Weird World Podcast

Sure, Osama Bin-Laden was popular in some quarters in the early 2000s, but action figure popular? And would the CIA make that Osama action figure? And send them to kids in Afghanistan? There has to be more to that story. There is.

He has a receding hairline over a round face and thick dark eyebrows. You don't know him and have never seen him - except in your dreams. He is "This Man," the dream invader who might calm you or guide you - or terrify you. And thousands of others have seen the same man in their dreams too.

Two words: Vampire. Dog.

George Kenney was a school principal who thought he could help troubled kids through hypnosis. If that sounds like a bad idea you're wrong. It was a horrific idea.

In 1968, the Fausto and its crew disappeared on a routine run between two Canary Islands. Their rescue four days later was a miracle. But that was just the beginning of the inexplicable saga of the boat that was found, lost, found, and finally lost again.

It's been a while, but we have some good ones. Flying snakes, the shocking number of gay animals (personal trigger warning for Ron DeSantis), getting high on snake venom, AI turned on its masters, brain worms, the music police of Chechnya, the coming insect invasion, and the dangers of minor earthquakes in New Jersey coinciding with total eclipses of the sun.

You might feel tiny, you might feel like a giant. You might think your head has ballooned and floats to the ceiling where you can look down on those around you. You might be high. You might have Alice in Wonderland Syndrome. It might also be called DVPBR, I've heard it both ways.

Don Decker was under a lot of stress when he was staying with friends after his grandfather's funeral. He hallucinated, he collapsed, he could barely hold it together. Then it started to rain - inside the house. Then again at a nearby pizza place. Then again in a prison cell. Don Decker was not your usual rainmaker. Stay tuned to the end to hear about Carey’s recently experienced unexplained pheno...

You may not think there are any octopuses in Oklahoma. Heck, you may not think there are any freshwater octopuses anywhere. But you might be wrong. There might be a reddish, horse-sized tentacled creature in several Oklahoma lakes that will drag you down to your death. Sorry, Oklahoma Tourist Board.

This Just in: Man Confesses to Being DB Cooper! Well, kind of. It was more the guy's wife who confessed to her son, but he had to wait until she died to tell anyone. And this is at least the sixth person to confess to being DB Cooper but this one just might be the real thing. Maybe.

When two brothers are accused of murder by a third brother, it looks bad for them. Evidence piles up. There is going to be a shotgun trial. Luckily, they lived in Springfield, IL in 1841 and they could hire a young lawyer named Abraham Lincoln to solve the mystery and save their necks.

If you bought a pair of JNCO jeans in 1998 you probably bought a pair of Google Glasses in 2013, but hopefully skipped the thong jeans fad a few years later. From bustles to  bullet bras to window pants, we take a tour of some of the strangest fashions to ever humiliate a willing public.

Everyone knows there are no monkeys native to North America. But what if everyone is wrong? Wouldn't that monkey be able to run fast, leap far, attack moving cars, eat sheep and occassionally people? Of course they would. And we would call them Devil Monkeys.

When a woman saw a butcher at a grocery store in Bogota that looked eerily like a co-worker, it would set in motion a chain reaction that would end in a shocking revelation. And a certain hospital would have some explaining to do.

Kasper's story that began with such mystery ends even more strangely. Was he assassinated? Or did the footsteps in the bloody snow tell a different story? And who was Kasper Hauser?

Before Nuremberg was known for war trials it was the place where a teenage boy suddenly appeared from nowhere with a remarkable story to tell. Soon he was the toast of Europe and many wondered if he might even be someone very special.

What would you do if you got lost on Japan's rugged Mount Asahi with no help in sight? Night coming, temperature dropping. If you were a fan of Gilligan’s Island or Astro Boy you might use tree trunks to build a huge SOS sign visible from the sky. But that's when the plot twists start in the story of the Japanese SOS. 

Cannibalism? Necrophilia? Kidnapping children who thought they were their friends? Join us for a view of the dark underbelly of the world of crows - oh, wait, no that’s right - Carey’s doing this episode so it’s going to be all “feel good.”

Look, who wouldn't want to hit the Hot Topic or H & M or Aeropostale at every available opportunity. You gotta stay on trend. But how far would you go? Would you actually move into a mall? Before you answer we have two words for you: Spencer's Gifts. https://trummerkind.com/mall/What_Happened.html https://trummerkind.com/theone/Home.html https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/the-accidental-ro...

Who murdered Chares Bravo? Was it Florence ridding herself of a brutish husband? Was it the well-paid companion preserving her positiong? Was it even murder at all? Or was it something far stranger still?

Charles Bravo was (probably) murdered on April 18, 1876, but it just took him 3 agonizing days to die. Since he refused to tell anyone what had really happened to him, the rumors took over. Had Charles been murdered? Or, more likely, who had murdered him?

Florence Bravo weathered scandal and ruin in Victorian England by marrying a chinless but respectable lawyer named Charles Bravo. Then she murdered him. Or not. If he knew who poisoned him, Charles would take that  knowledge to the grave. Let's begin the remarkable story of the possible murder of Charles Bravo.

Cane toads that had overrun parts of Australia get big and nasty. But at least they can't swallow you whole. Is there a toad in Hubei province of China with a mouth six feet wide?

Octopuses are strange. They have too many arms and each has its own brain. They can instantly change color, pattern, and texture to match their surroundings. They are shockingly smart. They are so different from other life on earth that some people think they weren't origianlly from here. Did an ocotopus ancestor crash-land here on the tail of a comet?