Midnight Facts for Insomniacs

It was the summer that wasn't. In 1816, a volcanic eruption on the other side of the world choked the skies with ash and drowned Europe in cold, ceaseless rain. Holed up on the shores of Lake Geneva, Lord Byron challenged his houseguests to each write a ghost story. Mary Shelley's became Frankenstein. This week, Shane and Duncan dig into how Hollywood took Shelley's articulate, vengeful creature a...

Alive? No Country For Old Men? Outbreak? Which would be in your top 5?  Tell us in Discord ~ Become an Insomniac! Join the Midnight Masses by supporting the show on PATREON and unlock exclusive bonus content. ~ Rep the show! Grab a tee or mug at the MIDNIGHT MERCH store and spread the word. ~ Follow us on INSTAGRAM ~ Send Shane and Duncan a message at midnightfactsforinsomniacs@gmail.com ~    

This week, Shane and Duncan go ghost hunting across two centuries and three continents. In Tennessee, the Bell Witch moves into a farmhouse, wrecks an engagement, and terrorizes a future president. In London, Scratching Fanny knocks against the walls of a Cock Lane lodging, accusing a widower of poisoning his wife. In Australia, Fisher's Ghost perches on a fence rail and points toward his own grav...

The Beatles on Ed Sullivan? Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison? Which would be in your top five… Tell us in Discord ~ Become an Insomniac! Join the Midnight Masses by supporting the show on PATREON and unlock exclusive bonus content. ~ Rep the show! Grab a tee or mug at the MIDNIGHT MERCH store and spread the word. ~ Follow us on INSTAGRAM ~ Send Shane and Duncan a message at midnightfactsforinsomniacs@...

For centuries, courts have wrestled with one impossible question: does madness excuse murder? From Daniel M’Naghten and his delusions about the British government to John Hinckley Jr. and his attempt to win Jodie Foster’s heart by shooting Ronald Reagan, the history of the insanity defense is full of strange crimes, stranger logic, and some truly bizarre courtroom battles. ~ Become an Insomniac! J...

This week, Shane and Duncan descend into the strange world of luxury bunkers, from the bizarre Atomitat to a Las Vegas mansion buried beneath the desert, an abandoned Atlas missile silo transformed into a luxury survival condo, and sprawling private compounds designed to keep the ultra-wealthy comfortable while the rest of civilization burns. Swimming pools, movie theaters, fake windows, hydroponi...

Castles, cannons, concrete, and the persistent human desire not to get blown up. This week, Shane and Duncan trace the strange evolution of the bunker, from medieval fortifications and the arrival of artillery to the underground defenses of the World Wars and the nuclear paranoia of the Cold War. ~ Become an Insomniac! Join the Midnight Masses by supporting the show on PATREON and unlock exclusive...

Body-art aficionados rejoice! MFFI finally takes on tattoos...  Long before tattoo machines, sterile needles, and flash books, humans were finding creative ways to decorate their skin. In this week's host swap episode, Duncan traces the history of tattooing from sooty sticks to rotary guns to a nightmare future of automated skin-printers. Follow along to find out how tattooing went from ancient ri...

Why does doubt have a B? Why is colonel pronounced “kernel?” And how can rough, through, though, and bough all ignore the same letters in completely different ways? This week, Shane and Duncan trace the remarkable history of English spelling through conquests, sound shifts, scholarly meddling, and centuries of happy accidents.  ~ Become an Insomniac! Join the Midnight Masses by supporting the show...

Join Shane and Duncan for an exploration of the strange history and surprising science of left-handedness, from sinister medieval myths and bizarre medical theories to the neurological quirks that make southpaws so fascinating. You'll learn why lefties are so rare, why they seem to dominate certain sports, and whether being left-handed really comes with hidden advantages…or hidden risks. ~ Become...

The Shire? Hogwarts? Atlantis? Which would be in your top 5? Tell us in Discord ~ Become an Insomniac! Join the Midnight Masses by supporting the show on PATREON and unlock exclusive bonus content. ~ Rep the show! Grab a tee or mug at the MIDNIGHT MERCH store and spread the word. ~ Follow us on INSTAGRAM ~ Send Shane and Duncan a message at midnightfactsforinsomniacs@gmail.com ~  

Ghostly lights on the horizon. Thousands of fireflies pulsing in tandem. A lakeshore strewn with petrified figures. A storm that never seems to end. This week, Shane and Duncan take a closer look at some of nature’s strangest spectacles and the weird science hiding behind the myths. ~ Become an Insomniac! Join the Midnight Masses by supporting the show on PATREON and unlock exclusive bonus content...

Alfred is back! Longtime friend of the show Alfred Banks returned to the livestream to help the guys tackle one important question: What were the biggest lies we were told as kids? From “If you make a funny face, it’ll stay that way” to “Hard work always pays off,” Alfred and the Insomniacs sorted through decades of parental propaganda to assemble a definitive list of childhood nonsense. Which wou...

History remembers the great inventors, leaders, and visionaries. This episode is about the other guys. Join Shane and Duncan for a celebration of daredevils, showmen, thrill-seekers, and the professional idiots who turned bad ideas into a spectator sport. ~ Become an Insomniac! Join the Midnight Masses by supporting the show on PATREON and unlock exclusive bonus content. ~ Join the community, chat...

Some celebrity deaths become legends. Others become conspiracy theories. A few become both. From an OG Superman found dead under mysterious circumstances to a legendary actress who vanished into the dark waters off Catalina Island, Shane and Duncan explore the evidence, the rumors, and the tabloid chaos that turns real events into cultural mythology. ~ Become an Insomniac! Join the Midnight Masses...

Power, ego, and one of the most legendary media grudges in Hollywood history. This week, Shane and Duncan dive into the explosive feud between Orson Welles and William Randolph Hearst, from the making of Citizen Kane to the full-court press to destroy it. Newspapers, blacklists, threats, and enough spite to power a small city. Hollywood has always loved a drama queen. ~ Become an Insomniac! Join t...

Long-term grudges and carefully planned revenge. This week, Shane and Duncan unpack the iconic true story of the Forty-seven rōnin, a tale of honor, loyalty, and one of history’s most meticulously executed acts of vengeance. Swords are drawn, patience is tested, and justice takes its time. ~ Become an Insomniac! Join the Midnight Masses by supporting the show on PATREON and unlock exclusive bonus...

A knife. A trial. A story that made the entire country cross its legs. In the early morning hours of June 23, 1993, Lorena Bobbitt swung an 8-inch kitchen knife and launched a thousand news stories, millions of terrible punchlines, and at least two of the weirdest porn films ever made. Join Shane and Duncan for a sordid tale of abuse, retaliation, courtroom chaos, and a sentence you never thought...

Cave art, ancient smut, scandalous engravings, and the long, slow march toward moving pictures. In this host swap episode, Duncan takes the reins and walks Shane through the early history of pornography, stopping right as things are about to start… moving. Along the way, they hit ancient civilizations, moral crackdowns, and the surprisingly classy origins of something that absolutely refused to st...

The internet will tell you Easter was stolen from a pagan goddess. The internet is wrong. Join Shane and Duncan as they crack open the strange, surprisingly contentious history of Easter. What starts with a 2nd-century church dispute over calendar math spirals into centuries of tradition, myth, and misinformation, touching on ancient lunar formulas, Roman torture devices, Lenten food rules that ac...

Pirates. Snakes. Shamrocks. And the stomach-turning truth behind those green rivers... Saint Patrick’s Day is one of the world’s most recognizable holidays, but the real story is even stranger than the legends. Join Shane and Duncan as they dig into the bizarre history behind Saint Patrick’s Day, separating fact from fiction and uncovering how one man’s dubious autobiography somehow turned into a...

Hollywood promised spectacle. Audiences stayed home. In this fiscally irresponsible episode, Shane and Duncan return to the financial wreckage of modern blockbuster filmmaking, breaking down the numbers, the behind-the-scenes chaos, and the very modern phenomenon of studios insisting everything is fine while hundreds of millions of dollars evaporate. Prepare for a snarky, data-driven look at how b...

They say lightning never strikes twice, but Hollywood keeps proving otherwise. In this budget-busting pair of episodes, Shane and Duncan return to the cinematic graveyard for a fresh look at some of Hollywood’s most spectacular recent failures: the tangled mess of Megalopolis, the glossy fizzle of Tron: Ares, and a few other high-budget disasters that left studios scrambling. It’s a behind-the-sce...

In part two of their irreverent jaunt through the solar system, Shane and Duncan venture beyond the inner planets into the vast outer reaches, where storms rage for centuries and icy moons hide oceans beneath their crusts. From Saturn’s sweeping rings to Neptune’s frigid winds, it’s a dramatic  tour through the awe-inspiring outer reaches of our celestial neighborhood. ~ Become an Insomniac! Join...

The Sun is an unrelenting nuclear inferno. Mercury is a dense little rock with zero atmosphere and the worst sunburn in the system. Venus is a cautionary tale wrapped in sulfuric acid clouds, spinning in the wrong direction just to be difficult. And Mars is a frozen desert haunted by the ghost of ancient oceans. In this episode, Shane and Duncan dig into the bizarre and extreme nature of the inner...