January 2025

Jan 6

Send me your episode suggestions!

Hello Tastorians and Happy New Year!

I'm starting off the new year by collecting episode ideas from you. So if there's a video you've been aching to see, add the idea to this Google form and I'll add it to the research list. If you’re a patron who has already suggested something over on Patreon, no need to submit the same idea again, but feel free to send a new one!

https://forms.gle/4GLQhi2p54FqdhgU6

Usually, I use this space to share bits of history that didn't make it into last month's videos, but instead of looking back, I'm looking forward (though not very far forward). Tomorrow's video is about the history of gout, the disease of kings, and since it's often caused by eating or drinking too many rich foods, I thought it was apropos since many of us spent the last 2 weeks gorging on holiday treats. Well in the video, I include a quote from the author and Civil War veteran, Ambrose Bierce and while editing the video I wanted to add the dates of his life as I usually do. But when I went to look up his death date, what I found was a big ol' question mark. Ambrose Bierce (1842 - ?). I've come across many historic figures with questionable birth and death dates, but this was different. Usually the uncertainty about a date has to do with a lack of documentation, but in the case of Ambrose Bierce, it's because he disappeared!

In October 1913, at the age of 71, Bierce left his home in Washington D.C. to tour the old Civil War battlefields where he had once fought. From there, everything is speculation. Supposedly, his tour took him through Louisiana and Texas and eventually he found himself in Mexico which just happened to be in the midst of a revolution. Always the adventurer, Bierce decided to join the army of Pancho Villa, not as a soldier, but as an observer. He witnessed Villa's victory at the Battle of Tierra Blanca in late November 1913 and from there, he followed the army deeper into Mexico where, on December 26, 1913, he wrote a letter to a friend saying "As to me, I leave here tomorrow for an unknown destination." And that was the last anyone heard of him.

Theories abound about what happened next including some that suggest he was never in Mexico at all but rather sent the letters (which may not actually have existed) as a ruse as he went to the Grand Canyon to end his own life. Another claims that he fell in with bandits who shot him with his own gun. Yet another claims he was executed by firing squad in the town of Sierra Mojada. I find that to be the most interesting theory (if not the most believable) as one of Bierce's final letters prophesied that exact outcome.

"Good-bye. If you hear of my being stood up against a Mexican stone wall and shot to rags, please know that I think it is a pretty good way to depart this life. It beats old age, disease, or falling down the cellar stairs. To be a Gringo in Mexico--ah, that is euthanasia!"

For a more in depth coverage of Bierce's mysterious disappearance, might I suggest the video by The History Guy on the topic.

Mystery: The Disappearance of Ambrose Bierce

I also wanted to share a bit of music from an 18th century Spanish composer who, until recently, I'd never come across. His name is José De Nebra and it's Baroque music with castanets! A great way to start the new year! Here is one of my favorites, Tempestad Grande:

José De Nebra • 'Tempestad grande' (Fandango) de la Zarzuela ( Lyrics )