On This Day Podcast: Recent Episodes
Dave Schulz
A daily time capsule of stories of the significant, intriguing or just plain forgotten events of history that all occurred on this day.
A 5.1 magnitude earthquake shakes the ground underneath Mount St. Helens in Washington State. The quake sets off a landslide and the entire north slope of the volcano slides away exposing the core of the volcano, triggering the massive and devastating eruption On This Day in 1980.
Michael Jackson's landmark album "Thriller" is released on this day in 1982. The album contains only 9 songs, produces 7 hit singles, wins a record breaking 8 Grammy Awards and goes on to become the best selling album of all time. (rerelease)
Four members of the Clutter Family are murdered in their quiet Holcomb, Kansas farmhouse during the early morning hours On This Day in 1959. Author Truman Capote writes a book about the murders, a book he refers to as a non-fiction novel, one of the first True Crime books ever published: "In Cold Blood".
The murders of Ronald and Louise DeFeo along with their 4 children, killed by oldest son Ronald "Butch" DeFeo Jr...On This Day in 1974. The murder house at 112 Ocean Avenue in Amityville will subsequently become famous as The Amityville Horror house. (Rerelease)
A chartered plane carrying southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd crashes in a wooded swamp near Gillsburg, Mississippi killing six including lead singer/founding member Ronnie Van Zant On This Day in 1977.
Marie Antoinette loses her head at the hands of Monsieur de Paris, Henri Sanson, and his Guillotine, On This Day in 1793.
On this day in 1973, Jan-Erik Olsson enters a bank in Norrmalmstorg square in the center of Stockholm, Sweden. Olsson takes all 4 bank employees hostage. The bond that Olsson and his 4 captives form over the next 5 days, the hostages sympathizing with their captor, will be called Stockholm Syndrome. (repeat)
Elvis Presley, The King of Rock'N'Roll, dies On This Day in 1977 in a 2nd floor bathroom in his Graceland mansion in Memphis, Tennessee (repeat)
The murders of Leno & Rosemary LaBianca by the Manson Family, On This Day in 1969 (repeat)
The atomic bomb codenamed "Little Boy" is detonated above the Japanese city of Hiroshima in the final days of World War 2, On This Day in 1945. (repeat)
Lizzie Borden's father and stepmother are found murdered in their Fall River, Massachusetts home On This Day in 1892. Suspicion soon falls on 32-year-old Lizzie. (repeat)
Independence Day in America & the story behind the Declaration of Independence, adopted by the Second Continental Congress On This Day in 1776. Plus, a full reading of the Declaration of Independence following the episode. (repeat)
The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand that creates a ripple effect of conflict throughout the 20th century, beginning with the Great War, World War I. And Canadian runner and activist Terry Fox, who's Marathon of Hope for cancer awareness makes him a Canadian folk hero and inspiration to millions. (repeat)
The Last Will & Testament of English mineralogist James Smithson, who passes away On This Day in 1829 and leaves his entire fortune to the United States of America for the creation of Smithsonian Institution "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge." (repeat)
The Berlin Airlift begins On This Day in 1948, Operation Vittles and Operation Little Vittles. (repeat)
The sensational murder of architect Stanford White On This Day in 1906 and the trial of the century that follows. (repeat)
The ghost story challenge of 1816 during the Year Without A Summer, and Washington Post Publisher Katherine Graham born On This Day in 1917. (repeat)
Flag Day, and documentary photographer Margaret Bourke-White, born On This Day in 1904. (repeat)
George Orwell’s “1984” published On This Day in 1949, and two American Journalists found guilty of illegally entering North Korea On This Day in 2009 (repeat)
BOAC Flight 712 makes an emergency crash landing...On This Day in 1968. Stewardess Barbara Jane Harrison is posthumously awarded the George Cross for heroism.
The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum heist...On This Day in 1990.
Additional Music by Bernard Herrmann
William Buckley, Terry Anderson, the Lebanon Hostage Crisis and the Iran Contra Scandal...On This Day.
Additional Music: 06 Ghosts l by NIN
The disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370...On This Day in 2014.
Outro music: 02 Ghosts l by NIN
A show announcement!, the Salem Witch Trials begin, and the bombing of the US Capitol Building...On This Day
Scientists at DuPont create nylon, Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme is assassinated, ATF agents raid the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, TX, and Pope Benedict XVI steps down...On This Day
Polite People Day in Russia, the Reichstag Building is set on fire, and the standoff at Wounded Knee...On This Day
Napoleon escapes his island exile on Elba, Rogue trader Nick Leeson brings the 233 year old Barings Bank to its knees, and Levis Strauss...On This Day
Marbury v. Madison establishes the precedent of judicial review, Larry Flynt & Jerry Falwell go to court over the 1st Amendment, and Steve Jobs...On This Day
Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle, US Marines raise the flag on Iwo Jima, the first mass inoculation of children with the Polio Vaccine, and the start of the Persian Gulf ground war…all On This Day!
Samuel Byck tries to fly a plane into the White House, the Miracle On Ice, and Don Pardo...On This Day
The Washington Monument, Edwin Land & the Instant Camera, and the assassination of Malcolm X...On This Day
Day of Remembrance & the internment of Japanese Americans, Aaron Burr arrested, the Battle of Iwo Jima begins…On This Day
The International Red Cross is founded, the submarine HL Hunley sinks USS Housatonic, Robert Preston steals a helicopter for a joy ride over DC, and Rene Laennec inventor of the stethoscope…On This Day
Susan B Anthony Day, USS Maine explodes in Havana Harbor, the attempted assassination of president-elect Franklin Roosevelt, Soviets withdraw from Afghanistan, and a meteor in Chelyabinsk…On This Day
Valentine's Day, the St. Valentine's Day Massacre, Jackie Kennedy gives her televised tour of the White House, and Maceo Parker...On This Day
The Lincoln Memorial, the murder of Sal Mineo, and the theft of Edvard Munch’s The Scream…On This Day
Gary Kasparov defeated by Deep Blue, Alexander Pushkin dies in a duel, and Shirley Temple Black…On This Day
William Morgan invents volleyball, The Beatles perform on Ed Sullivan, Wilhelm Maybach inventor of the modern automobile, and Fred Morrison inventor of the Frisbee…On This Day
The Devil’s Footprints, Stasi the East German secret police, and the kidnapping of prized racehorse Shergar…On This Day
Bob Timm & John Cook break the endurance record for the longest manned refueled flight, President Kennedy bans Cuban cigars, Lisa Leslie scores 101 points in 16 minutes, and James Murray…On This Day
The Treaty of Alliance between America and France, King Charles II & King James II, King George VI & Queen Elizabeth II, and Minoru Yamasaki…On This Day
Bill Haley and The Comets arrive in England and inspire a generation of future rock’n’rollers, Byron De La Beckwith convicted of the murder of Medgar Evers, and Betty Ong…On This Day
Emperor Taizu of Song, Harry Longabaugh, George Romero, and Karen Carpenter...On This Day
Norman Rockwell, Frank Serpico is shot in a 4th floor walkup in Brooklyn, and the Day The Music Died - Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens & The Big Bopper…On This Day
The Bottle Cap, Balto hero of the Iditarod Trail, and the Dyatlov Pass incident…On This Day
Combat photographer Eddie Adams takes his Pulitzer Prize winning photograph on the streets of Saigon, and the Space Shuttle Columbia Disaster...On This Day
The 47 Ronin avenge their master's death, and The Beatles perform together for the last time on the roof of the Apple Records Building in London...On This Day
The Apollo I launchpad fire that takes the lives of NASA Astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee...On This Day
One of the last Japanese Holdouts from World War 2 discovered hiding in the jungles of Guam...On This Day
Apple's 1984 ad introducing the Macintosh airs for the first and only time on national television during the Superbowl...On This Day
National Hug Day, and the launch of the DeLorean DMC-12 aka the Back To The Future time machine...On This Day!
Edgar Allen Poe & the Poe Toaster, Patricia Highsmith, and a pardon for Tokyo Rose...On This Day
Albert DeSalvo sentenced to life in prison, but not for the Boston Strangler murders...On This Day
The Doomsday Clock is set forward, and beware the military-industrial complex...On This Day
The crash of Air Florida Flight 90 and the heroes of the Potomac - Lenny Skutnik, Roger Olian, Don Usher, Gene Windsor and Arland D Williams Jr...On This Day.
The Star Of The West comes under fire in Charleston Harbor, and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge...On This Day
Mother Teresa arrives in India, and Nancy Kerrigan gets clubbed in the knee...On This Day.
Whipped Cream Day, and Nixon announces the development of the Space Shuttle program...On This Day
The Duquesne Spy Ring, the national speed limit lowered to 55mph, and Judith Miller...On This Day.
New Year's Day, Public Domain Day, National Blood Donor Month, John Newton performs his hymn Amazing Grace for the first time, and the first Tournament of Roses...On This Day!
New Year's Eve, Times Square ball drop, and Arthur Guinness signs a 9,000 year lease on a brewery in Dublin...On This Day!
The Gadsden Purchase, Wayne Gretzky scores 50 goals in 39 games, and Rudyard Kipling, Russ Tamblyn, James Burrows, Mike Nesmith & Davy Jones, Lloyd Kaufman, Patti Smith and Tracey Ullman - all born On This Day.
Construction begins on Yonge Street in Toronto, Kim Il-Sung named President of North Korea, and Stan Lee...On This Day!
Boxing Day, St. Stephen's Day, Wren Day, Kwanzaa, Junkanoo, and the Indian Ocean Tsunami...On This Day.
Washington crosses the Delaware, Jesus, Isaac Newton, Cab Calloway, Jimmy Buffet, Annie Lennox, Sissy Spacek, Justin Trudeau, and James Brown wishing you a Soulful Christmas...On This Day!
Admiral James Stockdale: Aviator, POW, Medal of Honor recipient, Vice Presidential Candidate
General McAuliffe tells the German commander "Nuts!" at Bastogne in the Battle of the Bulge...On This Day!