Strange Country

In the final installment in the Moonies' trilogy, Strange Country looks at Sun Myung Moon's influence in American politics, and how his money helped the New Right gain power. There's also sound effects that you can hear, which is a Christmas miracle. Theme music: Big White Lie by  A Cast of Thousands Cite your sources: Armstrong, Scott and Cheshire, Maxine. "Korean CIA Tied to Moon Rally: Korea CI...

In the second installment of the Moonies, Strange Country cohosts Beth and Kelly talk about mass marriage, rituals and how Sun Myung Moon began to cement his relationship with the New Right in America. You'll never look at indemnity sticks and handkerchiefs the same. Theme music: Big White Lie by  A Cast of Thousands Cite your sources: Benscoter, Diane. Shoes of a Servant: My Unconditional Devotio...

Sun Myung Moon claimed to be the Messiah who would bring about the kingdom of heaven. See God visited him and told him it was his turn to pick up where Jesus left off. And apparently that was convincing lonely college kids to peddle candy and flowers at street corners and airports. In this multi-episode show, cohosts Beth and Kelly talk about the Unification Church, the True Parents, and ways they...

Dashounds and Readers! Ever wonder what to do if your husband dies and you have a farm to keep up? If you're Belle Gunness, you are glad for the extra hog food, and excited to hop onto the 1900's version of Tinder—the newspaper want ads! If only her suitors had FB; they may have been a little more cautious. But alas it was that er-ah when times were tough and a woman could quite literally get away...

On this episode, Strange Country cohosts Beth and Kelly delve into two unsolved mysteries, one in 1935 and one in 1978. In 1935, Roland T. Owen checked into The President Hotel and was murdered by those unknown. In February 1978, five men took a wrong turn when leaving a basketball game and never made it home. Theme music: Big White Lie by  A Cast of Thousands Cite your sources: "CASE #5: THE MURD...

A forever mystery will haunt your ears this week, Dash Hounds. Join Kelly and Beth as we discuss the missing Sodder children, who quite literally went up in smoke one terrible Christmas night in West Virginia, never to be seen again. A warning: if you don't like women or cats, you probably shouldn't listen. But if you do, then you should listen because as you well know, it is an act of love. Theme...

It's the time of year when pumpkin spice permeates everything including Strange Country, and people are in the mood to sit in front of a pumpkin-spice scented fire to hear some scary stories. Join Beth and Kelly as they darn socks or stories about the Congelier Mansion, the White Lady, and the haunting of the H house. Theme music: Big White Lie by  A Cast of Thousands Cite your sources:  Axelson,...

James Hogue claimed to be many things. A high school student, an orphan, a ranch-hand, a carpenter, a ski instructor, a ski stuntman, a bioengineer, an ivy leaguer. He has lived a lifetime of deception using false credentials to earn a spot in the 1993 graduating class at Princeton University. Strange Country cohosts Beth and Kelly talk adults passing as teenagers and how sometimes it works and so...

In the 19th century, men could commit women to asylums for such stellar reasons as excessive thinking or novel reading. Elizabeth Packard was married to a real prince who committed her because she was smarter than him. Strange Country cohosts share her heroic tale, and Beth reveals an alarming secret about her cat. Theme music: Big White Lie by  A Cast of Thousands Cite your sources: "Elizabeth Pa...

One constant--besides death and taxes--is the notion that women need to work to attain that ever-morphing ideal body that doesn't actually exist. Strange Country co-hosts Beth and Kelly talk about diet plans like ingesting tapeworms to obtain the consumption look in Victorian times. There's also asides on the many ways humans choose to destroy themselves. Fun! Theme music: Big White Lie by  A Cast...

America's home-spun religion of Mormonism has a bloody past. The founder Joseph Smith was murdered, and the Saints run out of various places they settled. This us-versus-them mentality really fermented in the Great Salt Valley where Brigham Young whipped his flock into a frenzy about interlopers and outsiders. Strange Country cohosts Beth and Kelly talk about how that volatile mx led to some Mormo...

Dear Dash Hounds: Has worry from Covid taken over your life? Are you behaving in ways that seem rather devilish, as your rage powers on? Might you be possessed? If you are, Beth and Kelly know who to call and you will too after listening to this episode of Strange Country. We discuss the original muse/ inspiration for the movie The Exorcist. And we also learn that the need for such rituals has sky...

Maybe you've tried Keto or Atkins or the blood type diet, but have you thought about maybe trying God? The Weigh Down Workshop was founded by Gwen Shamblin in 1986. She didn't believe in dieting, exercising or counting calories. Shamblin instead told followers to rely on God and pray that He will slap the Doritos out of your hand. Strange Country cohosts Beth and Kelly talk about this program turn...

Today's Strange Country tale involves murder, racism and goats. The big three, as we like to say. In 1932, Jennie Merrill was murdered in Natchez, Miss. Her neighbors who lived in a dilapidated estate nicknamed The Goat Castle likely had something to do with it, but it was a black laundress named Emily Burns who was convicted of the crime. Because everything is garbage. Theme music: Big White Lie...

You know Beth and Kelly have issues with numbers, and anything prior to or around BC, AD and CE is hard for us to comprehend. So please bear with us this episode as we go back 1,000 years to the hopping city of …Cahokia. Have you ever heard of it? We didn't think so (but if you have, please tell us!) It is real and it is part of the important but ignored history of North America. And who can we bl...

Strange County episode 200, everybody! That means, you've likely wasted 199 hours of your life. Why not waste an hour more with today's story of Sante Kimes, a grifter with a penchant for fraud, arson and murder. Beth and Kelly also share a new way to express anger. Theme music: Big White Lie by  A Cast of Thousands Cite your sources: Andrews, S., McLean, B., & Seal, M. (2000, March 01). The Story...

Tania Head told others she was on the 78th floor sky lobby when a plane crashed through the windows, nearly killing everyone on impact. Head said she made it out with seconds to spare before the south tower of the World Trade Center collapsed in what would turn out to be America's most devastating terrorist attack on Sept. 11. Head took her trauma and put it into action as president of a survivor'...

Britney Spears conservatorship got Kelly and Beth thinking about the ways society tries to clamp down on women's bodies. Because of Kelly's feeblemindedness, she forgot that Beth already covered the forced sterilization of Carrie Buck, but lucky for her--is lucky the right word?--there are a ton of forced sterilizations to choose from. Listen to the story of one such woman Fannie Lou Hamer who tur...

From slavery through the Civil Rights Movement, passing was one means of avoiding the inequities and injustices of being Black in America. Strange Country co-hosts Beth and Kelly talk about instances of light-skinned African-Americans leaving family ties and connections behind to pass for white. Theme music: Big White Lie by  A Cast of Thousands Cite your sources: Hammer, Josh. "Why America Needs...

Ellen and William Craft, both born into slavery, came up with an ingenious plan to win their freedom in 1848. Strange Country co-hosts Beth and Kelly talk about their four-day excursion evading slave catchers, and question why history about Black Americans has some white people all riled up and frothing at school board meetings. Theme music: Big White Lie by  A Cast of Thousands Cite your sources:...

Join Beth and Kelly this week as they discuss the best way to smell like a flower…It's our best advice yet. Learn about how women have gone from wool to cotton to acetone and pesticides in hopes of stopping the monthly carnage that escapes from our loins. It's hard to be a woman for so many reasons, but dealing with our monthly uninvited, jealous, coworker known as our menstruation is probably top...

Sometimes you just need to make an announcement in the newspaper declaring yourself Emperor of the U.S. especially if other people don't realize it. That's what Joshua Norton did in 1859. His next step was to abolish Congress. Strange Country co-hosts Beth and Kelly talk about San Francisco's greatest tourist attraction and decree that you will love this episode with your very being. Theme music:...

Well Dash Hounds you have lovingly stuck with us through one of the shittiest times in history and listened to our tin-can audio, but not today! Beth and Kelly are vaccinated and slowly making their way back into this world. We are back to in-person studio recording, and it feels so good. As good as the ooze from the bulb of a poppy flower. Today's episode is all about the illusive, romantic, beau...

The only two things that are inevitable are death and Strange Country winning all the awards. So with that said, what are your plans? Strange Country co-hosts Beth and Kelly discuss some of the possibilities post-life, and the horror story of the Tri-State Crematory in Noble, Ga where corpses were strewn about the property and stacked like cordwood. The ashes given to loved ones contained burned w...

On Oct. 30, 1938, Orson Welles broadcast a radio play version of HG Wells War of the Worlds. People didn't realize it wasn't a news broadcast, and mass panic ensued...or at least that's what the newspapers led people to believe. But it was really more panic-lite or fat-free panic where it doesn't taste nearly as satisfying. Strange Country co-hosts Beth and Kelly discuss the infamous broadcast and...