The Constant: A History of Getting Things Wrong

The James R. Thompson Center is the most hated building in the city of Chicago. And it has to be protected.

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We can go deeper.

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This week, we're going deep. How deep? No one knows!

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A beastly history of the beasts that stalked Europe for centuries.

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In which a psychic horse causes the greatest crisis in scientific history.

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The Baynard Mausoleum is the oldest surviving structure on Hilton Head Island, but eerily, the family once interred inside is no longer there. Now, …

In which a talking, psychic horse gives JB Rhine the idea for a new field of science: parapsychology.

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A horse is a horse, unless, of course, that horse can tell the future.

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Early episodes of this show sound like crap! So this week we're remaking a couple of old favorites.

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In 1900, three lighthouse keepers went missing, starting a phony mystery that long concealed a real one.

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There's a party in 14th Century Europe, and everybody's invited!

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What's that out there in the distance? A fish? A whale? A SEA SERPENT?! No, it's just the conclusion to our latest two part series!

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Murder! Monsters! Lifeboats! This one's got it all.

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Buckle up your crazy belts, 'cuz we're going off the rails on a crazy train to crazy town!

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In 2004, three men were arrested in London. Their crime was attempting to purchase material to build a nuclear bomb. But most everyone agrees that material does not exist.

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This is The Tale of Lord Timothy Dexter: The Luckiest Asshole in History.

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On the morning of May 8th, 1902, Ludgar Sylbaris awoke in jail alone. And then the world ended.

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The special spring break surprise is here! Join Heather for a journey into the sad side of the happiest place on Earth.

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Watch yourself: the wars only get stupider from here.

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At its best, war is terrible, wasteful, regrettable and necessary. At its worst, it's just fucking stupid.

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A mystery story where one of the suspects writes mystery stories? How could you go wrong!

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In December, 1912 a lawyer and a paleontologist made an amazing announcement: The missing link was real, the missing link had been found, and--most …

After Charles Darwin published Origin of Species, the scientific world spent the next fifty years searching for an alternative theory for evolution. …

What is a man? A miserable pile of secrets, of course. But in the 19th century, a debate arose about whether apes might have miserable piles of their own, leading to a controversy that persists to this day: are apes …

To start off the year, we're looking back at an old favorite that plays a significant part in an upcoming series.

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Merry Christmas, you filthy animals.

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One more round of short stories, about little things, that had big consequences.

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It's Mark's birthday, it's The Constant's birthday, and it's Thanksgiving. In celebration we're opening up The Secret Feed vault and asking you to …

We're keeping things simple this week. Or that was the plan at least. But sometimes the simple things are friggin' complicated.

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We've got a special Halloween episode for you, full of demonic possessions, dark conspiracies and sexy nuns. What more could you ask for?

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Good history, well-told, five days a week. That's History Daily. So get on it, y'buncha jagbags!

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After more than four years of research and nine hours of episodes, we're finally at the TRUE conclusion to The Foolkiller Saga. Or are we...?

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Just when I think I'm out, they pull me back in.

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This is the story of two diseases, and two theories about where one of them came from.

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This is a story about the search for goodness in the world. Naturally, it ends tragically.

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Three high ranking American financial officials tried to warn the world about the 2008 financial collapse. But they were ignored, in large part …

Beneath lackluster Disney movies and schlocky cable reality television lies an untold true story: the secret brontosauruses of Africa, and the men …

After every American mass shooting, the gun debate is drowned in one question: What about Chicago? Today, we're answering it.

"How the A.T.F., Key to …

This story is about music, radio, medicine, politics, power, money, people and... goat testicles.

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There are lots of stories about drugs that changed the medical industry. But here's one about a drug that changed the entertainment industry, too.

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In 1867, The Eliza set out to sea with a fresh crew, a full hold and fair weather. Yet no one expected her to ever make land again. 

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Step right up, step right up! We've got the cure for what ails you: more podcasts!

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Feeling run down, run out or run around? Well friend, I've got the cure for you! Step right up for The Constant Miracle Tonic All Night Medicine Show!

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In 1474, the people of Basel tried, convicted and sentenced to death a rooster, in one of the strangest court cases in history.

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If you really want to know what language people originally spoke, all you have to do is the unspeakable.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233597995_Royal_Investigations_of_the_Origin_of_Language

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The search for the original language, the true language, the language of God and Adam and Enoch, begins today.

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Will humanity ever successfully fly? No. Find out why, on this, the conclusion of our five part series on people who tried.

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The doe-eyed optimism of Rousseau! The biting cynicism of Baron von Grimm! And a whole bunch more people attempting to fly, and falling disastrously, …

On the third part of our survey of failed fliers, we've drawing from all walks of life: a peasant and a physicist, a cobbler and a surgeon, a locksmith and an archbishop, not to mention a pair of brothers who aren't the …

What do a professor, a heretic, a clockmaker, a barber, a cantor, a laborer, an architect, an alchemist and a couple of bonafide renaissance men all have in common? All of them tried to fly, and none of them succeeded.

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You've heard of The Wright Brothers, the first people to fly. Maybe you've heard of Alberto Santo Dumont, too. Arguably he managed to fly two years …

New Year, New You, New Constant. Season 11 begins Tuesday, January 11th.

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Throughout the 19th Century, The United States was absolutely barraged by tales of petrified stone men: ancient giants, missing links, careless …

In 1818, New York City was gripped by the trial of the century. At stake was $75, the regulation of a multimillion dollar industry, and the answer to …

There is an episode of this show entitled "In The Air Tonight", but make no mistake: this episode is the "In The Air Tonight" of Constant episodes. Confused? You won't be, after this episode of... The Constant. Get $75 …

I made a big enough oopsie in the last episode, Holy Toledo, that I think it deserves a formal correction here. I hope you'll listen.

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Ohio versus Michigan! It's a familiar rivalry. But this week, it's not a football game: it's a war, fought over the city of Toledo.Get 10% off your …

A perfect map is a useless map, but imperfect maps are how myths get made. Get $75 credit to upgrade your job post at indeed.com/theconstantGet 10% off your first month of online counseling by visiting: …

For our 100th episode, we're going back and remastering some of very first stories. If you're looking for a place to start listening, this is it. Get 10% off your first month of online counseling by visiting:…

Clair Cameron Patterson discovered the true age of the Earth, and in the process, the greatest environmental catastrophe in human history.Get 10% off your first month of online counseling by visiting:…

How old is the world? There're only fifteen or twenty ways to find out!Get $75 credit to upgrade your job post at indeed.com/theconstant (…

Here it is! The Big Bad Boys of Death Ray History: Axis vs. Allies, Marconi vs. Tesla, and barely anything about the mysterious Japanese WWII monkey shortage that is picking the inside of my brain bloody. Get $75 credit …

This one does what it says on the tin: instantly kills you with a beam of indeterminate provenance! What other podcast can promise that? Aside from Roman Mars, obviously.Get 10% off your first month of online counseling …

Nobody paid much attention to Jean Hardouin in 1729 when he said that all of history was faked. But since then, his message has found a lot more …

What if I told you everything you knew was a lie? Okay, well what if a 17th century French librarian told you everything you knew was a lie?Check out …

On March 8th, 1874, the animals escaped from The Central Park Zoo. Check out Don't Stop for Monkeys (https://dontstopformonkeys.weebly.com/), or else.Get 10% off your first month of online counseling by visiting:…

Some things are ordered and some are chaotic. This story is neither.Get $75 credit to upgrade your job post at indeed.com/theconstant (http://www.indeed.com/theconstant)Get 10% off your first month of online counseling …

What do the modern flat earth movement, the history of animal experimentation, the invention of civil engineering, ballet, pantomime, and the first British robot all have in common?The Eddystone Lighthouse.Get $75 …

We no longer make people walk hot coals, or swim witches, or touch dead bodies. But everything we know about solving crime is still wrong.The …

On part two of this three part series on forensics, we're bridging the gap, between the ancient and modern means of solving crimes. How did forensic …

Fingerprints, DNA, blood spatter, ballistics. Before any of those forensic sciences, investigators and courts had a very different suite of tools for …

For the last episode of 2020, we're returning to our fair city, Chicago, for the unlikely story of a hard-scrapple hobo who formed his own independent, autonomous district on the non-existent east side of town, which he …

For The Constant's third birthday, here are three stories out of the secret feed. Medicinal gold, the story of theater's greatest Hamlet, and a …

In September of 1822, a ship carrying 70 immigrants left London bound for St. Joseph, a bustling city on The Mosquito Coast in the small Central …

How do you thread the needle between political and apolitical, frivolous and serious, fun and relevant, on this extremely stressful election day? I …

It's almost Halloween, so how's about a spooky bonfire tale. The spookiest story from the spookiest place we can think of. The story of Gef, The Talking Mongoose. Visit andstillivote.org (andstillivote.org) to join the …

This is the story of the worst American presidential election (so far). Get a free trial of The Great Courses Plus by going to​ https://www.thegreatcoursesplus.com/theconstant (…

In 1899 a plan was hatched. To start a war? To sell newspapers? Or to tear down The Great Wall of China?Get a free trial of The Great Courses Plus by going to​ https://www.thegreatcoursesplus.com/theconstant (…

You know what you haven't heard enough about recently? How disease spreads. On this episode we finally circle back to the oft mentioned miasma theory, AKA Bad Air Make You Sick. Get a free trial of The Great Courses …

There was no Olympics this year, but it's almost the anniversary of the single worst event in the history of the games: The 1904 Olympic Marathon. Get a free trial of The Great Courses Plus by going to​ …

Some days it feels like we're living at the end of the world. And by "some days" I mean "literally every day ever". Take a ride with us through some of the best apocalypses to never happen! Check out Heather's Youtube …

Here is a story about the city I love, Chicago.Get a free trial of The Great Courses Plus by going to:​ https://www.thegreatcoursesplus.com/theconstant (https://www.thegreatcoursesplus.com/theconstant)Get 10% off your …

The Earth is Flat! That is the conclusion that many ancient societies once drew. Then, in the 19th century, belief in the flat earth started to return, and in the last decade this easily disprovable fallacy has …

Sharks have been known to eat a lot of weird stuff. Fur coats, license plates, cannonballs, chicken coups, even a suit of armor. But the strangest thing ever found within the belly of a shark was... a bundle of papers. …

Two men, two islands, two claims for The North Pole. In part two of The Cold, Hard, Truth we're looking at the expedition formed in the wake of Peary …

On September 7th, 1909, The New York Times announced that Robert Peary was the first person to ever reach The North Pole. But a week earlier, The New …

In December of 1909, the vice president of a Worcester Massachusetts steamfitting company decided he wanted to fly. This is his story. Get 10% off your first month of online counseling by visiting:…

Here's a change of pace: what about stuff we got wrong for the better? On this episode we've got 13 short stories of mistakes that went right. From jazz to physics to chemistry to frozen dessert, we've got it all. Get …

Hey! I think we invented a new kind of podcast this week! It's a crime story, but it's also true. We're calling it "True Crime". I think there might be a market for this!Get a free trial of The Great Courses Plus and …

In almost seventy episodes chronicling bad ideas and loopy frauds through the ages one name has come up again and again. From phrenology to mesmerism …

Here we are. We've examined arctic explorers, secret armies, zany daredevils, Wisconsin whiz kids and so many more only to come up empty. This is the …

We're onto the long shots now: An Irish-American secret society bent on war with Canada, a kid genius out of Oshkosh and an Indiana shoe factory owner. With so few options left, one of them--surely--must be the creator …

Amid all the confusing and contradictory reporting that accompanied the discovery of The Foolkiller submarine in 1915 Chicago, there are a handful of …

A proper story has three acts, but the story of The Foolkiller submarine is missing two of them. Today, we're looking at act 2: the brief window of …

In November of 1915, a submarine was found at the bottom of The Chicago River. It had been there for at least ten years, was 40 feet long, and contained the remains of a man and his dog. To this day, no one knows who …

For our last episode of 2019 and season 6, we're revisiting last year's Christmas episode. Stick around through the end to hear a tease for next …

Throw on another yule log and gather round the fire For a new Constant episode is about to transpire It's a holiday one, though it contains little …

Happy Second Birthday to The Constant! To celebrate, we're tackling the story that everyone advised Mark not to tell, that Mark himself failed over and over again to write: The Brownian Ratchet. And along the way, we're …

Everything you've ever learned about physics, chemistry, astronomy, and even biology, is wrong. That was the conclusion reached by Alfred Lawson, …

In the first century BC, The Greek philosopher Carneades asked a question: is it moral to kill an innocent person to preserve your own life? Two thousand years later, a court in England settled the matter, once and for …

Did someone say "more mummies"? No? You didn't hear that? It sounded like "more mummies" but it was kind of muffled and droning? OH GOD WHAT'S THAT!? It's still October, and we're still being spooky. This week, it's the …

In 2009, Peruvian police offered a disturbing solution to the murders of 46 people in the city of Trujillo. It was sensational, shocking and …

In April of 1954, Seattle was home to one of the weirdest events in American history: residents were gripped with fear as a mysterious force roamed …

On 9/9/99 The Sega Dreamcast had the most successful product launch of literally any commercial product in history. It quickly came to dominate the …

While shooting an episode in a Carnival Funhouse, the production team of The Six Million Dollar Man made a gruesome discovery: a mummified human …

This is the story of an island, and the worst thing to never happen there. Find our Patreon here (https://patreon.com/theconstant). Get 10% off your first month of online counseling by visiting …

It's our fiftieth episode! Our golden anniversary! You know what we got you? The Lost City of Gold: El Dorado. We know, we shouldn't have. Seriously, …

We've got a lot to celebrate this week! Not only have we joined Hub & Spoke Audio Collective (https://www.hubspokeaudio.org/), but it's also a …

In the early 1900s, people finally figured out what made water so healthy: radiation! This week we’re looking at some of the hundreds of terrifying products meant to give you that healthy glow, and the story of one of …

1903 was a year of boundless possibilities: the airplane, open heart surgery, Ford Motor Company, and--most importantly--n-rays. This new form of …

This is the story of the greatest jailbreak ever attempted. Well, maybe not "greatest", but certainly "weirdest." It's also, somehow, the story of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. And one of science's great rivalries. And …

Martha died alone, becoming the first named member of an exclusive and terrible club: The Endlings. This episode we're tracking the history of the passenger pigeon, a bird that once darkened American skies by the …

Believing he was Jesus Christ, Laszlo Toth entered St. Peter's Basilica on May 21st, 1972 and took a hammer to Michelangelo's Pieta. What happened …

The Apocalypse fails to appear. A doctor goes to disturbing lengths to end masturbation. A millionaire spends his fortune dynamiting the sky. Breakfast is changed forever. The Constant is back. Check out our new …

Take a look at those star men, gazing at the night sky. Oh man, wonder if they'll ever know? on October 30th, 1938, Orson Welles and The Mercury Theatre on The Air unleashed the most infamous media prank of all time. …

This is the story of the first radio hoax. No, not that one. On January 16th, 1926, a Catholic priest took the mic at BBC Radio and threw all of …

War! Good God, y'all. What is it good for? According to Henry Ford: Absolutely nothing. So in 1915 he launched a ship, bound for Europe, with a …

How do you survive in 1932, when The Great Depression is at its peak and prohibition is in full force? How about a little insurance fraud? It's easy: …

In January of 1749, a London advertisement promised an impossible show at The Haymarket Theatre: a full-grown man would jump into a wine bottle and, …

Mesmerism didn't stop with Mesmer. This week, we pick up where we left off, tracing the idea of animal magnetism to America, where it went through some... changes. Get ready for a whirlwind tour of American enterprise, …

What is this? Are you some kind of hypnotist? We're doing a deep dive into one of the single most fascinating mistaken ideas and the fascinating man who thought it up. This story has got it all: demonic possession, …

Happy 100th birthday to one of the strangest disasters in American history: Boston's Great Molasses Flood. For our season 5 premiere, we're looking …

New season begins Tuesday, January 15th. Join us.

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On today's holiday special we're looking at a Christmas classic: It's a Wonderful Life. A movie that was almost never made, that was almost forever …

Alright, there are two ways this can go down. Scenario 1: Mark finds the story of the worst tattoo ever and feels heartened by it, going through with finally getting his own. Scenario 2: Mark finds the story of the …

Because you wonderful, amazing jerks helped reach our stretch goal, Mark's got a promise to fulfill. To explain that promise--and the title of this …

It's Halloween and that means it's time for a spooky one. This week, for the last episode of our Kickstarter (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/468920813/the-constant-a-history-of-getting-things-wrong) season, we've …

Forks! A handier, less-controversial item would be difficult to imagine. Yet, for hundreds of years Europeans recoiled from the fork with a hilarious …

To honor all the flubs of our first year, we're going down the rabbit hole of the worst typos and mistakes in history. From sacrilegious Bibles to …

In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue. And then... well, that's the question. What exactly did this dude do? And where did the myth of Columbus come …

Four weeks, four new episodes. Starting Tuesday, October 9th.

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It was a dark and stormy night. A dark and stormy year, really. And it gave birth to a monster, a New Prometheus which descended upon the panicked world, leaving death and destruction in its wake. For this, our season …

In the late 19th century, Americans moved into the western states because of one simple phrase. But despite what you learned in junior high, it wasn't "manifest destiny." Today we're talking about the real maxim …

Without accidents, mistakes and foolishness, there would be no military history. Nearly every war ever fought was determined, to some large degree, …

In 1926, the quiet, small-town of Kittanning, Pennsylvania was descended upon by a mob of salesmen and hucksters selling solutions to a peculiar …

In 1896 two trains, going full-speed, slammed into one another in the middle of the 2nd largest city in Texas. Just like they were supposed to.

Learn …

Through nearly all time, humankind believed in leviathans and krakens and mermaids. People didn't give up believing in sea monsters until the turn of the 20th century. Then, in 1925, one washed up on the shores of Santa …

In the 1840's, a mysterious disease was running roughshod through a Viennese hospital, killing new mothers in terrifying numbers. On this, our season 3 premiere, we're looking at one of the greatest medical mysteries of …

Season 3 begins June 19th. In the meantime, we'll be dropping a couple of these meta-ads. Hope you enjoy. Share, like, subscribe, rate, review and... catchup.

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A fly bites, a sickness spreads, a horse is born, an idea returns. This week we attempt to correct an oversight.

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Did you ever wonder where babies come from? So did all these guys! But only one of them managed to figure it out. This week, for our season finale, the remarkable story of how we came to know the most fundamental and …

Look, out in the sea: it's an earthquake, it's a boat fire, it's a sea monster! It's a tiny, newborn volcanic island! In 1831, a small scrap of land …

Today the story of a mysterious grave in the foothills of Appalachia, and the two wannabe detectives that set about deciphering it. This episode is a little different than most. It's a personal story. And we want more …

Here's something you don't see everyday: parachuting cats. It did happen, though. In the 1950s, The Royal Air Force airdropped parakitties onto the …

We give Aristotle a pretty hard time here at The Constant. But we can't hold an Aristotle-hating candle to the guy in this episode. A man whose …

It started off as an innocent enough idea: what if the moon was made of ice? But from there it grew. Into an alternative-science, into a grand conspiracy theory and, finally, into one of the greatest evils in history.

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In 1867, The Eliza set out to sea with a fresh crew, a full hold and fair weather. Yet no one expected her to ever make land again. This episode we …

While we work away on season 2, here's a few extra stories related to the content from season 1 that didn't make their way into the episodes. More art hoaxes! More diligent prime number seekers! More birds on The Moon!

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Throughout time people have twisted the most humdrum of creatures until they were fantastical, bizarre, unbelievable monsters. From a logistically unfeasible hybrid to a self-castrating quarry, we're bringing you a …

It's difficult to honor the spirit of the season when you're making a show about mistakes, foibles and failures, but we've done our best. This week, …

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