Hashtag History

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EP 53: The Hartford Circus Fire Dec 29, 2020

Show notes

This week on Hashtag History, we are discussing the Hartford Circus Fire. This was a fire that occurred on July 6, 1944 in Hartford, Connecticut and would be marked as one of the worst fires in US History. The fire happened during a Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey performance that was attended by close to 8,000 people! It would result in the deaths of 168 people and injury to another 700 people.

Follow Hashtag History on Instagram @hashtaghistory_podcast for all of the pictures mentioned in this episode.

Citations for all sources can be located on our website at HashtagHistory-Pod.com. You can also check out our website for super cute merch!

Finally, you can locate us on Patreon.com/hashtaghistory where you can donate $1 a month to our Books and Booze Supply. All of your support goes a long ways and we are endlessly grateful! To show our gratitude, all Patreon Supporters receive an automatic 15% OFF all merchandise in our merchandise store!

THANKS FOR LISTENING!

- Rachel and Leah

EP 52: The Sinking of the Titanic Dec 22, 2020

Show notes

This week on Hashtag History, we are doing a deep dive into the history of the Titanic (no pun intended...), a timeline of its fateful maiden voyage, a spotlight on a few important characters, what has changed as a result of the sinking of the Titanic...and then, of course, we will also be discussing a few of the conspiracy theories surrounding the sinking of the Titanic. Because, of course, there are always conspiracy theories!

Follow Hashtag History on Instagram @hashtaghistory_podcast for all of the pictures mentioned in this episode.

Citations for all sources can be located on our website at HashtagHistory-Pod.com. You can also check out our website for super cute merch!

THANKS FOR LISTENING!

- Rachel and Leah

EP 51: Elizabeth Bathory, the Blood Countess (and Other Modern-Era Female Serial Killers) Dec 15, 2020

Show notes

We're back for Season Six! And as tradition dictates, the first episode of each season is a Leah Takeover Episode! And this episode will not disappoint if you are into serial killers, blood, gore, lost hopes, and dead dreams. Welcome!

This week on Hashtag History, Leah takes a deep dive into the story of Elizabeth Bathory, the blood countess, and her unfortunate victims. She follows this story up with deep dives into multiple other female serial killers from the early modern period, a category of History you may be shocked to hear...is not small.

We also open up the episode to discussion in an attempt separate fact from fiction, what is true and what has been sensationalized, and why female serial killers are so fascinating!

Follow Hashtag History on Instagram @hashtaghistory_podcast for all of the pictures mentioned in this episode.

Citations for all sources can be located on our website at HashtagHistory-Pod.com. You can also check out our website for super cute merch!

THANKS FOR LISTENING!

- Rachel and Leah

EP 50: Tonya Harding (Featuring Special Guests, Allie and Katie from HERstory on the Rocks) Nov 03, 2020

Show notes

For our Season Five Finale episode, we are joined by Allie and Katie, the lovely ladies of the HERstory on the Rocks podcast! In this super special collaboration episode, we covered one of those most contested, debated, and controversial women out there...Tonya Harding!

Allie and Katie take us through Harding's rough childhood, whirlwind love life, and early skating career leading up to the Olympics. And then Rachel and Leah walk you through the Nancy Kerrigan scandal, Harding's removal from professional figure skating, and where she is now.

We take a deep dive into the way Harding was portrayed in the media, the unfair comparison to Kerrigan and other "ice princesses", the way Harding's childhood shaped the person she would become, and a weigh-in on Harding's level of guilt in the Kerrigan assault.

Follow Hashtag History on Instagram @hashtaghistory_podcast for all of the pictures mentioned in this episode.

Citations for all sources can be located on our website at HashtagHistory-Pod.com. You can also check out our website for super cute merch!

Special thanks to www.BenSound.com for our mid-break music!

THANKS FOR LISTENING!

- Rachel and Leah

EP 49: Alcatraz (Halloween Edition) Oct 27, 2020

Show notes

This week on Hashtag History, we are talking about Alcatraz! Alcatraz was a maximum security federal prison located on Alcatraz Island which is just a mile and a half off of the San Francisco coast. Between the location, the weather, and the horrifically cold waters that surrounded it, it was considered to be the “strongest prison” in America. Alcatraz housed some of America’s worst and most notorious inmates including Machine Gun Kelly, Robert “Birdman” Stroud, and, of course, Al Capone. Today Alcatraz is a museum that sees 1.5 million visitors a year.

But above and beyond all of these interesting facts, Alcatraz has long been considered one of the most haunted locations in America with visitors reporting feeling pockets of ice cold as they walk through the former prison, hearing crying and moaning as they walk through the cell blocks, and even report hearing Al Capone playing his banjo in the showers.

Follow Hashtag History on Instagram @hashtaghistory_podcast for all of the pictures mentioned in this episode.

Citations for all sources can be located on our website at HashtagHistory-Pod.com. You can also check out our website for super cute merch!

THANKS FOR LISTENING!

- Rachel and Leah

EP 48: The True Story of Pocahontas and John Smith Oct 20, 2020

Show notes

This week on Hashtag History, we are discussing the true story of Pocahontas and John Smith. While we love Disney's 1995 Pocahontas movie for the nostalgia and bangin' musical numbers, we all know it is wildly inaccurate. But while most people blame Disney for our misunderstanding of the true story, we actually have John Smith himself to thank for it!

Just a few of the things you will learn in this episode are that Pocahontas wasn't even her real name, she was likely only ten or eleven when she first met Smith, she did not have a romantic relationship with Smith, she did not save Smith from being executed, and she was only twenty years old when she died...and her death may or may not have been murder!

Follow Hashtag History on Instagram @hashtaghistory_podcast for all of the pictures mentioned in this episode.

Citations for all sources can be located on our website at HashtagHistory-Pod.com. You can also check out our website for super cute merch!

THANKS FOR LISTENING!

- Rachel and Leah

EP 47: Cheryl Araujo, The First Televised Rape Case Oct 13, 2020

Show notes

This week on Hashtag History, we are discussing the Cheryl Araujo Rape Case which became the first ever televised rape case. In 1983, Araujo was gang-raped by four men when she was only 21 years old. People stood around, watched it happen, and did nothing. Even worse, when her case was brought to trial, the narrative was flipped to essentially "blame the victim", to say Araujo brought it on herself, and that her rape was her fault.

Having the trial televised was a big deal. A rape case is an extremely sensitive trial to cover since it is widely known amongst courts and journalists that the names of victims of sexual assault do not get disclosed. Many States have laws prohibiting the disclosure of the name and address of rape victims as confidentiality is vital to their protection. But when Araujo took the stand for her testimony, her name and address accidentally became part of the official public record.

This case changed her life forever. And after watching what she went through, it also changed the willingness of many other sexual assault victims to come forward.

Follow Hashtag History on Instagram @hashtaghistory_podcast for all of the pictures mentioned in this episode.

Citations for all sources can be located on our website at HashtagHistory-Pod.com. You can also check out our website for super cute merch!

THANKS FOR LISTENING!

- Rachel and Leah

EP 46: The Tuskegee Experiment Oct 06, 2020

Show notes

This week on Hashtag History, we are discussing the Tuskegee Experiment which was a clinical study conducted by the United States Public Health Service from 1932 to 1972 in which the U.S. Public Health Service told the hundreds of Black men that were a part of this study that, by participating, they would be treated for “bad blood” and would receive free healthcare.

But, instead of receiving healthcare, the USPHS “treated” the participants with placebos and known to be ineffective methods while ensuring that these men would be denied real medical treatment from any other facility. The men in the program were also never advised that many of them actually had syphilis...and that this was the reason USPHS had selected them for the study.

As a result of this withholding of information and withholding treatment, many of the men involved in this study would later die of syphilis and an additional 40 wives of the men in the study would contract the disease with 19 children born with congenital syphilis.

Follow Hashtag History on Instagram @hashtaghistory_podcast for all of the pictures mentioned in this episode.

Citations for all sources can be located on our website at HashtagHistory-Pod.com. You can also check out our website for super cute merch!

THANKS FOR LISTENING!

- Rachel and Leah

EP 45: John Demjanjuk: War Criminal? Or Victim of Mistaken Identity? Sep 29, 2020

Show notes

This week on Hashtag History, we are discussing John Demjanjuk. In 1975, the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service received a list of individuals living in the United States that were suspected of having supported Germany during the Second World War. One particular name on this list was that of John Demjanjuk, a fifty-five year old naturalized US citizen living in the suburbs of Seven Hills, Ohio with his wife and kids. He would be identified by Holocaust survivors in Israel that alleged that he was the notorious “Ivan the Terrible” that worked at the Treblinka extermination camp where hundreds of thousands of Jews were killed. Demjanjuk would deny these accusations and would fight it in court for the remainder of his life. When he died in 2012, a final judgment on his appeal still hadn’t been issued, meaning that - to this day - Demjanjuk is technically, on paper, innocent…

So is this a case of one of the most horrific Nazis of all time being convicted for his crimes? Or is it an innocent man and a victim of mistaken identity?

A special thank you to Podcorn for sponsoring this episode! You can explore sponsorship opportunities and start monetizing your podcast by signing up here: https://podcorn.com/podcasters/

Follow Hashtag History on Instagram @hashtaghistory_podcast for all of the pictures mentioned in this episode. Citations for all sources can be located on our website at HashtagHistory-Pod.com.

You can also check out our website for super cute merch!

THANKS FOR LISTENING!

- Rachel and Leah

EP 44: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Theft Sep 22, 2020

Show notes

This week on Hashtag History, we are discussing the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Theft. Occurring in March of 1990, this incident is the largest unsolved case of museum theft in History! To this day, we still do not know who was responsible for the theft. No arrests have ever been made and none of the artwork has ever been recovered.

At 1:20 AM on a Sunday morning, two men dressed as police officers walked into the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, tied up the museum guards in the basement of the museum, and then walked out of the museum only 81 MINUTES LATER with thirteen pieces of artwork valuing at over $600 million dollars in today’s money!

A special thank you to Podcorn for sponsoring this episode! You can explore sponsorship opportunities and start monetizing your podcast by signing up here: https://podcorn.com/podcasters/

Follow Hashtag History on Instagram @hashtaghistory_podcast for all of the pictures mentioned in this episode. Citations for all sources can be located on our website at HashtagHistory-Pod.com.

You can also check out our website for super cute merch!

THANKS FOR LISTENING!

- Rachel and Leah

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