The Anxiety Encyclopedia

Katharine tells Lorien about a radiating anxiety. Sources: https://www.history.com/news/atomic-bomb-test-victims-new-mexico-downwinders https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-was-the-manhattan-project/ https://www.lsu.edu/mediacenter/news/2022/07/07docs_harrison_aguadvances.php   https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/atomic-bomb-hiroshima https://www.bbc.com/news/in-pictures-5364...

Lorien takes Katharine on a tour of the ticking time bombs in your kitchen. it all kind of falls apart at the very end. Sources:  https://www.delish.com/food-news/a45629592/soda-stream-expiration/ https://www.theverge.com/2017/2/21/14688640/sodastream-soda-bottle-recall-explosions https://mashable.com/article/sodastream-recall https://abc7chicago.com/soda-stream-sodastream-product-recall-exploding...

Katharine tells Lorien about birds of prey (not the Star Trek kind, unfortunately).  The Staircase  features prominently.  Sources: ⁠https://www.npr.org/2022/11/02/1133260919/an-owl-twice-attacked-a-washington-woman-a-biologist-says-its-becoming-more-comm⁠ ⁠https://travellingbirder.com/can-an-owl-hurt-a-human/⁠ ⁠https://www.boston25news.com/news/local/norfolk-county/owl-attacks-medfield-man-nearly...

Kick your new year off with another reason Lorien and Katharine want to get off the grid (and then make their own grid because they could never hack it without the grid). Sources: https://apnews.com/article/ransomware-attack-hospitals-emergency-rooms-0841defe1b881b71eccb8826ed46130e https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/health-tech/ardent-health-struggles-get-systems-back-online-hospitals-reopen-emerge...

Katharine's newly erupted anxiety. Sources: https://www.usgs.gov/programs/VHP/about-volcanoes https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/volcanoes/ https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-67610326 https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-huge-italian-volcano-could-be-ready-to-erupt/ https://metro.co.uk/2023/12/01/scientists-issue-major-warning-worlds-dangerous-volcanoes-19913836/ https://ww...

If you feel like the whole world is on fire, that might be because a lot of it literally is! Sources: https://wfca.com/wildfire-articles/what-is-prescribed-fire/ https://wfca.com/wildfire-articles/where-do-wildfires-occur/ https://www.nps.gov/articles/wildfire-causes-and-evaluation. https://www.fs.usda.gov/managing-land/prescribed-fire https://www.fs.usda.gov/sites/default/files/2023-06/Rx-Fire-St...

Red rover, red rover, send your pets...somewhere else? Sources   https://purelovepetsitting.com/7-tips-to-help-you-avoid-a-pet-sitting-horror-story/ https://www.seattletimes.com/business/seattle-pet-care-platform-rover-agrees-to-be-acquired-for-2-3b/   https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/30/tech/rover-pet-services-app-lost-dead-dogs/index.html https://www.caninejournal.com/rover-dog-sitting-reviews/ https...

Lorien and Katharine ponder the horrifying possibility that there's someone in the walls listening to all the silly little songs they sing to their pets. Sources https://www.dictionary.com/e/slang/phrogging/ https://thecinemaholic.com/where-is-phrogging-survivor-tina-bowen-now/ https://toughnickel.com/scams-fraud/Phrogging-Real-or-just-an-Urban-Legend https://metro.co.uk/2008/05/30/woman-hides...

Join Katharine and Lorien for  l'heure verte. Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absinthe https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Lanfray https://www.webmd.com/diet/what-to-know-about-absinthe https://sciencehistory.org/stories/magazine/the-devil-in-a-little-green-bottle-a-history-of-absinthe/ https://www.cdc.gov/alcohol/fact-sheets/alcohol-use.htm#:~:text=High%20blood%20pressure%2C%20heart%20d...

Lorien tells Katharine about a natural disaster that gives her a sinking feeling. Sources: https://www.usgs.gov/special-topics/water-science-school/science/sinkholes https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/how-much-does-sinkhole-damage-cost-each-year-united-states https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/what-difference-between-a-sinkhole-and-a-pothole https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/sinkhole https://ww...

Katharine walks Lorien through a particularly relevant anxiety. Sources: https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator/a05/teacher-attacked-by-students https://www.weareteachers.com/student-violence/ https://www.npr.org/2022/03/17/1087137571/school-violence-teachers-covid   https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12580469/Michigan-high-school-student-caught-camera-hurling-metal-chair-teacher-classro...

Lorien reveals her neuroses about hotels; she and Katharine are led to ask: what was happening in 2019? Sources: https://primer.com.au/is-a-hidden-camera-secretly-filming-your-airbnb-hotel/ https://www.reuters.com/article/us-southkorea-spycam/south-korea-arrests-two-for-spy-cameras-that-livestreamed-1600-motel-guests-idUSKCN1R219O https://www.nzherald.co.nz/travel/south-koreas-toilet-spycam-proble...

Katharine and Lorien celebrate Halloween the only way they know how: by being a little bit worried about it. Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poisoned_candy_myths https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/pins-and-needles/ https://www.foxnews.com/lifestyle/razor-blades-poisoned-candy-history-americans-fearing-halloween https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/halloween-candy-tampering-urban-legend-truth-1.534...

Lorien proves that just because you don't believe in something doesn't mean it can't make you a little nervous. Sources: https://www.historyvshollywood.com/reelfaces/amityvillehorror1979.php https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Amityville_Horror https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_DeFeo_Jr. https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/ronald-defeo-jr-whose-slayings-of-family-members-l...

Katharine tells Lorien about an unsolved axe murder; they both become obsessed with the idea of eating an entire bread supply. Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_from_the_Train https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villisca_axe_murders https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinterkaifeck_murders https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axeman_of_New_Orleans https://www.criminalattorneycolumbus.com/which-weapons-a...

Lorien tells Katharine about yet another upsetting thing people are doing online. Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharenting https://help.instagram.com/581066165581870 https://www.first5la.org/article/making-the-news-sharenting-in-the-modern-world/ https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304451104577392041180138910 https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2019/02/when-kids-realiz...

Katharine and Lorien consider the anxiety of going through painful procedures unmedicated . Sources: https://apple.news/A11JUKU_eSSGji6LkcMbgKA https://americanaddictioncenters.org/fentanyl-treatment/fentanyl-abuse-in-the-hospital https://www.dallasnews.com/news/investigations/2018/12/02/two-nurses-died-of-overdoses-inside-a-dallas-hospital-what-went-wrong/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drug_diver...

Lorien tells Katharine about the horror of having an uninvited guest inside your actual skull. Also, the Victorians are weird again. Sources: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/29/science/live-brain-worm-australia.html#commentsContainer https://www.yahoo.com/news/neurosurgeon-investigating-patients-mystery-symptoms-054102309.html https://www.merckmanuals.com/home/brain,-spinal-cord,-and-nerve-disorde...

It's Katharine's turn to record with Covid. She tells Lorien about a poison that can mimic the symptoms of, well, Covid. Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shannon_Richardson https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ricin   https://www.wfla.com/news/florida/florida-man-sentenced-for-trying-to-poison-ex-in-ricin-murder-plot/   https://emergency.cdc.gov/agent/ricin/facts.asp#:~:text=Ricin%20is%20a%...

Lorien warns Katharine about the sneaky ways water might be able to kill us. Sources: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/drowning https://www.webmd.com/children/features/secondary-drowning-dry-drowning https://www.webmd.com/lung/the-facts-about-pulmonary-edema https://abcnews.go.com/Health/dry-drowning-year-olds-incident/story?id=54663459 https://www.foxnews.com/health/be-well-recogn...

All who scroll past this episode in their feed shall be doomed to a mirthless day. Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curse_of_the_pharaohs   https://www.historytoday.com/archive/months-past/tutankhamuns-curse https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2022/11/04/king-tut-tomb-curse/ https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/curse-of-the-mummy https://www.ranker.com/list/ancient-egyptian-...

Lorien takes Katharine through a waking nightmare. Sources: https://abcnews.go.com/US/husband-blamed-cold-medicine-pleads-guilty-killing-wife/story?id=58306879#:~:text=Matthew Phelps, 29, will serve,Durham station WTVD-TV reported. https://people.com/crime/cold-medicine-killer-pastor-pleads-guilty-murdering-wife/ https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/news/story/family-woman-killed-cold-medicine-murde...

Katharine takes Lorien through the messy memory wars. CW: Brief mention of child abuse. Sources: https://www.thecut.com/article/false-memory-syndrome-controversy.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McMartin_preschool_trial https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plEImKEIRm8 https://www.encyclopedia.com/law/law-magazines/george-franklin-trial-1990-91 https://www.nationalchildrensalliance.org/media-room/nati...

Lorien is a woman on a mission: to change Katharine's mind about otters. Sources: https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/she-steals-surfboards-by-the-seashore-shes-a-sea-otter/ https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-07-14/sea-otter-841-surfboard-california/102602038# https://www.vox.com/2014/4/24/5640890/otters-rape-baby-seals-monsters-bad https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5135530/ htt...

Katharine, despite her best efforts, cannot convince Lorien that anything bad would be allowed to happen on a Hallmark cruise. Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MS_Estonia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Costa_Concordia_disaster https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Breeze https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MS_Melody https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Dianne_Brimble https://www.insider.com/man-fell...