Mini Myths
The Truth Behind Summer Break
Thought it was so kids could help out on the farm?Think again. It’s the middle of summer, Buzzkillers, and thank goodness the kids are home from school, helping out on the farm. They’re working here at the Buzzkill Institute, too, mowing the lawn and doing other laborious tasks that are essential to our success as…
Read MoreThe Liberty Bell
Examining the source of the crack It’s a dramatic and poignant story, Buzzkillers. July 4, 1776: the Second Continental Congress had been meeting in Philadelphia for over a year, trying to hammer out how to win the Revolutionary War and establish an independent nation. On that day they agreed to adopt the Declaration of Independence. The…
Read MoreThe Star Spangled Banner
There are so many aspects of American history and patriotism that we think originated in the revolutionary period of the 1770s, but are actually products of a hundred years later, in the waning decades of the 19th century, and sometimes are products of the 20th century. The national anthem, the Star Spangled Banner, is perhaps…
Read MoreThe Hitler Jig
Hitler didn’t dance that jig France fell to Nazi Germany in June 1940. The Germans stage managed it so that Hitler would receive the French surrender in the same railroad car that the Germans had signed their surrender that ended World War I. Hitler stepped out of the railway car while the surrender documents were…
Read MoreEve and the Apple
The apple of Adam’s eye Many of us “know” that, in the Garden of Eden, Eve was tempted by a serpent to eat an apple from the tree of knowledge. She ate the apple, and that led to God expelling her and Adam from the Garden of Eden. This is known as the “Fall of…
Read MoreThe Titanic
The “unsinkable” ship that sunk The myths about the RMS Titanic, which sank on April 15, 1912, are themselves so big and numerous that we could call them titanic in their own right. In fact, they’ve lasted so long they might be considered unsinkable. Let’s take that word, “unsinkable,” first. The story is that the…
Read MoreThe Pony Express
The Pony Express “ponies” were actually mules The image of the Pony Express is very strong in the American consciousness. Here’s what we “remember” — a rider galloping as fast as the wind through the wild west, ignoring the elements, dodging hostile Native Americans, and delivering the mail. But that image owes more to Buffalo…
Read MoreThe Spanish Flu Pandemic
The flu didn’t start in Spain, so why have they been blamed? The great influenza pandemic of 1918-1920 was the one of the worst disasters in human history. It is difficult to determine with pinpoint accuracy, but experts say that somewhere between 50 and 100 million people were killed by the flu world-wide. Compare that…
Read MoreTy Cobb Myths
Does Ty Cobb live up to his reputation? He is often referred to as one of greatest baseball players of all time, but was Ty Cobb, the Georgia Peach, rotten to the core? Was his professional greatness mirrored by personal repugnance? As is so often the case, Cobb’s soiled reputation was mostly the product of a…
Read MoreThe Hindenburg Disaster
How a technical error affected our interpretation of history We often talk about the effects that the reporting of dramatic and important events from the past has had on how those events (and the people involved) are treated in history. The initial reports are accurate enough, but usually are then misunderstood, misinterpreted, or deliberately tweaked…
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