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From bonfires on Celtic hillsides to candy corn on suburban porches, Halloween has always been more than just costumes and sugar. It’s a patchwork of ancient rituals, medieval prayers, Victorian séances, and Hollywood monsters—stitched together into the strange night we know today. In this video, we’ll wander through the centuries of Halloween’s transformations, exploring how a night once meant to ward off restless spirits became a festival of plastic masks, slasher movies, and candy buckets.

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• Blanket Soft Enough to Make the Plague Feel Tolerable → https://amzn.to/3GSOq8f

• Weighted Blanket for Pretending You’re a Mummified Pharaoh → https://amzn.to/4kVJCgE

• Sleep Mask Headphones For Total Historical Escape → https://amzn.to/4nWsNVn

• Book Light for Reading About Plagues at 2AM → https://amzn.to/4eSg0iu

• White Noise Machine for Blocking Out the 21st Century → https://amzn.to/3GJ9jTw

These are affiliate links. I may earn a small commission if you purchase through them—at no extra cost to you. Thanks for supporting the show while staying cozy.

#HalloweenHistory #StrangeHistory #DrowsyHistorian #SpookySeason #HistoryForSleep #HalloweenOrigins

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The life of a WWII tail gunner was not glory, but cold, noise, and isolation inside a glass bubble at the back of a Flying Fortress. Chosen for being small enough to fit, tail gunners endured -40°C temperatures, oxygen masks freezing to their faces, and the constant roar of engines and guns rattling their bones. They were the first target for enemy fighters, the last to be reached if wounded, and most never survived the 25 missions that promised a ticket home.

This is not the story of fearless heroes, but of expendable men locked in coffins of glass and steel — forgotten as soon as replacements arrived.

🛏️ Drowsy Historian’s Favorite Sleep Tools

Looking to upgrade your nighttime routine? These are a few things I personally use or recommend:

• Sleep Earbuds for Enhanced Immersion → https://amzn.to/4nkFuZD

• Blanket Soft Enough to Make the Plague Feel Tolerable → https://amzn.to/3GSOq8f

• Weighted Blanket for Pretending You’re a Mummified Pharaoh → https://amzn.to/4kVJCgE

• Sleep Mask Headphones For Total Historical Escape → https://amzn.to/4nWsNVn

• Book Light for Reading About Plagues at 2AM → https://amzn.to/4eSg0iu

• White Noise Machine for Blocking Out the 21st Century → https://amzn.to/3GJ9jTw

These are affiliate links. I may earn a small commission if you purchase through them—at no extra cost to you. Thanks for supporting the show while staying cozy.

#History #WWII #Tailgunner #DrowsyHistorian #WWIIHistory #B17 #FlyingFortress #WarStories

Get early episodes & ad-free audio on Patreon: https://patreon.com/DrowsyHistorian

Rome liked to call itself eternal. In reality, it was a thousand-year exercise in exhaustion, a city that stumbled from myth to monarchy, from Republic to Empire, from marble to rubble. This is the full story of Rome — not as a parade of glory, but as a slow-motion disaster dressed in togas and temples. From wolves and twins on the Tiber, to senators stabbing one another, to emperors sulking on islands, to gladiators bleeding in the sand, to barbarians collecting their ransom in gold, every chapter reveals less a destiny than a mess. Rome survived longer than anyone expected, but it did so on fear, spectacle, and stubbornness, until at last it collapsed with all the grandeur of a child dismissed from a throne.

🛏️ Drowsy Historian’s Favorite Sleep Tools

Looking to upgrade your nighttime routine? These are a few things I personally use or recommend:

• Sleep Earbuds for Enhanced Immersion → https://amzn.to/4nkFuZD

• Blanket Soft Enough to Make the Plague Feel Tolerable → https://amzn.to/3GSOq8f

• Weighted Blanket for Pretending You’re a Mummified Pharaoh → https://amzn.to/4kVJCgE

• Sleep Mask Headphones For Total Historical Escape → https://amzn.to/4nWsNVn

• Book Light for Reading About Plagues at 2AM → https://amzn.to/4eSg0iu

• White Noise Machine for Blocking Out the 21st Century → https://amzn.to/3GJ9jTw

These are affiliate links. I may earn a small commission if you purchase through them—at no extra cost to you. Thanks for supporting the show while staying cozy.

#Rome #History #FallOfRome #RomanEmpire #AncientHistory #Documentary #DrowsyHistorian