Get early episodes & ad-free audio on Patreon: https://patreon.com/DrowsyHistorian

In late August 2005, New Orleans was forever changed. Tonight, you will step into the life of a Hurricane Katrina survivor — not through headlines or statistics, but through the lived horror of waiting, drowning, and being forgotten.

This is not the story of the storm itself. It is the story of what came after: the levees breaking, families stranded on rooftops, days in the Superdome without food or water, the silence of a government that looked away, and the exile that followed. The horrifying truth is that survival was not an ending, but its own kind of erasure.

🛏️ Drowsy Historian’s Favorite Sleep Tools

Looking to upgrade your nighttime routine? These are a few things I personally use or recommend:

• Sleep Earbuds for Enhanced Immersion → https://amzn.to/4pVFoJy

• Blanket Soft Enough to Make the Plague Feel Tolerable → https://amzn.to/3GSOq8f

• Weighted Blanket for Pretending You’re a Mummified Pharaoh → https://amzn.to/4kVJCgE

• Sleep Mask Headphones For Total Historical Escape → https://amzn.to/4nWsNVn

• Book Light for Reading About Plagues at 2AM → https://amzn.to/4eSg0iu

• White Noise Machine for Blocking Out the 21st Century → https://amzn.to/3GJ9jTw

These are affiliate links. I may earn a small commission if you purchase through them—at no extra cost to you. Thanks for supporting the show while staying cozy.

#HurricaneKatrina #HistoryForSleep #DrowsyHistorian

Get early episodes & ad-free audio on Patreon: https://patreon.com/DrowsyHistorian

On March 11th, 1888, New York and much of the Northeast awoke to what seemed like an ordinary gray morning. By nightfall, the world had vanished into walls of snow, and the “modern” city of telegraphs, trains, and streetcars collapsed under silence. The Great Blizzard of 1888 killed thousands, sealed homes like tombs, and left survivors to crawl through trenches of ice.

Tonight, you’ll step inside that storm. From the first harmless flurries to the crushing weight of snowdrifts, you’ll follow one man’s doomed attempt to endure. This is not a tale of triumph, but of erasure — when progress itself was smothered, and the city that never slept lay buried, forgotten beneath white.

🛏️ Drowsy Historian’s Favorite Sleep Tools

Looking to upgrade your nighttime routine? These are a few things I personally use or recommend:

• Sleep Earbuds for Enhanced Immersion → https://amzn.to/4pVFoJy

• Blanket Soft Enough to Make the Plague Feel Tolerable → https://amzn.to/3GSOq8f

• Weighted Blanket for Pretending You’re a Mummified Pharaoh → https://amzn.to/4kVJCgE

• Sleep Mask Headphones For Total Historical Escape → https://amzn.to/4nWsNVn

• Book Light for Reading About Plagues at 2AM → https://amzn.to/4eSg0iu

• White Noise Machine for Blocking Out the 21st Century → https://amzn.to/3GJ9jTw

These are affiliate links. I may earn a small commission if you purchase through them—at no extra cost to you. Thanks for supporting the show while staying cozy.

#history #sleepstory #blizzard #newyorkhistory #drowsyhistorian #greatblizzard1888 #disasterhistory

Get early episodes & ad-free audio on Patreon: https://patreon.com/DrowsyHistorian

Step into a medieval village on All Hallows’ Eve—what we now call Halloween. Far from pumpkins and candy, this night was one of prayers for the dead, flickering candles, children begging for soul-cakes, and villagers disguising themselves in soot and masks to confuse wandering spirits. The church bells tolled to ward off the restless dead, while neighbors whispered of witches, charms, and omens. In the torchlit lanes, laughter blurred with fear, and the night pressed heavy until dawn’s bell called the living back to order.

This is not Halloween as you know it. This is Halloween as your ancestors lived it: a fragile night of ritual, belief, and unease, when the line between the living and the dead seemed unbearably thin.

🛏️ Drowsy Historian’s Favorite Sleep Tools

Looking to upgrade your nighttime routine? These are a few things I personally use or recommend:

• Sleep Earbuds for Enhanced Immersion → https://amzn.to/47ccNqV

• Blanket Soft Enough to Make the Plague Feel Tolerable → https://amzn.to/3GSOq8f

• Weighted Blanket for Pretending You’re a Mummified Pharaoh → https://amzn.to/4kVJCgE

• Sleep Mask Headphones For Total Historical Escape → https://amzn.to/4nWsNVn

• Book Light for Reading About Plagues at 2AM → https://amzn.to/4eSg0iu

• White Noise Machine for Blocking Out the 21st Century → https://amzn.to/3GJ9jTw

These are affiliate links. I may earn a small commission if you purchase through them—at no extra cost to you. Thanks for supporting the show while staying cozy.

#MedievalHistory #HalloweenHistory #AllHallowsEve #DrowsyHistorian #SleepHistory #DarkHistory

Get early episodes & ad-free audio on Patreon: https://patreon.com/DrowsyHistorian

The American frontier is remembered as a land of freedom, cowboys, and opportunity. The reality was something much harsher. Families who set out west traded comfort for smoke-filled cabins, endless labor, and the silence of miles between neighbors. Food spoiled, winters froze, summers burned, and disease lingered in every sip of water. The myth of independence overshadowed the truth: life on the frontier was anonymous struggle, marked more by hunger and exhaustion than by heroism.

Tonight, we’ll walk through the frontier as it really was — from the brutal journey west to the isolation that hollowed out even the strongest spirits. Lie back, get comfortable, and let’s uncover the forgotten reality of the American frontier.

🛏️ Drowsy Historian’s Favorite Sleep Tools

Looking to upgrade your nighttime routine? These are a few things I personally use or recommend:

• Sleep Earbuds for Enhanced Immersion → https://amzn.to/4pVFoJy

• Blanket Soft Enough to Make the Plague Feel Tolerable → https://amzn.to/3GSOq8f

• Weighted Blanket for Pretending You’re a Mummified Pharaoh → https://amzn.to/4kVJCgE

• Sleep Mask Headphones For Total Historical Escape → https://amzn.to/4nWsNVn

• Book Light for Reading About Plagues at 2AM → https://amzn.to/4eSg0iu

• White Noise Machine for Blocking Out the 21st Century → https://amzn.to/3GJ9jTw

These are affiliate links. I may earn a small commission if you purchase through them—at no extra cost to you. Thanks for supporting the show while staying cozy.

#AmericanFrontier #HistoryForSleep #PioneerLife #CowboysAndSettlers #FrontierMyth #ForgottenHistory

Get early episodes & ad-free audio on Patreon: https://patreon.com/DrowsyHistorian

Step through the gates of a medieval bazaar and discover that what was promised as a wonderland of silks, spices, and treasures was, in truth, chaos wrapped in filth. Behind the banners and incense lies a world of scams, shouting merchants, rigged scales, and food you’ll regret eating. Donkeys shove harder than people, thieves brush against every belt, and “healers” hawk potions more likely to kill you than cure you. By dusk, the smoke and stench cling to your skin, and the only thing you carry away is regret.

🛏️ Drowsy Historian’s Favorite Sleep Tools

Looking to upgrade your nighttime routine? These are a few things I personally use or recommend:

• Sleep Earbuds for Enhanced Immersion → https://amzn.to/4pVFoJy

• Blanket Soft Enough to Make the Plague Feel Tolerable → https://amzn.to/3GSOq8f

• Weighted Blanket for Pretending You’re a Mummified Pharaoh → https://amzn.to/4kVJCgE

• Sleep Mask Headphones For Total Historical Escape → https://amzn.to/4nWsNVn

• Book Light for Reading About Plagues at 2AM → https://amzn.to/4eSg0iu

• White Noise Machine for Blocking Out the 21st Century → https://amzn.to/3GJ9jTw

These are affiliate links. I may earn a small commission if you purchase through them—at no extra cost to you. Thanks for supporting the show while staying cozy.

#HistoryForSleep #MedievalHistory #DrowsyHistorian #SleepStory #HistoricalStorytelling #DarkHistory #CalmHistory

Get early episodes & ad-free audio on Patreon: https://patreon.com/DrowsyHistorian

Step into the harrowing reality of a World War II combat medic — a soldier trained to heal but forced to work in the mud, surrounded by death. With no weapon in your hands, only bandages, morphine, and trembling resolve, you crawl through fire to reach the wounded. This story is not one of glory or medals, but of exhaustion, improvisation, and the quiet erasure of those who saved lives without recognition.

Told in a calm, immersive style, this episode follows the routine of chaos, the scarcity of supplies, the stench of death, and the toll on body and mind, until the war ends and silence swallows the medic’s story.

🛏️ Drowsy Historian’s Favorite Sleep Tools

Looking to upgrade your nighttime routine? These are a few things I personally use or recommend:

• Sleep Earbuds for Enhanced Immersion → https://amzn.to/4pVFoJy

• Blanket Soft Enough to Make the Plague Feel Tolerable → https://amzn.to/3GSOq8f

• Weighted Blanket for Pretending You’re a Mummified Pharaoh → https://amzn.to/4kVJCgE

• Sleep Mask Headphones For Total Historical Escape → https://amzn.to/4nWsNVn

• Book Light for Reading About Plagues at 2AM → https://amzn.to/4eSg0iu

• White Noise Machine for Blocking Out the 21st Century → https://amzn.to/3GJ9jTw

These are affiliate links. I may earn a small commission if you purchase through them—at no extra cost to you. Thanks for supporting the show while staying cozy.

#HistoryForSleep #WWII #CombatMedic #ForgottenHistory #ASMRHistory #DrowsyHistorian

Get early episodes & ad-free audio on Patreon: https://patreon.com/DrowsyHistorian

History remembers Prussia for its iron discipline and military brilliance. But hidden in that reputation is one of the strangest regiments ever assembled: the Potsdam Giants. These soldiers weren’t chosen for courage, loyalty, or tactical skill — they were chosen for being exceptionally tall.

In this episode, we explore the bizarre world of the Lange Kerls, a regiment prized by King Frederick William I not for battle, but for spectacle. From kidnappings and diplomatic “gifts” of tall men, to failed breeding experiments and endless ceremonial parades, the Potsdam Giants reveal the absurd lengths a monarch could go to indulge his obsession.

🛏️ Drowsy Historian’s Favorite Sleep Tools

Looking to upgrade your nighttime routine? These are a few things I personally use or recommend:

• Sleep Earbuds for Enhanced Immersion → https://amzn.to/4pVFoJy

• Blanket Soft Enough to Make the Plague Feel Tolerable → https://amzn.to/3GSOq8f

• Weighted Blanket for Pretending You’re a Mummified Pharaoh → https://amzn.to/4kVJCgE

• Sleep Mask Headphones For Total Historical Escape → https://amzn.to/4nWsNVn

• Book Light for Reading About Plagues at 2AM → https://amzn.to/4eSg0iu

• White Noise Machine for Blocking Out the 21st Century → https://amzn.to/3GJ9jTw

These are affiliate links. I may earn a small commission if you purchase through them—at no extra cost to you. Thanks for supporting the show while staying cozy.

#History #Prussia #MilitaryHistory #StrangeHistory #DrowsyHistorian #Documentary #WeirdHistory

Get early episodes & ad-free audio on Patreon: https://patreon.com/DrowsyHistorian

Witchcraft in medieval Europe was not a fringe superstition but part of the way people understood the world itself. From spoiled milk and ruined bread to storms, illness, and sudden death, misfortune was never seen as chance — it was evidence of malice, of curses whispered by neighbors, or of alliances made with darker powers. This video explores how medieval people thought witchcraft worked: the charms and poppets, the imagined pacts with the Devil, the fear of night flights and sabbaths, the ordeals of trials, and the cultural paranoia that turned suspicion into accusation.

In a world alive with saints, relics, angels, demons, and witches, nothing happened without reason. Witchcraft gave meaning to suffering, villains to blame, and order to chaos. To understand it is to step into a universe where reality itself bent to belief.

🛏️ Drowsy Historian’s Favorite Sleep Tools

Looking to upgrade your nighttime routine? These are a few things I personally use or recommend:

• Sleep Earbuds for Enhanced Immersion → https://amzn.to/4pVFoJy

• Blanket Soft Enough to Make the Plague Feel Tolerable → https://amzn.to/3GSOq8f

• Weighted Blanket for Pretending You’re a Mummified Pharaoh → https://amzn.to/4kVJCgE

• Sleep Mask Headphones For Total Historical Escape → https://amzn.to/4nWsNVn

• Book Light for Reading About Plagues at 2AM → https://amzn.to/4eSg0iu

• White Noise Machine for Blocking Out the 21st Century → https://amzn.to/3GJ9jTw

These are affiliate links. I may earn a small commission if you purchase through them—at no extra cost to you. Thanks for supporting the show while staying cozy.

#MedievalHistory #Witchcraft #DrowsyHistorian #DarkHistory #HistoryForSleep