Happy Friday, everyone! On Monday, Katie will join me on the blog, so you can look forward to two (week)daily posts from Stuff You Missed in History Class.

One of our loyal listeners and blog readers, Mike W., suggested that we consider reading a history book together and discussing it — a blog book club, if you will. We thought it was a great idea, and we’d like to start with the book I blogged about earlier this week: Margaret MacMillan’s Dangerous Games: The Uses and Abuses of History. You can pre-order the book if you want to participate (it’s released Tuesday, July 7). To ensure everyone has time to get a copy, we’ll hold off on posting about it until the following Monday, July 13. If you want to read along with us, let us know in the comments below.

This week, you heard about two fascinating topics: the golem of Prague and the ghosts of the Trianon.

We’ve gotten some feedback from a few listeners about the golem. Matt drew a connection between the golem and a Pokemon “that was made of rock and had somewhat of a humanlike body.” When history and popular culture collide! Leilla wrote to clarify the different versions of the golem’s demise. “Jewish sources,” she explained, say that he was turned off and could be turned on again in case of an emergency. She elaborated that the more salacious tales of the golem terrorizing the city are the stuff of secular folklore.

Ghosts of the Trianon was a listener request that Katie and I were quick to pounce on for the Ghosts of History series. We had a ball with the topic! We even commissioned — well, stopped by his cubicle to ask if he’d mind lending a hand — Stuff from the B-Side’s John Fuller to provide the eerie music for this one. Do any of you think that the women really saw the ghosts — or do you think they fabricated the story?

Here’s a video tour of Versailles, the grounds and Petit Trianon. These tourists don’t look like they’ve seen any ghosts:

Reference reading:
Top 5 Ghost Tours
Top 5 Marie Antoinette Scandals
How the French Revolution Worked