On February 16, 1923, Howard Carter opened Tutankhamun's burial chamber, revealing intact treasures from a pharaoh who had been dead for over 3,000 years. The archaeological triumph was quickly overshadowed by the "curse of the pharaohs" myth after Lord Carnarvon's death. Both the science and the superstition reveal truths about how we grapple with disturbing the dead questions that remain urgent today in debates over museum repatriation, cultural respect, and the ethics of displaying human remains.

On February 15, 1898, the USS Maine exploded in Havana Harbor, killing 266 sailors and launching America toward war with Spain. But a century of investigations suggests the explosion was probably an accident, not an attack. This episode explores how grief, media sensationalism, and national ambition combined to create a war based on a misunderstanding and established patterns of American behavior that echo through history to this day.

On February 14, 1912, Arizona became the 48th state after removing judicial recall from its constitution to satisfy President Taft. The next day, they started the process to put it back. This episode explores the tension between judicial independence and democratic accountability a debate that remains unresolved today.