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Time & Tales Podcast

LM Riviere + CJ Prime

Time & Tales Podcast — Dark History. Strange Lore. One Tale at a Time.

Welcome to Time & Tales Podcast — Dark History. Strange Lore. One Tale at a Time. Each week we bring you the spookiest tidbits from history and folklore. If macabre facts, eerie fables, and 4am rabbit holes are your natural habitat, you’re in the right place. New episodes every week, wherever you listen.

Prepared and presented by LaNae and CJ. One an author of dark fairy tales, fantasy, and folk horror; the other a skeptical engineer who keeps the evidence front and center. Expect the occasional. lighthearted clash!

If you’re ready for your next late-night obsession, this belongs in your queue.

As always, sources and links can be found in the show notes.

PODCAST THEME by RANDY LEE RIVIERE (randyleeriviere.com)

#history #folklore #darkhistory #fables

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20 episodes
Avg 45 min
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S3 · E4
Friday · 50 min
Aqua Tofana: Avon Ladies of Doom
Aqua Tofana was a clear, nearly tasteless poison sold to women in 17th-century Italy. Linked to Giulia Tofana and later Geronima Spana, it became the center of a deadly Roman poisoning scandal involving abused wives, wealthy noblewomen, secret couriers, and papal investigators. This episode follows the rise of the Aqua Tofana poison network, the 1659 Spana prosecution, the executions at Campo de’ Fiori, and the legends that later distorted the case. We also examine how marriage laws, class, gender, and the plague helped the poison spread through Rome. ............................................... Links: Website: timeandtalespodcast.com Email: timeandtalespodcast@gmail.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@LMRiviere .............................................. Sources: Buchanan, Ashley. “‘One Drop to Heal, Three Drops to Kill’: Women and Early Modern Poison.” Folger Shakespeare Library, 24 Oct. 2025. Feci, Simona. “Trame di donne all’indomani della peste romana del 1656. La vicenda dell’«acqua tofana».” Mélanges de l’École française de Rome - Italie et Méditerranée modernes et contemporaines, vol. 132, no. 1, 2020, pp. 59–71. Feci, Simona. L’acquetta di Giulia: Mogli avvelenatrici e mariti violenti nella Roma del Seicento. Viella, 2024. Monson, Craig A. The Black Widows of the Eternal City: The True Story of Rome’s Most Infamous Poisoners. University of Michigan Press, 2020. Zaleski, Erin. “Did Giulia Tofana Kill Hundreds of Men in Renaissance Italy?” National Geographic, 10 July 2026. Archivio di Stato di Roma. “L’Acqua Tofana – Mogli avvelenatrici nella Roma del ‘600.” Ministero della Cultura, 16 May 2025. “Giulia Tofana.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation. “Spana Prosecution.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation.
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S3 · E3
August 21 · 53 min
The Pirate Republic of Nassau, PART THREE
The Pirate Republic of Nassau reaches its end as Blackbeard is hunted down, Calico Jack Rackham returns to piracy with Anne Bonny and Mary Read, and Charles Vane loses everything. With Nassau under British control, the pirates no longer have a safe harbor, and the Golden Age of Piracy begins to collapse. Part three follows the deaths of Blackbeard and Charles Vane, the capture of Calico Jack, Anne Bonny, and Mary Read, and Woodes Rogers’ struggle to rebuild New Providence. We also look at how the fall of Nassau helped end the Golden Age of Piracy and whether the Pirate Republic could ever have survived as an independent nation. ...................................................................... Links: Website: timeandtalespodcast.com Email: timeandtalespodcast@gmail.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@LMRiviere ........................ Sources: Bahamas National Archives. “Woodes Rogers.” Britannica. “The Bahamas: British Colonization.” Britannica. “Woodes Rogers.” Queen Anne’s Revenge Project. “Did You Know Woodes Rogers was the First Royal Governor of the Bahamas?” “1717–1718 Acts of Grace.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia, Wikimedia Foundation. “Woodes Rogers.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia, Wikimedia Foundation. “Charles Vane.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia, Wikimedia Foundation. Colin Woodard. The Republic of Pirates. Harcourt, 2007. Johnson, Charles. A General History of the Pyrates. 1724. Rediker, Marcus. Villains of All Nations: Atlantic Pirates in the Golden Age. Beacon Press, 2004. Konstam, Angus. Pirates: The Complete History from 1300 BC to the Present Day. Lyons Press, 2008. Live Science. “First Shipwrecks Linked to Real Pirates of the Caribbean Found in Bahamas.”
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S3 · E2
August 14 · 50 min
The Pirate's Republic of Nassau, PART TWO
The Pirate Republic of Nassau begins to fall when King George I offers a pardon to any pirate willing to surrender. Benjamin Hornigold accepts the deal. Charles Vane refuses, sets a captured ship on fire, and uses it to escape the British fleet. Part two follows Woodes Rogers as he takes Nassau back for the Crown, hires former pirates to hunt their old allies, and hangs the men who break their pardons. Charles Vane loses his command, Calico Jack Rackham takes his place, and Nassau’s days as the safest pirate port in the Caribbean come to an end. ......................... Links: Website: timeandtalespodcast.com Email: timeandtalespodcast@gmail.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@LMRiviere ........................ Sources: Bahamas National Archives. “Woodes Rogers.” Britannica. “The Bahamas: British Colonization.” Britannica. “Woodes Rogers.” Queen Anne’s Revenge Project. “Did You Know Woodes Rogers was the First Royal Governor of the Bahamas?” “1717–1718 Acts of Grace.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia, Wikimedia Foundation. “Woodes Rogers.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia, Wikimedia Foundation. “Charles Vane.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia, Wikimedia Foundation. Colin Woodard. The Republic of Pirates. Harcourt, 2007. Johnson, Charles. A General History of the Pyrates. 1724. Rediker, Marcus. Villains of All Nations: Atlantic Pirates in the Golden Age. Beacon Press, 2004. Konstam, Angus. Pirates: The Complete History from 1300 BC to the Present Day. Lyons Press, 2008. Live Science. “First Shipwrecks Linked to Real Pirates of the Caribbean Found in Bahamas.”
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S3 · E1
August 14 · 50 min
The Pirate's Republic of Nassau, PART ONE
The Pirate Republic of Nassau rose in the early 1700s after thousands of privateers were left without work at the end of the War of the Spanish Succession. With no strong government, a defensible harbor, and wealthy Atlantic shipping lanes nearby, Nassau became the most important pirate stronghold in the Caribbean. Part one explores the rise of the Pirate Republic of Nassau through Henry Every, the 1715 Spanish treasure fleet, Henry Jennings, Benjamin Hornigold, Charles Vane, and Blackbeard. We trace how New Providence became a base for the Golden Age of Piracy, where pirate crews elected captains, divided stolen treasure, and built a lawless society beyond the control of the British Crown. ................................... Links: Website: timeandtalespodcast.com Email: timeandtalespodcast@gmail.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@LMRiviere ........................ Sources: Bahamas National Archives. “Woodes Rogers.” Britannica. “The Bahamas: British Colonization.” Britannica. “Woodes Rogers.” Queen Anne’s Revenge Project. “Did You Know Woodes Rogers was the First Royal Governor of the Bahamas?” “1717–1718 Acts of Grace.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia, Wikimedia Foundation. “Woodes Rogers.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia, Wikimedia Foundation. “Charles Vane.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia, Wikimedia Foundation. Colin Woodard. The Republic of Pirates. Harcourt, 2007. Johnson, Charles. A General History of the Pyrates. 1724. Rediker, Marcus. Villains of All Nations: Atlantic Pirates in the Golden Age. Beacon Press, 2004. Konstam, Angus. Pirates: The Complete History from 1300 BC to the Present Day. Lyons Press, 2008. Live Science. “First Shipwrecks Linked to Real Pirates of the Caribbean Found in Bahamas.
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S2 · E13
July 17 · 43 min
The Infuriatingly Sad Tale of "Typhoid Mary" PART TWO
In 1910, Mary Mallon walked out of quarantine under one condition: she could never work as a cook again. By 1915, she was back in a Manhattan hospital kitchen under the name Mary Brown, and a new typhoid outbreak had infected 25 people and killed two. This episode concludes the story of “Typhoid Mary,” the asymptomatic carrier whose choices turned a public health crisis into a legal and ethical battleground. Part two follows Mary’s broken parole, the Sloane Maternity Hospital outbreak, her second arrest, and the decades she spent confined on North Brother Island. We look at disease, quarantine, civil liberties, media panic, gender bias, immigration, and why Mary Mallon’s case still echoes through every modern debate about public health and personal freedom. ......................................... Links: Email: timeandtalespodcast@gmail.com Website: timeandtalespodcast.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@LMRiviere ..................................... Sources: Leavitt, Judith Walzer. Typhoid Mary: Captive to the Public’s Health. Beacon Press, 1996. Soper, George A. “The Work of a Chronic Typhoid Germ Distributor.” Journal of the American Medical Association, vol. 48, no. 24, 1907, pp. 2019–2022. Soper, George A. “The Curious Career of Typhoid Mary.” Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine, vol. 15, no. 10, 1939, pp. 698–712. Baker, Sara Josephine. Fighting for Life. Macmillan, 1939. Bourdain, Anthony. Typhoid Mary: An Urban Historical. Bloomsbury, 2001. Mallon, Mary. “Typhoid Mary Speaks for Herself.” New York American, 1909. Marineli, Filio, et al. “Mary Mallon (1869–1938) and the History of Typhoid Fever.” Annals of Gastroenterology, vol. 26, no. 2, 2013, pp. 132–134. New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene records on Mary Mallon, North Brother Island, and typhoid carrier policy. Library of Congress. “Typhoid Mary: Topics in Chronicling America.”
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S2 · E12
July 10 · 42 min
The Infuriatingly Sad Tale of "Typhoid Mary" PART ONE
In early 1900s New York, a cook named Mary Mallon moved from one wealthy household to another while typhoid followed in her wake. This episode begins the story of “Typhoid Mary”: the Irish immigrant cook who seemed perfectly healthy, the baffling outbreaks that struck rich families instead of slums, and the medical investigation that changed public health history by identifying one of America’s first known asymptomatic carriers. Part one follows Mary’s rise as a private cook, the trail of typhoid cases linked to her kitchens, George Soper’s hunt to prove she was spreading the disease, and the explosive confrontation that ended with her forced quarantine on North Brother Island. It’s a story about disease, class, immigration, fear, and the moment modern epidemiology collided with one woman’s life. ............................................ Links: Website: timeandtalespodcast.com Email: timeandtalespodcast@gmail.com Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@LMRiviere ............................................... Sources: Leavitt, Judith Walzer. Typhoid Mary: Captive to the Public’s Health. Beacon Press, 1996. Soper, George A. “The Work of a Chronic Typhoid Germ Distributor.” Journal of the American Medical Association, vol. 48, no. 24, 1907, pp. 2019–2022. Soper, George A. “The Curious Career of Typhoid Mary.” Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine, vol. 15, no. 10, 1939, pp. 698–712. Baker, Sara Josephine. Fighting for Life. Macmillan, 1939. Bourdain, Anthony. Typhoid Mary: An Urban Historical. Bloomsbury, 2001. Mallon, Mary. “Typhoid Mary Speaks for Herself.” New York American, 1909. Marineli, Filio, et al. “Mary Mallon (1869–1938) and the History of Typhoid Fever.” Annals of Gastroenterology, vol. 26, no. 2, 2013, pp. 132–134. New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene records on Mary Mallon, North Brother Island, and typhoid carrier policy. Library of Congress. “Typhoid Mary: Topics in Chronicling America.”
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S2 · E11
July 3 · 1 hr 7 min
Little Murder Boots: Caligula PART TWO
In this second part of our Caligula series, Rome’s young emperor stops pretending to be merciful. We follow the purge of rivals and family members, the humiliation of the Senate, the money drain of spectacles and forced taxes, the horse-consul insult, the Jerusalem crisis, and the escalating paranoia that turned the palace into a death trap. This episode covers Caligula at his most volatile: the sisters, the treasury, the Bay of Baiae, the failed northern campaign, the execution of Ptolemy of Mauretania, and the final conspiracy inside the Praetorian Guard that ended his reign in blood. It’s the back half of one of Rome’s darkest imperial stories, where absolute power finally pushes too far. ............................. Links: Website: timeandtalespodcast.com Email: timeandtalespodcast@gmail.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@LMRiviere ............................... Sources: Suetonius. “The Life of Caligula.” The Twelve Caesars. Cassius Dio. Roman History, Book 59. Philo of Alexandria. On the Embassy to Gaius. Josephus. Antiquities of the Jews, Book 19. “Caligula.” Encyclopaedia Britannica. Barrett, Anthony A. Caligula: The Abuse of Power. Routledge, 2015. Winterling, Aloys. Caligula: A Biography. University of California Press, 2011. Katz, Robert S. “The Illness of Caligula.” The Classical World, 1972. Charry-Sánchez, Jorge D., et al. “Caligula: A Neuropsychiatric Explanation of His Madness.” Arquivos de Neuro-Psiquiatria, 2021. Shotter, David. Caligula. Routledge, 2004.
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S2 · E10
June 26 · 46 min
Little Murder Boots: Caligula PART ONE
This episode follows Caligula from “Little Boots,” the adored son of Germanicus, to one of the most infamous rulers in Roman history: his rise under Tiberius, the illness that changed his reign, the deaths of rivals and family members, the war with the Senate, and the assassination that ended his dynasty. In AD 37, Rome welcomed a young emperor from one of its most famous bloodlines, the son of Germanicus and heir to the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Less than four years later, Caligula was dead—cut down by his own guards in a palace corridor after a reign marked by executions, humiliation, divine pretensions, and growing terror at the center of imperial power. ............................................. Links: Website: timeandtalespodcast.com Email: timeandtalespodcast@gmail.com Video Podcasts: https://www.youtube.com/@LMRiviere ............................................. Sources: Suetonius. “The Life of Caligula.” The Twelve Caesars. Cassius Dio. Roman History, Book 59. Philo of Alexandria. On the Embassy to Gaius. Josephus. Antiquities of the Jews, Book 19. “Caligula.” Encyclopaedia Britannica. Barrett, Anthony A. Caligula: The Abuse of Power. Routledge, 2015. Winterling, Aloys. Caligula: A Biography. University of California Press, 2011. Katz, Robert S. “The Illness of Caligula.” The Classical World, 1972. Charry-Sánchez, Jorge D., et al. “Caligula: A Neuropsychiatric Explanation of His Madness.” Arquivos de Neuro-Psiquiatria, 2021. Shotter, David. Caligula. Routledge, 2004.
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S2 · E9
June 12 · 43 min
Prague's Cursed Clocktower: The Orloj
In Prague’s Old Town Square, a skeleton pulls a cord, the apostles pass behind tiny doors, the rooster crows, and one of Europe’s most famous clocks marks another hour. This episode follows the dark history and folklore of the Prague Astronomical Clock, or Orloj: a medieval marvel tied to legends of a blinded clockmaker, ghostly warnings, broken gears, and the belief that Prague will suffer if the clock ever stops. We trace the Orloj from its construction in 1410 through war, religious upheaval, fire, WWII damage, restoration, and modern controversy—asking why this beautiful mechanical wonder has been linked for centuries to curses, disaster, and blood in the square below it. ............................... Links: timeandtalespodcast@gmail.com timeandtalespodcast.com https://www.youtube.com/@LMRiviere ................................ Sources: Prague City Tourism. “The Astronomical Clock.” Prague City Tourism. “Old Town Hall with Astronomical Clock.” CzechTourism. “Prague Astronomical Clock Returns After Restoration.” Radio Prague International. “Prague’s Astronomical Clock Removed for Repairs.” Radio Prague International. “Was the Reconstruction of Prague’s Famous Astronomical Clock Botched?” Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Prague.” Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Hussite.” Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Thirty Years’ War.” Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Battle of White Mountain.” Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Austro-Prussian War.” Charles University. Historical materials on Jan Šindel and medieval Prague. Prague City Archives. Materials on Old Town Hall and the Prague Astronomical Clock. “Prague Astronomical Clock.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia, Wikimedia Foundation.
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S2 · E8
May 29 · 50 min
Eliot Ness and The Mad Butcher: PART THREE
In the final chapter of this three-part series, Time and Tales examines the leading suspects in the Cleveland Torso Murders, including Dr. Francis Sweeney, Frank Dolezal, and Willie Johnson. LaNae and CJ break down Eliot Ness’ investigation into the Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run, the evidence tied to the murders, the links between victims Florence Polillo and Rose Wallace, theories involving morphine trafficking and organized crime, and why the case remains one of Cleveland’s most infamous unsolved serial killer mysteries. ........................................... Links: timeandtalespodcast.com timeandtalespodcast@gmail.com LaNae's Books: lmriviere.com .............................................. Sources: Cleveland Police Museum. Torso Murders. Encyclopedia of Cleveland History. Torso Murders. Encyclopedia of Cleveland History. Ness, Eliot. Federal Bureau of Investigation. A Byte Out of History: Eliot Ness and the FBI. Cleveland Historical. Ness’ Burning of Kingsbury Run. Collins, Max Allan, and A. Brad Schwartz. Eliot Ness and the Mad Butcher: Hunting America's Deadliest Unidentified Serial Killer at the Dawn of Modern Criminology. William Morrow, 2020.
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S2 · E7
May 22 · 32 min
Eliot Ness and the Mad Butcher: PART TWO
By August 1938, the Cleveland Torso Murders had left bodies across Kingsbury Run, the Cuyahoga River, the lakefront, and the city’s industrial edges. In this second part, the case escalates when two more victims appear near the East 9th Street lakefront dump, practically under City Hall’s nose, and the pressure on Eliot Ness becomes impossible to ignore. This episode follows the investigation as it broadens into medical conferences, dead-end suspects, and the growing belief that the killer knew Cleveland’s poorest districts intimately. It also traces Ness’s most infamous response: the Kingsbury Run raid, the burning of the shantytown, and the desperate attempt to disrupt a murderer who always seemed one step ahead. ................................................................ Links: LaNae's Books: lmriviere.com Request an Episode: timeandtalespodcast@gmail.com Visit our website: timeandtalespodcast.com .................................................................. Collins, Max Allan, and A. Brad Schwartz. Eliot Ness and the Mad Butcher: Hunting America’s Deadliest Unidentified Serial Killer at the Dawn of Modern Criminology. William Morrow, 2021. “NESS, ELIOT.” Encyclopedia of Cleveland History, Case Western Reserve University. “TORSO MURDERS.” Encyclopedia of Cleveland History, Case Western Reserve University. “The Torso Murders.” Cleveland Police Museum. Schwartz, A. Brad. “How Eliot Ness Wound Up Hunting a Serial Killer in Cleveland.” CrimeReads, 6 Sept. 2022. Wikipedia Encyclopedia Britannica
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S2 · E6
May 15 · 33 min
Eliot Ness and the Mad Butcher: PART ONE
In 1930s Cleveland, bodies began turning up in places most of the city tried not to see: Kingsbury Run, the river flats, rail lines, and waste ground crowded with poverty during the Depression. In this episode, we begin the story of the Cleveland Torso Murders—also known as the Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run case—and the nightmare that landed on Eliot Ness’s desk when victims started appearing decapitated, dismembered, and, in some cases, never identified at all. This first part follows the early victims, the panic building around the killings, and the impossible position Ness found himself in: a famous lawman brought in to clean up a city where corruption, class prejudice, and chaos were already working against the investigation. It’s the start of one of the darkest unsolved serial murder cases in American history. ............................................... Check out LaNae's books: lmriviere.com Request and episode: timeandtalespodcast@gmail.com Sign up for our newsletter: timeandtalespodcast.com .............................................. Sources: Collins, Max Allan, and A. Brad Schwartz. Eliot Ness and the Mad Butcher: Hunting America’s Deadliest Unidentified Serial Killer at the Dawn of Modern Criminology. William Morrow, 2021. “NESS, ELIOT.” Encyclopedia of Cleveland History, Case Western Reserve University. “TORSO MURDERS.” Encyclopedia of Cleveland History, Case Western Reserve University. “The Torso Murders.” Cleveland Police Museum. Schwartz, A. Brad. “How Eliot Ness Wound Up Hunting a Serial Killer in Cleveland.” CrimeReads, 6 Sept. 2022.
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S2 · E5
May 1 · 33 min
Mercy Brown & the New England Vampire Panic
In 1892, in Exeter, Rhode Island, a grieving family exhumed the body of nineteen-year-old Mercy Brown in a desperate attempt to save her dying brother. This episode follows the real story behind one of America’s most famous vampire legends: tuberculosis, winter graves, folk belief, and the New England vampire panic that turned a family tragedy into a permanent piece of American folklore. We trace Mercy Brown’s death, the exhumation in March 1892, the medical reality of consumption, and the wider fear that the dead could drain life from the living. It’s a story of grief, disease, and superstition in nineteenth-century New England—and why Mercy Brown still haunts American dark history more than a century later. ................................................................... Website: timeandtalespodcast.com Email: timeandtalespodcast@gmail.com Read LaNae's New Book: A Vow For Breaking ................................................................... Sources: Auerbach, Nina. Our Vampires, Ourselves. University of Chicago Press, 1995. Bell, Michael E. Food for the Dead: On the Trail of New England’s Vampires. Carroll & Graf, 2001. Bell, Michael E. “Vampires and Death in New England, 1784 to 1892.” Anthropology and Humanism, vol. 31, no. 2, 2006, pp. 124–140. Brown, Mercy Lena. Obituary notice. Providence Journal, 20 Jan. 1892. Brown, Edwin Atwood. Obituary notice. Providence Journal, 7 May 1892. “Exhumation of the Brown Family.” Providence Journal, 19 Mar. 1892. Rhode Island Historical Society. “Have Mercy…” 31 Oct. 2016. Stetson, George R. “The Animistic Vampire in New England.” American Anthropologist, vol. 9, no. 1, 1896, pp. 1–18. Tucker, Abigail. “The Great New England Vampire Panic.” Smithsonian Magazine, Oct. 2012.
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S2 · E4
April 17 · 37 min
The Dark History of Abandoned Mines
In the United States, abandoned mines still hide across deserts, mountains, forests, and public land: open shafts, flooded pits, collapsed tunnels, and unstable ground left behind by gold rushes, hard-rock mining, and coal extraction. In this episode, we trace the dark history of abandoned mines from California and Nevada to Colorado and Appalachia, and ask a harder question beneath it all: when people vanish in remote country, how often is the answer under their feet? From Joshua Tree and Twentynine Palms to Nevada and West Virginia, this episode follows real deaths, disappearances, and recoveries tied to old mine country while looking at the larger hazard footprint still spread across the United States. It’s a story about ghost landscapes, forgotten industry, and the deadly holes America never really closed. ................................................................ Links: timeandtalespodcast.com timeandtalespodcast@gmail.com instagram.com/timeandtalespodcast ................................................................. Sources Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2024 NCIC Missing and Unidentified Person Statistics Travis W. Heggie, “Dead Men Walking: Search and Rescue in U.S. National Parks” United States Bureau of Land Management, Abandoned Mine Lands United States Bureau of Land Management, AML Dangers California Legislative Analyst’s Office, Improving California’s Response to the Environmental and Safety Hazards Caused by Abandoned Mines Nevada Division of Minerals, Nevada Abandoned Mine Lands Report 2012 U.S. Government Accountability Office, Abandoned Mine Land: Opportunities Exist to Improve Support for Economic Development and Facilities Planning in Coal Communities, GAO-24-106680
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S2 · E3
April 3 · 37 min
The Voynich Manuscript
In 1912, rare-book dealer Wilfrid Voynich opened a small vellum codex in Italy and found a manuscript unlike anything he had seen before: strange plants, bathing women, foldout diagrams, star charts, and page after page of writing no one could read. More than a century later, the Voynich Manuscript remains one of the most famous unsolved texts in the world. This episode traces Voynich’s discovery, the manuscript’s trail backward through Prague, Jesuit collections, and the court of Rudolf II, and the modern fight to explain what it is: cipher, lost language, hoax, or a real medieval book we no longer understand. ...................................................... Links: timeandtalespodcast@gmail.com timeandtalepodcast.com ....................................................... Sources: Yale Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Beinecke MS 408 Johannes Marcus Marci of Cronland to Athanasius Kircher, presentation letter preserved with the manuscript Wilfrid M. Voynich, published statements and correspondence on the manuscript after its 1912 acquisition University of Arizona radiocarbon dating results on the Voynich Manuscript parchment, 2009 M. E. D’Imperio, The Voynich Manuscript: An Elegant Enigma René Zandbergen, Voynich.nu, provenance and research documentation Yale Beinecke records on the manuscript’s twentieth-century chain of custody from Voynich to Kraus to Yale
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S2 · E2
March 27 · 46 min
Twilight of the Templars: A Tale of Greed & Heresy
In March 1314, Jacques de Molay—the last Grand Master of the Knights Templar—stood in Paris, withdrew his confession, and was burned alive. In this episode, we trace how a wealthy military order founded to protect pilgrims became the target of King Philip IV: mass arrests on Friday, October 13, 1307, confessions extracted under torture, papal pressure, and the final destruction of the Templars in fire. This is the story of the Templar crackdown, the execution of de Molay, the fight between crown and church, and the legend that helped bind the order forever to Friday the 13th. ......................................................... Email: timeandtalespodcast@gmail.com Website: timeandtalepodcast.com Instagram: @timeandtalespod ......................................................... Sources: Malcolm Barber:The Trial of the Templars Alain Demurger: The Persecution of the Templars / The Last Templar Elizabeth A. R. Brown: “Philip the Fair, Clement V, and the End of the Knights Templar…” Viator (2016) Vox in Excelso (1312) and Council of Vienne materials N. Sussman: “Debasements, Royal Revenues, and Inflation in France during the Hundred Years’ War…” Journal of Economic History (1993) Martin Allen: “Currency Depreciation and Debasement in Medieval Europe,” in Money in the Western Legal Tradition (Oxford, 2016)
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S2 · E1
March 20 · 33 min
Angel of Death: The Lake Nyos Disaster
On the night of August 21, 1986, Lake Nyos in Cameroon released a massive cloud of carbon dioxide that rolled down the surrounding valleys and suffocated people and animals in their sleep. By morning, thousands are dead, in one of the deadliest and strangest natural disasters of the twentieth century. This episode follows the Lake Nyos disaster from the crater lake’s volcanic geology to the silent nighttime gas release, the medical and scientific investigation that identified a limnic eruption, and the long effort to keep it from happening again through controlled degassing and dam stabilization. It’s a story about a hazard you can’t see, and a lake that can rebuild the same deadly conditions if the monitoring ever fails. *Our hearts go out to the victims of this tragedy and their families. This podcast does not linger on those details out of respect for the living. We mainly focus on the 'how this happened' rather than fixate on the toll. For more information, please refer to the sources below. ................................................................ Email us: timeandtalepodcast@gmail.com Support the Show: pattern.com/timeandtalespodcast Visit us on IG: @timeandtalespod .............................................................................. Sources: – Tuttle, M. L., et al. The 21 August 1986 Lake Nyos Gas Disaster, Cameroon (USGS Open-File Report 87-97, 1987). – Baxter, P. J., Kapila, M., and Mfonfu, D. “Lake Nyos disaster, Cameroon, 1986: the medical effects of large scale emission of carbon dioxide” BMJ 298 (1989): 1437–1441. – Kling, G. W., et al. “Degassing Lakes Nyos and Monoun: Defusing certain disaster.” PNAS 102, no. 40 (2005). – Lockwood, J. P., Costa, J. E., Tuttle, M. L., Nni, J., and Tebor, S. G. “The potential for catastrophic dam failure at Lake Nyos maar, Cameroon.” Bulletin of Volcanology 50 (1988): 340–349.
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S1 · E12
February 20 · 41 min
Three Go Missing at Separation Canyon
In August 1869, John Wesley Powell’s first Colorado River expedition hits its hardest day: a violent rapid, battered boats, sour rations—and a split at Separation Canyon, where three men choose to climb out of the gorge and walk toward settlements instead of facing more whitewater. In the Time and Tales Podcast Season 1 finale,, we follow the river from Green River Station to the mouth of the Virgin, then trace what little evidence we have for William Dunn, Oramel Howland, and Seneca Howland after they leave the boats—sorting surviving diaries, later testimony, and local rumor into what’s plausible, what’s likely propaganda, and why their disappearance still feels like an American fable: three men who walked out of the canyon alive and were never seen again. Time and Tales Website Visit our Instagram Page ................................................................................................. Sources: John Wesley Powell – Exploration of the Colorado River of the West and Its Tributaries (U.S. Government Printing Office, 1875). John Wesley Powell – The Exploration of the Colorado River and Its Canyons (Flood & Vincent, 1895). Frederick S. Dellenbaugh – A Canyon Voyage: The Narrative of the Second Powell Expedition (G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1908). Henry F. Dobyns & Robert C. Euler – “The Dunn-Howland Killings: Additional Insights,” Journal of Arizona History (Spring 1980). A. Scott – “The 150th Anniversary of the 1869 Powell Expedition,” U.S. Geological Survey (2020).
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S1 · E11
February 13 · 1 hr 21 min
Devil in the Details: The West Memphis 3
In May 1993, three eight-year-old boys vanished in West Memphis, Arkansas. Their bodies were found the next day in a drainage ditch at Robin Hood Hills—naked, bound with their own shoelaces. Within days, a town already steeped in Satanic Panic turned away from careful investigation and toward a story it already believed: that three local teens who liked metal, black clothes, and occult books must have carried out a ritual killing. This Time and Tales dark history episode walks through how Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin, and Jessie Misskelley Jr. became the West Memphis Three: from a contaminated crime scene and a coerced confession to “occult experts,” trials built on vibes instead of evidence, and the 2011 Alford pleas that freed them without clearing their names. It’s a case study about what moral panic does to policing, courts, and anyone who looks like an easy villain. ................................................................. Special Guest Host: Horror author Tristan Zelden Shop his books Raid his Substack Follow him on IG ................................................................. Sources: – Encyclopedia of Arkansas, “West Memphis Three” (case overview, key dates, legal outcomes) – UMKC “Famous Trials” archive on the West Memphis Three (trial materials, testimony excerpts, legal chronology) – Mara Leveritt – Devil’s Knot and related feature writing on the case and prosecution strategy – 1990 Census of Population and Housing profile for West Memphis, Arkansas (poverty data) – NCES Digest of Education Statistics – NAEP reading results, early 1990s (Arkansas/Tennessee vs. U.S. baseline)
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S1 · E10
February 6 · 33 min
The Dancing Plague of 1518
In the summer of 1518, a woman stepped into a Strasbourg street and began to dance—and didn’t stop. Within days, dozens of people were staggering and convulsing beside her in the heat, some dancing until they collapsed from exhaustion. City leaders watched a crowded market square turn into one of Europe’s strangest public-health crises. This Time and Tales Podcast episode walks through Strasbourg’s Dancing Plague from the first recorded dancer to the city’s escalating response—physicians, bans on public dancing, appeals to St. Vitus—and into the modern debates over what really happened: ergot poisoning, mass psychogenic illness, or some mix of fear, famine, faith, and imitation that spiraled out of control. .............................................................. Links: Email-timeandtalespodcast@gmail.com Website- timeandtalespodcast.com Patreon- patreon.com/timeandtalespodcast Instagram: instagram.com/timeandtalespod .............................................................. Sources: John Waller – A Time to Dance, a Time to Die: The Extraordinary Story of the Dancing Plague of 1518 – John Waller – scholarly work on the 1518 Strasbourg outbreak (journal articles/abstracts) Public Domain Review – “The Dancing Plague of 1518” The Guardian – feature coverage of the Strasbourg dancing mania History.com – “The Dancing Plague of 1518” Wikipedia – “Dancing Plague of 1518”; “Strasbourg”
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