Did Marie Antoinette really say "let them eat cake"? Chris, Jessica and Gerald follow the line from a philosopher's memoir to a pastry crust and a Chinese emperor, find out who really made the guillotine, bust three rapid-fire myths, and visit a Spanish village where the devil jumps over babies.

0:00 Cold open: who said it?
0:41 Part 1: brioche, not cake
1:33 Part 2: Rousseau's "great princess"
2:40 Part 3: the line's older owners
4:18 Part 4: why it stuck to her
5:49 Bonus mess: who made the guillotine?
7:02 Rapid-fire mess
7:51 The Mess Report
8:23 Strange but Logical: El Colacho

Sources
Emperor Hui of Jin: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Let_them_eat_cake and https://en.5000yan.com/history-of-china/western-jin-dynasty/idiot-emperor.html
"Let them eat cake" (Rousseau, Marie-Therese): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Let_them_eat_cake and https://www.history.com/articles/did-marie-antoinette-really-say-let-them-eat-cake
Marie Antoinette's 1775 letter: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Let_them_eat_cake and https://www.historyofroyalwomen.com/marie-antoinette/marie-antoinette-and-the-let-them-eat-cake-myth/
The guillotine: https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/history/france-adopts-guillotine and https://francetoday.com/learn/history/did-you-know-the-guillotine-and-cutting-edge-technology/
The croissant: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/croissant-really-french-180955130/ and https://www.chowhound.com/1620365/marie-antoinette-croissant-myth-france
Salem: https://www.history.com/articles/were-witches-burned-at-the-stake-during-the-salem-witch-trials and https://historyofmassachusetts.org/witches-burned-stake-salem/
The iron maiden: https://www.history.co.uk/articles/the-iron-maiden-medieval-torture-device-or-modern-myth and https://www.livescience.com/55985-are-iron-maidens-torture-devices.html
El Colacho: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/el-colacho-baby-jumping-festival-murcia-spain and https://www.thelocal.com/20150608/baby-jumping-festival-lands-in-burgos-spain-2015-colacho

The Old Mess is voiced with AI and produced by Fola at Echoes Within Media.