Episodes

Sept. 26, 2025

171: The Last New England Vampire

In 1892, a quiet town in Rhode Island made headlines across the world when villagers exhumed a young woman’s body, convinced she was rising from the grave to prey on the living. Her name was Mercy Lena Brown—and she became th...

Sept. 5, 2025

170: Radium Girls of Ottawa: Shining Women, Deadly Glow

In 1920s Ottawa, Illinois, hundreds of young “shining women” painted watch dials with radium-laced paint they were told was harmless. Their luminous craft soon became a lethal sentence—and their fight for justice helped forge...

Aug. 4, 2025

Episode 169: When Lightning Struck the Big Top

Wahpeton’s 1897 Circus Tragedy

July 6, 2025

168: The Miracle of Hickory: A Hospital in 54 Hours

In the summer of 1944, as a devastating polio outbreak swept across North Carolina, hospitals were overwhelmed and children were dying. But in Hickory, a small city already stretched thin by World War II, something extraordin...

June 23, 2025

167: How America’s Main Streets Are Fighting Back—The Wabash Playbook

Nearly every American town has the same heart-in-crisis story: a once-bustling Main Street hollowed out by big-box stores, sprawl, and online shopping. In this episode, Shane zooms out to look at the nationwide Main Street mo...

June 17, 2025

166: Nursing Through the Ages, Part 3 – The Rise of Modern Nursing

World War trenches, inflatable splints, and airborne operating rooms—this finale races from post-Nightingale training schools to the helicopter pads of today. Host Shane Waters uncovers how pioneers like Mary Seacole , Clara ...

June 11, 2025

165: Nursing Through the Ages, Part 2 – Florence Nightingale and the War on Death

When war-torn wards near the Bosphorus Strait reeked of sewage and despair, Florence Nightingale arrived with 38 nurses, a ledger, and one stubborn oil-lamp. In today’s Hometown History, Shane Waters traces how Nightingale’s ...

May 29, 2025

164: Nursing Through the Ages, Part 1: The Dark Origins of Nursing

Long before starched whites and stethoscopes, nursing grew out of medieval convents, overcrowded workhouses, and disease-ridden wards where desperate women labored with little training and even less respect. In this debut epi...

March 27, 2025

163: The Mysterious Disappearance of the Sodder Children: A Christmas Eve Tragedy

In this episode of Hometown History , we explore the chilling and unsolved mystery of the Sodder children, who vanished on Christmas Eve, 1945, after a fire destroyed their home in Fayetteville, West Virginia. Despite the dev...

Jan. 29, 2025

162: The Bone Wars: Paleontology’s Greatest Rivalry

In this episode of Hometown History, we dive into one of the most intense scientific rivalries of the 19th century—the infamous "Bone Wars." Othniel Charles Marsh and Edward Drinker Cope, two leading paleontologists, began as colleagues but quickly turned into bitter enemies. What started as a comp…

Jan. 16, 2025

161: The Curse of Rebel Without a Cause: Hollywood’s Tragic Tale

In this episode of Hometown History, we explore the eerie and tragic events surrounding one of Hollywood’s most iconic films, Rebel Without a Cause. While celebrated for its portrayal of youthful rebellion, the film is remembered for more than its performances—it’s also linked to a string of untime…

Dec. 30, 2024

160: Psychiana: The Mail-Order Religion That Swept America

In this episode of Hometown History, we uncover the rise and fall of the Psychiana Movement, one of the most unusual religious movements in American history. Founded in 1929 by Frank Bruce Robinson, a man with a troubled past, Psychiana promised its followers the power to communicate directly with …

Nov. 20, 2024

159: The Vanishing of Judge Crater: New York’s Greatest Mystery

In this episode of Hometown History, we uncover the mysterious disappearance of Judge Joseph Force Crater, an event that captured the nation’s attention in 1930 and coined the phrase “to pull a Crater.” Judge Crater’s sudden vanishing after a dinner in New York City sparked one of the most baffling…

Nov. 5, 2024

158: How a Telegraph Cable Launched Tiffany & Co. to Fame

In this episode of Hometown History, we dive into the surprising story of how a monumental achievement in telecommunications catapulted Tiffany & Co. to fame. In 1858, Charles Tiffany seized on the success of the first transa...

Oct. 21, 2024

157: The Vanishing of Ambrose Bierce: A Literary Mystery

In this episode of Hometown History, we delve into one of the most fascinating literary mysteries of the 20th century: the disappearance of Ambrose Bierce. A celebrated writer, Civil War veteran, and the sharp wit behind The Devil’s Dictionary, Bierce vanished without a trace in 1913 while journeyi…

Oct. 10, 2024

156: Beneath the Greenbrier: America’s Cold War Bunker Exposed

In this episode of Hometown History, Shane reveals the secret story of the Greenbrier Resort's hidden underground bunker, built during the Cold War to house Congress in case of a nuclear attack, and how the local town kept this massive secret for over 30 years.