Strange Country

In late June 1977, two Yale students decided to trek across the country following the Bicentennial Path. Only a week in, their trip was cut short when a man drove over their tent with his pick-up truck and tried to finish the young women off with an ax. Strange Country co-hosts Beth and Kelly discuss this brutal, senseless attack and the bravery of Terri Jentz who tried to piece her story together...

Time to reconsider your job and look to marrying someone famous. Or not. Instead you can listen to the sad story about a con woman known by many names, but most famously for being the murdered wife of actor Robert Blake. Dash Hounds, here is a story of a lost woman who finally got what she wanted as far as being with a famous man, but at the ultimate price. Join Strange Country this week for the s...

H.H. Holmes carries the distinction of being America's first serial killer, possibly having murder between 20 to 200 people. But like most legends, things aren't always as the seem. Strange Country co-hosts Beth and Kelly peel away the layers of the white devil of Chicago in this episode and discover that it smells a bit like smegma. Theme music: Big White Lie by  A Cast of Thousands Cite your sou...

Kelly and Beth have missed you Dear Dash Hounds, but we are back! In this episode you will learn the important story of Minnie Cox, an African American postmistress at the turn of the 20th century. Cox was smart, wonderful and successful, but still treated terribly because she was black. Before we get to the details of her story, sit tight for some ramblings about cockfighting, Facebook, and post...

What is about unsolved murders that stay with us? In particular why does the true crime genre skew female? In this episode of Strange Country, co-hosts Beth and Kelly talk about Julie Monson and Jane Britton, two young women cut down in the prime of their lives. Monson disappeared after a night out in September 1981 in Auburn, NY. Britton was found bludgeoned inside her Harvard University apartmen...

It is so close to spring break that Kelly and Beth thought a little story about rum, cocaine, and a beautiful Caribbean Island would be timely. Thinking of traveling? Now that we are seemingly on the other side of this pandemic- we understand, but we will caution you to not take the late night boat ride run by white supremacists, laden with weaponry thrown into plastic grocery bags. Ok? Strange Co...

For decades, Anthony Gignac pretended to be Saudi royalty, racking up hotel bills, department store charges, and even swindling Syracuse University out of money. Strange Country co-hosts Beth and Kelly would talk more about this, but are trapped in Nigeria with their huge fortune, and need your help. If you could send your bank account number, they would be happy to share in their wealth. Theme mu...

In 1912, four-year-old Bobby Dunbar went missing on a family vacation only to turn up nine months later in nearby Mississippi. Or did he? Strange Country co-hosts Beth and Kelly talk about this odd tale of a boy with two mothers claiming him as their son, and the weirdo lurkers and gawkers that we're all now descended from who watched the whole thing with maws gaping wide open. New Strange Country...

Women have been labeled crazy in an effort to shut them up. In the 1970s, the label stuck to Martha Mitchell. Martha's husband John Mitchell headed up Nixon's reelection campaign. Richard Nixon was definitely NOT crazy. He was totally cool in a paranoid, spying, enemy-listing kind of way. Martha knew one of the Watergate burglars was connected to the campaign and that her husband lied about it. St...

Kelly and Beth speak our truth each week on Strange Country and it feels so good. It may take us a while, meandering through details of our lives as mothers, women in our 40s, and librarians, but we get there eventually, dear Dashhounds. Thanks for listening and supporting that journey each week. This week we give honor to the podcast space that let's us speak our truth and wish singer and actress...

If you could leave instructions for the survivors of the apocalypse, what would you say? If you need some suggestions, you could always look to the Georgia Guidestones, a monument built in 1980 by a group of unidentified "loyal Americans who love God." They share their tips in the style of a David Letterman Top 10 list. Some like the stones for their tourist draw, others think it's the Ten Command...

In the days before the board game Operation or Play Doh's dentist head, doctors needed something to hone their knowledge of the human anatomy. So they hired people to bring them dead bodies dug up fresh from the graveyards. Strange Country co-hosts Beth and Kelly talk about these night doctors and resurrectionists who gave a new meaning to the phrase the big sleep. You might want to make yourself...

Readers and Dash Hounds we are into 2021 and still here as Americans, as women, friends, and your loving weekly podcasters! This week's show highlights the story of one of the first women's shelters in Texas, and how it became a successful hub and utopia for women who otherwise would have been stuck. How did it work? Easy peasy lemon squeazy—Sanctification! God shows up in your dreams and simply s...

If you ever encountered someone who told you to "do the research" after that person posted something beyond delusional then you're likely communicating with someone in the Qanon conspiracy. Strange Country co-hosts Beth and Kelly break down the plan, the storm, the crumbs, the delusions, and lament the future of our country where so many live in a different reality. As Voltaire said: "Those who ca...

Readers we are reeling, as you probably are, after watching events at our nation's Capitol. So bear with Beth and Kelly because it will take a little time and interruption of subjects to get to the heart of today's podcast- Flat Earthers. We want to make sure we all agree here; planet earth is a round wonder. Right?! Of course. And the notion that it is flat is well, pick up one of those well rese...

Get out your cloudbuster and strap into your orgone accumulator because it's time to talk about the sexual electricity that courses through the sky. Psychoanalyst Wilhelm Reich discovered this energy after studying specimens of milk steak under a microscope. Strange Country cohosts Beth and Kelly talk about Reich's claims that orgone could cure cancer and bone spurs and how it was snapped up by me...

Don't give up hope! That is the tagline for 2021 and the intention of lovehaswon- a religion that is really a tax-exempt cult currently operating and looking for new members (read $). Beth and Kelly will chat about why people join cults, why Beth is ready to sign up, and why you really should question everything. Find out if you are in fact already part of the Strange Country cult. If so please se...

You better deck the halls with boughs of barbed wire because we are in the midst of war, dash hounds. Trees are being maligned as "holiday trees" and to-go cups are strangely under-decorated to the point where Jesus doesn't even want to attend his own party. And he can't!! Because Dr. Fauci forbids it. Strange Country cohosts Beth and Kelly talk about the never-ending war on Christmas led by the F...

What is about losers and coups? While we battle our current takedown of democracy, residents of Wilmington, N.C, dealt with the real thing in 1898. Angry over the loss of the war and the meager rights gained by black men, Democrats gunned down black residents and took control away from the rightly elected. And no traitor suffered any consequence. Even 100 years later, whites didn't feel it was the...

Strange Country Readers: always and forever you know we are here for you, especially in this time of universal sadness. But sadly you cannot pet us. Actually it is better that way- can you imagine? Don't. Instead we suggest the importance of animals and pets during this bleak winter. A lesson we take from the Roosevelt family who lived in the White House from 1901- 1909 with 6 kids and 40 pets! Th...

In the early '90s, facilitated communication was the big breakthrough. It was finally a way for nonverbal people to communicate their innermost thoughts while getting an assist from a facilitator. But then it started to become more clear that it was the facilitator who was actually communicating, and communicating some horrific allegations of sexual abuse, leading many upstanding organizations to...

Happy Turkey Lurkey Day Dash Hounds! Beth and Kelly hope you are just as miserable as they are eating your meal alone in a closet this Covidsgiving. Or not at all. This week's tale of truth is about Mollie Fancher - a fasting girl of the Victorian Er-ah who thought it would be cool to not eat. For years. And brag all about it. And other women did too because food- ew. We will chat about the fact t...

Hey Dash Hounds, it might be helpful to grab a pen, some paper, some alcohol as Strange Country co-hosts Beth and Kelly take you on the winding, confusing tale of Anthony Godby Johnson. In the early 1990s, Johnson was or was not a teen who was or was not abused who did or did not write a memoir about him suffering or not suffering from AIDS. Understand? Luckily, Beth and Kelly's newest intern is h...

In ep. 167 of Strange Country, we learn the answer to: What does the fox say? Well, not really, but cohosts Beth and Kelly talk about the Office of Strategic Services' "illuminating" plan to demoralize the Japanese during World War II. It's a plan that is as cunning as a fox, if you get our drift. You don't? Yeah, we don't either. Theme music: Big White Lie by  A Cast of Thousands Cite Your Source...

This Strange Country episode doesn't suck. And that is the solid comedy gold to expect as you listen to Beth and Kelly try not to talk about the election that hasn't happened as they recorded but has happened when this airs. The cortisol is definitely traipsing through their 60,000 mile-long circulatory systems. Oh, and vampires, yes, they're talking about bloodsuckers who also can suck your energ...