Our Fake History

In this Bonus Episode Sebastian takes questions from listeners about the series on the original Ponzi Scheme. The host investigates the history of the expression "robbing Peter to pay Paul", locates e...

Charles Ponzi's remarkable rise and fall played out over the course of a wild eight month period. He went from being a failed importer-exporter mired in debt to Boston's most talked about self-made mi...

The name Charles Ponzi has become synonymous with financial frauds. In 1920 the formerly obscure Italian immigrant suddenly became one of the most famous men in Boston when his Securities Exchange Com...

In this Bonus Episode Sebastian takes questions about the recent series on Buffalo Bill and the Wild West Show. He unpacks Bill's influence on the cowboy hero archetype, dives into the contentious his...

Buffalo Bill's Wild West first started touring outdoor arenas in 1883. What started as a western themed circus soon grew in ambition. In the quest to appeal to respectable middle-class family audience...

Buffalo Bill Cody was one of America's great mythmakers. The man born William Cody reinvented himself as the west's greatest rider, scout, and buffalo hunter before taking his schtick to the American ...

In this bonus episode Sebastian takes questions about the recent episodes on Thailand's legendary elephant duels and the seafaring Welsh Prince Madoc. The host does his best to pinpoint the "real" las...

There's a story that in the year 1170 a Prince from Wales, named Madoc, led a group of Welsh colonists over the Atlantic to North America. This group allegedly mingled with the local indigenous people...

One of the most pivotal moments in the history of Thailand was the Battle of Nong Sarai in 1593. This confrontation between the Burmese Tuangoo Dynasty and the proto-Thai kingdom of Ayutthaya is remem...

In this Bonus Episode Sebastian takes questions from listeners about the recent episodes on Werewolves and Witches. Sebastian explores the connection between rabies outbreaks and vampire/werewolf myth...