
Loading summary
A
Oh, ridiculous. Historians. Have you ever tried to cross the Atlantic Ocean in a canoe? If so, boy, do we have a story for you.
B
Gustav Broman tried to do that very thing.
A
You know how it is. It's 1895. You look at a log of cedar and you think, maybe I can make a sailboat out of it. And then maybe I can, you know, go across the world. Mm.
B
Yeah. Maybe not circumnavigate the globe, but maybe the next best thing. Also, you know, shenanigans ensued. There were problems. This boat wasn't exactly the most seaworthy of vessels, but people took an interest in Broman's insane quest, as did we.
A
Yes, we did, back in 2018. Here's the episode this is an iHeart podcast.
C
Is moderate to severe plaque psoriasis keeping you from being you? Get back to clearer skin with Bimzelix Bimakizumab bkzx, a prescription medicine taken by injection used to treat moderate to severe plaque psoriasis in adults who are candidates for systemic therapy or phototherapy. Bimzelix can deliver transformative relief. Most people got 100% clear skin in combined clinical studies, nearly 9 in 10 people saw 90% clearer skin and more than 6 in 10 saw 100% clearer skin at 16 weeks. Serious side effects like suicidal thoughts and behavior, infections and lowered ability to fight them. Liver problems and inflammatory bowel disease have occurred. Tell your doctor if these happen or worsen or fevers, chills, muscle aches or cough occur or you've had a vaccine or plan to before starting. Get checked for infections, tuberculosis and liver problems. Start to get yourself back. Ask your dermatologist about Bimselix. Learn more at bimzeclx.com or call 1-833-UCB-NOW1 the murder of an 18 year old girl in Graves County, Kentucky went unsolved for years until a local housewife, a journalist, and a handful of girls came forward with a story.
B
America, y' all better wake the hell up. Bad things happens to good people and small towns.
C
Listen to Graves county on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts and to binge the entire season ad free. Subscribe to Lava for Good plus on Apple Podcasts.
D
Sacred Scandal is Back, the hit true crime podcast that uncovers hidden truths and shattered faith. For 19 years, Alena Sada was a nun for the Legion of Christ. This season, she's telling her story.
E
When I first joined the Legion of Christ, I felt chosen. I was 19 years old when Marcia Almaser, the leader of the legionaries looked me in the eye and told me I had a calling.
D
Surviving meant hiding. Escaping. Took courage. Risking everything to tell her truth. Listen to Sacred Scandal, the Many Secrets of Marcus Cial masiel on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
F
Malcolm Gladwell here. This season on Revisionist History. We're going back to the spring of 1988, to a town in northwest Alabama where a man committed a crime that would spiral out of control.
A
And he said, I've been in prison 24, 25 years. That's probably not long enough. I didn't kill him.
F
From Revisionist History, this is the Alabama Murders. Listen to Revisionist History the Alabama murders on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
A
Ridiculous History is a production of iHeartrad. How often have you wondered what exactly is a milkshake duck? Welcome to the show, fellow ridiculous historians. And by the time this episode is over, you will know what a milkshake duck is. But I don't think we should spoil it just yet.
B
No, I mean, I just learned it myself, Ben. Apparently it's part of the zeitgeist. It's a very, very current creation.
A
And you're Noel.
B
That's me.
A
We are not milkshake ducks ourselves.
B
I don't think so.
A
Neither of one would hope. Neither, of course, is super producer Casey Pegram. When we were bandying this story about, at first I was a little concerned that it might be. And I pitched part of this. I was a little concerned that it might be too close thematically to some things we had done fairly recently.
B
Like the one where the guy tried to start an island nation.
A
Similar, similar, similar. Sorry, I have the tune to Darkwing Duck stuck in my head, but it's milkshake duck. Milkshake duck.
B
Let's get dangerous.
A
Exactly. So our story begins with a fellow named Gustav Broman.
B
Or as I like to call him, Broman.
A
So Gustav Broman makes big news. We don't know a ton about his, maybe his early life, but we do know when he popped in the eyes of the media, and that was in 1895. He made a pretty astonishing and ambitious claim.
B
He did. He claimed. Or dare I say he announced unequivocally that he would sail a 13 foot long boat made from a cedar log across the Atlantic Ocean. This is big news, my friend. Big poppin news.
A
He decreed it.
B
Yeah, feeding frenzy.
A
And remember, you know, the late 1800s, this is a time when these sorts of stunts are Tremendously popular. Right. So he would ride this log, which he called the Gustav Adolf ii in honor of, of course, the King of Sweden. Right. Where else would you name a canoe? But here's the thing. His plan seemed pretty ridiculous just, just from the beginning. So here, here's how he pitched his decree. He said, I am going to sail across the Atlantic in this amazing boat I've made from a cedar log. I'm gonna start in Coos Bay, Oregon, which was then known as Marshfield, and then I'm gonna sail down the coast to San Francisco. Notice the Atlantic is nowhere in the picture here yet.
B
Not yet.
A
And then he says, then I'm gonna hop on a train with the boat and take the train across the country to New York.
B
So he's got a 13 foot boat. How is he transporting this thing? He's got a shipping container for it.
A
Yeah, it's like a fruit. He's taking it on the rail. He's hitting the rails with it.
B
Got it.
A
So this idea seems pretty weird. Like, why wouldn't he just start in New York? Right?
B
Yeah. It's almost as though he's got ulterior motives, Ben. Almost.
A
And this is where we learned a really weird phrase or a phrase that was unfamiliar to us. Do you remember that quote that was published about Gustav's journey which said, if arrangement can be made with the overland railroads, upon his arrival in San Francisco, he will place machinery in his boat or put her on wheels and by the use of naphtha or electricity, run her direct to New York by rail and then prepare for a transatlantic voyage.
B
I'm sorry, naptha.
A
Right. So what the heck is naphtha? At first I was confused because there's a brand of laundry soap called Fels Naphtha, which is used for treating stains, but naphtha is a flammable liquid hydrocarbon mixture. So it's.
B
So it's like a fuel?
A
Yeah, it's a fuel. Natural gas, petroleum distillates, distillation, coal tar and peat. And in different areas and regions in different times. It could also just be a word for crude oil or refined products like kerosene. So let's amend this. On my part, he was riding the rails, but he was going to make his boat into a miniature train car. That was part of his shtick.
B
So it would actually ride the rails itself independently on wheels. Interesting. Yeah, I'd like to see that.
A
People have done that. There's a. I have some car stuff episodes in the back about like a rocket sled on rails and Things of that nature. But what happened next? How did he get all this? How did he accomplish all these amazing things?
B
Well, Ben, he didn't, my friend. He just didn't. It was what they call a fool's errand. It was almost as though. No, it was as though he never really intended on having success in any of these because like you said earlier, it seems a little like he's going around as, you know, something to get to. As something else. Right.
A
Yeah.
B
And why do it this way? It just seems utterly wrongheaded. And it was. And he had no intention of completing this mission.
A
Right. 4,000 people reportedly came to watch him attempt to sail down the coast again to San Francisco. His ship, which was pretty impractical, was immediately blown into a sandbar, far enough shore that nobody could get close enough to ask him what was going on.
B
So he just kind of hung out there for a while. He was out of reach. He was out of reach from any assistance. And then finally, luckily, the tides were on his side and they kind of got him moving again.
A
The tides got him moving again. And on March 14th of 1895, he arrived in San Francisco aboard the steamer Arcata.
B
Wait, not on the Gustave Adolph?
A
No, it was in the cargo.
F
Really?
A
Yeah.
B
Why?
A
I don't know. I don't know. It's a little suspicious. So the LA Times reported that the captain of the steamer had taken Gustav Broman aboard to prevent him from drowning as his boat capsized over and over and over again.
B
We're getting some of this info from a fantastic article on Slate.com called Meet Gustav Broman, the 19th Century man who Attempted to Cross the Atlantic in a Log Boat by Matthew decim. And there are some great excerpts from reporting from the time. And there's a really good AP headline we're going to get to in a little bit that just makes me. Fills me with joy. But here's a little excerpt from the San Francisco call piece. They were not feeling Mr. Broman's boat situation or his. What do you call somebody that makes boats? A boatman. A shipwright.
A
A shipwright.
B
Is that what it is?
A
A shipwright or a boat? Right. Like, what's the difference between a ship and a boat? That's what you get.
B
That's a good question. I would say this is more of a boat.
A
Yeah. Well, let's give them some credit. Let's call them a boat. Right.
B
A boat. Right. They took issue with his boat writing skills and had this to say. The craft fitted with contrivances never before seen on land. Or sea. And having more depth than beam is about as safe for passenger service as a bale of hay, they said. They laughed. Not content with the natural crankiness consequent upon its unship. Like construction, the architect has riveted brass chain plates and other articles to the rail and deck. Absurd. Which further raises her center of gravity, making her an elegant and graceful capsizer. If it is safe to say that the bold navigator will navigate his uncanny and uninteresting craft into some fake museum, they are really giving it to him here. And it would be proven that she was designed not for ocean travel, but for the Midway nickel trade. And then they had a good laugh.
A
So you ad libbed a lot of that. But I really appreciate how you were going from Matt Berry at the beginning. Sure. I think, yeah, that's a true description. We have to emphasize that you can feel the snark on the San Francisco call, but everything they're saying about this log boat is absolutely accurate.
B
No, it's true. I was just more tickled by the very haughty taw nature of the sick Burn, this writing.
A
Yeah, yeah, that's. Yeah, that's what I mean. That's what I'm saying. Like snarky. And they have that one line in the end from that excerpt says she was designed not for ocean travel, but for the Midway nickel trade. And they were right that this boat seemed designed for something else, but they didn't know what the actual scheme was. You see, Gustav Broman again, his real name, as far as we know, was sort of already a celebrity, just not in boating circles. He was a celebrity to law enforcement. Police across California knew about this guy, and as soon as his boat made the news, his. What is it? His elegant capsizing boat.
B
That's right.
A
Law enforcement contacted reporters and gave them the hitherto unknown full details of Broman's life story. And this is where it gets stranger and stranger. We mentioned that earlier AP Wire headline, which is. Which is beautiful. A Russian Finn. He is a funny kind of finny cuss.
B
Oh, a finny cuss.
A
A finny cuss. But there is a method in his cussedness, for with all his evil doings, he always comes out on top. So this is where we learn about.
B
Gustav Broman and his rap sheet that was like a mile long.
A
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, so you want to walk through some of these examples.
B
Boy, howdy do I. Yeah, a funny kind of finny cuss indeed. So apparently he was known all over California for running a series of varying degrees of bonkers scams, and I'm laughing. But, like, one of them in particular is really cold blooded. Right, Ben?
A
Yes, one is definitely not. Look, we are often tempted to paint hilarious, cartoonish con artists as what they are, you know, buffoons. But we have to remember that a lot of these people are cold blooded. Right. So this is a reptilian thing. Gustav Broman makes his law enforcement debut in San Pedro, Los Angeles County. He is arrested for. Or he had a hotel keeper arrested for robbing him of $100. But then later in court, it was proved it was nothing more than a blackmailing scheme that Broman had come up with to try to extort money from the hotel. He ended up getting caught essentially sleeping around with several women and citizens, when they found out about his deceptive nature, literally tarred and feathered him and drove him out of town.
B
Wait, people really did that?
A
Yeah, people did that.
B
That's amazing.
A
That's not an expression.
B
So not only was he a cuss, he was also a lech.
A
Yes, he was both a cuss and a lech.
B
A lecherous cuss.
A
A lecherous cuss or a cussed lech. Right.
B
I like that a lot, Ben.
A
A cusserous lech, sure. No, we're just churchifying words at this point. But I like cusserous. It's like a filthy susurrus. Right, Exactly. So this, although it may sound endearing because there's that instant karma that hits him. This. It doesn't really illustrate the true nature of this guy's behavior. The real reptilian stuff occurs in Santa Cruz, where he and his brother lived in what was described as a shanty.
B
Yeah, and there's some outdated language in this one. The AP refers to his brother as an imbecile, which today would obviously be considered a pretty nasty pejorative, but at the time was like. It was actually a medical diagnosis, I believe, Right?
A
That is correct. Yeah.
B
For somebody with developmental disabilities. Is that a fair way of saying it, Ben?
A
That's a very fair way of putting it. Comes from the Latin word imbecilus, meaning weak or weak minded. And at the time, it included people who had an IQ of between 26 and 50 according to the testing methods they used.
B
That's right. And I believe there was even a time where people that were categorized as. That were sterilized. There was forced sterilization of folks that were classified as being of lower iq. It was a whole thing.
A
Yeah. And if you have the morbid interest in this, we can break it down for you. At the time, when people use this. This sort of terminology as a description of cognitive ability as they saw it, imbecile was in between idiot and moron. So an idiot was Nike of 0 to 25, imbecile 26 to 50, and moron was 51 to 70. So these were. These pejoratives have very specific meanings.
B
Yeah, for sure. And again, they were more or less like DSM level diagnoses or terms. Anyway, so Gustav's brother was in that. Was that in the middle category of what you just mentioned? Yep, yep.
C
Yeah.
B
So he was certainly not someone that could fully take care of himself. And his brother really took advantage of that in the most ungodly, awful way you could possibly imagine.
A
Yes, he committed. He quite possibly. We have to say that he quite possibly committed fratricide. He took out two insurance policies on his brother's life, one for $5,000 and the other for $3,000. And let's go to a handy inflation calculator here just to see how much money that actually was. All right, Kasey, if we could have that handy dandy inflation calculator sound cue, please, so people know it's working and we're not just making perfect. $3,000 in the 1890s would equal a little bit more than $86,000. And $5,000 would equal around $143,000, almost $144,000. So these were significant amounts of money. He took these two insurance policies out on his brother's life, and then what happened not a month later?
B
Yeah, the shanty burned to the ground with the brother inside. And he was also burned to the ground.
A
The insurance companies say. This is sketchy.
B
Yeah, of course it was. It's never. It's always a red flag when you take out an insurance policy on someone and then a month later, they die in a tragic accident. That's. That's not a good look for Gustavo.
A
And so the insurance companies say, we're not gonna pay. This is ridiculous. The cops arrest Broman, and he is charged with arson and murder. And it does go to trial.
B
Yeah, and there's a woman at the trial who really reads him the riot act and gives a very strongly worded testimony against him. But he received a new trial, and she kind of changed her tune a little bit. Almost as though she were coerced or arm twisted in some way. Ben, is that what you're thinking here?
A
Or turned. You know, you can.
B
Flipped is what they call it in the mob.
A
Right, Right. Nobody ever went broke betting on other People's moral failings, you know what I mean? So he was discharged, he got the insurance money. And then afterwards they learned that the woman changed her testimony because he had promised to give her a large lump of scratch.
B
A piece.
A
Yeah, a vig.
B
Oh my goodness, this guy.
A
If she would not testify against him on that, that second go round.
B
That's right. All I know is what I've been told. And that's a half truth is a whole lie.
C
For almost a decade, the murder of an 18 year old girl from a small town in Graves County, Kentucky went unsolved until a local homemaker, a journalist and a handful of girls came forward with a story.
B
I'm telling you, we know Quincy killed her.
C
We know a story that law enforcement used to convict six people and that got the citizen investigator on national tv.
B
Through sheer persistence and nerve, this Kentucky.
A
Housewife helped give justice to Jessica Curran.
C
My name is Maggie Freeling. I'm a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist producer. And I wouldn't be here if the truth were that easy to find.
B
I did not know her and I.
A
Did not kill her or rape or burn or any of that other stuff that y' all said. They literally made me say that I.
C
Took a match and struck and threw it on her.
A
They made me say that I poured gas on her.
C
From Lava for Good. This is Graves County, a show about just how far our legal system will go in order to find someone to blame.
B
America, y' all better wake the hell up. Bad things happens to good people in small towns.
C
Listen to Graves county in the Bone Valley feed on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts and to binge the entire season ad free. Subscribe to Lava for Good plus on Apple Podcasts.
G
At 19, Elena Sada believed she had found her calling. In the new season of Sacred Scandal, we pull back the curtain on a life built on devotion and deception. A man of God, Martial Maciel, looked Elena in the eye and promised her a life of purpose within the Legion of Christ.
E
My name is Elena Sada and this is my story. It's a story of how I learned to hide, to cry, to survive, and eventually how I got out.
G
This season on Sacred Scandal, hear the full story from the woman who lived it. Witness the journey from devout follower to determined survivor as Helena exposes the man behind the cloth and the system that protects. Even the darkest secrets eventually find their way to the light. Listen to Secret Scandal, the many secrets of Martial Maciel as part of the Mikeultura Podcast Network on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
F
Malcolm Gladwell here. This season on Revisionist History. We're going back to the spring of 1988 to a town in northwest Alabama where a man committed a crime that would spiral out of control. 35 years.
A
That's how long Elizabeth Senate's family waited for justice to occur.
F
35 long years. I want to figure out why this case went on for as long as it did, why it took so many bizarre and unsettling turns along the way, and why, despite our best efforts to resolve suffering, we too often makes suffering worse.
C
He would say to himself, turn to the right, to the victim's family and apologize. Turn to the left. Tell my family I love him. So he had this little practice. To the right. I'm sorry. To the left. I love you.
F
From Revisionist History, this is the Alabama Murders. Listen to Revisionist History, the Alabama murders on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
E
Dammi Gente.
B
It's Ana Ortiz and I'm Mark and Delicato.
E
You might know us as Hilda and.
B
John Justin from Ugly Betty.
E
We played mother and son on the show, but in real life we're best friends.
B
And I'm all grown up now.
E
Welcome to our new podcast, Viva Betty. Can you believe it has been almost 20 years? That's not even possible. Well, you're the only one that looks that much different. I look exactly the same. We're re watching the series from start to finish and getting into all the fashions, the drama and the behind the scenes moments that you've never heard before.
B
You're going to hear from guests like America Ferreira, Vanessa Williams, Michael Urie, Becky Newton, Tony Plana, and so many more icons.
E
Each and every one, all of a.
C
Sudden, like someone like comes running up.
B
To me and it's Salma Hayek and she's like, you are my Ugly Betty.
C
And I was like, what is she even talking about?
E
Listen to Viva Betty as part of the the My Cultura podcast network, available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
A
And then he, I guess maybe he cleaned up his act a little bit. Noel, because he moved to San Francisco and decided he was gonna be a decent man.
B
Well, he was a, he was a wealthy man at this point.
C
Right.
B
He got those insurance payouts.
A
That's true.
B
I mean, I don't know. It wasn't like millionaire money, but enough to start a new life in a new town. Sure.
A
At that time. Yeah.
B
So he met a nice lady, met a nice woman.
A
She was named, you will hear, alternately described as Mrs. Leroy or simply Mrs. Roy. She was both a widow and wealthy.
B
The old marry the wealthy widow scam moved on to that one WW, which.
A
Is the origin of the IRS tax form, the W2.
B
Yeah. Is that true? Probably.
A
Maybe. Okay. Okay.
B
I'm going to choose to believe that, because that's what I do.
A
So what happened? What happened?
B
Well, what happened was he put a ring on it, on Mrs. Leroy, a quite a big old rock, a very valuable diamond ring.
A
So things look to be, you know, optimistic, trending toward perhaps a happy ending if we want to believe in the inherent goodness of all people.
B
Well, you mean the idea that people change, that people can change for the better, Right? What is it you always say, Ben? People don't really change.
A
They just become more people. We say people change, and that's true, but it's a misnomer. As time goes on, we become more concentrated versions of ourselves.
B
Yeah, it seems like it was happening with our boy Broman here.
A
Possibly the police did not believe that he had turned over a new leaf. They had heard that Broman was back in town.
B
They're like, we got our eye on you, Broman, because this is the time.
A
This is the time in American history where you could actually have someone go into a town. And then one of the townspeople say, you got a lot of nerves showing your face around here. You know what I mean? I don't know if that still happens in the US Anymore.
B
It's probably where the expression get right out of town came from.
A
We should bring that back. That's good.
B
I like to use it from time to time.
A
You know what? I think it fits. I think it's really.
B
Well, no, no, but I only use it in anger. When I want someone to literally leave town forever, I say. I say, but I say it in kind of a funny way. So they're. They're typically confused.
A
They're probably getting mixed messages.
B
I go, get right out of town, and then they go. And I'm like, no, go. I don't want you here.
A
Well, I hope you don't have too many of those situations, man. It sounds like real, real weird Larry David moment, Ben.
B
I am flush with enemies, sir.
A
You're flush with enemies? Well, then you might have something in and with Broman. I hope none of your enemies are in law enforcement. They say, we know what you're doing. You have a lot of noise coming back here, and we don't have anything on you yet, but we know how you operate, Gustav, so we strongly advise you to leave the state. Don't make this ugly.
B
Yeah, you're right, Ben. He was definitely flushed with enemies. It looks almost as though he never met a man or woman that he didn't turn into an enemy. As it turns out, the woman from Santa Cruz, who herself not a particularly law abiding citizen. True, she flouted the law, Flipped her testimony in exchange for ill gotten blood money, you know, from the cold blooded burning alive of a person with a developmental disability. She was gonna just take that money and run with it. But hey, surprise, surprise, she got her instant karma too. And he didn't pay. Could have told her that was coming.
A
Not exactly a Shyamalan plot twist.
B
So she came a gunning for him, didn't she, babe? And he knew, or a knifing.
A
He knew that the cops were on the way. This. This angry person from Santa Cruz was threatening to kill him. And if she really wanted to burn down the house, she could also take him to jail for witness tampering, knowing that she would get charged with perjury. So he took. He took the famous advice that so many sketchy people have received or given to one another throughout the years, and he hightailed it from Mexico, he went south of the border. He went down south to get out of the heat, you know what I mean? Wait for it to die down totally.
B
And there he would remain, Ben, for a year's time. I don't know. I don't know why I'm talking like this. I think it's from the AP report that we read in the old timey language. So I'm just kind of like lapsing into that a little bit. A year's time.
A
And there he took his constitutional, indeed, for the better part of four seasons.
B
A year's time.
A
And as the seasons passed and the heat dissipated, so Broman sallied forth yet again for these states united, mopping his.
B
Brow against the heat of the Mexican sun.
A
Yes.
B
Yes.
A
And so he returned to California. He was next heard of in Sacramento.
B
Sacramento, which is the state capital of California.
A
There we go. Nailed it, huh? Casey? Can we get a correct answer? Game show. That's perfect. How about.
B
How about can I get a little round of applause to a little pat on the back sound? Nah, it's fine. You don't have to do any of that stuff. You can if you want to. Thanks, Casey.
A
So Broman has returned, and he's been living in Sacramento. He had been visiting the house of a woman whose last name was Brown. And he went to the chief of police with a story and he said, look, I know we have a history, but I am coming to you as a victim. Chief, I've been robbed. I've been robbed of eight grand. You gotta help me.
B
Eight lodge? Yeah, eight big ones and big ones. What are some other colloquialisms for a thousand dollars?
A
Oh, in some writing it would be mil, but it doesn't make sense. Spoken fair. Fair. We could make some up. Semolinas.
B
There you go.
A
Yeah.
B
Isn't semolina the stuff that's in pasta?
A
Yeah, there's also semolina flour.
B
Yeah, okay. That's why that's what it is. It's the flour that makes the pasta.
A
We should keep going.
B
Oh, I have a question for you.
A
Yes?
B
What's the point of different pasta shapes?
A
Oh, some of them hold sauces better in different ways. Cause it's really. It's like surface area.
B
I've always been wondering that. Thank you, Ben.
A
That's what I heard. I'm also just making this up, and I wanna come clean with everybody. I don't know if W2 stands for wealthy widow. Write to your local IRS agent and ask them.
B
Yeah, they'll get right back to you, I'm sure.
A
Tell them we. Tell them it's a matter of national security.
B
Man, we're really dog paddling on this one, aren't we?
A
Well, wait, we got Broman, though. This is an interesting turn, right? He goes to the cops. He, of all people.
B
He does what? Why would he do that?
A
Because he said he got robbed of eight semolina's large.
B
But this man's on the bolo list at every sheriff's office from Tijuana to San Luis Obispo.
A
Speaking of different times, not only do the officers agree to investigate this house with him, but they let him come along as they execute the search warrant.
B
That's not done.
A
That's not normal.
B
No, I couldn't do that. I don't think they would do that. It was a different time.
A
It was a different time. So what happens when they go in there?
B
Well, the detectives searched, detectives, officers, whatever you want to call them. They searched the premises and they found 20 bucks in gold, which is kind of a lot if you do the inflation thing. What's that, about 200 bucks?
A
I don't know.
B
I'm just spitballing it here. You want to do it for real?
A
Yeah, let's do it for real.
B
Why not?
A
So $20 in again, the revenue around the 1890s would be $575.06.
B
Okay, so, you know, a decent little haul. And he. Broman, told them that he. This was something he did. He's like the crazy old lady that keeps all our money in a mattress, only he keeps his under the carpet or hidden beneath the floorboards because of experience.
A
Right.
B
Well, he'd been robbed. I wonder why.
A
He said, oh, see, you believe me now? I got robbed once before, and I always mock my coin.
B
Meaning what? Like, he writes his name on it?
A
Like he maybe puts a specific scratch on it.
B
So you can say, I got dibsies. Those are mine.
A
I hate touching change so much. I can't imagine doing that.
B
Would you consider a gold piece change, though?
A
I would probably have to just suck it up and touch it.
B
Like, put it in your mouth?
A
No, no, no.
C
Oh, I'm sorry.
B
I'm sorry. I'm sorry if I've triggered you.
A
Well, but no, he told the officer to look behind a mirror, and then the officer found a diamond ring. The police said, okay.
B
Oh, wait, wait. Sorry to interrupt, Ben. Did he have to tell the officers, this is definitely my coin? Because this is what the marking looks like.
A
Yes.
B
Yeah, he did that. Okay, I'm with you now. I'm back. I'm back in it.
A
Cause that proved he was associated, right?
B
Yeah, totally.
A
But the police, for some reason, still did not believe he was on the up and up. And they said, you know what? I think he's out. I don't know what he's getting up to, but he's up to something, by gum.
B
I mean, did he really think he was gonna, like, bamboozle some actual police officers to help him rob somebody's house? Doesn't that kind of seem like what's going on here? So he's a real bold fella, this Gustav Broman.
A
So an officer came from Sacramento to obtain his record at the request of. At the request of the police. And remember Mrs. Leroy, or Mrs. Roy, the widow on Vallejo Street? She gets subpoenaed.
B
She didn't ask for any of this, Ben.
A
She's not.
B
She's just a wealthy widow caught in this man's crossfire. You know, it's not right. It's not right.
A
So it turns out Broman had the widow arrested for stealing the diamond ring that he gave her.
B
I'm sorry, all class. You're just adding insult to injury with this.
A
All class.
B
God, what a D. What a giant D. Yeah.
A
And the judge was like, lady, you know, this is These. This is tough. This is tough all around you. She had Broman arrested for perjury, so, you know, she swore out a warrant, but apparently it was never solved and the case in Sacramento was dismissed.
B
All I know is what I've been told, and that's a half truth is a whole lie.
C
For almost a decade, the murder of an 18 year old girl from a small town in Graves County, Kentucky went unsolved until a local homemaker, a journalist and a handful of girls came forward with a story.
B
I'm telling you, we know Quincy killed her.
C
We know a story that law enforcement used to convict six people and that got the citizen investigator on national tv.
B
Through sheer persistence and nerve, this Kentucky.
A
Housewife helped give justice to Jessica Curran.
C
My name is Maggie Freeling. I'm a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist producer, and I wouldn't be here if the truth were that easy to find.
B
I did not know her and I.
A
Did not kill her or rape or burn or any of that other stuff that y' all said. They literally made me say that I.
C
Took a match and struck and threw it on her.
A
They made me say that I poured gas on her.
C
From Lava for good. This is Graves County, a show about just how far our legal system will go in order to find someone to blame.
B
America, y' all better wake the hell up. Bad things happens to good people and small towns.
C
Listen to Graves county in the Bone Valley feed on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts and to binge the entire season ad free. Subscribe to Lava for Good plus on Apple Podcasts.
G
At 19, Elena Sada believed she had found her calling. In the new season of Sacred Scandal, we pull back the curtain on a life built on devotion and deception. A man of God, Martial Maciel looked Elena in the eye and promised her a life of purpose within the legion of Christ.
E
My name is Elena Sada, and this is my story. It's a story of how I learned to hide, to cry, to survive, and eventually how I got out.
G
This season on Sunday, Sacred Scandal. Hear the full story from the woman who lived it. Witness the journey from devout follower to determined survivor as Helena exposes the man behind the cloth and the system that protected him. Even the darkest secrets eventually find their way to the light. Listen to Sacred Scandal, the many secrets of Martial Maciel as part of the My Cultura podcast Network on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.
F
Malcolm Gladwell here. This season on Revisionist History, we're going back to the spring of 1988, to a town in northwest Alabama where a man committed a crime that would spiral out of control. 35 years.
A
That's how long Elizabeth Senate's family waited for justice to occur.
F
35 long years. I want to figure out why this case went on for as long as it did, why it took so many bizarre and unsettling turns along the way, and why, despite our best efforts to resolve suffering, we all too often make suffering worse.
C
He would say to himself, turn to the right, to the victim's family and apologize. Turn to the left. Tell my family I love him. So he would have this little practice. To the right. I'm sorry. To the left. I love you.
F
From Revisionist History. This is the Alabama Listen to Revisionist History, the Alabama murders on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
B
It's Anna Ortiz and I'm Mark and Delicato.
E
You might know us as Hilda and.
B
Justin from Ugly Betty.
E
We played mother and son on the show, but in real life, we're best friends.
B
And I'm all grown up now.
E
Welcome to our new podcast, Beva Matthew.
B
Woohoo.
E
Can you believe it has been almost 20 years? That's not even possible. Well, you're the only one that looks that much different. I look exactly the same. We're rewatching the series from start to finish and getting into all the fashions, the drama, and the behind the scenes moments that you've never heard before.
B
You're going to hear from guests like America Ferreira, Vanessa Williams, Michael Urie, Becky Newton, Tony Plana, and so many more icons.
E
Each and every one, all of a.
C
Sudden, like, someone like, comes running up.
B
To me and it's Salma Hayek.
C
And she's like, you are my Ugly Betty. And I was like, what is she even talking about?
E
Listen to Viva Betty as part of the My Cultura podcast network, available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
B
Back to the top of the story.
A
Yes.
B
I'm a little confused about what he had to gain from this whole log jamming situation.
A
Ah, there's an answer. Oh, good, there's an answer. Okay, so I was confused too, because it was like, I don't quite. His schemes seem to become more and more ridiculous, you know, increasingly circuitous. I always mock my coin.
B
Mock my coin. I pee on all of them.
A
Right?
G
Right.
A
It's very strange. It's like Tommy Wiseau and the spoons. But here is the theory. The theory comes From a guy named Detective Anthony, who was one of the many law enforcement officials familiar with Broman's escapades. This detective believes that Broman had purposely made a terribly, terribly substandard boat because he wanted it to look like the kind of thing that would easily sink because he was planning on the boat to be found bottom up in some beach, and he was going to essentially commit pseudocide.
B
Ah, our favorite portmanteau.
A
The word for faking one's death. Detective Anthony specifically says Broman will probably have his life insured for a big sum. And after the boat is found, a confederate will apply for the insurance, and he and Broman will share it. That is my belief, from my knowledge of this man.
B
Question. Sorry, I keep asking all this question. I think this is important. Yeah. Why do this so conspicuously? Why make a big show of it?
A
So he could have a bunch of witnesses.
B
That makes no sense. A witnesses to his sad demise.
F
Yes.
B
Okay, I guess that makes a little more sense.
A
So it's like, oh, 4,000 people really did see him do it. And now we see why. He was gonna sail down the coast of San Francisco first. And it made up this cockamamie story about what he was going to do by turning his boat into a rail car. He had no intention of doing that.
B
No.
A
He wanted somewhere between Marshfield and San Francisco for his boat. He wanted to disappear and have his boat wash up on a remote area.
B
You got to give this guy at least a little bit of credit for his massive, massive cojones.
A
That's true. See, that's for that.
B
Just so massive. That's probably what kept capsizing the boat.
A
Quite possibly, Noel. Quite possibly. So how does Detective Anthony's theory measure up? Up?
B
It measures.
A
It measures what happened. What happened?
B
Oh, yeah. He had a $15,000 life insurance policy that he took out on himself from the United States Accident Insurance association upon discovering this whole scheme, promptly canceled his policy. Probably good business move to do that. Surely this guy's reputation for insurance fraud, or at least his like. Cause here's the thing. When you get paid out for insurance policies, doesn't that make it harder to get insured again? I guess he insured his brother before, though. But what a series of red flags, you think?
A
Well, that's the tough thing. There's a great book called Playing Dead, which details the ways in which people can attempt to fake their deaths. And the thing that gets most people caught is when they attempt to receive some kind of money from an insurance agency or a will. Because to do that you have to have someone you can trust who is able to collect for you. And they don't really have any compelling reason to hold up their side of the bargain. You know what I mean?
B
I do.
A
It's also very, very difficult to fake your death. Just in case you're wondering what can I, in this modern age, do to make my life more interesting? Don't try to fake your death. So that maybe in lieu of a comic book recommendation, we could just do. A book recommendation?
B
Yeah. You read books?
A
Plain Dead. I read a plain A Journey through the World of Death Fraud by Elizabeth Greenwood.
B
Weren't we gonna maybe have an opportunity to interview Ms. Greenwood?
A
We did.
B
We did stuff they don't want you to know.
A
Uh huh. Yeah.
B
Never quite happened. It was. That was our fault, I think.
A
Right? I think we were the ones who dropped the ball.
B
And now it's like sort of like forgetting someone's name and then knowing them for years and then having to find. It's too late. You can't ask them anymore.
A
We can follow. I can follow up with the email thread from 2016.
B
I have an idea.
A
What's your idea?
B
Let's do it for this show and then it'll be like a fresh start.
A
There we go. And let's pretend to be different people.
B
How about that? What's your alter ego of choice lately?
A
Oh, man, I'm not gonna say it.
B
Max Powers, astronaut with a secret.
A
Oh, that's a go to. Yeah. Max Powers, astronaut with a secret.
B
Yeah. Mine is Neil Braun.
A
Neil Braun.
B
Neil Braun.
A
There we go.
B
I'm a German attache.
A
Nice. I like it.
B
Or maybe I'll be Swedish.
A
Nice. Nice. Well done. I have been using the alias Casey Pegram for quite some time. And I'm sorry about that, Casey. I did have to stop. I don't know which one of us it was, but the heat got pretty bad at jfk.
B
Oh, boy.
A
Yeah, you've sullied my good name. I think you sullied my fantastic alias Casey. Or maybe there's a third Casey Pegram out there. There is. I've seen him on Google. What?
F
Yeah.
A
Oh, that's the one then. I was just having fun at a. At a Applebee's.
B
You like Applebee's too?
A
Yeah. I'll go to an Applebee's.
B
What's their signature appetizer? Chicken crispers chick?
A
Yeah, some kind of chicken thing. We have to ask Paul. Paul Deccan about that.
B
Paul. Mission Control Deccan is a huge fan of the Applebee's because apparently when you're there your family? No, that's Olive Garden.
A
That's Olive Garden.
B
What are you at Applebee's?
A
It's your friendly neighborhood grill.
B
There you go.
A
There you go. By the way, I love the mozzarella sticks.
B
Mozzarella sticks are usually. You can't really mess up mozzarella sticks, though.
A
I've seen it happen. It's no Travis. It can happen. But they do a good job of it over at the Bees.
B
You like their. At the Bees. So what you're saying is they have a nice. Nice crispy exterior and a nice soft, gooey interior, and they're not so hot that they burn the roof of your.
A
Mouth and they're evenly cooked.
B
And are they seasoned well?
A
Yeah, all the above. Okay, so one time. This. This has nothing to do with the story.
B
We're done, right? We're basically. We're just kind of riff now.
A
We're just talking about how we're talking.
B
About enjoying Applebee's or other chain restaurants. Should we bring in some other restaurants?
A
I wanted this thing about Applebee's for a long time. I thought Paul was just pretending to like it it, but he's serious. We were on a video shoot one day and. Casey, were you at that one?
B
Absolutely, I was.
A
Yeah. So we were on a video shoot one day years back, and I think I was field producing or something. I said, okay, well, we've wrapped this up. This is a great shoot. It's time to grab lunch. And we jokingly suggested to Paul that there was an Applebee's nearby. He lost his mind. And he had this shining, almost noble, childlike glee.
B
I looked at it more as the look of a madman.
A
It's very similar.
F
Yeah.
B
Eyes glazed over, weird rictus smile.
A
And we went. And I think his joy, his jubilation was contagious. So if you ever wanna make Paul Deccan stay, or apparently Casey Pegram's, then just send us some Applebee's tickets. Is that the right word? Gift cards or something?
B
Gift cards. You can buy those at your friendly neighborhood. Kroger CVS, even.
A
Yeah. Or you could just leave us a review on your podcast app of choice.
B
Yeah, please do. And don't be too harsh on us for this little rambling tangent of an ending of the episode. We don't do it that often. I don't think we're having a good time.
A
We're at the very end of the.
B
Year and the end of our ropes.
A
And there are so many. There are so many casual dining restaurants that we didn't get to mention.
B
What about Bob Evans? Is that the one that's. That's, like, only in, like, Pennsylvania, maybe Canada.
A
Tell me how west and stuff.
B
Yeah, Their slogan is everybody is somebody at Bob Evans.
A
Aw, that's. You know, the intonation feels sinister.
B
It's also very like. Yeah, we're all people. We're all here at Bob Evans.
G
Evans.
B
Let's have some pancakes.
A
It's almost existential.
B
Yeah, we are. We are punchy as can be today. I love it.
A
The universe is chaotic and meaningless at Bob Evans.
B
Bob Evans. Ben, we got to get out of here. We got to get out here. But you know what, dude?
A
What? No, this is the.
B
No, it's not true.
A
We're going to record two more.
B
It's true. Yeah.
A
This is the third.
B
This is the Christmas episode, if you.
A
Want to plug that.
B
Oh, oh, Casey says it's Christmas.
A
Oh, yeah, yeah. Very popular holiday.
B
Very popular holiday, you know, celebrated by the religious and the secular alike.
A
Oh. Especially in the U.S. especially in the.
B
U.S. so happy holidays, Merry Christmas, whatever you want to call it, to you and yours.
A
Hope you are having a wonderful time on One more Orbit round the Sun. And as you look back on 2018, we hope you find it more full of fond memories than unpleasant. We hope that you, regardless of your personal beliefs, get some. Get some quality time in with your family. If you have that favorite movie watch or you have that favorite board game or that family tradition, get together and play it. Yeah. Happy holidays. All the best from all of us to all of you.
B
Should old acquaintance be forgot on days of old. Langston Langst. Langston sign.
A
Gustav Broman.
B
There you go.
A
Oh, oh, oh, oh. Before we go, this is. We had to actually travel back in time.
B
We actually never even explained what the milkshake duck was right.
A
To make this correction because. And that was. I had explicitly promised that it was the first sentence of the show. So to explain what a milkshake duck is, we have to give a shout out to a Twitter feed called A Very Pixelated and this. Noel, you said you had never heard of this before.
B
No, I only heard of it, like, the other day, super producer Casey Pegram turned me onto it.
A
And I think. You know what, Casey, if you're okay with it, could you read the tweet that gave us the phrase milkshake duck? Yeah.
B
So this is a tweet originally tweeted.
A
Out June 12th of 2016, and it has already kind of entered the Internet lexicon as, like, shorthand for this phenomenon.
B
So it says the whole Internet loves Milkshake duck.
A
A lovely duck that drinks milkshakes. Five seconds later, we regret to inform you the duck is racist.
B
Oh, man. Wamp, wamp, wamp.
A
So Gustav Broman, in that case, in this sense, is a milkshake duck because he was, for a very brief time, this American hero.
B
Yeah, foreign. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
C
Hey, this is Sarah. Look, I'm standing out front of a.m. p.m. Right now and well, you're sweet and all, but I found something more fulfilling, even kind of cheesy. But I like it. Sure, you met some of my dietary needs, but they've just got it all all.
B
So farewell, oatmeal.
C
So long, you strange soggy.
B
Break up with bland breakfast and taste.
A
AM PM's bacon, egg and cheese biscuit made with K tree egg, smoked bacon.
B
And melty cheese on a buttery biscuit.
A
AM PM Too much good stuff.
C
The murder of an 18 year old girl in Graves County, Kentucky went unsolved for years until a local housewife, a journalist and a handful of girls came forward with a story.
B
America, y' all better work the hell up. Bad things happens to good people in small towns.
C
Listen to Graves county on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. And to binge the the entire season ad free. Subscribe to Lava for Good plus on Apple Podcasts.
D
Sacred Scandal is back, the hit true crime podcast that uncovers hidden truths and shattered faith. For 19 years, Elena Sada was a nun for the Legion of Christ. This season, she's telling her story.
E
When I first joined the Legion of Christ, I felt chosen. I was 19 years old when Marcia, the leader of the Legion, looked me in the eye and told me I had a calling.
D
Surviving meant hiding. Escaping took courage. Risking everything to tell her truth. Listen to Sacred Scandal, the many secrets of Martial Maciel on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
F
Malcolm Gladwell here. This season on Revisionist History, we're going back to the spring of 1988, to a town in northwest Alabama where a man committed a crime that would spiral out of control.
A
And he said, I've been in prison 24, 25 years. That's probably not long enough. I didn't kill him.
F
From Revisionist History, this is the Alabama Murders. Listen to Revisionist History the Alabama murders on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
A
This is an iHeart podcast.
Original air date: October 21, 2025
Hosts: Ben Bowlin (A), Noel Brown (B)
Super Producer: Casey Pegram
Podcast: Ridiculous History by iHeartRadio
This episode of Ridiculous History dives into the outlandish saga of Gustaf Broman, a 19th-century con artist who made headlines for allegedly attempting to cross the Atlantic Ocean in a self-made cedar log canoe. The hosts, Ben and Noel, unravel whether Broman was a daring adventurer, a ridiculous showman, or an enterprising scammer—and the story quickly swerves from nautical stunts to true-crime absurdity. Along the way, the episode illuminates the concept of the "milkshake duck," unpacks 1800s stunt culture, and details Broman’s many cons, culminating in a plan for insurance fraud by faking his own death.
The episode is irreverent, quick-witted, and playful, with Ben and Noel leaning heavily into period-appropriate snark, wordplay, and recurring bits. They balance laughter at the story's absurdity with measured condemnation of Broman's nastier deeds—punctuating critique with mock-formality and humorous speculation.
This episode meticulously traces Gustaf Broman from would-be folk hero, through a parade of bamboozling scams, to a classic “milkshake duck”—someone rapidly idolized, then exposed as a fraudster. It’s an entertaining exploration of how some of history’s most ridiculous schemes are both more sinister and more slapstick than they initially appear.
Not just a tale of a failed Atlantic crossing, it’s a cautionary—and hilarious—history of stunt culture, scam artistry, and con men in America’s Gilded Age.