Noted story teller and former journalist Mike Allen interviews special guests and then produces amazing tales about people, places and events from Connecticut history. His style and enthusiasm make history relatable, interesting, fun and informative. You certainly don‘t have to be from Connecticut to enjoy these stories -- you just need to find history interesting and to love a good story. New episodes are published every Thursday. Theme music (Musical Interlewd 1, intro; Musical Interlewd 2, outro) by Christopher Cech. Podcast logo design by Ashley Cech. Logo photo by Yvonne Cech. This podcast is a production of True North Associates, LLC.
Episodes
Wednesday Nov 29, 2023
She May Have Been CT’s Most Famous Resident
Wednesday Nov 29, 2023
Wednesday Nov 29, 2023
Katharine Hepburn may have been CT’s most famous resident. She still holds the record for the most Oscars for acting, with four. Her career survived the so-called “poison box office letter” and her feisty on-screen persona competed with her romantic engagements with Howard Hughes and Spencer Tracy for attention. Her years in this state, as a born-and-bred CT native, include a harrowing escape during the Hurricane of ’38. The story is mesmerizing, as told by the Coordinator of Old Saybrook’s Katharine Hepburn Museum, Elise Maragliano
Wednesday Nov 22, 2023
The Most Important Man in CT History
Wednesday Nov 22, 2023
Wednesday Nov 22, 2023
He’s arguably the most important man in Connecticut history – John Winthrop, Jr. One of the state’s earliest Governors, in the 1600s, he secured the first Royal Charter that legitimized CT as a new colony, provided extensive autonomy, and gave the settlers huge land holdings out west. He also founded Saybrook and New London, while introducing modern concepts for industrial ventures and financing social movements. Winthrop’s story is told by perhaps the leading researcher in the field, CT State Historian Emeritus Dr. Walt Woodward.
Wednesday Nov 15, 2023
The Best Story Ever Told in Connecticut
Wednesday Nov 15, 2023
Wednesday Nov 15, 2023
This story from the 1600s has a little bit of everything. It involves a critical part of CT history. It was a “who done it” – with candles suddenly going out during an important meeting of top British and Patriot officials in Hartford. It concerns a hiding place inside a huge tree that could fit 10 people standing. It created one of the most iconic visual and political images of the state of Connecticut. Hear the story of the Charter Oak from the retired, long-time Curator of the Museum of Connecticut History, Dave Corrigan.
Wednesday Nov 08, 2023
Digging for Evidence at Gallows Hill
Wednesday Nov 08, 2023
Wednesday Nov 08, 2023
When a team of archeologists found burned rocks, burned bones, broken rum bottles, old nails, and musket balls at a site in western CT, they knew they had found a winter encampment for Revolutionary War soldiers – a place where two Patriot soldiers had been executed for desertion during the winter of 1778-79. They also had uncovered evidence of how the other 1,000 soldiers survived that winter. Hear the intriguing and meticulous way that Western Connecticut State University Professor Emeritus of Anthropology Dr. Laurie Weinstein and her team uncovered these 250-year-old secrets.
Wednesday Nov 01, 2023
As Slavery Ended in CT, Ugliness at the State’s First All-Black School
Wednesday Nov 01, 2023
Wednesday Nov 01, 2023
Prudence Crandall, CT’s State Heroine, opened the first all-black female school in CT, in the 1830s. It led to some of the ugliest, most violent and disgraceful bigotry in state history. The white community took multiple vigilante and legal steps to try to stop her from operating. In the end, the case gave rise to critical concepts in one of the key civil rights cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. Hear this fascinating story from the Curator of the Prudence Crandall Museum, Joan DiMartino. RSSVERIFY
Wednesday Oct 25, 2023
When CT Residents Were Sent to the Poor House
Wednesday Oct 25, 2023
Wednesday Oct 25, 2023
If you couldn’t pay your bills in the old days, you were sent to the poor house. Every CT town had either a poor house or a town farm to help care for poor, disabled, and mentally handicapped. The last one closed only in 1991. Poor houses were unique places that were largely unregulated for a good portion of their existence. Hear the story behind Alms Houses from the author of the book, The Road to the Poor House, Michael Westerfield.
Wednesday Oct 18, 2023
World War II Could Not Have Been Won Without Connecticut
Wednesday Oct 18, 2023
Wednesday Oct 18, 2023
Connecticut’s industrial manufacturers were huge contributors to military success in World War Two. From half the aircraft engines used in the war (made by Pratt & Whitney in East Hartford) to submarines (Electric Boat, Groton), a large percentage of the billions of bullets used and guns for soldiers (Remington Arms, Bridgeport), and large and small items: “G-force” suits to allow pilots to maneuver their planes without losing consciousness, radar advancements, parachutes, rubber boots, ball bearings, air compressors for torpedoes, and periscopes. Hear the impressive story from Sharon Cohen, who has written a book that documents these fascinating contributions.
Wednesday Oct 11, 2023
The Day 2 Rolling Skulls Revealed a CT Vampire Grave
Wednesday Oct 11, 2023
Wednesday Oct 11, 2023
Two boys playing in a sand and gravel pit 30 years ago came across two human skulls that led to a truly bizarre investigation – the unearthing of a suspected vampire grave. CT’s State Archeologist at the time, Dr. Nick Bellantoni, has continued to work for the past few decades, even into retirement, with a folklorist who specializes in vampires to tentatively identify the individual whose initials – J.B. – were at first all he had to go on.
Wednesday Oct 04, 2023
The Life-Saving Miracle at Yale New Haven Hospital
Wednesday Oct 04, 2023
Wednesday Oct 04, 2023
It was nothing short of a miracle. A woman was barely hanging on to life at Yale-New Haven Hospital in 1942. She had been running a fever of 106 degrees for four weeks, and doctors were out of options. A new treatment – never before tried in the U.S. – brought her back to life in less than 24 hours. Hear the incredible story about the first use of penicillin in the U.S. from the Director of Infection Prevention at Yale New Haven Hospital, Dr. Richard Martinello.
Wednesday Sep 27, 2023
CT Won the Cigar War by Actually Creating a Weather Climate
Wednesday Sep 27, 2023
Wednesday Sep 27, 2023
Soil and climate are two critical factors in agriculture, especially for CT’s tobacco farmers. CT leads the world in the profitable crop of cigar wrapper leaves, thanks largely to these two points. However, while the state had excellent soil, it didn’t have the right climate to overtake market leader Sumatra, in Asia. So, in the 1800s CT literally created its own weather climate over 1% of the land in the state. Wait until you hear the story from topic expert John Cilio.