A frightening children's game. An intensely divisive, boozy drink. A real-life Royal. As Ben and Noel discover in today's episode, "Bloody Mary" alludes to several ridiculous -- and, at times -- disturbing things.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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47:01
CLASSIC: The Ridiculous Story of the World’s First (Documented) Serial Killer
Locusta of Gaul, also known as Locusta The Poisoner, was one of the most infamous criminals of ancient times. Alternately sponsored and betrayed by the noble class, she committed crimes with impunity for years — even, at one point, opening an academy to teach her poisoning skills to others. Tune in to learn more about the rise and fall of what may well be the world’s first documented serial killer.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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A Ridiculous History of "Fad Diets"
Everyone in the developed world knows someone who's tried a 'fad diet' -- these are the so-called miracle practices that promise to help people lose weight and keep it off, through any number of potentially dubious methods. But where did they come from? In today's episode, Ben, Noel and guest producer Dylan dive deep into the Victorian era of tapeworms, super-chewing, and more.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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A Titanic Disaster: That Time An Entire Production Crew Tripped Off Bad Chowder
James Cameron's Titanic was, by all accounts, a blockbuster success. And, like so many other masterpieces, the story of its creation is a tale all its own. In today's episode, Ben and Noel dive deep into a little-known disaster that struck the already-tense production: someone laced the chowder with PCP, sending a small army of crew and cast alike on a terrifying journey into temporary madness. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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CLASSIC: Back When the Rich Ate Corpses
Nowadays it's safe to say that cannibalism isn't a widely-accepted practice, but not so long ago it was considered the bleeding edge (get it?) in medicine throughout Western Europe. Join Ben and Noel as they explore the odd practice of consuming human body parts in hopes of curring all one's ills, through everything such as the King's drops to bandages soaked in human fat, along with related stories of the legendary Mellified Man and the current, tragic phenomenon of Tanzanian criminals hunting down those suffering from albinism to use their body parts in magic rituals.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
History is beautiful, brutal and, often, ridiculous. Join Ben Bowlin and Noel Brown as they dive into some of the weirdest stories from across the span of human civilization in Ridiculous History, a podcast by iHeartRadio.