Unhinged History

This week’s Unhinged History features two women with outrageous stories.

Angie kicks things off with the story of Elizabeth Bathory, you know, the Blood Countess. She’s rumored to have murdered over 600 virgins to bathe in their blood in hopes of maintaining her youth and beauty. But what if all of that was created by the men in her life who owed her money? Angie pulls back the rumors and shares what we know and can prove about this infamous killer.

In a delightfully unhinged pivot, Theresa shares the tale of Elvira de la Fuente Chaudoir. This Peruvian/French socialite turned double-agent spied for MI5 and convinced the Nazis move their troops away from Normandy, setting up success for the D-Day invasion. Her antics are legendary. You can hear Theresa on the edge of laughter the entire episode.

This episode pairs well with:
Sack of Rome
Mehmed II
Pope Pius II / Vlad Tepes
Another WWII Spy Toto Koopman

Some stories just warm you up inside like a Hot Toddy. Today, Theresa starts us off with a story from her comfort era: World War II, as she shares the tale of Soviet sniper, Lyudmila Pavlichenko. This badass earns a sniper diploma before graduating from college, which proves beneficial as she ends up fighting as one of only 2,000 female snipers. While only 500 of these women would survive the war, Lyudmila thrives, racking up 309 confirmed kills. She would then go on to become a friend of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt.

Angie struggles with pivoting as she transitions from this sniper to the French court, as she regales us with the life of the Duchess de Polignac. This woman would serve Marie Antoinette and become her best friend. Learn how this down-to-earth woman deals with the most indulgent time period of France, and dodges the Reign of Terror.

This story pairs well with:
Maria Bochkareva and the Russian women’s battalion of death
Nell Gwynn
General Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roche Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette

Listen to this week’s episode as Angie tells a story about a man Theresa’s already learned about. She shares the story of Anders Lassen, the incredible Danish man who joined Colin Gubbins’ Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare and made the SOE what it was known for.

This episode pairs well with:
Paddy Mayne
Colin Gubbins
Odette Samson
The SAS Train Raid You Never Heard of...

What a strange and wonderful mashup of unhinged history stories we have for you today.
When we think of Tudor England, we often overlook the individuals of African descent who lived and worked there. Today, Angie corrects that. Come learn about the various people historians uncovered.

Theresa takes a different route as she shares the story of Darius McCollum. Darius loves one thing more than anything else in the world: trains. His love of the Metro Transit Authority has led him to get arrested for stealing trains and buses more than 35 times. Come listen to his tale.

This episode pairs well with:
General Harriet Tubman
Grunya Efimovna Sukhareva, the Russian researcher who discovered Autism

What an episode of two indomitable people!

Today, Theresa kicks things off by telling the story of Dr. Daniel Hale Williams. Dr. Dan is credited with completing the first open-heart surgery. This was in the mid-1800s, before the creation of rib spreaders, bypass machines, or any other devices that would make his life easier. Even better, his patient survives. To further boost his creds, this incredible human created the first racially integrated hospital and nursing school.
After that, Angie struggles with a transition to tell the story of Ona Judge. The tale begins with Ona being enslaved to Martha Washington, the wife of the first president. Well, after President Washington engages in some shady antics to keep Ona enslaved, she absconds. This gets old, George-y boy, to crash out. The rest, as they say, is history.

This story pairs well with
Dr. Rebecca Lee Crumpler
Bass Reeves
Robert Smalls