Spirits: Mythology, Legends, & Folklore

Keeping with our nature spirits trend, we’re talking about the horny (in more ways than one) Greek nature spirits: satyrs, and their Roman counterparts, fauns! Later satyrs! Content Warning: This episode contains conversations about or mentions of sexual content, sexual assault, masturbation, bestiality, and drugs.   Housekeeping - Recommendation: This week, Amanda recommends a conventio...

Sometimes you record an episode from the middle of the woods in rural Canada, so you have to really up the ante. We taunt a malicious spirit, start a ghost story, and dive into the microfiche to investigate a haunting. Content Warning: This episode contains conversations about or mentions of child endangerment, panic attacks, and home invasion.   Housekeeping - Recommendation: This week,...

Every story needs a villain, and Egyptian mythology has Set. But is he really just a villain? We explore his multifaceted domains, his motivations, and the worst salad story you’ve ever heard.  Content Warning: This episode contains conversations about or mentions of death, murder, sexual content, sexual assault, colonization, infidelity, eye injury, endangering a child, and toxic masculinity...

400 episodes. Wow. We decided for this one to talk about something that has captured our interests since before Spirits was even the thing - the Oneida Community. We talk about the Second Great Awakening, the Burned Over District, and the result: A well-known silver company. Content Warning: This episode contains conversations about or mentions of cults, explicit sex discussions, eugenics, sexual...

Oceanids, Nereids, and Naiads, oh my! We’re back to talking about nymphs, but this time it’s all about water nymphs - rivers, the sea, the springs and lakes. Grab your towels and let’s dive in! Content Warning: This episode contains conversations about or mentions of cannibalism, death, murder, blood, castration, warfare, drowning, and sex.  Housekeeping - Recommendation: This week, Amanda re...

Do not adjust your podcast players. If this is all sounding familiar to you, it might be an echo of the future. Content Warning: This episode contains conversations about or mentions of fire, hanging, death, bones, animal death, animal sacrifice, toxic masculinity, home invasion, and sex. Housekeeping - Recommendation: This week, Julia recommends Still Wakes the Deep - Books: Check out our previou...

Was Shakespeare writing about zombies? What if Romeo & Juliet were transformed at the end of the play rather than just dying? We’re joined by playwright and creator Melody Bates to talk about her love and frustration with Shakespeare, her acting origins, and translating fashion and folklore into performance.  Content Warning: This episode contains conversations about or mentions of blood,...

It’s summer and we’re vibing with nature, which means we’re talking about the tree spirits of Greek mythology: Dryads! Also if you’ve ever wanted to hear the Ancient Greek version of Mamma Mia? We’ve got you.  Content Warning: This episode contains conversations about or mentions of incest, suicide, genitals, sexual assault, blood, slut-shaming, death, animal attacks, animal death, and child...

We’re talking this week about Isis, the Egyptian Head Queen in Charge! She’s out there doing magic, bringing people back from the dead, controlling scorpions, all sorts of things. If you’re not impressed, you’re not listening. Content Warning: This episode contains conversations about or mentions of colonialism, death, grieving, xenophobia, religious persecution, pregnancy and birth, drowning, dis...

After a month of mushroom folklore, horror, and general gushing, we are revisiting with fresh eyes the scariest story we’ve ever told on the podcast: The Shuddering of Creekside Mushrooms.  Content Warning: This episode contains conversations about or mentions of racism, viruses, death, body horror, homophobia, and guns.  Housekeeping - Recommendation: This week, Julia recommends A Marve...

Julia loves mushrooms. That’s why we are doing a whole month of mushroom episodes, but she just wanted to share her favorite facts from the world of mushrooms with you all.  Content Warning: This episode contains conversations about or mentions of death, disease, infection, psychedelic drug use, colonialism, racism, and body horror.  Housekeeping - Recommendation: This week, Amanda recom...

Mushrooms and horror go together like peanut butter and jelly, and we’ve brought on our local horror expert, Jenna Stoeber to talk us through the history of mushrooms, horror, video games, and more!  Content Warning: This episode contains conversations about or mentions of body horror, xenophobia, racism, death, psychological horror, drug use, sex, insects, and illness/infection.  Guest...

Surprise! We’re spending an entire month talking about mushrooms in mythology, horror and beyond! We start with a roundup of our favorite mushroom tales and creatures from mythology and folklore, from fairy circles, edible monsters, and mushroom superpowers.  Content Warning: This episode contains conversations about or mentions of colonialism, disease, misogyny, blood, body horror, bodily fu...

We scared each other quite a bit with this one. A ghost that says its name like a Pokemon, a very fitness-focused ghost, and the worst bug story we’ve ever heard in our entire lives. Content Warning: This episode contains conversations about or mentions of death, human remains, religious persecution, colonialism, natural disasters, and fire.  Strong Content Warning for Bugs/Skittering from 37...

More mummies, more problems - or in this case, we’re talking about the FIRST mummy and god of the afterlife: Osiris!  Content Warning: This episode contains conversations about or mentions of pregnancy, birth, death, dismemberment, sex, murder, animal attacks, drowning, bodily fluids, and colonization.  Housekeeping - Recommendation: This week, Amanda recommends making a biiiiig salad. R...

We’re joined by cartoonist and author of Other Ever Afters , Mel Gillman to chat about growing as an artist, how allegories of fairy tales grow over time, and breaking the structures to write good horror. Also, the premiere of our new favorite segment: Foraging Corner. Content Warning: This episode contains conversations about or mentions of queerphobia, arranged marriage, divorce, colonization, g...

We hope you’re feeling as divinely inspired as we are in this episode about the Muses! We dive into their origins, their idiosyncrasies, and the role they play in both Ancient Greek society and our society today (and invent some of our own!) Content Warning: This episode contains conversations about or mentions of colonialism, racism, death, murder, body horror, incest, pregnancy/birth, and war.&n...

We’re joined by editor extraordinaire and podcast pro, Mischa Stanton. And we brought a bunch of stories that are Mischa-coded: LARPing, summer camps, and unknowable pronouns. And of course, the logical conclusion to any story: Giant Doorknob. Content Warning: This episode contains conversations about or mentions of paranoia, anxiety, spiders, animal death, bodily functions, and family member deat...

Get your notepad ready to take notes, because we’re talking about the god Thoth! There’s games of chance, justice, cliffhangers, and so much more! Content Warning: This episode contains conversations about or mentions of colonialism, racism, sexual content, bodily fluids, death, fire, pregnancy/childbirth, incest, polygamy, animal death, decapitation, and gore.  Housekeeping - Recommendation:...

Hey Time Travelers, we’re diving back in time with the help of author Sacha Coward to talk about the intertwined history of queerness, monsters, and mythology!  Content Warning: This episode contains conversations about or mentions of homophobia/queerphobia, death, the AIDs epidemic, religious persecution, sex, misgendering, pregnancy, and murder.  Guest Sacha Coward has worked in museum...

We’re back from our tour, and even though none of the theatres we visited were haunted, we decided to do a dive into the most haunted theatres around the world!  Content Warning: This episode contains conversations about or mentions of death, suicide, fire, child endangerment, child death, poisoning, warfare, stabbing, illness, murder, and government corruption.  Housekeeping - Recommend...

The antidote we all need to April Fool’s Day is here: a roundup of wholesome stories from your lives about the ways you and your parents make your days more magical. Content Warning: This episode contains conversations about or mentions of genitalia, illness, insects, spiders, injury, child endangerment, divorce, and death.  Housekeeping - Recommendation: This week, Julia recommends Quiet on...

Let’s play a game of Never Have I Ever with the gods. We’re talking about Ma’at, the balance of the universe, and how we all play a role in upholding order from chaos.  Content Warning: This episode contains conversations about or mentions of light cannibalism, death, sex, classism, and power imbalance.  Housekeeping - TOUR: Get the VOD for our Rolling Bones Tour !  - Books: Check o...

Have you ever been haunted by an abandoned place? We are joined by multidisciplinary artist Blake Pfeil to talk about his experiences exploring abandoned places, how abandoned places are inherently queer, and why they haunt us the way they do. Mutual aid recommendations for Gaza include buying eSims , urging U.S. representatives to call for ceasefire, and donating directly to calls for aid. Conten...

You asked from around the globe, so we answered: we will have AUDIO + VIDEO RECORDINGS for every stop on the Rolling Bones tour!!!    Buy a ticket to the show of your choosing today, and a high-quality VOD will be emailed to you after the show. That means you can enjoy the Rolling Bones tour remotely no matter where you are.   PLUS, anyone who has bought a ticket or will buy a ticket will get digi...