Echoes of Krakatoa

When a sleepy volcano in Indonesia began smoking in 1883, a steamship company started selling tickets. Tourists hiked up Krakatoa until the soles of their shoes melted, sure they were watching a harmless spectacle. Three months later, it let loose one of the loudest sounds in recorded history, givi…

Rosey & Bobby

Rosey Grier has a habit of showing up at turning points of American history: the greatest NFL game ever played, Free to Be…You and Me, and Bobby Kennedy’s 1968 presidential run. But one night at the Ambassador Hotel made the football star a reluctant hero. It also gave him a mission he’s spent the …

My Sister the Rockefeller

Wherever Sioux singer D.Z. Ironwing performed in New York, the same woman was waiting afterward to say she loved his voice. Seven years later, his phone rang in a freezing South Dakota trailer. It was her — the first of countless calls that began an unlikely bond with one of America’s richest famil…

The Secret Lives of Snape Wives

Plenty of Harry Potter fans love Severus Snape. A few truly worshipped him. In the early 2000s, these fans found each other online and came to believe Harry’s least favorite professor was real. A god in an alternate universe that bled into our own. Nothing in the world could shake their devotion to…

The Joyride: Amelia and Eleanor's Excellent Adventure [Re-Release]

In 1933, Eleanor Roosevelt and Amelia Earhart ducked out of a White House event and commandeered an airplane. The First Lady and the first lady of aviation flew to Baltimore and back. The event was documented by journalists, and later recounted in books. But there was more to this spontaneous joyri…

The Case of the Missing Novelist [Re-Release]

Agatha Christie is the best-selling novelist of all time. But her biggest mystery unfolded outside the pages of her books. In this episode, Dana examines the 11 days in 1926 when the beloved author went missing, and the rollicking media circus inspired by her disappearance. Hosted by Dana Schwartz…

Nicolas Cage, Y2K, and History's Most Unlikely Art Heist

After a party at Nicolas Cage’s Bel-Air mansion, one of the rarest comic books on Earth disappeared. Action Comics #1 — the comic that introduced Superman — is worth millions of dollars. With almost no evidence and a suspect list that includes employees and celebrity guests alike, Cage and his trus…

North by North Korea [Re-Release]

When two of the most influential figures in film become the personal hostages of Kim Jong Il, they have two objectives: to elevate North Korean cinema on the world stage, and to plot their daring escape.  * We're hard at work on our next season of new VSEs. If you've already heard this one, email…

Spies and Dolls [Re-Release]

Velvalee Dickinson ran a doll shop on Madison Avenue that catered to wealthy collectors. But in one of the strangest espionage cases of World War II, Dickinson's clients had no idea she was using correspondence about doll orders to transmit coded U.S. military intelligence to the Japanese. * We'r…

The Dog Who Saved the 1966 World Cup [from Ridiculous Crime]

Hello, Very Special listeners! Today we're dipping into the archives of Zaron's other podcast, Ridiculous Crime, to share a tale of dog excellence from World Cup history.  In 1966, England hosted the FIFA World Cup, an incredible honor and landmark moment for English football. Just one problem: so…