Rainy Day Rabbit Holes: History Unhinged

In the chaos of World War I, one unlikely soldier refused to stay behind. He didn’t carry a rifle, didn’t understand borders or politics, and technically wasn’t allowed to enlist—but he charged into danger anyway.
In this episode, we tell the true story of Sergeant Stubby, a Boston Terrier mix who became one of the most decorated heroes of World War I. From smuggling himself onto a troop ship, to warning soldiers of mustard gas attacks, locating wounded men in no man’s land, and even capturing an enemy spy, Stubby proved that bravery doesn’t require rank—or even thumbs.
Joining us for this emotional (and occasionally unhinged) journey is special guest Erin, Shea’s longtime friend and fellow history nerd, who helps us explore why Stubby’s story still resonates more than a century later.
Fair warning: this is a dog story, which means Shea cries. More than once. We apologize in advance—and also refuse to apologize at all.
🐾 In This Episode:
How a stray dog became the unofficial mascot of the 102nd Infantry Regiment
Sergeant Stubby’s role in 17 battles on the Western Front
Mustard gas detection, artillery warnings, and battlefield rescues
The night Stubby captured a German spy—and earned a promotion
Stubby’s postwar celebrity life, medals, and legacy
Why this small dog’s story still hits so hard today
🎖 Notable Figures:
Sergeant Stubby – World War I war dog and certified good boy
Corporal James Robert Conroy – Stubby’s human best friend and handler
Erin – Special guest, history nerd, and longtime friend of Shea
You can find photos, sources, and more stories like this at
👉 https://rainydayrabbitholes.com

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Before we get into today’s rabbit hole, we wanted to share an exciting update — and a little behind‑the‑scenes honesty.
🛸 Join Us Live: Before Roswell – Tacoma’s Maury Island Incident
On June 3rd, 2026, Jody and Shea will be part of a McMenamins History Pub event in Tacoma, Washington, held at McMenamins Elks Temple in the historic Spanish Ballroom.
The program, Before Roswell: Tacoma’s Maury Island Incident, explores the strange, complicated, and often‑overlooked UFO case that put Tacoma at the center of flying saucers, mysterious men in black, and a federal investigation — weeks before Roswell captured the world’s attention.
This is a collaborative presentation featuring:
Rainy Day Rabbit Holes Podcast — storytelling and narrative context
Chris Staudinger of Pretty Gritty Tours — historical and cultural context rooted in Tacoma’s gritty reality
Steve Edmiston, filmmaker and founder of the Men In Black Birthday Bash — an in‑depth examination of the case and its lasting legacy
📍 Where: McMenamins Elks Temple, Spanish Ballroom (Tacoma, WA)
📅 When: June 3rd, 2026
🔗 Event details & tickets:
https://www.mcmenamins.com/events/274794-history-pub
If you want to brush up beforehand, we’ve covered the Maury Island Incident extensively on the podcast. Head to:
👉 https://rainydayrabbitholes.com/podcast
Then type “maury” into the search bar to find our four episodes diving deep into the case.
💛 A Behind‑the‑Scenes Update
We also wanted to share a little honesty about the show.
Each episode of Rainy Day Rabbit Holes involves researching, reading, outlining, writing, recording, editing, releasing, maintaining the website, and keeping up with social media. It’s a labor of love — but it can also be a lot.
Jody and Shea are both feeling a bit stretched thin right now. We love this podcast deeply and can’t imagine it not being part of our lives, but we never want it to become something we resent or phone in. Keeping the joy alive matters to us.
So, going forward:
Full‑length episodes will be released every other week
On the off weeks, we’ll still bring you 5 Minute Fridays, because those are fun and low‑lift
We may also take a short summer break (a month or two) to fully recharge and come back refreshed
You may also hear some guest hosts from our Umbrella Podcast Collective, including:
Laura & Stephen from Midday Movies
Kevin from Tyrant in Training
And Shea’s big brother, Jason

✉️ Want to Be Part of the Show?
We’d love to involve the community even more.
If you’re creative and interested in submitting a story, outline, or even a listener‑written episode that could be featured on the show, please reach out.
📧 Email: [email protected]
Thank you, truly, for your support, your love, and your patience. We’re so grateful for this community — and we’re excited about what’s ahead, at a pace that keeps Rainy Day Rabbit Holes joyful for everyone involved.
❤️
Jody & Shea

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This week, Rainy Day Rabbit Holes is stepping a little off our usual path of unhinged history and strange stories—and doing so for a cause that means a lot to us.
In honor of Podcastathon, a global event where podcasters shine a light on causes that matter, Shea and Jody are dedicating this special episode to PACK (People for Animal Care and Kindness)—a volunteer‑driven nonprofit right here in our community that helps pets and the people who love them stay together during hard times.
Instead of rabbit holes full of chaos (don’t worry, we’ll be back to that soon), we’re sharing true animal hero stories that highlight loyalty, bravery, and compassion:
A house cat who body‑checks a dog to save a child
Two guide dogs who led their blind owners out of the World Trade Center on 9/11
A loyal rescue dog who refused to move until help followed her to her injured owner
And Shea’s own deeply personal PACK story involving a foster dog named Ruff who became family
This episode is about the quiet, compassionate work that makes happy endings possible—late‑night texts, emergency vet care, temporary fosters, and people who show up when it matters most.
If this episode makes you smile, cry, or hug your pet a little tighter, we hope you’ll consider supporting PACK and the work they do every single day.
❤️ How You Can Help
Learn more and donate: https://www.packgives.org/
Support Podcastathon: https://podcasthon.org/
🌧️ More Rainy Day Rabbit Holes
Website, photos & sources: https://www.rainydayrabbitholes.com
Bonus episodes & ad‑free listening on Patreon (link on our site)
Thank you for listening, for caring, and for helping us support an organization that makes our community kinder—for animals and humans alike.
https://podcasthon.org/podcaster/rainy-day-rabbit-holes

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Last week we shared a strange little Victorian love poem about a cannibal bride.
This week… things escalate.
In this Five Minute Friday episode, Shea reads another cannibal-themed poem from the archives: “How Three Were Made One,” published in The White Pine News in 1891.
The poem features a love triangle, a violent rivalry, and a punchline that only Victorian newspaper readers could find amusing.
But it also reveals something interesting about the cultural moment that produced it. Nineteenth-century Americans and Europeans were fascinated with stories of “savages” and cannibals, and those ideas showed up everywhere—from adventure novels to newspaper jokes.
This episode explores how those stereotypes appeared in everyday entertainment and why historians sometimes pay attention to odd little artifacts like this one.
Because sometimes the strangest things in the archive tell us the most about the world people thought they lived in.

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Part 2 of 2

Alfred Packer should have been hanged.
The verdict was clear. The sentence was delivered with venom. The public was ready to watch justice swing from a rope. And then—everything fell apart.
In Part Two of the Colorado Cannibal story, the horror leaves the mountains and enters the courtroom, where legal loopholes, jurisdictional chaos, and a stunning legislative mistake derail what seemed like an open-and-shut case. As lawyers argue over maps, treaties, and vanished statutes, a convicted killer becomes something unthinkable: a celebrity.
What follows is a saga of failed executions, rewritten charges, and a second trial that exposes just how fragile justice can be when laws change faster than crimes can be prosecuted. Witnesses dismantle the starvation defense. Evidence resurfaces. Sentences stretch into record-breaking territory.
Then comes the twist no one expects—a fearless reporter, a newspaper war, gunfire in a newsroom, and a campaign that transforms a cannibal into a cause. By the time the dust settles, the question isn’t whether Alfred Packer was guilty. It’s how the system let him walk free.
This is the conclusion of one of the American West’s most disturbing true crime stories—where the law blinks, history shrugs, and the legacy somehow ends with a cafeteria bearing his name.

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