Let Jeff and Sam start your work week off with a little happiness! They’re bringing you heartwarming stories to lift your spirits and remind you that good things are happening in the world.

🚑 A 3-year-old overcomes fear to save his great-grandmother’s life
💛 A community comes together to buy a car for a local hero

Start your Monday with a smile! 😊

🎧 Visit us on Linktree for all the links, Instagram, or email us at downtherabbitholepod@gmail.com.

🔗 Sources:
Community Comes Together To Buy Car For Local Hero
3-Year-Old Overcomes Fear To Save Great-Grandmother’s Life

It's Women's History Month, and Sam and Jeff are sharing the stories of some seriously badass women.

Sam tells the story of Julie d’Aubigny, better known as Mademoiselle Maupin or La Maupin. A French opera singer with a tumultuous career and a flamboyant lifestyle, Julie was the subject of gossip, rumors, and colorful stories in her time, inspiring numerous fictional and semi-fictional portrayals.

Jeff tells the story of Virginia Hall, an American spy who worked with the United Kingdom's clandestine Special Operations Executive (SOE) and the American Office of Strategic Services (OSS) in France during World War II. Code-named "Marie" and "Diane," Virginia was at the top of the Nazi’s Most Wanted list—and she knew it.

Visit us on Linktree for the collection of links, Instagram, or email us at downtherabbitholepod@gmail.com.

Sam's Sources:

• Kelly Gardiner - The Real Life of Julie d’Aubigny
• Wikipedia - Julie d'Aubigny

Jeff's Sources:

• Purnell, Sonia, A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of Virginia Hall, WWII’s Most Dangerous Spy
• Home of Heroes - Virginia Hall
• Wikipedia - Virginia Hall
• Smithsonian - How a Spy Known as the Limping Lady Helped the Allies Win WWII
• CIA - Virginia Hall: The Courage and Daring of the Limping Lady
• Mental Floss - Virginia Hall, One-Legged WWII Superspy
• YouTube - Virginia Hall

Jeff and Sam decide that every once in a while, we all just need a little good news. They both share heartwarming stories. Enjoy.

"You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view, until you climb into his skin and walk around in it."
—Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Visit us on Linktree for the collection of links, Instagram, or email us at downtherabbitholepod@gmail.com.

Sources:

• Sunny Skyz - A Strict Math Teacher Kept a Huge Secret
• Upworthy - Teen Raises $186,000 to Help Woman Retire
• Daily Mail - TikToker Raises $186,000 for 81-Year-Old Walmart Employee to Retire
• NJ.com - Walmart Break Room TikTok Sparks $175K GoFundMe for 81-Year-Old Worker

Sam tells the harrowing story of Frankie Silver, who was hanged on July 12, 1833, in Morganton, Burke County, North Carolina, for the axe murder of her husband, Charles Silver. She is believed to have been the first woman executed in North Carolina.

Jeff shares the survival story of Michael Malloy, nicknamed “Mike the Durable” or “Iron Mike,” a homeless Irishman from County Donegal who lived in New York City during the 1920s and 1930s. He survived multiple murder attempts by a group of five acquaintances who were attempting to collect on fraudulent life insurance policies.

Visit us on Linktree for the collection of links, Instagram, or email us at downtherabbitholepod@gmail.com.

Sam's Sources:

• Blue Ridge Country - Frankie and Charlie Silver

Jeff's Sources:

• Wikipedia - Michael Malloy
• Irish Central - The Irishman Who Could Not Be Murdered
• The Dollop Podcast - Episode on Michael Malloy

Jeff shares the story of Mr. Jones and The Third Wave.

The Third Wave was an experimental movement created by high school history teacher Ron Jones in 1967 to explain how the German population could have accepted the actions of the Nazi regime during the rise of the Third Reich and the Second World War.

While Jones taught his students about Nazi Germany during his senior-level Contemporary World History class, he found it difficult to explain how the German people could have accepted the actions of the Nazis. He decided to create a fictional social movement as a demonstration of the appeal of fascism. Over the course of five days (or nine, according to student Sherry Toulsey), Mr. Jones conducted a series of exercises in his classroom emphasizing discipline and community, intended to model certain characteristics of the Nazi movement.

As the movement grew outside his class and began to number in the hundreds, the experiment spiraled out of control.

Sam's phrase of the week: vortex of fuckery

Visit us on Linktree for the collection of links, Instagram, or email us at downtherabbitholepod@gmail.com.

• Wikipedia - The Third Wave (Experiment)
• The Wave Home
• Palo Alto Online - The Wave That Changed History
• Libcom - The Third Wave 1967: An Account by Ron Jones
• Lesson Plan (Documentary on Amazon)

Sam and Jeff dedicate this episode to ER nurses, doctors, and techs. Jeff tells the harrowing survival story of ER nurse Susan Kuhnhausen. Sam shares the story of a poisoning at the Oregon State Psychiatric Hospital in the 1940s.

Visit us on Linktree for the collection of links, Instagram, or email us at downtherabbitholepod@gmail.com.

Jeff's Sources:

• Blurred Bylines - Susan Kuhnhausen
• Willamette Week - A Hit Man Came to Kill Susan Kuhnhausen. She Survived. He Didn’t.
• IMDB - I Survived: Susan Walters
• Medium - Susan Kuhnhausen's Husband Sent a Hitman to Kill Her. He Failed.

Sam's Sources:

• Statesman Journal - Oregon State Hospital Poison Causes 47 Deaths in 1942
• MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries - Ep. 6 | Blood Feast

Sam and Jeff share the life story of American writer James Baldwin.

Visit us on Linktree for the collection of links, Instagram, or email us at downtherabbitholepod@gmail.com.

Sources:

• Britannica - James Baldwin
• Wikipedia - James Baldwin

Sam shares the tragic story of James Bulger, a two-year-old boy whose abduction and murder in 1993 shook the UK and the world. Jeff tells the horrifying story of Daniel LaPlante, a man whose crimes escalated from stalking and home invasion to brutal murder.

Visit us on Linktree for the collection of links, Instagram, or email us at downtherabbitholepod@gmail.com.

Sam's Sources

• The Independent - James Bulger murder and Jon Venables parole
• Wikipedia - Murder of James Bulger

Jeff's Sources

• Medium - The Haunting Legacy of Daniel LaPlante
• Juvenile Law Center - Appellant's Brief
• Dark Down East - Daniel LaPlante
• Wikipedia - Daniel LaPlante