PODCAST

Time Tellers

Time Tellers, hosted by Renee and Dan, explores stories and events that have shaped the USA

history

All Episodes

26:03

Earthrise

Time Tellers ·

2026/04/21

December 1968 had splintered a nation—assassinations, riots, a war that refused to end. Into that fracture climbed three men in a rocket, not just to test hardware but to answer a Cold War gamble. This episode unfolds the quiet terror and impossible daring of Apollo 8: the hurried decision to send an untested Saturn V, the gut‑clenching 16‑minute radio blackout behind the moon, and the fragile human moments that held a mission together.Listen as we trace the accidental miracle of Earthrise—one

1:21

Butter on Trial: Iowa’s Strange Laws About Margarine,...

Time Tellers ·

2026/04/18

Step into Iowa where everyday objects become the center of legal drama: a stick of margarine can land a restaurateur in court, substitute sugar packets can stand accused of being illicit pills, and a child’s lemonade stand once required government paperwork. This episode follows the human stories behind these unlikely statutes — the restaurateurs baffled by a butter-first law, prosecutors wielding a lookalike-drug statute in surprising ways, and families who turned a shutdown into a legislative

36:38

Apollo 1 — Fire on the Pad

Time Tellers ·

2026/04/14

On a golden Florida evening in January 1967, three astronauts climbed into Apollo 1 for a routine ground test. What began as a plugs-out rehearsal became a nightmare: a spark in a pure-oxygen cabin turned ordinary materials into fuel, and in less than 30 seconds the capsule ruptured. In this episode we weave the technical failures, the human stories, and the mounting pressures behind the disaster — from Gus Grissom’s quiet warnings and Ed White’s buoyant spirit to Roger Chaffee’s quiet dedication

1:11

Shooting Fish Is Illegal? Inside Indiana's Strangest...

Time Tellers ·

2026/04/11

Walk into a curious chapter of Midwestern law where metaphors collide with statutes. In this episode we follow the trail from the odd—shooting fish with a gun or explosives is outlawed by Indiana conservation code—to the almost-mythic: one town’s old rule that black cats must wear bells on Friday the 13th. We unpack which claims are ceremonial, which are lightly apocryphal, and which are codified and enforced.Along the way we recount the sober reality that skiing while intoxicated in Indiana

23:39

Dun, Dun, Dun: When Sputnik Shook the World

Time Tellers ·

2026/04/07

Intro music fades in—tense and cinematic. Dun, dun, dun. On a Friday night in October 1957 a tiny metal beep sliced through the air and the world changed: Sputnik was orbiting Earth, and with it came panic, possibility, and a race that would reshape history. From the morally tangled genius of Wernher von Braun to the anonymous brilliance of Sergei Korolev, from Laika’s lonely orbit to America’s bumbling Vanguard and the Mercury Seven’s sudden celebrity, this episode stitches together the human

1:17

Don't Nap by the Colby: Real (and Ridiculous)...

Time Tellers ·

2026/04/04

Imagine wandering into a cheese factory after a long day and deciding it’s the perfect place for a nap — only to be told you’ve just broken the law. That absurd image sets the stage for this episode, where we follow odd, funny, and surprisingly practical rules that lurk inside state codes. We open on the Sanitary Food Preparation Act in Illinois, tracing how a sensible public-health rule about sleeping in food prep areas became an unexpectedly memorable headline. Next, we slip into a darker corner

20:01

Corrections

Time Tellers ·

2026/04/01

We are sorry, here are some corrections.

42:07

The White House Makeover

Time Tellers ·

2026/03/31

Welcome back to Time Tellers. In this episode, Renee and Dan guide listeners through the White House’s dramatic transformations—from James Hoban’s original plan and the 1814 burning to Teddy Roosevelt’s 1902 modernization, Truman’s gutting rebuild, Jackie Kennedy’s museum-quality restoration, the rise of fortress-like security, and the present controversy over a glass-walled ballroom that tore down the East Wing. Through vivid anecdotes, sharp arguments, and surprising details, they show how each

1:39

Don't Eat the Neighbor: Idaho's Anti‑Cannibalism Law...

Time Tellers ·

2026/03/28

Dan's legal tip of the day opens with a dark, oddly comic mystery: Idaho forbids cannibalism — punishable by up to 14 years in prison unless it was the only way to survive — drawing a line between Donner Party desperation and Hannibal Lecter horror. With dry wit and vivid detail, Dan turns statutes into stories, testing where law, morality, and survival collide. From a 1907 blue law banning Sunday merry‑go‑rounds to a strict rule that tattoos must be done in licensed parlors, the episode stitches

1:29

Don't Stick a Coin in Your Ear: Hawaii's Wild Laws

Time Tellers ·

2026/03/21

Step into an episode that treats paradise like a courtroom—Hawaii’s sun-drenched beaches, strict billboard bans and the bizarre law against putting coins in your ear become the stage for a series of odd legal tales. We weave through real statutes, urban legends and half-remembered advisories, turning statutes into stories and sparking the question: what makes a law strange enough to tell?Along the way we chase a rumored toilet restriction, tease apart fact from folklore, and then take a sharp turn

28:26

Bad You?

Time Tellers ·

2026/03/17

There’s a secret list—not published, not searchable—that could be written from the small choices you make every day: connecting to an unlocked Wi‑Fi, ripping a DVD for your tablet, picking up a feather on a hike, or sharing a song in a café. This episode follows ordinary people through three surprising worlds—digital life, federal lands, and the modern economy—showing how well‑meaning habits can unknowingly cross into criminal law. We trace the history from early federal crimes about treason and

1:48

Ice Cream, Llamas, and Local Laws: Georgia’s Weird...

Time Tellers ·

2026/03/15

Walk into this episode and find yourself led down a string of bizarre-but-true local laws in Georgia: an origin story about ice cream in back pockets tied to 1800s horse thieves, a surprising statute that treats llama treks like high-risk activities shielded by liability rules, and municipal ordinances that actually control where chickens can cross the road. Blending folklore, historical detective work, and legal clarity, we separate the myths from the statutes and reveal how these odd rules came to

13:07

Who Loves Daylight Savings Time?

Time Tellers ·

2026/03/11

Join us on this intriguing episode of Time Tellers as we delve deep into the history and controversy surrounding one of America's most debated timekeeping practices - Daylight Savings Time (DST). From its satirical origins with Benjamin Franklin to modern legislative battles, discover the stories of innovators and policymakers who have influenced this biannual tradition. Explore how World Wars and energy crises have shaped DST's implementation throughout the 20th century, and why farmers, health

1:51

Skyfall Sunday: The Parachute Law That Might Not Exist

Time Tellers ·

2026/03/08

Picture it: it’s Sunday, you’re a single woman with a packed parachute and a rumor that Florida will throw you in jail for jumping. We trace that laughable — but persistent — town‑ordinance legend, wade into the surprisingly real 1989 ban on dwarf tossing, and follow the paper trail from folklore to statute as lawmakers grapple with dignity, consent, and safety. Then the storm rolls in: during hurricane warnings some counties cut off alcohol sales to stop dangerous hurricane parties, a law born of

16:03

Wired Through History: Energy Drinks!

Time Tellers ·

2026/03/03

It starts at that late hour when confidence outpaces judgment: a fridge opens, a tab snaps, and a can hisses like a dare. From an ancient emperor’s accidental tea to communal yerba paste and the patent-medicine tonics of the 1800s, people have always hunted wakefulness—switching from ritual and necessity to branding and aspiration. This episode follows the winding trail from tea-stoked monks and cocaine-laced soda to postwar caffeine syrups and the moment an Austrian executive repackaged a Thai

1:33

Whisper in Church, Walk Out Fined

Time Tellers ·

2026/02/28

Imagine getting arrested for whispering in church — a $20 fine under a statute that sounds like it belongs in the powdered wig era. In this episode we tour Delaware’s odd legal museum: whispering bans, pants-policing in Luz (or is it Lewis?), and curfews that turned trick-or-treating into a cautionary tale about parenting anxieties.Through sharp storytelling and vivid scenes — a hypothetical 15-year-old in a Batman mask, the selective enforcement of decency laws, and the folklore that outlives its

31:02

Frost and Fire: America’s Winter Olympic Story

Time Tellers ·

2026/02/24

Imagine a ragtag college hockey team toppling the world’s greatest machine, a skater rewriting the limits of the human body, and ceremonies reworked after judges and governments collide — all in the same icy season. This episode stitches together those moments across a century of Winter Games, tracing how medals and mythology grew alongside corruption, boycotts, and geopolitics.From Lake Placid to Salt Lake City, Sochi to Beijing, we tell the stories behind the scores: the miracles, the scandals

1:30

If It Doesn't Bounce, It's not a Pickle

Time Tellers ·

2026/02/21

In the 1940s two men in Connecticut were selling what looked like pickles but failed the simplest of tests — drop one from a foot and if it doesn't bounce, it isn't fit for sale. Health inspectors relied on that dramatic bounce test to protect public health, a shorthand rule rooted in real cases even if not written word-for-word into the law.But the episode isn't just about cucumbers. Hartford once banned collecting rags, metals, and old junk without a license to curb opportunists during wartime

24:39

How the U.S. 'Accidentally' Invaded a Country — and...

Time Tellers ·

2026/02/17

Imagine a navy sailing into a peaceful harbor, Marines ashore and the American flag raised—only to discover a newspaper proving there is no war. In this episode, Time Tellers follows Commodore Thomas ap Catesby Jones as a string of assumptions, fear of being late, and a system that rewards decisive action nearly turns a mistake into international crisis.We trace the story from Monterey’s surreal occupation to later near-disasters—Tampico, the USS Vincennes, and the terrifying Able Archer

1:38

Want Snow? Colorado Says File a Permit First

Time Tellers ·

2026/02/14

In Colorado, weather isn’t just forecast—it’s permitted. Follow the surprising path from ski-resort water worries to cloud-seeding airplanes and the paperwork that makes engineered snow legal, plausible, and surprisingly bureaucratic.In Boulder, a run of couch fires near student housing turned a strange hazard into law: no indoor furniture on porches. It’s a small regulation with a big human story about safety, parties, and unintended consequences. And for the rumor hunters: the idea that llamas

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