The Story Behind the Story Season 4 Episodes

Episode 1

One Hell of A Toll

Sat, Jun 22, 2024

Episode 2

Book to Pass the Time

Sat, Jun 29, 2024

A 25 year old deputy sheriff in North Dakota who get his $30 boat stolen and the ends he endure to get his boat back and the thieves to justice.

Episode 3

It Might Be Worth Remembering

Sat, Jul 6, 2024

Mike tells the story of the DNA investigation of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings with some new perspective and an admonition to keep an open mind. It is a departure from Mike's usual format but revealing as usual.

Episode 4

Sorry Wrong Number

Sat, Jul 13, 2024

Mike says this is the "single most satisfying story I've ever written." Young telemarketer John can't bring himself to sell two gross of pens to an elderly man who hopes to win a trip to Tahiti so he quits, but goes on to other success.

Episode 5

A Simple Solution

Sat, Jul 20, 2024

How Nobel Prize winning chemist Fritz Haber went from creating products that helped save the lives of billions to others that helped kill millions.

Episode 6

Biscuit Bomb

Sat, Jul 27, 2024

U.S. Army Private Rodman's experiences in World War II inspired his Hollywood work helping to launch the careers of many stars of his time. Of particular interest in this story was the twist that happened to fellow Private Levy.

Episode 7

Something To Chew On

Sat, Aug 3, 2024

Mike Rowe and Matt Crouch explore a story of a dentist's toughest patient.

Episode 8

A Serial Inventor

Sat, Aug 10, 2024

Here we have a story centered around Edward Francis, a stock broker who has a story of his own to tell, just right and just at the right time. Edward tells the scaled down story of his late father-in-law who was a serial inventor. Prior to him telling his story his father-in-law began to suffer from depression and checked himself into a sanitarium where he was administered daily doses of small flakes of stale corn served with milk amongst other food "medicines". One night Charles stole the doctor's original formula, which inspired his own invention of Grape Nuts. In his announcement Edward Francis stated that "Breakfast was the most important meal of the day." and along with selling 200,000 shares of stock made his new wife, Marjorie Merryweather Post, the richest woman in America. He didn't do too bad either as he became the chairman of a new cereal company, General Foods.

Episode 9

Little Bits of Corpse

Sat, Aug 17, 2024

Iggy, a doctor in a maternity ward, was confounded by the number of new mothers that died in the doctor's side of the hospital, while those on the intern side had a much higher survival rate. After investigating he created a concoction for the doctors to use. During this experimental period the survival rate of the women went up dramatically. But, the other doctors refused to believe the finding and went back to their old ways of performing autopsies in between child births. And the mother mortality rate went back up. When Iggy published an article in the current medical journal of his finding and a cure he was committed to an insane asylum where he was beaten severely and died. Years later Louis Pasteur discovered itty-bitty things called germs and realized that Iggy's concoction was the cure for controlling them when surgeons would wash their hands.

Episode 10

Something to Stand For

Sat, Aug 24, 2024

This story is about a number of different individuals of focus around the time that the British fired upon Fort McHenry near Baltimore and in particular a lawyer who wrote the words that would become our National Anthem.

Episode 11

Visiting Hours

Sat, Aug 31, 2024

This is the story of the unknown. But, it is also about those that make, and take, the extra effort to visit family and friends who are either elderly, or hospitalized or no longer with us. But, the story centers around one specific area.

Episode 12

Demoted Deserter

Sat, Sep 7, 2024

Episode 13

Enough

Fri, Sep 13, 2024

Our president having to deal with terrorists who have attacked a U.S. merchant ship and captured the crew holding them hostage. The Secretary of State and Attorney General argue why military action should or should not send military troops