Early Boston aeronauts used balloons to perform scientific experiments, cross the English channel, take the first aerial photographs, and provide public entertainment. Â Whether by hot air or hydrogen, these pioneers made their way into the air, and into the history books.
Continue reading Episode 46: Aeronauts, Ascents, and the Early History of Ballooning in Boston
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.
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!
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.
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.
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
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!
The 1942 fire at Bostonâs Cocoanut Grove nightclub killed a staggering 492 people, making it the deadliest fire in Boston history and one of the deadliest fires in US history. For Boston, it is the deadliest modern disaster of any type. Only the smallpox epidemics of the early 1700s and the 1918 Spanish flu rival it for loss of life.
This weekâs show is about Charles âKingâ Solomon, also known as Boston Charlie, whose criminal enterprise placed him at the head of organized crime in Boston throughout the prohibition era. Â He reached influence at the national level, set policies in play that led to tragedy at the Cocoanut Grove, and in death, left a wake that may have led to the rise of Whitey Bulger.
Continue reading Episode 38: The Reign of Charles âKingâ Solomon
Your humble hosts are out having summertime fun this week.  Donât worry, though⌠Jake is flying solo this week, and bringing you this weekâs historical anniversaries.  Weâll be back next week with a real episode.
