Introducing WHAT THE FACT with Connor Tomlinson and Carter Roy, a new Rewind podcast!
October 4, 2026
AI Summary
5 min read"30 to 60% of everyone in Europe dead in under five years." That is the scale of the Black Death in 1348, one of three catastrophic years examined in this episode of What the Fact. Hosts Connor Tomlinson and Carter Roy present a competition: which year in human history was the absolute worst to be alive? They walk through 1816, 1348, and 536 CE, arguing that each catastrophe, however devastating, also inadvertently reshaped the world in ways we still live with.
The Year Without a Summer (1816)
The first contender is 1816, known as "the year without a summer." The cause was the eruption of Mount Tambora in Indonesia in April 1815—the largest volcanic eruption in recorded history, measuring a 7 on the Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI), making it roughly 100 times more powerful than Mount St. Helens. The ash and sulfur dioxide formed a global veil that reflected sunlight, cooling the Earth by just one degree Fahrenheit. That single degree was enough to cancel summer across the Northern Hemisphere. In New England, it snowed in June, killing crops and birds. In Europe, grain rotted, bread prices doubled, and families ate bread cut with sawdust or boiled weeds. In China and India, the cold destroyed rice harvests and disrupted monsoons, leading to famines that lasted years and possibly spawning the first global cholera pandemic.
Continue reading the full summary in the app — free to try.
Read Full Summary →Free • No credit card required
Never miss an episode of Conspiracy Theories, Cults, & Crimes
Get every new episode summarized in your inbox — free, ~5 minutes to read.
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
What you'll learn
- 1 (02:12) **Show Introduction & Theme** - Connor and Carter introduce "What the Fact," a show that reveals wild true facts and the full story behind them, with today's theme being "catastrophe makes things."
- 2 (05:06) **Year 1: 1816 - The Year Without a Summer** - A volcanic eruption caused global famine, but also gave us Frankenstein and the bicycle.
- 3 (11:30) **Creative Silver Linings of 1816** - The volcanic winter trapped writers indoors, leading to the creation of Frankenstein, the modern vampire, and the bicycle.
- 4 (18:15) **Year 2: 1348 - The Year of the Black Death** - Up to 60% of Europe died from a plague that spread from flea bites, with doctors resorting to bizarre treatments like strapping chickens to patients.
- 5 (25:06) **Legacy of the Black Death** - The plague left behind the word "quarantine," and the labor shortage it caused led to the end of serfdom and helped spark the Renaissance.
- 6 (31:46) **Year 3: 536 CE - The Worst Year to Be Alive** - The sun went dim and bluish for 18 months, followed by a devastating plague, and the Roman Empire never recovered.
- 7 (38:30) **Solving the 1500-Year-Old Mystery** - A 2018 ice core study using lasers found two microscopic particles of volcanic glass, proving a massive Icelandic eruption caused the sun to go dark.
+ Full timestamped outline available in the app
Guests on this episode
Show Notes
Fun fact: Did you know Jaws almost never existed because the shark kept sinking while filming? That is Connor Tomlinson just getting started. If that sounds fascinating, you are going to love Rewind Studios’ new podcast out now called WHAT THE FACT hosted by Connor Tomlinson and Carter Roy. It’s produced by the same team that brings you Conspiracy Theories, Cults, & Crimes.
Connor and co-host Carter Roy pull three unbelievable true facts every week and tell you the full story behind each one. Nothing is off limits. Myths and monsters. Forgotten scandals. Accidental discoveries. Untold stories behind the songs everyone knows. Disasters that sound made up but absolutely happened. Carter sets the scene and Connor makes you fall in love with history.
The wildest stuff is real, and the real stuff is wilder than you think. New episodes every Wednesday.
What the Fact with Connor Tomlinson and Carter Roy is a Rewind Original, powered by PAVE Studios.
Listen and Follow: https://pod.link/6811124906
More from this podcast
Conspiracy Theories, Cults, & Crimes →