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PODCAST

Our Fake History

A podcast about myths we think are history and history that might be hidden in myths! Awesome stories that really (maybe) happened!

history

All Episodes

00:00

Episode #160- Who Knows Toronto?

Our Fake History ·

2022/07/27

In this SUPER SIZED season finale Sebastian explores the many myths and misconceptions about the city of Toronto. In his attempt to get a deeper understanding of the city he has called home, our host embarks on a series of probing conversations with a handful of Toronto storytellers. Author and feature writer Katie Daubs, Toronto educator Bryan Tran, Toronto Star investigative journalist Brendan Kennedy, local music legend Dave Bidini, and Governor General's Literary Award finalist Liselle Sambury

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01:23:41

Episode #159- How Should We Remember Attila the Hun?...

Our Fake History ·

2022/07/12

In the stories of saints' lives written in the medieval era Attila the Hun was often used as a stock villain. He was called the "Scourge of God" and was understood as a blunt instrument used by God to punish the impious and test the resolve of martyrs. But, Attila certainly did not see himself as the tool of a Christian God that he did not worship. These medieval hagiographies presented Attila as one of history's most brutal monsters, but is that reasonable? Attila was an ambitious conqueror who

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01:16:24

Episode #158- How Should We Remember Attila the Hun?...

Our Fake History ·

2022/06/29

The Huns were not a literate culture, which means their version of history was never written down. As a result we rely on sources written by outsiders to trace the rise of the Hunnic empire and the career of King Attila. This means that the record is patchy, incomplete, and deeply affected by the anti-Hun prejudices of the authors. But despite that, there are still a number of remarkable stories that have survived in the historical record that help us get a more nuanced picture of Attila the Hun

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01:17:17

Episode #157- How Should We Remember Attila the Hun?...

Our Fake History ·

2022/06/15

Attila the Hun has been saddled with a truly terrible historical reputation. In many parts of the world his name is synonymous with barbarism. But, despite the fact that Attila the Hun has excellent name recognition for an ancient historical figure, the details of his life remain obscure to most. Like most conquerors, opinions on Attila swing widely depending on which side of those conquests your ancestors happened to be on. Was Attila a bloodthirsty sadist or a noble nation builder? Can you be

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01:13:24

Episode #156- What Became of the Benin Bronzes? (Part...

Our Fake History ·

2022/06/01

In the last year the global conversation around the fate of the Benin Bronzes has shifted dramatically. In April of 2021 the German government announced that the vast majority of Benin Bronzes kept in German museums will be returned to Nigeria. This announcement was followed by a rash of other institutions making pledges to return objects that had been plundered from the Kingdom of Benin. Most recently, in March of 2022, America's Smithsonian institute pledged to return it's entire collection of

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01:10:05

Episode #155- What Became of the Benin Bronzes? (Part...

Our Fake History ·

2022/05/18

In 1897 Queen Victoria marked her diamond jubilee and Britain was in a celebratory mood. The British Empire had never been stronger. Few could imagine that this world-spanning empire might very well be peaking. But in 1897 Britain was in no mood for painful self-reflection. Instead Britons were gaily celebrating the what they perceived to be the "triumphs" of empire. Earlier that year a British punitive expedition sacked the West- African city of Benin. The victorious Brits carried off thousands of

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00:00

Episode #154- What Became of the Benin Bronzes? (Part I)

Our Fake History ·

2022/05/04

Looting has been a part of warfare since the earliest times. Despite the fact that looting was common for much of history, it was always recognized as an especially harmful and humiliating by-product of armed conflict. By the late 19th century, the looting of sacred objects and culturally significant works of art was widely considered a war crime and was forbidden by a number of international treaties. But despite these high minded treaties, the treasures of Indigenous people, Africans, and South

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01:16:37

Episode #153- What Is The Titanic Myth? (Part III)

Our Fake History ·

2022/04/19

The Titanic myth isn't really built on lies, so much as a series of amplified "half-truths". Stories about the Captain imploring his crew to "Be British" and the band playing even as water sloshed around their waists, all helped make the disaster feel meaningful. These stories helped turn a tragedy into a triumph. Contradictory accounts were often ignored, or faded into obscurity, when they didn't fit with the myth. It should come as no surprise that the Titanic has also been the subject of an

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01:13:19

Episode #152- What Is The Titanic Myth? (Part II)

Our Fake History ·

2022/04/06

When the wreck of the Titanic claimed over 1500 lives in 1912 the tragedy seemed too full of irony and meaning for it simply to be a freak accident. Surely someone was to blame. There had to be villain. Since that time many figures have been put forward as the villain of the Titanic story. Can responsibility for this disaster be laid at the feet of a reckless captain or a greedy businessman? Or even better, was the Titanic actually the victim of 3000 year old Egyptian priestess? Tune-in and find out

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01:19:47

Episode #151- What Is The Titanic Myth? (Part I)

Our Fake History ·

2022/03/22

The sinking of the RMS Titanic is one of the best remembered nautical disasters in history. Over 1500 passengers died after the luxury ocean liner struck an iceberg and sank to the bottom of the North Atlantic in April 1912. Since that time there have been many more disasters at sea that have been deadlier and arguably more historically consequential. And yet, all of those subsequent tragedies are still dwarfed in public memory by the Titanic. This is at least partially due to the fact that the

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01:04:01

OFH Special Presentation - What Should We Believe...

Our Fake History ·

2022/03/09

In part two of this OFH Special Presentation Sebastian pulls a little something out from behind the Patreon paywall. What was once a massive extra episode on the history and weird mythology of the Knights Templar is now being presented as a two part series for the wider OFH audience. Founded in the aftermath of the first crusade, this order of warrior monks would eventually become one of the most wealthy and influential organizations in the medieval world. However, the Templars' sudden fall from

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00:59:26

OFH Special Presentation - What Should We Believe...

Our Fake History ·

2022/02/23

In this OFH Special Presentation Sebastian pulls a little something out from behind the Patreon paywall. What was once a massive extra episode on the history and weird mythology of the Knights Templar is now being presented as a two part series for the wider OFH audience. Founded in the aftermath of the first crusade, this order of warrior monks would eventually become one of the most wealthy and influential organizations in the medieval world. However, the Templars' sudden fall from grace in early

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01:09:44

Episode #150- Why Didn't You Tell Us That?

Our Fake History ·

2022/02/09

Over the course of 150 episodes there have been theories, stories, and sidebars that have fallen through the cracks. Tales that don't quite fit the main thrust of an episode sometimes get cut for time. Interesting, but obscure, takes on historical controversies can go unexplored. Sometimes Sebastian will learn a great story about a figure only after he has wrapped a series on them. These odds and ends are usually left to languish in podcast limbo. Today Sebastian celebrates 150 episodes by taking a

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01:14:52

Episode #149- Who Was the Real Stagger Lee?

Our Fake History ·

2022/01/26

The character of Stagger Lee has been one of America’s most enduring folk heroes. There have been over 400 songs written about the swaggering, gun-toting, bad man. He has gone by many names: Stacks Lee, Stagolee, Staxs O’Lee. Sometimes he is presented as a malevolent villain, others a heroic defender of the oppressed. No matter the telling Stagger Lee is always a badass. Is this figure just a piece of fiction dreamt up by blues musicians and perpetuated by their rock’n’roll progeny, or was there a

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01:41:46

Episode #148- Who Was First in Flight? (Part III)

Our Fake History ·

2022/01/12

In 1906 Alberto Santos-Dumont performed a number of short flights in front of a large crowd in Paris. These were done in his newly constructed heavier-than-air flying machine, the No.14-Bis. After these successful hops newspapers roared that Santos had once again "conquered the air". Until at least 1908 he was widely recognized as the inventor of the first airplane. Now very few remember the achievements of Santos-Dumont outside of his native Brazil. What changed? It turns out that there are many

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01:13:55

Episode #147- Who Was First in Flight? (Part II)

Our Fake History ·

2021/12/29

The late 19th century in France sometime gets called La Belle Époque or the "Beautiful Era". As the name suggests, this is a time that has been fondly remembered as an age of optimism marked by artistic and scientific triumphs. However, this era is also sometimes called the Fin De Siecle. When this nickname is evoked it's usually to cast this era as a cynical and pessimistic time, when people openly fretted about how different the 20th century would be from the 19th. This period was also marked by

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01:14:50

Episode #146- Who Was First in Flight? (Part I)

Our Fake History ·

2021/12/15

In mythology from around the world the ability to fly was reserved strictly for the gods. Stories about human beings constructing flying machines were usually punctuated with a moral about hubris. Vain attempts at flight were an easy metaphor for the limits of human ingenuity. Even in the late 19th century, when technology was progressing quickly and inventors were becoming celebrities, those who devoted themselves to flying machines were written off as daredevils or cranks. However, the stigma did

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01:15:18

Episode #145- Real Gryphons?

Our Fake History ·

2021/12/01

The legendary hybrid creature known as the gryphon was said to have the body of a lion and the head and wings of an eagle. Despite this fantastical descriptions the ancient Greeks and Romans truly seemed to have believed that gryphons were real animals. It was thought that gryphons lived in arid steppes and deserts of central Asia where they guarded stashes of gold. Stories of gryphons made their way to Mediterranean by way of the nomadic Scythian people, who hunted for gold in the gryphon's

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01:09:49

Episode #144- Who Was the Mother of Empires? (Part III)

Our Fake History ·

2021/11/17

Eleanor of Aquitaine has been called the "Queen of the Troubadours" by fawning biographers. She has been credited with transforming medieval European culture through her patronage of the arts. It's also been written that she presided over elaborate "Courts of Love" where she made rulings on matters of the heart. However, this image of Eleanor may just be another aspect of the so-called "Golden Myth". Some historians have argued that it was only after Eleanor became a widow that she really stepped

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01:08:37

Episode #143- Who Was the Mother of Empires? (Part II)

Our Fake History ·

2021/11/03

When the King and Queen of France went on crusade in 1147 it nearly destroyed their marriage. The campaign led by King Louis VII and Eleanor of Aquitaine was an unmitigated disaster. But despite (or perhaps because of) it's failure the Second Crusade would remain a potent part of Eleanor's legend. It was rumored that she dressed like an Amazonian Queen and carried on affairs with everyone from the Muslim General Saladin to her own Uncle. Are any of these stories true or is just another part of

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