Mossback

Cascade PBS

The official podcast companion to Mossback’s Northwest, a video series about Pacific Northwest history from Cascade PBS. Mossback features stories that were left on the cutting room floor, along with critical analysis from co-host Knute Berger. Hosted by Knute Berger and Stephen Hegg

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Mossback

Episodes (57)

Wednesday How Dolls Became Part of WWII Espionage
Wed Mar 18th The Fishy Reason the U.S. Bought Alaska
Wed Mar 11th Seattle’s Potlatch Riot of 1913

Mossback

Mar 25, 2026
35½ minutes
79 MB

One of the oddest cases of World War II espionage involved a woman, Velvalee Dickinson, who spied on Northwest shipyards for the Japanese. How did she do it? By writing coded letters about dolls. Cascade PBS’s resident historian Knute Berger told this story in a recent episode of the Mossback’s Northwest video series, but there’s more left to examine. In this episode of Mossback, Berger joins co-host Stephen Hegg to discuss Dickinson’s remarkable story, how she was ultimately caught by the U.S.’s first female cryptanalyst and the Northwest’s unique role in...

Mossback

How Dolls Became Part of WWII Espionage

Cascade PBS

00:00 -34:37