Is the Earth really flat? And why do millions of people continue to question something scientists established more than 2,000 years ago?

This week on Disturbing History, Brian explores the fascinating, bizarre, and sometimes disturbing history of the Flat Earth movement—from ancient civilizations and groundbreaking scientific discoveries to Victorian conspiracy theorists, courtroom battles, and the modern YouTube revolution.

At the center of the story is an extraordinary 1870 wager between renowned naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace and Flat Earth believer John Hampden. What began as a simple experiment on a six-mile English canal spiraled into nearly two decades of lawsuits, harassment, threats, and imprisonment.

Discover how ancient Greek scholars calculated Earth's circumference, why Christopher Columbus never actually had to prove the world was round, and how a nineteenth-century pseudoscientific movement survived the Space Age. We'll also examine the modern Flat Earth resurgence, failed experiments captured in the documentary Behind the Curve, the psychology of conspiracy theories, and the Antarctic expedition that put one of the movement's biggest claims to the test in December 2024.

How much evidence does it take to change someone's mind? And what happens when believing a conspiracy becomes more important than discovering the truth?

Join us for a journey through more than 2,000 years of science, deception, obsession, and one of history's most enduring conspiracy theories.

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Have a forgotten historical mystery, disturbing event, unsolved crime, or hidden conspiracy you think deserves investigation?

Send your suggestions to brian@paranormalworldproductions.com.

Disturbing History is a dark history podcast exploring unsolved mysteries, secret societies, historical conspiracies, lost civilizations, and the shadowy stories buried beneath the surface of the past.

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Because sometimes the truth is darker than fiction.