After two turbulent decades in the ice trade, Frederic Tudor had finally made it. Expanding into the American South had paid off, with cities like New Orleans delivering steady profit. But Tudor’s insatiable appetite for risk kept pushing him to bet everything – again and again – even as losses mounted and disaster loomed.
As he entered his 50s, Tudor seeme ... Show More
Jan 2026
Conquering Polio | Beyond the Microscope | 2
By the late 1940s, the National Institute of Infantile Paralysis had raised millions of dollars to pay for patient care and laboratory research. But polio cases were reaching record levels, and scientists were no closer to a cure. Frustrated by the slow progress, Basil O’Connor r ... Show More
39m 35s
Jan 2026
Conquering Polio | The Cutter Fiasco | 3
In April 1954, a group of first graders lined up in the gymnasium of an elementary school in McLean, Virginia for the start of the Salk polio vaccine trials. In an era before widespread federal government involvement in public health, the National Institute of Infantile Paralysis ... Show More
36m 8s
Jan 2026
Conquering Polio | There Is No Patent | 4
In the early 1950s, Jonas Salk and Albert Sabin were in a race to develop a vaccine against polio. While Salk’s killed-virus vaccine was the first to be distributed, Sabin continued working to perfect his own approach. In the end, Sabin’s oral polio vaccine—made from a weakened l ... Show More
36m 17s
Oct 2025
Cemeteries: Our First Public Parks
Graveyards are often portrayed as eerie, haunted places. Today, they’re depicted as places of fear and sorrow, where the living rarely go. But historically, cemeteries were central to community life. Far from being hidden or feared, they were embraced as spaces for reflection, cr ... Show More
1h 16m
Apr 2025
The Moth Podcast: National Parks Week
In honor of National Parks Week, we've got three stories, all about our National Parks, and why they matter. This episode was hosted by Tim Lopez. Storytellers: Kathy Nicarry finds strength in Yellowstone National Park. Tim Lopez is feeling a bit lost, and then becomes a Park Ran ... Show More
41m 53s
Aug 2025
The Murder of Tomomi Hanamure: Grand Canyon National Park
On May 8th, 2006 to celebrate her 34th birthday, Tomomi Hanamure laced up her hiking boots, as she had done so many times before, for an adventure. Her return journey to the Grand Canyon was a way to mark another year around the sun, to a place she felt so personally drawn to. Tr ... Show More
1h 6m
Nov 2025
Lost & Found: The Miraculous Survival of Truman C. Everts. Yellowstone National Park
Truman Everts, a 54-year-old bureaucrat, joined the 1870 Washburn Expedition to explore Yellowstone. After becoming separated from the group, he lost his horse, food, gun, and blankets. Alone for 37 days, he endured brutal storms, frostbite, a scalded hip, and even a mountain lio ... Show More
1h 6m
Nov 2024
National Park After Dark is Scared to Death
Dan and Lyndze Cummins, hosts of Scared to Death join us today to share some creepy tales. First, we chat about their personal thoughts on and experiences with the other side before they bring us to California and Idaho for some very strange stories filled with legends, curses an ... Show More
1h 28m
Jun 2025
The Couple Who Lived and Died for Lions: Meru National Park
George and Joy Adamson lived for lions. After raising a cub they named Elsa and telling the world about it, they were catapulted into the center of conservation and controversy. Their methods were questioned, but their love for the wild was not. While they were both murdered, the ... Show More
1h 24m