S8 Ep279: THE LONELY END OF NORSE GREENLAND Colleague Eleanor Barraclough. The final segment explores the disappearance of the Norse settlement in Greenland, focusing on the Herjolfsnes graveyard. Preserved clothing from the 15th century reveals garments that were

S8 Ep279: THE FIRE GIANT'S CAVE AND RITUAL OFFERINGS Colleague Eleanor Barraclough. The discussion descends into Surtshellir, a massive lava cave in Iceland associated with the fire giant Surt. Barraclough describes archaeological finds deep within the cave, includ

S8 Ep279: THE FIRE GIANT'S CAVE AND RITUAL OFFERINGS Colleague Eleanor Barraclough. The discussion descends into Surtshellir, a massive lava cave in Iceland associated with the fire giant Surt. Barraclough describes archaeological finds deep within the cave, includ

S8 Ep279: MYTHOLOGY AND THE MURDER OF SNORRI Colleague Eleanor Barraclough. Barraclough discusses the difficulty of accessing Norse beliefs, as most sources, like Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda, were written post-conversion. She outlines dramatic myths, including th

S8 Ep279: ELIQUARIES, MARRIAGE, AND AMULETS Colleague Eleanor Barraclough. Barraclough explains how religious reliquaries looted from monasteries were often repurposed as jewelry for women in Norway. She discusses the theory that female infanticide may have caused

S8 Ep279: ASSIMILATION AND THE SALME SHIP MYSTERY Colleague Eleanor Barraclough. Barraclough highlights how the Norse assimilated into Eastern cultures, adopting Slavic names and gods within generations. The focus then turns to a major mystery: the Salme ship buria

S8 Ep279: CONQUEST, THE DANELAW, AND THE EASTERN RUS Colleague Eleanor Barraclough. The conversation shifts from raiding to conquest, detailing the arrival of the "Great Heathen Army" in England around 865. Barraclough explains that this force was likely comprised

S8 Ep279: RUNES, TAVERN MESSAGES, AND HIDDEN HISTORIES Colleague Eleanor Barraclough. John Batchelor interviews Eleanor Barraclough about her book, Embers of the Hands: Hidden Histories of the Viking Age. They discuss a specific runic inscription from roughly 1200

S8 Ep278: RAVENS BEFRIEND DALLAS AND DISPLACE THE COCKATOOS Colleague Jeremy Zakis. Zakis updates the backyard wildlife saga, noting the arrival of intelligent Ravens that have befriended his dog, Dallas. Unlike the aggressive Cockatoos that damaged a neighbor's ro

S8 Ep278: THE FINAL ASHES TEST IN SYDNEY AND THE FUTURE OF TEST CRICKET Colleague Jeremy Zakis. Jeremy Zakis discusses the final Ashes test in Sydney, noting that heavy storms threaten to wash out the match, potentially handing England a "moral victory" if they per

S8 Ep278: EASTERN BROWN SNAKE ATTACKS AND CRITICAL FIRST AID Colleague Jeremy Zakis. Zakis details two recent attacks by venomous Eastern Brown snakes seeking shelter from the heat. He describes an incident in Morton National Park where a hiker stepped on a snake t

S8 Ep278: AUSTRALIA'S EXTREME HEATWAVE AND THE SOLAR PANEL REVOLUTION Colleague Jeremy Zakis. Zakis reports on Australia's extreme weather, describing a heatwave moving east with temperatures exceeding 110°F, exacerbated by winds acting like a "fan-forced oven." He

S8 Ep277: JEFFERSON'S DEFENSE OF AMERICA AND THE MCGUFFEY READER Colleague Professor Robert G. Parkinson. Thomas Jefferson discovered Logan's Lament in 1774 and later used it in his Notes on the State of Virginia to refute French claims that everything in America w

S8 Ep277: JEFFERSON'S DEFENSE OF AMERICA AND THE MCGUFFEY READER Colleague Professor Robert G. Parkinson. Thomas Jefferson discovered Logan's Lament in 1774 and later used it in his Notes on the State of Virginia to refute French claims that everything in America w

S8 Ep277: THE MURDER OF LOGAN AND THE PERSISTENCE OF VIOLENCE Colleague Professor Robert G. Parkinson. Twenty years after the lament, a surveyor encountered a weeping Native man in the woods who revealed he was Logan's nephew. The nephew confessed to killing his un

S8 Ep277: THE DEATH OF A RANGER AND THE CREATION OF A HERO Colleague Professor Robert G. Parkinson. Michael Cresap marched his riflemen from the frontier to Boston in 1775, where the press hailed them as "secret weapons" against the British. However, these troops p

S8 Ep277: REVENGE, REVOLUTION, AND THE BIRTH OF A PATRIOT Colleague Professor Robert G. Parkinson. In 1774, a grief-stricken Logan launched a brutal revenge campaign, killing nearly 20 people to "glut his vengeance." This violence occurred as the Continental Congre

S8 Ep277: THE MASSACRE AT YELLOW CREEK AND THE POWER VACUUM Colleague Professor Robert G. Parkinson. Following the British withdrawal from Fort Pitt, a power vacuum triggered a border civil war and increased tension with Native peoples. On April 30, 1774, Logan's f

S8 Ep277: HEART OF DARKNESS AND THE OHIO COMPANY LAND GRAB Colleague Professor Robert G. Parkinson. The book's title draws on Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness to describe the bewilderment and horror inherent in the 18th-century American backcountry. In 1754, GeorR

S8 Ep277: THE ORIGINS OF A FRONTIER FEUD AND LOGAN'S LAMENT Colleague Professor Robert G. Parkinson. In February 1775, the Pennsylvania Journal published a famous document known as Logan's Lament. This speech, delivered by the Mingo leader James Logan Shikellamy, a