Have you ever been so broke that you ended up creating your own currency? It may sound like a crazy idea today, but during the Great Depression multiple communities actually created and circulated their own forms of local currency. And this wasn't a lark -- it was a matter of survival. Listen in to learn more about some of the precedents for the (world-famous) BenBucks.

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Despite the misleading name, the U.S. "Civil War" was anything but. As North fought South, this short-lived, bloody conflict fundamentally shifted the course of the country. Yet if you go just a bit further west to Missouri, you'll encounter a story history largely forgot: amid the chaos, a tiny county in Missouri succesfully negotiated something very much like a peace treaty with a sovereign nation. In today's episode, Ben, Noel and Max discover why some historians believe this one patch of Missouri became, for a time, "The Kingdom of Callaway."

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For several decades, Saturday morning cartoons were a massive industry in the United States. Every weekend, millions of American children tuned in to watch their favorite shows... and, later, bug their parents for related toys. The studios made bank off this, yet it was only a matter of time before concerned citizens and government agencies started asking: Are these really shows, or just sneaky, 30-minute exercises in brainwashing? In the second part of this two-part series, Ben, Noel and Max explore the fall of Saturday morning cartoons.

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Picture this: It's late 1944, and you, like thousands of other people on the west coast of North America, have noticed bizarre, jellyfish-like objects floating through the sky. You call the local authorities, maybe even the Air Force, only to be ignored. You don't see anything about this in the papers or on the radio. You are in the midst of a real-world conspiracy of silence -- until, that is, the bombs begin to explode. Listen in to learn more about the attack of the Japanese balloon bombs in this week's Classic episode. (Also: Happy Birthday, America!)

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In the economic boom of a post-World War II United States the sudden affordability of television fundamentally rocked the nation. From the 1950s on, millions of kids in America grew up watching Saturday morning cartoons... yet, as it turns out, these shows were often light on the writing -- and heavy on selling toys. In the first part of this two-part series, Ben, Noel and Max discover how Saturday morning cartoons became full-on, half-hour commercials for toys. And, of course, how the adults in the room started to fight back.

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Today, everyone knows the potential dangers of both illegal and legal drugs. Some are more popular and more widely-accepted than others (shoutout to coffee!), but across time and cultures, it's an open secret that pretty much every civilization was doing one drug or another. Sometimes for ritualistic purposes, sometimes for purported medicinal properties -- and, sometimes, just to party. In the first part of this continuing series, Ben, Noel and Max explore some of the strangest things people of ages past used to get high, including nutmeg, belladonna, henbane and more.

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Queen Marie Antoinette's reputation was already tarnished by gossip in 1784, but was completely ruined by the implication that she defrauded the crown jewelers, conning them out of a dazzling, expensive diamond necklace. That's the short summary -- but the story itself is a startling tale of intrigue and iniquity. Listen in to learn more about the strange tale of the diamond necklace hoax.

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Vikings! Even centuries after their heyday, these seafaring Scandinavian raiders are the subject of countless works of fiction and film -- and some of the stories about them are true. And, legend has it, there was one sort of Viking even other Viking feared: the Berserker. If you believe the stories, these blood-crazed guys rushed into battle howling like beasts, wearing nothing but a bear skin, attacking friend and foe alike. So how much of this is fact, and how much just tall tales? In today's episode, Ben, Noel and Max try to find out.

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We all know the image of European knights: clad all over in plate armor, they conquer enemy forces and mythological creatures alike. But... how much of this historical stereotype is true? In today's episode, Ben, Noel and Max ask explore the nuts and bolts of historical armor: how it worked, how many people actually wore it, how much it cost -- and, perhaps most importantly, why it disappeared from warfare.

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Nowadays most people know the pirates depicted in fiction bear little resemblance to real-life, historical pirates. Few actually buried any treasure, and fewer still lived in secretive island hideouts -- however, in at least one case, the truth appears stranger than fiction. Join the guys as they explore the story of Nosy Boraha, the Pirate's Paradise.

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NASCAR! This thoroughly American racing organization is huge in the United States -- and has a lot of international gearhead fans, as well. However, as Ben, Noel and Max discover in today's episode, this multibillion-dollar industry has a fascinating, ridiculous, and criminal past. That's right, fellow historians: NASCAR only exists because of Prohibition. As some of Appalachia's greatest booze smugglers realized people would pay just to watch their motoring skills at work, a network of criminal syndicates evolved into a full-on, massively popular sport.

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