Ill-Equipped History

The Forty Elephants: London's all Woman Gang

Episode 143. Emileigh and Morgan dive into the underbelly of London in the late 1800s to explore the world of the city's most notorious all woman gang. The Forty Elephants were terrorizing shop owners, the police, and the citizens with crimes and violence for decades. 
 
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Sources
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a79K0MpXxFY
 
https://www.londonmuseum.org.uk/collections/london-stories/forty-elephants-south-londons-supreme-shoplifters/
 
https://sagasofshe.wordpress.com/2022/08/10/the-forty-elephants/#:~:text=She%20also%20created%20the%20Hoister's,a%20percentage%20of%20their%20takings.
 
https://www.historyextra.com/period/victorian/forty-elephants-gang-who-real-mary-carr/
 
https://www.historicmysteries.com/history/40-elephants/28301/
 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forty_Elephants#Leadership
 

142: Madam CJ Walker: America's First Female Millionaire

The story of Madam CJ Walker is a true rags-to-riches tale. Sarah Breedlove was born on a cotton plantation just after slavery was abolished in the south. After being orphaned at a young age, she struggled until she finally had an idea - create her own brand of hair care products for black women. Sarah Breedlove became Madam CJ Walker, who had a brand that would last decades, and arguably make her America's first female millionaire. 
 
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Sources
“Madam C.J. Walker” by A’Lelia Bundles
https://www.britannica.com/money/Madam-C-J-Walker
 
“Madam C.J. Walker” 
https://www.womenofthehall.org/inductee/madam-c-j-walker/
 
“Self Made: What Happened to Madam C.J. Walker’s Hair-Care Empire?” by Yohana Desta (Mar 23 2020)
https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2020/03/self-made-madam-cj-walker-company-true-story
 
“How Madam C.J. Walker Invented Her Hair Care Products” by Sara Kettler (Jan 19 2021)
https://www.biography.com/inventors/madam-cj-walker-invent-hair-care-products
 
“The Sharecopper’s Daughter Who Made Black Women Proud of Their Hair” by Hunter Oatman-Stanford (Aug 31 2015)
https://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/madam-walker/
 
“Madam C.J. Walker” 
https://indianahistory.org/education/education-resources/educator-resources/famous-hoosiers/madam-c-j-walker/
 
“Madam C.J. Walker” (Jan 23 2024)
https://www.biography.com/business-leaders/madam-cj-walker
 
“Madam Walker, the First Black American Woman to Be a Self-Made Millionaire” by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. 
https://www.pbs.org/wnet/african-americans-many-rivers-to-cross/history/100-amazing-facts/madam-walker-the-first-black-american-woman-to-be-a-self-made-millionaire/
 
“Madam C.J. Walker” by Debra Michals (2015)
https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/madam-cj-walker
 
“Madam C.J. Walker, the first U.S. self-made female millionaire, gets her own Barbie” by Wynne Davis (Aug 27 2022)
https://www.npr.org/2022/08/27/1119699259/madam-c-j-walker-barbie
 
"Netflix's ‘Self Made’ suffers from self-inflicted wounds” by A’Lelia Bundles (May 12 2020)
https://andscape.com/features/netflixs-self-made-suffers-from-self-inflicted-wounds/
 
“Netflix’s Self Made Makes a Mess Out of Madam C.J. Walker’s Extraordinary Life” by Judy Berman (Mar 18 2020)
https://time.com/5805147/self-made-review-madam-cj-walker/
Sound Credits: 
 
Music by music_for_video from Pixabay 
https://pixabay.com/music/comedy-%d1%81omedy-21407/
 
Knock 7x.aif by lth_stp -- https://freesound.org/s/120491/ -- License: Attribution NonCommercial 3.0 

141: The Nuremberg Trial

Emileigh and Morgan take a look at the Nuremberg Trials that held many of the upper Nazi officials accountable for their crimes against humanity. 
 
Disclaimer: mentions of suicide and other potentially triggering subjects such as genocide and concentration camps. 
 
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Sources
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/timeline-event/holocaust/1942-1945/film-at-the-nuremberg-trial
 
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/how-were-the-crimes-defined
 
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/the-doctors-trial-the-medical-case-of-the-subsequent-nuremberg-proceedings
 
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/subsequent-nuremberg-proceedings#:~:text=Case%20%231%2C%20The%20Medical%20Case,12%2C%20The%20High%20Command%20Case
 
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/subsequent-nuremberg-proceedings-case-2-the-milch-case
 
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/subsequent-nuremberg-proceedings-case-3-the-justice-case
 
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/subsequent-nuremberg-proceedings-case-4-the-pohl-case
 
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/subsequent-nuremberg-proceedings-case-5-the-flick-case
 
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/subsequent-nuremberg-proceedings-case-6-the-ig-farben-case
 
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/subsequent-nuremberg-proceedings-case-7-the-hostage-case
 
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/subsequent-nuremberg-proceedings-case-8-the-rusha-case
 
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/subsequent-nuremberg-proceedings-case-9-the-einsatzgruppen-case
 
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/subsequent-nuremberg-proceedings-case-10-the-krupp-case
 
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/subsequent-nuremberg-proceedings-case-11-the-ministries-case
 
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/subsequent-nuremberg-proceedings-case-12-the-high-command-case
 
https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/topics/nuremberg-trials
 
https://aboutholocaust.org/en/facts/what-happened-to-the-senior-nazi-leadership-after-the-end-of-world-war-ii
 
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/timeline-event/holocaust/1942-1945/international-military-tribunal
 
https://airandspace.si.edu/stories/editorial/project-paperclip-and-american-rocketry-after-world-war-ii
 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ratlines_(World_War_II)
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCEX7jV2cx8
 
https://academic.oup.com/yale-scholarship-online/book/45090

140: Tenzing Norgay & Edmund Hillary: Summiting Mount Everest

For over 100 years, people have tried to accomplish the ultimate feat; climbing to the peak of Mount Everest. The first two people to do it successfully were humble men with a passion for climbing. Tenzing Norgay was a Tibetan yak herder-turned-mountain climber extraordinaire. Edmund Hillary was a beekeeper from New Zealand who began climbing mountains at an early age. The two of them would go on to make history in the British Everest Expedition of 1953 on May 29th. 
 
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Sources
“Learn About the First Men to Climb Mount Everest” by Jennifer Rosenberg (May 11 2025)
https://www.thoughtco.com/the-first-to-climb-mount-everest-1779350
 
“Everest 1953: First Footsteps - Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay” by David Roberts (April 2003; updated May 4 2021)
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/article/sir-edmund-hillary-tenzing-norgay-1953
 
“A History of Everest | What It Took to Reach the Roof of the World” by Steven Agar (May 29 2024)
https://snowbrains.com/history-climbing-everest-highest-place-earth/#google_vignette
 
“Edmund Hillary” by Britannica Editors (Oct 16 2025)
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Edmund-Hillary
 
“‘This was a mountain that he had to climb’: How HIllary and Tenzing survived the ‘death zone’ to conquer Everest” by Myles Burke (May 26 2025)
https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20250522-the-first-men-to-conquer-everests-death-zone
 
“Edmund Hillary Biography” 
https://www.notablebiographies.com/He-Ho/Hillary-Edmund.html
 
“Edmund Hillary” 
https://nzhistory.govt.nz/people/edmund-hillary
 
“The Gentleman From Everest” 
https://tenzingsherpafoundation.com/about-tenzing/
 
“Tenzing Norgay” (Oct 16 2025)
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Tenzing-Norgay
 
“Tenzing Norgay: the Mountaineer Who Refused to Be Categorized” by Imogen Lepere (Jul 17 2023)
https://daily.jstor.org/tenzing-norgay-the-mountaineer-who-refused-to-be-categorized/
 
“Tenzing Norgay - Biography” 
https://biographyonline.net/adventurers/tenzing-norgay.html
 
“Tenzing Norgay - The first sherpa to climb Mt. Everest” by Malika Tamang (Jan 18 2024)
https://getlostforever.com/tenzing-norgay/
 
“Tenzing Norgay Sherpa: Biography and Facts” by Graham Hoyland (Jan 4 2022)
https://mounteverest.info/tenzing-norgay-sherpa-bio-facts/
 
https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/28432/wedding-day 
Sound Credits: 
 
Music track: Wings of Freedom by Alegend https://freetouse.com/music/alegend/wings-of-freedom 
Source: https://freetouse.com/music 
Free To Use Music for Videos
Howling Wind by Kostas17 -- https://freesound.org/s/543449/ -- License: Attribution 3.0

139: The History of Christmas Movies

Emileigh and Morgan go through the eras of Christmas movies and discuss how they reflect the mindset and environment of their times. Plus some healthy discussion on ehat is and isn't a Christmas movie. It's a hill we will Die Hard on, if you will. 
 
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Sources
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dc3ei1tseeM
 
https://www.rent-a-christmas.com/blog/article/santa-claus-1898-first-christmas-movie
 
https://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2022/12/the-saturday-evening-post-history-minute-the-first-christmas-movies/
 
https://clioandthecontemporary.com/2021/12/21/christmas-films-parti/
 
https://clioandthecontemporary.com/2021/12/23/christmas-films-partii/
 
https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidalm/2018/12/07/how-scrooged-epitomized-the-80s-for-better-and-for-worse/
 
https://clioandthecontemporary.com/2021/12/24/christmas-films-part-iii/
 

138: The Santa Claus Bank Robbery

It was a peaceful day for the citizens of Cisco, Texas, a few days before Christmas in 1927. Suddenly, four men, one dressed as Santa Claus, draw their weapons in the First National Bank of Cisco and demand money. What follows is a series of hijinks and tragedies that will forever mark this small town. 
 
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Sources
Santa Claus Bank Robbery: A True Crime Saga in Texas by Tui Snider (2019)
 
“The Cisco Santa Robbery” 
https://member.texasbankers.com/Magazine/magazine/Vault/22-01-The-Cisco-Santa-Robbery.aspx
 
“The Infamous Santa Claus Bank Robbery of 1927” by Walter F. Pilcher 
https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/santa-claus-bank-robbery
 
Sound Credits
 
Music by music_for_video from Pixabay 
https://pixabay.com/music/christmas-deck-the-halls-christmas-piano-background-music-12202/ 
 
Music by Luis Humanoide from Pixabay
https://pixabay.com/music/modern-country-western-theme-162884/
 
woman screaming of fear .wav by The_Sound_Side -- https://freesound.org/s/319258/ -- License: Creative Commons 0
 
market people bells NL 01 160319_00.wav by klankbeeld -- https://freesound.org/s/537846/ -- License: Attribution 4.0
 
Gunshot_01.sse.wav by snapssound -- https://freesound.org/s/536630/ -- License: Creative Commons 0
 
Layered Gunshot 9.wav by Xenonn -- https://freesound.org/s/128301/ -- License: Creative Commons 0
 
R22-10-Constant Explosions Battle Scene.wav by craigsmith -- https://freesound.org/s/479570/ -- License: Creative Commons 0
 
G29-54-Men Yell  Riot.wav by craigsmith -- https://freesound.org/s/438414/  -- License: Creative Commons 0
Sota, rintama, tulitaistelu / War, gunfight, shooting at a front, various guns, handguns, weapons banging, mix by YleArkisto -- https://freesound.org/s/320133/ -- License: Attribution 4.0

136: Tycho Brahe: The Last Great Astronomer Before the Telecope

Emileigh and Morgan discover the life of the last great astronomer before the invention of the telescope. And the planets might be the most boring thing about his life! 
 
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Sources: 
https://www.space.com/19623-tycho-brahe-biography.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=paa5GLCR280
Tycho Brahe Youtube 
https://smarthistory.org/written-in-the-stars-astronomy-and-astrology-in-medieval-manuscripts/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tycho_Brahe
 
 

136: The Lufthansa Heist

In 1978, the headlines were filled with the news about the Lufthansa cargo bay robbery at JFK International Airport. The culprits? A group of guys tied to the New York mafia families. Join Morgan and Emileigh as they talk about the execution of the biggest airport robbery in US soil, and some unfortunate folks afterwards. 
 
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Sources
 
“James Burke” 
https://www.alcatrazeast.com/crime-library/organized-crime/james-burke/
 
“Henry Hill” (updated Jun 24 2020)
https://www.biography.com/crime/henry-hill
 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodfellas
 
“Lufthansa heist” by Pat Bauer (Oct 18 2025)
https://www.britannica.com/event/Lufthansa-heist 
 
“The Lufthansa Heist” episode, History’s Greatest Heists with Pierce Brosnan. Aired Feb 28 2023 on The History Channel
 
“How the 1978 Lufthansa Heist Let to a Trail of Dead Bodies” by Iván Román (Jan 20 2023, updated May 28 2025)
https://www.history.com/articles/1978-lufthansa-heist-jfk-henry-hill-goodfellas
 
“Lufthansa Heist Murders: How Paranoia and Greed Led to the Deaths of 6 Mobsters and Associates” by Adam Janos (Dec 10 2018; updated Aug 21 2025)
https://www.aetv.com/articles/lufthansa-heist-murders-mafia-mobsters
 
“The Lufthansa Heist: The Mafia’s Greatest Robbery” by Lawrence Lease (Mar 9 2023)
https://discover.hubpages.com/politics/The-Lufthansa-Heist-The-American-Mafias-Greatest-Heist
 
“The Massive Real-Life Heist that Inspired ‘Goodfellas’” by Sammy Tran (May 5
https://www.factinate.com/things/biggest-cash-heist-history
 
“The Lufthansa Mafia Heist Trial”
https://archives.law.virginia.edu/dengrove/writeup/lufthansa-mafia-heist-trial
Sound Credits: 
 
Shaken, Not Stirred - GLBML: Music by Geoffrey Burch from Pixabay
https://pixabay.com/music/sneaky-shaken-not-stirred-glbml-22220/

135: The Sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald

Emileigh and Morgan look into how one of the most famous shipwrecks on Lake Superior went down. 
 
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Sources
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2f0tZBSByI
https://ssedmundfitzgerald.org/fitz-timeline
https://upsupply.co/journal/the-wreck-of-the-edmund-fitzgerald
 

134: Marie Antoinette

Marie Antoinette married into the French royal family when she was 15 years old. Unfortunately, from the beginning she faced prejudice from the royal court and distrust from the common people. Marie would eventually become the scapegoat for the worsening economy in France, even after she and her family met their tragic end during the French Revolution. Join Morgan and Emileigh as they discuss the truth behind her life, both the good and the bad, and how this queen of France would live on in infamy. 
 
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Sources“Marie Antoinette” https://guides.loc.gov/women-in-the-french-revolution/marie-antoinette 
“Marie Antoinette” by biography.com editors & Barbara Maranzani (Jul 11 2023)https://www.biography.com/royalty/marie-antoinette 
“Marie Antoinette”, published by the Château de Versailles https://en.chateauversailles.fr/discover/history/great-characters/marie-antoinette#a-queen-at-the-court 
“Marie Antoinette: From Queen to Guillotine” by the Real Royalty channel on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8C1pnLRAe0E  
“Marie-Antoinette” by history.com editors (Nov 9 2009, updated May 28 2025)https://www.history.com/articles/marie-antoinette 
 
Sound Credits:[Re-Creation] Hells Bells, Tolling, 12 O Clock, Processed by NoahBangs -- https://freesound.org/s/706896/ -- License: Attribution 4.0
To_Be_Booed2_ses1.wav by freesound -- https://freesound.org/s/25270/ -- License: Creative Commons 0
G52-05-Ox Cart.wav by craigsmith -- https://freesound.org/s/437078/ -- License: Creative Commons 0
fly 4 horse steps_03.wav by gastonsaenz -- https://freesound.org/s/362958/ -- License: Attribution 4.0