History Unhinged: Rainy Day Rabbit Holes

Latest Episodes:

Did the World Almost End in 1980? Sep 24, 2025

Show notes

Beneath the quiet farmlands of Arkansas, a single dropped tool set off a chain of events that could have changed history forever. In this episode, Shea and Jody take you deep underground into the Titan II missile program — the Cold War’s most volatile secret. What happens when human error meets doomsday weapons? And how close did we really come to nuclear apocalypse in 1980?

Strap in. This rabbit hole goes from darkly funny to downright terrifying.

👉 Full story, blog posts, and more episodes at: www.rainydayrabbitholes.com
🙏 Special thanks to Letha Davis for marketing and website design: www.lethadavis.com

⏱ Episode Chapters

00:00 – Welcome to Rainy Day Rabbit Holes
04:15 – Stepping into a Titan II missile silo
09:40 – The Cold War and Mutually Assured Destruction
15:50 – America’s 103-foot “doomsday stick”
21:30 – Accidents in Kansas and Arkansas silos
28:00 – The Damascus Incident begins
36:20 – A socket wrench drops… and disaster unfolds
45:10 – Explosion in the silo
54:00 – The end of the Titan II program
01:00:15 – Women’s peace movements take a stand
01:08:30 – Why remembering this near-apocalypse matters today
01:15:00 – Closing thoughts (and a little levity)

🔗 Related Links

Delightful Wallace, Idaho Sep 17, 2025

Show notes

Silver mines, brothels that ran until the 1990s, a highway battle that saved a whole town, and a firefighting hero who invented one of the most iconic tools in history. Wallace, Idaho has it all. In this episode of Rainy Day Rabbit Holes, Jody takes us through the quirky, fiery, scandal-filled history of Wallace, a town that declared itself the Center of the Universe, and you can’t disprove it.

Grab your pickaxe (or Pulaski tool), because we’re heading down a rabbit hole where mining strikes, infernos, and bordellos collide in the Silver Valley.

Chapters:
00:00 – Welcome to Wallace, Idaho
04:22 – Colonel Wallace and the shady land deal
09:51 – Silver mines and strikes that shook the valley
15:35 – Fires that burned Wallace down twice
21:44 – The legend of Ed Pulaski and the Big Burn
33:10 – Brothels, nightlife, and the Oasis Bordello Museum
40:55 – How Wallace beat the federal government and I-90
50:30 – Declaring Wallace the Center of the Universe
57:00 – Why Wallace is worth your road trip stop

Support the show and get exclusive bonus stories (and even fan fiction about you) by joining our Patreon: www.rainydayrabbitholes.com/support

Want a killer website or digital marketing that works? Our website magic is thanks to Letha Davis. Check her out at lethadavis.com

Listen now at: www.rainydayrabbitholes.com

Visit Wallace, Idaho!

https://wallace.id.gov/

Dark Legacy of the Grand Coulee Dam Sep 10, 2025

Show notes

A river is the most powerful force in nature—and blocking one is the boldest act a human can attempt. In this episode of Rainy Day Rabbit Holes, we dive into the colossal story of the Grand Coulee Dam: a project born in the desperation of the Great Depression, built with sweat and sacrifice, and shadowed by broken promises.

From Hoovervilles to hydroelectric power, boomtown brothels to Woody Guthrie ballads, and even the secret connection between the dam and the atomic bomb, this is history at its most epic and unsettling. We’ll explore the triumphs, tragedies, and the question that lingers today: who really paid the price for progress?

✨ And don’t miss the end of the episode—we’ve got a brand new piece of Patreon fan fiction, starring one of our amazing supporters!

💡 If you like your history wild, weird, and a little unhinged, you’re in the right place.

👉 Listen, review, and support us at:
🌐 rainydayrabbitholes.com
💖 rainydayrabbitholes.com/support

Special thanks to Leetha, our Mistress of Marketing, and to our amazing Patreon supporters for keeping us powered up and rabbit-hole ready.

Chapters

00:00 – Intro: Blocking a river is the boldest act of man
00:35 – The Great Depression & Washington’s economic collapse
04:30 – The New Deal & the Columbia Basin Project
08:15 – The pumpers vs. the ditchers: epic dam debates
16:30 – Breaking ground & boomtown chaos on B Street
20:15 – Sex work, taxi dancers, and wild nights at the work camps
24:30 – Engineering feats: freezing dirt, cooling concrete, and sheer scale
28:47 – Powering wartime industry and postwar agriculture
31:22 – The dark side: lost salmon, flooded villages, and broken treaties
39:00 – From Grand Coulee to Hanford: fueling the atomic bomb
40:50 – The monument scandal and a stolen statue
43:30 – Reflections: who pays for progress?
44:10 – Patreon fan fiction: Matt Pearson and ghostly encounters

The Dark History of Shanghaiing with Dark History Sep 03, 2025

Show notes

Today, we are proud to present an episode by one of our fabulous Umbrella Podcast Collective members-Rob of Dark History. You've heard us talk about the Portland Shanghai Tunnels before, now go even deeper. Check it out!

In this gripping episode of The Dark History Podcast, we dive deep into one of the most chilling and overlooked forms of human trafficking in history: shanghaiing. From the mid-1800s to the early 20th century, thousands of men were abducted from port cities like Portland, San Francisco, and Liverpool—drugged, beaten, or tricked into signing forged contracts, only to wake up trapped aboard ships bound for Asia.

This wasn’t just the work of shady criminals in back alleys. It was a full-blown industry. Crimps, saloon keepers, hotel owners, and even police officers played their part, all for a quick payout. Some victims were lured by the promise of work or a warm bed. Others were dropped through trapdoors into underground tunnels and chained in holding cells until a ship was ready. Few escaped. Most were never seen again.

You’ll hear the real names behind the crimes, like the notorious “Bunko” Kelly, who once claimed to have sold a ship a crew of corpses. We'll uncover how this brutal system thrived in plain sight for decades, and how changing laws, technology, and public outrage eventually brought it down.

This isn’t the maritime adventure story you’ve been told. It’s about organised trafficking, greed, and the silent suffering of thousands who were stolen from familiar streets and forced into a life at sea. The legacy of shanghaiing lives on in the sealed trapdoors and forgotten tunnels beneath modern cities.

If you're fascinated by the dark undercurrents of history—the parts that rarely make it into textbooks—this episode is a must-listen.

Support the show

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The Great Kentucky Meat Rain Aug 27, 2025

Show notes

In March 1876, the skies opened above Bath County, Kentucky… and instead of rain, meat fell from the heavens. Was it a divine miracle, a bizarre prank, or an avian puke-fest courtesy of startled vultures? Shea and Jody dig into one of history’s strangest mysteries—the infamous Kentucky Meat Shower.

Chapters:

0:00 – Welcome to Rainy day rabbit holes where we take the history of the west off the rails
00:20 – Today we are covering a meteorological event. Precipitation. Don't you wish we could time travel
01:17 – Carrie Thompson: I've never made soap. Have you
05:08 – There are several theories about what caused meat to rain in 1800s
09:16 – After 150 years, no one has figured out definitively what this is
10:57 – Did anyone ever get sick from the 1876 Kentucky meat shower
13:50 – We appreciate the support of our patrons more than you could know
15:31 – All of our Apple reviews, subscribers and statistics got lost recently

Calls to Action:
👉 Love weird history? Support us on Patreon and get your own bespoke fan fiction story written by us! www.rainydayrabbitholes.com/support
👉 Please leave us a review on Apple Podcasts—we lost all our reviews and subscribers due to a glitch, so hitting “Follow” again helps us out tremendously.
👉 Follow us on social media for behind-the-scenes fun and bonus content!

Project Acoustic Kitty Aug 20, 2025

Show notes

Silly Summer Season: The CIA’s Bonkers Spy Cat – Project Acoustic Kitty

In this delightfully absurd Silly Summer Season episode of Rainy Day Rabbit Holes, Jody takes us down the rabbit hole of one of the strangest Cold War experiments you’ve never heard of—Project Acoustic Kitty.

In the 1960s, the CIA actually spent millions of taxpayer dollars trying to turn a real, living cat into a stealthy spy. The plan? Surgically implant a microphone, radio transmitter, and antenna into an adorable feline operative to eavesdrop on Soviet conversations.

From top-secret surgery to a very short-lived field mission, this story has everything—government overconfidence, questionable ethics, and one very confused kitty. Shea and Jody can barely keep it together as they imagine what could possibly go wrong with strapping espionage gear to a cat.

Grab a cool drink, settle in, and enjoy one of the most ridiculous espionage stories in history. This is Cold War absurdity at its finest.

A huge thank you to our amazing Patreons—you’re the reason we get to keep chasing these ridiculous and fascinating stories.

If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to leave us a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen—it really helps other curious minds find us.

Want more rabbit holes? Join our Patreon for bonus content, behind-the-scenes extras, and even bespoke fan fiction starring you at www.rainydayrabbitholes.com/support.

Visit us at www.rainydayrabbitholes.com for episode blogs, links, and more.

Special thanks to Letha Davis, our Magician of Marketing, at lethadavis.com for making our show shine.

That Time We Almost Nuked the Moon Aug 13, 2025

Show notes

In this mind-boggling episode of Rainy Day Rabbit Holes, hosts Shea and Jody take you on a wild ride through one of the most absurd plans in Cold War history: Project A119, the United States Air Force's secret proposal to nuke the moon. Yes, you read that right! Join us as we explore the motivations behind this bizarre plan, from ego and public relations to a desperate need for cosmic swagger in the face of Soviet competition.

You'll discover:
- How the Cold War turned into a cosmic pissing contest
- The role of young Carl Sagan in calculating the visibility of a lunar explosion
- The environmental and geopolitical repercussions of detonating a nuke on the moon
- Why this plan was ultimately scrapped and buried deeper than your most embarrassing secrets
Expect a mix of laughter and disbelief as we delve into this ridiculous chapter of history that almost turned our celestial neighbor into a glowing crater. After all, what's a little lunar devastation when national pride is at stake?
🌕 CHAPTERS
00:00 – Intro and Welcome
02:30 – The Hypothetical Cold War Dilemma: Blow It Up!
08:15 – Introducing Project A119: The Moon Nuke
15:45 – The Science Behind the Madness: Carl Sagan’s Involvement
24:00 – The Risks of Nuke-ing the Moon: Tides and Climate
32:20 – Why the Project Was Shelved: A Cosmic Cautionary Tale
40:00 – Wrapping Up and Reflections on Human Folly

🔗 LINKS
🌐 Rainy Day Rabbit Holes Website: https://www.rainydayrabbitholes.com
💌 Support Us on Patreon: https://www.rainydayrabbitholes.com/support

Show notes created by https://headliner.app

Cryptids of the PNW (with Devon from Ouija Broads!) Aug 08, 2025

Show notes

Episode 81-Cryptids and Kindred Spirits – A Dive with Devon from Ouija Broads

Rainy Day Rabbit Holes is thrilled to welcome Devon from the Ouija Broads, one of the most beloved podcasts about Pacific Northwest paranormal history, ghosts, and cryptids. With a relaunch underway and a new book on cryptids in progress, Devon joins Shea and Jody for a hilarious and heartwarming episode about everything from mosquito bites and neighbor drama to her favorite haunted stories, paranormal research, and crafting workshops.

Plus, after the break, Devon faces her biggest challenge yet: a Who Am I? Cryptid Edition trivia game where she flexes her cryptozoology knowledge and tells us what really qualifies as a cryptid vs. a myth.

🔮 Expect weird neighbor stories, beavers falling from the sky, Bigfoot posters with grills, and a whole lot of laughter.

✨ Featured Guest:

Devon from the Ouija Broads

🧭 CHAPTERS

00:00 – Intro and Welcome

02:40 – What’s Chapping Our Ass: Mosquitoes, Trashy Neighbors, and Home Depot Rage

14:10 – Meeting Devon and the Origins of Ouija Broads

20:30 – Soul Sisters of Weird History and Podcast Chemistry

27:00 – Creative Lives, Art Farm Dreams, and Teaching Classes at MostGhost.com

33:30 – Devon’s Upcoming Cryptid Book (What Is a Cryptid, Really?)

38:45 – 🎧 AD BREAK & Patreon Shout-Out (BREAK POINT)

41:10 – 👣 Who Am I? Cryptid Edition – Devon Plays the Game

01:12:30 – Wrapping Up and Where to Find More Ouija Broads & Most Ghost

🔗 LINKS

🌐 Rainy Day Rabbit Holes Website: https://www.rainydayrabbitholes.com

👻 Ouija Broads Website: https://ouijabroads.com

🎨 Devon’s Classes & Art: https://www.mostghost.com

What is the Cadaver Synod? Jul 30, 2025

Show notes

What happens when church politics go full horror movie?

In this jaw-dropping episode of Rainy Day Rabbit Holes, hosts Shea and Jody unearth one of the most bizarre trials in history—the Cadaver Synod of 897 CE, when the Catholic Church literally put a dead pope on trial.

You'll learn:

Why Pope Formosus was exhumed, dressed in papal robes, and propped up in court
How medieval church power struggles spiraled into corpse mutilation and chaos
What role Charlemagne’s crumbling empire played in this grotesque drama
How public backlash, earthquakes, and papal revenge shaped the aftermath

Part of our “Silly Summer Season,” this episode trades the misty PNW for medieval Rome, where ecclesiastical drama meets dark comedy. It’s Mean Girls meets The Exorcist, and somehow, it’s all real.

Visit www.rainydayrabbitholes.com for more!

Support us by joining our Patreon! You get access to our unhinged bonus episodes plus more! www.rainydayrabbitholes.com/support

🔍 Keywords: Cadaver Synod, Pope Formosus, Stephen VI, weird Catholic history, medieval trials, corpse on trial, Vatican scandals, exhumed pope, bizarre history podcast, funny history stories

Why Is There a Lenin Statue in Seattle? Jul 23, 2025

Show notes

How did a 7-ton statue of Vladimir Lenin—a symbol of Soviet communism—end up in Seattle’s artsy, free-spirited Fremont neighborhood? In this listener-requested episode, Shea and Jody uncover the bizarre journey of Fremont’s Lenin statue, from a scrapyard in post-Communist Europe to its quirky life as a holiday-themed, drag-clad Seattle oddity.

They dive into the statue's Cold War origins, the eccentric American who brought it to the U.S., and the ongoing debate: Is it art, satire, or an accidental shrine to tyranny? Expect laughter, social commentary, wild hypotheticals, and a heartfelt nod to Fremont’s fading weirdness.

📍 Chapters

00:00 – Welcome to Summer Silly Season

02:15 – Listener Request from Brian of Spirits and Monsters of Old Seattle

03:20 – Who Sculpted Lenin (and Why It Took 10 Years)

06:05 – From Poprad to the Scrapyard: Lenin's Fall

09:25 – Enter Lou Carpenter: The English Teacher Who Bought Lenin

13:55 – Issaquah Says “Nope”

15:10 – A Tragic Car Crash and a Statue with No Home

18:40 – Fremont to the Rescue

21:10 – Yes, It’s Still For Sale (for $300,000!)

23:30 – Dressing Lenin: From Jack-o’-Lanterns to Drag

26:45 – Art or Offense? Slavic Americans Weigh In