Rainy Day Rabbit Holes: History Unhinged

This 5 Minute Friday episode takes one strange headline and follows it all the way to the edge of the map.
In 2021, a small coastal town in Japan made international news after using COVID-19 relief funds to build a giant pink squid statue. Critics scoffed. The internet laughed. Headlines spread far beyond the town itself—including this BBC report that first caught our attention:
👉 BBC News: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-56978075
But the Squid King didn’t appear out of nowhere.
After starting with that headline, we zoom out to explore the remote Noto Peninsula, a rugged corner of Japan shaped by fishing culture, isolation, and a long history of adapting to uncertainty. In places like this, visibility can mean survival—and sometimes that means embracing the absurd.
Then, on January 1, 2024, the ground itself shifted. A powerful earthquake struck the peninsula, damaging towns and reshaping coastlines, reminding everyone just how precarious life in this region can be.
In our 5 Minute Friday episodes, we share some of our favorite headlines and curious stories from around the world—short listens that spiral into much bigger ideas.
Find more episodes, bonus content, and all things Rainy Day Rabbit Holes at:
🌧️ https://rainydayrabbitholes.com

Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/history-unhinged-rainy-day-rabbit-holes/exclusive-content

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

In this episode, Jody tackles what may be the most unhinged athletic event ever sanctioned by adults with clipboards: the 1904 Olympic Marathon. Held in brutal heat, on dusty roads, with questionable medical advice and competitors who probably should not have been left unattended, this race quickly devolved into a survival experiment disguised as sport.
What unfolds is a parade of bad decisions—athletes collapsing, hallucinating, hitching car rides, consuming alarming “performance enhancers,” and redefining what the word marathon was even supposed to mean. Jody walks us through the madness with sharp humor and just enough historical grounding to make the whole thing even funnier. The result is a story that feels less like Olympic glory and more like a cautionary tale about hubris, pseudoscience, and the early 20th century’s extremely loose relationship with safety.
It’s history at its most absurd, and proof that sometimes the past doesn’t whisper lessons—it sprints toward you, covered in dust, doing something deeply inadvisable.
For more strange history, deep dives, and delightful nonsense, visit our website at Rainy Day Rabbit Holes Podcast:
👉 rainydayrabbitholes.com
Want bonus episodes, early access, and extra rabbit holes? You can support the show and unlock more chaos over on Patreon:
👉 patreon.com/rainydayrabbitholes
History is weird. We intend to keep it that way.

Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/history-unhinged-rainy-day-rabbit-holes/exclusive-content

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Did wealthy Wall Street elites try to overthrow President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1934?
In this episode of Rainy Day Rabbit Holes, we dive into one of the strangest and least-taught chapters in American history: The Business Plot, an alleged fascist coup attempt against FDR during the Great Depression.
In 1934, decorated Marine Corps Major General Smedley Darlington Butler—a two-time Medal of Honor recipient and one of the most respected military figures in the country—testified before Congress that powerful businessmen approached him with a shocking proposal. They wanted him to lead 500,000 veterans in a march on Washington, intimidate President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and install a new authoritarian-style government.
Yes. In the United States. During the 1930s.
The alleged conspirators were connected to major financial and industrial interests, including Wall Street power players and members of the American Liberty League. Butler claimed the plan involved replacing democratic authority with a “Secretary of General Affairs”—a role that functioned suspiciously like a dictator. The proposed justification? That FDR was too weak and too radical to govern.
The House McCormack–Dickstein Committee investigated. They confirmed that discussions of such a plot had taken place. And yet—no one was prosecuted. Major newspapers dismissed the story as a hoax. The headlines faded. The plot slipped into obscurity.
Why isn’t this taught in most history classes?
Who benefited from burying it?
And what does this moment reveal about the tension between corporate power and democracy in America?
We explore:
The economic chaos of the Great Depression
The rise of fascist movements globally in the 1930s
Butler’s explosive testimony
The media response
And why this story still echoes today
History is messy. Sometimes it’s buried on purpose.
For photos, sources, and more unhinged deep dives into politics, culture, and the strange corners of American history, visit https://www.rainydayrabbitholes.com
Our beautiful website was created by Letha Davis of https://www.easybrzy.com. If you love how our site looks and functions, Letha can build one for you too.
Join us, stay curious, and let’s keep digging.

Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/history-unhinged-rainy-day-rabbit-holes/exclusive-content

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Bonus Sample from our Patreon Bonus Episode!
Today, Shea brings you the history of the Nakasendo trail, a 400 year old road that stretches from Kyoto to Tokyo. Sections of this trail, and the towns that were built up along it to provide services to the feudal lords and samurai who used it, are perfectly preserved. Hiking through Tsumago-juku and Magome-juku is like time travel. In this episode, walk along with Shea as she and her brother hike over 13 miles through bamboo forests along the iconic Nakasendo trail.

If you want to hear how it ends, head on over to rainydayrabbitholes.com to check out our Patreon! For just $5 per month you get bonus content, ad-free and early episodes, and so much more!

Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/history-unhinged-rainy-day-rabbit-holes/exclusive-content

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Arizona is known for deserts, dust, and dramatic sunsets—not naval warfare. And yet, in 1934, the state of Arizona very briefly assembled an honest-to-God navy and aimed it straight at California. In this episode of Rainy Day Rabbit Holes, we dive into one of the strangest interstate standoffs in U.S. history, where water rights, political grudges, and pure stubbornness collided on the Colorado River.
At the center of the chaos is Parker Dam, a massive federal project straddling the Arizona–California border, and a decades-long fight over who gets to control the river that keeps the Southwest alive. When Arizona decided California had gone too far, the governor responded with troops, martial law, and commandeered ferry boats. Yes—ferry boats. Thus, the Arizona Navy was born.
Newspapers mocked it. California scoffed. Arizona doubled down. For 48 unforgettable hours, a landlocked state patrolled the river with armed guards and a newly appointed admiral, proving once and for all that when it comes to water, Arizona does not play nice. The outcome was short-lived, deeply ironic, and somehow still echoing into modern water politics.
This episode is a perfect snapshot of unhinged history: equal parts political drama, regional rivalry, and “wait…that really happened?” If you like stories where reality outdoes satire, you’re in the right rabbit hole.
For more episodes, photos, and sources, visit www.rainydayrabbitholes.com.
Want ad-free listening and bonus content? Support the show on Patreon at www.rainydayrabbitholes.com/support.
Huge thanks to Letha Davis for building our beautiful website. If you love how Rainy Day Rabbit Holes looks online, you can have your own site built by Letha at www.easybrzy.com.

Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/history-unhinged-rainy-day-rabbit-holes/exclusive-content

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy