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
Death By Derivatives [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 14:55
The opening of a canal in 1848 led to the birth of modern financial derivatives, and the early demise of some of the men who traded them
Ghoulish Acts & Dastardly Deeds [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 54:12
In the 1950s, an anonymous terrorist planted a pipe bomb in a New York City public space. Then another. And another.
No Country For Ye Olde Men [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 12:49
Britain’s practice of transporting convicts to American colonies was a fearsome punishment, but not for the chronic criminal James Dalton.
Fire And Dice [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 23:09
The story of a tragic hotel fire of Rube Goldberg proportions.
The Reconstruction of Ulysses S. Grant [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 25:07
As a civilian, the beloved American Civil War general and two-term president failed at every attempt to make money. Except for one.
Foreign Exchanges [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 30:26
He made a name for himself organizing the world’s most important economic conference, only to have it tarnished by an outrageous accusation.
Starving For Answers [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 14:44
During WWII, 36 American conscientious objectors volunteered as subjects in a brutal science experiment to measure the body's response to starvation.
Ten Minutes In Lituya Bay [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 24:52
A remote bay in Alaska is home to an odd and occasionally catastrophic geology. In 1958, a handful of people experienced this firsthand.
The King's Letters [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 19:40
The 15th-century scholar who upset the Korean aristocracy by creating a native script for the Korean language, and thus wean it off Chinese characters.