The Arizona Dragonslayer

The Arizona Dragonslayer

Author: DamnInteresting.com December 6, 2012 Duration: 18:12
A simple telegram plunged America into the Great War. The Zimmermann telegram, intercepted by American intelligence in April 1917, revealed Germany’s efforts to encourage Mexico to invade the United States. For a towheaded kid from Arizona named Frank Luke, Jr., and other citizens of the states along the Mexican border, the threat of invasion was real and personal. Anti-German sentiment swept the nation that spring. Sauerkraut became “Victory Cabbage”, the precursor to Freedom Fries, and suspicion fell on families of German descent such as the Lukes, whose name had been Luecke just a generation before. The immigrants’ son Frank Luke, Jr. had a lot to prove when he joined the Army a few months later. By the time Luke completed flight training, received his commission, and joined the 27th Aero Squadron in France in July 1918, the surge of American forces onto the Western Front promised a swift end to the war – and the life expectancy of a pursuit pilot at the front was just three weeks. If Frank Luke was going to prove anything, he needed to work fast. In just a few months, he would demonstrate how well he could work under pressure, becoming one of the most decorated flyers of the First World War.

The stories that shape our world are often hidden in plain sight, waiting for the right moment to reveal their strange and significant details. That's the territory explored by Damn Interesting, a narrative-driven podcast from the team at DamnInteresting.com. Each episode is a deep and immersive dive into a true story, told with the care and pacing of an audiobook. You'll find yourself pulled into meticulously researched accounts from the overlapping realms of science, medicine, history, and human behavior. One week might unravel a forgotten medical mystery, while the next could detail a pivotal, overlooked moment in technological history or a psychological phenomenon that explains more than we'd like to admit. This podcast is built on the conviction that reality, when examined closely, is far more compelling than fiction. The narration is clear and engaging, designed to make complex subjects accessible and to transform historical footnotes into gripping narratives. It’s for anyone with a restless curiosity about the how and why of things, offering those satisfying moments of connection where disparate facts suddenly click into place. Listening feels like uncovering a series of fascinating secrets, each story selected for its inherent ability to surprise and make you reconsider a piece of the world.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 73

Damn Interesting
Podcast Episodes
The Spy of Night and Fog [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 29:56
The Spy of Night and Fog by Damn Interesting
Radical Solutions [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:02:33
French mathematician Évariste Galois lived a full life. When he wasn't trying to overthrow the government, he was reinventing algebra.
Private Wojteks Right To Bear Arms [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 16:18
One of Poland’s most beloved and honored World War II veterans was not Polish at all: he was a 500-pound brown bear named Wojtek.
Dead Reckoning [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:13:12
The 18th century misadventures of HMS Wager and her reluctant crew
The Eponymous Mr. Ponzi [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 42:07
The little known story of an age-old scam
A Debaculous Fiasco [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 30:19
The most expensive, bizarre, and obscure work ever created by Dr. Seuss.
Drawing The Shorter Straw [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 40:16
Working almost single-handedly, visionary Argentine filmmaker Quirino Cristiani created full-length animated films between 1917 and 1931. He has since been all but forgotten.
The Curse Of Konzo [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 25:11
In 1981, an international group of doctors identified the devastating disease behind a perplexing outbreak of paralysis in northern Mozambique.
A Jarring Revelation [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 13:58
Amanda Theodosia Jones was a 19th-century poet, entrepreneur, and inventor who found inspiration in some unlikely places.