Ridiculous History

Language is beautiful and, in many cases, continually evolving. As a result, we end up with hundreds of strange idioms and figures of speech that we use on a daily basis, with little to no understandi...

Can people really just, for no discernable reason, catch on fire? In today's episode, Ben, Noel and Max explore the centuries old folklore and investigations of a phenomenon known as "spontaneous huma...

As Ben, Noel and Max close out another year of Ridiculous History, they return to the patently baffling world of intellectual property. In part three of this series, the guys finally tackle one of the...

Most people in the West are familiar with the old Rapunzel fairy tale -- a beautiful princess is confined to a tower until a prince, captivated by her beauty, uses her hair as a ladder and comes to he...

Nowadays, pretty much anyone can easily find an accurate map of a city, a country, or the entire world. But this wasn't always the case. In today's episode, Ben, Noel and Max explore baffling cartogra...

For most people, Tylenol is nothing more than an ol' stand-by, over-the-counter pain reliever. Yet, as Ben, Noel and Max learn in today's episode -- this wasn't always the case. Today's episode takes ...

Founding Father Benjamin Franklin was a man of many interests, but his endeavors were by no means limited to technical innovation, philosophy and politics. In fact, throughout his life he had a reputa...

Do you have a favorite tree? In today's episode, Ben, Noel and Max head over to the famous college town of Athens, Georgia where -- legend has it -- one guy was so enamored with his childhood oak that...

Longtime listeners are well-aware that the history of the 'Wild West' is more than a bit... embellished. Yet a grain of truth exists at the heart of almost every legend, and the story of Doc Holliday ...

Idaho was the 43rd state admitted to the Union, and today it's well-known for potatoes, mining, and stunning forests -- but, even in the modern day, Idaho is home to a surprising mystery: What does it...