After the death of Tsarina Anastasia at the hands of the boyars, Ivan IV was furious. With his 2nd wife, he started the Oprichnina, and one of Russia's darkest periods in history, resulting in the deaths of nobles, peasants, and even his own family. But it wouldn't be until his 8th marriage that his brutal rule came to an end. Don't worry, we somehow still found a few laughs in there!

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Ivan IV had a grudge against Moscow's nobles ever since they poisoned his mother. So when he was crowned Russia's 1st all-powerful Tsar, he started cutting off their power (by cutting off their heads). His 1st wife Anastasia helped him keep his cool, but when the nobles poisoned her too, Ivan really started to get Terrible.

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Queen Elizabeth and Robert Dudley were still super into each other after Amy Robsart died, but marrying would be too scandalous. But despite taking on her own suitors, Elizabeth was still incredibly jealous when Robert Dudley hooked up with other ladies! But did Elizabeth and Robert ever actually - you know - DO it?? We dive into all the craziest theories, from trauma and stepdads to incest and Shakespeare. It's never a dull day in Queen Liz's court!

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Lord Robert Dudley was besties with his childhood friend, Elizabeth Tudor. After she snagged a promotion to Queen of England, she kept him close and eventually fell in love with him. But when Robert's wife Amy mysteriously died, the rumors started flying about what the Queen and her alleged lover might be capable of! Was it an assassination? An accident? Or something... spookier?? Well we think we cracked this 600 year old case!

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Craig Pritchert was going to be a Major League Baseball star before Barry Bonds stole his thunder. So Craig decided he would steal too - from banks! He met and fell for Nova Guthrie, a smalltown girl who craved excitement. Their spree of robberies netted them half a million dollars, and they were so in love that the only real crime would be to keep them apart… Well that and all the stealing.

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Ron Sheppard has been married 8 times and engaged even more. He's not a playboy or a polygamist, he just can't seem to date anyone without proposing! Now after 57 years of I Do's, he's done with divorces and retiring from romance. His manic matrimonies got us talking about some people's obsession with (or phobia of) marriage, and our own feelings about it too!

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Isabel and Jean Godin were so deeply in love that when distance and politics kept them apart, they waited for each other. But after 20 long years, Isabel was done waiting. In the company of 42 people, she set off through the Amazon basin to reunite with her husband. But almost immediately, things started to go disastrously wrong, leaving Isabel alone in the rainforest to fend for herself.

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Turns out we have the best fans of ANY podcast out there, and your words deserve to be heard! This time y'all filled in some details from earlier episodes, gave us some great insight for our non-binary characters, told us your own Jeopardy connections, helped with our accents, and even sent us to Poetry Corner with one listeners bawdy poem to her patient husband! There's so much more, so listen in while we read your amazing messages!

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Percy Grainger was a talented Australian composer and a complicated guy. He was weirdly close with his mother. He was kind of a big racist. He invented weird, wacky instruments and challenged musical norms. And he left a package to be opened ten years after his death which shocked the world - because inside were whips, bloody clothes, and photographic evidence of a wild BDSM sexual lifestyle. 

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Alexander Herrmann was already one of the world's greatest magicians in the late 19th century, but his best trick was making British acrobat Adelaide Scarcez's fiancé disappear! She married Herrmann the Great instead and soon became famous as The Queen of Magic herself. But the real magic was the love between them! (Ok the real magic was catching bullets, levitating, and making tigers appear out of thin air but OTHERWISE...)

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