100 WVIA Way
Pittston, PA 18640

Phone: 570-826-6144
Fax: 570-655-1180

Copyright © 2024 WVIA, all rights reserved. WVIA is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization.
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Spy Balloons Have A Longer, Weirder History Than You Think

Season 2 Episode 1 | 10m 17s

Spy balloons once marked a great leap forward in the art of intelligence gathering. No longer were soldiers safe from enemy reconnaissance on the ground. They could now be watched from the air! From the French Revolution to the Civil War, balloons loomed over battlefields. Join us in a time when an oddball inventor sent President Lincoln a decisive telegraph — from 500 feet above the ground.

Aired: 07/19/23
Funding for ROGUE HISTORY is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
Extras
A network of traveling merchant-spies were essential to the expansion of the Aztec Empire.
The largest enslaved insurrection in US history was planned for 1856– and then called off.
A group of women mathematicians uncovered Soviet spies– but received none of the credit.
Ninjas are famous in popular culture, but behind the stereotypes lie a legendary history.
Chevalier d’Eon was a spy, fencer, and gender identity trailblazer who blackmailed a King.
“I wanted to start a personal war with Hitler. And I wanted to fight with my imagination.”
This musician spied on Black socialists then criticized the government for being racist.
One pirate’s tale of buried treasure led to generations of treasure hunting.
Sea Lords were as vital to medieval Japan as samurai, so why were they called “pirates?”
Though often overlooked, the Barbary pirates played a huge role in U.S. and world history.
Latest Episodes
All
  • All
  • In the Shadows
  • Behind the Patch
A network of traveling merchant-spies were essential to the expansion of the Aztec Empire.
The largest enslaved insurrection in US history was planned for 1856– and then called off.
A group of women mathematicians uncovered Soviet spies– but received none of the credit.
Ninjas are famous in popular culture, but behind the stereotypes lie a legendary history.
Chevalier d’Eon was a spy, fencer, and gender identity trailblazer who blackmailed a King.
“I wanted to start a personal war with Hitler. And I wanted to fight with my imagination.”
This musician spied on Black socialists then criticized the government for being racist.
One pirate’s tale of buried treasure led to generations of treasure hunting.
Sea Lords were as vital to medieval Japan as samurai, so why were they called “pirates?”
Though often overlooked, the Barbary pirates played a huge role in U.S. and world history.