Hosted by iHeartPodcasts · 🇺🇸 US · EN-US · 87 episodes
Established thought leaders with verified media credentials.
On the Very Special Episodes podcast, we tell one incredible story each week. Stranger-than-fiction tales about normal people in extraordinary situations. Stories that make you say, “this should be a movie.” Follow Dana Schwartz, Zaron Burnett, and Jason English down a different rabbit hole every Wednesday.
iHeartPodcasts hosts Very Special Episodes, a history show with 87 episodes published.
Thanks to her McDonald’s fortune, Joan Kroc was one of the world’s wealthiest people. And she was determined to die nearly broke. * Special thanks to our guests Lisa Napoli, Dick Starmann, and Stephanie Bergsma. Go check
Comic Sans is a punchline. A design crime. Cultural shorthand for bad taste. But the notorious font's legacy isn't one of failure. Because Comic Sans succeeded in ways its critics never saw coming. * Hosted by Dana Schwa
In 1968, a woman wrote a romantic story about Kirk and Spock, passed it quietly among friends, and hoped it would never see the light of day. Before vanishing entirely, The Ring of Soshern had become the stuff of legend.
In the winter of 1939, Finland faced overwhelming odds. The Soviet Union was invading with hundreds of thousands of troops. Standing in their way was an unlikely defender: a shy farmer and expert marksman who would later
Emma has never felt the sun on her skin. Born with a rare condition that makes UV light dangerous, she lives by sunscreen, meters, and moonlight. But she’s also part of a community finding extraordinary ways to make ordi
When Ian Fleming needed a name for the secret agent at the center of his new novel, he stole one from the cover of a birdwatching book. The real James Bond wasn’t a martini-drinking spy, but a shy American ornithologist
![The Mysterious Death of Andy the Sneaker-Wearing Goose [Re-Release] episode artwork](https://www.omnycontent.com/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/a9f8aaf1-b12b-40b8-85aa-b08f0126e2b6/1aab7d08-5771-4b05-931d-b44f0181530e/image.jpg?t=1779236698&size=Large)
Gene Fleming and his pet goose Andy made headlines around the world. They brought out the best in the people of Hastings, Nebraska. But amid all this attention, Andy also brought out the worst. And three decades later, A
In June 1970, Dock Ellis of the Pittsburgh Pirates somehow tossed a no-hitter while tripping on acid. The LSD stunt made him a legend, but it overshadowed a much deeper story: a man who spent the second half of his life
In 1978, Soviet geologists flying over Siberia spotted something impossible: a family living in total isolation, untouched for decades by the modern world. But when outsiders finally reached their remote cabin, the famil
Time for another mailbag episode! This week Dana, Zaron, and Jason answer pressing listener questions on yearbook quotes, hidden talents, and ads they'd read for free. Plus they plan a Very Special Festival (and/or Cruis
Today's episode is a tour of New York’s secret history with a very special guest! Greg Young of the beloved Bowery Boys podcast joins us to prove the world is a very interesting place, if you just know where to look. The
Today we're sharing an excerpt from a new soccer podcast, The Away End with John Green and Daniel Alarcón. In a recent episode they covered the 1994 Caribbean Cup, which felt very Very Special Episodes-y. If you like soc
Long before the NCAA Basketball Tournament became a billion-dollar business, there was a massive betting pool run out of a neighborhood bar on Staten Island. The Irish pub’s $10 game handed out million-dollar prizes and
In honor of April Fools' Day, Zaron Burnett digs into a persistent legend surrounding VSE regular Richard Nixon. With a little help from his pops, Zaron ventures into smoky clubs to unpack a bizarre tale of jazz, drugs,
On a quiet morning in Hawaii, cell phones across the islands lit up with a text message that felt impossible — a ballistic missile was inbound, and this was not a drill. For 38 minutes, hundreds of thousands of people be
In the 1960s, a newly independent Zambia entered the space race with a bold — and baffling — plan. Led by self-declared “Minister of Space” Edward Nkoloso, a team of would-be astronauts trained in oil drums, dreamed of M
In 2000, weeks before the Academy Awards ceremony, 55 Oscars vanished during shipment to Los Angeles. The disappearance triggered a frantic search. Then, in a twist worthy of a movie plot, a man digging through a grocery
In 1929, a pair of European lovers abandoned civilization for a remote island in the Galápagos. Their utopian experiment made headlines around the world. But within a few years, several residents had vanished or died und
For 20 years, Canadian sailor Lawrence Lemieux chased perfection on the water. He slept in vans. He drained his savings. He dedicated his life to a single goal: standing on an Olympic podium. At the 1988 Games in Seoul,
In the winter of 1980, the world turned its eyes to Lake Placid, New York, host of the Winter Olympics. But behind the pageantry, another structure loomed in the Adirondack woods. Built to house 1,800 athletes, the Olymp
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Very Special Episodes is hosted by iHeartPodcasts. The show is categorised under history (education) and has published 87 episodes.
Very Special Episodes has published 87 episodes.
Very Special Episodes regularly covers history, education, society. It sits in the history category, with a education focus.
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