Amazingly True Episodes

Jim Moylan may not have achieved the fame of Henry Ford or other celebrated inventors. His name won't appear in most history books or innovation courses. But millions of drivers benefit from his insight every day. Supporting links 1. Who Invented that Little Arrow Next to Your Gas Gauge? [Autoweek] 2. Fuel Fill Arrow History | The Moylan Arrow [YouTube] 3. Jim Moylan, Engineer Behind the Fuel Gauge Arrow, Dies at 80 [Yahoo!autos] C...

The story of the Austrian nuns reminds us that aging with dignity isn’t about rules or institutions, it’s about home, belonging, and the power of community to stand by us when it matters most. Supporting links 1. nonnen_goldenstein [Instagram] 2. Defiant nuns flee care home for their abandoned convent [BBC] 3. Goldenstein Castle Abbey [Histouring] 4. Christina Wirtenberger [Alexandra Stoddard] Contact That's Life, I Swear Visit my website: https://www.thatslifeiswear.com Twitter at @RedPhantom B...

Learn how Robert Fortune, a classic figure of his age—a man whose scientific passions and professional ambitions aligned perfectly with imperial interests, enabling activities that would change not just gardens and botanical collections but the economic fortunes of nations. Supporting links 1. Robert Fortune [Wikipedia] 2. East India Company [World History Encyclopedia] 3. Chinese tea culture [Wikipedia] 4. The Wardian Case: Histories Boxes for Moving Plants [Gale Academic Onefile] 5. How a Simp...

Learn how Leo Yoshimura walked into an interview for a job on a show he’d never heard of and took a chance. Sometimes, seizing an unexpected opportunity—despite not knowing exactly where it will lead—can launch a long and fulfilling career. 1. SNL 50 [website] 2. Saturday Night Life [Wikipedia] 3. Saturday Night Life [IMDb] Contact That's Life, I Swear Visit my website: https://www.thatslifeiswear.com Twitter at @RedPhantom Bluesky at @rickbarron.bsky.social Email us at https://www.thatslifeiswe...

The L.L.Bean Bootmobile, a giant replica of the iconic Maine Hunting Shoe, offers key lessons in branding. 1. Driver Stories Show the Bootmobile [website] 2. Making of the L.L.Bean Bootmobile | L.L.Bean [YouTube] 3. Bootmobile [Wikipedia] Contact That's Life, I Swear Visit my website: https://www.thatslifeiswear.com Twitter at @RedPhantom Bluesky at @rickbarron.bsky.social Email us at https://www.thatslifeiswear.com/contact/ Episode Review Submit on Apple Podcast Submit on That's Life, I Swear w...

Learn how a long-overlooked "copy" of the Magna Carta turned out to be the real deal. This is one of only seven known to survive from the year 1300. Supporting links 1. Magna Carta [History] 2. The impact of Magna Carta in the 13th century [YouTube] 3. Making a key piece of history available to the world [Harvard] 4. King John of England [Wikipedia] 5. Henry III of England [Wikipedia] 6.&nbsp...

This is the story of a very old violin that stored a secret—one that lay hidden for 80 years. This instrument was crafted behind barbed wire in the Dachau prison camp, by a prisoner fighting to survive. Supporting links 1. Franciszek Kempa [Wikipedia] 2. Dachau concentration camp [Wikipedia] 3. Violin Crafted in the Infamous Dachau Death Camp [Yeshiva World News] 4. How a Violin is Made [Simply for Strings] 5. Violin making process explained (Documentary with Commentary) [YouTube] Contact That's...

Show notes Learn how a library was deliberately built on the borders of Canada and U.S.A, as a symbol of shared community, showing how physical lines on a map can foster unity rather than division. Supporting links 1. Haskell Free Library and Opera House [YouTube] 2. Haskell Free Library and Opera House [Website] 3. Haskell Free Library and Opera House [Google Maps] 4. A Century of History on the Canada-U.S. Bor...

Learn how one man sought to keep typewriters alive. Not as museum pieces, but as living, breathing conduits of human creativity. Supporting links 1. Typewriter [Wikipedia] 2. Who Invented the Typewriter? [History Cooperative] 3. Ultimate Typewriter Repair Guide: Restore Your Vintage Machine [Classic Typewriter] Contact That's Life, I Swear Visit my website: https://www.thatslifeiswear.com Twitter at @RedPhantom Bluesky at @rickbarron.bsky.social Email us at https://www.thatslifeiswear.com/contac...

The propulsive story of the women who sought, and gained, a piece of the action on Wall Street. 1. The Paulina Bren [Blog site] 2. Bernadette Bartels Murphy, Pioneering Wall Street Trader, Dies at 86 [New York Times] 3. Tracing the Roots of the Women on Wall Street [National Women’s History Museum] 4. How the macho NYSE trader became an endangered species [New York Post] Contact That's Life, I Swear Visit my website: https://www.thatslifeiswear.com Twitter at @RedPhantom Bluesky at @rickbarron.b...

Text us your thoughts on the podcast DNA analysis of human remains found at the site of a church built in 1608 in the colonial settlement of Jamestown, Virginia, suggest the men are kinsmen of the colony’s first governor, Thomas West. supporting links 1. Jamestown, Virgina [Wikipedia] 2. aDNA [Wikipedia] 3. DNA [Wikipedia] 4. Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr [Wikipedia] 5. Jamestown skeletons identified as colony leaders [Smithsonian] 6. Historic Jamestowne [Jamestown Rediscovery] 7. Archaeolog...

Text us your thoughts on the podcast Julia Hawkins, the centenarian sprinter known as “Hurricane” and “The Flower Lady,” died in Baton Rouge, La., this week at the age of 108 in October of 2024. Supporting links 1. It’s Been Wondrous [Amazon] 2. Julia Hawkins [Wikipedia] 3. Julia 'Hurricane' Hawkins dies at 108; record-breaking Senior Olympian [YouTube] 4. List of centenarian master’s track and field athletes [Wikipedia] Contact That's Life, I Swear Visit my website: https://www.thatslifeiswear....

Text us your thoughts on the podcast Imagine traveling 32,000 miles just to deliver 50 postcards! Meet Jonny Beardmore, a modern-day adventurer inspired by a 200-year-old tradition. 1. The Galápagos Islands: Post Office [Whalesite Org] 2. Galápagos Postman Challenge [Wikipedia] 3. INTERVIEW: The Galapagos Postman Jonny Beardmore [Bailey & Johnny Podcast] Contact That's Life, I Swear Visit my website: https://www.thatslifeiswear.com Twitter at @RedPhantom Bluesky at @rickbarron.bsky.social Email ...

Text us your thoughts on the podcast It was a secret message hidden for over a century. By chance, engineers inspecting a Scottish lighthouse stumbled upon a 132-year-old message in a bottle. Support Links 1. Northern Lighthouse Board [website] 2. Fresnel lens [Wikipedia] 3. The Fresnel Lens: the Invention That Saved 1000 Ships [YouTube] 4. History of lighthouses [Wikipedia] 5. Message in a bottle: 10 famous floating note discoveries [ABC News] 6. Message in a bottle [Wikipedia] Contact That's L...

Text us your thoughts on the podcast New prime minister or not, meet Larry, the cat. The chief mouser to the Cabinet Office who lives at 10 Downing Street. 1. Larry (cat) [Wikipedia] 2. Feline pushed out? [BBC] 3. Larry the Cat’s 12 Years as Chief Mouser [The Atlantic] 4. Larry the Cat [Twitter] 5. Justin Ng [Twitter] 6. Number 10 Downing Street [BBC] Contact That's Life, I Swear Tweet us at @RedPhantom Listen to audios: -Apple https://apple.co/3MAFxhb -Spotify https://spoti.fi/3xCzww4 -My Websi...

For three individuals, a Höfner expert and two journalists, finding Paul McCartney's lost guitar of 50 years became a mission. They were determined to find the guitar. supporting links 1. The Cavern Club [Wikipedia] 2. Please Please Me Album [YouTube] 3. With the Beatles Album [YouTube] 4. Beatlemania [Wikipedia] 5. Brian Epstein [Wikipedia] 6. John Lennon [Wikipedia] Contact That's Life, I Swear Tweet us at @RedPhantom Listen to audios: -Apple https://apple.co/3MAFxhb -Google https://bit.ly/3L2...

There are baseball collectors and then there is Geddy Lee. He was the singer and bassist for the band, Rush. He’s pulling together about 300 items from his baseball memorabilia collection to set up for auction. His collection is very large. Some of the items are worth well more than $100,000 dollars! supporting links 1. Interview with Dan Rather [AXS TV] 2. Bert Shepard [Society For American Baseball Research] 3. Selections from the Geddy Lee Collection [Christie’s] 4. Rock 'n' roll legend auct...

An Irish postal clerk, played a very key role in helping save General Eisenhower’s, D-Day invasion from potential disaster. supporting links 1. Maureen Flavin Sweeney [Wikipedia] 2. Operation Overlord [Wikipedia] 3. Dwight D. Eisenhower [Wikipedia] Contact That's Life, I Swear Tweet us at @RedPhantom Listen to audios: -Apple https://apple.co/3MAFxhb -Google https://bit.ly/3L2K4Iu -Spotify https://spoti.fi/3xCzww4 -My Website: https://bit.ly/39CE9MB Email us at https://www.thatslifeiswear.com/con...

Jack ReVelle, a US Air Force officer, played a critical role in preventing a catastrophic nuclear disaster during the Cold War. Unfortunately, his efforts to save the day would haunt him for the next 50 years, not to mention it would shorten his life. supporting links 1. The Man Who Saved the World [NPR] 2. Dr Jack B ReVelle [Linkedin] 3. The Night Hydrogen Bombs Fell Over North Carolina [Our State] 4. 1961 Goldsboro B-52 crash [Wikipedia] 5. Mark 39 nuclear bomb [Wikipedia] 6. 1961 hydrogen bom...

Seventy-nine years later, the Wiltz Christmas celebration remains a powerful symbol of hope and humanity. The soldiers are gone, but their legacy lives on. The children still vividly recall the joy of that special day. Each year on December 23rd, Wiltz residents gather to remember the GIs whose kindness offered the gift of Christmas, even in trying times. The Wiltz Christmas celebration stands as timeless proof that the human spirit can overcome any hardship, if we care for one another. supporti...

Theodore Hall, graduated from Harvard as a physicist and was hired to work developing the first-ever atomic bomb during the Manhattan Project that helped end World War II. He was but 18 years of age. He soon became a reluctant spy who delivered details about the design of the atomic bomb to the Soviet Union. supporting links 1. In Search Of History - The Boy Who Gave Away The Bomb (History Channel Documentary) 2. Spies Who Spilled Atomic Bomb Secrets [Smithsonian] 3. What Happened To Klaus Fuchs...

A young couple’s journey to Woodstock that became music history. supporting links 1. Wookstock [Wikipedia] 2. Woodstock: Music from the Original Soundtrack and More [Wikipedia] 3. Bobbi Ercoline [RollingStone] 4. Iconic Woodstock Concertgoer on Album Cover [People] 5. Woodstock: 1969 [The Westport Library] 6. 5 Reasons Why Woodstock ’69 Became Legendary [History] 7. What Woodstock taught us about protest in a time of polarization [PBS News Hour] 8. Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young ~ Wooden Ships (Wo...

The game of Monopoly is one of the most well-known board games in the world. It’s a game of strategy, luck, and skill that’s been entertaining people for over a century. supporting links 1. History of Monopoly [Wikipedia] 2. The Landlord’s Game [Wikipedia] 3. Board Game [Wikipedia] 4. The Surprising History Behind The Board Game “Monopoly’ [YouTube 6m, 22s] 5. Who Really Invented Monopoly? [YouTube 4m,42s] 6. Lizzie Magie - Inventor of Monopoly [YouTube 3m, 19s] 7. Lizzie Magie – American Game D...

On January 15, 1919, Boston was hit with a massive flood. The flood rushed through the streets at an estimated 35 miles per hour, killing 21 people and injuring over 150. By the way, the flood wasn’t water, it was molasses. supporting links 1. Great Molasses Flood [Wikipedia] 2. The Boston Molasses Disaster of 1919 [YouTube-12m, 23s] 3. Boston Molasses Flood.mov [YouTube-7m, 19s] 4. The Great Molasses Flood of 1919 [YouTube-4m, 18s] 5. The Great Boston Molasses Flood [YouTube-4m, 15s] 6. Sneak P...