Ridiculous History

Let's be honest. If you live in the United States, you probably think fruitcake is ridiculous. It's like the MRE of Christmas, passed around from one family to the next. But what makes it so resilient...

Picture this: it's just after World War II -- the world knows nuclear weapons can end civilization. So, how can a government help the public feel safe? In today's episode, Ben, Noel and Max dive into ...

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...