Cool Weird Awesome with Brady Carlson

This month in 1920, the start of a slightly strange criminal case in which the jury didn’t just weigh the evidence… they drank it. Plus: a contractor in Illinois gets a very late Christmas present during a renovation project at his parents' house. Prohibition: The jury tasted the evidence and found defendant not guilty (Delmarva Now) 46-year-old Christmas surprise: Lombard man finds decades-old gi...

Today in 2020, Wausau, Wisconsin's long-running and notorious ban on snowball fights was finally off the books! Though there was actually more to the story than the uproar suggested. Plus: The Public Domain Review looks back through the history of snowball fights in art, going all the way to the year 1400! Snowball fights are legal in Wausau after more than a century. You can thank the viral stori...

Today in 1997, the commissioners of Kleberg County, Texas voted to do away with the word “hello,” and replace it with a more positive alternative. Plus: today in 1931, an unforgettable night for some of the country's leading architects.  Say Goodbye to ‘Hello’ and Hello to ‘Heaven-o’ (Los Angeles Times) Famous Architects Dress as Their Famous New York City Buildings (1931) (Open Culture) Why not d...

This week we're replaying some of our favorite episodes about fascinating peaks. In this episode from June 2021, a look at the Niesen Stairway Run, a run up a world record staircase built into a mountain nicknamed the Swiss Pyramid. Plus: decades before Zoom and Skype meetings, Sony sold a Face to Face video phone. Niesen flight of stairs  (Niesen) Video phone  (Techmoan on YouTube) Our Patreon ba...

This week we're replaying some of our favorite episodes about fascinating peaks. In this episode from June 2023, a dog in New Hampshire takes up a popular Granite State challenge, climbing all 48 of the state’s 4,000 foot high mountains. Plus: a handy invention will send your phone a notification if your pants zipper is down. Pug deemed ‘too hyper’ channels energy into mountain climbing — and brea...

This week we're replaying some of our favorite episodes about fascinating peaks. In this episode from August 2021, a strange story from 1947, when two climbers woke up at the summit of Oregon's Mount Hood and found a quart of milk and the morning newspaper, dropped off by a friend. Plus: a study out of the University of Greenwich finds that bees may be more productive when they ingest naturally-oc...

This week we're replaying some of our favorite episodes about fascinating peaks. In this episode from November 2019, Mount Chimborazo, in central Ecuador. It’s not nearly as tall as Mount Everest, but it's actually higher than the tallest mountain on Earth. Plus: why the community of New Baltimore, New York showed up in map searches with a spooky purple tinge to it. Mount Chimborazo is Actually th...

This week we're replaying some of our favorite episodes about fascinating peaks. In this episode from September 2022, the story of a 10 month old cat that somehow showed up at the top of a mountain that’s over 14,000 feet high. Plus: the time in 1968 a group then known as the New Yardbirds played their first-ever show in Denmark. The cat that climbed the Matterhorn  (Weird Universe) Commemorating...

The new year tradition of Mitaarfik in Greenland features a bunch of people in masks hanging out in your house without saying a word. Plus: Today in 2022, Preet Chandi became the first woman of color to successfully make a solo expedition to the South Pole. Mitaartut – The silent masked performances (Visit Greenland) Preet Chandi is the first woman of color to complete a solo expedition in Antarct...

About this time in 1910, a member of Congress thought the next big food trend would be hippo meat. Plus: Williams Lake, British Columbia designates every January 2 as Wrestling Day, but it's not related to a sport. Lake Bacon: The Story of The Man Who Wanted Us to Eat Mississippi Hippos (The Daily Beast) A city in B.C. has an actual civic holiday called Wrestling Day (Vancouver Is Awesome) Help us...

We’re ringing in the new year (as well as marking National Ring a Bell Day) with the story of a bell that’s been ringing year in and year out for almost two centuries. Plus: a new year’s tradition on US Navy ships is to write up the first deck watch of a new year in verse. This Battery Has Lasted 175 Years and No One Knows How (VICE) Midwatch In Verse (Weird Universe) Backers, check the Patreon si...

Today marks the start of another Earth orbit around the sun, but there’s also something called the galactic year, and that one just keeps going and going and going. Plus: today in 1959, Johnny Cash played a concert for inmates at San Quentin Prison, including one who would make his own mark on country music history. How long is a galactic year?  (Live Science) On This Day: Johnny Cash Performed fo...

Watching TV on the last night of the year? That's fine; in fact, there’s a tradition on German TV of showing a classic comedy sketch every December 31. Plus: today in 2023, a Connecticut family has a baby a minute before midnight... and another shortly after. How An Obscure British Comedy Sketch Became The World’s Most Repeated TV Program (Mental Floss) Twins born in different years at Yale New Ha...

Today in 1952, a double decker bus driver in London had to make a split second decision to protect his passengers… and realized the safest option was to gun it and jump a city landmark. Plus: today in 1999, the passing of Sarah Knauss, who at age 119 was the longest-lived American ever. The day a bus jumped Tower Bridge (TowerBridge.org) World's oldest person misses millennium (BBC) Jump on over t...

There’s a tradition around this time of year in Wales called Mari Lwyd. It starts with a knock at the door in the winter night, and it only gets spookier from there. Plus: feeling harried after the holidays? Tree.fm features the sounds of forests from around the world so you can commune with nature wherever you are. The midwinter majesty of the Mari Lwyd (Wales.com) Tree.fm Knock knock, Cool Weird...

Happy Hanukkah! The eight day Festival of Lights takes place toward the end of each year, but due to some unusual circumstances, there won't be a Hanukkah at all in 3031 (!) Plus: Untapped New York has some recommendations for NYC menorahs you might want to check out. This Year's Dates for Celebrating Hanukkah are Odd—Here's Why (Newsweek) 9 GIANT MENORAHS THAT WILL LIGHT UP FOR HANUKKAH IN NYC (U...

Merry Christmas! On this day of giving, you deserve a treat: a holiday favorite in Caribbean countries known as black cake. Plus: Christmastime in Budapest, Hungary means a chance to ride the Light Tram. In the Caribbean, It's Not Christmas Without Black Cake (HowStuffWorks) Long Exposure Photos of Budapest Trams Lit Up with 30,000 LED Lights (Colossal)

There are lots of different kinds of celebrations on Christmas Eve. In Iceland, book lovers take part in Jólabókaflóð , which means "the Christmas flood of books." And they're not exaggerating. Plus: Iceland may have a flood of books at Christmas, but New York City’s got a whole lot of unique outdoor Christmas trees. Jólabókaflóð: the Christmas flood of books (Iceland Air) Alternatives to the Rock...

Today in 1814, the incorporation of the city of Cleveland, Ohio. There’s a famous sign on top of a building so that people flying in airplanes can see the message “Welcome to Cleveland," though that sign’s not actually anywhere near Cleveland. Plus: Today in 2021, an acrobat from Vietnam set a world record for most consecutive stairs climbed while balancing a person - his brother and fellow acroba...

Today in 1988, a report in the New York Times noted that restaurant chain Denny's was shutting its doors for Christmas Day, only to run into a little hiccup around those doors. Plus: Kazumasa Yamashita’s Face House was an attraction in Kyoto that looked exactly like what its name suggested. Diner Chain Has to Buy Locks for First Holiday Closing (New York Times) Face House in Kyoto, Japan by Kazuma...

Cuetlaxochitl, flor de Noche Buena, poinsettia, estrella federal… here’s the story of a plant with a lot of names. Plus: today in 1997, the US release of the movie “Titanic,” and there’s a guy in Florida who’s trying to collect a titanic number of VHS copies of the film. The checkered history of the poinsettia’s namesake and the flower’s origins get new attention (Seattle Times) A ‘Titanic’ Megafa...

Today in 1966 CBS first broadcast a holiday classic, “Dr. Seuss’s How The Grinch Stole Christmas.” It came to the small screen largely because a giant in the cartoon industry happened to be an old friend of the author. Plus: today in 1998, rocker Alice Cooper opened a rock and sports-themed restaurant and club in Phoenix, Arizona he called Coopers’town, How Dr. Seuss Stole Christmas (Saturday Even...

Today in 1960, Chas Newby of Liverpool got a temp job that would give him a story he could dine out on for the rest of his life: for two weeks, he played bass for the Beatles. Plus: today in 1985, a radio DJ in Iowa tried to ward off the holiday blues in an extremely repetitive way. When Chas Newby Was With the Beatles for Two Weeks (Ultimate Classic Rock)  DJ`S RECORD EFFORT PULLS HIM OFF AIR (Ch...

Today in 1901, a newspaper article proclaimed 16 year old May Kaarlus as perhaps the greatest trick shot billiard player in the whole world. And she really could play that well, though the career of this pool table prodigy went on to take a surprise turn. Plus: around this time in 2020, a baker sent a friend some hot chocolate bombs as gifts, though the friend didn't quite understand how to use th...

If you’re doing an Advent calendar this month, you’re just over halfway finished opening up those little windows to see what’s inside. So let’s open up a few windows into where they came from. Plus: engineering students at ETH Zurich are trying to build robots that can drop little presents down scale model chimneys. Advent calendars, explained: Where they came from and why they're everywhere now (...