Absurd history that actually happened, told completely straight. The Emu War. The Cadaver Synod. Scott narrates, daily, dry as toast.
Episodes are produced with AI narration and scripting, with human editorial review. A Talking Labs production.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/stranger-than-fact-absurd-true-history--7337201/support (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/stranger-than-fact-absurd-true-history--7337201/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss).
The Toledo War: A Border, a Militia and One Stabbing
Ohio and Michigan once mobilised over a strip of land around Toledo. Rival surveys and a fight over statehood led to arrests, a stabbed sheriff and a territorial bargain. The often repeated ‘bloodless war’ label misses that injury. Next: Boston’s molasses disaster and a later marshmallow fluff sequel myth.
This episode was produced with AI narration and scripting, with human editorial review.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/stranger-than-fact-absurd-true-history--7337201/support (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/stranger-than-fact-absurd-true-history--7337201/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss).
This episode includes AI-generated content.
21 Sept 2026
Wojtek the Soldier Bear: A Bear on the Army Roll
A Syrian brown bear joined a Polish artillery supply company during the Second World War. Wojtek travelled with the unit from the Middle East to Italy, became its emblem, and later lived at Edinburgh Zoo. We follow the record behind his military status and the reported story of his help at Monte Cassino, without losing sight of the soldiers who could not all return home.
This episode was produced with AI narration and scripting, with human editorial review.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/stranger-than-fact-absurd-true-history--7337201/support (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/stranger-than-fact-absurd-true-history--7337201/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss).
This episode includes AI-generated content.
19 Sept 2026
The Anglo-Zanzibar War: 38 Minutes, Depending on the Clock
The Anglo-Zanzibar War is remembered as lasting 38 minutes, though contemporary clocks disagree. This episode keeps the colonial ultimatum, the casualty imbalance and the imperial power behind the famous stopwatch.
This episode was produced with AI narration and scripting, with human editorial review.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/stranger-than-fact-absurd-true-history--7337201/support (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/stranger-than-fact-absurd-true-history--7337201/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss).
This episode includes AI-generated content.
19 Sept 2026
Did Pepsi Briefly Own a Navy?
A soft-drink deal with the Soviet Union involved a remarkable fleet of ships. But did Pepsi really become a naval power? The popular version needs a careful fact-check.
This episode was produced with AI narration and scripting, with human editorial review.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/stranger-than-fact-absurd-true-history--7337201/support (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/stranger-than-fact-absurd-true-history--7337201/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss).
This episode includes AI-generated content.
19 Sept 2026
The Great Molasses Flood
Boston, 1919: a steel tank fails and a wave of molasses tears through the North End. The disaster, the rescue, and the court case that changed industrial accountability.
This episode was produced with AI narration and scripting, with human editorial review.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/stranger-than-fact-absurd-true-history--7337201/support (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/stranger-than-fact-absurd-true-history--7337201/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss).
This episode includes AI-generated content.
16 Sept 2026
The Straw Hat Riots of 1922
In September 1922, an unwritten New York fashion deadline spilled into days of hat-smashing street violence. The premise was absurd; the arrests and injuries were real.
This episode was produced with AI narration and scripting, with human editorial review.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/stranger-than-fact-absurd-true-history--7337201/support (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/stranger-than-fact-absurd-true-history--7337201/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss).
This episode includes AI-generated content.
15 Sept 2026
Did One Tulip Bulb Really Cost a House?
The famous tulip prices were real contracts. The familiar story of an entire nation ruined by flower madness is much less secure.
This episode was produced with AI narration and scripting, with human editorial review.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/stranger-than-fact-absurd-true-history--7337201/support (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/stranger-than-fact-absurd-true-history--7337201/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss).
15 Sept 2026
The Kentucky Meat Shower of 1876
On a clear morning in Kentucky, pieces of flesh fell around a farmhouse and two men decided to taste them. This episode follows the witnesses, the microscope examinations and the vulture theory behind the Kentucky Meat Shower of 1876.
This episode was produced with AI narration and scripting, with human editorial review.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/stranger-than-fact-absurd-true-history--7337201/support (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/stranger-than-fact-absurd-true-history--7337201/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss).
13 Sept 2026
Napoleon and the Rabbit Ambush
Did tame rabbits really drive Napoleon back to his carriage? This episode follows the hunt described by Baron Thiébault, the hungry hutch rabbits that mistook hunters for feeders, and the source problem behind the too-perfect 1807 version repeated online.
This episode was produced with AI narration and scripting, with human editorial review.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/stranger-than-fact-absurd-true-history--7337201/support (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/stranger-than-fact-absurd-true-history--7337201/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss).
13 Sept 2026
The War of the Bucket, 1325
In November 1325 the armies of Bologna and Modena met near Zappolino. Bologna had the bigger force and lost badly, and the Modenese chased them all the way home. On the way out they took a wooden bucket from a well outside the walls, carried it back to Modena and put it on display, where it still is. The bucket did not cause the war, which was a Guelph and Ghibelline quarrel with generations behind it, but Alessandro Tassoni's 1622 mock epic La secchia rapita made it the version everyone remembers. Medieval Italy, absurd history, Battle of Zappolino, Bologna, Modena.
This episode was produced with AI narration and scripting, with human editorial review.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/stranger-than-fact-absurd-true-history--7337201/support (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/stranger-than-fact-absurd-true-history--7337201/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss).
11 Sept 2026
The Cadaver Synod: the Pope Who Put a Corpse on Trial (897)
In 897 Pope Stephen VI had his predecessor Formosus exhumed, dressed in papal vestments and propped on a throne to stand trial. A deacon answered for the corpse. The verdict was guilty, the blessing fingers were severed, and the body went into the Tiber — then the Lateran basilica collapsed and Rome turned on Stephen. The Cadaver Synod, the strangest trial in the history of the Catholic Church, and why the Vatican's official position on prosecuting the dead is still contradictory.
This episode was produced with AI narration and scripting, with human editorial review.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/stranger-than-fact-absurd-true-history--7337201/support (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/stranger-than-fact-absurd-true-history--7337201/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss).
11 Sept 2026
The Pig War of 1859
In 1859, Britain and the United States sent warships, artillery and hundreds of soldiers to a small sheep island over the shooting of a single pig. The pig remains the only confirmed casualty. A vague treaty, two channels, a potato patch, and the British admiral who refused to start a war over a squabble about a pig.
This episode was produced with AI narration and scripting, with human editorial review.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/stranger-than-fact-absurd-true-history--7337201/support (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/stranger-than-fact-absurd-true-history--7337201/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss).
11 Sept 2026
The Dancing Plague of 1518
In July 1518, a woman began to dance in a Strasbourg street and did not stop for nearly a week. Within a month, hundreds had joined her, and some of them danced until they died. The city's physicians diagnosed overheated blood and prescribed more dancing — so the council cleared the grain market, built a stage, and hired musicians to keep everyone moving. It went exactly as badly as you would expect.
This episode was produced with AI narration and scripting, with human editorial review.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/stranger-than-fact-absurd-true-history--7337201/support (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/stranger-than-fact-absurd-true-history--7337201/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss).
11 Sept 2026
The London Beer Flood of 1814
In October 1814, a vat taller than the houses around it burst, and three hundred thousand gallons of porter went through a London neighbourhood at the speed of a running horse. Eight people died. The inquest jury blamed nobody, and the brewery got its tax back. The slipped iron hoop, the letter never finished, and the verdict of an act of God.
This episode was produced with AI narration and scripting, with human editorial review.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/stranger-than-fact-absurd-true-history--7337201/support (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/stranger-than-fact-absurd-true-history--7337201/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss).
11 Sept 2026
The Great Emu War: Australia vs 20,000 Emus (1932)
In November 1932, Australia deployed machine guns against twenty thousand emus. The emus won. Scott tells the full story of the Great Emu War — the jammed Lewis gun, the truck the birds outran, and the parliamentary suggestion that any medals should go to the emus. Absurd history that actually happened, in six minutes.
This episode was produced with AI narration and scripting, with human editorial review.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/stranger-than-fact-absurd-true-history--7337201/support (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/stranger-than-fact-absurd-true-history--7337201/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss).
Contact Stranger Than Fact: Absurd True History
Guest appearances
Does not typically book guests
Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.
Host of Stranger Than Fact: Absurd True History?
Claim your podcast to manage its listing and keep your show details accurate.
Pod Engine is an independent podcast discovery and analytics service and is not affiliated with or endorsed by this podcast. Artwork and show content belong to their owners. Full legal notice.
Explore this show Podcast research with Pod Engine
