Part 3 of George Hearst! Jerry joins How the West Was F#cked once again!
Maybe you’ve heard Gordon Lightfoot’s tribute song, here is the true story behind it! This Great Lakes tragedy still resonates today. Join us for our November special (a tad late, but well worth the wait)!
Sources:
Bacon, John U. The Gales of November. Liveright Publishing, 7 Oct. 2025.
Detroit, WDIV. Backstory: The Edmund Fitzgerald. 6 Nov. 2025, youtu.be/8KpkceTklu0?si=_JBRo8D3Y07j1q28.
The World’s Most Epic Sea Shanty by Alexander Nakarada (CreatorChords) | https://creatorchords.com
Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com
Creative Commons / Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Our very own Jerry fills in for Beau on How the West Was F#cked once again! We hope you enjoy it!
Jerry recently filled in for our friend, Beau, on our brother podcast, How the West Was F#cked. Although he is hardly a replacement for Beau, we hope you enjoy it!
The true story of the greatest archeological discovery in history and the rumors of a terrible ancient curse that swirled around the subsequent deaths of team members and tourists alike. Join us for this spooky season installment, HOWARD CARTER and the CURSE of the PHARAOHS!
Sources:
Brier, Bob. Tutankhamun and the Tomb That Changed the World. Oxford University Press, 15 Oct. 2022.
Wilkinson, Toby. WORLD beneath the SANDS : Adventurers and Archaeologists in the Golden Age of Egyptology. S.L., Picador, 2020.
On this spooky season edition, join us for the Filipino legend of the Aswang, and the CIA agent who used it as psychological warfare!
Sources:
Clark, Jordan. “The Maximo Ramos Taxonomical Classifications of the Aswang • the ASWANG PROJECT.” THE ASWANG PROJECT, 1 Oct. 2023, www.aswangproject.com/ramos_aswang/.
Blum, William. Killing Hope: US Military and CIA Interventions since World War II. London, Zed Books, 2014.
Boot, Max. The Road Not Taken: Edward Lansdale and the American Tragedy in Vietnam. Liveright Publishing, 9 Jan. 2018.
Lansdale, Edward Geary. In the Midst of Wars: An American’s Mission to Southeast Asia. New York, Fordham University Press, 1991.
The Marquis de Sade was a libertine French author and “philosopher” who penned “the most impure tale ever written since the world began”, The 120 Days of Sodom. His life was so outrageous and criminal that it landed him in multiple prisons, asylums, and a famous oubliette. Join us for the life of one of the most controversial historical figures in history!
Sources:
Sade, Marquis De, et al. The 120 Days of Sodom. 1785. London, Penguin Classics, 2016.
Warner, Joel. The Curse of the Marquis de Sade. Crown, 21 Feb. 2023.
The United Fruit Company has directly shaped the course of history in every country in Middle America. All for bananas.
THIS ONE IS FOR BEAU
https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-beaus-family-be-by-his-side
Sources:
Chapman, Peter. Bananas. Canongate Books, 15 Dec. 2022.
“Jorge Ubico | President of Guatemala | Britannica.” Www.britannica.com, www.britannica.com/biography/Jorge-Ubico.
McCann, Thomas P. An American Company. 1976.
“United Fruit Company | American Company.” Encyclopedia Britannica, www.britannica.com/topic/United-Fruit-Company.
Vaughan, Don. “Banana Massacre | Colombia, Strike, Description, & Facts | Britannica.” Www.britannica.com, 29 Nov. 2023, www.britannica.com/event/Banana-Massacre.
The murderous triangular cult may have indeed existed - join us for the Greek mathematician and cult leader, Pythagoras!
Donate to help Beau:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-beaus-family-be-by-his-side/cl/s?utm_campaign=fp_sharesheet&utm_content=amp13_t1&utm_medium=customer&utm_source=copy_link&lang=en_US&attribution_id=sl%3A07ce25ad-6a08-4f51-b9ec-bcc66220ed63&ts=1756705571
Sources:
Laertius Diogenes, and Pamela Mensch. Lives of the Eminent Philosophers. New York, Oxford University Press, 2018.
Pythagoras, et al. The Golden Verses of Pythagoras and Other Pythagorean Fragments. Santa Fe, Nm, Sun Pub. Co, 1996.
Nancy parachutes into France and becomes an integral part of the French resistance. To make a vast understatement, her adventures in effort to put an end to the Nazi occupation of France were numerous and harrowing - using all of her faculties, and highly trained skills (and her ample amount of luck) from making and using bombs, right down to her bare hands. Join us for the thrilling conclusion of Nancy Wake AKA Hélène AKA Madame Andrea AKA The White Mouse!
Sources:
Fitzsimons, Peter. Nancy Wake : A Biography of Our Greatest War Heroine 1912-2011. Sydney, Harpercollins Publishers, 2011.
Wake, Nancy. The White Mouse. Sydney, Pan Macmillan Australia, 1985.
Nancy becomes notorious for her courier work and staging prison breaks that she earns herself the code name, The White Mouse, from the Gestapo who were on to her. Join us for Nancy’s harrowing escape over the Pyrenees - not that she was done with the fight - in part 2!
Sources:
Fitzsimons, Peter. Nancy Wake : A Biography of Our Greatest War Heroine 1912-2011. Sydney, Harpercollins Publishers, 2011.
Wake, Nancy. The White Mouse. Sydney, Pan Macmillan Australia, 1985.
Nancy Wake was a kiwi who grew up in Australia and became one of the great heroes of the French Resistance during WWII. She became so notorious in fact, that the gestapo code named her “The White Mouse”. Join us for part 1!
Sources:
Fitzsimons, Peter. Nancy Wake : A Biography of Our Greatest War Heroine 1912-2011. Sydney, Harpercollins Publishers, 2011.
Wake, Nancy. The White Mouse. Sydney, Pan Macmillan Australia, 1985.
In 1835, the New York Sun ran a series of articles about amazing discoveries of sentient creatures living happy and productive lives in harmony on…the moon. And people believed it!
Sources:
Goodman, Matthew. The Sun and the Moon : The Remarkable True Account of Hoaxers, Showmen, Dueling Journalists, and Lunar Man-Bats in Nineteenth-Century New York. New York, Basic Books,.
Matthias, Meg. “The Great Moon Hoax of 1835 Was Sci-Fi Passed off as News | Britannica.” Www.britannica.com, 2024, www.britannica.com/story/the-great-moon-hoax-of-1835-was-sci-fi-passed-off-as-news. Accessed 2025.
Richard Adams Locke, and Ormond Seavey. The Moon Hoax. 1836. Boston Gregg Pr, 1975.
W.R. built a castle, called FDR a communist, tried to ignore the “greatest film of all time”, and carried on a lifelong affair with one of the biggest Golden Age of Hollywood stars, Marion Davies - Hollywood’s worst kept secret. Join us for part 3 of William Randolph Hearst!
Sources:
Thomas Lennon and Michael Epstein. “The Battle over Citizen Kane.” PBS, 1996.
Nasaw, David. The Chief. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 12 Aug. 2013.
Randolph, William, and Jack Casserly. The Hearsts : Father and Son. Niwot, Colo., Roberts Rinehart, 1991.
W.R. goes to war! Hearst didn’t cause the Spanish American War, although he’d love you to believe it. He just made people WANT to go to war. Join us for part 2!
Sources:
Thomas Lennon and Michael Epstein. “The Battle over Citizen Kane.” PBS, 1996.
Nasaw, David. The Chief. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 12 Aug. 2013.
Randolph, William, and Jack Casserly. The Hearsts : Father and Son. Niwot, Colo., Roberts Rinehart, 1991.
How did William Randolph Hearst become a media giant who shaped public opinion through yellow journalism? The short answer? A silver spoon; AKA silver and gold mines owned by his parents. Join us as we follow “Willy the Worst” on his way to untold riches and influence!
Sources:
Thomas Lennon and Michael Epstein. “The Battle over Citizen Kane.” PBS, 1996.
Nasaw, David. The Chief. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 12 Aug. 2013.
Randolph, William, and Jack Casserly. The Hearsts : Father and Son. Niwot, Colo., Roberts Rinehart, 1991.
The much venerated charge of the light brigade at the battle of Balaclava during the Crimean War was one of the biggest military blunders of all time. The poor decisions made that day had much to do with the personalities of the British high command.
Sources:
Aldrete, Gregory S. History’s Great Military Blunders and the Lessons They Teach. The Great Courses, 2015.
Figes, Orlando. Crimea. New York, Picador, 2012.
The second First Lady of the United States was the mother of a president, a remarkable woman of letters, and in many ways, a founder herself. Join us for Abigail Adams!
Sources:
Holton, Woody. Abigail Adams. Simon and Schuster, 2009.
McCullough, David. John Adams. Simon and Schuster, 2001.
Mussolini’s spectacular fall from power would become a legendary cautionary tale for any would-be (and/or contemporary) despot going forward. Join us for part 4, the brutal conclusion of our series on the Italian fascist dictator!
Sources:
Ben-Ghiat, Ruth. STRONGMEN : Mussolini to the Present. S.L., W W Norton, 2021.
Corner, Paul. Mussolini in Myth and Memory. Oxford University Press, 22 Sept. 2022.
Gooch, John. Mussolini’s War. Simon and Schuster, 1 Dec. 2020.
Ridley, Jasper. Mussolini. Rowman & Littlefield, 5 Sept. 2000.
In this episode, Mussolini names and renames things after himself and his fascist “revolution”, appears shirtless in news reels, and decides that Italy should reacquire and acquire land enough to make a new Italian Empire. Join us this week for part 3!
Sources:
Ben-Ghiat, Ruth. STRONGMEN : Mussolini to the Present. S.L., W W Norton, 2021.
Corner, Paul. Mussolini in Myth and Memory. Oxford University Press, 22 Sept. 2022.
Gooch, John. Mussolini’s War. Simon and Schuster, 1 Dec. 2020.
Ridley, Jasper. Mussolini. Rowman & Littlefield, 5 Sept. 2000.