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History For Weirdos

History For Weirdos

By: Andrew & Stephanie
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A deep dive into the strange obscure and relentlessly entertaining portions of human history. Married couple and armchair historians, Stephanie & Andrew, discuss the often overlooked parts of humanity. Whether the subject is an obscure event that has confused historians for centuries or a historical figure that doesn't get enough credit, we have you covered. New episodes available every other Monday!Andrew & Stephanie Social Sciences World
Episodes
  • Episode 163: A History of Witches

    Episode 163: A History of Witches
    Jun 29 2026
    The witch didn't appear out of nowhere like a Halloween monster invented to scare children. She was assembled, piece by piece, over centuries - by theologians, illustrators, and frightened communities looking for someone to blame when a baby died or the livestock got sick. The pointed hat, the black cat, the broomstick, the bubbling cauldron: every single piece of that costume started as something ordinary, usually a tool of women's everyday labor, and got quietly reclassified as evidence of a pact with the Devil. That is the machinery we're pulling apart this episode - how fear, repetition, and a bestselling witch-hunting manual turned healers and herbalists into history's most convenient scapegoats. In this episode, we trace the whole arc, from ancient Mediterranean magic that nobody thought was evil, through the medieval invention of "diabolical witchcraft," to the hunts themselves - roughly 100,000 prosecutions and tens of thousands of executions concentrated on the most vulnerable women in Europe: the old, the poor, the widowed, the ones already living outside the lines. We dig into the "Malleus Maleficarum", a literal prosecution manual that was also one of the most printed books of its era and argued, at length, that women were weaker to the Devil partly because they talk too much. We get into the court records that name specific cats (one was called Sathan), and we follow Anna Göldi, a Swiss maidservant tortured into confessing and beheaded in 1782 - the same decade as the American Revolution, long after the Enlightenment supposedly knew better. And finally, we get to the strangest turn of all: the witch wins. After the trials faded, the image built to terrorize women into compliance got picked up and flipped - by modern pagans reclaiming the word, by feminists marching in pointed hats, and eventually by a multi-billion-dollar wellness economy selling crystals and tarot. It took Switzerland 225 years to formally apologize to Anna Göldi. It took a little less for "witch" to go from a death sentence to one of the most potent symbols of feminine power we have. The men who built the iconography to police women would not believe what it became. We think that's the whole point. - This is Stephanie's last episode. She really hopes you enjoyed it! - Get History For Weirdos merch ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠! - Thank you for listening Weirdos! Show the podcast some love by rating & subscribing on whichever platform you use to listen to podcasts. Your support means so much to us. Let's stay in touch 👇 Email: historyforweirdos@gmail.com IG/Threads: @historyforweirdos Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠historyforweirdos.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    1 hr and 4 mins
  • Episode 162: Crossing the Rubicon - Julius Caesar's Path to Glory

    Episode 162: Crossing the Rubicon - Julius Caesar's Path to Glory
    Feb 24 2026
    Julius Caesar didn’t appear out of nowhere like a Roman superhero dropped into history to “end the Republic.” He was raised inside a system already cracking under the weight of its own success. An empire swollen by conquest, flooded with slaves and plunder was dominated by aristocrats who turned the Mediterranean into a wealth pipeline straight into their villas. As small farmers disappeared and the city filled with landless citizens, politics became a blood sport: reformers got murdered, street violence became routine, and generals learned that the quickest way to win an argument was to show up with an army. That is the world Caesar inherits and the world he’s about to master. In this episode, we follow Caesar’s rise from a politically connected but not all-powerful young patrician into the most dangerous man in Rome. We dig into the Flamen Dialis “golden cage,” his early survival under Sulla’s shadow, and the career sprint that made him a crowd favorite. Lavish games, massive debts, and a talent for turning public opinion into a weapon was part of Caesar's toolkit to obtaining power. Then the story expands with him: the First Triumvirate, the Gallic Wars, and the ugly economics behind the glory; conquest as policy, slavery as fuel, and an army that becomes loyal to Caesar personally, not to the Republic. And finally, we get to the question that still haunts the Ides of March: was Caesar a champion of the people, a power-hungry autocrat, or both at the same time? From civil war to dictatorship to assassination, we watch Rome’s institutions fail in real time and we end with the cruelest irony of all: the men who stabbed Caesar to “save the Republic” didn’t restore it. They cleared the runway for something even bigger, even sharper, and far more permanent. - This is Andrew's last episode. He really hopes you enjoyed it! - Get History For Weirdos merch ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠! - Thank you for listening Weirdos! Show the podcast some love by rating & subscribing on whichever platform you use to listen to podcasts. Your support means so much to us. Let's stay in touch 👇 Email: historyforweirdos@gmail.com IG/Threads: @historyforweirdos Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠historyforweirdos.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    2 hrs and 35 mins
  • Episode 161: The Kingfish vs. Oligarchs - Huey Long’s War for the Working Class

    Episode 161: The Kingfish vs. Oligarchs - Huey Long’s War for the Working Class
    Oct 6 2025
    He paved roads, blew up tolls, handed kids free textbooks, and told the oil barons to get lost. Huey “The Kingfish” Long wasn’t just a politician; he was a one-man jailbreak for Louisiana’s poor. In the middle of the Great Depression, he turned the state into a living New Deal before the New Deal: hospitals for the sick, bridges for the forgotten, and a promise bold enough to make millionaires sweat—“Every man a king.” Then he cranked the volume to eleven with Share Our Wealth, a coast-to-coast crusade that said, out loud, what the working class had been thinking for decades: cap the hoards at the top and give ordinary families a fair shot. But here’s the twist only history can write: the more he fought for the have-nots, the more Huey bulldozed anyone who stood in his way. He browbeat legislators, built a machine, and played constitutional hardball like a modern leader of the populares. To his followers, he was the first guy in a long time who actually delivered; to his enemies, he looked like an American Caesar rehearsing for the crown. We take you from Winnfield mud to Baton Rouge marble to a late-night gunshot inside the capitol he built—unpacking how a righteous war for the working class made Huey Long a hero to millions, a menace to the elite, and a cautionary tale about the price of power. - Get History For Weirdos merch ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠! - Thank you for listening Weirdos! Show the podcast some love by rating & subscribing on whichever platform you use to listen to podcasts. Your support means so much to us. Let's stay in touch 👇 Email: historyforweirdos@gmail.com IG/Threads: @historyforweirdos Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠historyforweirdos.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    1 hr and 11 mins
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