
The Sinking of the USS Indianapolis
01/21/24 • 53 min
Join Kelli as she goes over what happened to the USS Indianapolis, the ship that brought atomic bomb parts to Tinian Island so they could be assembled - and dropped - on Hiroshima. Though the ship completed her mission, making Oppenheimer's and the Manhattan Project's work come to life in the form of a nuclear bomb, the USS Indianapolis suffered a catastrophic - and fatal - blow when it crossed paths with a Japanese submarine.
This is the story of the ship. Kelli discusses its important cargo, gives context on WWII and why the ship was in the Pacific in the first place, and then details the sinking of the USS Indianapolis - and for those of you with thalassophobia, there was something in the deep that the men needed to worry about...
Support me on my Patreon - your support helps keep this podcast going!
A Popular History of Unpopular Things PatreonFollow the APHOUT YouTube channel!
Intro and Outro music credit: Nedric
Find him on all streaming services and YouTube, and check out his newest album, Sparrow Factory!
Sources referenced:
In Harm's Way: The Sinking of the USS Indianapolis and the Extraordinary Story of Its Survivors by Doug Stanton
Join Kelli as she goes over what happened to the USS Indianapolis, the ship that brought atomic bomb parts to Tinian Island so they could be assembled - and dropped - on Hiroshima. Though the ship completed her mission, making Oppenheimer's and the Manhattan Project's work come to life in the form of a nuclear bomb, the USS Indianapolis suffered a catastrophic - and fatal - blow when it crossed paths with a Japanese submarine.
This is the story of the ship. Kelli discusses its important cargo, gives context on WWII and why the ship was in the Pacific in the first place, and then details the sinking of the USS Indianapolis - and for those of you with thalassophobia, there was something in the deep that the men needed to worry about...
Support me on my Patreon - your support helps keep this podcast going!
A Popular History of Unpopular Things PatreonFollow the APHOUT YouTube channel!
Intro and Outro music credit: Nedric
Find him on all streaming services and YouTube, and check out his newest album, Sparrow Factory!
Sources referenced:
In Harm's Way: The Sinking of the USS Indianapolis and the Extraordinary Story of Its Survivors by Doug Stanton
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The Kuru Cannibal Disease
Join Kelli as she talks about a prion disease called Kuru. Prion diseases occur when misfolded proteins duplicate and clog up the brain, and cause things like Mad Cow Disease, Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, and Kuru. Kuru was specific to the Fore people of Papua New Guinea, and at its peak, killed 200 women and children people a year. But to get Kuru, they must have consumed the brains of the infected dead...
Let's dive deep into the Fore peoples, prion diseases and more cannibalism.
New year, same old me. Happy 2024!
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A Popular History of Unpopular Things PatreonFollow the APHOUT YouTube channel!
Intro and Outro music credit: Nedric
Find him on all streaming services and YouTube, and check out his debut EP, Yello Kake!
Next Episode

The Jamestown Colony
Join Kelli as she goes over the difficulties of the early years of the first successful English settlement in North America - Jamestown. From the bloody flux to survival cannibalism, brutal executions to starvation and madness, the foundation of what would later become the United States was built on all the gross, nasty stuff we love here on the APHOUT podcast.
Support me on my Patreon - your support helps keep this podcast going!
A Popular History of Unpopular Things PatreonFollow the APHOUT YouTube channel!
Intro and Outro music credit: Nedric
Find him on all streaming services and YouTube, and check out his newest album, Sparrow Factory!
Sources referenced:
Savage Kingdom: The True Story of Jamestown, 1607, and the Settlement of America by Benjamin Woolley
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A Popular History of Unpopular Things - The Sinking of the USS Indianapolis
Transcript
The Sinking of the USS Indianapolis
Intro
Welcome to A Popular History of Unpopular Things, a mostly scripted podcast that makes history more fun and accessible. My kind of history is the unpopular stuff - disease, death, and destruction. I like learning about all things bloody, gross, mysterious, and weird.
Just a quick reminder that you can support me and the show on Patreon, just look up either A Popular History of Unpopular Things or APHOUT. And you can also now watch episodes on
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