Out In The Open

A teacher debunks historical myths to help his students get closer to the truth

Sebastian Major is the host of the podcast Our Fake History.
Sebastian Major is a high-school history teacher and the host of Our Fake History, a podcast dedicated to debunking historical myths. (Courtesy of Sebastian Major)

Sebastian Major is a history teacher, committed to showing his students how the past can help us better understand the present. He is also the host of the podcast Our Fake History.

"Our Fake History is a show that explores historical myths," he says. "So, these are these little stories and legends that have worked their way into the historical record."

The idea for the podcast came after one of his students asked a question about the validity of the assassination story of the Mad Monk himself, Rasputin. 

Sebastian was so carried away with telling the story that he hadn't checked to see if the account was true. He came to find that although he was telling the generally accepted version of events, there are good reasons to believe things didn't go down for Rasputin the way it's often retold.

Sebastian's goal is to get his students and listeners to think critically about the past in hopes that it will help give them the ability to be more savvy news consumers today.

This story originally aired on November 19, 2017. It appears in the Out in the Open episode "Rewriting History".