Andrew Jackson’s parrot Poll may have been the most unexpected guest at a presidential funeral—a real household bird whose alleged profanity became one of the strangest stories connected to the Hermitage.

In this darkly whimsical history episode, Joshua explores Poll’s purchase as a gift for Rachel Jackson, Andrew Jackson’s letters asking about “poor Poll” after Rachel’s death, and William Donelson’s unforgettable description of the bird as “fat and saucy as ever.” He also looks at Andrew Jackson’s duels, his failed assassination attempt, the legendary 1,400-pound wheel of White House cheese, and the complicated legacy of the man behind the myth.

This is a story about a parrot, a funeral, a historic Tennessee home, and a minister who remembered a “wicked parrot” swearing so loudly that someone had to carry it from the house. It is als ...