Casting Lots: A Survival Cannibalism Podcast

Casting Lots Season 3 is now on YouTube! Make sure you're subscribed to stay up-to-date with future releases. Subscribe here: https://www.youtube.com/@castinglotspodcast TRANSCRIPT https://castinglotspod.home.blog/2026/06/21/now-on-youtube-casting-lots-season-3/ CREDITS Written, hosted and produced by Alix Penn and Carmella Lowkis.  Theme music by Daniel Wackett. Find him on Soundcloud as Daniel W...

Casting Lots Season 2 is now on YouTube! Make sure you're subscribed to stay up-to-date with future releases. Subscribe here: https://www.youtube.com/@castinglotspodcast TRANSCRIPT https://castinglotspod.home.blog/2026/03/16/casting-lots-season-2-is-now-on-youtube CREDITS Written, hosted and produced by Alix Penn and Carmella Lowkis.  Theme music by Daniel Wackett. Find him on Soundcloud as Daniel...

Casting Lots is now on YouTube! Subscribe to us now and get ready to re-listen to all your Season 1 favourites, including the Franklin Expedition, the Donner Party, the Whaleship Essex and the Raft of the Medusa… Subscribe here: https://www.youtube.com/@castinglotspodcast Find out about Carmella's books here: UK - https://www.penguin.co.uk/authors/286178/carmella-lowkis US - https://www.simonandsc...

The time has come: it's the final episode of Casting Lots. For real this time. Join Alix and Carmella for all your remaining cannibalism questions answered, plus a bonus Arctic adventure involving an Italian airship and a very good dog. Did you know Casting Lots now has merch? Find us on Redbubble: https://www.redbubble.com/people/CastingLotsPod/shop TRANSCRIPT https://castinglotspod.home.blog/202...

We are joined by our final dinner guests, writer Nibedita Sen and Ana and Luca of The Mayday Podcast, to talk speculative fiction, colonialism and some disastrous adventures that may not have ended in survival cannibalism, but probably should have. Did you know Casting Lots now has merch? Find us on Redbubble: https://www.redbubble.com/people/CastingLotsPod/shop TRANSCRIPT https://castinglotspod.h...

Why do we (being the specific group of people who make and listen to Casting Lots: A Survival Cannibalism Podcast) enjoy narratives about survival cannibalism so much? Authors Ally Wilkes and Linnea Hartsuyker join us to discuss the power of storytelling. Did you know Casting Lots now has merch? Find us on Redbubble: https://www.redbubble.com/people/CastingLotsPod/shop TRANSCRIPT https://castinglo...

One historian and six podcasters walk into a bar… This week, we’re chatting corpse medicine, recipe recommendations and penny dreadfuls with academic Richard Sugg, Ric and Anton of the Curiosity of a Child podcast, and Teddy and Catriona of the Grave History podcast. Did you know Casting Lots now has merch? Find us on Redbubble: https://www.redbubble.com/people/CastingLotsPod/shop TRANSCRIPT https...

What’s so scary about cannibalism? We talk to horror experts Neil McRobert, host of Talking Scared Podcast, and Nicasio Andres Reed, editor at the Deadlands, to find out. Did you know Casting Lots now has merch? Find us on Redbubble: https://www.redbubble.com/people/CastingLotsPod/shop TRANSCRIPT https://castinglotspod.home.blog/2022/11/07/s4-e2-dinner-guests-neil-mcrobert-amp-nicasio-andres-reed/...

Are you ready for an extra bite? In this bonus mini-season, Alix and Carmella invite some special dinner guests to the table. Today, bioarchaeologist Stacy Hackner and folklorist Paul Cowdell join us to talk cannibal ballads, coprolites and the custom of the sea. Did you know Casting Lots now has merch? Find us on Redbubble: https://www.redbubble.com/people/CastingLotsPod/shop TRANSCRIPT https://c...

Coming 31 October 2022: Season 4 of Casting Lots: A Survival Cannibalism Podcast. Join Alix and Carmella for an extra helping of survival cannibalism in this bonus mini-season, featuring a number of special dinner guests. TRANSCRIPT https://castinglotspod.home.blog/2022/10/03/season-4-trailer/ CREDITS Written, hosted and produced by Alix Penn and Carmella Lowkis. Theme music by Daniel Wackett. Fin...

In time honoured tradition, have a laugh on us this April Fool’s Day. It’s the blooper reel! Did you know Casting Lots now has merch? Find us on Redbubble: https://www.redbubble.com/people/CastingLotsPod/shop CREDITS Written, hosted and produced by Alix Penn and Carmella Lowkis. Theme music by Daniel Wackett. Find him on Twitter @ds_wack and Soundcloud as Daniel … Continue readin...

Finishing off the season, and indeed the entirety of Casting Lots (boo hoo!), Carmella and Alix present six quick-fire stories of survival cannibalism at sea. Did you know Casting Lots now has merch? Find us on Redbubble: https://www.redbubble.com/people/CastingLotsPod/shop TRANSCRIPT https://castinglotspod.home.blog/2022/01/20/s3-e13-sea-part-v---more-fun-on-boats/ CREDITS Written, hosted and pro...

This week, Alix shares the choose-your-own adventure tale of the HMS Wager, an 18th century British ship on a mission to annoy the Spanish. At any cost. Did you know Casting Lots now has merch? Find us on Redbubble: https://www.redbubble.com/people/CastingLotsPod/shop TRANSCRIPT https://castinglotspod.home.blog/2022/01/13/s3-e12-sea-part-iv---the-hms-wager/ CREDITS With thanks to Emily for transcr...

When John F. Kennedy backs an invasion by sea of Fidel Castro’s Cuba, disastrously poor planning leaves Brigade 2506 in dire straits. Did you know Casting Lots now has merch? Find us on Redbubble: https://www.redbubble.com/people/CastingLotsPod/shop TRANSCRIPT https://castinglotspod.home.blog/2022/01/06/s3-e11-sea-part-iii---the-bay-of-pigs/ CREDITS Written, hosted and produced by Alix Penn and Ca...

Alix shares a shipwreck story with one hell of a plot twist in today's episode on the Invercauld. Did you know Casting Lots now has merch? Find it on Redbubble: https://www.redbubble.com/people/CastingLotsPod/shop TRANSCRIPT https://castinglotspod.home.blog/2021/12/30/s3-e10-sea-part-ii---the-invercauld/ CREDITS With thanks to Emily for transcription help. Written, hosted and produced by Alix Penn...

This week, we look at Vietnamese ‘boat people’ and the Boliano 52 – a group of refugees left without aid in the South China Sea. Disclaimer: This episode was recorded prior to the announcement in December 2021 of an amendment to the Nationality and Borders Bill to provide the RNLI with legal protection in the case of rescuing refugees at sea. However, we feel the sentiments expressed in this episo...

What connects survival cannibalism and the house of Romanov? The answer is, of course, the Battle of Moscow of 1612. TRANSCRIPT https://castinglotspod.home.blog/2021/12/16/s3-e8-ice-part-ii---the-polish-muscovite-war/ CREDITS Written, hosted and produced by Alix Penn and Carmella Lowkis. Theme music by Daniel Wackett. Find him on Twitter @ds_wack and Soundcloud as Daniel Wackett. Logo by Riley. Fi...

This week, we join Yermak Timofeyevich and his band of Cossacks in a chilly adventure across the Ural Mountains and into Siberia. TRANSCRIPT https://castinglotspod.home.blog/2021/12/09/s3-e7-ice-part-i---yermak-timofeyevich/ CREDITS Written, hosted and produced by Alix Penn and Carmella Lowkis. Theme music by Daniel Wackett. Find him on Twitter @ds_wack and Soundcloud as Daniel Wackett. Logo by Ri...

Howdy! This week, we’re headed west – the Wild West, to be exact. Featuring characters such as Liver Eating Johnson, the Blues Brothers, Big Phil, and Uncle Dick Wootton, Alix takes us on a quick tour of survival cannibalism on the American frontier. TRANSCRIPT https://castinglotspod.home.blog/2021/12/02/s3-e6-land-part-vi---the-best-of-the-rest-of-the-wild-west/ CREDITS Written, hosted and produc...

For as long as humans have existed, we have been eating other humans. This week, Carmella takes us on a tour of six Stone Age sites where evidence of survival cannibalism has been uncovered. TRANSCRIPT https://castinglotspod.home.blog/2021/11/25/s3-e5-land-part-v---prehistoric-cannibalism-101/ CREDITS Written, hosted and produced by Alix Penn and Carmella Lowkis. Theme music by Daniel Wackett. Fin...

Another week, another famine. This episode, Alix looks at a modern case of famine-induced survival cannibalism in North Korea. TRANSCRIPT https://castinglotspod.home.blog/2021/11/18/s3-e4-land-part-iv---the-arduous-march/ CREDITS Written, hosted and produced by Alix Penn and Carmella Lowkis. Theme music by Daniel Wackett. Find him on Twitter @ds_wack and Soundcloud as Daniel Wackett. Logo by Riley...

It's 1527 and a Spanish expedition to Florida are on the hunt for safe harbour, immense riches, and somewhere to put all their horses. This is the story of Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca and the Narváez Expedition. TRANSCRIPT https://castinglotspod.home.blog/2021/11/11/s3-e3-land-part-iii---the-narvaez-expedition/ CREDITS Written, hosted and produced by Alix Penn and Carmella Lowkis. Theme music by Da...

This week, Alix takes us on a tour of famine in Irish history, culminating in the infamous 19th century potato famine. TRANSCRIPT https://castinglotspod.home.blog/2021/11/04/s3-e2-land-part-ii---the-irish-potato-famine/ CREDITS Written, hosted and produced by Alix Penn and Carmella Lowkis. Theme music by Daniel Wackett. Find him on Twitter @ds_wack and Soundcloud as Daniel Wackett. Logo by Riley....

Kicking Season 3 off with a bang, Carmella and Alix are back with the ‘maneater of Macquarie Harbour’ – Alexander Pearce. TRANSCRIPT https://castinglotspod.home.blog/2021/10/31/s3-e1-land-part-i-alexander-pearce/ CREDITS Written, hosted and produced by Alix Penn and Carmella Lowkis. Theme music by Daniel Wackett. Find him on Twitter @ds_wack and Soundcloud as Daniel Wackett. Logo by Riley. Find he...

Coming 31 October 2021: Season 3 of Casting Lots: A Survival Cannibalism Podcast. Join Alix and Carmella for 13 new episodes of survival cannibalism across time and around the world. TRANSCRIPT https://castinglotspod.home.blog/2021/10/17/season-3-trailer/ CREDITS Written, hosted and produced by Alix Penn and Carmella Lowkis. Theme music by Daniel Wackett. Find him on Twitter @ds_wack and Soundclou...