Although many people still do enjoy a sit-down meal with the family that often doesn’t include a television, back in the 1950s when having a TV in the home was a new concept, people found themselves wanting to eat in front of it. On this episode, we thank Thanksgiving and an overabundance of turkeys back in 1953 for giving us the TV dinner.
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7:09
Crap, Crapper, and the History of the Toilet
Happy World Toilet Day! In case you didn’t know, the World Toilet Organization (yes, there is one) declared November 19th to be World Toilet Day back in 2001. Why, you may ask? Well it all had to do with drawing attention to the fact that even today not every country has great sanitation, which of course spreads diseases like cholera, typhoid and hepatitis. On this episode, we flush out what humans did when poop became a problem and how it all led to a universal holiday.
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26:49
Witch Cakes: How Urine in a Cake Led to the Salem Witch Trials
One of the things people in Europe and in America used to do to thwart a witch’s spells was to bake a witch cake. It sounds sort of good, being a cake and all, but you know that having the word “witch” in its name means something has to be wrong with it. And there was something wrong with it. Despite the fact that this supernatural dessert was meant to be used against witches, its ingredients left something to be desired: rye meal, ashes and the victim’s urine. On this episode, we’ll show you how a little urine in your cake can either curse you or cleanse you.
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8:29
Stingy Jack & the Devil: This Unusual History of Jack-O-Lanterns
When we in the west think of Halloween or All Hallow’s Eve, carving pumpkins is one of the first things that comes to mind. It’s a tradition parents share with kids, and even as adults we enjoy it. In fact, we spend a lot of time researching cool designs to carve and choosing the best pumpkins at the pumpkin patch. And let’s not forget gutting it and roasting the seeds! But why do we do all of this? How did turning pumpkins into jack-o-lanterns become a Halloween tradition? On this episode, we look at why we love to carve out pumpkins, eat their guts and use them to light up the darkness.
The Unusual History of Every Thing is a podcast for lovers of the weird history of common things in our world. Join cultural object preservationists Melanie Dellas and Karen Lacy as they uncover the unusual histories of every thing around us.
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