Ep. 137 Louvre Jewel Heist: The Historical Side of the $102 Million Worth of Jewels Stolen From the Louvre
Two weeks ago on Sunday, October 19th something rather extraordinary happened at the Louvre Museum in Paris, France. During broad daylight, thirty minutes after the museum opened for the day, and as hundreds of visitors streamed inside, 8 pieces of France’s crown jewel collection valued at an estimated 102 million dollars (but actually priceless when considering historical value) were stolen in less than 8 minutes. I don’t often cover current events on this show, I’m usually covering events centuries after they happened, but this one deals with history and it deals with history that I now find myself unable to stop thinking about. My mind races back to the Mona Lisa episode and the 1911 theft of the Mona Lisa from the Louvre, how that was possible. How this was possible. It fixates on the pieces themselves, these extravagant ostentatious manifestations of the wealth of the elite. Who were these women who sported such opulence? What gave them that right? And it gets stuck, my mind, it gets stuck on another question that not enough people seem to be asking. Where did these gems come from originally? I promise you they didn’t come from France. So where did they come from and at whose expense? And, possibly the question that haunts me the most, can you really steal something that was already stolen? Let’s fix that.  Support the show! Join the Patreon (patreon.com/historyfixpodcast)Buy some merchBuy Me a CoffeeVenmo @Shea-LaFountaineSources: Artnet "The Glittering Royal History Behind the Louvre's Stolen Jewels"BBC "Everything we know about the Louvre jewelry heist"CBS News "How thieves pulled off a brazen crown jewel heist at the Louvre"ThoughtCo "The Rulers of France: From 840 to Present"Wikipedia "Colonial India"Wikipedia "French Crown Jewels"Shoot me a message! Support the show
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Ep. 136 "Ghost Ship" Mary Celeste: How the Discovery of This Abandoned Ship Became a Mystery We Have Yet to Solve
This week I'm concluding my Spooktober series by covering the story of the mysterious "ghost ship" Mary Celeste. The Mary Celeste was discovered adrift and unmanned around 400 nautical miles from the Azores Islands in December of 1872. The last recording in the ships log had been made some nine days before and it appeared that, since then, the ship had been sailing itself. But what happened to Captain Briggs, his wife Sarah, and their two year old daughter Sophia? What happened to the other seven crew members? As evidence is examined - a missing life boat, 9 empty barrels of alcohol, a disassembled bilge pump - the answers become no clearer. Join me this week to learn the mystery of the "ghost ship" Mary Celeste and to take a closer look at the clues left behind and the theories that emerged. Support the show! Join the Patreon (patreon.com/historyfixpodcast)Buy some merchBuy Me a CoffeeVenmo @Shea-LaFountaineSources: Smithsonian Magazine "Abandoned Ship: The Mary Celeste"Encyclopedia Britannica "Mary Celeste"Wikipedia "Mary Celeste""Mary Celeste: The Greatest Mystery of the Sea" by Paul Begg"Ghost Ship: The Mysterious True Story of the Mary Celeste and Her Missing Crew" by Brian HicksShoot me a message! Support the show
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Ep. 135 Gilles de Rais: How Joan of Arc’s Co-Champion Became One of the Most Shocking Serial Killers of All Time
This one is not for the faint of heart! This week, in honor of Spooktober, I'm digging in to the story of Gilles de Rais, a French noblemen and military leader who fought alongside Joan of Arc to lift the siege of Orleans during the Hundred Years War. But that, turns out, isn't Gilles' only claim to fame. In the years following, he was responsible for kidnapping and then brutally assaulting, torturing, and murdering upwards of 140 children, making Gilles the first recorded and possibly most horrifying serial killer of all time. His bear all confessions are chilling, his acts unthinkable. There truly are no words. You've been warned.Support the show! Join the Patreon (patreon.com/historyfixpodcast)Buy some merchBuy Me a CoffeeVenmo @Shea-LaFountaineSources:UMKC School of Law "The Trial of Gilles de Rais (1440): An Account"UMKC School of Law "Confession of Gilles de Rais"The Trial of Gilles de Rais by Georges BataillesEncyclopedia Britannica "Gilles de Rais: History's First Serial Killer?"History Extra "Was Gilles de Rais really history's first recorded serial killer?"UMKC School of Law "Was Gilles de Rais Actually Innocent?"Shoot me a message! Support the show
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Ep. 134 the Witch of Pungo: How Grace Sherwood Became the Only Convicted Witch In Virginia and What Her Story Has to Teach Us Now
As it sometimes does, this week's topic presented itself to me. Determined to find out why the little known story of a woman most people have never heard of needed to be told so badly, I dug in. Join me to uncover the story of Grace Sherwood for yourself, the only woman ever to be convicted of witchcraft in Virginia. We'll examine the factors that led to Grace's conviction and the "recipe" for witch hunts that has plagued our past and potentially (but hopefully not!) our future. Support the show! Join the Patreon (patreon.com/historyfixpodcast)Buy some merchBuy Me a CoffeeVenmo @Shea-LaFountaineSources:Transcripts of Grace Sherwood's trial for witchcraft"A Place In Time: The Age of the Witch of Pungo" by Belinda Nash and Danielle SheetsSalem Witch Museum "Grace Sherwood: the 'Witch' of Pungo"Ferry Plantation "Trial of Grace Sherwood - the Witch of Pungo"Virginia Museum of History and Culture "Grace Sherwood: the 'Witch of Pungo'"The Washington Post "Va. Gov. Gives Informal Pardon to Witch"Wikipedia "Grace Sherwood"Shoot me a message! Support the show
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Ep. 133 Axeman of New Orleans: How a Serial Killer Terrorizing New Orleans Acquired a Reputation as a Jazz Enthusiast
Welcome to Spooktober! It's my favorite month on History Fix because I get to bust out all of the spooky stories I've been saving. This week, we're talking about the notorious serial killer who operated in New Orleans in the nineteen teens known as the Axeman. The Axeman attacked strictly Italian grocers, breaking into their houses with stolen axes to bludgeon them to death. This guy has been embraced by popular culture, appearing on television shows like American Horror Story, not because of his brutal acts or the fact that we still have no idea who he was today. He's been embraced mostly because of a letter that was published in the local newspaper purporting that he loved jazz music and would spare anyone listening to jazz on a particular night in the spring of 1919. But who was the Axeman? And what does any of this have to do with jazz? Let's fix that. Support the show! Join the Patreon (patreon.com/historyfixpodcast)Buy some merchBuy Me a CoffeeVenmo @Shea-LaFountaineSources: "The Axeman of New Orleans: The True Story" by Miriam DavisCountry Roads Magazine "The Axeman of New Orleans"Smithsonian Magazine "The Axeman of New Orleans Preyed on Italian Immigrants"The Historic New Orleans Collection "The Mysterious Axeman's Jazz"Wikipedia "Axeman of New Orleans"Shoot me a message! Support the show
In each episode of History Fix, I discuss lesser known stories from history that you won't be able to stop thinking about. Need your history fix? You've come to the right place.Support the show at buymeacoffee.com/historyfix or Venmo @Shea-LaFountaine. Your donations make it possible for me to continue creating great episodes. Plus, I'll love you forever! Find more at historyfixpodcast.com
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