Don't Look Now

The concept of wandering spirits seems to be ubiquitous across cultures.  While most will say they don't believe in ghosts by the light of day, this stand gets a bit less firm in the middle of the night when strange things happen.  Why do we tell ghost stories?  They are told all around the world and continue to be told over the years so there must be a reason for their existence.  Do we all...

Haunted houses are a hallmark of the Halloween season in the United States.  When did they become a thing and when did they morph into the modern high end professionally run houses of today.  Buckle up and take a listen.

Listen in and learn about Pepper's Ghost, an illumination technique developed in the the 1860s and still in use today to project ghostly images onto the stage where they can be seen to appear in apparent three dimensional reality.  The technique has had a resurgence in recent decades allowing a deceased Tupac to perform at Coachella, and Michael Jackson to perform at the Billboard Music Award...

George Remus went from celebrated defense attorney at the onset of Prohibition to one of the most notorious bootleggers in the country.  After he eventually landed in jail, his wife Imogene ran off with an FBI agent and liquidated his multimillion dollar fortune.  Remus subsequently shot and killed Imogene in a public rage and defended himself in court, managing to get himself considered temporari...

Now that we have reached October, it's time for some spooky season stories.  Today we discuss one of the scary creatures from Irish folklore, the banshee.  Rumored to wail in signal of the impending death of those who hear it, the Banshee has roots that go back to the 8th century.  Are there wailing female forms haunting the Irish countryside, or are there other creatures a bit more mundane i...

We discuss the horrific case of the Radium Girls, young women who worked for companies in the early 20th century painting watch dials with glowing radium based paint.  They were told the product was harmless and were allowed to ingest it and use it as a fashion accessory.  Almost all of the women came down with serious health effects and radiation poisoning while their employers did their best to...

New historical anthropology has unearthed a treasure trove of artifacts relating to the many Chinese workers that worked for the Central Pacific Railroad constructing the Transcontinental Railroad across the United States.  Information about he workers has been sparse due to the disinterest of racist railroad managers in keeping information about Chinese works at the time on this side of the Pacif...

Imogene Rechtin started a campaign in 1910 to ban the pernicious scourge of kissing.  It's probably not a great spoiler to say that she failed in her attempt, but take a listen an find out about her group, the World Health Organization (no, not that WHO), and it's attempt to rid the work of kissing.

Thomas Andrew Parker, better known as Colonel Tom Parker, is famous for being Elvis Presley's controlling manager during is career.  However, few knew that he was not from West Virginia as he claimed, but actually an undocumented Dutch immigrant named Andreas Cornelis van Kuijk who arrived in America under some highly sketchy circumstances.  Take a listen and learn all about Colonel Tom.

Courage the Cowardly Dog was a cartoon that ran for four seasons on Cartoon Network in the late 90s and early 2000s.  While the show consisted of Courage subjected to all kinds of scary situations, few people know that much of the show had basis in reality.  Courage's home is a real house in New Mexico where unspeakable things have happened, and a real life serial killer roamed.

We discuss the history of the Heaven's Gate cult that burst into the national consciousness in 1997 after a mass suicide of its members in the belief that they would spiritually join an alien spaceship they were sure was hidden in the tail of the Hale-Bopp comet.

Plato famously mentions the lost civilization of Atlantis which was a naval power that was supposedly defeated by Athens, long before his day, which was eventually plunged into the sea by the gods as punishment for their hubris.  The idea of Atlantis has stayed with popular culture for thousands of years, but is it just a made up nation for an allegory, or was it in any way based on fact?  We disc...

Myths of dragons and dragon-like creatures exist in cultures around the world.  How do dragons differ around the world?  How are they similar?  What would lead just about all cultures to create myths with these creatures?  Come listen and possibly find out.

The Bell Witch is a long time legend of the American South.  From 1817 to 1821 a supernatural entity is said to have hounded the family of John Bell, a local farmer, leading to his death.  The tale became so famous that Andrew Jackson is said to have stayed in the Bell home for a night in order to investigate.  Was the witch a supernatural phenomenon or the culmination of tensions and abuse in the...

The Holy Grail is the name given to the cup from which Jesus drank at the last supper, mythically imbued with magical healing and restorative power.  Where did this concept come from?  Where does myth tell us the grail can be found?  Take a listen and find out more lest you be taunted a second time.

We discuss one of the oldest cryptids in the United States, the Jersey Devil of the pine barrens of the Garden State.  First discussed close to 300 years ago, join us for a discussion of the origins of the devil (spoiler: the most likely scenario involves a well known founding father), and sightings of it that lead up to the present day.

The legend of King Arthur has been around for well over a thousand years.  How did the stories first come to be and how did the modern version of Arthur, Camelot, and the quest for the Holy Grail grow out of them.  Was there ever a real Arthur that the stories were based on?  Take a listen and find out!

Who stood 4'11", had two thumbs, and "discovered" Florida?  Juan Ponce de Leon, that's who.  We discuss the history of the world's most famous ponce and how he came to find Florida and if he really was searching for the fountain of youth at the time.

The Ideal Maternity Home was operated in Nova Scotia from 1928-1947 by Lila and William Young.  The home served as a place for unwed mothers to give birth to their children outside the view of a disapproving society.  It also had a much darker side: illegal adoptions without material consent or knowledge, disposal of "non-perfect" babies, indentured servitude, and horrible treatment of b...

Roughly 11,000 years ago human beings began living in settlements and forming larger social groups due to the revolution that was the development of agriculture.  Where did it all start?  Did it spread from a single source or develop in parallel across the globe?  What were the first foods that people intentionally grew?  Come check in out in this week's episode.

The TV reality/mystery/true crime series Unsolved Mysteries has run for 15 seasons across multiple networks and streaming services.  Come learn the origins of the show and some of the mysteries that were solved due to its impact.

On today's podcast we discuss the history of happiness.  How have both the definition of and search for happiness changed through history?  How has it become one of our most primary drivers in decision making when a few hundred years ago it was rarely a consideration.  Come take a listen and learn about the pursuit of happiness.  

Feral children have appeared throughout history in cultures around the world.  We discuss some famous cases of children literally raised by wolves, or monkeys, or just terrible parents.

On Christmas Eve 1945 tragedy struck the Sodder family home in Fayetteville, West Virginia.  Fire swept through the home in the wee hours of the night and the house burnt to the ground in just 45 mins.  The parents and four of nine children made it outside, five of the youngest perished in the fire... or did they?  No remains were ever found and there were sightings of the children after the fire....

Most people have heard of the old west outlaw, Jessie James.  However, how much do you really know about him?  Take a listen and learn about the wild west Robin Hood.