Using archives to imagine our way through the past into the future
A tour through the roots, history, and legacy of eugenics and race science, from the Beehive Riots of 1820s Boston through physical anthropology, Francis Galton, Ellis Island, the American Plan, the Tuskegee experiments, the Nazis, through to the present. Note: some of this episode deals with human sexuality, and some of it is disturbing.
A look at some of the ends of the world: The Great Flood; the Permian Extinction; the triumph of Ahura Mazda; Ragnarok; and the coming climate crisis.
A year after the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, a timely look back at the context and legacy of the "Great Sedition Trial of 1944" and a deep dive into some of the most influential (and strangest) figures in American far-right history: Joe McWilliams, George Sylvester Viereck, William Dudley Pelley, Gerald Burton Winrod, and Elizabeth Dilling.
Read MorePrologue. -- Gold! Gold! -- A Procrastinated Manifesto -- Spirits of the Age -- Complex Marriages -- The Leviathan of Parsontown -- Changes in Space and Time -- A Convention of Women -- A Convention of Free Persons -- Sea Serpent -- The Man Who Should Be Dead -- Marble Palace -- an Escape from Bondage, Right Under Their Noses! -- Postscript.
Theseus and the Minotaur; Mad King Ludwig II of Bavaria; the Winchester Mystery House; Halcyon House; Halcyon House; and the Collyer Brothers. Five labyrinths in myth, in the mind, and in reality.
Music used in this episode, all used with a Creative Commons license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and mostly available via the Free Music Archive (http://freemusicarchive.org):
Chris Zabriskie: four tracks from his 2013 album Reappear.
C4, "Night Train," from the 2010 album Pieces.
Artesia., "Her," available here: https://soundcloud.com/artesiia
Mystery Mammal, "Xanadon't," from the 2017 album Latent.
Aso, "Champloo," available here: https://soundcloud.com/aricogle
Just in time for Samhain: The climax, conclusion, and aftermath of the Salem Witch Trials. Also: the life and times of Cotton Mather, Puritan witch-hunter; the Kissing Bug apocalypse; a conspiracy to burn down Manhattan; and the return and eventual triumph of mass psychogenic illness, starting in upstate New York.
Music used in this episode, all used with a Creative Commons license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and all available via the Free Music Archive (http://freemusicarchive.org):
Chris Zabriskie, "Cylinder Seven," "Cylinder Five," and "Cylinder Eight," from the 2014 album Cylinders.
Big Mean Sound Machine, "Sweet Tooth," "Contraband," and "Burning Van," from the 2015 album Live on WFMU's Transpacific Sound Paradise: Sep 19, 2015.
The Custodian of Records, "Emo Step Show," from the 2013 album .
chēēZ π, "Untitled (How Does It Feel)," from the 2016 album The Clones of Dr. Funkenstein.
Cobol Pongide, "Nostalgia di un anziato Cosmonauta," from the 2010 album Filodiffusione per ambienti in assenza di gravita.
The Salem Witchcraft Trials examined, along with some historical context about the Massachusetts Bay Colony. And don't forget the creepy clowns, Satanic cults, and flying saucers. Part one of two.
Music used in this episode, all used with a Creative Commons license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and all available via the Free Music Archive (http://freemusicarchive.org):
Chris Zabriskie, "Cylinder Nine," "Cylinder Three," and "Cylinder Two," from the 2014 album Cylinders.
Big Mean Sound Machine, "Who Gosh," "Triple Bacon," and "Seeing the Bigger Picture," from the 2015 album Live on WFMU's Transpacific Sound Paradise: Sep 19, 2015.
Big City Orchestra, "Evil Child," from the 2012 album Trixxy Pixxy.
Milkshake Daddy, "The Fifth Instar, Parts 1 and 2," from the 2012 album Aquatic Ape Hypothesis.
chēēZ π, "Stargazer," from the 2016 album The Clones of Dr. Funkenstein.
A short, short introduction to the Imaginary Histories podcast. Our first full episode will be on the Salem Witch Trials and a history of mass hysteria in America (and the sound quality will be much better than this, I promise). I hope you join me!
The song in the background is "Burning Van," by Big Mean Sound Machine, performed live on WFMU's Transpacific Sound Paradise, September 19, 2015; licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 license.