SYMHC Classics: Helen Duncan

Tracy discusses horse- and tennis-related deaths in history. Holly talks about cash being supplanted by credit and debit cards as a preferred method of transaction. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Credit cards are integral to the way we bank and shop today, but many of the technologies involved in their daily use were invented in the last 65 years. How did we get from written notes to track money owed for purchases to tap-and-go spending? Research: “15 U.S.C. United States Code, 2011 Edition. Title 15 - COMMERCE AND TRADE. CHAPTER 41 - CONSUMER CREDIT PROTECTION. SUBCHAPTER IV - EQUAL CREDIT OPPORTUNITY.” https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2011-title15/html/USCODE-2011-title15-chap41-subchapIV.htm Bellamy, Edward. “Looking Backward, 2000-1887.” Boston. Ticknor and Company. 1888. https://archive.org/details/lookingbackward200bell/page/116/mode/2up?q=credit+card “Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009.” Federal Trade Commission. https://www.ftc.gov/legal-library/browse/statutes/credit-card-accountability-responsibility-disclosure-act-2009-credit-card-act “Diner Club members Don’t Carry Money.” Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Feb. 24, 1955. https://www.newspapers.com/image/1350764752/?match=1&terms=diners%20club&search-id=d6ce7cc5-a22d-460f-b073-94cca88ba0f5&search-rank=2 “Diners’ Club Enjoying Rapid Rate of Growth.” The Philadelphia Inquirer. Sept. 3, 1956. https://www.newspapers.com/image/176273766/?match=2&terms=diners%20club&search-id=d6ce7cc5-a22d-460f-b073-94cca88ba0f5&search-rank=1 “The EMV Chip Card Transition: Background, Status, and Issues for Congress.” Congress.gov. https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/R43925 “Equal Credit Opportunity Act.” Federal Trade Commission. https://www.ftc.gov/legal-library/browse/statutes/equal-credit-opportunity-act Evans, David S. “Paying with plastic : the digital revolution in buying and borrowing.” MIT Press. Cambridge, Mass. 2005. Fabry, Merrill. “Now You Know: What Was the First Credit Card?” Time. Oct 19, 2016. https://time.com/4512375/first-credit-card/ Farkas, Jami. “Whatever Happened to the Diners Club Card?” Yahoo! Finance. Sept. 9, 2021. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/whatever-happened-diners-club-card-230117151.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAA3P5_xS_5nMkc0EsXkTroiEv2nG8H_LXFv8VTiRzqovilUtf0DDwHcz8hGGINvlsy1G4vVrH_jpZtaIErBhfH_WsEmo1wRo71aimnfF3Xcqyv5o4CXiWVKMizRSZ2_mWyymC1rgEdiiYC-nSk4ga2rv7zI5eVwxPjMIB-RCY-5N Frankel, Robin Saks. “History Of Credit Cards: When Were Credit Cards Invented?” Forbes. Aug. 28, 2026. https://www.forbes.com/advisor/credit-cards/history-of-credit-cards/ Hyman, Louis. “Debtor Nation: The History of America in Red Ink.” Princeton University Press. 2011. “In 1850, three business rivals came together to form American Express.” American Express. March 18, 2025. https://www.americanexpress.com/en-us/newsroom/articles/colleagues-and-culture/in-1850--three-business-rivals-came-together-to-form-american-ex.html Karp, Gregory. “What is a Diners Club card?” Nerdwallet. Nov. 6, 2025. https://www.nerdwallet.com/credit-cards/learn/what-is-a-diners-club-card “The magnetic stripe.” IBM. https://www.ibm.com/history/magnetic-stripe Mandell, Lewis and Sarah Holmes. “Diners Club Begins a New Industry.” Ebsco. 2021. https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/history/diners-club-begins-new-industry/ “Milestones.” Diners Club International. https://www.dinersclub.com/about-us/history/ Musinski, Bob and Adriana Ocañas. “When Were Credit Cards Invented? A Timeline of Credit Cards From the 1930s to Now.” U.S. News and World Report. Sept. 4, 2026. https://money.usnews.com/credit-cards/articles/when-were-credit-cards-invented-a-timeline-of-credit-cards “New Jersey Bank’s ‘Charg-It’ Gains National Prominence.” The Herald-News. Nov. 25, 1958. https://www.newspapers.com/image/525122428/?match=5&terms=Charg-It%20&search-id=e29e3416-81cd-4ce0-9912-aa77b0102cd1&search-rank=1 Nocera, Joe. “A Piece of the Action: How the Middle Class Joined the Money Class.” Simon & Schuster. 2013. O’Brien, Pam. “When Were Women Allowed to Open a Bank Account?” SoFi Learn. Aug, 4, 2026. https://www.sofi.com/learn/content/when-were-women-allowed-to-open-bank-account/ “Plastic Payments.” National Museum of American History. Smithsonian. https://americanhistory.si.edu/explore/exhibitions/value-money/online/innovations-money/plastic-payments Rummel, David, et al. “Secret History of the Credit Card.” Frontline. PBS. November 23, 2004. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/documentary/showscredit/ “S.381 - 10 Percent Credit Card Interest Rate Cap Act.” https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/381 “Was the Credit Card Really Invented in Flatbush?” Flatbush History. https://www.flatbushhistory.com/articles/first-credit-card See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Anne of Brittany experienced a lot of loss from the time she was very young. As she aged and became more and more central to political events of her day, she remained dedicated to protecting the autonomy of the duchy of Brittany. Research: Britannica Editors. "Anne of Brittany". Encyclopedia Britannica, 22 Jan. 2026, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Anne-of-Brittany Abernethy, Susan. “Anne of Brittany.” Medievalists.net. https://www.medievalists.net/2016/05/anne-of-brittany-queen-of-france/ The History Blog. “Anne of Brittany’s heart reliquary returns to Blois.” 3/24/2014. https://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/29750 Colleter R, Bataille CP, Dabernat H, Pichot D, Hamon P, Duchesne S, et al. (2021) The last battle of Anne of Brittany: Solving mass grave through an interdisciplinary approach (paleopathology, biological anthropology, history, multiple isotopes and radiocarbon dating). PLoS ONE 16(5): e0248086. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0248086 Francis II, duke of Brittany." The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia™, The Columbia UP, 2026. Gale OneFile: High School Edition, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A68575485/GPS?u=mlin_n_melpub&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=eb8754eb. Accessed 15 Oct. 2026. Rorimer, James J. “The Unicorn Tapestries Were Made for Anne of Brittany.” The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin , Summer, 1942, New Series, Vol. 1, No. 1 (Summer, 1942). Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/3257087 "Queen's 'heart' stolen from museum; Nantes thieves trigger alarm but get away with the 15th-century Anne of Brittany reliquary." Daily Telegraph [London, England], 16 Apr. 2018, p. 14. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A534833092/GPS?u=mlin_n_melpub&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=2ca9a21e. Accessed 15 Oct. 2026. "Anne of Brittany." Encyclopedia of World Biography Online, vol. 29, Gale, 2009. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints, link.gale.com/apps/doc/K1631009161/GPS?u=mlin_n_melpub&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=eed786f7. Accessed 15 Oct. 2026. Cochrane-Wishart-Baillie, Constance Mary Elizabeth, Countess de la Warr. “A Twice Crowned Queen: Anne of Brittany.” London. Eveleigh Nash. 1906. https://archive.org/details/twicecrownedquee0000dela/ Sanborn, Helen J. “Anne of Brittany: The Story of a Duchess and Twice-crowned Queen.” Boston, Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Co. 1917. https://archive.org/details/anneofbrittanyst00sanb/ Kergourlay, Yann. “Anne of Brittany.” The Boleyn Files. 1/9/2014. https://www.theanneboleynfiles.com/anne-brittany/ Nassiet, Michel. “Anne of Brittany.” Bécédia. 3/07/2023. https://bcd.bzh/becedia/en/anne-of-brittany See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This 2013 episode covers Princess Alexandra Amelie of Bavaria who was frail and she exhibited unusual behavior. She told her parents that she had swallowed a glass piano as a child, and was afraid that she would shatter.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tracy talks about how she came to love onions after disliking them as a child. Holly discusses her fear of heights, and questions evidence in Ludwig II's death.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Bernhard von Gudden was renowned as a reformer of asylums in Germany. But that legacy has been eclipsed by his part in getting King Ludwig II of Bavaria deposed. Research: Bhattacharyya, Kalyan B. “Johann Bernhard Aloys von Gudden and the Mad King of Bavaria.” Annals of Indian Academy of Neurology vol. 20,4 (2017): 348-351. doi:10.4103/aian.AIAN_489_16 Crossland, David. “Suicide of Mad Ludwig was murder, says film‑maker.” The Times of London. June 29, 2018. https://www.thetimes.com/world/article/suicide-of-mad-ludwig-was-murder-says-film-maker-2x9s8hnkl Danek, A et al. “The dream king's psychiatrist Bernhard von Gudden (1824-1886). A life committed to rationality.” Archives of neurology vol. 46,12 (1989): 1349-53. doi:10.1001/archneur.1989.00520480093026 Dalvi, Madhusudan. “The Fairy Tale King and His Royal Psychiatrist: The Contribution to Neuroscience of Dr Johann Bernhard Aloys von Gudden, Psychiatrist to King Ludwig II – Psychiatry in History.” The British Journal of Psychiatry 222.5 (2023): 187–187 “Death in Lake Starnberg.” Bavarikon. https://www.bavarikon.de/en/exhibitions/king-ludwig-ii-of-bavaria-life-legacy-legend/disempowerment-and-death/death-in-lake-starnberg “The death of King Ludwig II.” Cambridge University Library. https://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/collections/departments/germanic-collections/about-collections/spotlight-archive/death-king-ludwig Diethelm, Oskar. AN HISTORICAL VIEW OF SOMATIC TREATMENT IN PSYCHIATRY. 1939. American Journal of Psychiatry, vol. 95, no. 5, American Psychiatric Publishing, Mar. 1939, pp. 1165–1179, doi:1176/ajp.95.5.1165 “John Conolly.” Royal College of Physicians. https://history.rcp.ac.uk/inspiring-physicians/john-conolly “Ludwig II. The Final Days of the Fairy Tale King: The Report.” Museum Starnberger See. https://www.museum-starnberger-see.de/en/exhibitions/upcoming/ludwig-ii/texts-and-audio-recordings/the-report “Ludwig II. The Final Days of the Fairy Tale King: From the Autopsy Report of Ludwig II.” Museum Starnberger See. https://www.museum-starnberger-see.de/en/exhibitions/upcoming/ludwig-ii/texts-and-audio-recordings/autopsy-report “Mad King Ludwig a Suicide.” The Philadelphia Times. June 15, 1886. https://www.newspapers.com/image/52212265/?fcfToken=eyJhbGciOiJFUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJmcmVlLXZpZXctaWQiOjUyMjEyMjY1LCJpYXQiOjE3OTI1MjQ5OTQsImV4cCI6MTc5MjYxMTM5NH0.Y3yJW-PPNj0sg3HvMXT8ADdExIsxEbJ_2jQOnkNJPjDs_rHlGdri61QOCmh97k1NREVtpH0_u7oBOa_8sOWncQ Müller, Jürgen L. “Johann Bernhard Aloys von Gudden, 1824–1886. 2002.” American Journal of Psychiatry, vol. 159, no. 3, American Psychiatric Publishing, Mar. 2002, p. 379, doi:1176/ajp.159.3.379 Neumann, Conny. “Was ‘Mad’ king Ludwig Murdered?” Der Spiegel. Nov. 7, 2011. https://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/fresh-doubt-about-suicide-theory-was-mad-king-ludwig-murdered-a-515924.html “OTTO, MAD MONARCH OF BAVARIA, DEAD; The End Came Suddenly at Fuerstenried Castle, Near Munich. INSANE FOR 43 YEARS Nominally Succeeded His Mad Brother Ludwig, but Never Exercised Royal Power.” New York Times. Oct. 13, 1916. https://www.nytimes.com/1916/10/13/archives/otto-mad-monarch-of-bavaria-dead-the-end-came-suddenly-at.html Sarikcioglu, Levent. “Johann Bernhard Aloys von Gudden: an outstanding scientist.” Journal of neurology, neurosurgery, and psychiatry vol. 78,2 (2007): 195. doi:10.1136/jnnp.2006.106633 Steinberg, Reinhard, and Peter Falkai. “Was King Ludwig II of Bavaria misdiagnosed by Gudden and his colleagues?.” European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience vol. 271,4 (2021): 799-807. doi:10.1007/s00406-020-01161-8 Taylor, Allen. “The 125th Anniversary of the Death of King Ludwig II.” The Atlantic. June 13, 2011. https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2011/06/the-125th-anniversary-of-the-death-of-king-ludwig-ii/100085/ Workman, Charles. “Bernhard Von Gudden.” The British Medical Journal, vol. 2, no. 1336, 1886, pp. 285–86. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/25268832. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the 1950s, two men tried to corner the market on onions on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and manipulate futures contracts. Then Congress took up legislation to expressly forbid contracts for the sale of onion futures.  Research: Butz, Earl L. “VINCENT W KOSUGA, SAM S. SIEGEL, AND NATIONAL PRODUCE DISTRIBUTORS, INC.” Docket 73. Commodity Futures Trading Commission. CEA Cases. 6/18/1956. https://www.cftc.gov/sites/default/files/idc/groups/public/@lrceacases/documents/ceacases/kosuga-jun1956-644.pdf Chicago Tribune. “Chicago Onion Dealer Named for Price Fix.” 6/22/1956. Page 43. Chicago Tribune. “Siegel Denies Manipulating Onion Futures.” 6/22/1956. Page 43. Commodity Exchange Authority. “Futures Trading in Onions.” United States Department of Agriculture. December 1956. Commodity Futures Trading Commission. “History of the CFTC.” https://www.cftc.gov/About/HistoryoftheCFTC/history_precftc.html Commodity Futures Trading Commission. “VINCENT W. KOSUGA, SAM S. SIEGEL, AND NATIONAL PRODUCE DISTRIBUTORS, INC.” Decision and Order. 6/3/1960. https://www.cftc.gov/sites/default/files/idc/groups/public/@lrceacases/documents/ceacases/kosuga-jun1960-555.pdf Lambert, Emily. “The Futures: the Rise of the Speculator and the Origins of the World’s Biggest Markets.” Basic Books. 2011. Miller, Rena S. “Introduction to Derivatives and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.” U.S. Congress. Report. 3/13/2025. https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/R48451 Mininger, Wayne. “Public Comment: Agricultural Commodity Definition, Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Final Rule: Pages 25-26.” SEC. https://www.sec.gov/comments/s7-16-11/s71611-13.pdf NPR Planet Money. “Episode 657: The Tale Of The Onion King.” 10/14/2015. https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2015/10/14/448718171/episode-657-the-tale-of-the-onion-king Romer, Keith and Robert Smith. “The tale of the Onion King (Update).” NPR Planet Money. 6/22/2022. https://www.npr.org/2022/06/22/1106861476/the-tale-of-the-onion-king-update Romer, Keith. “The Great Onion Corner And The Futures Market.” NPR Planet Money/Morning Edition. 10/22/2015. https://www.npr.org/2015/10/22/450769853/the-great-onion-corner-and-the-futures-market S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. “Vincent W. Kosuga, Plaintiff-appellee, v. Jack H. Kelly, Defendant-appellant, 257 F.2d 48 (7th Cir. 1958).” October 13, 1958. https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F2/257/48/78496/ S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. “Chicago Mercantile Exchange v. Tieken, 178 F. Supp. 779 (N.D. Ill. 1959).” 12/2/1959. https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/FSupp/178/779/1642330/ S. Supreme Court. “Kelly v. Kosuga, 358 U.S. 516 (1959).” 2/24/1959. https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/358/516/ Warwick Valley Dispatch. “Vince Kosuga to be Named Pine Island Citizen of the ” 10/14/1987. https://www.pineislandny.com/Scrapbook/0048_sp_sm.pdf Binghamton Press Bureau. “Both Engines Are Torn Off as Ship Makes Forced Landing.” Binghamton Press and Sun-Bulletin. Page 1. 9/7/1948. Roesch, Roberta Fleming. “Couple’s Success Recipe: ‘We Know Our Onions.’” Wilkes-Barre Record. Page 9. 10/23/1964. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This 2022 episode covers Helen Duncan, sometimes described inaccurately as Scotland’s last witch, or the last person imprisoned for witchcraft in Britain, or the last person to be tried under the UK’s 1735 Witchcraft Act.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tracy shares her surprise at discovering some of the details of Montague Summers's life. Holly talks about bickering within the Society for Psychical Research.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Major Edward Moor reported strange bell ringing at his home in Great Bealings in 1834. Was it a poltergeist, a hoax, or something else? Research: Briggs, Stacia, and Siofra Connor. “Weird Suffolk: Poltergeist activity at Great Bealings.” East Anglia Daily Times. Feb. 1, 2019. https://www.eadt.co.uk/news/21445662.weird-suffolk-poltergeist-activity-great-bealings/ Britannica Editors. "Mysore Wars". Encyclopedia Britannica, 20 Feb. 2025, https://www.britannica.com/event/Mysore-Wars Cohen, Daniel. “In Search of Ghosts.” Dodd, Mead. 1972. https://openlibrary.org/books/OL5708323M/In_search_of_ghosts. Hall, Trevor Henry. “New Light on Old Ghosts.” London. Gerald Duckworth & Co. 1965. Moor, Edward. “Hindu Infanticide.” London. J. Johnson. 1811. Accessed online: https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=W7YIAAAAQAAJ&rdid=book-W7YIAAAAQAAJ&rdot=1 Moor, Edward. “The Hindu Pantheon.” London. 1810. Accessed online: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nnc1.cu58661581&seq=7 Moor, Edward. “Suffolk Words and Phrases: Or, An Attempt to Collect the Lingual Localisms of that County. 1823. J. Loder. London. Accessed online: https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=6BMLAAAAQAAJ&rdid=book-6BMLAAAAQAAJ&rdot=1 Moor, Edward. “Bealings Bells: The Suffolk Poltergeist Mystery.” Woodbridge. John Loder. 1841. (Reprint.) Moor, Edward. “To the Editor of the Ipswich Journal.” Ipswich Journal. March 1, 1834. https://www.newspapers.com/image/390311876/?match=1&terms=Bealings&search-id=adc3c27c-67f1-4077-9a3e-ee9434b6159f&search-rank=6 Podmore, Frank. “On Poltergeists.” Journal of Society for Psychical Research. June 1899. https://people.wku.edu/charles.smith/wallace/zPodmore1899JSocPsyRes2.pdf Stephen, Leslie, ed. “Dictionary of National Biography.” Volume 38. 1885-1900. Accessed online: https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofnati38stepuoft “To the Editor of the Ipswich Journal.” Ipswich Journal. March 8, 1834. https://www.newspapers.com/image/390311986/?match=1&terms=Bealings&search-id=89f037b5-7abe-4ea6-a92e-093ecb6de2e6&search-rank=2 Willin, M. “Trevor Hall.” Psi Encyclopedia. 2021. https://psi-encyclopedia.spr.ac.uk/articles/trevor-hall See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.