Jackalope Carnival: A Sideshow of Stories

Send us Fan Mail Our gift to you, dear listeners! We countdown 12 Christmas tales, traditions and trivia from around the world.  Thank you for all the support!  Happy Holidays!  Bekah & Eric  Support the show

Send us Fan Mail No, really, it's all in there. Every single bit of it and more... Join Jackalope Carnival as we ask investigate UFO religions and answer your burning questions. Were early UFO religions in league with Nazis? Are the Unarians the best dressed UFO group? Should Jello Biafra have been an investigative reporter? Find out! Support the show

Send us Fan Mail Join us  for a special "Choose your own Adventure"  episode of Jackalope Carnival!  As we investigate  stories of  moon-eyed  people from  North Carolina and the menehune of  Hawaii. How far back do these stories go ? Can you figure out their mystery?  Are aliens always an option?   You decide!  Support the show

Send us Fan Mail Two of history's most well documented werewolf sightings one from France, the Beast of Gévaudan and  one from Wisconsin, USA, the Beast of Bray Road.  And cheese!  How did Barry Manilow  get involved in all of this?   Hold on to your leisure suit, it's another (slightly gory) episode of Jackalope Carnival!  Support the show

Send us Fan Mail The Jackalope Carnival crew is hot on the trail of one of America's most enduring urban legends.  On the way there's a troop of monkeys set loose on Manhattan in a possible advertising campaign gone wrong, a zebra cobra endures a Carolina winter, Chuck Norris (allegedly) joins an urban safari and a man with a good heart makes some unwise feline decisions.  Our usual bran...

Send us Fan Mail Eric and Bekah cover a lot of ground historically, geographically and in subject matter in this episode about sea creatures.  Eric tells the tale of two Chessies- one cryptid and one sirenian - both in the continent's largest estuary.  While Bekah investigates the history of the cadborosaurus of the Pacific Northwest.  Put down that mug of ergot and scan the coastline for und...

Send us Fan Mail In the second part of Jackalope Carnival's look at professional wrestling's checkered past, Eric finds the origins of hard core wrestling with a Wild Bull.  Bekah talks of Lucha Libre from the early days of El Santo and his "bride" Irma González, to grappling clergy Fray Tormeta, the real Nacho Libre.   More Jackalope Carnival weird history goodness!  Support t...

Send us Fan Mail The stories of two fascinating stage magicians from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.  One was a con man bigamist who found himself in a magical duel with the man whose identity he stole.  The other was a literal snake oil salesman who rose to fame and prominence in Harlem Renaissance only to meet an untimely end on stage...or did he?!  All of this and more on the next episo...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode Jackalope Carnival meets you at the intersection of  carnivals, wrestling and... Wait what?  Judo masters? It's a strange world. We just relay the stories.  Support the show

Send us Fan Mail In this very special episode of Jackalope Carnival, Bekah and Eric discuss a twice haunted tunnel in West Virginia and Bekah teaches us the difference between a ghost and a spirit.     For the record: Bekah likes her ghosts less gooey and Eric thinks that, like parakeets, fast food cannot be paranormal.  Support the show

Send us Fan Mail This week, we discuss two of the most historically significant UFO cases of the 20th century. First: The extraordinary case of Betty and Barney Hill- the first UFO abduction report! Second:  The most widely witnessed UFO sighting in United States history: The Phoenix Lights   PLUS: guess which movie star made his Escape from New York to witness the Phoenix Lights in his private ai...

Send us Fan Mail Is seeing a black dog bad luck? Do ghost dogs protect your cemetery? Will Bekah make promises she can't keep?  Join Jackalope Carnival as they tell tales of the spooky phenomena of spectral dogs through the black dog legends of Great Britain.   Support the show

Send us Fan Mail Jackalope Carnival is back for season two! This episode Eric and Bekah explore lore, superstitions and spiritual beliefs about our feline friends from various times and places.  Does Bekah still make fun of Eric? Is there an audio Easter egg? Are there weird stories about machines that simulate being in a giant purring cat, poorly pronounced German, horses painted like zebras and...

Send us Fan Mail The leech farm sponsor didn't work out- but fear not!  Join us for adventure as we close out our first season. By listener request, Eric takes a deep dive into the 80s to investigate the mysterious Lizard Man of Scape Ore Swamp. Then take a pit stop and learn about the amazing Mr. Pearl Fryar and his mystical topiary gardens.  Support the show

Send us Fan Mail Are ancient landmarks connected by invisible energy highways or is it all just wishful thinking? Join Bekah and Eric as they trace the twists and turns of ley lines from opposite sides of the map. Whose path will you follow?  Support the show

Send us Fan Mail Sometimes the titles to these things just write themselves.  Oh, also:  Jackalope Carnival adheres (harkens?) to many hidden sea shanties, but does it contain one?  (at the end, after the closing theme song, say?) Please don't listen to it.    Support the show

Send us Fan Mail For thousands of years leeches were the medical go to for all that ailed you. And like the modern pharma companies of today, they were big business. Let's explore the history of leeches for health and profit. But for the love of all that is healthy and holy do not take health advice solely from a podcast.  But especially this podcast.  And especially this episode of this podc...

Send us Fan Mail This week Bekah uncovers a colonial era conspiracy! Eric makes the claim that, like the turkey, the Jersey Devil should be an official creature of the U.S.A.  Come for actual accounts of cryptids from the historical record stay to find out which American State grows the most aubergine.  Support the show

Send us Fan Mail This week Bekah and Eric talk about the lore of everyone's favorite American hairy bipedal cryptid (besides Zach Galifianakis). Our stalwart scholars comb the archives specifically to find pre-Patterson/Gimlin accounts including one from President Theodore Roosevelt Also: Eric learns another language, take the quiz and find out if you're a "Mulder" or a "S...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode we look at cursed objects and curse tablets. Did a statue really kill it's maker? Have a listen and learn an ancient Roman incantation that curses a musician's "little buttocks" (direct quote).  In other words: the typical paranormal tomfoolery you now come to expect from Jackalope Carnival.  Support the show

Send us Fan Mail Join Jackalope Carnival for a very special Thanksgiving episode as we tell the unfortunate  story of Colorado's infamous Alfred "Alferd" Packer and find out which university dining hall bears his name.  "There's cannibalism and then there's overdoing it on the cannibalism"  -Bekah about Alferd Packer, convicted cannibal  Also: jokes about canniba...

Send us Fan Mail Who was the man from Taured?  What is the Mandela effect and why does Good Housekeeping care?  How can you find cheap interdimensional travel? Does facial hair have any moral significance?  All of this and more in the latest absurdity filled episode of Jackalope Carnival!   Support the show

Send us Fan Mail Can we hear ghosts? This episode explores the history of EVP or Electronic Voice Phenomena and the early pioneers in that field including Friedrich Jürgensen and Konstantin Raudive.  Bekah makes recordings at a former insane asylum, Eric expresses his strange judgements against parakeets.  Support the show

Send us Fan Mail In this episode Jackalope Carnival explore the history and lore of contacting the spirit world. Warning: this episode contains detailed accounts of a historic 7-11 in Baltimore with Ouija board connections and a ham sandwich eating medium from rural Maryland.  Support the show

Send us Fan Mail Our inaugural episode!  It's a Jackalope Carnival!  Bekah and Eric are longtime friends and aficionados of all things odd, mysterious and downright strange.  This week they talk about their favorite cryptids: jackalope and Mothman. Come for the stories stay for Bekah making flirty passes at Mothman.  Support the show