Dark History

192: The 2025 Gift Guide - A Very Dark History Holiday Special

December 10, 2025

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  • The episode serves as a '2025 Dark History Gift Guide,' suggesting bizarre and historically dark items as humorous holiday presents, such as baby cages and yogurt enemas. 
  • The host, Bailey Sarian, revisits popular, outlandish gift suggestions from previous Season 4 episodes, noting that listeners actually purchased some of the previous suggestions. 
  • The episode is interspersed with advertisements for various services including MasterClass, Zocdoc, Squarespace, and Stitch Fix, often tying the service into the dark history theme. 

Segments

Introduction and Gift Guide Premise
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(00:00:30)
  • Key Takeaway: The 2025 Dark History Gift Guide compiles outlandish gift suggestions from past episodes to combat holiday shopping fatigue.
  • Summary: The episode is framed as a holiday gift guide featuring unusual items from previous Dark History stories. Previous suggestions included items like Rasputin’s penis and mummy powder, which listeners reportedly gifted. The goal is to offer alternatives to standard stocking stuffers by drawing from the season’s wildest stories.
Baby Cages for New Parents
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(00:03:30)
  • Key Takeaway: Baby cages, wire boxes hung outside apartment windows for fresh air, were popular in the early 20th century, even used by Eleanor Roosevelt.
  • Summary: The baby cage is suggested as a vintage gift for new parents, designed to suspend an infant outside a window for fresh air while the mother cleaned indoors. These cages featured a hook and a protective cover from the elements. Their popularity waned by the 1940s due to advancements in modern medicine and reduced concerns about diseases like TB.
Ambergris: Whale Vomit Perfume Ingredient
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(00:08:05)
  • Key Takeaway: Ambergris, a waxy substance originating from sperm whale intestines, was historically used as an expensive perfume fixative and aphrodisiac, sometimes ingested.
  • Summary: Ambergris, known as ‘floating gold,’ is whale excrement formed around indigestible objects like squid beaks in the sperm whale’s intestines. It was highly valued for its potent, sexy smell and used in perfumes and even food by figures like King Louis XV. Possession and trade of ambergris are currently prohibited in the United States under the Endangered Species Act of 1973.
Ouija Board Naming and Tragedy
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(00:12:41)
  • Key Takeaway: The name ‘Ouija’ was derived from the board itself spelling out O-U-I-J-A, which it claimed meant ‘good luck’ when asked for its name.
  • Summary: The Ouija board received its name in 1890 when inventor Elijah J. Bond asked the board to name itself, and it spelled out O-U-I-J-A, later claiming the meaning was ‘good luck.’ William Fold won the trademark and believed the board gave him business advice, including locating a lost shipment. Tragically, Fold died after falling three stories in a factory he built based on the board’s advice, shortly before his son sold the rights to Parker Brothers.
Chippendale’s: More Than Just Strippers
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(00:19:16)
  • Key Takeaway: The original Chippendale’s club in 1970s Los Angeles was associated with arson, hitmen, and multiple murders alongside its male stripping performances.
  • Summary: Chippendale’s emerged during the 1970s golden age of porn, offering a safe environment for women to enjoy edgy entertainment like male strippers in classic costumes (cuffs, collars, bow ties). Despite the sexy veneer, the establishment’s history involved serious criminal activity, including arson and murder. The dancers’ iconic look was inspired by the classic Chippendale’s aesthetic.
The Alaskan Otter Man Legend
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(00:20:51)
  • Key Takeaway: The Kushtaka, or Otterman, is an ancient Indigenous legend from Alaska describing a shapeshifting creature that lures victims into the wilderness by mimicking a crying child.
  • Summary: The Kushtaka, translated as ’land otter man,’ is a shapeshifter from Klinkit and Simshean oral traditions, often appearing as a harmless otter but sometimes depicted as a buff man with an otter head. This entity psychologically plays with lost hikers, transforming into friends or children to gain trust before leading them to be shredded or turned into another Kushtaka. The legend serves as a warning against the dangers of the Alaskan wilderness.
Nero’s Collapsing Death Boat Plot
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(00:24:29)
  • Key Takeaway: Roman Emperor Nero attempted to murder his mother, Agrippina, by having a specially constructed boat collapse mid-sail, but she survived by swimming ashore in her heavy robes.
  • Summary: Nero tried poisoning his mother multiple times, but she allegedly had built up an immunity, prompting him to devise a more creative method. He commissioned a boat designed to fall apart while at sea, trapping Agrippina. Despite the boat collapsing and crew members drowning, Agrippina swam to shore, claiming the incident was a freak accident to avoid Nero’s wrath.
Annabelle Doll Possession Claims
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(00:30:38)
  • Key Takeaway: The Warrens determined the Annabelle doll was not possessed but was being used by a spirit attempting to possess the nursing student Donna, leading to an exorcism.
  • Summary: The Raggedy Ann-style doll, gifted to Donna, exhibited movement, location changes, and even appeared covered in blood, terrifying Donna and her roommates, including Lou, who claimed the doll attacked him in a night terror. Ed and Lorraine Warren concluded the spirit was in the ‘infestation phase,’ targeting Donna for possession, not the doll itself. After an exorcism, the Warrens took the doll to their museum with a warning sign, where a visitor allegedly died in a car crash after taunting it.
Dr. Kellogg’s Yogurt Enemas
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(00:39:05)
  • Key Takeaway: Dr. John Harvey Kellogg advocated for yogurt enemas as a treatment for numerous ailments, including constipation, colitis, and anemia, alongside manual colon massages.
  • Summary: Kellogg believed dairy, especially yogurt, was vital for gut health and recommended it both for eating and as an enema for patients. He claimed this practice could cure serious digestive and systemic issues like goiters and liver problems. This recommendation was part of a broader regimen that included manual colon massages for his constipated patients.
Butter Churns Used Against Witches
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(00:43:06)
  • Key Takeaway: A butter churn was allegedly used to defeat a witch by trapping her spectral hand in the churning staff when the dairy maid Joan Wright pushed down hard.
  • Summary: Joan Wright, a left-handed dairy maid in the 1580s, was accused of witchcraft due to her handedness, which was considered sinister. When a beggar woman appeared, Joan and her boss planned to trap the witch’s spectral hand in the butter churn’s staff as the woman tried to curse the butter. The alleged witch fell to her knees, confirming her hand was stuck until Joan lifted the staff.
Ronald Reagan’s Manufactured Cowboy Persona
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(00:48:02)
  • Key Takeaway: Ronald Reagan successfully cultivated a ‘cowboy’ persona based on his acting roles in B-Westerns to become a symbol of American values for political gain.
  • Summary: Reagan leveraged his experience as an actor in Westerns, like Cattle Queen of Montana, to adopt a rugged, man-of-the-people cowboy image for his public brand. He used this persona while touring GE plants, speaking vaguely about ‘freedom’ and ‘American values’ without engaging in specific political debates. This image attracted the attention of conservative writer William F. Buckley, who began grooming Reagan for a political career.