An Ounce - For Your Consideration
Discover hidden stories from history—bite-sized, clever tales that challenge what you thought you knew. At An Ounce, we uncover the little moments that quietly changed everything, surprising truths, and fascinating facts you won’t hear elsewhere.
I’m Jim Fugate—retired firefighter, lifelong learner, and an outside-the-box thinker who loves sharing history’s hidden gems. These quick, engaging stories don’t take themselves too seriously, won’t steal your precious time, and might just make you feel a little bit smarter.
I hope you’ll join a community of curious minds who enjoy a fresh take on history—where conversation is always open and everyone’s invited.
An Ounce - For Your Consideration
What If Everything You Thought You Knew About History Was Wrong?
Think you know history? From Marie Antoinette’s fake cake quote to a pope putting a corpse on trial, we debunk 10 myths and reveal the weird truths behind them.
You know the story — or so you thought.
This episode of An Ounce dives into 10 famous “facts” that never happened, plus a few true events so strange you’ll swear we made them up. From Columbus’s wrong math to political window-tossing in Prague, we’re swapping history class clichés for the real — and often ridiculous — truth.
It’s fast-paced, insightful, and packed with twists that outsmart the obvious.
What surprised you the most? Drop a comment below.
If you could rewrite one moment in history, what would you change?
👉 Like, subscribe, and share for more smart, surprising storytelling.
🎥 Related episode: The Corpse on Trial: Pope Formosus and the Cadaver Synod – https://youtu.be/sd81dgO6Wpw
🎥 Related episode: Operation ‘Paul Bunyan’ in the Korean DMZ - https://youtu.be/lAYCcG8Xuqo
#HistoricalMyths #WeirdHistory #AnOuncePodcast #OutsmartTheObvious
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⏱️ Chapters
00:00 – Intro: What You “Know” Is Wrong
00:45 – Marie Antoinette’s Cake Problem
01:44 – The Pope Who Put a Corpse on Trial
02:35 – Medieval People and the Shape of the Earth
03:42 – Defenestrations of Prague
04:23 – Franklin’s Kite and the Real Experiment
05:12 – Operation Paul Bunyan: The Tree War
06:14 – Nero and the Nonexistent Fiddle
06:48 – Jeremy Bentham Attends Meetings (While Dead)
07:33 – Great Wall of China from Space? Nope.
08:02 – Medieval Toilets and the Groom of the Stool
09:17 – Big Picture: History’s Bad Habits
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📚 References (Fully Written Out URLs):
• Marie Antoinette quote – Encyclopedia Britannica: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Marie-Antoinette-queen-of-France
• Cadaver Synod – Smithsonian Magazine: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/cadaver-synod-medieval-trial-dead-pope-180971919/
• Columbus & Earth’s Shape – History.com: https://www.history.com/topics/exploration/columbus
• Defenestrations of Prague – Britannica: https://www.britannica.com/event/Defenestration-of-Prague
• Franklin’s Kite Experiment – Franklin Institute: https://www.fi.edu/benjamin-franklin/kite-key-experiment
• Operation Paul Bunyan – U.S. Army: https://www.army.mil/article/112622
• Nero & Rome Fire – National Geographic: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/nero
• Jeremy Bentham’s Auto-Icon – University College London: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bentham-project/who-was-jeremy-bentham
• Great Wall visibility – NASA: https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/blogs/earthmatters/2012/05/11/the-great-wall-of-china-from-space/
• Medieval Toilets – Historic England: https://historicengland.org.uk/research/inclusive-heritage/disability-history/medieval-toilets
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Credits:
Images and Video: Via iStock and Getty, Picryl, Wikimedia, and A.I. generated as noted in the video.
Music: Via the YouTube Audio Library: Clouds Lifting, Country Funk, For our Friends, Merry Go Round, and Tomorrow’s Light by Telecasted.
10 second pre-roll promo for An Ounce Podcast on YouTube