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SPILLED.

SPILLED.

Written by: Delaney & Kendyl Florence
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About this listen

Kendyl and Delaney Florence are bringing you history’s hottest gossip, every other Tuesday. SPILLED. brings you the tea you didn’t know you needed through a light-hearted and (somewhat) educational podcast on historic scandals, betrayals, rumors, and more. Each episode will focus on a new - well, old - story that will leave you with the coolest fun facts at your next dinner party. Join us to make history a bit more fun, and a lot juicier.


Business Inquiries: spilledhistory@gmail.com

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Copyright 2025 All rights reserved. Social Sciences World
Episodes
  • F*ck, Marry, Kill: Aqua Tofana, The Original Husband Poison

    F*ck, Marry, Kill: Aqua Tofana, The Original Husband Poison
    Feb 11 2026

    This week, we’re talking Giulia Tofana and the infamous Aqua Tofana — the legendary 17th-century poison rumored to be colorless, tasteless, and almost impossible to detect. We break down the history, the myths, and why this story still fascinates people today, especially its ties to women secretly poisoning abusive husbands in a time when divorce wasn’t an option.


    Plus, because it’s us, we’re playing Fuck, Marry, Kill inspired by the episode.


    If you love dark history, true crime legends, and chaotic commentary, this one’s for you.


    SOURCES:


    Griffiths, Arthur. “Female Criminals.” The North American Review 161, no. 465 (1895): 141–52. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25103561.


    Review of Inorganic Poisons, by Paul Dittrich, Franz Erben, and R. v. Jaksch. The British Medical Journal 2, no. 2556 (1909): 1802–3. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25289004.


    Johann Wilhelm Archenholz recounted the story of “Aqua Tofana” in his travel narrative England und Italien (1785)


    https://www.folger.edu/blogs/shakespeare-and-beyond/women-and-early-modern-poison/


    Dash, Mike. “Aqua Tofana,” n.d.

    From the greater book “Toxicology in the Middle Ages and Renaissance”


    Ferraro, Joanne M. “The Power to Decide: Battered Wives in Early Modern Venice.”

    Renaissance Quarterly 48, no. 3 (1995): 492–512. https://doi.org/10.2307/2862872.

    Monson, Craig A. The Black Widows of the Eternal City: The True Story of Rome’s Most

    Infamous Poisoners. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2020.



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    49 mins
  • The Salem Witch Trials Debunked

    The Salem Witch Trials Debunked
    Jan 27 2026

    We're back with our MOST requested episode yet -- the Salem Witch Trials! Join us to hear us unpack the biggest misconceptions, implications, and causes of the witch hunts and trials that plagued Salem, Massachusetts between February 1692 – May 1693. We cover famous trials, shocking facts, and as always, one too many dirty jokes.


    SOURCES:

    • Deodat Lawson, A Brief and True Narrative of Some Remarkable Passages Relating to Sundry Persons Afflicted by Witchcraft, at Salem Village Which happened from the Nineteenth of March to the Fifth of April 1692 (Boston: Benjamin Harris, 1692), p. 9.
    • Norton, Mary Beth. In the Devil's Snare: The Salem Witchcraft Crisis of 1692. Alfred A. Knopf, 2002
    • Georgescu, Sedona. Fear Thy Neighbor: Spatial Relations in 17th Century New England Witch-Hunt Trials. Documents, 2017. https://jstor.org/stable/community.34031178.
    • https://doi.org/10.2307/362849.
    • (A. Scott, personal communication, 2025)


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    1 hr and 6 mins
  • We Thought the World Was Ending? Y2K Explained

    We Thought the World Was Ending? Y2K Explained
    Jan 13 2026
    Everyone jokes that Y2K was fake. It wasn’t. It was stopped.In this episode, we break down how a tiny design choice made decades earlier put banks, power grids, hospitals, air traffic control, and even nuclear systems on edge as the clock approached January 1, 2000. We explore why the Y2K bug was a real, systemic risk, how hundreds of billions of dollars and years of invisible labor quietly defused it, and why the absence of disaster became proof of success. Drawing on first-hand accounts (from Reddit, obviously) from the programmers who fixed the code and waited on call, we chat aboutY2K as a case study in technological dependence, mass anxiety, and what it actually looks like when prevention works.Sources:Scholarly + Academic / Research ReportsBosch, Olivia. “Expectations in 1999 of Potential Impact of Y2K.” In The Year 2000 Issue and Information Infrastructure Security. Norwegian Institute for Defence Studies, 2001. http://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep20291.6.Bosch, Olivia. “Motivations for Dealing with Y2K.” In The Year 2000 Issue and Information Infrastructure Security. Norwegian Institute for Defence Studies, 2001. http://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep20291.5.Bosch, Olivia. “What Happened?” In The Year 2000 Issue and Information Infrastructure Security. Norwegian Institute for Defence Studies, 2001. http://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep20291.7.Garcia-Feijóo, Luis, and John R. Wingender. “Y2K: Myth or Reality?” Quarterly Journal of Business and Economics 46, no. 3 (2007): 27–44. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40473301.Romanosky, Sasha, and Jonathan W. Welburn. “Disclosure of Software Supply Chain Risks.” RAND Corporation, 2022. http://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep41324.Knox, Hannah. “How the Climate Takes Shape.” In Thinking Like a Climate: Governing a City in Times of Environmental Change, 63–66. Duke University Press, 2020. https://doi.org/10.2307/jj.33610740.8.Journalism / Magazine / NewsKolker, Claudia. “Seeking Y2K Getaway, Some Head for the Hills, in Ozarks.” Los Angeles Times, April 4, 1999. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-apr-04-mn-24190-story.html.Radil, Amy. “The Y2K Bust.” Minnesota Public Radio, December 30, 1999. https://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/199912/30_radila_y2k-m/.Ratcliffe, Mitch. “Y2K Survivalists Struggle with Reality.” UPI, January 2, 2000. Accessed January 5, 2026. https://www.upi.com/Archives/2000/01/02/Y2K-survivalists-struggle-with-reality/8815946789200/.Rothman, Lily. “Remember Y2K? Here’s How We Prepped for the Non-Disaster.” Time, December 31, 2014. Accessed January 5, 2026. https://time.com/3645828/y2k-look-back/.(Archive video collection) “25 years since Y2K archive collection.” KSBW. https://www.ksbw.com/article/25-years-since-y2k-archive-collection/63241773Museums / Educational ReferenceSmithsonian National Museum of American History. “Y2K.” Accessed January 2, 2026. https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/object-groups/y2k.EBSCO Research Starters. “Y2K Crisis.” https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/computer-science/y2k-crisis.National Geographic Education. “Y2K bug.” https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/Y2K-bug/.Government / Primary DocumentsYear 2000 Information and Readiness Disclosure Act. Public Law 105–271 (1998). https://www.congress.gov/105/plaws/publ271/PLAW-105publ271.pdf.The White House (Clinton Administration Archives). “The Year 2000 Information and Readiness Disclosure Act” / related statement and “National Y2K Action Week” materials (October 1998). https://clintonwhitehouse4.archives.gov/WH/Work/101998.htmlTrade / Professional PublicationWitherspoon, Roger. “Y2K: The Millennium Mystery.” Hispanic Engineer and Information Technology 14, no. 2 (1999): 50–51. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43827991.Scholarly Article (Environmental / Public Health angle)Chepesiuk, Ron. “Y2K: The Moment of Truth.” Environmental Health Perspectives 107, no. 5 (1999): A252–55. https://doi.org/10.2307/3434533. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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    52 mins
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