The Anxiety Encyclopedia

Katharine tells Lorien about a seasonally appropriate phobia, and then grants her an honorary doctorate that they're sure is legit. Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_clown_sightings#:~:text=The%202016%20clown%20sightings%20were,stunt%20for%20a%20horror%20film .  https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/21835-coulrophobia-fear-of-clowns   https://www.scientificamerican.com/artic...

It's October! So Lorien tells Katharine some theatre ghost stories. Sources: https://www.shakespearetheatre.org/watch-listen/feeling-superstitious-ghost-lights-and-whistling-backstage/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_light_(theatre)#cite_note-1 https://www.nida.edu.au/news/ghost-lights-asks-the-world-to-interact-and-keep-the-spirit-of-theatre-alive/ https://www.thestar.com/news/insight/a-g...

Katharine channels her inner Sarah Koenig to answer serious questions about a wild animal sighting. Sources: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/facts/gray-wolf   https://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/the-wolf-that-changed-america-wolf-wars-americas-campaign-to-eradicate-the-wolf/4312/   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaun_Ellis_(wolf_researcher) https://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg...

Lorien takes Katharine back to the 1900s for a story of bad science, good journalism, and...soliciting blood at a child' s birthday party. Sources https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Wakefield https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lancet_MMR_autism_fraud https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa021134 https://www.thetimes.com/uk/science/article/revealed-mmr-research-scandal-7ncfntn8mjq http://news...

Katharine has big concerns about tiny plastics. Sources: https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/microplastics.html   https://magazine.hms.harvard.edu/articles/microplastics-everywhere   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microplastics   https://apple.news/AlNT07D-cT-K1KiKXlFz1Lw   https://www.wired.com/story/this-startup-promises-to-clean-your-blood-of-microplastics-clarify-clinics/  

Lorien gives Katharine TMI (too much information) on TMI (Three Mile Island). Sources https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Mile_Island_Nuclear_Generating_Station https://www.nrc.gov/reactors/power/pwrs.html https://world-nuclear.org/information-library/nuclear-fuel-cycle/nuclear-power-reactors/nuclear-power-reactors https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/news/meet-oklo-the-earths-two-billion-year-old-only...

Katharine tells Lorien not about that one other podcast but about the red scare in the US in the 1920s, 40s, and 50s (we were a little busy in the 1930s). Sources: Sources: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/trump-democrats-enemies-within-rcna175628 https://www.newsweek.com/trump-reacts-zohran-mamdani-nyc-mayor-primary-win-2090781 https://apnews.com/article/trump-communist-judges-tarif...

Lorien and Katharine explore all the cutesy ways we talk about email scams; Katharine plans her own Ocean's 11; she's Danny Ocean. Sources: Sources https://www.phishing.org/what-is-phishing https://www.phishing.org/history-of-phishing https://www.ibm.com/think/topics/social-engineering https://www.ibm.com/think/topics/business-email-compromise https://www.proofpoint.com/us/threat-reference...

Katharine takes Lorien on a spinning, potentially uninspected ride. Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traveling_carnival#:~:text=A%20traveling%20carnival%20(American%20English,after%20a%20period%20of%20time . https://www.nationwidechildrens.org/family-resources-education/700childrens/2022/07/carnival-ride-safety   https://nypost.com/2024/10/29/world-news/horror-moment-gondola-cars-detach-from...

Lorien tells Katharine about the baffling human tendency to do danger for fun. (Also, as a fun little bonus: Lorien immediately says the very normal word "bull" weirdly and then spends the next hour spiraling and somehow saying it a little bit different all of the many times she says it.) Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bull https://www.runningofthebulls.com/bull-runner-center/saf...

Katharine tell Lorien about a few crimes that shaped the collective consciousness. Lorien knows the names of more serial killers than she wishes to. Sources: -        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stranger_danger -        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moors_murders -        https://www.salon.com/2023/10/21/what-80s-kids-also-remember-on-stranger-danger-satanic-panic-and-generations-of-trickle-down...

Lorien takes a real meta approach to this week's topic by completely overwhelming herself with information on how overwhelmed most people are by information. Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_overload https://www.npr.org/2010/11/29/131671951/information-overload-is-not-unique-to-digital-age https://hbr.org/2011/03/information-overloads-2300-yea https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognit...

Like Moana, the line where the sky meets the sea calls Lorien and Katharine, but they find the voice terrifying. Sources: -        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decompression_sickness -        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scuba_diving -        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_diving -        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Boyton -        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Spence_(frogma...

Lorien tells Katharine about rattlesnakes. Katharine assumes New Mexico is carpeted in them. Sources: https://www.reddit.com/r/trailrunning/comments/v1j7k6/what_to_wear_to_protect_against_rattlesnakes/?rdt=34400 https://www.britannica.com/animal/rattlesnake https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/medicine-and-dentistry/stereoscopic-vision#:~:text=Stereoscopic vision refers to the,3D) images and thus...

Katharine takes Lorien on a 100 year historical tour of US mass deportations. Sources: -        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UEhMDAlX1Y -        https://www.history.com/articles/great-depression-repatriation-drives-mexico-deportation -        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_Act_of_1924 -        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican_Repatriation -        https://www.history.com/articl...

Nothing could be scarier to Lorien than a forever unsolved mystery. Just tell her! Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_ship https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_Dutchman https://www.kingmanyachtcenter.com/an-october-ghost-story-mary-celeste/ https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/abandoned-ship-the-mary-celeste-174488104/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=Nsjh_QeUL-w https:/...

None of these are the fever Peggy Lee was singing about. Sources: -        https://edition.cnn.com/2025/02/25/health/congo-mystery-illness/index.html -        https://www.wired.com/story/race-to-identify-drcs-mystery-illness-slowed-by-us-aid-cuts-democratic-republic-congo-usaid/ -        https://www.science.org/content/article/mysterious-congo-outbreak-likely-linked-contaminated-water-researchers-...

Lorien talks about literal ticking time bombs. Sources  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unexploded_ordnance https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controlled_explosion https://apple.news/AT8BA2xInTWeIMDQUDcddTA https://www.epa.gov/fedfac/military-munitionsunexploded-ordnance https://www.icrc.org/en/law-and-policy/explosive-remnants-war https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna24441427 https://abcnews.go.com/Internatio...

Black mold, and radon, and asbestos, oh my!  Sources: -        https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/24862-black-mold -        https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/323419#Symptoms-of-black-mold-exposure -        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stachybotrys_chartarum -        https://www.webmd.com/lung/can-black-mold-kill-you -        https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/rad...

In this podcast we hate otters but we love octopuses. Sources: https://www.merriam-webster.com/grammar/the-many-plurals-of-octopus-octopi-octopuses-octopodes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octopus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cephalopod_attack https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akkorokamui https://www.ibtimes.com/8-foot-octopus-wrestles-diver-calif-coast-rare-encounter-caught-camera-video-1556415 https...

Art imitates life imitates art. Sources: -        https://www.stylist.co.uk/books/handmaids-tale-true-story/130001 -        https://www.penguin.co.uk/discover/articles/margaret-atwood-handmaids-tale-testaments-real-life-inspiration -        https://www.businessinsider.com/handmaids-tale-based-on-real-world-origins-history-events-2019-8#the-forced-separation-of-mothers-and-children-continues-to-occ...

Lorien takes Katharine on a historical journey to a politically tense time they are not currently living through; in the process, Lorien Slendermans * *A verb meaning to become so engrossed in a topic that the presenter speaks for far longer than the usual duration of the podcast . Sources:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truman_Doctrine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War#cite_note-1 https://hi...

They're not America's road rage therapists, so Katharine and Lorien would like to drag race you to the start of this episode . Sources: -        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Road_rage -        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aggressive_driving -        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intermittent_explosive_disorder -        https://www.webmd.com/women/features/root-cause-of-road-rage -       ...

Katharine does not leave five minutes into the podcast even though she briefly threatens to. Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Locked-in_syndrome https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK559026/ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1300432/I-lay-paralysed-unable-speak-18-months--familys-unyielding-loved-brought-true-miracle.html https://www.unilad.com/community/life/richard-marsh-locked-in...

And now for something completely different. Sources ​- https://www.nashvillescene.com/news/coverstory/apocalypse-meow-how-a-cult-that-believes-cats-are-divine-beings-ended-up-in-tennessee/article_78fc2367-5596-5a7a-ad8e-edae8c83a594.html ​-   https://www.bellinghamherald.com/news/nation-world/national/article101133487.html ​“The Curious Case of… The Doomsday Cat Cult” Season 1, Episode 5. Aired Fe...