Vaudevillian

When we think of people carrying out death sentences today, we think of low-key affairs where the media is not invited. However, the Professional Public Executioner was a true showman when he carried out death sentences in front of thousands of people. But that’s not how he made ... Show More

You might want to write this episode down. Helen and Matt look at one of the most important occupations in human history, the Scribe, and we only know about this job because they were so helpful as to write down what they did. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.ihear ... Show More

How do you smuggle alcohol into the country during Prohibition? Being well connected, great management skills, strong interpersonal relationships, and having a passion for the industry. While that sounds like a born Linkedin profile bio, Helen and Matt learn that being a Rum Runn ... Show More

In this week’s Flightless Bird, David talks to a man who lived as a train hopper for two years. They talk about the lifestyle, dangers and chaos of illegally hitching rides across America using the railroad system. The country’s first train tracks were laid down in the 1820s - an ... Show More

<p>In October 1860, railroad engineer Theodore Judah looked out across California’s Sierra Nevada range, dreaming of a railroad that would connect the United States from coast to coast. It was the start of a decade-long endeavor to build the world’s first transcontinental railroa ... Show More

In this chilling episode, I tell you about the "Railroad Killer," a man who terrorized small towns along the U.S. railroads in the late 1990s. We follow the stories of Chris Maier and Holly Dunn, two university students who crossed paths with this brutal attacker, as well as the ... Show More

The story of Britain's railways isn't just about steam engines and steel tracks—it's about the people who built them, worked on them, and sometimes fought for their rights along the way. To mark the 200th anniversary of the first modern passenger railway in 2025, this episode exp ... Show More

The Cold War, Prohibition, the Gold Rush, the Space Race. Every part of your life - the words you speak, the ideas you share - can be traced to our history, but how well do you really know the stories that made America? We'll take you to the events, the times and the people that ... Show More

The US is well behind much of the world in building passenger rail, especially high-speed trains. But we do have one major advantage. This episode was produced by Devan Schwartz, edited by Naureen Khan, fact-checked by Melissa Hirsch, engineered by Patrick Boyd with help from And ... Show More

If it wasn’t for October 13th, 1928, Charfield would simply be known as a sleepy village in Gloucestershire, England. But that morning, two trains collided on the tracks near Wotton Road. The Charfield Railway Disaster left deep scars, and its victims are still waiting to move on ... Show More

<p>Le 8 mai 1842, un train en provenance de Versailles déraille à hauteur de la commune de Meudon. Il transportait notamment de nombreux passagers qui venaient d'assister au spectacle des Grandes-Eaux, dans le parc du château de Versailles.</p><br><p>Depuis la mise en service des ... Show More

Today we revisit an episode on the technology of yesteryear. Long before Czech playwright Karel Capek coined the term "robot" in his 1920 play "R.U.R.," mechanized creations - automata - were being created without electronics or computers. Many were simple, but they paved the way ... Show More