In 1859, in San Francisco, Joshua Abraham Norton, declared himself "Emperor of the United States", and eventually "Protector of Mexico". $1.6 million in rare photographs disappear. An owner of one of the oldest photographic galleries in the country is accused of defrauding artists, collectors, and friends in the case.Emperor NortonPulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist says he was conned in dealer’s $1.6m art fraud schemeA Michigan Art Dealer Accused of Defrauding Collectors Out of $1.6 Million Is Expected to Strike a Plea DealA Michigan Photography Dealer Allegedly Bilked Elderly Clients Out of More Than $1.6 Million by Pretending to Be in a Coma Michigan photography dealer Tom Halsted passed away...

John R. Brinkley dreamed of being a doctor. Unfortunately he couldn't achieve that goal. He could however say he was one, and became known for implanting goat gonads into patients. Brinkley was on the forefront of quack medicine, disinformation, and conspiracy theory radio.  Forrest Fenn, a wealthy art collector, decided to create a treasure hunt to get people outdoors. He filled a chest with treasure, and hid it somewhere in the Rocky Mountains. The lure of the treasure led people from around the world to analyze the clues, and search for the treasure. The hunt led to injuries, death, and betrayal.  John R. BrinkleyJohn R. Brinkley - Wikipedia

In 2001, The Free State Project was founded with the intention of recruiting Libertarians to New Hampshire, in an attempt to create a sort of Libertarian utopia. Not too surprisingly, things didn't exactly go as planned.Salomon August Andrée was a Swedish engineer, physicist, aeronaut, and polar explorer lead an attempt to reach the North Pole by hydrogen balloon in 1897. Andrée had very little experience piloting balloons, and the expedition immediately went off the rails.Free State ProjectThe Town That Went Feral Salomon August Andrée 

The most devastating wildfire in U.S. history was not in the western states, or even a recent event. Instead it was in Wisconsin, on October 8th, 1871. The fire burned around 1.5 million acres, and claimed more than 1,500 lives.In the 1990s, a new genre of music emerged, know as Norwegian black metal. Some of the most influential members of extreme metal came from this period. Its members from were also responsible for two murders, a suicide, and the burning of old Norwegian churches.The Norwegian black metal segment may be disturbing for sensitive listeners, and includes references to suicide and murder.The Peshtigo Fire - National Weather ServiceThe Peshtigo Fire - WikipediaThe Great Midwest Wildfires of 1871The Wisconsin magazine of history: Volume 11, number 1, September 1927Why America's Deadliest Wildfire Was Largely ForgottenNorwegian Black Metal

Jimmy Hoffa, former president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters - a powerful union with ties to organized crime, disappears in 1975. Hoffa is eventually declared dead in 1982, though his body has never been found despite years of investigations, rumors, and leads. Brothers, Homer and Langley Collyer, became infamous for their hoarding and bizarre behavior. The brothers lived in seclusion, in a Harlem Brownstone in the 1920s, and eventually are found to have been living with 120 tons of belongings, tunnels, and booby traps.

In 857 A.D., in the Rhine Valley, an outbreak of a disease causing hallucinations, gangrene, and death occurred. Because the symptoms included a severe burning sensation, and it was believed to be a punishment from God, it came to be known as Holy Fire. Though a doctor in 1670 figured out the cause, outbreaks would occur for another 170 years before the cause of the disease was finally proven. Howard Hughes was an eccentric billionaire, record-setting pilot, engineer, film producer, and philanthropist. He was one of the wealthiest and most influential person in the world. Eventually his eccentricity gave way to extreme reclusiveness, obsessive compulsive disorder, and chronic pain.

In 1980, while Texaco was drilling in Lake Peigneur, a sinkhole opened up and drained the lake, swallowing the drilling platform, and several boats and barges in the process. In the 1690s, the Scottish Darien Company attempted to establish a colony, on what is now Panama. Scotland was behind in the race to exploit new worlds, and hoped to establish a trade route between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, for power and riches.

In 1985, Eastern Airlines Flight 980, crashed at 21,000 feet, on route to La Paz, Bolivia. Decades of searches turned up little, sparking a variety of conspiracy theories. In 2016, a trio from the U.S., decides to revisit the crash site, and attempt to find the crash recorders. The Yugo has been described as "the worst car in history". Introduced to the U.S. in 1985, the Yugo went on to peak success in 1987, followed by a few years of precipitous declines in sales, ending in 1992.

After a long break due to Covid, travel, and technical difficulties, Mark and Kevin return with an episode that covers cults, and a couple of entertaining stories of nautical failures.

Jean-Paul Marat was a French political theorist, physician and scientist, and, during the French Revolution, a journalist and politician. He was assassinated while taking a medicinal bath, as depicted in the painting The Death of Marat. Pietro Querini was the captain of a merchant ship bound for Bruges, when forced to abandon ship during a storm in 1431. After drifting for weeks in winter weather, the survivors find themselves stranded on an island off of Norway in January of 1432.