Our Fake History

Can a psychological illness become contagious? Many experts believe that in rare cases a phenomenon known as a "mass psychogenic illness" can break out in a population. Can this strange quirk of group...

In 1692 in the town of Salem Village, Massachusetts, two young girls started acting very strangely. The girls suffered from uncontrollable fits, bouts of incoherence, and odd outbursts including barki...

In 1906 an ex-convict named Wilhelm Voigt living pulled off one of the most audacious heists in European history. After cobbling together a realistic looking Captain's uniform, he convinced ten German...

In the world of pseudo-historical theories there are few more radical than the Phantom Time Hypothesis and the New Chronology. These theories propose that hundreds of years of human history never actu...

There are few tales of revenge as epic as that of Olga of Kyiv. In 945 AD Olga set out on a campaign of vengeance that would make a lasting mark on the history of Eastern Europe. However, there is goo...

Most professional wrestling fans have accepted the scripted nature of wrestling for decades, but are we truly living in a post-kayfabe world? This week's guest, RJ City, thinks that maybe kayfabe neve...

Professional Wrestling had a long history of manipulated matches, but it took time to evolve into the pure theatre we know today. Along the road Professional Wrestling passed through a strange interme...

In 1957 the French philosopher Roland Barthes called professional wrestling a "spectacle of excess." That may be the most beautifully succinct description of sports entertainment ever written. For dec...

In 1721 the first Hell-Fire club caused a scandal in London and quickly disbanded, but the story did not end there. Soon new blasphemous rake's clubs were being founded all over England, Scotland and ...

In Britain in the early 18th century private social clubs were all the rage. These societies grew out of the emerging coffeehouse culture and soon became an integral part of the social life of the Bri...