Fascinating Nouns

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...

Many of you know me as the Analytical Mastermind, and did you know that the great Sherlock Holmes referred to himself as the Analytical Reasoner in one of his many tales?  And the similarities between him and I don’t end there:  We both have redefined men’s fashion, both love a good magnifying glass, and we comically puff on a pipe when contemplating major conundrums.  And there is mor...

*Bonus*  Meeting Jack Chick I continue my conversation with Kurt, as we talk about the time he met the elusive entity known as Jack Chick.  He goal was to uncover the identity of the mysterious third artist for Chick Publications, which he did end up doing.  Plus we talk about the main artist, the extremely talented Fred Carter and how his and Jack’s relationship paralleled Stan Lee and Jack...

If you live in a big city, you may have come across a mysterious comic booklet, one that may have appeared to spring up out of nowhere.  Maybe you found it in an old phone booth, or possibly at the grocery store.  You may have even found one sitting on top of your favorite gas pump.  That’s how I found mine.  They are usually in all black and white, and they tell the story of some lost soul...

The popularity of (American) football in America can’t be overstated:  Even by rough estimates, it’s a bazillion dollar industry, and when on television, it is the most watched event in the time slot.  It is also almost solely a United States thing, which I totally understand.  The rules can be a little difficult to follow, and unfortunately they seem to change from year to year.  Also...

Many of you may not remember a time before computers, but it is true, they haven’t always existed.  As a matter of fact, life before computers was very different.  They filled a human need to interact, and AOL was the first software to really connect the world via chat rooms.  Here you could talk with people all over the world about any topic.  And they were totally random.  You had no idea...

Ever since the DuPont company inspired the adage “Better Living Through Chemistry”, the number of chemicals that have infiltrated our everyday life has grown exponentially.  Some are derived from naturally occurring substances, some are completely synthetic.  All are truly unknowns.  I could run a list of chemicals that were touted as miracles at the time, and were later found to be co...

John Dover is back on the show, this time to talk about strange things in the sky and how they got there.  Since our last discussion, John has appeared on several shows, including Unsolved Mysteries and The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch.  On the latter, he was brought on as a petroglyph expert, interpreting strange symbols carved into the rocks.  One such symbol was a spiral, and John believes that m...

In this bonus episode, Adam sticks around to discuss the overlap between pro wrestling and game show fans, my new love of Survivor, and he explains the enigma that is The Monty Hall Problem.

Even if you have never watched a classic game show, my guess is that you have heard of Monty Hall.  He is best known for his multi-decades work on “Let’s Make a Deal”, but was also a game show creator, actor, author, and record setting philanthropist.  This week I induct Adam Nedeff into the “Two Timers” club as we discuss his latest book on Monty Hall .  We get into...

All good things must come to an end, although in this case it is really more like all good things must morph into something else.  The O.S.S. does become the C.I.A., but not before we talk about the search for a truth serum, their work with marijuana, and how Stanley Lovell turns his attention to refuting Shakespearean authorship.

In the early ears of World War II, FDR was convinced that the United States needed to develop an intelligence agency of their own.  He appointed William Donovan as the “Coordinator of Information”, which eventually developed into the “Office of Strategic Services”.  This organization becomes responsible for all sorts of spy craft, and when Stanley Lovell comes on board, thi...