The Skin Book was written by highwayman George Walton and dedicated to the only man to best him in combat. While he was a prisoner at Charlestown Penitentiary, Walton wrote a memoir. According to his wishes, after his death, the book was bound in Waltonâs own skin and given to the man who defeated him. Today, this example of anthropodermic bibliopegy is a prized possession of the Boston Athenaeum.
Author: jake
Episode 44: Perambulating the Bounds
Since 1651, Boston has had a legal responsibility to mark and measure its boundaries every few years. Â Despite advances in technology, the practice of âperambulating the boundsâ means that someone has to go out and walk the town lines. Â This law is one of the oldest still on the books, but when was the last time Boston perambulated its bounds? Â Listen now!
Blooper: Oxford Comma
This is why the âOxfordâ or âHarvardâ comma is important in a list of three or more itemsâŚ
Otherwise, you end up with this: Continue reading Blooper: Oxford Comma
Episode 43: The Case of the Somnambulist
When young Albert Tirrell killed his lover Maria Bickford on Beacon Hill, it sparked a scandal that rocked Victorian Boston in the 1840s. Â It was a tale of seduction, murder, and the unlikeliest of defenses. Â In the end, he would be found not guilty, in the first successful use of sleepwalking as a defense against murder.
We apologize for Nikkiâs head cold, some rough cuts that resulted from editing out her sniffles, and the couple of sniffles that made it into the final cut.
Quock Walker blooper
In which co-host Jake just has to say the name âQuock Walker,â and completely loses it.
Â
Episode 42: Total Eclipse of the Podcast
Your humble hosts are traveling this week, trying to see the first total eclipse of our lifetimes. Â While weâre gone, listen to the story of the 1806 eclipse, the first total eclipse seen in Boston after European colonization.
Episode 41: Canoes and Canoodling on the Charles River
During a late nineteenth century canoe craze, recreational canoeing became Bostonâs hottest leisure time activity. Â Young lovers took advantage of the privacy and intimacy of a canoe to engage in a little bit of illicit romance, leading a humorless state police agency to ban kissing in canoes on the Charles River.
Continue reading Episode 41: Canoes and Canoodling on the Charles River
Episode 40: Banned in Boston
Despite our liberal reputation today, for years Boston was a bastion of official censorship. Authors and playwrights whose works were considered obscene had to create a watered-down âBoston version.â The Watch and Ward Society decided what art, theater, and literature was permissible, and what would be Banned in Boston!
Blooper: Live Rewrite
Sometimes, the scripts we write for ourselves donât sound as good when spoken out loud as they did in our heads. When that happens, we have to rewrite the show in real time. Â This is what that sounds like.
Blooper: words are hard
In which I have to say the words tomaszewski  and ostracization in the same sentence.  (mildly NSFW)