Ridiculous History

Dean Reed's Hollywood career was brief, but he became an international superstar during the height of the Cold War, living in Latin America and communist Europe. After going public about wanting to return home to the United States, Dean's life came to a mysterious end. Decades later, his daughter Ramona is determined to find out what really happened to him. Listen to Red Elvis on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts. https://www.iheart...

Hi, Ridiculous History fans! The holidays just got a little spooky and we think you'll want to experience 12 Ghosts. New episodes air 12/14 - 12/25, but here's a snippet to get you excited for 12 Ghosts!

About 12 Ghosts: Eleven travelers find themselves at an inn deep in the forest on Christmas Eve...

Here in the modern day, most people don’t love going to the dentist — but we still have it much better than the dental patients of yesteryear! In today's classic episode, we join the guys as they dive into a strange, grisly story from the early days of dentistry.

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Mustard! Whether you like it, love it, or hate it, you've almost definitely tried it in one of many varieties. In this installment of their continuing series on the ridiculous history of condiments, Ben, Noel and Max explore mustard's ancient origins all the way up the modern day.

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When Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. won the Nobel Prize, Atlanta Mayor Ivan Allen, Jr. spearheaded a interdenominational celebration of King's work -- but many business leaders refused to go along. In fact, the whole thing may have fallen through were it not for the Coca-Cola company. Tune in to learn more.

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Do you like Tang? Are you known to gobble Pop Rocks, or find yourself lying awake at night, worried about the world's supply of tapioca substitutes? If so, you might be surprised to learn one brilliant, prodigious food scientist single-handedly changed the world with these inventions and more. In today's episode, Ben, Noel and Max explore the story of William A. Mitchell, the real-life Willy Wonka behind everything from Cool Whip powdered egg whites.

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Everyone's heard of the Olympics. This global competition brings athletes from around the world together to compete in various sports -- but, not too long ago, one man led the charge to bring artists, sculptors, musicians and more into the fray, with medal-worthy competitions of their own. In today's episode, the guys explore how this became part of the Olympics... and why the organization eventually revoked every single medal they awarded, striking these artists' work from the record...

If you live near any large city outside of mainland China, you may have seen advertisements for the world-famous Shen Yun Performing Arts Company, a US-based non-profit known for its elaborate shows in over 130 locations across the planet. But you might not know the full story of this company's origin. In today's episode, Ben, Noel and Max explore the strange origin of Shen Yun -- along with that of the religious movement, Falun Gong.

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Hey, it's us, your pals Ben, Noel and Max from Ridiculous History. We figured the holidays can be stressful for everyone, and we're pretty sure you've heard the history of Thanksgiving countless times. So instead of telling you that story, we decided to celebrate by exploring the weird history of TV dinners and microwave meals -- none of which would exist if the food company Swanson hadn't accidentally found itself with 260 tons of leftover turkeys after Thanksgiving in 1953...

For members of the mob, the plot to kidnap J. Paul Getty's grandson was a home run -- after all, what's a few million to a literal billionaire? Yet, as it turns out... the mob didn't know who they were messing with. In the second part of this two-part series, Ben, Noel and Max explore a series of terrifying events that led to one of most ridiculous examples of miserliness in human history.

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