Fascinating Nouns

Edgar Allan Poe was the original Gloomy Gus right?  Writing horror stories alone, in a dilapidated mansion, with only the company of a red-eyed raven to keep him sane.  Most people probably believe his life was actually in black and white.  Turns out this is NOT the case!  He played flutes at parties, solved ciphers and puzzles for a magazine, was a ladies man, and even challenged a man to a duel....

Contrary to popular movies, most art crime is NOT perpetrate by some private art collector in order to enhance their collection.  Oh well there is one notable exception:  Pablo Picasso!  Check out this bonus episode and learn how Picasso got wrapped up in the Mona Lisa caper, and what he actually had stolen.

Just the mention of the name “Mona Lisa” sparks images of a cherub faced woman, half-smiling, hanging on a wall at the Louvre.  This is true of almost EVERYONE on the planet, but that was not always the case.  As a matter of fact, the Mona Lisa is kind of famous for being famous, and all that started with it being stolen from the Louvre in 1911.  Noah Charney is a Art History expert wi...

As humans continue to sprawl into every known corner of the world, reproducing at a unsustainable rate, more and more we are invading on turf currently occupied by wild animals.  You may encounter these guys while walking to the garbage, or may even see them IN your garbage, depending on the time of day.  I take a few more minutes to talk to Rachel about opossums, raccoons, and coyotes.

I don’t know about you, but I enjoy the outdoors.  Hiking can be a fun past time, but depending on where you go there is always a chance that you could run into a dangerous animal.  So what do you do?  Are you supposed to look intimidating or play dead?  Do you run to climb a tree or do you charge the creature to show it who’s boss.  Luckily Rachel Levin had those same questions, and d...

No one knows how it all will end.  Will we blow ourselves up in a fiery nuclear explosion?  Will an asteroid smash into the Earth giving us the dinosaur treatment?  Will some new virus wipe out humanity before we have a chance to counter its spread?  While we can’t see the future, we can chronicle the possibilities, which is exactly what Darrel Perkins did in his new book “ The End Is...

As the center of the hippie movement, California has a long history of cults and communes.  In this bones episode, we tell the story of how religious groups helped popularize the modern Vegetarian movement, as well as the sordid background of the beloved Kettle Chips.

When it comes to spiritual belief, the United States is very unique.  Since religion is protected by the first amendment, the country has been fertile ground to many spiritual groups, cults, communes, and other religious groups.  Some have taken an isolation approach, and if your group is remote, you will have to grow and make your own food.  That is where today’s story takes place, right at...

When it comes to the UFO phenomenon, we have discussed a lot of it on this show, including The Battle of Los Angeles, Betty & Barney Hill, Roswell, the Jackie Gleason/Richard Nixon alien encounter, and John Dover’s experiences on the Navajo Nation.  This is a lot, but can you believe there’s more?!  This week I sit down with Marc Hartzman and discuss his new book “We Are Not...

After the Civil War, people came out west for many reasons:  Gold, work on the railroads, religious freedom, saloon poker, or to rob banks just to name a few.  Some of these people would end up in boom towns, which exploded in population very quickly then died off to nothing in a few years.  If you had the misfortune to die during the boom times, then you were probably buried in their cemetery, an...

In the name of research, Dr. Meals attended a bodybuilding contest to learn more about the inner workings.  It takes a lot to get muscles to look that big.  We even get into its history, first discussing the original weightlifter, who carried an ox calf every day until it was fully grown, to the originator of bodybuilding as a performance: Eugen Sandow.

Dr. Roy Meals is an orthopedic surgeon who is an expert in the musculoskeletal system.  As such, he has dubbed muscles “The World’s Perfect Motor”.  Cardiac muscle is designed to contract 70 times a minute for 100 years.  The more you stress skeletal muscle, the stronger it gets.  Muscles can be powered by spinach, oatmeal, or any other food.  A regular motor requires specific fu...

From Jack The Ripper to Hannibal Lector, we have been obsessed with murderers in our horror movies.  I talk with Brad for a few more minutes about Psycho, Silence of the Lambs, and how serial killers are the true apex predators.

Besides haunted houses and trick or treating, what’s the third most popular way to celebrate Halloween?  By watching horror movies!  To celebrate Halloween this year, I discuss some of my favorite scary movies w/ Brad Weismann, author of “Horror Unmasked”.  We talk about The Universal Monsters, Stephen King, zombies, and how the Atom Bomb changed horror movies forever.  Plus I le...

Kurt Kuersteiner is a mini master of horror:  He runs one of the largest haunted houses in Florida called “The Terror of Tallahassee”, he is the founder of Monster Wax, a unique trading card company that specializes in horror themed card sets, and he wrote the book on famous horror hosts of old time radio.  He is back on the show just in time for Halloween to discuss all of his terrify...

Ricin is a poison that occurs naturally in Castor seeds.  Listen to two stories about this deadly substance, one that involved an umbrella in Russia, and the other which took place in a retirement community.

For some people, Halloween is about exploring the dark side, and nothing is darker than murder.  You could argue that poisons are the most insidious manner of elimination, and while we have discussed famous poisonings in history, and even the dangers of every day chemicals, we have not gone into exactly how poisons effect the human body.  Luckily we have poison expert Dr. Neil Bradbury in the show...

As we kickoff the Halloween season, I thought it would be fun to explore what many believe is the scariest movie of all time:  ‘The Exorcist’.  Allegedly based on a true story, This movie chronicles how one girl is slowly possessed by a rogue demon, and what it takes for two Catholic priests to exorcise it.  Believe it or not, this movie changed pop culture in many ways.  The story imp...

As summer comes to an end, it seems appropriate to chronicle one of the most iconic American foods ever:  The hamburger.  If you have ever gone on a road trip, this is the most ubiquitous meal at any rest stop.  These days, you have several options from national fast food chains like McDonalds, Burger King, and Wendy’s, but it wasn’t always like that.  Most people think the fast food r...

Loeb & Leopold were completely inseparable throughout their life, and to historians their names are forever linked.  To Leopold, Loeb was his best friend, lover, and prison confidant, so what happened when Loeb was brutally murdered?  Well Leopold carried on, albeit in an almost permanent state of depression…that is until he was paroled to Puerto Rico.  Listen as Erik and I finish up the...

Almost 100 years ago, Loeb & Leopold shocked the world by murdering a fourteen year old kid by the name of Bobby Franks.  Why was this called “The Trial of the Century”?  Well Loeb and Leopold were brilliant students, and their families were extremely affluent.  The goal was to pull off the perfect kidnapping/ransom scheme, something they would be known for forever.  Killing Bobby...

The Lord of the Rings trilogy is one of the most beloved fantasy stories of all time.  The magic of Middle-Earth, the longevity of the elves, the power of Gandalf, and the insidious Sauron are all staples in in pop culture.  But the term “magic” bothers some people, in particular Henry Gee, who believes that author J. R. R. Tolkien did not include ANY magic in his works at all.  In fac...

Over the last few months, we have seen quite a few reports and whistleblower testimony that the United States is in possession of downed alien craft.  If we entertain this notion for a second, it requires us to reexamine ALL the UFO stories since at least Roswell and consider the possibility that could be factual.  One of my favorites is the subject of today’s episode.  It sounds like the wo...

*Bonus* Klondike Characters in Hollywood The Boom years of Dawson City generated some of the most influential characters in Hollywood history.  In this bonus episode, we discuss “Fatty” Arbuckle, Sid Grauman, Alex Pantages, Jack London, Robert Service, and many others!

In 1978 on a random cold day in Dawson City (Isn’t it always cold there?), over 500 reels of silent film were uncovered at the site of a demolished skating rink.  After a few moments of consideration, people quickly realized that this could potentially be a priceless cache of one-of-a-kind movies.  Michael Gates was there when this happened, and this frozen film find in Dawson City became on...