Introducing WHAT THE FACT with Connor Tomlinson and Carter Roy, a new Rewind podcast!
October 19, 2026
AI Summary
5 min readIn 1816, the oat crop failed in Germany because of the cold. Horses starved. So a German inventor named Karl von Dreas asked a practical question: what if there was another way to get around? He built a two-wheeled machine you straddle and push with your feet — the great-grandfather of the bicycle, invented because a volcano killed the horses. That same year, trapped inside a rented mansion on Lake Geneva by perpetual rain and lightning, a group of young writers made a game of writing ghost stories. An 18-year-old named Mary Godwin had a waking nightmare about a pale student kneeling over something he had built, watching it stir. She started writing the next morning. The book was Frankenstein.
This is the premise of What the Fact, a new Rewind podcast hosted by Connor Tomlinson (from Love on the Spectrum) and Carter Roy. Each week, they take one unbelievable true thing from history and tell the whole story behind it. In this episode, they present three catastrophic years — 1816, 1348, and 536 CE — and ask which was actually the worst to live through. The throughline is that catastrophe remakes the world: out of disaster, unexpected things are born.
The Year Without a Summer (1816)
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What you'll learn
- 1 (01:37) **Welcome & Episode Setup** - Hosts Connor Tomlinson and Carter Roy introduce the premise: three historically terrible years, one question about which was the worst.
- 2 (03:32) **Year 1: 1816 – The Year Without a Summer** - A volcanic winter caused by Mount Tambora's eruption cancels summer globally, leading to famine and creative breakthroughs.
- 3 (11:41) **Silver Linings of 1816: Frankenstein, Vampires, and the Bicycle** - The catastrophic weather trapped writers indoors, sparking iconic literature, while horse starvation drove a mechanical invention.
- 4 (16:40) **Year 2: 1348 – The Black Death** - The bubonic plague arrives in Europe, killing 30-60% of the population in under five years.
- 5 (21:52) **Medieval "Cures" and the Origin of Quarantine** - Without germ theory, people tried ineffective remedies, but one practice gave us a lasting word.
- 6 (25:53) **The Aftermath of the Black Death** - The massive population die-off reshaped society, leading to the Renaissance.
- 7 (27:06) **Year 3: 536 CE – The Worst Year to Be Alive** - A double catastrophe: the sun went dark for 18 months, followed by a devastating plague.
+ 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 from Netflix’s Love on the Spectrum and Carter Roy. It’s produced by the same team that brings you Khloé in Wonder Land.
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.
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