The Backstory with Patty Steele

In the 1800s death was a lot more of a regular occurrence in people’s lives. Almost half of all children died by the time they were 5! So . . the Victorians developed some pretty unusual ways of processing that reality. Feel free to DM me if you have a story you’d like me to cover . . on Facebook it’s Patty Steele and on Instagram Real Patty SteeleSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It was supposed to be minor, routine surgery. But the anesthesia had a strange effect on this Academy Award winning actress. Afterward, every thought, every conversation, and even things she saw . . literally turned into music in her head. This is what she did with the endless earworm.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Imagine Being a World Famous Rock Star . . And at the Same Time Effectively Raising 3 Children With Disabilities. It’s the Amazing Story of Neil Young’s Devotion to His Family Life. Feel Free to DM Me If You Have a Story You’d Like Me to Dig In To. On Facebook It’s Patty Steele and on Instagram Real Patty Steele.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As we try to shake off mountains of snow here on the East Coast, it’s a time to remember some of the most challenging moments when human beings have had to find a way to survive in a frigid wilderness. In some cases . . cannibalism was the only way out. Feel free to DM me if you have a story you’d like me to dig in to. On Facebook it’s Patty Steele and on Instagram Real Patty Steele.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jeffrey Epstein’s files have upended peoples’ lives and resulted in the first arrest of a royal family member in 400 years. But the beginning of the end for these big shots actually took place over 60 years ago during an earth shattering sex scandal in London. Feel free to DM me if you have a story you’d like me to dig in to. On Facebook it’s Patty Steele and on Instagram Real Patty Steele.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Winter Olympics Could Be the Last Gasp of a 3000 Year Old Competition. Or . . It Could Be the Games That Bring It Back to Life. Feel Free to DM Me if You Have a Story You’d Like Me to Dig in To. On Facebook It’s Patty Steele and on Instagram Real Patty SteeleSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Human attachment is thousands of years old . . but Valentine’s Day started off as a blood soaked Roman pagan fertility festival. The romance element is a pretty recent development. As usual, the Victorians reinvented it, taking it from a bloody sacrifice to roses and Valentine cards. If you have a story you’d like me to take a deeper dive into and share . . feel free to D.M. me on Facebook at Patty Steele or on Instagram at Real Patty Steele.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As we’ve seen playing out in the news, the kidnapping of a family member can lead to unspeakable heartbreak. But for one family, the abduction of their 16 year old son, elicited not much more than a yawn. That is, until kidnappers mailed them a body part. Please DM me if you have a story you’d like me to cover . . on Facebook it’s Patty Steele and on Instagram Real Patty Steele.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As we get ready to party with the Super Bowl, we take a look at the wild rise of the sport of football. We’ll explore it’s gruesome beginnings and it’s glorious evolution into America’s most watched sporting event. Feel free to DM me if you have a story you’d like me to cover . . on Facebook it’s Patty Steele and on Instagram Real Patty Steele.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How does a commercial jet carrying 239 people simply disappear . . forever. This is the story of Malaysia Flight 370, which vanished into thin air almost 12 years ago. It is still the greatest mystery in aviation history, but what really happened has become a whole lot clearer. DM me if you have a story you would like me to cover . . on Facebook it is Patty Steele and on Instagram Real Patty SteeleSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Super Bowl is days away, and while you’re sipping or guzzling your favorite beer, think about where it originated and how it actually came to be. We’re starting the story with a mistake that happened 13,000 years ago. DM me if you have a story you’d like me to cover. On Facebook, it’s Patty Steele, and on Instagram, Real Patty Steele.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A month ago we talked about the Olympic snowboarder turned international drug lord, Ryan Wedding. After a decade in hiding he turned himself in last Friday. But why? More on his life running a Mexican cartel, as well as what motivated his surrender. Feel free to DM me if you have a story you’d like me to cover . . On Facebook it’s Patty Steele and on Instagram Real Patty SteeleSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When the Great Fire of 1889 burned all of Seattle to the ground, one woman stepped in to help rebuild it bigger and better. She was one of the wealthiest people in the Northwest, but she also ran the ritziest bordello in the city. Here’s the thing: when the chips are down, even stuffy Victorians would take help where they could get it. So how did she make and spend all her money? Feel free to DM me if you have a story you’d like me to cover . . on Facebook it’s Patty Steele and on Instagram Real Patty SteeleSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's a new year and we're all looking to step up our game. So let's revisit a look at beauty in the past. We’ll do anything to look fabulous these days . . but we have nothing on our ancestors. They used face creams made from animal and human pee. They glued animal pelts on unusual body parts. And they literally poisoned themselves in their quest for perfect skin and hair.Feel free to DM me if you have a story you’d like me to cover . . on Facebook it’s Patty Steele and on Instagram Real Patty SteeleSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Competition can make you or break you… and it’s not always your call. We watch the skaters at the Winter Olympics and marvel at the pristine beauty and flawless execution. But what goes on behind the scenes and in the aftermath… can be a way more compelling story. Feel free to DM me if you have a story you’d like me to cover. On Facebook it’s Patty Steele, and on Instagram, Real Patty Steele.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If you do any writing for school, work, creativity, or pleasure . . you’ve probably relied a little bit on Wikipedia as a stunt brain of sorts. Now imagine that it almost went the way of Friendster or Napster. There’s nothing else like it . . but in 2007, it almost disappeared. DM me if you have a story you’d like me to cover . . on Facebook it’s Patty Steele and on Instagram Real Patty SteeleSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Winter Olympics are just weeks away. The athletes are celebrities! Now, imagine living 2 or 3,000 years ago and being an ancient Olympian. How did these guys compete, why did they compete, and how did they monetize their skill set? It was equal parts religion, eroticism, and highly valued body secretions. Feel free to DM me if you have a story you’d like me to cover. On Facebook it’s Patty Steele and on Instagram Real Patty Steele.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Forget Dry January. Can you imagine being dry for 13 years? That was Prohibition from 1920 to 1933. But some folks, including one wildly famous international visitor, found some sneaky ways around the ban, claiming doctor’s orders. And most others drank really sketchy liquor. Feel free to DM me if you have a story you’d like me to cover . . on Facebook it’s Patty Steele and on Instagram Real Patty SteeleSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What Did Steven Spielberg Get Right and What Did He Get Wrong About Real Life Dinosaurs in Jurassic Park? An Eminent Paleontologist Breaks It Down. We Also See How and Why the Movie Was Made the Way It Was. Also, Feel Free to DM Me If You Have a Story You’d Like Me to Cover . . On Facebook It’s Patty Steele and on Instagram Real Patty SteeleSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Home Alone, on a budget of just $18 million dollars, was the highest grossing film of 1990 in the U.S. It has become a holiday classic. But it almost didn’t get made. This is all about the skill and luck of bringing Home Alone to life and the amazing contributions of its 10 year old star. Feel free to DM me if you have a story you’d like me to cover . . on Facebook it’s Patty Steele and on Instagram Real Patty SteeleSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol . . inspired by political outrage? That’s the story and it makes sense when you hear what he went through and what he was seeing in London back in 1843.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We know all about the Christmas traditions we’ve grown up with, but where did they originate? We celebrate with Christmas trees, cards, lights, visits from Santa Claus, and lots of great food. But our ancestors were more likely to celebrate with drunken dancing, weird games, and street fights. How did Santa Claus, Christmas carols, and eggnog become a thing? And a reminder… feel free to DM me if you have a story you’d like me to cover. On Facebook it’s Patty Steele, and on Instagram Real Patty Steele.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It’s the winter solstice this weekend. We have a few months of frosty weather to deal with. But it’s amazing to consider how folks dealt with mountains of snow when there were no plows, nobody whose job it was to clear the streets and sidewalks . . and no central heat. Imagine giant cylinders being pulled through the streets to compact the snow! Feel free to DM me if you have a story you’d like me to cover . . on Facebook it’s Patty Steele and on Instagram Real Patty SteeleSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It’s the holiday season, a time that brings out our desire to please those we love, particularly the kids in our lives. There’s a red hot toy every year, but what happens when that toy puts dollar signs in the eyes of grownups? This is about one toy that caused a lot of folks financial ruin and divorce, while it made a billionaire out of the guy who created it. Feel free to DM me if you have a story you’d like me to cover . . On Facebook it’s Patty Steele and on Instagram Real Patty SteeleSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Every invention begins with a spark—a moment when imagination lights up with the thought of . . possibility. Problem is . . the line between that spark . . and an explosive outcome can be thinner than you think. This is about when death comes at the hands of your own invention.And remember, you can message me if you have a story you’d like me to dive into and share. On Facebook it’s Patty Steele and on Instagram Real Patty Steele.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A combination of fever dreams and cocaine led to one of the greatest horror stories of all time. Robert Louis Stevenson was dying of tuberculosis when he wrote “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.” He almost trashed it, but after nine days of frantic writing he had defined the gothic novel and given us a metaphor for people with split personalities: Jekyll and Hyde. If you have a story you’d like me to take a deeper dive into and share, just DM me. On Facebook it’s Patty Steele and on Instagram Real Patty Steele.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What Happens When Your Star Doesn’t Burn as Bright as Your Passion? Olympic snowboarder Ryan Wedding faced that question . . and is now on the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted List as an international drug lord. It’s about ambition without brakes and what happens when the skills that make you great — focus, risk tolerance, hunger for status — get redirected into a market where the rules are written in blood. This is Wedding’s descent from the mountaintops to the depths of drug dealing and murder. Do you have a story idea you’d like me to share? Just DM me! On Facebook it’s Patty Steele and on Instagram Real Patty Steele.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

50 years ago, Friday nights were all about going to the movie theater. Starting in the 1980s, the weekend plan involved heading to Blockbuster to pick up a movie and watching it at home. Today, we just stay home and watch Netflix. So, how did it all evolve? This is about two guys who asked . . and answered . . one simple question. Got an idea for a story you’d like me to cover? Feel free to DM me! On Facebook it’s Patty Steele and on Instagram Real Patty SteeleSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Many of us see Thanksgiving, most importantly, as a day to express gratitude. But gratitude is a universal expression of appreciation for our lives and our experiences. What’s amazing is how many Native Americans also celebrate gratitude on that day . . even though for them, it’s also a National Day of Mourning. But . . they still believe everyday is a day to give thanks. This is a peek into another perspective. This story was suggested by Backstory listener Mark Chambers from Midlothian Virginia. Feel free to DM me if you have a story you’d like me to cover . . on Facebook it’s Patty Steele and on Instagram Real Patty Steele.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Thanksgiving is… the best. Whether you celebrate with family, friends, or even on your own… what makes it the best is the focus on gratitude. At least a dozen countries celebrate with a day or days of gratitude. But… what about all those traditions? Did a few big-time influencers impact when we celebrate, how we celebrate, what we eat, and in our parts… even the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade? Where did all those traditions come from and how have they evolved?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Agatha Christie is the biggest selling novelist in world history. Well over 2 billion books sold in 103 languages. She is the forever queen of mystery. But her biggest mystery is her 1926 disappearance. It made headlines all over the world.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You think sex in the 18th century was all about being shy and virtuous? Not so much. Wait until you hear about the percentage of women who were pregnant before their wedding day. The Revolutionary War . . was actually on the cusp of a sexual revolution!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Before the world was industrialized less than 200 years ago . . it smelled really different! They didn’t have to deal with the smell of gasoline fumes, burning rubber or oil, or the output of giant smokey factories. But imagine 3 1/2 million pounds of manure dumped onto the streets of New York City every day! Were they nose blind?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Stephen King had nothing when he was a kid . . no dad, no money . . but he did have a flashlight so he could read books under the covers. His passion turned into his own books and films like Carrie, The Shining, Shawshank Redemption, Stand By Me, It, and The Long Walk. So, what was his secret?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Communicating quickly with family, friends, and work colleagues, whether miles apart or rooms apart, has always been a challenge. It’s one human beings have been dealing with for thousands of years. We’ve used everything from smoke signals, to telegraph, to telephones, to weird devices like a tube you’d blow into to fetch an extra blanket.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When you picture an art heist, like the one last month at the Louvre in Paris, you picture really cool looking international thieves. The guys nabbed in Paris however, were just regular small time crooks. But let’s go back to the most valuable museum heist in world history. It happened in Boston 35 years ago and was carried out by two guys wearing fake mustaches.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Monster stories are usually just fun thrillers told around a campfire. But what happened in a small Illinois town 50 years ago, has never been explained.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Halloween is really festive and a little spooky. But its origins and most of its traditions were both festive and spooky, on steroids! They originated in ancient Ireland, where the Celts held raging parties involving human sacrifice!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It’s the 96th anniversary of Black Thursday . . the day the stock market crashed, kicking off the Great Depression. There were stories in the immediate aftermath of dozens of investors jumping from buildings on Wall Street. But what inspired those stories and what really happened?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When we look at iconic movies, we can’t imagine them being different in any way from what we finally see on the screen. But making movies is an evolutionary process. Turns out Raiders of the Lost Ark almost didn’t get made and the role of Indiana Jones almost went to another very popular actor.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It’s the Perfect Scenario for a Horror Movie. A Contractor Lures 33 Kids to His Normal Looking Home to Party and Talk About a Job . . and They’re Never Seen Again. But Did John Wayne Gacy, the So Called Killer Clown, Have Accomplices? He Maintained He Did Until His Execution. No One Was Ever Charged but There Is Some Evidence.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Salem witch trials took place 333 years ago. They left a lot of bad energy in that small New England town. But folks who’ve visited one house in particular have some pretty chilling stories to tell about being strangled, burned, and scratched by 300 year old ghosts!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Conspiracy theories are everywhere these days, but that’s nothing new. They just get more oxygen with social media. The 1960s saw the rise of conspiracy theories in the aftermath of the JFK assassination and the distrust of the government after the advent of the Vietnam War. So, it’s no surprise that some folks didn’t believe man ever landed on ther moon. But the percentage of doubters then . . and even now, is staggering! It even caused astronaut Buzz Aldrin to punch one doubter in the face!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The White House has long been described as one of the most haunted houses in America. But imagine there's a world famous politician, staying in the Lincoln Bedroom. Just out of the shower, he walks naked over to the fireplace in the bedroom . . only to see Abe Lincoln sitting there. And he actually spoke to him!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Have you ever thought about what surgery would have been like before the advent of anesthesia? Doctors did everything from amputations to mastectomies to tooth extraction with almost no pain relief for the patient. Their secret was speed, and their assistants were the original men in black.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Haunted houses usually have a story that’s been embellished over the years or even just made up. But a mansion in New Orleans’ French Quarter, once owned by Nicholas Cage, has a documented history that’s absolutely horrifying. And even he was terrified of the place!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Serial killers use all sorts of techniques to carry out their deranged fantasies. Robert Hansen, who owned a bakeshop in Anchorage, Alaska, was also a methodical hunter of women. He’d kidnap them, fly them in his small plane into the Alaskan wilderness, where he’d release them and then hunt them down.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Imagine endless money and the life it offers you. But then . . imagine the downside. Countess Almina Rothschild was the wife of the Earl of Carnarvon. Marrying her gave him millions . . but that money made him a victim of the curse of King Tut’s tomb.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We all know about Steve Jobs and Apple. But how did he and his much quieter partner Steve Wozniak create this massive business that, like it or not, now controls our lives? What role did they each play in making it into the world’s first trillion-dollar company? And why did Steve Jobs get most of the money and fame?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Who’s the all-time G.O.A.T. in the world of sports? There are a handful of obvious choices… but perhaps the G.O.A.T. of all G.O.A.T.s is a guy who, over a hundred years ago, won Olympic gold and then dominated three professional sports: baseball, football, and basketball. Sadly, Jim Thorpe died broke. But why is a town he never visited named after him? How’d all that happen?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.