Flashback: History's Unintended Consequences

Reena Ruparelia has lived with psoriasis since she was in high school. But she didn’t star... more

On Very Special Episodes, we tell one incredible story each week. Stranger-than-fiction ta... more

After the horrific violence of Election Day, 1920, in Ocoee, Florida, hundreds of Black fa... more

Before the presidential election of 1920, the Klan marched through Florida to warn Black c... more

The worst incident of election violence in American history happened a century ago on Elec... more

Did President Ronald Reagan authorize selling arms to Iran while still recovering from maj... more

After a 23-year-old Elvis Presley submitted to an Army barber in March 1958, rock and roll... more

In 1955, actress Grace Kelly journeyed to the Cannes Film Festival, setting in action a ch... more

The tragic death of Cleveland Indians shortstop Ray Chapman in 1920 would help shape the f... more

Ludwig Bemelmans rode his bike down the wrong side of the road and into literary history w... more

If not for the fateful inaction of a single Washington, DC police officer, Watergate might... more

When a newspaper mistakenly proclaimed Alfred Nobel dead in 1888, the inventor of dynamite... more

Flashback listeners send us examples of the unexpected results of some historical events -... more

Why the story of human flight begins on a frozen pond in Dayton, Ohio…and why there was on... more

The birth of Hollywood owes a surprising amount to the untimely demise of a single Frenchm... more

A tale of rugged frontier individualism gone corporate, and how the Ingalls’ family farm l... more

The discovery of one of the most hazardous elements on earth helped spark the greatest und... more

Gypsy moths and the invasive vine kudzu were supposed to be solutions. Instead they’re pro... more

The backlash to a 19th century chastity law ended up sparking a far more controversial new... more

Did one dictator’s chronic flatulence wind up causing needless suffering for millions? Lea... more

Michael Jordan’s famous sabbatical from professional basketball might have lasted much lon... more

Cooler homes transformed Americans’ lives — and eventually their government as well. Check... more

The YMCA provided American soldiers with billions of cigarettes during World War I — and s... more

Hate speech is also something that can be mass-produced, and with disastrous consequences.... more

Each of us handles social distancing in our own way. Some are doing virtual yoga classes. ... more

Our first season connects the dots on 10 incredible tales of unintended consequences that ... more