Brandon C. Broughton
Local history librarian, IT support specialist, and software engineering student
Unearthing the past | Building the future
Recent Projects & Highlights
We’re Not Exaggerating–Springfield’s Weather is Weird
October 16, 2025
Data from the National Weather Service confirms what we all suspected: Springfield, Missouri has some of the most varied weather of any city in the United States. I dug into the science behind the wild weather of the Ozarks.
The Ozarks Spaceman: Buck Nelson in 10 Facts
September 11, 2025
I turned my eyes to the skies and dug into the mystery behind Buck Nelson, a Mountain View farmer who became a minor celebrity in the 1950s after claiming to travel throughout the inner solar system with corn-eating extraterrestrials.
Bottomless Well Interview with KY3
July 18, 2025
I sat down with Chad Plein from KY3 to discuss how I dug into the truth behind the "bottomless well" of Water Street. Then, we revisited the site for another glimpse at Springfield's buried origins.
Bottomless Well Interview with KSMU
June 18, 2025
I spoke with Chris Drew at KSMU, Springfield's local NPR affiliate, about Campbell's "bottomless" well.
The Bottomless Well of Water Street
June 12, 2025
Clumsily and driven by curiosity and hard-headedness, I embarked on a journey through microfilm, city directories, crawlspaces, and mud to come face-to-face with the founding place of a city, deep beneath the heart of Springfield.
Losing on Jeopardy!
April 5, 2023
Let the trivia-heads tremble. Let the know-it-alls weep. For I, Brandon Broughton, got second place in a game of Jeopardy! No easy way to stream this episode (yet?), but for now: