The One about the Dead Dog
This is a story inspired by urban legends -- unusual stories or anecdotes based on hearsay that are widely circulated as true. Like alligators in sewers. Or dead dogs in…
History Extra Podcast Black Tudors
Historian Miranda Kaufmann, author of Black Tudors: The Unknown Story, explores the lives of several Africans who resided in 16th-century England
Imaginary Worlds: Robot Collar Jobs
Are we prepared for a future where robots are the most sought after employees? In her debut novel Autonomous, Annalee Newitz imagines a future where humans take designer drugs to try and…
Sidedoor: Murder Is Her Hobby
Heiress, divorcée … mother of forensic science? Frances Glessner Lee was not your average 19th-century woman. Using the skills that high-society ladies were expected to have—like sewing, crafting, and knitting—Frances…
Futility Closet: Two Vanished Young Writers
Everett Ruess and Barbara Newhall Follett were born in March 1914 at opposite ends of the U.S. Both followed distinctly unusual lives as they pursued a love of writing. And…
The Lamp of Mutual Aid
Joshua Edwards meditates on the nature of work and communal living. Produced by Katie Klocksin.
Allusionist: Curse Soup
Somebody has really ticked you off. You're all steamed up inside and you want to vent that rage using words, but you don't want to confront them directly because you're…
This American Life: We Are in the Future
One of our producers, Neil Drumming, has recently become fascinated with Afrofuturism. It's more than sci-fi. It’s a way of looking at black culture that’s fantastic, creative, and oddly hopeful—which feels especially urgent…
Jennifer Kronovet studied Yiddish so she could communicate with the dead
Kronovet had a ton of ideas for language-related podcast episodes. We eventually settled on her adventures with Yiddish. She shared these adventures with two other students of the language, Faith Jones and Samuel…
Suffragists’ Night of Terror at the Occoquan Workhouse
In November 1917, guards at the Occoquan Workhouse assaulted and terrorized 33 women from the National Woman’s Party. They were serving sentences for charges like “obstructing sidewalk traffic” after peacefully…