HAistoric — Histories That Almost Were

— How one spectacularly shitty translator started a war, toppled a dictator, and gave the entire Organization of African Unity a migraine that lasted six months. —

— How a Stasi Operation to Plant a Fake Defector Accidentally Gave NATO Its Own Secrets Back —

— How a profoundly petty Mossad mission in 1988 accidentally uncovered Muammar Gaddafi’s plan to outsource his chemical weapons program to a bunch of pissed-off Irishmen. —

— How a Stolen Satchel of Bad Verse Accidentally Sent the Cold War to Venus —

— HOW A CLERICAL ERROR IN WHITEHALL ACCIDENTALLY GAVE SOMALIA THE WORLD’S 7TH LARGEST NUCLEAR SUBMARINE FLEET —

🎙 On the Phonograph

— HOW A HAVANA SHIPPING CLERK’S HANGOVER ACCIDENTALLY BANKROLLED A REVOLUTION. —

— How a Botched Spy Swap and a Case of Mistaken Luggage Left NATO Deaf, Dumb, and Pissed —

— Or, the time Langley tried to send a message and funded a rival network instead. —

— How One Man’s Groin Accidentally Tipped The Cold War Balance of Power —

— How a Rogue Numbers Station Accidentally Hotwired the 1950s Suburbs for a Mass Psychedelic Freak-Out, One Picket Fence at a Time. —

— How One Horny Romanian Spy Accidentally Created the Cold War’s Greatest Reality Show —

— How a Zambian Rock Band Nearly Overthrew Colonialism With a Fuzz Pedal —

— Julius Nyerere’s Ujamaa policies accidentally unleashed a libido-based WMD that drowned the IMF in its own hubris and sticky-sweet nut-dust. —

— How one DGI agent's dick-first diplomacy accidentally neutered the KGB in Angola —

— From presidential pothunting to a poncho-clad abdication, one bullet changed America from a shining city on a hill to a very weird B-movie. —