World history is chock-a-block with unsolved mysteries and enduring controversies, making it a fascinating topic for countless documentaries and podcasts. One of the best ones we’ve come across recently is Podtail’s Forbidden History podcast.
Unlike more traditional history podcasts, however, this series, which is now in its third season, explores even the most outrageous claims in an empirical manner. In one of the latest episodes, for example, they explore how potentially the oldest building complex in the world, Göbekli Tepe in Turkey, may have been a catalyst to humans’ transition from hunter-gatherers to farmers, but also whether the tools available at the time were sufficient to build it. If not, how did they manage it?
The topics here are varied and cover every continent under the sun: there’s an episode on the Vatican’s potential involvement in the death of Pope John Paul I, another on the Japanese ghost fleet at the Chuuk Lagoon in the Pacific Ocean, one on the female fighters of Georgian London, and another covering the life and times of Nikola Tesla.
This is history-meets-conspiracy-theory in a way that is fun and constructive to listen to, with multiple guest speakers per episode hailing from the world’s top universities, as well as archeologists who are on the ground, and people whose experiences are directly related to the topic.
Whether you’re a history buff or someone who’s just curious, this podcast will certainly give you a lot to think about. You can catch all the episodes on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
