The Real Johnny Appleseed was SUPER WEIRD (and Pretty Cool)
Ridiculous History

The Real Johnny Appleseed was SUPER WEIRD (and Pretty Cool)

Jun 16, 2026
52:31
-(0)

About this episode

For a lot grade-school kids in the States, the story of Johnny Appleseed is a modern American myth. The story centers on a quixotic, wandering nomad that (for some reason) is cartoonishly centered on planting apple trees all throughout the newly-minted US. So... how much of this Americana is true? In today's episode, Ben, Max and Noel uncover the true story of an *extremely eccentric* guy named John Chapman, who did indeed make a living planting a ton of apple trees across the Midwest -- but not the kind of apples you're thinking of, and not for the reasons you might imagine. Spoiler, much later, the FBI gets involved. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Comments

Rate this episode

Episode Details

Author
iHeartPodcasts
Show Type
full
Audio Format
audio/mpeg

We use analytics

We use Umami, a privacy-friendly analytics tool, to understand how visitors use this site. No personal data is collected and no data leaves our EU servers. You can accept or decline below. Privacy Policy