A Popular History of Unpopular Things

Latest Episodes:

The Centralia Underground Mine Fire Mar 17, 2024

Show notes

Join Kelli as she talks about the inspiration for the Silent Hill games and movies - the ghost town of Centralia! In 1962, a fire set the underground coal mines on fire, and they've been burning to this day. Experts believe that the fires will continue to burn underneath Centralia for another 250 years!
While Silent Hill and its scares don't exist, the horrors inflicted on Centralia may be even scarier...
Intro and Outro music credit: Nedric
Find him on all streaming services and YouTube, and check out his newest album, Sparrow Factory!
Sources referenced:
Fire Underground: The Ongoing Tragedy of the Centralia Mine Fire by David DeKok

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Intro and Outro music credit: Nedric | Yello Kake

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The Lizzie Borden Hatchet Murders Mar 03, 2024

Show notes

Join Kelli as she takes a look at a historic killer - Lizzie Borden - who was accused of killing her father and stepmother with a hatchet in 1892. But despite everything pointing toward her, she was acquitted by the jury. Kelli offers up an explanation as to why she was not found guilty of a crime she most likely committed, and it (of course) has to do with the historical context! What was life like in New England in 1892? And how did that contribute to her acquittal?
Intro and Outro music credit: Nedric
Find him on all streaming services and YouTube, and check out his newest album, Sparrow Factory!
Sources referenced:
The Trial of Lizzie Borden: A True Story by Cara Robertson

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Intro and Outro music credit: Nedric | Yello Kake

Follow me on Instagram for episode updates! @beardhistory

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The Deadly Antarctic Expeditions Feb 18, 2024

Show notes

Join Kelli as she talks about THREE expeditions to Antarctica in the Heroic Age of Exploration. The first, led by Roald Amundsen, was the first to reach the geographic South Pole. At the same time, Robert Falcon Scott was leading his own expedition to the South Pole, but Amundsen beat him there. Unfortunately for Scott, his expedition faced extreme weather and bad luck on the way back, and none returned alive. The third, led by Douglas Mawson, was an attempt to map out more Antarctic land, but that trip also suffered tragedies.
These are three epic tales of the lengths we go to to discover the unexplored, and the gross stuff that can happen in the process!
Intro and Outro music credit: Nedric
Find him on all streaming services and YouTube, and check out his newest album, Sparrow Factory!
Sources referenced:
South with the Sun: Roald Amundsen, His Polar Explorations, and the Quest for Discovery by Lynne Cox
An Empire of Ice: Scott, Shackleton, and the Heroic Age of Antarctic Science by Edward J. Larson
Alone on the Ice: The Greatest Survival Story in the History of Exploration by David Roberts

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Intro and Outro music credit: Nedric | Yello Kake

Follow me on Instagram for episode updates! @beardhistory

If you want to support the show, donate to the cause at Buy Me a Coffee

The Jamestown Colony Feb 04, 2024

Show notes

Join Kelli as she goes over the difficulties of the early years of the first successful English settlement in North America - Jamestown. From the bloody flux to survival cannibalism, brutal executions to starvation and madness, the foundation of what would later become the United States was built on all the gross, nasty stuff we love here on the APHOUT podcast.
Intro and Outro music credit: Nedric
Find him on all streaming services and YouTube, and check out his newest album, Sparrow Factory!
Sources referenced:
Savage Kingdom: The True Story of Jamestown, 1607, and the Settlement of America by Benjamin Woolley

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Intro and Outro music credit: Nedric | Yello Kake

Follow me on Instagram for episode updates! @beardhistory

If you want to support the show, donate to the cause at Buy Me a Coffee

The Sinking of the USS Indianapolis Jan 21, 2024

Show notes

Join Kelli as she goes over what happened to the USS Indianapolis, the ship that brought atomic bomb parts to Tinian Island so they could be assembled - and dropped - on Hiroshima. Though the ship completed her mission, making Oppenheimer's and the Manhattan Project's work come to life in the form of a nuclear bomb, the USS Indianapolis suffered a catastrophic - and fatal - blow when it crossed paths with a Japanese submarine.
This is the story of the ship. Kelli discusses its important cargo, gives context on WWII and why the ship was in the Pacific in the first place, and then details the sinking of the USS Indianapolis - and for those of you with thalassophobia, there was something in the deep that the men needed to worry about...
Intro and Outro music credit: Nedric
Find him on all streaming services and YouTube, and check out his newest album, Sparrow Factory!
Sources referenced:
In Harm's Way: The Sinking of the USS Indianapolis and the Extraordinary Story of Its Survivors by Doug Stanton

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Intro and Outro music credit: Nedric | Yello Kake

Follow me on Instagram for episode updates! @beardhistory

If you want to support the show, donate to the cause at Buy Me a Coffee

The Kuru Cannibal Disease Jan 07, 2024

Show notes

Join Kelli as she talks about a prion disease called Kuru. Prion diseases occur when misfolded proteins duplicate and clog up the brain, and cause things like Mad Cow Disease, Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, and Kuru. Kuru was specific to the Fore people of Papua New Guinea, and at its peak, killed 200 women and children people a year. But to get Kuru, they must have consumed the brains of the infected dead...
Let's dive deep into the Fore peoples, prion diseases and more cannibalism.
New year, same old me. Happy 2024!
Intro and Outro music credit: Nedric
Find him on all streaming services and YouTube, and check out his debut EP, Yello Kake!

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Intro and Outro music credit: Nedric | Yello Kake

Follow me on Instagram for episode updates! @beardhistory

If you want to support the show, donate to the cause at Buy Me a Coffee

The Inca Mummies Dec 24, 2023

Show notes

Join Kelli as she discusses the Inca Empire and their religious practices - including capacocha, the practice of sacrificing children and leaving them to mummify on mountain peaks.
Intro and Outro music credit: Nedric
Find him on all streaming services and YouTube, and check out his debut EP, Yello Kake!
Audio Credit: Carlos Carty, Pan Flute Solo

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Intro and Outro music credit: Nedric | Yello Kake

Follow me on Instagram for episode updates! @beardhistory

If you want to support the show, donate to the cause at Buy Me a Coffee

The Tuskegee Syphilis Study Dec 10, 2023

Show notes

Join Kelli as she discusses the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, an experiment on black men (without their consent) where the US Public Health Service and the CDC allowed them to live with untreated syphilis infections for 40 years - despite there being a cure: penicillin.
In this episode, Kelli goes over the scientific context of what syphilis is and how one contracts it, then ties it to the historical context of why the US government allowed 399 black men to suffer from late-stage syphilis when they could have given them the cure. It's racism, sure, but we'll dive deeper to expose what really happened here, and why.
Sources Referenced:
Michael V. Uschan - Forty Years of Medical Racism: The Tuskegee Experiments

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Intro and Outro music credit: Nedric | Yello Kake

Follow me on Instagram for episode updates! @beardhistory

If you want to support the show, donate to the cause at Buy Me a Coffee

The Cannibal Island Nov 26, 2023

Show notes

Join Kelli as she discusses a Stalin Soviet-era plan to deport unwanted citizens and petty criminals to an island in the middle of Siberia - without proper shelter, supplies, or food. It only took a few days before the island's new inhabitants broke down and started to consume the flesh of their fellow prisoners.
In this podcast, we review the historical context of 1930s Stalin-era plans to starve the people in the name of progress and communism. Spoiler - it doesn't end well. In addition to discussing the Cannibal Island, more commonly known as Nazino Island, Kelli goes over the basics of the Ukrainian Famine/Holodomor and Stalin's collectivization policies.
Intro and Outro music credit: Nedric
Find him on all streaming services and YouTube, and check out his debut EP, Yello Kake!
Sources Referenced:
Nicolas Werth - Cannibal Island: Death in a Siberian Gulag
Music Credit:
Kevin MacLeod - Scheming Weasel

Support the show

Intro and Outro music credit: Nedric | Yello Kake

Follow me on Instagram for episode updates! @beardhistory

If you want to support the show, donate to the cause at Buy Me a Coffee

The Waco Siege Nov 12, 2023

Show notes

Join Kelli as she explores the history that led up to the Waco Siege, where ATF agents conducted a failed raid against Branch Davidian leader David Koresh at his Mount Carmel compound in Waco, Texas. The result of this botched mission was a 51 day standoff. In the end, 4 ATF agents and 82 Branch Davidians were dead, and the whole place burned to the ground. It was a massive failure in communication between the ATF, FBI, Hostage Rescue Team, and negotiators - one of the biggest fumbles in our history. But it wasn't the first.
In addition to the history of his group and how they gained momentum in Waco, Kelli explores the roots of the growing divide between the government and right-wing militias, starting with Ruby Ridge, carrying through Waco, exemplified in the Oklahoma City Bombing, and that still exists today.
Intro and Outro music credit: Nedric
Find him on all streaming services and YouTube, and check out his debut EP, Yello Kake!
Sources Referenced:
Jeff Guinn - Waco: David Koresh, the Branch Davidians, and a Legacy of Rage
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Support the show

Intro and Outro music credit: Nedric | Yello Kake

Follow me on Instagram for episode updates! @beardhistory

If you want to support the show, donate to the cause at Buy Me a Coffee

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