Hashtag History

This week on Hashtag History, we will be discussing the Lynwood Vikings, one of many deputy gangs of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. Deputy gangs are gangs, formed and founded, by deputies of the LASD. And, like most gangs, they involve tattoos and racism and acts of violence as a form of initiation into the gang. But unlike other gangs, these are gangs made up of law enforcement officers who are meant to serve and protect the community. These gangs enact violence on the community and – because they all believe in maintaining the blue wall of silence (AKA not snitching on another cop), their misconduct goes with them to the grave. Not only all of that: Members of these gangs have been responsible for horrific crimes, including but not limited to: beating up inmates and then filing false reports to cover it up, retaliating against whistleblowers, and even murder. As of 2021, there were 24 known and active deputy gangs within the LASD. As of right now when we’re recording this in 2025, there continue to be at least six that we know of.It goes without saying, but this is unacceptable. In the 2023 report that a special oversight committee put together to combat this issue, they said of these gangs, “Both historically and currently, [they] exalt the use of excessive force against civilians, harass other deputies, and undermine the chain of command within the Department. However denominated, the existence of these groups and their impact adversely affects the mission of the Department and undermines public trust in the Department.”To summarize: We know of at least 19 people that have been killed by these gangs, all of which were men of color. We also know that, over the last fifty years, Los Angeles County (i.e., the taxpayers of Los Angeles County) have paid out some $100 million dollars in response to settlements and lawsuits related to these deputy gangs.There are seriously so many of these gangs that we would be here for six hours if I told you specific details about all of them. So in this episode, we are more so doing an overview of these various deputy gangs and then focusing on one specific one: the Lynwood Vikings.Follow Hashtag History on Instagram @hashtaghistory_podcast for all of the pictures mentioned in this episode.Citations for all sources can be located on our website at www.HashtagHistory-Pod.com. You can also check out our website for super cute merch!You can now sponsor a cocktail and get a shout-out on air! Just head to www.buymeacoffee.com/hashtaghistory or head to the Support tab on our website!You can locate us on www.Patreon.com/hashtaghistory where you can donate $1 a month to our Books and Booze Supply. All of your support goes a long ways and we are endlessly grateful! To show our gratitude, all Patreon Supporters receive an automatic 15% OFF all merchandise in our merchandise store, a shoutout on social media, and stickers!THANKS FOR LISTENING!- Rachel and LeahEditor: Alex PerezCopyright: The Hashtag History Podcast

This week on Hashtag History, we will be discussing the Trojan War, a once-believed-to-be strictly mythological tale about a conflict between Troy and Greece which destroyed the city of Troy. This is the battle that involves the infamous Trojan horse in which the Greeks left an allegedly hollowed out wooden horse outside the Trojan city gates. The Trojans eventually determine it to be a gift and bring it inside but, lo and behold, that hollowed out horse was actually filled with Greek soldiers that came in and destroyed the city. The story of the Trojan war was told in Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, a few other pieces of Greek literature, and then was primarily carried on through oral tradition. Because Homer’s works are not historical accounts – they are Greek literature and poetry – we cannot take any of what he said to be proven facts. But, after a discovery in the late-1800s, ruins in modern-day Turkey point to what may have once been the city of Troy…causing some to believe that perhaps Homer’s fictional, mythological works…may have had a little truth behind them.Follow Hashtag History on Instagram @hashtaghistory_podcast for all of the pictures mentioned in this episode.Citations for all sources can be located on our website at www.HashtagHistory-Pod.com. You can also check out our website for super cute merch!You can now sponsor a cocktail and get a shout-out on air! Just head to www.buymeacoffee.com/hashtaghistory or head to the Support tab on our website!You can locate us on www.Patreon.com/hashtaghistory where you can donate $1 a month to our Books and Booze Supply. All of your support goes a long ways and we are endlessly grateful! To show our gratitude, all Patreon Supporters receive an automatic 15% OFF all merchandise in our merchandise store, a shoutout on social media, and stickers!THANKS FOR LISTENING!- Rachel and LeahEditor: Alex PerezCopyright: The Hashtag History Podcast

This week on Hashtag History, we will be discussing the Lavender Scare, a roughly forty-year period in history (spanning from the late-1940s and into the early-1990s) in which thousands of government employees lost their job as part of a federal anti-gay policy. Under Executive Order 10450 issued in 1953, it became a legal policy to remove all known gay men and women from federal service because it was believed that homosexuals have a proclivity for weakness and would therefore pose a threat to national security if they remained in their positions within the government.We all know about Senator Joseph McCarthy and the Red Scare that he set off with his infamous congressional speech about the list of communists he claimed to know worked for the government. But alongside that scare, lesser known than that scare, was the Lavender Scare. As Senator Alan K. Simpson later wrote of it, “The so-called ‘Red Scare’ has been the main focus of most historians of that period of time. A lesser-known element and one that harmed far more people was the witch-hunt McCarthy and others conducted against homosexuals.” And while McCarthyism is generally associated with the 1940s and 1950s, the Lavender Scare went far beyond that with one federal employee telling about his experience in 1980! Jamie Shoemaker was called into his boss’ office at the National Security Agency in 1980 where “...they said ‘we understand you’re leading a gay lifestyle. And I remember saying, ‘well, I didn’t think I was leading it, but yes, I’m gay.’" He was then placed on leave for four months while his bosses hemmed and hawed about what they were going to do…all to eventually fire him for his sexual orientation…nearly thirty years after the Executive Order had first been put into place!I find this topic to be fascinating – and also, obviously, brutal and disgusting – but fascinating because it is a lesser known part of history…and yet it is wrapped up in the larger picture of a very well known part of history; that being, McCarthyism and the Red Scare.Follow Hashtag History on Instagram @hashtaghistory_podcast for all of the pictures mentioned in this episode.Citations for all sources can be located on our website at www.HashtagHistory-Pod.com. You can also check out our website for super cute merch!You can now sponsor a cocktail and get a shout-out on air! Just head to www.buymeacoffee.com/hashtaghistory or head to the Support tab on our website!You can locate us on www.Patreon.com/hashtaghistory where you can donate $1 a month to our Books and Booze Supply. All of your support goes a long ways and we are endlessly grateful! To show our gratitude, all Patreon Supporters receive an automatic 15% OFF all merchandise in our merchandise store, a shoutout on social media, and stickers!THANKS FOR LISTENING!- Rachel and LeahEditor: Alex PerezCopyright: The Hashtag History Podcast

IT'S A LEAH TAKEOVER EPISODE!This week on Hashtag History, we will be discussing Woodstock ‘99. Everyone has heard of the Woodstock Music Festival that took place in 1969, on a farm in Bethel, New York. It was one of the largest music festivals in history and became synonymous with the counterculture of the 1960s. But fewer, I think, are aware that there were multiple attempts at emulating the original Woodstock Music Festival that took place at the tail end of the 20th century. Much like the original festival, Woodstock ‘99, which took place July 21 - 26, 1999, was plagued with unfortunate weather conditions, not-so-great logistical planning, and other negative impacts on the surrounding infrastructure and community, but unlike the OG festival, it was also plagued with overpriced food and water, disgustingly poor sanitation, a slew of reports of sexual assault, and the event culminated in rioting, looting, arson, and… death. Links to the videos mentioned:https://www.google.com/search?q=fred+durst+woodstock+99&rlz=1C1GCEA_enUS968US968&oq=Fred+Durst+woodstock+99&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUqCggAEAAY4wIYgAQyCggAEAAY4wIYgAQyBwgBEC4YgAQyBwgCEAAYgAQyBwgDEAAYgAQyBwgEEAAYgAQyBwgFEAAYgAQyCAgGEAAYFhgeMggIBxAAGBYYHjIICAgQABgWGB4yCAgJEAAYFhge0gEIMzgzMGowajmoAgCwAgE&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:1c5c0c05,vid:YPk7-fCvbao,st:0https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKVfkZUPTdE&list=RDAKVfkZUPTdE&start_radio=1https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzDFtqQh90M&list=RDTzDFtqQh90M&start_radio=1Follow Hashtag History on Instagram @hashtaghistory_podcast for all of the pictures mentioned in this episode.Citations for all sources can be located on our website at www.HashtagHistory-Pod.com. You can also check out our website for super cute merch!You can now sponsor a cocktail and get a shout-out on air! Just head to www.buymeacoffee.com/hashtaghistory or head to the Support tab on our website!You can locate us on www.Patreon.com/hashtaghistory where you can donate $1 a month to our Books and Booze Supply. All of your support goes a long ways and we are endlessly grateful! To show our gratitude, all Patreon Supporters receive an automatic 15% OFF all merchandise in our merchandise store, a shoutout on social media, and stickers!THANKS FOR LISTENING!- Rachel and LeahEditor: Alex PerezCopyright: The Hashtag History Podcast

This week on Hashtag History, we will be discussing Mary Jane Richards, a Black, once-enslaved woman who served as a Union spy during the Civil War. We only know of Richards because, in 1911 (nearly fifty years after the end of the Civil War), a white woman named Annie Van Lew Hall was interviewed by Harper’s Magazine in which she told them a story about how her aunt, Elizabeth Van Lew, had operated an espionage ring within the Confederate White House and how she had enlisted a Black woman – in this story, named Mary Elizabeth Bowser – who worked directly in the Confederate White House and got secret information directly from the Confederate President Jefferson Davis. Now, as time has gone on, we have learned that much of this story was not real. But we do know for a fact that a woman named Mary Jane Richards was indeed a spy for the Union Army and did indeed change the course of history as a result of her brave, formidable acts.Because she is a woman – because she is a Black woman – because she was an enslaved Black woman – of course, there is not much information known about her. But I wanted to put together this episode regardless of how short or long it may be because knowing this woman’s name is more important now than ever. It’s imperative that we know about her, that we know her story, and that we tell her story.Follow Hashtag History on Instagram @hashtaghistory_podcast for all of the pictures mentioned in this episode.Citations for all sources can be located on our website at www.HashtagHistory-Pod.com. You can also check out our website for super cute merch!You can now sponsor a cocktail and get a shout-out on air! Just head to www.buymeacoffee.com/hashtaghistory or head to the Support tab on our website!You can locate us on www.Patreon.com/hashtaghistory where you can donate $1 a month to our Books and Booze Supply. All of your support goes a long ways and we are endlessly grateful! To show our gratitude, all Patreon Supporters receive an automatic 15% OFF all merchandise in our merchandise store, a shoutout on social media, and stickers!THANKS FOR LISTENING!- Rachel and LeahEditor: Alex PerezCopyright: The Hashtag History Podcast

This week on Hashtag History, we will be discussing the Stanford Prison Experiment. The Stanford Prison Experiment was a super controversial and somewhat shady psychological experiment that raised a lot of concern at the time and continues to invoke questions and worry to this day. Essentially, this was an experiment conducted in 1971 in which participants were placed in a prison-like environment for what was supposed to be two weeks in order to examine and evaluate their behaviors in this particular setting. The experiment was cut short, however (only 6 days into the planned 14 days), when the participants that had been assigned the roles of guards began physically, emotionally, and psychologically abusing the prisoner participants to extreme degrees. Some level of abuse had been assumed to occur–I mean, that was the point of the experiment. The Stanford Prison Experiment was meant to test human behaviors in a setting where one person has a clear, dominant role over the other. Much like the Milgram Experiment sought to understand how the Nazis could execute the sadistic orders demanded of them, the Stanford Prison Experiment likewise sought to understand to what degree humans will assume power over one another (or, the opposite, submit to one another) in a particular setting.Not only was the Stanford Prison Experiment controversial–it was also likely unethical and perhaps even fraudulent with the lead professor over the experiment possibly directing the guards as to how they were to behave.Follow Hashtag History on Instagram @hashtaghistory_podcast for all of the pictures mentioned in this episode.Citations for all sources can be located on our website at www.HashtagHistory-Pod.com. You can also check out our website for super cute merch!You can now sponsor a cocktail and get a shout-out on air! Just head to www.buymeacoffee.com/hashtaghistory or head to the Support tab on our website!You can locate us on www.Patreon.com/hashtaghistory where you can donate $1 a month to our Books and Booze Supply. All of your support goes a long ways and we are endlessly grateful! To show our gratitude, all Patreon Supporters receive an automatic 15% OFF all merchandise in our merchandise store, a shoutout on social media, and stickers!THANKS FOR LISTENING!- Rachel and LeahEditor: Alex PerezCopyright: The Hashtag History Podcast

WELCOME BACK FOR SEASON SIXTEEN OF THE HASHTAG HISTORY PODCAST!This week on Hashtag History, we will be discussing Hiroo Onoda, a Japanese soldier who fought in the Imperial Japanese Army in World War II until…1974.As I'm sure you are aware, World War II was not happening in 1974. In fact, the Second World War ended in, well, 1945. Onoda, along with a few other Japanese soldiers, continued to fight in the war for years after it ended, not believing that the war had indeed ended. He hid in the jungles of the Philippines for thirty years until, at the age of 52, his former commanding officer specifically flew from Japan to the Philippines to tell Onoda personally that he had been relieved of duty.Follow Hashtag History on Instagram @hashtaghistory_podcast for all of the pictures mentioned in this episode.Citations for all sources can be located on our website at www.HashtagHistory-Pod.com. You can also check out our website for super cute merch!You can now sponsor a cocktail and get a shout-out on air! Just head to www.buymeacoffee.com/hashtaghistory or head to the Support tab on our website!You can locate us on www.Patreon.com/hashtaghistory where you can donate $1 a month to our Books and Booze Supply. All of your support goes a long ways and we are endlessly grateful! To show our gratitude, all Patreon Supporters receive an automatic 15% OFF all merchandise in our merchandise store, a shoutout on social media, and stickers!THANKS FOR LISTENING!- Rachel and LeahEditor: Alex PerezCopyright: The Hashtag History Podcast

This week on Hashtag History, we are joined by our dear friend, Kelsie Brook Eckert! Kelsie is a professor, author, and the Executive Director of the Remedial Herstory Project (a non-profit organization working to get women's history in the classroom).We chat all things Remedial Herstory Project, education, funding, and politics in this week's episode!Follow Hashtag History on Instagram @hashtaghistory_podcast for all of the pictures mentioned in this episode.Citations for all sources can be located on our website at www.HashtagHistory-Pod.com. You can also check out our website for super cute merch!You can now sponsor a cocktail and get a shout-out on air! Just head to www.buymeacoffee.com/hashtaghistory or head to the Support tab on our website!You can locate us on www.Patreon.com/hashtaghistory where you can donate $1 a month to our Books and Booze Supply. All of your support goes a long ways and we are endlessly grateful! To show our gratitude, all Patreon Supporters receive an automatic 15% OFF all merchandise in our merchandise store, a shoutout on social media, and stickers!THANKS FOR LISTENING!- Rachel and LeahEditor: Alex PerezCopyright: The Hashtag History Podcast

This week on Hashtag History, we will be discussing a time in history where the United States, Great Britain, France, and the then-Soviet Union carried out together a series of trials against Nazis for the war crimes they committed over the course of the Second World War. This series of thirteen trials was held in Nuremberg, Germany between the years of 1945 and 1949, resulting in the convictions of 161 people. These trials created a precedent as this was the first time in history in which an international criminal trial was established to hold people who had committed war crimes accountable.War is war so we will talk later about what exactly constitutes as war crimes but, for the sake of keeping things brief in the introduction, just know that what Hitler – and, by extension – his Nazi regime in Germany did during World War II was some of the most disgusting and heinous war crimes the world had ever seen. In addition to invading multiple countries – such as Poland, France, Denmark, Belgium, the Soviet Union, and more – Nazi Germany also murdered more than six million European Jews in a systematic genocide.This was unacceptable and the officials in charge of such violence were held accountable during the lengthy Nuremberg Trials.Follow Hashtag History on Instagram @hashtaghistory_podcast for all of the pictures mentioned in this episode.Citations for all sources can be located on our website at www.HashtagHistory-Pod.com. You can also check out our website for super cute merch!You can now sponsor a cocktail and get a shout-out on air! Just head to www.buymeacoffee.com/hashtaghistory or head to the Support tab on our website!You can locate us on www.Patreon.com/hashtaghistory where you can donate $1 a month to our Books and Booze Supply. All of your support goes a long ways and we are endlessly grateful! To show our gratitude, all Patreon Supporters receive an automatic 15% OFF all merchandise in our merchandise store, a shoutout on social media, and stickers!THANKS FOR LISTENING!- Rachel and LeahEditor: Alex PerezCopyright: The Hashtag History Podcast

This week on Hashtag History, we will be discussing the deadliest shipwreck in American history. On April 27, 1865, a commercial steamboat called the Sultana, carrying over 2,000 passengers (though it was legally only allowed to carry 376) burst into flames due to unresolved issues with the boilers. Between the people that died immediately as a result of the explosion, those that died later of burn damage, and those that died in their attempts to swim to shore, the total number of casualties is estimated to be somewhere between about 1,200 and 1,800.This disaster occurred the same month that marked the end of the Civil War (the bloodiest war in American history), it was the month that marked the first presidential assassination in American history with Lincoln’s death, and it was the month that marked the start of the Reconstruction Era.So, like, there was a lot going on…Because of that, much of the disaster was largely overshadowed. Much of the research was extensively  neglected. But this is a really important story to tell. The Titanic (which we have talked about before) is so much more popular than the Sultana and yet the number of casualties is roughly the same. Follow Hashtag History on Instagram @hashtaghistory_podcast for all of the pictures mentioned in this episode.Citations for all sources can be located on our website at www.HashtagHistory-Pod.com. You can also check out our website for super cute merch!You can now sponsor a cocktail and get a shout-out on air! Just head to www.buymeacoffee.com/hashtaghistory or head to the Support tab on our website!You can locate us on www.Patreon.com/hashtaghistory where you can donate $1 a month to our Books and Booze Supply. All of your support goes a long ways and we are endlessly grateful! To show our gratitude, all Patreon Supporters receive an automatic 15% OFF all merchandise in our merchandise store, a shoutout on social media, and stickers!THANKS FOR LISTENING!- Rachel and Leah

This week on Hashtag History, we will be discussing the Lindbergh Kidnapping. In March of 1932, the one-year-old son of Charles Lindbergh (the famous American aviator who is most known for being the first person to complete a solo, nonstop transatlantic flight) went missing. While other people were in the home – including the baby’s parents – Charles Lindbergh, Jr. was taken from his crib from the second-floor of the house…never to be seen again. The kidnapper would leave a ransom note which the desperate Lindberghs complied with, paying $50,000 for information related to their son. This note, however, turned out to be a hoax.The Lindberghs, the Federal Bureau of Investigations, and the country at large searched for the missing baby furiously, only to discover – ten weeks after the kidnapping – that the little boy had been killed and buried in the woods less than five miles from the Lindbergh home.A man would be arrested, convicted, and eventually sentenced to death for the crime but…to this day, there are still people that profess his innocence (just as he did for the remainder of his life).This case changed history. It is often referred to as one of the “crimes of the century." It was this case that led the US Congress to pass the Federal Kidnapping Act, making it a federal crime to transport a kidnapped victim across state lines. It is this act that gave the FBI jurisdiction to investigate these types of kidnappings (something that they did not have prior to 1932).Follow Hashtag History on Instagram @hashtaghistory_podcast for all of the pictures mentioned in this episode.Citations for all sources can be located on our website at www.HashtagHistory-Pod.com. You can also check out our website for super cute merch!You can now sponsor a cocktail and get a shout-out on air! Just head to www.buymeacoffee.com/hashtaghistory or head to the Support tab on our website!You can locate us on www.Patreon.com/hashtaghistory where you can donate $1 a month to our Books and Booze Supply. All of your support goes a long ways and we are endlessly grateful! To show our gratitude, all Patreon Supporters receive an automatic 15% OFF all merchandise in our merchandise store, a shoutout on social media, and stickers!THANKS FOR LISTENING!- Rachel and Leah

This week on Hashtag History, we will be discussing the Radium Girls. The Radium Girls refers to the female employees of a radium factory that contracted radiation poisoning from painting radium dials and hands on watches. The women were instructed to use their lips to make the bristles of the paintbrush form into a fine point that would then be used to paint radium onto the watch faces. Lip-dip-paint over and over again, each time, ingesting small amounts of radium.This sounds wild…because it is. But in late-1920s when all of this was happening, the common belief was that radium was not only harmless, but that it also had healing properties. Maybe even further than that, radium was also thought to be…fun. The women at this factory became known as “ghost girls” because the radium dust particles would fall off onto their clothing, making them glow in the dark. Some of these women wore their best dresses to work so they could purposefully make their dresses illuminate. Some women even painted their nails and their teeth with the radium, not knowing any better.Now, of course, these poor women would start to show signs of illness. Things like anemia, bone fractures, and something else that would eventually become known as “radium jaw”. Because of the amount of radium these women were ingesting directly into their mouths, their mouths began to decay at a rapid, rapid pace. Toothaches turned into tooth extractions. Tooth extractions turned into ulcers. Multiple ulcers all at once. In perhaps the worst story I read while doing my research, one woman in particular had to have multiple teeth removed but was still in severe pain. When she went to the dentist to have him check her out again, he gently placed his fingers in her mouth…and her jaw literally fell off. It just melted off. The dentist removed her jaw, “Not by an operation, but merely by putting his fingers in her mouth and lifting it out.”This would ultimately lead to a lengthy legal battle between the women and the U.S. Radium Corporation, who denied responsibility, and would – of course – ultimately lead to the untimely and painful deaths of many of the women involved.Follow Hashtag History on Instagram @hashtaghistory_podcast for all of the pictures mentioned in this episode.Citations for all sources can be located on our website at www.HashtagHistory-Pod.com. You can also check out our website for super cute merch!You can now sponsor a cocktail and get a shout-out on air! Just head to www.buymeacoffee.com/hashtaghistory or head to the Support tab on our website!You can locate us on www.Patreon.com/hashtaghistory where you can donate $1 a month to our Books and Booze Supply. All of your support goes a long ways and we are endlessly grateful! To show our gratitude, all Patreon Supporters receive an automatic 15% OFF all merchandise in our merchandise store, a shoutout on social media, and stickers!THANKS FOR LISTENING!- Rachel and Leah

We have a Leah Takeover Episode!This week on Hashtag History, we will be discussing the mystery of DB Cooper. On November 24, 1971, a then-unidentified man hijacked Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 305, traveling from Portland to Seattle. During the flight, the hijacker informed the crew that he had a bomb and demanded $200,000 in ransom, plus four parachutes upon landing in Seattle. After landing in Seattle, the passengers were released, the money and parachutes were handed over, the plane was refueled, and the crew and the hijacker took off with a destination of Mexico City (and a plan to stop in Reno to refuel again). However, the hijacker never made it to Mexico City, as about thirty minutes into the flight, he opened the door and parachuted into the night over southwestern Washington State forests. The hijacker was never seen or heard from again. He was dubbed "DB Cooper" by the media, but his true identity has not been discovered to this day…or has it? The FBI has recently reopened this case, due to some newly surfaced evidence, and the case may finally be solved. We will get into all of this and more in today's episode.Follow Hashtag History on Instagram @hashtaghistory_podcast for all of the pictures mentioned in this episode.Citations for all sources can be located on our website at www.HashtagHistory-Pod.com. You can also check out our website for super cute merch!You can now sponsor a cocktail and get a shout-out on air! Just head to www.buymeacoffee.com/hashtaghistory or head to the Support tab on our website!You can locate us on www.Patreon.com/hashtaghistory where you can donate $1 a month to our Books and Booze Supply. All of your support goes a long ways and we are endlessly grateful! To show our gratitude, all Patreon Supporters receive an automatic 15% OFF all merchandise in our merchandise store, a shoutout on social media, and stickers!THANKS FOR LISTENING!- Rachel and Leah

This week on Hashtag History, we will be discussing the 1986 Challenger Explosion. This was an absolutely tragic incident in American history in which the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded just 73 seconds after lift-off, killing all seven of its crew members. This incident was exceptionally devastating because one of the passengers onboard wasn’t a NASA astronaut. Rather, a thirty-seven year old school teacher named Christa McAuliffe was onboard that day as part of NASA’s Teacher in Space Project; an effort to get the American people interested in the NASA Program once again. But of course, the most devastating and most disturbing part of this whole disaster is the fact that NASA knew of a historic problem with the O-ring seals on the solid rocket booster and had received correspondence from the manufacturer that they anticipated that the launch would end in catastrophe. NASA had the ability to halt the launch, and yet, they refused, sending seven people to their deaths in front of millions of people (many of which were children who were tuning in as part of their school day on account of McAuliffe being a member of the crew).A special THANK YOU to our Hashtag History listeners -- Jeff, Christa, and Mike -- who so graciously shared with us their first-hand experiences of watching the Challenger explosion in live time. We cannot tell you what it means to us that you shared these stories with us and with our audience. Thank you so much!Follow Hashtag History on Instagram @hashtaghistory_podcast for all of the pictures mentioned in this episode.Citations for all sources can be located on our website at www.HashtagHistory-Pod.com. You can also check out our website for super cute merch!You can now sponsor a cocktail and get a shout-out on air! Just head to www.buymeacoffee.com/hashtaghistory or head to the Support tab on our website!You can locate us on www.Patreon.com/hashtaghistory where you can donate $1 a month to our Books and Booze Supply. All of your support goes a long ways and we are endlessly grateful! To show our gratitude, all Patreon Supporters receive an automatic 15% OFF all merchandise in our merchandise store, a shoutout on social media, and stickers!THANKS FOR LISTENING!- Rachel and LeahMusic track: Falling by AylexSource: https://freetouse.com/musicCopyright Free Music (Free Download)

This week on Hashtag History, we will be discussing the Newport Sex Scandal. This scandal was revealed when the United States Navy conducted an investigation in 1919 in which they were looking into the gross and deceptive tactics ordered upon a group of Navy personnel to impersonate gay men in order to catch gay men…being gay men, something that was illegal at this time in history. Fifteen members of the Navy would end up being arrested in Newport, Rhode Island, as a result of their “scandalous conduct”. Of particular importance is the fact that the Assistant Secretary of the Navy during this scandal, who would resign during the course of this investigation so that he could – oh, I don’t know, accept the nomination for Vice President of the United States – was none other than Franklin D. Roosevelt. In fact, Roosevelt’s personal conduct in this matter was said by the committee to be deplorable, disgraceful, and reprehensible.This is definitely some little known history but a very important piece of history to discuss.Follow Hashtag History on Instagram @hashtaghistory_podcast for all of the pictures mentioned in this episode.Citations for all sources can be located on our website at www.HashtagHistory-Pod.com. You can also check out our website for super cute merch!You can now sponsor a cocktail and get a shout-out on air! Just head to www.buymeacoffee.com/hashtaghistory or head to the Support tab on our website!You can locate us on www.Patreon.com/hashtaghistory where you can donate $1 a month to our Books and Booze Supply. All of your support goes a long ways and we are endlessly grateful! To show our gratitude, all Patreon Supporters receive an automatic 15% OFF all merchandise in our merchandise store, a shoutout on social media, and stickers!THANKS FOR LISTENING!- Rachel and Leah

This week on Hashtag History, we will be discussing the first French Revolution, a period in time that lasted from 1789 to 1799, in which the French people revolted against the monarchy and feudal system, amongst other things. To keep it brief, the primary reasons were the total social and economic inequality that existed – and had existed for a long time – in France. While the people were struggling to make ends meet, the monarchy was living in mansions and eating cake. And while, of course, a revolution is not necessarily a novel concept (particularly at this time in history when the United States had only just recently ended its own revolution), the French Revolution stands out for…what some might call…its depravity. Because when I say the French revolted, I do mean that they revolted. At the end of this bloody conflict that – at one point would earn the name The Reign of Terror – both King Louis XVI and his wife Marie Antoinette would not only be removed from power, but also, would have their heads removed via guillotine.  While I don’t advocate for that – nor do I advocate a revolution (please! I have lived through enough historical events in my lifetime; I do not need any more) – I do think we can find something inspiring from the French Revolution and that is that this was a revolution started by the people and for the people that really created massive change in the modern political structure of France that we see even today. Follow Hashtag History on Instagram @hashtaghistory_podcast for all of the pictures mentioned in this episode. Citations for all sources can be located on our website at www.HashtagHistory-Pod.com. You can also check out our website for super cute merch! You can now sponsor a cocktail and get a shout-out on air! Just head to www.buymeacoffee.com/hashtaghistory or head to the Support tab on our website! You can locate us on www.Patreon.com/hashtaghistory where you can donate $1 a month to our Books and Booze Supply. All of your support goes a long ways and we are endlessly grateful! To show our gratitude, all Patreon Supporters receive an automatic 15% OFF all merchandise in our merchandise store, a shoutout on social media, and stickers! THANKS FOR LISTENING! - Rachel and Leah

WE ARE BACK FOR SEASON FIFTEEN! This week on Hashtag History, we will be discussing the Collyer Brothers. Homer and Langley Collyer were two brothers, living a rather interesting life in Harlem, New York City, in the early-1900s. You see, they were the OG HOARDERS. And when I tell you they were hoarders, I do mean that they were HOARDERS. Not only were they hoarders but they also set up traps throughout their house to crush any potential intruders. We’re not just talking about these brothers today because they lived an interesting – and disgusting – lifestyle…though that is certainly a highlight of the story. No, the primary reason we are talking about them is because, in March of 1947, they would both go missing under exceptionally mysterious – and confusing – circumstances. On March 21, 1947, an anonymous caller would reach out to the local police, complaining that they smelled what they believed to be decomposition of a body coming from the Collyer home. When the police arrived, they struggled for FIVE HOURS to get inside the building and find the source of the smell, but once they did, they would realize that it was coming from the body of the older brother, Homer. Based on the condition of his body, it looked as though he had been dead for less than a day at this point. His brother Langley, on the other hand, was nowhere to be found. And it was quickly assumed that Langley was actually the killer. This is the story we will be diving into this week and I can guarantee that the answer is not the one you are likely expecting. Follow Hashtag History on Instagram @hashtaghistory_podcast for all of the pictures mentioned in this episode. Citations for all sources can be located on our website at www.HashtagHistory-Pod.com. You can also check out our website for super cute merch! You can now sponsor a cocktail and get a shout-out on air! Just head to www.buymeacoffee.com/hashtaghistory or head to the Support tab on our website! You can locate us on www.Patreon.com/hashtaghistory where you can donate $1 a month to our Books and Booze Supply. All of your support goes a long ways and we are endlessly grateful! To show our gratitude, all Patreon Supporters receive an automatic 15% OFF all merchandise in our merchandise store, a shoutout on social media, and stickers! THANKS FOR LISTENING! - Rachel and Leah

Hey, everyone! Rachel and Leah are back! We are so excited to begin a BRAND NEW season of the podcast this upcoming week! But, before we could do that, we wanted to provide you with A MAJOR UPDATE to the podcast. After nearly five years of releasing new episodes every single week, we have decided to make a small change to the format of the podcast and release our episodes on a biweekly basis. Same great quality content; but now, it will be dropped every other week. We're both new moms that both still work full-time on top of podcasting and other life responsibilities. In order to provide you with the best quality content and keep doing something that we love so much, this change was necessary. We are so excited to see all we are able to do with this new format and new chapter of the podcast! It is only bigger and better things from here! Thanks for sticking with us on this ride and see you next week for the release of the first episode of Season Fifteen! Follow Hashtag History on Instagram @hashtaghistory_podcast or check out our website at www.HashtagHistory-pod.com. You can sponsor a cocktail and get a shout-out on air! Just head to www.buymeacoffee.com/hashtaghistory or head to the Support tab on our website! You can locate us on www.Patreon.com/hashtaghistory where you can donate $1 a month to our Books and Booze Supply. All of your support goes a long ways and we are endlessly grateful! To show our gratitude, all Patreon Supporters receive an automatic 15% OFF all merchandize, a shoutout on social media, and stickers! THANKS FOR LISTENING! - Rachel and Leah

In this week's BONUS Hasty History episode, we will be discussing the tragic deaths of adult actor Vic Morrow and two children Myca Dinh Le and Renee Shin-Yi Chen (as well as the injuries of six others). This tragedy occurred as a result of an accident that happened in 1982 on the set of Twilight Zone: The Movie. You see, on July 23rd of that year, director John Landis told the operator of a helicopter that was being used on set to hover dangerously low over the ground in order to capture a particular scene. This, amongst other violations, caused the helicopter to get caught in the pyrotechnic explosions, leading to the horrific deaths of Morrow, Le, and Chen. What’s possibly worse is that, of those on set that night watching the horrendous tragedy occur, were the parents of both of the children. This awful incident would lead to Landis becoming the first ever film director to be charged with a death on the set of a feature film. For nearly a decade after the incident, a slew of civil and criminal actions against those involved would take place…which would eventually lead to a very unsatisfying and disappointing end. Hasty History BONUS episodes are no-nonsense, crash course, cram session History lessons. No cocktail segment, no ads, no bloopers. Just a quick download of some heavy History content. Submit your topic suggestion for future Hasty History episodes at HashtagHistory1865@gmail.com.

In this week's BONUS Hasty History episode, we will be discussing the Kentucky Meat Shower. This was an incident that occurred on March 3, 1876 near Olympia Springs, Kentucky, in which pieces of what was believed to be red meat quite literally fell from the sky. What?! We have to dive right into this one because you all need to hear the wild, confusing, disgusting, and mysterious details ASAP! Hasty History BONUS episodes are no-nonsense, crash course, cram session History lessons. No cocktail segment, no ads, no bloopers. Just a quick download of some heavy History content. Submit your topic suggestion for future Hasty History episodes at HashtagHistory1865@gmail.com.