Optical Telegraphs and the First Telecom Scam

Tom Scott visits an old optical telegraph station that was used to send messages across France at amazing speeds for the 19th century. Hear how some stock investors hijacked the government only system for their own purposes – and got away with it.

Joshua Horn

Share
Published by
Joshua Horn

Recent Posts

The Mystery of a Missing Bradford Letter

Image by Jeff Nelson under CC BY-SA 2.0 I recently came across a snippet from…

3 weeks ago

Captain Sam Chapman: Mosby’s Fighting Parson

Along the banks of the Shenandoah River, in the beautiful Page Valley near Luray, Virginia,…

1 month ago

On Bradford’s Trail: Amsterdam

One of Amsterdam's famous canals Nieuwe Kerk, on Amsterdam's central square, was built in the…

1 month ago

The Insane Killer of John Wilkes Booth

We explore the closing days of the Civil War, when the victorious president Abraham Lincoln…

1 month ago

General Andrew Pickens: Ring Fight!

A tall and bronzed militia captain named Andrew Pickens led his scouts steadily forward to…

2 months ago

Eliza Lucas Pinckney: She Smiles at the Future

There are few young ladies today who relish getting up at 5 AM.  Even fewer…

2 months ago