Coffee With Jeff: Recent Episodes
Jeff Kelley
You can find my first show here!
https://share.transistor.fm/s/549c839a
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A machine was created in the early 1960s, that for a few coins, could create a toy right before a child’s eyes. They were coin-operated machines that would mold out of plastic, things like little dinosaurs, dolphins, alligators, NASA’s Space Lab, a space capsule, and even presidential busts. It was called Mold-A-Rama, created by a man who originally wanted nothing more than a replacement for a Christmas decoration. On this show, I have the story of the Mold-a-Rama, as well as vending machines and pinball.
Links to the sources I used to write this story:
Mold-A-Rama
A Brief History of Mold-A-Rama - Mental Floss
The Story of Mold-A-Rama, Chicago’s Very Own Souvenir Machine - WTTW
Mold-A-Rama and its Quincy connection — Herald-Wing
Replication Devices - Miniaturized Plastic Injection Factories
Vending MachinesOld World, High Tech - Smithsonian
The History of Book Vending Machines - Atlantic Vending
The great vending machine book by Colmer, Michael
Hugh Moore Dixie Cup Company Collection
Pinball
A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE SILVER BALL
Brief History of Pinball - Princeton University
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There once was a man who was part of a secret government experiment that involved mind-altering drugs. He wrote two classic novels before he was thirty. But of all the things he did, he said the thing he was most proud of was a bus. He took a group of friends across the country and back. They were known as the Merry Pranksters, and they went on a quest to freak out American and introduce it to LSD, Today I have the story of the amazing Ken Kesey.
Links to the sources I used to write this short tale:
Merry Pranksters - Wikipedia
Ken Kesey - Wikipedia
The Oregon Experience - Ken Kesey (PBS)
Tripping (1999 Ken Kesey / Merry Pranksters documentary)
University of Virginia Library - Ken Kesey
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Here are the links to the sources I used to write today's story.
Kitty Genovese
The Murder of Kitty Genovese - Wikipedia
Psychology Today - Bystander Effect
The History Channel - Kitty Genovese
Biography - Kitty Genovese
Winston Moseley, Who Killed Kitty Genovese, Dies in Prison at 81
Princess Ann
How I took 3 bullets for Princess Anne (YouTube)
The Bloody Attempt to Kidnap a British Princess - Smithsonian
Anne, Princess Royal - Wikipedia
Princess Anne kidnap attempt, 1974 (vimeo)
Daily Mail - Crazed gunman who tried to kidnap Princess Anne
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There once was a man who, in the early 19th century, spent the last 19 years of his life living in a cave-like a hermit, only contacting other humans when it was only necessary. The man had given up on the world due to personal tragedy. It was a strange, almost too weird to be true story tale. An unmarried woman convicted of murdering her own children and the brother who fought to prove her innocence. This is the story of The Pennsylvania Hermit!
Links to the sources I used to write this episode!
William "Amos" Wilson - Wikipedia
The Pennsylvania hermit. A narrative of the extraordinary life of Amos Wilson
The Hanging and the Hermit: The Tragic Timing of William Wilson
The Pennsylvania Hermit: The Woeful Tale of a Grieving Brother’s Broken-hearted Hermitage
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There once was a talented 4-year-old that became a star in the movies. He could sing and act and looked cute as a button. But as he grew into adulthood, he has issues with relationships, authorities, and drugs. The story is about Scotty Beckett, who started on the Our Gang shorts and went on to play a character named Winky before….
Links to the Sources I used to write this thrilling episode:
Scotty Beckett - Wikipedia
Most of the information came from looking through old newspapers from newspapers.com
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In this episode, I have three stories of incredible women. Story one is about Susanna M. Salter, the first Mayor in the USA, the second, Helen Hulick, a lady who defied a court order for her own ideals, and the third, Juliane Koepcke’s amazing story of survival. I hope you enjoy it!
Sources for the Susanna M. Salter StoryThe American Women's Rights Movement by Paul D. Buchanan
Woman’s Christian Temperance Union - History.com
Susanna Madora Salter - Kansapedia
Susanna Madora Salter First Woman Mayor - Kansas Historical Society
Sources for the Helen Hulick StoryHelen Beebe - Wikipedia
Women in Pants - Seamwork
Kindergarten teacher jailed for wearing pants to court in 1938
Sources for the Juliane Koepcke StoryJuliane Koepcke - Wikipedia
Juliane Koepcke: How I survived a plane crash - BBC
Juliane Koepcke Who Survived For 11 Days (Herzog Doc)
Survivor still haunted by 1971 air crash - CNN
And for all three of these stories, I used Newspapers.com
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There once was a man who was strained on a deserted island for a long, long, time. Every day his beard grew longer, and his clothes deteriorated. His only friends were the goats and cats that shared who he sang and danced to.
He lived alone with his thoughts for four and a half years, every day watching the sea looking for rescue. The year was 1704 and one man would be left by a privateering ship and, for over four years would learn to be a better person, Today I have the story of Scottish sailor and castaway Alexander Selkirk.
Link to the Sources I used to write this exciting, true tale:
Alexander Selkirk - Wikipedia
War of the Spanish Succession - Britannica
An 18th Century Voyage of Discovery
The Real Robinson Crusoe - Video
Who was Alexander Selkirk?: Survivor on a Desert Island by Amanda Mitchison
A Cruising Voyage Round the World by Woodes Rogers
The Life and Adventures of Alexander Selkirk by John Howell
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There once was a man who became The King of Western Swing. He was a fiddle player with his own band who was starring in movies, had his own radio and television shows, had a beautiful young wife and three children. But he also had a dark side. He drank and was known to have angry outbursts. In 1961, his demons got the best of him and it resulted in a tragedy. It was murder! Today I bring you the dark story of a fiddle player named Spade Cooley.
Links to the sources I used to write today's story
The Jazz of the Southwest: An Oral History of Western Swing By Jean A. Boyd
Spade Cooley: Western Swing’s Killer Cowboy
Forgotten Hollywood Scandals That Would Still Stun the World Today
Bakersfield's trial of the century: The talented and tormented Spade Cooley
MOOD SWING by Steve Gerkin
People v. Cooley
Spade Cooley BY David Krajicek
Spade Cooley - Wikipedia
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There is a small nation about 7 and a half miles off the coast of England that has survived for more than 50 years. It has a normal population of around 2, about sometimes as many as 50 have lived there. This is the story of an unrecognized country on a World War Two anti-aircraft platform off the coast of Suffolk, England. It was created by an ex-pirate radio owner. Today I bring you episode 226, the astonishing story of the Principality of Sealand.
The Sources I used to Write this Wonderful story
Pirate radio in the United Kingdom - Wikipedia
Knock John ... A Brief History
NBR - The Pirate Prince Of Sealand, Remembered
The Atlantic - THE PINT-SIZE NATION OFF THE ENGLISH COAST
Off Shore Radio - The Radio Essex Story
Business Insider - Welcome to Sealand
The San Diego Union-Tribune ‘Prince Roy of Sealand’ Roy Bates dead at 91
East Anglian Daily Times - Sealand, sovereign state off Suffolk coastline, to mark its 50th anniversary with Essex dinner
The Principality of Sealand - Wikipedia
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This episode 225, I talk about a possible alien visitation witnessed by 100s of Australian students and a few teachers back in the spring of 1966. Not only was there a UFO sighting, but also a large government cover-up and even one child’s disappearance. To the best of my understanding, this is the story that happened more than 50 years ago, 20 minutes or so, that would change many people's lives forever.
The links to the sources I used to write this show!
Phenomena Magazine - Issue 024 - April 2011
PROJECT 1947
Skeptoid by Brian Dunning - The Westall '66 UFO
The Westall ‘UFO’ incident still remains a mystery 50 years after it occurred
Westall UFO Encounter 1966 Australia NSW
Melbourne UFO Mystery: 50 Years On | Studio 10
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The year was 1872, more than two decades after the start of the California gold rush! The nation was just waiting for the next big wonderful thing. Two uneducated miners, Philip Arnold and John Slack gave the people just what they were hoping. Today I bring you the astonishing story of the great diamond hoax!
Link to the sources I used to write this adventure:
Diamonds in the Salt by Bruce Albert Woodard
Wyoming State Historical Society - The Diamond Hoax: a Bonanza That Never Was
Smithsonian Magazine - The Great Diamond Hoax of 1872
Great Diamond Hoax - Wikipedia
November 26, 1872: Great Diamond Hoax Exposed
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This podcast is the story of a man who wrote and directed three films in the 1960s, and, unfortunately, all three are considered some of the worse films ever made. Yes, today I tell you the very incomplete story of a man who came from a small town in Oklahoma to make it as an actor in Hollywood. His name was Coleman Francis.
Links to the Sources I used to write this amazing show:
Coleman Francis - Wikipedia
The Astounding B Monster Archive - Interview with Anthony Cardoza by Tom Weaver
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This podcast is the yarn of an Arizona stagecoach robbery in 1899 by a woman named may or may not have been Pearl Hart, who may or may not have been from Canada. A story that asked a lot of questions that have no answers, and for that, I apologize in advance. Enjoy!
Links to the sources I used to write this episode.
Legends of America - Pearl Hart – Lady Bandit of Arizona
Chronicle of the Old West - Pearl Hart (Video)
Pearl Hart - Wikipedia
Pearl Hart: Smooth-talking card shark led Pearl's slide to perdition
Arizona Territory, 1863-1912: A Political History by Jay J. Wagoner
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This is episode 221. In 1962, Herk Harvey saw a strange sight in Salt Lake City and was inspired to make a film called Carnival of Souls. It was a film made with a micro-budget, mostly filmed in Lawrence, Kansas with a little more in Utah. After being ripped off by a distribution company, the film fell into obscurity only to become a cult classic in the late 1980s.
LInks to the Sources I used to write this exciting episode:
Interview with Carnival of Souls' director Herk Harvey (YouTube)
Centron Films Camera - Kansaspedia
It Came from Horrorwood: Interviews with Moviemakers in the SF and Horror By Tom Weaver
I Was a Monster Movie Maker By Tom Weaver
Herk Harvey 1983 (YouTube)
Carnival of Souls (Wikipedia)
Herk Harvey (Wikipedia)
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This is episode 220. Today I bring you the story of the Salem Witch Trials. There are so many things I found that I didn’t know about these dark moments in history. The events began in 1692 by an 8 and 11-year-old but the seeds of this injustice began years earlier. What could possibly cause people to hang so many people of their own community!
Links to the Sources I used to write this episode
Giles and Martha Corey Memorial
The Witchcraft Trial of Giles Corey
Famous Trials - George Burroughs
The Witchcraft Trial of Reverend George Burroughs
A Storm of Witchcraft: The Salem Witch Trials - Video
Bewitchment in Salem: The Real Story - Video
Salem Witch Trial Full Documentary The Geographic Channel
History Professor Emerson "Tad" Baker at the Dyer Library in Saco, Maine.
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This is episode 219 and today I bring you the story of the Amazing Ruth Gordon. Most know were from the films she was in in the late 60s and 1970s. The thing is, Ruthie had an over 50-year acting career before most moviegoers heard of her. She was a writer as well. Oh, did I mention she asked to have both her legs broken and they were?
Links to the sources I used to write today's storyThe Broadcast 41 - GORDON, RUTH
Encyclopedia.com - Gordon, Ruth (1896–1985)
Ruth Gordon - Wikipedia
And Newspapers.com
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This is episode 218 and today I bring you the story of the Amazing Texas Guinan, a woman born in 1884 that was a stage and film star but really became known as a highly popular nightclub hostess during the Prohibition era. Oh, and one thing about Texas, you can’t believe a thing she said about herself. What is the truth about her life? Maybe I got some of it right.
Links to the sources I used to write today's story
Texas Guinan danced her way through Chicago — until it killed her
Texas Guinan - Wikipedia
Texas Guinan: Queen of the Night
Guinan, Mary Louise Cecilia [Texas] (1884–1933)
Texas Guinan - Video
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In this episode, I bring you two older shows, both from 2015. The shows were a lot shorter back then. The first part is the tale of Elsie Wright, Frances Griffiths, and The Cottingley Fairies. These were photos two young girls took of fairies. The second part is the story of William H. Mumler who took pictures of the ghost of Abraham Lincoln and well as many dead American Civil War soldiers.
Links to the Cottingley Fairies Story
Geoffrey Crawley, 83, Dies; Gently Deflated a Fairy Hoax
The Cottingley Fairies - Museum of Hoaxes
Cottingley Fairies - Wikipedia
James Randi and the Cottingley Fairies - Video
Fadas de Cottingley - Confissão - Video
Links to The Mumler Spirit Photos
The Ghost and Mr. Mumler - History.net
A Brief History of Paranormal Photography
Photos Of Ghosts: The Burden Of Believing The Unbelievable
Of Spooks, Proofs, and Truths: Reflections on the Mumler Spirit Photograph Case
Camera Clues: A Handbook for Photographic Investigation By Joe Nickell
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This is episode 216 and today I bring you The legend of the death of Paul McCartney. Yes, there are people even today that believe the man died back in 1966 or 1967. They say he was replaced by a look-a-like and that the surviving Beatles began leaving clues to what they had done. Why would they leave clues? Maybe we can find out. So, is Pau McCartney l dead? Find out!
Link to the sources I used. (Nothing I say in original)“Paul Is Dead” Clues on Abbey Road
Beatles recall all out yesterdays
Paul is Dead-Wikipedia
‘Paul Is Dead’: The Bizarre Story of Music’s Most Notorious Conspiracy Theory
The Man Who Killed Paul McCartney
Michigan Today - 'Paul is Dead!' (said Fred)
Radio X - "Paul Is Dead": Inside music's weirdest hoax
McCartney; OPD Newspaper
The Beatles Bible - The ‘Paul is dead’ myth
Who Buried Paul McCartney? - Video
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Today I have the story of a day in which dozens of dangerous, man-eating animals, including a polar bear, a panther, a Numidian lion, several hyenas, a rhinoceros, and a Bengal tiger, that escaped from the Central Park Zoo and killed 49 men, women and children and injured hundreds more.
This tragedy is known as The New York Zoo hoax, a hoax because not only was no one dead or injured, but all the animals were still locked safely in their cages.
Sources I used to write this story:
Central Park Zoo Escape - Museum of Hoaxes
A carnival of death’ on New York’s streets - Washington Post
“A Shocking Sabbath Carnival of Death” - Slate
James Gordon Bennett, I Presume - New York Yacht Club
James Gordon Bennett Jr. - Wikipedia
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We could do a deep dive on any of these six films, but we want to give you just enough of a taste that you might be inclined to seek them out yourselves. We picked movies that aren’t necessarily blockbusters. Some have just gotten lost in the never-ending onslaught of newer films, some were popular overseas but not in America, and some just have nostalgia value.
Gordon's picks: Zulu (1964), Appaloosa (2008), Alatriste (2006)
Nancy's picks: A Very Long Engagement (2004), Conagher (1991), Gunga Din (1939)
Bonus mentions: Ride with the Devil, Joyeux Noel, Tombstone, They Shall Not Grow Old.
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The United States general election of 2020 has proven to be a hotly contested circus, and as we record this episode in the second week of December, it looks like it’s far from over. Crazy, right? Some might say “unprecedented”. Well, those people would be wrong. It’s happened before, and will probably happen again. Stay tuned to find out that, once again, there’s nothing new under the sun, especially when it comes to politics. For more of Gordon's musings on political shenanigans, be sure to listen to CWJ episode 207, "Outsider Presidents".
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In 1888, Nellie Bly was the most successful reporter in America, but she needed a vacation. She decided to take a working vacation, a trip around the world. Not only would she write about her adventures, but she would also try to complete the journey in under 80 days, beating the time of Jules Verne’s fictional hero, Phileas Fogg. This episode is the story of her journey.
Links to the Sources I used to write the episode
Around the World in Seventy-Two Days by Nellie BLY Audiobook
Nellie Bly: Around the World in 72 Days - Decades TV Network
Nellie Bly’s Record-Breaking Trip Around the World Was, to Her Surprise, A Race
Around the World in Seventy-Two Days by Nellie Bly
Nellie's Big Adventure - American Experience
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This is the story of a young, pretty woman in the latter half of the nineteenth century who oddly had no desire to get married, have kids, or run a household. She became a pioneering reform-minded journalist, exposing many injustices and corruption in American Society. A muckraker who did many amazing things. Born Elizabeth Jane Cochran, most know her as Nellie Bly and today I have part one of her story.
Featuring the amazing voice of Nancy Frye as Nellie Bly.
Link to the sources I used to write this story
Nellie Bly: daredevil, reporter, feminist by Brooke Kroeger
Bylines: A Photobiography of Nellie Bly by Sue Macy
ADC COLLEGE: The Curious Story Of Nelly Bly
PBS - Nellie's Milestones
Nellie Bly - Wikipedia
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You never know who you can trust, be it, nurse, landlord, mother, or wife! On this special Halloween edition of CWJ, I present two true stories of Serial killer. First, in 1880, Catherine and Margaret Flannagan found a great way to make extra cash, it just took a little arsenic. The second tale is the story of a nurse who they called Jolly Jane in 1901. Jane really took care of those she was looking after! It murder after murder on this podcast!
Links to the Sources I used to write these tales of Horror
The Black Widows of Liverpool
The Black Widows of Liverpool - Wikipedia
The Black Widows of Liverpool - the haunting story of two sisters hanged for a devious poisoning plot
THE BLACK WIDOWS OF LIVERPOOL - Crime Museum
Old Police Cells Museum - Evil Female Murderers
Serial killer sisters murdered relatives - BBC
EXECUTION OF TWO WOMEN. PapersPast
Jane Toppan
Jane Toppan - Wikipedia
Inside The Twisted Mind And Murders Of “Jolly” Jane Toppan
Jane Toppan “Jolly Jane”
Female Serial Killers: How and why Women Become Monsters by Peter Vronsky
Jolly Jane: (mis)understanding a female serial killer - Criminal Historian
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This episode is the second part of the story of Daniel Sickle, a very unusual man that lived in the ninetieth century. Dan was disgraced for forgiving his wife for having an affair, so he thought the best thing to do was be a General in the American Civil War! This story is only one of many adventures of the man called an American Scoundrel.
Links to the Sources I used:
The Battle of Chancellorsville
The Peach Orchard at Gettysburg - Ranger Matt Atkinson
Daniel Sickles: The Colorful and Controversial Commander of Gettysburg - Ranger Matt Atkinson
Daniel Sickles - Wikipedia
American Scoundrel: The Life of the Notorious Civil War General Dan Sickles by Thomas Keneally
The Wounding of General Dan Sickles: 157th Anniversary of Gettysburg Live! (Day 2)
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This episode is the first part of the story of Daniel Sickle, a very unusual man that lived in the ninetieth century. In 1859 he shot and killed a man in front of the White House in Washington DC in front of several witnesses and got away with it. And it was only one of many adventures of the man called an American Scoundrel.
Links to the sources I used to write this.
American Scoundrel by Thomas Keneally
Dan Sickles: Hero of Gettysburg and Yankee King of Spain by Edgcumb Pinchon
Daniel Sickles: The Colorful and Controversial Commander of Gettysburg - Ranger Matt Atkinson
“Legally Insane: Murder and Daniel Sickles”
The Washington Tragedy
Daniel Edgar Sickles Major General, United States Army
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The more things change, the more they stay the same. It's just human nature. Politics have always been a little crazy, and never more than when somebody who doesn't play by the rules runs for president. In this episode guest host Gordon Frye shares his thoughts about outsider presidents, including Jackson and Lincoln, with a few more for good measure.
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Back in the early 1950s, there was a race to discover DNA. When it was over, three men would be awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Overlooked at the time was a remarkable chemist and crystallographer Rosalind Franklin. Today I have this woman’s story!
Links to the Sources I used:
Rosalind Franklin - Wikipedia
Rosalind Elsie Franklin Pioneer Molecular Biologist
Dr. Rosalind Franklin - RosalindFranklin University
25 Minute Rosalind Franklin Biography DNA: Secret of Photo 51
Aaron Klug - Rosalind Franklin and the discovery of DNA
Rosalind Franklin (In Our Time)
DNA - Episode 1 of 5: The Secret of Life - PBS Documentary
The DNA Double Helix Discovery — HHMI BioInteractive Video
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This is the story of Dr. Thomas S. Harvey who did the autopsy of theoretical physicist Albert Einstein. When he finished, he kept something to study… Einstein’s brain! For more than 40 years, he would travel around with the brain. This is the story of Dr. Harvey and Einstein’s Brain!
Show Notes for this Episode:
Albert Einstein - Wikipedia
Thomas Stoltz Harvey - Wikipedia
Who Stole Einstein's Brain?
The Long, Strange Journey of Einstein's Brain
The strange afterlife of Einstein's brain
The Tragic Story of How Einstein’s Brain Was Stolen and Wasn’t Even Special
The final days of Albert Einstein
My Search for Einstein's Brain: Steven Levy at TEDxBeaconStreet
The Search for Einstein’s Brain
Possessing Genius: The True Account of the Bizarre Odyssey of Einstein's Brain
by Carolyn Abraham
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Mary Anning spent her whole life hunting fossils and her work changed scientific thinking about prehistoric life and the history of the Earth. He found some of the greatest fossils ever discovered but she was not noticed because she was self-educated, working-class, and more importantly, a woman. Today’s show is about this amazing lady who risked her life chipping away stone in the cold on the side of a cliff with the waves of the English Channel sneaking up behind her.
Show notes and links:
- Mary Anning, Finder of Fossils (sdsc.edu)
- Mary Anning Facts, information, pictures (encyclopedia.com)
- Rocky Road: Mary Anning (strangescience.net)
- Mary Anning – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (wikipedia.org)
- Dinosaurs, Evolution, and the Woman Whose Discoveries Changed the World (MacSci): Shelley Emling: 9780230103429: Amazon.com: Books (amazon.com)
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In this episode, I have the story of Maude King and how she entrusted her fortune to one of American's most notorious men, the American private detective, salesman, bootlegger, forger, swindler, murder suspect, blackmailer, and con artist, Gaston Means.
Link to the Sources I Used:
Spectacular Rogue: Gaston B. Means by Edwin Palmer Hoyt
The Saturday Evening Post History Minute: America’s Greatest Grifter
Gaston Means - Wikipedia
The Original Flim-Flam Man: How Gaston Means Fooled a Nation
Means, Gaston Bullock - NCpedia
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On April 10, 1933, the film King Kong was released to great reviews and did fantastic at the box office! And even though he died in the end, it wasn’t the end for the Great Gorilla! In this episode, I have the story of King Kong’s release and all that followed on the 203rd episode of Sunday Morning Coffee with Jeff.
Links to the sources I used to write this:Living Dangerously: The Adventures of Merian C. Cooper, Creator of King Kong by Mark Cotta Vaz
New York Times - Getting That Monkey Off His Creator's Back
Wikipedia - Ernest B. Schoedsack
Wikipedia - Merian C. Cooper
Wikipedia - King Kong (1933 film)
Invention & Technology King Kong
King Kong: The History of a Movie Icon from Fay Wray to Peter Jackson
By Ray Morton
Mighty Joe Young (1949 film)-Wikipedia
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On this thrilling episode, I have the second part of my story of the 1933 film King Kong! How was it created? Find out on the 202th episode of Sunday Morning Coffee with Jeff.
Links to the sources I used to write this
The making of King Kong by Orville Goldner & George Eugene Turner
Wikipedia - King Kong
Fay Wray discusses "King Kong"--Rare TV Interview
The Making Of 'King Kong': Screams, Score And More (NPR)
Origin of 'Kong': The Unbelievable True Backstory of Hollywood's Favorite Giant Ape
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It was back when sound films were new and special effects were very primitive. Yet, with boundless energy and drive, Merian C. Cooper was able to create his vision is a giant gorilla. Today I have the first part of the story of Cooper and the film King Kong on the 201st episode of Sunday Morning Coffee with Jeff.
Links to the sources I used to write this:Living Dangerously: The Adventures of Merian C. Cooper, Creator of King Kong by Mark Cotta Vaz
New York Times - Getting That Monkey Off His Creator's Back
Wikipedia - Ernest B. Schoedsack
Wikipedia - Merian C. Cooper
Wikipedia - King Kong (1933 film)
Invention & Technology King Kong
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The once was a 4-piece rock and roll band from Liverpool England in the early 1960s. The group was one of the first all-female Rock and Roll bands. Today I have the story of Valerie, Pamela, Mary and Sylvia, known as the Liverbirds on the 200th episode of Sunday Morning Coffee with Jeff.
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This is the story of Joseph Meister, a nine-year-old boy who was the first to be given the Rabies vaccine. The Vaccine was developed by and one of the fathers of germ theory, Louis Pasteur after five years of work. This is the story of how Pasteur took a great risk in giving the young child his cure.
Link to the Sources I used to write today's EpisodeRabies Symptoms, Diagnosis, Prophylaxis and Treatment by Charles Rupprecht
Vaccination A History from Lady Montagu to Genetic Engineering By H. Bazin
Louis Pasteur By Patrice Debra(c)
The Importance of Louis Pasteur Library Binding by Lisa Yount
Louis Pasteur - Wikipedia
The Rabies Vaccine Backstory
Joseph Meister - Wikipedia
The Life and Death of Joseph Meister
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Alan Freed was one of the most successful disc jockeys of the 1950s. He coined the term Rock and Roll. His career was cut short when he was accused of excepting payments from record companies to play their records. This is the rise and fall story of Mr. Rock and Roll.
Sources I used to write this episode:
Alan Freed - Wikipedia
Payola - Wikipedia
History of Rock and Roll - Payola
FREED, ALAN - Case Western Reserve University
Alan Freed - Encyclopedia.com
Big Beat Heat: Alan Freed and the Early Years of Rock and Roll by John A. Jackson
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She grew up poor in 1890s Ireland. Coming to the United States as a teenager, all by herself, she was able to build a good life as a cook for New York’s wealthiest families. One day she is approached by a name named George Soper, who told her she could be the carrier of a deadly disease. She might be unknowingly responsible for bringing sickness and death to others. Her name was Mary Mallon, but the press gave her the title of Typhoid Mary!
Sources to today's showGerm City: Epidemics throughout New York’s History
George Soper on Mary Mallon
THE CURIOUS CAREER OF TYPHOID MARY
Typhoid Mary - Encyclopaedia Britannica
Mary Mallon (1869-1938) and the history of typhoid fever
The Most Dangerous Woman In America
In Her Own Words
Mary Mallon - Wikipedia
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In 1941, Germany surprisingly attacked the Soviet Union. The Russian people were outraged. Everyone wanted to do their part, even hundreds of female pilots. Eventually, through the work of Marina Raskova, three regiments were created, all entirely staffed by women. One of these, the 588th Night Bomber Regiment, was given outdated bi-planes and told to bomb the Germans in the darkness of night. They did their job so well; the Germans began calling them Nachthexen, the Night Witches.
Sources
The Female Soldier
Marina Raskova - Wikipedia
Meet the Night Witches, the Daring Female Pilots Who Bombed Nazis By Night
Night Witches — Film by Gunilla Bresky
Not Just Night Witches
Night Witches
Night Witches: How the USSR’s Female Flying Aces Took the Fight to Berlin
Night Witches - Wikipedia
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Fordlandia: The Rise and Fall of Henry Ford's Forgotten Jungle City
By Greg Grandin
“Assembly Line Americanization:” Henry Ford’s Progressive Politics
"Fordlandia: The Rise and Fall of Henry Ford's Forgotten Jungle City" Democracy Now 7/2/09
The Amazon Awakens
Henry Ford Documentary MOST Influential AMERICAN Innovator Ford's Model T
Ford and The American Dream
Fordlândia-Wikipedia
Fordlandia: The Failure Of Ford's Jungle Utopia
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Back in the recent past, there was a man who made films. He worked with actors such as was John Carradine, J. Carrol Naish, Russ Tamblyn, Kent Taylor, Scott Brady, Brodrick Crawford, Aldo Ray, Robert Livingston, Yvonne De Carlo, The Ritz Brothers, and Lon Chaney Jr. He directed over 30 films in less than 20 years. And after a long career, he was brutally murdered in his own home. Today I have the story of filmmaker Al Adamson on the 194 episode of Sunday Morning Coffee with Jeff.
Sources for this Episode
Interviewed by George R. Reis & Keith Crocker, The Exploitation Journal
“AL AND I CALLED HIM ‘ZIGGY’”: PRODUCER SAM SHERMAN REMEMBERS THE EARLY DAYS OF VILMOS ZSIGMOND
The Imperfect Podcast Ep May 2017
Wild Beyond Belief!: Interviews with Exploitation Filmmakers of the 1960s and 1970s
Stuntman Stories: Gary Kent at Spahn Ranch
"Producing Schlock" - The Career of Al Adamson
Independent-International: What You Didn't Know
Horror Film Director Found Slain, Buried Under Floor
Blood & Flesh: The Reel Life & Ghastly Death of Al Adamson
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A long time ago, in the early part of the twentieth century, there was a group of people who were cut off from the modern world. They lived in the mountains of Eastern Kentucky. Without roads, electricity, and even books, their world was way behind the rest of the USA. Many of these mountain folk didn’t know how to read. But the world was changing, and education was vital. A government program to provide work during the great depression allowed people to bring books and magazines to these folk, and it changed their world.
Today I have the story of the Packhorse Library Project on the 193 Sunday Morning Coffee with Jeff.
Horse-Riding Librarians Were the Great Depression’s Bookmobiles
The New Deal - Wikipedia
Pack Horse Library Project - Wikipedia
The WPA Packhorse Library Project and the Social Utility of Literacy, 1883-1962
The book women of Kentucky: the WPA Pack Horse Library Project, 1936-1943 Author: Donald C. Boyd
Good Reads in Wild Places: The WPA’s Pack Horse Librarians
Reaching Out to the Mountains: The Pack Horse Library of Eastern Kentucky by Jeanne Cannella Schmitzer
Female Librarians on Horseback Delivering Books, ca. 1930s
That Book Woman
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The Art of Harvey Kurtzman (MAD Magazine)
Wiki-Mad (magazine)
Mark Arnold on the legacy of Harvey Kurtzman and Mad Magazine.
The Man Who Changed Humor in America Forever
Bill Gaines on Later with Bob Costas
The 8 Ages of Comic Books (1897-Present) by Alex Grand
The moral panic that almost destroyed the comic book business
Mad Magazine: Inside Look Behind the Scenes (1987)
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It’s holiday time again! In this episode, I tell the tale of Santa’s most famous Reindeer. Written as an assignment from his work, Bob May created a story and character that all generations know and love. First a little booklet, then a song, and then the 1964 holiday special.
I hope everyone enjoys it, even those that don’t make Christmas part of their winter celebrations. So, to all, no matter what you choose to celebrate, or even those that don’t celebrate anything at all, I hope you have a fantastic December.
Show notes and links:
- Robert L. May – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- FACT CHECK: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (snopes.com)
- The Original Red-Nosed Manuscript : NPR (npr.org)
- Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer’s Surprisingly Sad Origins (time.com)
- 12 ‘Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer’ facts for its 50th anniversary (mashable.com)
- Gettysburg Times – Google News Archive Search (google.com)
- Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: The True Story (youtube.com)
- Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
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Once upon a time, there was an actor. He was in the biggest film franchise in history, but he wasn’t happy. He thought that those who hired him were taking advantage of him. At the same time, one of the stories he was acting might not have been written by the name who man who said he had written it. Together, the real author and the disgruntled actor would team up to make a film to compete with the franchise.
Today I have the story of the Thunderball saga and how two James Bond films were released in the same year. All this, an more, in the 190th episode of Sunday Morning Coffee with Jeff.
Show notes and links:
- Thunderball (novel) – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- Everything Or Nothing – Part 1 (youtube.com)
- Kevin McClory – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- The Guardian Lectures: Sean Connery Talks to Iain Johnstone about Never Say Never Again 1984 (youtube.com)
- sean connery tonight show 1983 (youtube.com)
- Film ’83 Never Say Never Again Special Interview Sean Connery (youtube.com)
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Once upon a time there was a scientist who was introduced to a drug that made him feel wondered, made him feel complete, and knew that this drug could help many people all over the world. Soon, however, the government decided that no one should have this drug, not even scientist or doctors. In response the scientist told everyone who wanted to know, how to make it themselves.
Today I have the story of a remarkable man named Alexander Shulgin on the 189th episode of Sunday Morning Coffee with Jeff.
Show notes and links:
- Dirty Pictures (2010 Documentary, 720p HD) (youtube.com)
- Alexander Shulgin – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- MDMA Healing I AM REBEL THE LOVE DRUG S01E03 alexander sacha shulgin Documentary (youtube.com)
- Dr. Ecstasy – The New York Times (nytimes.com)
- Shulgin was known to many as the “Godfather of ecstasy” | NZ Drug Foundation (drugfoundation.org.nz)
- Ann and Sasha Shulgin – Pihkal and Tihkal: A Chemical Love Story (youtube.com)
- My Lunch with Psychedelic Chemist “Sasha” Shulgin (RIP) and His Wonderful Wife (scientificamerican.com)
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Once upon a time, some strange objects were found by a rancher and it was reported that a flying saucer had crashed! Years later, a man claimed to have actual footage of an autopsy of one of the creatures found at the sight.
It became a worldwide phenomenon – and then he said he was lying, but also that it wasn’t a hoax.
I have the story of the 1995 Alien Autopsy Film on the 188th episode of Coffee With Jeff.
Show notes and links:
- Alien autopsy – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- Before Independence Day: The Hoax That Captivated the World (time.com)
- Roswell Alien Autopsy – 2/4 – Eamonn Investigates (youtube.com)
- Welcome to Fortean Times Magazine (forteantimes.com)
- Alien Autopsy: Fact or Fiction? [HQ] (youtube.com)
- Bull Shit. Regards; Don Ecker
UFO Magazine (archive.org) - The Alien Autopsy – YouTube (youtube.com)
- Episode 32 – Alien Autopsy Part 1 with Spyros Melaris (conman.com.au)
- #32 – Alien Autopsy Interview (acast.com)
- Inside the Outer Limits – Spyros Melaris (youtube.com)
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Once upon a time there was a large poplar tree on the border between North and South Korea. The South Koreans, with the help the United States, wanted it chopped down. The North Koreans wanted it to stay. Not only did this disagreement cost the lives of two American soldiers, but almost started a major war.
On this episode I tell a tale tell a tale of the Korean axe murder incident and Operation Paul Bunyan and the 187th episode of Coffee With Jeff.
Show notes and links:
- Axes of Evil — The Atavist Magazine (atavist.com)
- At Korean summit in DMZ, ‘deranged’ ax murders still cast a shadow (washingtonpost.com)
- Korean axe murder incident – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- Korean Demilitarized Zone – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- The DMZ ‘gardening job’ that almost sparked a war (bbc.com)
- The North Korean Axe Murders That Almost Started a War (theatlantic.com)
- A Brief History of: The Poplar Tree Incident (youtube.com)
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In the early part of the 20th century, adoption was almost unheard of. However; one woman came in and changed all of that. Her name was Georgia Tann, and she did her best to provide children to those who wanted them, as long as a profit was involved – and she would get the children any way she could, by lying or by kidnapping. She was a bad woman who took babies from the poor, so she could sell them to the rich.
Today I have the depressing story of Georgia Tann on the 186th episode of Coffee With Jeff.
Show notes and links:
- A Story of Stolen Babies (nchgs.org)
- Georgia Tann – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- The Hollywood Baby Snatcher: The sinister story of the woman who stole children and sold them to the stars (dailymail.co.uk)
- How Georgia Tann Stole And Sold 5,000 Babies In The Black Market (allthatsinteresting.com)
- The Untold Story of Georgia Tann, the Baby Seller Who Corrupted Adoption by Barbara Bisantz Raymond (goodreads.com)
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In the late 19th, century a new industry began; filmmaking. In the beginning, it was open to anyone – man or woman – who wanted to try. That would change once big money got involved, and some would be pushed aside and forgotten about.
Are you ready to hear the story of a remarkable woman named Alice Guy Blaché who helped create the art of film and how Hollywood and history left her behind?
Today I repeat the story of Alice Guy Blaché on the 185th episode of Coffee with Jeff.
Show notes and links:
- The Lost Garden: The Life and Cinema of Alice Guy-Blaché (1995) (youtube.com)
- The Cabbage Fairy (1896) – 1st Female Filmmaker – ALICE GUY BLACHE – La Fee aux Choux (youtube.com)
- Alice Guy-Blaché – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- “Falling Leaves” (1912) silent film dir by Alice Guy Blaché – piano score by Ben Model (youtube.com)
- This link has no title (columbia.edu)
- Home | Alice Guy Blaché (aliceguyblache.com)
- Fort Lee: The Film Town by Richard Koszarski, Paperback (barnesandnoble.com)
- Home | Alice Guy Blaché (aliceguyblache.com)
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Imagine a burning home, flames dancing out every window. A man walking by hears a scream for help from a young child coming from inside. Without much of a thought, he runs inside in an attempt to rescue the youngster. Why would he do that? Why – evolutionarily speaking – would anyone risk his or her life or save a stranger.
One man thought he figured out why and he didn’t like what he discovered, so he gave up everything to prove himself wrong.
Today I have the story of George Price on the 184th episode of Coffee of Jeff.
Show notes and links:
- George Price and the Search for the Origins of Kindness (youtube.com)
- TEDxTalpiot – Oren Harman – The Evolution of Altruism (youtube.com)
- George Price: The altruistic man who died trying to prove selflessness doesn’t exist (independent.co.uk)
- The Group: On George Price (thenation.com)
- (PDF) The Birth of the First Evolutionary Stable Strategy | Oren Harman (academia.edu)
- The Man Who Gave Himself Away (nautil.us)
- (PDF) Helical Biography: The Case of Altruism and George Price | Oren Harman (academia.edu)
- George R. Price – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- Why Do Human Beings Do Good Things? The Puzzle of Altruism (psychologytoday.com)
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Imagine a man who was a civil engineer, a sheriff’s deputy, an assistant prison warden, a doctor of applied psychology, a hospital orderly, a lawyer, a child-care expert, a Benedictine monk, a Trappist monk, a cancer researcher, a teacher and a military ship doctor and surgeon. He acquired all these positions without ever graduating high school.
He was known as the Great Imposter. Today I have the story of Ferdinand Waldo Demara on the 183 episode of Sunday Morning Coffee with Jeff.
Show notes and links:
- FERDINAND WALDO DEMARA, 60, AN IMPOSTOR IN VARIED FIELDS (nytimes.com)
- Ferdinand Waldo Demara – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- LIFE – Google Books (google.com)
- The Great Impostor: The Amazing Career of Ferdinand Waldo Demara, who Posed … – Robert Crichton (google.com)
- Fred Demara, the Great Imposter (headstuff.org)
- Brother, doctor, soldier, lies | National Catholic Reporter (ncronline.org)
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In the early 1930s, America was going through a tough time. It was a period called The Great Depression.
There were other nations that were going through a similar situation – many of them seemed to solve their problem by installing a fascist government ruled by a dictator. There were some in America who thought a similar action in the United States was called for.
Today I tell the story of the Plot to Seize the White House in 1934 on the 182 episode of Sunday Morning Coffee with Jeff.
Show notes and links:
- Business Plot – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- The Fascist Plot to Overthrow FDR (FULL Documentary) (youtube.com)
- Bonus Army – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- World War Adjusted Compensation Act (wikipedia.org)
- The Plot To Seize The White House (wanttoknow.info)
- Major General Smedley Butler – The Warning (youtube.com)
- Smedley Butler & the “Business Plot,” Part I (libertarianism.org)
- 1934: The Plot Against America (harpers.org)
- Prescott Bush’s 1933 fascist coup attempt in the US – Business Coup stopped by Smedley Butler (youtube.com)
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In the late 1970s, the team of Ilya and Alexander Salkind did an amazing thing, created the first Superhero film, Superman: The Movie. The film was a huge success. The franchise continued for another four films, each film being of worse quality than the last. It was a steady decline until the character was given up on in Hollywood for 17 years.
Today I tell the story of the fall of the Superman Franchise in the 181 episode of Sunday Morning Coffee with Jeff.
Show notes and links:
- Superman (1978 film) – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- Superman the Movie: The Making of a Classic (youtube.com)
- Superman II – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- Superman III – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (wikipedia.org)
- Supergirl (1984 film) – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
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Richard Donner had just directed The Omen when he was asked he would direct a Superman movie for one million dollars. He would then spend over two years of his life dealing with problems and frustrations that he couldn’t have imagined.
Here is the story of Richard Donner, Alexander Salkind and Ilya Salkind, and the making of Superman: The Movie.
Show notes and links:
- Superman (1978 film) – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- Alexander Salkind – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- Superman: The Movie – Making Superman: Filming the Legend (youtube.com)
- Superman: The Movie – Taking Flight: The Development of Superman (youtube.com)
- Superman the Movie: The Making of a Classic (youtube.com)
- ‘Superman,’ The Inside Story: Director Richard Donner Remembers Meeting Stallone to Play the Lead, Working With Brando, and a Near-Fatal Knife Attack (hollywoodreporter.com)
- From The Archive: The Making Of Superman, Feature | Movies (empireonline.com)
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One day, a hotel owner in Virginia was given a small locked metal box for safekeeping by a man who has spent the winter at the inn. The man never returned.
After several years had gone by, the hotel innkeeper decided it was time to see what was inside. To his surprise, it contained the clues to a treasure of gold, silver, and jewels. Just one problem; it was written in code! After 130 years, no one has been able to figure it out.
I have the story of the Beale Papers on the 179th episode of Sunday Morning Coffee with Jeff.
Show notes and links:
- History’s Mysteries – Buried Treasure (History Channel Documentary) (youtube.com)
- Beale ciphers – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- The UnMuseum – The Beale Papers (unmuseum.org)
- The Quest to Break America’s Most Mysterious Code—And Find $60 Million in Buried Treasure (mentalfloss.com)
- Treasure by numbers | Science (theguardian.com)
- The Hart Papers (tripod.com)
- This link has no title (jstor.org)
- Brad Meltzer’s Decoded: Seeling Beale’s Treasure | History (youtube.com)
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Imaging a world in which a new technology, a new profession, was sweeping the world. A young child develops a deep desire, a passion for this profession, but he is told, from his earliest years until an adult, that the new profession wasn’t for him. He was not capable handling it for the simple reason, the color of your skin.
Today I tell the tale of Charles “Chief” Anderson, who overcame extreme racism to became one of the world most respected aviators on the 178th episode of Sunday Morning Coffee with Jeff.
Show notes and links:
- Tuskegee Airmen Documentary – YouTube (youtube.com)
- Preserving legacy of Lower Merion’s ‘Chief’ Anderson: Father of black aviation | Mainlinetimes (mainlinemedianews.com)
- Charles Alfred Anderson, Sr. Biography at Black History Now (blackhistorynow.com)
- C. Alfred “Chief” Anderson – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- Distinguished African Americans in Aviation and Space Science – Betty Kaplan Gubert, Miriam Sawyer, Caroline M. Fannin, Caroline Fannin (google.com)
- Chief Anderson | PEOPLE.com (people.com)
- Tuskegee’s Heroes – Charlie Cooper Ann Cooper (google.com)
- The Army War College Studies Black Soldiers · HERB: Resources for Teachers (cuny.edu)
- Wings For This Man – Tuskegee Airmen, African American Airmen, Ronald Reagan 24810 HD (youtube.com)
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Apparently something went wrong last week with the publication of my episode of Burke and Hare. For those that listened to it and heard the wrong episode, I apologize. Here is the correct show. Thank you for your understanding.
Imagine a world in which doctors would require the bodies of the recently dead to teach and learn about human anatomy. Some doctors needed bodies so badly they would never question where the bodies came from. Some enterprising young men made it their business to supply these doctors with corpses – and to keep up with demand, they didn’t wait for death to come naturally.
This is the tale of Burke and Hare on the 176th … or 177th! … episode of Sunday Morning Coffee with Jeff.
Show notes and links:
- Burke and Hare murders – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- Burke and Hare, grave robbers and murderers (historic-uk.com)
- Burke and Hare, The Men Who Murdered For Medical Science (curiosity.com)
- The History of Burke and Hare and of the Resurrectionist Times: A Fragment … – George Mac Gregor (google.com)
- The History of Burke and Hare, by George Mac Gregor—A Project Gutenberg eBook (readingroo.ms)
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Imagine a world in which doctors would require the bodies of the recently dead to teach and learn about human anatomy. Some doctors needed bodies so badly they would never question where the bodies came from. Some enterprising young men made it their business to supply these doctors with corpses – and to keep up with demand, they didn’t wait for death to come naturally.
This is the tale of Burke and Hare on the 176th episode of Sunday Morning Coffee with Jeff.
Show notes and links:
- Burke and Hare murders – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- Burke and Hare, grave robbers and murderers (historic-uk.com)
- The History of Burke and Hare, by George Mac Gregor—A Project Gutenberg eBook (readingroo.ms)
- The History of Burke and Hare and of the Resurrectionist Times: A Fragment … – George Mac Gregor (google.com)
- The Worlds of Burke and Hare (burkeandhare.com)
- Burke and Hare, The Men Who Murdered For Medical Science (curiosity.com)
★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
Imagine this, you are watching TV in the evening or late night. Maybe it is a movie starring Timothy Hutton and Sean Penn or a 1977 episode of Dr. Who, when suddenly something odd interrupts your viewing. Maybe it’s a message for a cable channel or a man in a mask getting spanked.
Today, I have two true stories of broadcast signal intrusion, the Max Headroom and the HBO Captain Midnight Incident, on the 175th episode of Sunday Morning Coffee with Jeff.
Show notes and links:
- Captain Midnight: ‘No regrets’ about jamming HBO back in ’86 (networkworld.com)
- The Story Of Captain Midnight (archive.org)
- Captain Midnight broadcast signal intrusion (wikipedia.org)
- 1986 Captain Midnight HBO Incident – Full Video (youtube.com)
- Weird Moments in TV History: The Max Headroom Broadcast Signal Intrusion Incident (mentalfloss.com)
- Max Headroom broadcast signal intrusion (wikipedia.org)
- WGN Channel 9 – The Nine O’Clock News – “The 1st ‘Max Headroom’ Incident” (1987) (youtube.com)
- WTTW Chicago – The Max Headroom Pirating Incident (1987) – Original Upload (youtube.com)
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Imagine this: You’ve been in a rock and roll band for two years. Days before you are due to record the first record, you are told, without much of an explanation, that you are being replaced. The band goes on to be the biggest sensation in the world and you end up working as a civil servant.
I am speaking, of course, of Pete Best – the good looking drummer of The Beatles whose dismissal from the band is still being questioned today. I have his story on the 174th episode of Sunday Morning Coffee with Jeff.
Show notes and links:
- Pete Best – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- The Casbah Coffee Club – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- Pete Best & Mona Best Interview (youtube.com)
- The Beatles Anthology by The Beatles (goodreads.com)
- The Beatles: Made on Merseyside (2018) (imdb.com)
- Pete Best – The Beatles Bible (beatlesbible.com)
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It sounds like a story from film or television. A man and wife go out west during the gold rush and end up becoming the richest couple in the west. Another, much younger, beauty enters the picture and the rich old man divorces his wife for the pretty young thing. They live an extravagant lifestyle – and then they lose everything.
This is the story of the Tabors who made fortune in silver in the late 1880. I have the story on the 173rd episode of Sunday Morning Coffee with Jeff.
Show notes and links:
- Colorado Experience: The Tabors – YouTube (youtube.com)
- Baby DoeTabor – YouTube (youtube.com)
- Horace Tabor – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- Home Page of Baby Doe Tabor & the DoeHEADS (babydoe.org)
- Rags, Riches & Scandal – The Tabor Triangle – Legends of America (legendsofamerica.com)
- Baby Doe Tabor – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- Augusta Tabor – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- Historic Tales from Park County: Parked in the Past – Laura Van Dusen (google.com)
- Silver queen, the fabulous story of Baby Doe Tabor – Caroline Bancroft (google.com)
- History Lesson – The Payphone (youtu.be)
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Imagine a man who defied his parents, turning down the chance to become a doctor. Instead, he followed his dream and became a high wire performer, acrobat, strongman, entertainment promoter, inventor, as well as the first known white man to cross the Kalahari Desert on foot (and live to tell the tale).
This is the tale of a man who had an amazing life; the tale of William Leonard Hunt, better known as The Great Farini – right here on the 172th episode of Sunday Morning Coffee with Jeff.
Show notes and links:
- The Canadians: The Great Farini (youtube.com)
- William Leonard Hunt – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- The Great Farini, Canada’s Most Fascinating Man (mentalfloss.com)
- Charles Blondin – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- Rossa Matilda Richter – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- Krao Farini – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- KRAO – The Missing Link (thehumanmarvels.com)
- History of Niagara Falls Daredevils (niagarafallsinfo.com)
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Imagine you’re a podcaster, ready to record your latest episode. The microphone is hot and the computer is recording. You have pages of note in your hand. Then you hear it, from behind the computer monitor it slowly walks. A small black head peaks around the corner…
It’s a cat named Amanda! You quickly realize that the recording will have to wait – the cat wants attention! You ask yourself, why are cats so strange?
That is the question I ask on the 171st episode of Sunday Morning Coffee with Jeff.
Show notes and links:
- The Ultimate Guide House Cats Documentary (youtube.com)
- A Brief History of House Cats | History (smithsonianmag.com)
- Cats in ancient Egypt – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- This link has no title (avma.org)
- Ultimate Cat Lady: Woman Shares Her Home With 1,100 Felines (youtube.com)
- The Wonderful World of Cats – HD Nature Wildlife Documentary (youtube.com)
- ITV The Story Of Cats 1 of 3 Wild at Heart (youtube.com)
- Cat – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
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A couple of friends, Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg and William S. Burroughs, start a new literary movement and each one wrote a groundbreaking novel. A few years later, something they took so seriously becomes the fashion of the day, a joke to many.
Today I have part two of the Beat Movement and the Beatniks on the 170th episode of Sunday Morning Coffee with Jeff.
Show notes and links:
- The Beats and the Beatniks (c-span.org)
- Beatnik – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- How The Beatnik Riot Helped Kick Off The ’60s : NPR (npr.org)
- SUNDAY 1961 NYC – YouTube (youtube.com)
- Beatniks in Life Magazine (1959) (imgur.com)
- The Deep, Dark Secret of the Banana! (youtu.be)
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Shortly after world war two, three men got together and changed the literary world forever. They were a group of writers and free thinkers who rejected conventional society and the taboo of the day. They believed in writing without censorship. It began with Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac.
Today I have part one of the Beat Movement and the Beatniks.
Show notes and links:
- Jack Kerouac – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- The Source: The Story of the Beats and the Beat Generation (1999) (imdb.com)
- Beat Generation – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- Everything You Need to Know About The Beat Generation (cheatsheet.com)
- “This is the Beat Generation” by John Clellon Holmes (litkicks.com)
- Rebels: A Journey Underground: #2 – A New Kind of Bohemian (youtube.com)
- Jack Kerouac / The Beat Generation (youtube.com)
- JACK KEROUAC on THE STEVE ALLEN SHOW with Steve Allen 1959 (youtube.com)
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There are stories in history that everyone knows to be true. Stories that are told over and over again that are assume are fact. But are they?
Today, I look at three food stories and in each case, I thought I new the truth. Join me as I explore the shocking truth of the potato chip, the TV dinner, and the New England Lobster on the 168th episode of Sunday Morning Coffee with Jeff.
Show notes and links:
- TV dinner – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- Invention and view of the original TV dinner (youtube.com)
- How 260 Tons of Thanksgiving Leftovers Gave Birth to an Industry | History (smithsonianmag.com)
- **Who “invented” the TV dinner? Everyday Mysteries:Fun Science Facts from the
Library of Congress) (loc.gov) * 11 Ready-to-Digest Tidbits About TV Dinners (mentalfloss.com) * The History of Lobster in America | Food: Now and Then | NowThis (youtube.com) * A Taste of Lobster History (history.com) * History of Lobster Fishing & Processing (parl.ns.ca) * FACT CHECK: Potato Chip Origin (snopes.com) * What you hear about lobsters, and what’s true (islandinstitute.org) * Sandy Oliver: Is It True What They Say About Lobster? (youtube.com) * Shoptalk: Sandy Oliver on Vimeo** (vimeo.com)
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Just like the Terminator, but with less mayhem, Gordon is back with more crazy family stories. Who was his granddad at war with at the top of WW1? What was his dad doing in the South Pacific during World War 2 with all that pineapple juice? Tune in and find out!
Show notes and links:
- Coffee With Jeff #158: Story Time with Chooch: pt. 1 (csicon.fm)
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Jeff is on Christmas break, so it’s time for another benign takeover. This week, Gordon and Nancy take a walk down movie-making memory lane, theirs and other peoples’. It’s mostly Gordon’s mishaps with horses and weapons of limited destruction, but then that’s just typical.
Show notes and links:
- Hollywood – Ep 11 : Trick of the Light (youtu.be)
- Way Down East (1920) (imdb.com)
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Toys! Almost everyone loves toys. Toys can be fun, exciting, and even educational. Sometimes, however, manufacturers create toys that pose a risk to the kids they are intended for. Some of these toys can cause injury, others can result in death.
With the holiday season upon us, I present six toys that had issues when it comes to child safety on the 165th episode of Sunday Morning Coffee with Jeff.
Show notes and links:
- Cabbage Patch Kids – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- CNN – Safety experts alarmed by chomping Cabbage Patch Kids (cnn.com)
- Cabbage Patch doll `eats’ girls’ hair (independent.co.uk)
- Gilbert U-238 Atomic Energy Laboratory (wikipedia.org)
- Alfred Carlton Gilbert – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- The 1950s Science Kit That Had Real Uranium (youtube.com)
- Gilbert U-238 Atomic Energy Lab (tripod.com)
- Austin Magic Pistol – Vintage Space Toy (youtube.com)
- The Original Creepy Crawlers Machines Will Make You Wonder How Kids Survived The 60s (throwbacks.com)
- Creepy Crawlers – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- United States v. Article Consisting of 50,000 Cardboard Boxes More or Less, Each Containing One Pair of Clacker Balls (wikipedia.org)
- Gilbert · Glass Blowing · Cover (glassian.org)
- CNN – Safety experts alarmed by chomping Cabbage Patch Kids (cnn.com)
- Most Dangerous Kid Toys – When And How (whenandhow.com)
- Clackers – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
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Imagine being born rich enough to spend your life fulfilling your passions … Now imagine your passion was practical jokes. There was a man in the early 20th century who only seemed to want to make people – including himself – laugh. He was a jester who delighted in poking fun of people who are full of themselves.
Today, I have the story of Horace de Vere Cole and the Dreadnought hoax on the 164th episode of Sunday Morning Coffee with Jeff.
Show notes and links:
- A Fool There Was – The New York Times (nytimes.com)
- Horace de Vere Cole, The Sultan of Pranks (youtube.com)
- Dreadnought hoax – the master piece of pranking (thevintagenews.com)
- Horace de Vere Cole – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- Explained: The Zanzibar Hoax – YouTube (youtube.com)
- Explained: The Dreadnought Hoax – YouTube (youtube.com)
- The Bloomsbury Group: A Collection of Memoirs and Commentary (google.com)
- The Time Virginia Woolf Wore Blackface (newyorker.com)
- Tales of English Eccentrics – Tony Grumley-Grennan (google.com)
★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
In Chicago of the early 20th century, there were all kinds of new wealth. Many people had large amounts of money; sometimes people who never had money before. Naturally, there were many ready to take advantage of them as well.
One such man is rumored to have made over eight million dollars in, well, … not-so-legitimate means. His most famous crime was made famous in a very successful film from the 1970s.
His name was Joseph “Yellow Kid” Weil and I have his story on the 163 episode of Sunday Morning Coffee with Jeff.
Show notes and links:
- 10 Wacky Vintage Cures Con Artists Sold To The Masses (listverse.com)
- Modern Television Conmen and The Yellow Kid (geekpittsburgh.com)
- “Yellow Kid” Weil; the autobiography of America’s master swindler : Weil, Joseph R : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive (archive.org)
- Hoaxers and Hustlers – Thomas Streissguth (google.com)
- King of the con men (chicagotribune.com)
- This link has no title (livinghistoryofillinois.com)
★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
Do you believe in ghosts? In this episode; I will tell you the story of a specter that roams the Hollywood Hills, a hotel that many flee in terror, and a mysterious woman who dances and disappears. It is three ghost stories that many say are real! All this, and more, on the 163rd episode of Sunday Morning Coffee with Jeff.
Show notes and links:
- The Story Of Peg Entwistle, The Most Infamous Hollywood Haunting (ranker.com)
- Is the Hollywood Sign Haunted? (vanityfair.com)
- Peg Entwistle – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- The truth about Peg Entwistle, the young actress who committed suicide by jumping off the Hollywood Sign (thevintagenews.com)
- The Mysterious Legend of Resurrection Mary (unsolved.com)
- Resurrection Mary (hauntdetective.com)
- Resurrection Cemetery (ghostresearch.org)
- The Stanley Hotel – Historic Stanley Estes Park Hotel (stanleyhotel.com)
- The Stanley Hotel – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- StephenKing.com – The Shining Inspiration (stephenking.com)
- Colorado Experience: The Stanley Hotel (youtube.com)
★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
Welcome to Jeff’s house of horror and coffee! This show contains a description of a murder that might not be suitable for young and more sensitive listeners. You have been warned! This is the tale of a couple of maids in 1833 that, well, went a little off the handle. It is one most famous cases of homicide in France for its bizarre and ghastly nature.
So prepare yourself for the take of the Papin Sisters on the 161st episode of Sunday Morning with Jeff.
Show notes and links:
- When Sisters Kill (Part 1) (typepad.com)
- Insanity Or Class Warfare? The Gruesome Case Of The Papin Sisters (allthatsinteresting.com)
- The Crimes of the Papin Sisters (Full Documentary) Real Stories (youtube.com)
- THE CRIME OF (tripod.com)
- Christine and Léa Papin – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- The Papin Sisters and the murder case that still haunts France after more than 80 years (thevintagenews.com)
- Papin Sisters Facts (murderpedia.org)
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Chloroform is a colorless, sweet-smelling, dense liquid that is a powerful anesthetic, euphoriant, anxiolytic and sedative when inhaled or ingested. It can also be used to kill.
40-year-old Thomas Edwin Bartlett found that out in 1886, when he never woke to enjoy New Years Day! A lethal dose of Chloroform was found in his stomach and it was believed his young wife was responsible.
Today I tell the take of the Pimlico Mystery on the 160th episode of Sunday Morning Coffee with Jeff.
Show notes and links:
- Pimlico Mystery – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- The Mammoth Book of Women Who Kill by Richard Glyn Jones (goodreads.com)
- The Trial of Adelaide Bartlett for Murder, Held at the Central Criminal … – Adelaide Blanche de la Tremoille Bartlett (google.com)
- Criminal Molecules and Classic Cases by John Emsley (goodreads.com)
- Victorian murderesses: a true history of thirteen respectable French and … – Mary S. Hartman (google.com)
- The Language of Newspapers: Socio-Historical Perspectives – Martin Conboy (google.com)
★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
She was barely an adult, had a unique hairstyle, waz a heavy drinker, diagnosed with a mental illness and – for a few years in the early 1940s – was a huge star in Hollywood. Within less than 10 years, even while starring in a few huge films, she disappeared from Hollywood. Years later, she would be discovered working as a waitress in a hotel in New York City.
Today, I tell the story of the actress Veronica Lake on the 159 episode of Sunday Morning Coffee with Jeff.
Show notes and links:
- Veronica Lake – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- The Story of Veronica Lake by Jeff Lenburg (goodreads.com)
- Flesh Feast (1970) – Full Cast & Crew (imdb.com)
- Veronica Lake, former ’40s Hollywood star, appeared ‘very damaged’ in her later years (foxnews.com)
- Veronica Lake–Rare 1971 TV Interview, William Saroyan (youtube.com)
- Veronica Lake interview 1952 – Eloise Salutes The Stars (youtube.com)
- “FLESH FEAST”, (1970) BIZARRE HORROR FILM! PART 1 (youtube.com)
- Veronica Lake, Peek-a-Boo Star of the ’40s, Dies at 51 (latimes.com)
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Jeff is on vacation this week and made the brave decision to hand over his show to Gordon and Nancy from The History Files and Gordon’s Gun Closet. The result is a collection of stories from a character named “Chooch”, who actually has some pretty interesting tales to tell of days gone by.
★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
Ever since the invention of money, there have always been people looking for ways to make it both quickly and easily. Promises of quick profits are often very temping to anyone dreaming of a better life – so imagine a chance to double your money in as little as three months?
That is what one man pledged in the early 20th century, getting thousands of people to give him his hard earned cash. Today I have the tale of Charles Ponzi and his Scheme.
Show notes and links:
- Charles Ponzi – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- In Search Of History – Charles Ponzi & His Scheme (History Channel Documentary) (youtube.com)
- The Ultimate Get-Rich-Quick Scheme: Charles Ponzi & the True Story of a Financial Legend (2005) (youtube.com)
- Charles Ponzi – Criminal – Biography (biography.com)
- Carlo Bianchi and the Nurse (infogumshoe.com)
- Handbook of frauds, scams, and swindles : failures of ethics in leadership / edited by Serge Matulich, David M. Currie. (princeton.edu)
- History’s Greatest Deceptions and Confidence Scams by Steven Lazaroff Mark Rodger (goodreads.com)
★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
Once upon a time, in 1872, Captain David Reed Morehouse and the crew of the brigantine Dei Gratia were sailing from New York to Gibraltar when that happened spot on unusual site in the middle of the ocean. It was the ship captained by his friend Benjamin Spooner Briggs, whom he had just seen a month earlier! Briggs, his wife, daughter and crew were missing, never to be seen again!
Here is story of the Mary Celeste!
Show notes and links:
- Mary Celeste – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- Mary Celeste – Full Documentary (youtube.com)
- The World’s Greatest Unsolved Mysteries – Lionel Fanthorpe, Patricia Fanthorpe (google.com)
- This link has no title (amazon.com)
- The Mystery Of The Mary Celeste (americanheritage.com)
- The Mystery of the Mary Celeste (ucl.ac.uk)
- Mary Celeste | BOOK OF DAYS TALES (bookofdaystales.com)
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Once upon a time, the world trembled at the thought of Nuclear war. Between the 1950 and the 1970s, every child was taught what to do in case the big one fell. We were all told that the bombs would come from an evil enemy many miles away. Little did we know we were all in danger of our own government dropping one on its own people.
Today we have 5 stories of atomic bombs dropped on American soil.
Show notes and links:
- 9 Tales of Broken Arrows: Thermonuclear Near Misses Throughout History (history.com)
- 1961 Goldsboro B-52 crash – Nuclear catastrophe narrowly averted (youtube.com)
- 8 Nuclear Weapons the U.S. Has Lost (mentalfloss.com)
- Accident Convair B-36B-15-CF Peacemaker 44-92075, 14 Feb 1950 (aviation-safety.net)
- 1950 British Columbia B-36 crash (wikipedia.org)
- U.S. soldier buried six decades after his bomber crashed while carrying a ‘nuclear bomb’ on top secret Cold War mission (dailymail.co.uk)
- Accidental Mars Bluff bombing survivor dies at 92 | Local News (scnow.com)
- 1958 Mars Bluff B-47 nuclear weapon loss incident (wikipedia.org)
- Man Recalls Day A Nuclear Bomb Fell On His Yard (rense.com)
- 1961 Yuba City B-52 crash (wikipedia.org)
- Accident Revealed After 29 Years : H-Bomb Fell Near Albuquerque in 1957 (latimes.com)
- Details of 1957 H-Bomb Accident Told by Crewmembers (apnews.com)
- When an H-Bomb Dropped near Albuquerque (wordpress.com)
- Bombs Away! (thexhunters.com)
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One upon a time, in the early part of the 20th century, a detective who had once failed to find Jack the Ripper was investigating a missing person. While searching the home she once lived in, she found something gruesome in the basement. It was a body – but without a head, limbs or even bones. Was it the body of the missing women and was the killer her husband?
Find out on the true story of the Dr. Crippen Murder case!
Show notes and links:
- The Infamous London Cellar Murder of 1910 by Nicholas Connell (goodreads.com)
- Dr Crippen – Miscarriage of Justice – Part 1 (youtube.com)
- The London Cellar Murder of 1910: (Dr Crippen). (youtube.com)
- Full text of “The trial of Hawley Harvey Crippen, ed. with notes and an introduction” (archive.org)
- Dr Crippen and wireless telegraphy | Police, Crime, Prevention and Punishment (oldpolicecellsmuseum.org.uk)
- Executed in Error | Hawley Crippen | Secrets of the Dead (pbs.org)
- Was Dr Crippen innocent of his wife’s murder? (bbc.com)
- The Execution of Dr Crippen (historytoday.com)
★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
One upon a time, a four legged beast mysterious beast was sighted again and again in the western United States. It was described as being red, much larger than a horse, and carrying a rider who looked like it might have been the Devil – or at least a headless man! What were the people of Arizona seeing in the late 19th century?
Today we have the story of the Red Ghost of Arizona!
Show notes and links:
- Solway Firth Spaceman – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- Whatever Happened to the Wild Camels of the American West? | History (smithsonianmag.com)
- The Legend of Red Ghost (arizonaoddities.com)
- The Red Ghost | AMERICAN HERITAGE (americanheritage.com)
- The Red Ghost, Parts 1 & 2 (Paranormal Ecto News Flash, K101) (youtube.com)
- The U.S. Army’s “Camel Corps” Experiment (armyhistory.org)
- The Short Life of the Camel Corps (nytimes.com)
- The Evening Independent – Google News Archive Search (google.com)
- That Time the U.S. Military Had a Camel Corps (todayifoundout.com)
- Your Travel Guide to Arizona’s Local Legends and Best Kept Secrets by Wesley Treat (goodreads.com)
- Freed Willy – YouTube (youtu.be)
★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
Once upon a time in Vienna, pregnant women begged on thier knees not to have their babies delivered by doctors. They would rather have their babies in the street than the hospital – since there was a good chance they wouldn’t leave the hospital alive. One man figured out why.
Unfortunately, no one listened, and it all came at the cost of hundreds of lives. Today we have the story of Ignaz Semmelweis.
Show notes and links:
- Ivor Tymchak tells the story of Ignaz Semmelweis (youtube.com)
- Ignaz Semmelweiss – YouTube (youtube.com)
- Ignaz Semmelweis – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- The Doctor Who Championed Hand-Washing And Briefly Saved Lives : Shots (npr.org)
- Puerperal Fever (mcgill.ca)
- Genius Belabored: Childbed Fever and the Tragic Life of Ignaz Semmelweis by Theodore G. Obenchain | NOOK Book (eBook) (barnesandnoble.com)
- Moments of Truth: Four Creators of Modern Medicine (amazon.com)
★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
Once upon a time he was the hottest filmmaker in Hollywood, making a string of highly successful films. He married a beautiful and talented actress. When studio heads began messing with his work, he became frustrated and depressed and he decided to take out all his anger in a new film, one that would take 10 years to get make. The film was S.O.B. and his name was Blake Edwards and I have his story.
Show notes and links:
- The Village Voice – Google News Archive Search (google.com)
- Blake Edwards talking about Julie Andrews (youtube.com)
- Blake Edwards: Interviews (amazon.com)
- Blake Edwards – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- Blake Edwards obituary | Film (theguardian.com)
- Julie Andrews and Blake Edwards’ Love Story (countryliving.com)
- S.O.B. (film) – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
He was a follower of Aleister Crowley who put him in charge of the Ordo Templi Orientis. He worked with L. Ron Hubbard and attempted to create a moonchild. He was also a brilliant and handsome rocket engineer who help start the United States space program. Today, on the 150th episode of Sunday Morning Coffee with Jeff, I present the story of Jack Parsons.
Show notes and links:
- Occultist father of rocketry ‘written out’ of Nasa’s history (wired.co.uk)
- PROPULSION EPISODE 3: “Malina & Von Karman” (youtube.com)
- Occultism, Magic and the Birth of NASA JPL (spacesafetymagazine.com)
- Jack Parsons (rocket engineer) – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- What is Thelema? (thelema101.com)
- Hooky Spooky Dumb Shit — Babalon Working and The Moonchild Rituals (tumblr.com)
- Jack Parsons by Dr John Bluth, JPLOral Historian and Archivist (youtube.com)
★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
She is 116 years old. In her life she has helped millions of tourists see New York, has taken hundreds of people – thousands maybe! – on fishing voyages, been in a pop music video, and served in two separate world wars. She began as a plaything for a wealthy family and now she is left to slowly die – all alone.
Today we have the story of the ghost ship in Boone County, Kentucky.
Show notes and links:
- This link has no title (the-sachem-project.org)
- The Ghost Ship | Creepy Cincinnati (creepycincinnati.com)
- Ohio’s legendary 113-year-old Ghost Ship (thevintagenews.com)
- Explore Ohio’s Legendary 110-year-old Ghost Ship (huffingtonpost.com)
- USS Phenakite (historycentral.com)
- USS Phenakite – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- SACHEM, Brooklyn, NY – 1934 (mels-place.com)
- Storied ‘Sachem’ wasting away in Petersburg | Test (madison.com)
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In the early 18th century, some women found ways to help out with the family income. Mary Peck Butterworth did what she could – she made her own money in her kitchen! She was a counterfeiter who had a team in 1716 and this is her story.
Show notes and links:
- Notable American women, 1607-1950: a biographical dictionary – Radcliffe College (google.com)
- Mary Peck Butterworth –Colonial Counterfeiter (pluckywomen.blogspot.com)
- Mary Butterworth – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- Counterfeiting in Colonial America – Kenneth Scott (google.com)
- Women in American History: A Social, Political, and Cultural Encyclopedia … (google.com)
★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
The perfect crime; is there such a thing? In 1950, eleven men thought they had committed the perfect one, the biggest ever, and they were just days away from getting away with it but – at the last moment – it would all come crashing down.
Today I have the story what is called The Great Brink’s Robbery.
Show notes and links:
- Great Brink’s Robbery – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- Almanac of World Crime by Jay Robert Nash (goodreads.com)
- Incredible Stories, Facts and Trivia from the World of Murder and Mayhem by Tom Philbin (goodreads.com)
- The Great Brinks Robbery of 1950: Not Quite the Perfect Crime (newenglandhistoricalsociety.com)
- The Brink’s Heist: How A Guy Called ‘Specs’ Spoiled The Perfect Crime (wgbh.org)
- Brink’s Robbery — FBI (fbi.gov)
- JANUARY 17 = The Great “Brinks” Robbery (wordpress.com)
- The Great Brinks Robbery Crime Magazine (crimemagazine.com)
- The State’s Most Notorious Criminal Cases by Eric Ethier (goodreads.com)
★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
There is a rock and roll band you may have heard of called the Beatles. They had a few hit recorders in the 1960s. I think they may have had a few numbers ones. In my youth I was obsessed with the band and have resisted doing an episode about John, Paul George and Ringo for years, until today. Today I tell the story of the making of the 1968 album titled, The Beatles.
Show notes and links:
- The Making of The Beatles’ White Album by David Quantick (goodreads.com)
- The Beatles in India – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- Beatles history – 1968 year (dmbeatles.com)
- The Beatles Bible | Not quite as popular as Jesus… (beatlesbible.com)
- The Beatles – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- The Beatles’ White Album. The in-depth story behind the Beatles’ first Apple album. Recording History. Origin of the Album. Cover Art. (beatlesebooks.com)
- The Beatles “White Album:” The Untold Story (forbes.com)
- Flashback: The Beatles release ‘The White Album’ (kshe95.com)
★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
Imaging being on a wooden ship for over a year – a wooden ship with limited resources in sub freezing temperatures. You survive, only to do it a second time, and finding yourself trapped in the ice for even longer – over two years. That is the tale of Dr. Elisha Kent Kane.
Show notes and links:
- Elisha Kane – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- Biography – KANE, ELISHA KENT – Volume VIII (1851-1860) – Dictionary of Canadian Biography (biographi.ca)
- Philly explorer Elisha Kent Kane to be honored at Laurel Hill Cemetery (phillyvoice.com)
- The Coldest Crucible: Arctic Exploration and American Culture (youtube.com)
- Elisha Kent Kane (1820-1857) (ucalgary.ca)
- This link has no title (amazon.com)
- The Life of Dr. Elisha Kent Kane: And Other Distinguished American Explorers – Samuel M. Smucker (google.com.uy)
- Biography of Elisha Kent Kane – William Elder (google.com)
★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
Imaging driving home after unsuccessfully looking for a bingo game, only to be stopped by a alien ship in the road. Imagine trading water for a space pancake with a visitor from another world! Or imagine being taken aboard a spaceship when all you wanted to do was fish. We have three tales of alien encounters with no judgement from me! We have the Cash-Landrum incident, Joe Simonton’s Space Pancakes and the Pascagoula Abduction!
Show notes and links:
- 1980: The Cash-Landrum Case – Think AboutIt (thinkaboutitdocs.com)
- the “Classic” Cash-Landrum Case Unravels (badufos.blogspot.com)
- High Strangeness: Space Pancakes (anomalist.com)
- Joe Simonton / Eagle River Case – from Coral Lorenzen, APRO (ufoevidence.org)
- UFO Sighting The Joe Simonton Story (youtube.com)
- Joe Simonton and the “Pancakes from Space” ! – Extraterrestrial Life & The UFO Phenomenon (unexplained-mysteries.com)
- Pascagoula Abduction – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- Pascagoula Abduction Incident with Charles Hickson & Calvin Parker in 1973 – FindingUFO (youtube.com)
- Calvin Parker tells his story of Pascagoula’s famous UFO incident 40 years later (gulflive.com)
- AP Magazine (apmagazine.info)
- Famous Alien Abduction in Pascagoula: Reinvestigating a Cold Case (csicop.org)
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Once upon a time, ships of war were made out of wood. Lumber was no match for cannonballs and explosive devices. Lumber broke easy, burned, and sent deadly splinters in all directions. During the American Civil War, two ships covered with iron, called ironclads, were built. They would meet and battled it out. Today we have the story of the Battle of Hampton Roads
Show notes and links:
- Gordon’s Letter | Coffee With Jeff (coffeewithjeff.com)
- Battle of Hampton Roads – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- Battle of the Ironclads – Mar 09, 1862 (history.com)
- Hampton Roads | Civil War Trust (civilwar.org)
- Battle Of Hampton Roads | HistoryNet (historynet.com)
- Battle of Hampton Roads – Conservapedia (conservapedia.com)
- The Monitor vs. The CSS Virginia (Merrimack) (youtube.com)
- The Story of the First Battling Ironclads, the Monitor and the Merrimack by James L. Nelson (goodreads.com)
- Monitor Boys: The Crew of the Union’s First Ironclad – John V. Quarstein (google.com)
★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
These days, everyone is having their sex changed. Bruce becoming Caitlyn wasn’t that big of a deal, but back in the early 1950:s, things were different. So different, in fact, that it would require a trip to Denmark for a man to become a woman.
Christine Jorgensen was a person who was born a man and was the first person to become widely known in the United States for having sex reassignment surgery. Today I have her story!
Show notes and links:
- Christine Jorgensen – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- Christine Jorgensen: 60 years of sex change ops (bbc.com)
- A Personal Autobiography by Christine Jorgensen (goodreads.com)
- A Biography of Christine Jorgensen by Richard F. Docter (goodreads.com)
★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
Imagine an old man who does a podcast. He decides to travel down memory lane and talk about the toys of his youth. Will the younger listeners roll their eyes and listen to something else?
On today’s show I am going to talk about three toys that were incredibly popular in my day; Ouija Boards, Lego and Mr. Potato Head. I am sure that anyone over the age of 40 has played with some or all of these at one time or another.
So, I wish happy holidays and happy New Year to all. I hope all your dreams come true.
Show notes and links:
- Timeless Toys: Classic Toys and the Playmakers Who Created Them – Tim Walsh (google.com)
- History of the Talking Board (museumoftalkingboards.com)
- Planchette – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- Ouija – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- History of the Ouija Board (Odd History) (youtube.com)
- Ole Kirk Christiansen – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- Lego – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- A brief history of plastics, natural and synthetic (bbc.com)
- Mr. Potato Head – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
Once upon a time, an elderly woman with one leg was minding her own business when a group of people bust into the shack she called a home and accused her of being a witch!
She is stripped of her clothes and forced to go without sleep for days. This is the first horrible action of Matthew Hopkins, the man known as the Witchfinder General, on the 140th episode of Sunday Morning Coffee with Jeff.
Show notes and links:
- Bloody Britain – The Witchfinder General – TV Documentary (youtube.com)
- Matthew Hopkins, The Witchfinder General on Vimeo (vimeo.com)
- This link has no title (archive.org)
- Journal of the witchfinder general opened up (telegraph.co.uk)
- The Historical Significance of Matthew Hopkins: England’s ‘Witchfinder General’ (luthercollege.edu)
- Devil marks, drownings and death: The story of the Witchfinder General in Essex (culture24.org.uk)
- Money Hungry Witch Hunter – Forgotten Assholes of History (youtube.com)
★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
A struggling family business came up with a new product, a brushless shaving cream, hoping to turn things around. Still they were on the verge of failure. Then a new marketing gimmick turns things around and gave millions of drivers something to read. Today I have the story of Bruma Shave!
And, as a added bonus, the story of the New England Confectionery Company (NECCO)
Show notes and links:
- Burma-Shave – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- Kingman Daily Miner – Google News Archive Search (google.com)
- Burma-Shave Jingles (burma-shave.org)
- Burma-Shave | AdAge Encyclopedia of Advertising (adage.com)
- Burma-Shave | AdAge Encyclopedia of Advertising (adage.com)
- Oliver Chase | Candy Professor (candyprofessor.com)
- A Brief History of Necco: America’s Original Candy Company (eater.com)
- History of New England Confectionery Co. – FundingUniverse (fundinguniverse.com)
- Civil War Soldiers and Conversation Hearts (histsociety.blogspot.com)
- Necco – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
An insurance salesman goes out on a call from a mysterious man to a location that doesn’t exist. When get gets home, he finds his wife brutally murdered. After a police investigation, he is charged with the crime, found guilty and sentenced to death. Today we have the story of the gruesome murder of Julia Wallace.
Show notes and links:
- The Killing of Julia Wallace by John Gannon (goodreads.com)
- William Herbert Wallace – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- PD James claims to have solved 1931 cold case murder | Liz Bury | Books (theguardian.com)
- The Killing of Julia Wallace: An Impossible Murder (theunredacted.com)
- A Solution to the ‘Perfect Murder’? University of Leicester (le.ac.uk)
- Steve Binns MBE on the Wallace Murder Case (youtube.com)
- Julia Wallace murder 1931 – Liverpool City Police (liverpoolcitypolice.co.uk)
★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
She was only 14. Her mother was one of the biggest stars on Hollywood. One night she grabbed a sharp knife from the kitchen, ran upstairs, coming face to face with mom’s abusive boyfriend. Today we have the story a Lana Turner, her daughter, a gangster, and a future James Bond!
Show notes and links:
- The Elgin Dead – YouTube (youtube.com)
- Lana Turner – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- Johnny Stompanato – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- In a 1958 inquest, killing of Lana Turner’s boyfriend was detailed (latimes.com)
- Lana Turner ‘let daughter take blame for boyfriend murder’ (dailymail.co.uk)
- Cheryl Crane, Lana Turner’s Daughter, Tells Her Story of a Harrowing Hollywood Childhood (people.com)
- Sean Connery, Lana Turner And The Murder Of Johnny Stompanato (birthmoviesdeath.com)
- Interview with Cheryl Crane on Vimeo (vimeo.com)
★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
The year was 1890. A 49 year old artist and inventor named Louis Le Prince was about to become world famous for his invention. He boarded a train in Dijon France on the way to Paris.
He never arrived and no one ever found out what happened. This is the story of Louis Le Prince!
Show notes and links:
- Louis Le Prince – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- Louis Le Prince, who shot the world’s first film in Leeds (bbc.com)
- The mystery of Louis Le Prince, the father of cinematography – National Science and Media Museum blog (scienceandmediamuseum.org.uk)
- 100 Years Ago, the Father of Movies Disappeared (nytimes.com)
- BBC Education – Local Heroes Le Prince Biography (archive.org)
- The Career of L. A. A. Le Prince (nla.gov.au)
- The Disappearance of Louis Le Prince – True Crime (unexplained-mysteries.com)
- Louis le Prince Disappearance | The Friends of Roundhay St. John’s Church (roundhayfriends.com)
- The First Film (2015) – IMDb (imdb.com)
- Roundhay Garden Scene – Oldest Surviving Film (Louis Le Prince 1888) (youtube.com)
- Traffic Crossing Leeds Bridge (1888) Louis Le Prince (youtube.com)
- Accordion Player by Louis Le Prince – test17frames (youtube.com)
★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
Back in the early days of gasoline-powered automobiles, engines had a problem with knocking. The answer – or so the oil companies thought – was to mix highly toxic lead into the gas! This poison came out through the exhaust and into the air, the very same air that kids breathe … And this went on for over 60 years!
Show notes and links:
- Tetraethyllead – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- Octane rating – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- Why Lead Used to Be Added To Gasoline (todayifoundout.com)
- The Secret History of Lead (thenation.com)
- Lead for Life – the history of leaded gasoline – an excerpt (youtube.com)
- Regular Unleaded: The CC Patterson Story (youtube.com)
- Children, Pollution, and Why Scientists Disagree by Colleen F. Moore (goodreads.com)
- Looney Gas and Lead Poisoning: A Short, Sad History (wired.com)
- The Most Important Scientist You’ve Never Heard Of (mentalfloss.com)
- Charles F. Kettering and the 1921 discovery of tetraethyl lead | (environmentalhistory.org)
★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
On the 20th of December 1900, the lighthouse tender Hesperus approached the Flannan Isles with supplies for the lighthouse. When they approached, they new something was wrong. There were no signs of the three-man crew. The island was search. The men were gone and they were never seen again. This is the story of the Flannan Isles Lighthouse mystery.
Show notes and links:
- Pharos of Alexandria | ancient lighthouse, Alexandria, Egypt (britannica.com)
- Flannan Isles Lighthouse – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- This link has no title (uslhs.org)
- Lighthouses@Lighthouse Digest … The Mysterious Disappearance of the Flannan Islands Lighthouse Keepers (lighthousedigest.com)
- The Great Lighthouse Mystery of Eilean Mor (mysteriousuniverse.org)
- The mysterious disappearance of the Eilean Mor lighthouse keepers. (historic-uk.com)
- The Vanishing Lighthousemen of Eilean Mor | Mike Dash (academia.edu)
- Has mystery of Flannan Isles finally been solved? (sundaypost.com)
★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
He was born Jefferson Randolph Smith II in Newnan, Georgia, on November 2, 1860 and he would be known as Soapy, on of the most notorious con men in the old west. From the Shell Game and Three-card Monte to a fake telegraph and investments, if there was a way to take advantage of people, Soapy was involved. Today I tell his story!
Show notes and links:
- Soapy Smith – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- Soapy Smith – Bunko Man of the Old West (legendsofamerica.com)
- Alias Soapy Smith (soapysmith.net)
- Tombstone Times – THE SURE THING MAN ~ SOAPY SMITH (tombstonetimes.com)
- Soapy Smith killed in Skagway, Alaska – Jul 08, 1898 (history.com)
- Soapy Smith: Con Man’s Empire (historynet.com)
- The Legend Of Soapy Smith (alaskapublic.org)
- Gold Trails and Ghost Towns – Soapy Smith (youtube.com)
★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
Two story for the price of one! First, the story of Bridget Driscoll, the first pedestrian killed by a automobile, and second, the story of one of the worse animated films ever made, Foodfight!
Show notes and links:
- Pedestrian Safety | Motor Vehicle Safety (cdc.gov)
- Bridget Driscoll – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- How the UK’s first fatal car accident unfolded (bbc.com)
- motor car claims its first life, Bridget Driscoll (moneyweek.com)
- Mary Ward (scientist) – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- Irish scientist Mary Ward – the first person in the world to be killed by a car in 1869 (irishpost.co.uk)
- Henry H. Bliss – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- NYC; Marking Birth Of Death On the Road (nytimes.com)
- The Long, Strange Odyssey of ‘Foodfight!’ (animationmagazine.net)
- Foodfight! (2012): The Most Terrifying, Inappropriate Children’s Movie (cinefilesreviews.com)
- The incredibly strange story of Foodfight (denofgeek.com)
- Film Tooned Into Products | WIRED (wired.com)
- Movies That Never Were – Foodfight! – bewarethespaceman.com (bewarethespaceman.com)
- IBM makes play for ‘next-generation Pixar’ (usatoday.com)
- Episode 110 – Foodfight (art19.com)
- The Rise and Fall of the Computer-Animated ‘Foodfight!’ (nytimes.com)
★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
On September 12, 1952 in the little village of Flatwoods, West Virginia, a group of seven, two adults and five children, investigated something that had crash or landed on a hill. In the darkness, with only a flashlight that came across something scared them and they never forgot. What was it? Today I tell the tale of the Flatwoods Monster!
Show notes and links:
- Flatwoods monster – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- Gray Barker – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- The Flatwoods UFO Monster – CSI (csicop.org)
- The Flatwoods Monster UFO Case (youtube.com)
- The Flatwoods Monster – Alien, Ghost, or Cryptid [FULL VIDEO] (youtube.com)
- Flatwoods Monster | Cryptid Wiki (wikia.com)
★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
Canadian Dr. Gerald Bull had a lifelong dream to build a Super Gun, one that could shoot scientific instrument into outer space. It began in 1961, and for almost 30 years he tried to make his dream come true. In 1990, it looked as if he might actually build it but it was for the wrong people.
Show notes and links:
- Gerald Bull – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- PBS Frontline – Gerald Bull Supergun´s (youtube.com)
- BBC – Future – The tragic tale of Saddam Hussein’s ‘supergun’ (bbc.com)
- Space Guns – How We Get To Next (howwegettonext.com)
- Explore the Harp Supergun – Mysteries of the Abandoned (sciencechannel.com)
- Gerald Bull’s Downfall • Damn Interesting (damninteresting.com)
- The Man Behind Iraq’s Supergun (nytimes.com)
- WHO MURDERED GERALD BULL? – The Washington Post (washingtonpost.com)
★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
Three short tales on today’s show. The first is about a C.I.A. program to use kittens as spying devices. Next the story of Smokey Bear, and we finish that up with a ship the public wanted to call Boaty McBoatface!
Show notes and links:
- Operation Acoustic Kitty • Damn Interesting (damninteresting.com)
- Acoustic Kitty, an American Spy (theatlantic.com)
- 4. The Sad Case of Acoustic Kitty – Top 5 Crazy Government Experiments (howstuffworks.com)
- The CIA Plan to Use Cats as Spies (and the Taxi That Ruined It) (mentalfloss.com)
- Smokey Bear – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- The Real Smokey Bear Has A New Biography | Smart News (smithsonianmag.com)
- The story of Smokey Bear (fs.fed.us)
- Boaty McBoatface and the False Promise of British Democracy (theatlantic.com)
- RRS Sir David Attenborough – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- Boaty McBoatface wins poll to name polar research vessel | Environment (theguardian.com)
- Boaty McBoatface: Man behind name suggestion for £200m research vessel apologises ‘profusely’ (independent.co.uk)
- Boaty McBoatface Prepares For First Antarctic Mission : The Two-Way : NPR (npr.org)
★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
In 1848, a worker of John Sutter found gold in California. Sutter had reason for wanting to keep the find quiet, but he didn’t count on Samuel Brannan, who was soon running down the street yelling “Gold! Gold on the American River!”
Brannan, a former Mormon, businessman and journalist, wasn’t crazy – and had no desire to look for the valuable mineral – but he knew that a mad rush of fortune hunters was his key to fame and fortune. He would become California’s first millionaire, only to die poor and in relative obscurity.
Show notes and links:
- Ann Eliza Corwin Brannan (1823 – 1916) (findagrave.com)
- Brannan Before the Brooklyn (byu.edu)
- The Start of the California Gold Rush (1849) (youtube.com)
- Sam Brannon (1979) – YouTube (youtube.com)
- Sam Brannan and the Gold Rush: Biography & History – Video & Lesson Transcript (study.com)
- Sam Brannan (sierrafoothillmagazine.com)
- Latter-day Scoundrel Sam Brannan | HistoryNet (historynet.com)
- Samuel Brannan (spartacus-educational.com)
- HISTRORIANS REPORT (ecv1841.com)
- Fortunes Made Through Global Trade (flexport.com)
- Samuel Brannan – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- Chapter 2: Samuel Brannan and the Eastern Saints (byu.edu)
★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
On August 16, 1942, a blimp carrying two men left the coast of San Francisco to look for, and possibly destroy, enemy submarines. Five hours later, the airship was found, crashed in the middle of a suburban street. The two navy men were gone.
To this day, no one knows what became of the two men, leading some to call the mysterious airship… The Ghost Blimp.
Show notes and links:
- Mystery of the Ghost Blimp (historynet.com)
- Crash of the L-8 (check-six.com)
- L-class blimp – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- L8: The Ghost Blimp: Did Lt Cody Survive? (ghostblimp.blogspot.com)
- Aviation History’s Most Infamous One-Way Tickets to Immortality: Steven A. Ruffin: 9780760347928: Amazon.com: Books (amazon.com)
- Ghost Blimp | Unsolved more Mysteries (unsolved.com)
- The 1942 Ghost Blimp That Bewildered a California Town (atlasobscura.com)
- The Mysterious Vanished Crew of the Ghost Blimp (mysteriousuniverse.org)
- The Ghost Blimp | Oddly Historical (oddlyhistorical.com)
★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
The Jersey Devil was a local legend in the Pine Barrens area of New Jersey for over 250 years but during a week in January of 1909 dozens, some say 100s, of sightings cause it to be a national sensation. They say it is a kangaroo-like creature with the head of a goat, leathery bat-like wings, horns, small arms with clawed hands, cloven hooves and a forked tail. And it makes a “blood-curdling scream”. Was it Mother Leeds’s thirteenth child and what did Benjamin Franklin have to do with it?
Show notes and links:
- The Jersey Devil: The Real Story (csicop.org)
- Jersey Devil – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- The Devil Walks Among Us: The Myth of The Jersey Devil (ancient-origins.net)
- Impossible Animal of Story & Legend (livescience.com)
- The Jersey Devil (strangemag.com)
- Strange Creatures : (The Creatures of Cryptozoology) by Dino Brancato | NOOK Book (eBook) (barnesandnoble.com)
- The Jersey Devil by James F. McCloy, Ray Miller Jr |, Paperback (barnesandnoble.com)
- The Jersey Devil (The American Folklife Center, Library of Congress) (loc.gov)
- Leeds descendant debunks legend of the Jersey Devil | News (shorenewstoday.com)
★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
During the American Civil War, actress Pauline Cushman stopped in the middle of a performance and said to the audience, “Here’s to Jeff Davis and the Southern Confederacy, May the South always maintain her honor and her rights.”
She was immediately fired from the theater company and quickly became a celebrity with the Southerners. She started a new career; a spy for the Union Army during the bloodiest war that the United States had ever been involved in! This is her story.
Show notes and links:
- Pauline Cushman – Actress, Spy (biography.com)
- Pauline Cushman – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- H-Net Reviews (h-net.org)
- Pauline Cushman – Civil War Women (civilwarwomenblog.com)
- The Spy of Cumberland – Civil War Saga (civilwarsaga.com)
- History’s Women (historyswomen.com)
- Scandalous Women: Pauline Cushman – Union Spy (scandalouswoman.blogspot.com)
- The real Pauline Cushman – Washington Times (washingtontimes.com)
- A THRILLING NARRATIVE. – Miss Maj. Pauline Cushman, the Federal Scout and Spy. (nytimes.com)
- California ranked as the UFO capital of the US (dailymail.co.uk)
- ‘Ancient tree stump’ spotted on Mars? (foxnews.com)
★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
In the 1970s, nuclear power plants were popping up everywhere in the U.S.A. So quickly, in fact, that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission didn’t have the resources to keep up. One of these plants was Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania. On the night of March 28, 1979, lights and alarms began going off like it was The Forth of July in the reactor control room. Something was wrong, and for the next few days, the world waited to see if southern Pennsylvania was going to be a nuclear wasteland!
Show notes and links:
- Three Mile Island accident – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- Three Mile Island: The Inside Story (si.edu)
- MELTDOWN AT THREE MILE ISLAND (youtube.com)
- Three Mile Island: The Inside Story (si.edu)
- Three Mile Island Documentary: Nuclear Power’s Promise and Peril | Retro Report | The New York Times (youtube.com)
- Three mile Island Disaster – Documentary – Part 1 (youtube.com)
- Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station (wikipedia.org)
★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
On March 28, 1933, a plane called “City of Liverpool” crashed killing all aboard. There is some question, even today, on whether this was just a horrible accident, caused by a careless smoker, or if it was a deliberate act of sabotage by a dentist named Dr. Albert Voss. Today is both, the story of the tragedy and my search to find out what happened.
Show notes and links:
- 1933 Imperial Airways Diksmuide crash (wikipedia.org)
- Fatal accidents to British aircraft overseas 1930 (rcawsey.co.uk)
- 05 Apr 1933 – MR. ALBERT VOSS. (nla.gov.au)
- 1933 imperial airways diksmuide crash | Project Gutenberg Self-Publishing – eBooks (gutenberg.org)
- Sabotage passagiersvliegtuig – Gazet van Turnhout (gazetvanturnhout.be)
- 1933 Plane Crash Articles (guise.me.uk)
- A Magazine for Aviators, Pilots and Adventurers (historicwings.com)
- Violence in the Skies: A History of Aircraft Hijacking and Bombing – Philip Baum (google.com)
★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
In the second episode of Celluloid of the strange & Unusual, I bring you my thoughts on three more films, Life of an American Fireman (1906), Harold and Maude (1971) and Daisies (1966). All three of these films a really love and thing are important.
Show notes and links:
- Life of an American Fireman (1903) – Edwin S. Porter | George S. Fleming | Thomas Edison (youtube.com)
- Daisies (Sedmikrasky) Full Movie 1966 (youtube.com)
- Old Man Kelley On Film (youtube.com)
- Colin Higgins, Film Director, 47, Creator of ‘Harold and Maude’ (nytimes.com)
- 10 Perfectly Paired Facts About ‘Harold and Maude’ (mentalfloss.com)
- Bud Cort: ‘Harold and Maude was a blessing and a curse’ | Film (theguardian.com)
- ‘Daisies,’ From the Czech Director Vera Chytilova, at BAM (nytimes.com)
- Interview: Vera Chytilova | Film (theguardian.com)
- Daisies (film) – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- Life of an American Fireman (wikipedia.org)
- Harold and Maude – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
There is an area in the southwestern part of the borough of Brooklyn in New York City known as Coney Island. At its height, along with many independent amusements parks, Coney Island had three major parks, all competing with each other; Luna Park, Steeplechase Park, and Dreamland.
Dreamland, the subject of today’s show, was built in 1904 and designed to be bigger and better, with elegance far beyond the noise and chaos of Luna Park. It would be gone seven years later
Completely gone.
Show notes and links:
- Coney Island – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- Coney Island – Ric/Ken Burns American Experience (youtube.com)
- Luna Park, Coney Island (1903) (wikipedia.org)
- Steeplechase Park – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- Dreamland (amusement park) – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- Coney Island – Dreamland. (westland.net)
- How a Coney Island sideshow advanced medicine for premature babies (pbs.org)
- Coney Island History | Dreamland (heartofconeyisland.com)
- Long Beach New York – I Love LBNY.Com (ilovelbny.com)
★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
In the late 19th century a new industry began, filmmaking. In the beginning, it was open to anyone, man or women, who wanted to try. That would change once big money got involved, and some would be pushed aside and forgotten about.
Are you ready to hear that story of a remarkable woman named Alice Guy Blaché who helped create the art of film and how Hollywood and history left her behind? Today we have her story.
Show notes and links:
- The Lost Garden: The Life and Cinema of Alice Guy-Blaché (1995) (youtube.com)
- The Cabbage Fairy (1896) – 1st Female Filmmaker – ALICE GUY BLACHE – La Fee aux Choux (youtube.com)
- “Falling Leaves” (1912) silent film dir by Alice Guy Blaché – piano score by Ben Model (youtube.com)
- Alice Guy-Blaché – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- Alice Guy Blaché – Women Film Pioneers Project (columbia.edu)
- Home | Alice Guy Blaché (aliceguyblache.com)
- Fort Lee: The Film Town by Richard Koszarski, Paperback (barnesandnoble.com)
★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
There was a car that you probably never heard of, a car that was all set to revolution the auto industry that never made it into production. It was going to be a lightweight, fuel-efficient and inexpensive car, weighing in at 1,000 pounds, would sell for less than $2,000 and would get an amazing 70 miles per gallon. This car that was set to transform the auto industry was called The Dale.
A slick, six-page, fill-color brochure showed the futuristic, banana-yellow Dale in all its glory. The cover of the brochure read, “The new 70 mpg Dale. Dollar for dollar, the best car ever built! Inside were even more remarkable claims, “ The most exciting new car of this century” “The first Space Age automobile” “Design and built like it’s ready to be driven to the moon.”
Show notes and links:
- Twentieth Century Motor Car Corporation (wikipedia.org)
- James Dean’s Killer Porsche, NASCAR’s Fastest Monkey, Bonnie and Clyde’s Getaway Car, and More: Matt Stone, Preston Lerner: 9780760342602: Amazon.com: Books (amazon.com)
- One Hell of An Eye » Don’t Take Those Boobs To Town, Boy (onehellofaneye.com)
- Dale Leon Clifft (1932 – 1981) (findagrave.com)
- 1973 oil crisis – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- Energy Crisis (1970s) – Facts & Summary (history.com)
- 3-wheelers.com e-interview with Richard Smith (3wheelers.com)
- Excerpt: ‘History’s Greatest Automotive Mysteries, Myths and Rumors Revealed’ (nytimes.com)
- This link has no title (hemmings.com)
★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
In 1976, a made for television mini-series called Sybil premiered on NBC. It was based on a book of the same name; a non-fiction account written by Flora Rheta Schreiber about psychoanalyst Cornelia B. Wilbur and her treatment of a woman named Sybil Dorsett, who was reported to have 16 distinct personalities. Sybil, it turned out, was Shirley Ardell Mason.
Both the book and the film were a great success with its shocking and disturbing true story and yet, there have been many who have questioned the book and the story of Sybil and her 15 other selves.
Show notes and links:
- Old Man Kelley On Film (youtube.com)
- The Hysteria of Multiple Personality Disorder | (spoliamag.com)
- Famous Psychiatric Patient Sybil Discovered as Shirley Mason Disappears – Minnesota Monthly – March 2012 (minnesotamonthly.com)
- Unmasking Sybil (newsweek.com)
- Real ‘Sybil’ Admits Multiple Personalities Were Fake : NPR (npr.org)
- Sybil: A woman with 16 multiple personalities (booksatvioletcrush.com)
- A Girl Not Named Sybil (nytimes.com)
- Sybil: A Brilliant Hysteric? | Retro Report | The New York Times (youtube.com)
- Sybil (book) – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- Shirley Ardell Mason – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- Herbert Spiegel – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- The Making of a Disease? Dr. Herbert Spiegel’s View (astraeasweb.net)
- Debbie Nathan – Sybil Exposed (youtube.com)
- Freud Under Analysis: History, Theory, Practice : Essays in Honor of Paul Roazen – Paul Roazen (google.com)
★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
On the first show of the year, I look at three films that you may mot have seen. The Mystery of the Leaping Fish (1916), The Holy Mountain (1973), and Spider Baby (1968).
Show notes and links:
- 1916: John Emerson – The Mystery Of The Leaping Fish (Douglas Fairbanks, Bessie Love) (youtube.com)
- The Mystery of the Leaping Fish (wikipedia.org)
- The Holy Mountain (1973)- Blu-Ray 1080p- Legendado [Multi Subs] (youtube.com)
- The Holy Mountain (1973 film) (wikipedia.org)
- Alejandro Jodorowsky – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- SPIDER BABY (1964) – Full Length horror movie (youtube.com)
- The Official Home of Spider Baby (spiderbabyonline.com)
- Spider Baby – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
This is Coffee With Jeff’s last show… of 2016.
Imagine an old man who does a podcast who decides to travel down memory lane and talk about the toys of his youth? Will the younger listeners roll their eyes and listen to something else?
On today’s show I am going to talk about three toys that were incredibly popular in my day; Silly Putty, The Magic 8-Ball, and the Slinky. I am sure that anyone over the age of 40 has played with some or all of these at one time or another.
So, I hope all of you youngsters will forgive me for this episode, but this old man does have a tendency to ramble on, you know. Just be glad I don’t talk about my aches and pains.
Show notes and links:
- Silly Putty – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- The Invention of Silly Putty (bcsd.org)
- Earl L. Warrick, 91, a Dow Corning Creator of Silly Putty (nytimes.com)
- Robot Check (amazon.com)
- A Brief History of the Magic 8 Ball (mentalfloss.com)
- Behind the Magic 8-Ball – Neatorama (neatorama.com)
- Slinky – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
During the American Civil War; James McClintock, Baxter Watson and Horace Lawson Hunley designed and built a submarine to attack Union boats. The sub had an eight-man crew; one to steer the ship and seven to turn the propeller. And – warning! – it doesn’t turn out well. This is the story of the H.T. Hunley!
Show notes and links:
- Aliens draining solar energy? NASA captures images of monster UFOs circling around the sun : Science/Health : Headlines & Global News (hngn.com)
- Anaconda Plan – Civil War Academy (civilwaracademy.com)
- H. L. Hunley (submarine) – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- Submarine – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- Baxter Watson « The USS Flier Project (ussflierproject.com)
- American Diver – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- AMERICAN DIVER submarine « The USS Flier Project (ussflierproject.com)
- Friends of the Hunley (hunley.org)
- Captain’s “Lucky Coin” Found in Civil War Submarine (nationalgeographic.com)
★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
In Hollywood, a name alone can attract a big paycheck. It wasn’t always that way. There was a time in the early days of filmmaking that the big studios wouldn’t allow the actors name to be known. They feared their actors becoming stars, because they knew the consequences. This changed with one person, a female actor named Florence Lawrence, who is credited at the first film star in America. She was know as “The Biograph Girl” and she made 300 films for various motion picture companies throughout her career.
Show notes and links:
- Florence Lawrence – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- Florence Lawrence: The First Movie Star (history.com)
- Florence Lawrence – Women Film Pioneers Project (columbia.edu)
- The first ever movie star: Florence Lawrence – Page 2 of 3 (queensofvintage.com)
- Florence Lawrence, the Biograph Girl: America’s First Movie Star (9780786430895): Kelly R. Brown: Books (amazon.com)
- Carl Laemmle, Sr. Biography | Fandango (fandango.com)
- Florence Lawrence: Automotive Inventor and the “World’s First Movie Star” (historicvehicle.org)
★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
Nancy Wake was born in New Zealand, grew up in Australia and became one of the people wanted by the Germans in France during World War 2. They called her the White Mouse and she was forced to flee to England, only one step ahead of the Nazis! After training as a saboteur, she returned to France to join the French resistance as a fighting force. This is her amazing tale.
Show notes and links:
- UFO Spotted During the Supermoon? : News : Nature World News (natureworldnews.com)
- Nancy Wake- Codename ‘The White Mouse'(1987) Part 1 of 6 (youtube.com)
- Tribute to Nancy Wake – YouTube (youtube.com)
- Nancy Wake @ moreorless.net.au (moreorless.net.au)
- Nancy Wake, Proud Spy and Nazi Foe, Dies at 98 (nytimes.com)
- Special Operations Executive – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- Ian Garrow – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
His name was Robert V. Miller but he called himself “Count” Victor Lustig. He sold a machine to duplicate money, robbed money from a bank, was caught, and talked his way out of charges, and then escaped from an escape-proof jail! He was called the smoothest con man in the world but most people know his as the man who sold the Eiffel Tower.
Show notes and links:
- Victor Lustig (angelfire.com)
- Victor Lustig and His Money Box Scams (awesomestories.com)
- Nicky Arnstein – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- “Count” Victor Lustig, 1920s and 30s Con Man and Public Enemy w/ Jeff Maysh – A True Crime History Podcast (acast.com)
- The Man Who Sold the Eiffel Tower. Twice. | History (smithsonianmag.com)
- Victor Lustig – Criminal – Biography.com (biography.com)
- The Man Who Sold the Eiffel Tower (todayifoundout.com)
★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
Linda Burfield was born in 1867. After a failed marriage, she trained to be a doctor … sort of. She never actually went to school, yet she called herself Doctor Linda Hazzard and developed a health procedure using fasting to cure all types of health problems. Starvation was the key to health! And if patients starved to death, and many did, well; at least Linda got to keep all their money!
Linda Hazzard was responsible for a least 14 deaths! Probably a lot more!
Show notes and links:
- UFO Sighting Over Hawaii Triggers investigation Of Possible Hidden Alien Base : SCIENCE : Tech Times (techtimes.com)
- Bad Cat Productions – YouTube (youtube.com)
- Linda Hazzard – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- Dr Hazzard (Linda Burfield Hazzard) Documentary (youtube.com)
- Starvation Heights (starvationheights.com)
- True Crime Stories: Linda Burfield Hazzard (truecrimediscussions.blogspot.com)
- Fasting for the Cure of Disease : Linda Burfield Hazzard : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive (archive.org)
- Starvation Heights: 100 Years Later (seattlepi.com)
- Teresa Nordheim: 9781467136600: Amazon.com: Books (amazon.com)
- The Lives of Five Serial Killer Physicians: Is There a Common Thread?: M. D. William W. Colliflower: 9781460221624: Amazon.com: Books (amazon.com)
- A True Story of Murder and Malice in the Woods of the Pacific Northwest: Gregg Olsen, Jennifer Van Dyck: 0889290467485: Amazon.com: Books (amazon.com)
★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
The Blair Witch Project was the Brainchild of Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez who, as early was 1993, found that they felt documentaries on paranormal phenomena were scarier than traditional horror films. They went out and rented such things like The Legend of Boggy Creek and Ancient Astronauts, documentary-style movies and began to wonder if hey could do something like that, something with found footage, something is the vain of Leonard Nimoy’s hosted In Search of…
“We loved those,” Sanchez said. “Those grainy pictures of UFOs and Bigfoot? Those were a lot scarier than the movies.”
This week I tell the story of the making of this film.
Show notes and links:
- The Blair Witch Project: An oral history (theweek.com)
- Blair Witch Project Phenomenon: behind the scenes (1999) (youtube.com)
- The Making of The Blair Witch Project: Part 1 – Witch Pitch (dreadcentral.com)
- The Blair Witch Project – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- Sticks and Stones: An Exploration of the Blair Witch Legend (youtube.com)
- Director recalls making of now-classic ‘Blair Witch’ (usatoday.com)
- The Blair Witch Project 1999 Daniel Myrick & Eduardo Sánchez interview (youtube.com)
- PROOF OF ALIENS? UFO sighting in Vienna, Austria, in shocking photos | Weird | News (express.co.uk)
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It was the perfect great American success story; a down and out family man going from rags to riches with nothing more than his own ingenuity, inventing a game in his basement to support his family during the Depression. It was the story of the world’s most popular board game.
Unfortunately, it was a lie.
This week, we tell the story of Elizabeth J. “Lizzy” Magie; the real creator of the game!
Show notes and links:
- Some see Bigfoot photo-bombing Michigan eagle’s nest cam (freep.com)
- Monopoly Was Invented By Charles Darrow (factmyth.com)
- Log In – The New York Times (nytimes.com)
- The Landlord’s Game – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- History of the board game Monopoly (wikipedia.org)
- A Primer on Henry George’s “Single Tax” (dollarsandsense.org)
- A place on the board (lady.co.uk)
- This Woman Invented Monopoly to Combat Greed (youtube.com)
- Mary Pilon: “The Monopolists: Obsession, Fury, and the Scandal Behind …” | Authors at Google (youtube.com)
- Anti-Monopoly – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- Amazon.com: The Monopolists: Obsession, Fury, and the Scandal Behind the World’s Favorite Board Game eBook: Mary Pilon: Kindle Store (amazon.com)
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His name was Charles Rolland Douglass but his friends called him Charley. In the late 50s, he created a machine that every American network needed, and he called it the Laff Box.
If you watched television between 1960 and 1980, you’ve most likely heard his work. He was the guy that added the laughter and applause to sitcoms. You know his work as the laugh track or canned laughter.
Show notes and links:
- Laugh track – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (wikipedia.org)
- Charles Douglass – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (wikipedia.org)
- Ben Glenn II, Television Historian – The Paris Review (theparisreview.org)
- Who’s Laughing Now? The History of the Sitcom Laugh Track (indiewire.com)
- Watch Full Episodes Online of Antiques Roadshow on PBS (pbs.org)
- The Mystery of the Laff Box – thebaronblog (wordpress.com)
- Drunks, Thieves, Scoundrels, and the History of American Comedy: Kliph Nesteroff: 9780802123985: Amazon.com: Books (amazon.com)
- UFO sighting: NASA images show Martian ‘walled city’ ruins : Headlines : Headlines & Global News (hngn.com)
★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
As the age of 4 or 5 he read and fell in love with the H.G. Wells 1896 book The Island of Dr. Moreau, the story of a doctor who creates sentient beings from animals by the way of vivisection. Richard Stanley was disappointed in the previous two film adaptions of the work and dreamed that one day he would be able to make the film right.
In 1996, he got his chance to make a big budget film Doctor Moreau. It didn’t go well!
Show notes and links:
- The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996 film) (wikipedia.org)
- Director Richard Stanley on Why His ‘The Island of Dr. Moreau’ Became Such a Notorious Flop | VICE (vice.com)
- Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley’s Island of Dr. Moreau – Official Trailer – (2015) (youtube.com)
- Cheyenne Brando – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (wikipedia.org)
- Nelson de la Rosa – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (wikipedia.org)
- Richard Stanley (director) – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (wikipedia.org)
- Fired Genius Behind Disastrous ’96 Island of Dr. Moreau Vows an X-Rated Remake (laweekly.com)
- OBNOXIOUS AND ANONYMOUS: TALKIN’ WITH RICHARD STANLEY (FILMMAKER) (youtube.com)
- Amazon.com: Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley’s Island of Dr. Moreau (Blu-ray + DVD + CD): Richard Stanley, Fairuza Balk, Marco Hofschneider, Robert Shaye, Edward R. Pressman, Rob Morrow, Graham Humphreys, David Gregory: Movies & TV (amazon.com)
★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
Our story continues as Aleister Crowley began performing the seven magical rituals of The Rites of Eleusis. He soon joins the Ordo Templi Orientis, meets the mother of 1930’s filmmaker, Preston Sturges, travels to America to help—or not help—the Germans during World War 1, and eventually forms The Abbey of Thelema. All this and more the last episode on Aleister Crowley!
Show notes and links:
- ☿ Aleister Crowley – Rites of Eleusis [Lecture – Part I of II] ☿ (youtube.com)
- Aleister Crowley ….did he really say people needed to sacrifice small male children?ll? (yahoo.com)
- Rites of Eleusis – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (wikipedia.org)
- Tiger-Woman: Betty May And The Abbey of Thelema (asketchofthepast.com)
- Magick, Rock and Roll, and the Wickedest Man in the World by Gary Lachman — Reviews, Discussion, Bookclubs, Lists (goodreads.com)
- Aleister Crowley: Man, Myth & Magick (9781515228134): Steven Ashe: Books (amazon.com)
- A Life of Aleister Crowley by Lawrence Sutin — Reviews, Discussion, Bookclubs, Lists (goodreads.com)
★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
Our story continues as Aleister begins a normal life and a father and husband, only to take on an dangerous mountain climbing expedition that ends in tragedy, possibly kills two people in Calcutta, forms a new group called AA and does some questionable things with the poet Victor Neuburg and is sued by his od friend, Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers.
Show notes and links:
- Magick, Rock and Roll, and the Wickedest Man in the World: Gary Lachman: 9780399161902: Amazon.com: Books (amazon.com)
- Horatio Bottomley – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (wikipedia.org)
- Collected PDF’s by Aleister Crowley (archive.org)
- Thelemapedia: The Encyclopedia of Thelema & Magick (thelemapedia.org)
- Victor Benjamin Neuburg – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (wikipedia.org)
- Aleister Crowley: Man, Myth & Magick (9781515228134): Steven Ashe: Books (amazon.com)
- Ordo Templi Orientis – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (wikipedia.org)
★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
He was born Edward Alexander Crowley on the night of October 12 1875 during the height of the Victorian era in the town of Leamington in England. Aleister Crowley wrote in his diary: “I had arrived at the conclusion that the Plymouth Brethren were an exceptionally detestable crew. I wanted sin. A supreme spiritual sin. But hadn’t the slightest idea how to go about it. […] The Stockholm experience had allowed me to discover what I wanted to spend my time on. I would be an Adept in the Secret Arts, a Magus and through my own true will I could guarantee immortality and control the secret forces of nature.”
There were three things Crowley to master at this point in his life; poetry, mountain climbing, and the search for spiritual truth.
The Book of the Law. It would become Crowley’s most infamous works. It was a new order, or religion, that Crowley would be the master of – or the new prophet. It contained the line, “Do what thou Wilt shall be the whole of the law.”
Show notes and links:
- Sin & Sinners (littlebookofjohn.com)
- Aleister Crowley Documentary MUST SEE!! NO MUSIC! The Wickedest Man In the World Documentary (youtube.com)
- Aleister Crowley – Bio – YouTube (youtube.com)
- The Book of Abramelin – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (wikipedia.org)
- Farewell 666 – The Classic Post (theclassicpost.com)
- Boleskine House – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (wikipedia.org)
- Crowley, Aleister (themystica.com)
- A Life of Aleister Crowley: Lawrence Sutin: 9780312288976: Amazon.com: Books (amazon.com)
★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
Within a year of D&D’s first release, the game became the biggest thing in the war gaming community. Not long after, the popularity of the game began to creep into the college world. College kids all over the world began forming clubs and entering the fantasy world of Dungeon and Dragons.
What really propelled the game from an activity played by small groups of people to a name that would become familiar to everyone, whether they played it or not, was the unfortunate circumstances of a 16-year-old college student named James Dallas Egbert III. It was what happened to Egbert that began the belief in many that this fantasy roll-playing game was actually a promotion of such practices as Satanism, witchcraft, suicide, pornography, and murder.
Show notes and links:
- Bigfoot Days Ice Cream Social Sept. 3 | Festivals (trinityjournal.com)
- Gary Gygax – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (wikipedia.org)
- The Dungeons and Dragons Experience Documentary PT 1 (youtube.com)
- Dungeon Master – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (wikipedia.org)
- David Ewalt, “Of Dice and Men: The Story of Dungeons & Dragons…” | Talks at Google (youtube.com)
- Tim Kask on TSR #4: The Steam Tunnel Incident (youtube.com)
- Untitled Document (kismetrose.com)
- The great 1980s Dungeons & Dragons panic (bbc.com)
- 60 Minutes on Dungeons and Dragons (youtube.com)
- William Dear (detective) – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (wikipedia.org)
- Robertson: ‘Demonic’ Dungeons & Dragons ‘Literally Destroyed People’s Lives’ (rightwingwatch.org)
- Dungeons & Dragons, Satan, and Psychology (psychologytoday.com)
★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
This is the story of the life and death of Ted Healy, the man who started the Three Stooges. The thing about Ted’s death is that many, even today, think it was murder. He was born Ernest Lea Nash on October 1, 1896 in Kaufman, Texas. In 1908, his family moved to New York.
It was there he became friends with another boy in the neighborhood named Moses Horwitz. Moses, who was nicknamed Moe by his family, had five brothers. Two of Moe’s younger brothers were Samuel Horwitz, who was called Shemp, and Jerome Lester Horwitz, who was known as Babe, but would later to be known as Curly. In his autobiography, Moe described his relationship with Healy as inseparable.
Show notes and links:
- Bridget Driscoll – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (wikipedia.org)
- How the UK’s first fatal car accident unfolded (bbc.com)
- Ted Healy – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (wikipedia.org)
- An Illustrated History, From Amalgamated Morons to American Icons: Michael Fleming: 9780767905565: Amazon.com: Books (amazon.com)
- The Autobiography of the Leader of the Three Stooges: Moe Howard: 9781613747667: Amazon.com: Books (amazon.com)
- The Fixers: Eddie Mannix, Howard Strickling and the MGM Publicity Machine (9780786420278): E.J. Fleming: Books (amazon.com)
- The Three Stooges Biography – YouTube (youtube.com)
- Ted Healy Bio – YouTube (youtube.com)
- What Really Happened the Night Ted Healy Was Beaten at Cafe Trocadero? (playgroundtothestars.com)
- THE LAST DAYS OF TED HEALY (greatentertainersarchives.blogspot.com)
★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
Last week we told the story of how Roger Patterson and Robert Gimlin came across Bigfoot and took the famous film. This week, we look at those that claim that it was a hoax. Hear the stories of Bob Heironimus, Philip Morris and others. What is the truth? We probably will never know!
Show notes and links:
- Old Man Kelley 65 – It’s War with the Hornets! (youtu.be)
- My Recent New York UFO Sighting (syracusenewtimes.com)
- The Reliable Source – The Washington Post (washingtonpost.com)
- Lie detector of Bob “Bigfoot” Heironimus – Man in the suit (youtube.com)
- Bob Heironimus claim that he was the man in the suit… (bigfootencounters.com)
- Transcript of Bob Heironimus’s 2nd Xzone radio interview, August 6, 2007: (pdf-archive.com)
- Patterson Bigfoot video was a fake – Part I (youtube.com)
- Skeptic » eSkeptic » April 12, 2004 (skeptic.com)
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On October 20, 1967, Roger Patterson and Bob Gimlin were riding on horseback, round a bend near Bluff Creek, California. They said they came across a large, hairy beast known as Bigfoot. Roger was able to capture the creature on 16mm film. Bob Gimlin said his first thoughts were, “wow, they really do exist!”
Patterson thought he had proof of Bigfoot’s existence and really expected the scientists to accept it. But only a few scientists were willing to even look at the film! This is what they say happened in 1967.
Show notes and links:
- Roger Patterson Bigfoot Footage – YouTube (youtube.com)
- This link has no title (bigfootencounters.com)
- The Inside Story: Greg Long, Kal K. Korff: 9781591021391: Amazon.com: Books (amazon.com)
- Roger Patterson – The Skeptics Society Forum (skepticforum.com)
- Patterson-Gimlin Film – A Guide to Bigfoot (bigfoothunting.com)
- Roger Patterson’s Interview with Fred Beck, 1966… (bigfootencounters.com)
- pgf_history.htm (bigfootencounters.com)
- Exposing Roger Patterson’s 1967 Bigfoot film hoax (xzonenation.blogspot.com)
- Ray Wallace, 84; Took Bigfoot Secret to Grave — Now His Kids Spill It (latimes.com)
- Est. 1994: Biography: Roger Patterson (southeastsasquatchassociation.blogspot.com)
- SC EP:90 Interview with Bob Gimlin (sasquatchchronicles.com)
- BOB GIMLIN’S BIGFOOT ENCOUNTER – PART I (youtube.com)
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In 2014, a film was released called Annabelle, a prequel to the film the The Conjuring. In the film, the Annabelle doll is a creepy looking vintage porcelain doll that causes all kinds of mischief. In reality, the actual doll in the true story the doll is based on, is actually a normal looking Raggedy Ann Doll.
The film is a work of fiction, an imaginary tale but there is a doll called Annabelle and they say it was possessed, and by they, I mean Ed and Lorraine Warren. The story begins in 1970…
Show notes and links:
- Triangle UFO videotaped low over Virginia (openminds.tv)
- An Encounter With Annabelle, the Real-Life Haunted Doll From ‘The Conjuring’ (cosmopolitan.com)
- Annabelle (doll) – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (wikipedia.org)
- Annabelle (warrens.net)
- The Haunting in Connecticut – Fact or Fiction? (pacejmiller.com)
- Skepticblog » Hunting the Ghost Hunters (skepticblog.org)
- 95: Ray Garton | Irreligiosophy (irreligiosophy.com)
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Thomas H. Ince died at the age of 44 aboard William Randolph Hearst’s yacht – or shortly after he left the yacht, depending on whose version of the story you listen to. Many important celebrities were aboard the yacht that night, including the biggest names in motion pictures of the day. This may or not include legendary filmmaker Charlie Chaplin.
Ince’s death has been the subject of much speculation and scandal over the years and, if you want the definitive truth on what happened, you’re listening to the wrong podcast.
Show notes and links:
- Valley Business ~ Bigfoot Discovery Museum, Safe Harbor for Believers – Santa Cruz Mountain Bulletin (mountainbulletin.com)
- Thomas H. Ince | American film director (britannica.com)
- This link has no title (silentera.com)
- Thomas Ince Death : snopes.com (snopes.com)
- The Thomas Ince Affair – Mysteries & Scandals (youtube.com)
- Arabella And Co (arabella-and-co.com)
- John Austin: 9780944007495: Amazon.com: Books (amazon.com)
- True Stories of Seduction Power and Ambition by Leigh Eduardo — Reviews, Discussion, Bookclubs, Lists (goodreads.com)
- Filmland Mysteries and Murders: Dina Di Mambro: 9780615572697: Amazon.com: Books (amazon.com)
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In 1945, five Military planes took off from Florida on a three-hour training mission and they never returned. A search plane with 13 men was sent out to look for survivors, and it was never seen again. Were these disappearances a horrible accident or were the 27 men another victim of the Bermuda Triangle. Today, I have the story of the unsolved mystery of Flight 19 as well as a little history of how the triangle can to be, on Sunday Morning Coffee with Jeff.
Show notes and links:
- UFO spotters claim NASA shut down ISS feed to cover-up another UFO sighting (cw39.com)
- NASA explains what happened to video feed of mysterious “UFO” (cbsnews.com)
- This link has no title (smu.edu)
- Flight 19 – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (wikipedia.org)
- This link has no title (smu.edu)
- Bermuda Triangle – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (wikipedia.org)
- The Mysterious Disappearance of Flight 19 (history.com)
- Legend Of The Lost Patrol (sun-sentinel.com)
- The Disappearance of Flight 19 (historicmysteries.com)
- The UnMuseum – The Bermuda Triangle (mus.pa.us)
- Ocala Star-Banner – Google News Archive Search (google.com)
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John DeLorean said, “I was a pretty talented engineer, I still am. Today, I don’t think there is a car running anywhere in the world that doesn’t have something I created on it, even now”.
John Zachary DeLorean was born in the right place, Detroit, Michigan on January 6, 1925. He created the Pontiac GTO and was next in line to be the president of General Motors. He, instead, quit to form in own motor company. His baby was called the the DMC-12, what was simply called, of course, The DeLorean. At that point, things begin to go wrong.
Show notes and links:
- The Man Who Created Bigfoot (outsideonline.com)
- DeLorean Motor Company | The Best Source for your DeLorean (delorean.com)
- John DeLorean with Gerry Kelly clip (youtube.com)
- John DeLorean – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (wikipedia.org)
- Rare interview John DeLorean 1988 (youtube.com)
- John DeLorean – Biography – IMDb (imdb.com)
- The Rise and Fall of John DeLorean : Longreads Blog (longreads.com)
- The Trials of John DeLorean (washingtonpost.com)
- 10. The Rise and Fall of John DeLorean (tripod.com)
★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
On January 12, 1762, William Kent exclaimed to whatever was communicating from beyond the grave in front of the room of people attending the séance, “Thou art a lying spirit, thou are not the ghost of my Fanny. She would never have said any such thing.” There was a ghost haunting a house on Cock Lane in London that was using a young girl to communicate with the living
Was it the ghost of William Kent’s deceased lover, Fanny? Maybe it was the spirit of Elizabeth. Elizabeth was Fanny’s sister and married to William before Fanny had become William’s lover. And like Fanny, Elizabeth had gotten pregnant by William and had died soon after.
Or maybe there was no ghost at all. Maybe it was just an act of revenge!
Show notes and links:
- The Cock Lane Ghost, London 1762-1763 (literarylondon.org)
- Read Historic Ghosts and Ghost Hunters by H. Addington Bruce, Read free on ReadCentral.com (readcentral.com)
- Cock Lane ghost | Project Gutenberg Self-Publishing – eBooks (gutenberg.us)
- Cock Lane ghost – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (wikipedia.org)
- Scratching Fanny the Ghost of Cock Lane (wordpress.com)
- Ghost of Cock Lane. London (hauntedisland.co.uk)
- True Ghost Stories (True Adventure Stories) (9780794502744): Paul Dowswell, Tony Allan: Books (amazon.com)
★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
Dulce, New Mexico is a small town of under 3000 people, most of which is home to Native Americans. The area around Dulce was plagued with unexplained cow mutilations. Near the town of Dulce, on the Colorado-New Mexico border, is a secret underground government facility known as the Dulce Base.
The facility is a least seven levels deep. So what goes on in this place? Well, it depends who you listen to but one thing is certain, there are humans and grey aliens and reptilians. Allegedly, the humans are getting technological information from the aliens and in exchange, they give the aliens human subjects to experiment on. From all accounts I’ve read, horrible, horrible stuff goes on under that ground in New Mexico.
Show notes and links:
- Philip Schneider: Government Secrets Revealed (ufodigest.com)
- The History of Dulce Underground Base (youtube.com)
- A Dulce Base Security Officer Speaks Out (bibliotecapleyades.net)
- Dulce Base – YouTube (youtube.com)
- Greg Bishop (09-21-06) PROJECT BETA: How the U.S. Government Created an Alien Invasion (youtube.com)
- New Mexico Cop Says Military Responsible for Cattle Mutilations (huffingtonpost.com)
- The Phil Schneider Story (apfn.org)
- That Time Subterranean Aliens Killed 60 People in New Mexico (huffingtonpost.com)
- The Mysterious Life and Death of Philip Schneider (ufodigest.com)
- Message from ex-wife of Phil Schneider (apfn.org)
★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
Simon and Schuster published the book, Cradle of the Deep, in March of 1929. It was the amazing and thrilling autobiography of Joan Lowell who spent her first 17 years of her life aboard the ship, the Minnie A. Caine, a four-mast Schooner.
It was an irresistible tale and some began to think that it was almost too amazing, something more of a Hollywood movie. To people who knew life on the seaBroome of what she wrote didn’t sound authentic. Nautical experts who read the book found “innumerable flaws”, including facts that any amateur sailor would not have mistaken.
Show notes and links:
- The Philadelphia Story (1940) – Dinah (Virginia Weidler) singing “Lydia, the Tattooed Lady” (youtube.com)
- Meet the grandmother of memoir fabricators (latimes.com)
- Born in Berkeley: Joan Lowell (berkeleyside.com)
- The Pittsburgh Press – Google News Archive Search (google.com)
- Joan Lowell & Her Literary Hoax (thelegalhistorian.blogspot.com)
- The Cradle of the Deep (1929) (hoaxes.org)
- Joan Lowell’s Literary Hoax – Molly Guptill Manning (mollymanning.com)
★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
The Fox Sisters were responsible for making Spiritualism a worldwide phenomenon. They lived in a small farmhouse in the mid 1800s and became known all over America for the ability to talk to the dead, but it was all a scam.
Margaret confessed later in life, “When we went to bed at night we used to tie an apple to a string and move the string up and down, causing the apple to bump on the floor, or we would drop the apple on the floor, making a strange noise every time it would rebound. Mother listened to this for a time. She would not understand it and did not suspect us as being capable of a trick because we were so young.”
Also; I talk a little about MonsterTalk with Blake Smith and Karen Stollznow.
Show notes and links:
- The Fox Sisters: Spiritualism’s Unlikely Founders (historynet.com)
- Biography of Kate and Margaret Fox (survivalafterdeath.info)
- The Fox Sisters and the Rap on Spiritualism | History (smithsonianmag.com)
- being the true story of the Fox sisters, as revealed by authority of Margaret Fox Kane and Catherine Fox Jencken (archive.org)
- Elisha Kane – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (wikipedia.org)
- Mysterys explained episode 1 The Fox Sisters and the birth of Spiritualism (youtube.com)
- Fox sisters – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (wikipedia.org)
- MonsterTalk (skeptic.com)
★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
This is the last podcast with this feed. Please to a search on iTunes for the new feed.
A new blog to entertain you. This blog is for the twisted writings of Jeff Kelley
Coffee With Jeff's Shinny New Blog.
You are obviously a person of good taste. You've come to this site to watch Internet sensation, Sunday Morning Coffee with Jeff. Unfortunately, this is the old website for the comedy show. You can find your way to the new site by clicking the link below.
Sunday Morning Coffee with Jeff Website - Click Here
The Twitter war continues! Coffee with Jeff vs Kim Kardashian. KK has 15,407,936 followers, Coffee with Jeff has 3. Getting nervous, Kim?
Coffee With Jeff on Twitter!
Due to the fact I couldn’t do the show I wanted, I present a show about the making of a Sunday Morning Coffee with Jeff episode.. Along the way, we have some clips of past shows including a few shots from the first couple of Saturday Morning Coffee with Jeff shows. Willy checks out the music of some old friends, Goin’ South, Phoebe and Terry does a interview with Marian Manseau Cheatham' about her new book, Merely Dee. THe Show is a little long this week, but there is a intermission half way throught, so deal!
So why does Jeff do this show every week? Is there a secret that he never told anyone before? And why does he promote the shows the way he does? And why no montage sequences? Willy Goes On the Road to the Brat Stop in Wisconsin to see Black Tide and Phoebe goes deep to talk about God! For the musicians watching, how about some advice from Thelonious Monk! This week it’s Comedy and the truth.
Jokes4Miles
Miles is battling brain cancer and his Dad is asking folks around the world to send in 5,000 JOKES to show him he's not alone in his fight.
Intermission Song:I get lost by The Mome Raths
Music on this show provided by Music Alley. You can find link to purchase both songs featured on the show their. Please do so and support independent music!
email: coffeewithjeff@gmail.com
Someone form the future is visiting Jeff. Willy continues to look for a new car and meets and unusual salesman in On The Road with Willy. So you think that cats can't read? ASk Phoebe, the Philosopher Cat and Terry finishes his interview with Author Susan Kaye Quinn. It's Comedy, Rock and Roll, Books and so much more.
Jeff puts himself on the line when he attempts to drink 20 cups of coffee in 20 minutes. Willy continues his search for a new On The Road vehicle. Phoebe the Philosopher Cat takes on the universe and Terry interviews author Susan Kaye Quinn about her new book Open Minds. all this and more on the comedy show known as Sunday Morning Coffee with Jeff!
Early morning in the cold woods looking for nature! We look at chicken, eggs, DinoChickens, used cars, comic books and more. Check out all the laughs with Willy, Fritz, Phoebe and Jeff. Warning, this show contains laughs, music, cats, old men, snow, car shopping and a scary monster. Can you guess the celebrity on "It's Not Fred" and what I learned form the movies!
Roswell, New Mexico in 1947? What really happened? Car shopping with Willy but who is going to pay for it? Phoebe asks the question, Did curiosity kill that cat? In this funny show, UFO's, Flying Saucers, mystery, cats and cars. Also a special addition of "What's My Crime" about a 66 year-old grandmother who gets busted for something in her garden.
Did the Mayan's really predict the end of the world this year? Does anyone really know? Jeff thinks he does. Willy goes on the road to check out Muddle of Mud and Phoebe thinks about the New Year! All this and a special greetings from Terry. So sit back and have a laugh and cup of coffee with Jeff and the gang.
Bigfoot? Really? I've got some news for you. All the plastic bottles America uses can stretch around the world 190 times? Really Can we do better? We go Hanging with the Hollies with Terry, On the Road with Willy, Phoebe will blow your mind and more!
The fact and fiction about cave people, Phoebe contemplates the idea of being big, more of what Willy wouldn’t do and a mistake creates a Giant Head! Also, a visit with Brian from Milwaukee and Pete has his NFL game of the week.
Songs
Ugly Duckling by Jungle Fever**
Music on this show provided by Music Alley. You can find link to purchase both songs featured on the show their. Please do so and support independent music!
email:
coffeewithjeff@gmail.com