Today In History with The Retrospectors

Amityville is synonymous with horror movies, but that’s because of a real-life tragedy that happened on 13th November, 1974, when Ronald DeFeo Jr. murdered his parents and his four younger siblings. Initially, he claimed a mob hitman was responsible, but later confessed to the crimes.

After the murders, newlyweds George and Kathy Lutz moved in to the DeFeo house, bringing along Kathy’s three children and their dog, Harry. Within 28 days, however, they’d fled, claiming paranormal experiences on the property, from swarms of flies to visions of a demonic pig.

In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly reveal what happened when the Lutzes took a polygraph test; explain how their story snowballed into first a bestselling book, then a movie franchise; and consider how the town has coped with its consequent celebrity status…

Further Reading:

• ‘Amityville Murders: The True Story Of The Killings That Inspired The Movie’ (All Thats Interesting, 2022): https://allthatsinteresting.com/amityville-murders

• ’The Amityville Horror House’ (Long Island Guide): https://www.longislandguide.com/visit/amityville-horror-house/

• ‘THE AMITYVILLE HORROR’ (MGM, 1979): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbCJv_vWyQA

We'll be back on Monday - unless you join 🌴CLUB RETROSPECTORS🌴, where we give you ad-free listening AND a full-length Sunday episode every week!Plus, weekly bonus content, unlock over 70 bonus bits, and support our independent podcast. Join now via Apple Podcasts or Patreon. Thanks!The Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill.Theme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders. Edit Producer: Ollie Peart.Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2026.

This episode originally aired in 2024.

#1970s #Crime #Macabre #US
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Arion, Rebecca and Olly recall the events of 12th November, 1970, when the coastal town of Florence, Oregon faced a dilemma: the 8-ton dead sperm whale washed up on its shores, emitting a putrid stench that had become unbearable for residents.

George Thornton, a Department of Transportation engineer, proposed an unconventional solution: detonating the whale with half a ton of dynamite. Crowds gathered to witness this spectacle, expecting a controlled explosion. However, the blast instead launched chunks of whale meat into the air, raining down on spectators and even crushing a car with a sizable piece of flesh.

In this episode, The Retrospectors explain why Thornton and crew nonetheless considered the operation a success; reveal how the incident became one of the internet’s first viral stories, twenty years after it happened; and marvel at how the citizens of Florence have embraced this truly bizarre moment in their history…

Further Reading:

‘Florence, Oregon's Exploding Whale And The Wild Story Behind It’ (All

Thats Interesting, 2023): https://allthatsinteresting.com/exploding-whale

‘Fifty years ago, Oregon exploded a whale with a half-ton of dynamite’ (The Washington Post, 2020): https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/11/13/oregon-whale-explosion-anniversary/

‘Dead on Arrival on a Beach near Florence’ (KATU News, 1970): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6CLumsir34

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The Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill.

Theme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders. Edit Producer: Ollie Peart.

Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2026.

This episode originally aired in 2023.

#1970s #Strange #Italy
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Britain's first ‘New Town’, built to accommodate 60,000 residents, was Stevenage, Hertfordshire - designated on 11th November, 1946 by Lewis Silkin, Labour’s Minister for Town and Country Planning.

Inspired by the rush to accommodate Londoners displaced by the Nazi bombing of the capital, the construction of the concrete metropolis was heavily opposed by the 6,400 residents of ‘Old Stevenage’, the ancient town that was to be superseded.

In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly trace Silkin’s vision back to a 1695 essay by Quaker reformer John Bellers; ask whether the concrete-clad aesthetic of the architecture was a terrible mistake; and re-live nostalgic trips to play laser tag in the leisure park…

Further Reading:

• ‘Stevenage New Town’ (Stevenage Museum, 2022): https://www.stevenage.gov.uk/stevenage-museum/history-of-stevenage/stevenage-through-the-ages/stevenage-new-town

• ‘Stevenage: The town that aimed for Utopia’ (BBC News, 2016): https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-37826783

• ’Mr. Silkin Goes To Stevenage’ (British Pathé, 1946): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txHbMusO33o

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Join 🌴CLUB RETROSPECTORS🌴to DITCH THE ADS and get an additional full-length episode each SUNDAY…

… Plus, get weekly bonus bits, and unlock over 100 bits of extra content.

Join now with a free trial on Apple Podcasts or Patreon and support our show ❤️

The Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill.

Theme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders. Edit Producer: Ollie Peart.

Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2026.

This episode originally aired in 2022.

#40s #UK #Architecture #Design
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The French government introduced a new State religion on 10th November, 1793: the ‘Cult of Reason’, which attempted to reflect the anti-clerical attitudes of the French Revolution.

But - as with the new secular calendar that reset the year to zero and gave democratic names to the months - the general public did not take to their local Church becoming a ‘Temple of Reason’, and most of the men involved in propagating the idea were ultimately executed.

The worship of reason was personified by living women in Roman dresses, who were met with ridicule, and a mishmash of Greek and Roman-inspired ceremonies that struggled to define their purpose, often resembling confused and peculiar public exhibitions rather than a cohesive religious doctrine.

In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly consider Robespierre's replacement religion, the "Cult of the Supreme Being"; explain how Napoleon's rise marked the end of both cults; and reveal how the Temples of Reason provided one truly enduring legacy: cremation…

Further Reading:

• ‘The Cult of Reason’ (BBC History Magazine, 2015): https://www.pressreader.com/uk/bbc-history-magazine/20151008/281698318658789

• ‘The Notre Dame Cathedral Was Nearly Destroyed By French Revolutionary Mobs’ (HISTORY, 2019): https://www.history.com/news/notre-dame-fire-french-revolution

‘When Atheists Persecuted Christians - The Cult of Reason’ (Theopedia, 2020): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWOUmO7Lpd4

Love the show? Support us!

Join 🌴CLUB RETROSPECTORS🌴to DITCH THE ADS and get an additional full-length episode each SUNDAY…

… Plus, get weekly bonus bits, and unlock over 100 bits of extra content.

Join now with a free trial on Apple Podcasts or Patreon and support our show ❤️

The Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill.

Theme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders. Edit Producer: Ollie Peart.

Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2026.

This episode originally aired in 2023.

#1700s #Religion #France
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John Emil List murdered his mother, wife and three children in a methodical massacre on November 9th, 1971. Then he left their bodies in the ballroom of their sprawling 19-room mansion, parked his car at the international airport and fled for Denver. Astonishingly, he remained on the run for EIGHTEEN YEARS.

Remarkably, in a 1989 edition of America’s Most Wanted, a forensic sculptor created an accurate bust showing what List might look like after nearly two decades on the run, and a viewer recognised him as her neighbour, “Robert Clark”, in Virginia. When confronted, List maintained his fake identity for months, even signing extradition papers under his assumed identity, but his fingerprints finally exposed the truth…

In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly review List’s defence at his trial, in which he blamed financial strain, his wife’s alcoholism, and the ‘evil’ he believed was creeping into his home; consider the similarities between List’s appalling crimes and the later Amityville killings; and reveal how he’d paused his spree to calmly munch a sandwich…

CONTENT WARNING: murder, child murder, domestic violence.

Further Reading:

• ‘John List Killed His Family, Then Vanished For 18 Years’ (All That’s Interesting, 2024): https://allthatsinteresting.com/john-list

• ‘Forensics Case: Picturing John List’ (For Dummies, 2016): https://www.dummies.com/article/academics-the-arts/science/forensics/forensics-case-picturing-john-list-138138/

• ‘CBS News, NY’ (1992): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szdTEkC-ZfA

Love the show? Support us!

Join 🌴CLUB RETROSPECTORS🌴to DITCH THE ADS and get an additional full-length episode each SUNDAY…

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Join now with a free trial on Apple Podcasts or Patreon and support our show ❤️

The Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill.

Theme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders. Edit Producer: Ollie Peart.

Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2026.

#Crime #70s #Macabre #Christian
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