The Box of Oddities

In this special interview episode of The Box of Oddities, Jethro sits down with acclaimed science journalist Becky Ferreira—author of the new book First Contact: The Story of Our Obsession with Aliens. Together they explore humanity’s oldest question: Are we alone? Ferreira, whose work has appeared in The New York Times, WIRED, Popular Science, MIT Technology Review, and NPR’s Science Friday, guid...

What lies beneath the Great Sphinx of Giza—and why does it continue to fuel global obsession? In this episode of The Box of Oddities, Jethro uncovers the strange history, disputed radar scans, ancient legends, and modern controversies surrounding the Sphinx. From Edgar Cayce’s “Hall of Records” prophecy to seismic anomalies beneath the limestone, this deep dive explores why some experts insist it’...

In this episode of The Box of Oddities, JG resurrects one of America’s strangest carnival legends: the so-called “Mummy of John Wilkes Booth.” What begins with a mysterious deathbed confession unravels into a 60-year sideshow tour involving embalmed drifters, Civil War conspiracy theories, broken limbs, arsenic preservation, and a carnival circuit that cashed in on America’s morbid curiosity. Was...

This week’s Inbox of Oddities brings a rapid-fire mix of weirdness, heartfelt moments, and full-blown BoO Effects. A listener questions whether Kat’s chicken-arm pistol props make a rooster “half-cocked,” another finds community through the story of activist Brownie Mary, and someone offers a critical PSA about the flavor of gummy anatomy. We get a dream-driven BoO Effect involving an unsolicited...

In this chilling and hilarious episode of The Box of Oddities, Jethro unwraps the eerie legend of Albuquerque’s haunted KiMo Theatre and its resident ghost—a little boy named Bobby whose tragic death in a 1951 boiler explosion left more than scorch marks behind. From phantom footsteps to mysteriously vanishing donuts, discover why local performers never dare take the stage without leaving sweets f...

In this mind-bending episode of The Box of Oddities, Jethro dives into Robert Temple’s electrifying theory that the universe might actually be alive—and trying to talk to us. Could plasma—the same substance that fills stars, powers lightning, and glows in neon lights—be a living intelligence? Temple suggests that the mysterious orbs, pillars of fire, and UFO-like lights seen throughout history mig...

Poltergeist burritos, haunted pants, divine toast, and a skeleton named Orge — it’s another delightfully deranged Inbox of Oddities! From Tucson to Milwaukee, the Freak Family shares spine-tingling tales and wonderfully weird coincidences. One listener’s burrito unrolls itself in a supernatural act of culinary shame, and another’s Alexa picks fights with vintage corduroys. There’s also a toast tha...

Want to listen to The Box of Oddities ad-free and early? ⁠Become a patron ⁠by joining The Order of Freaks! Episode 750: The Man Who’s Older Than Time & The Babies Born Without Bits In this mind-bending episode of The Box of Oddities, JG delves into the incredible genetic history of one man whose lineage stretches back further than anyone else alive—revealing what ancient proteins can tell us about...

In this darkly fascinating episode of The Box of Oddities, Kat and Jethro explore the bizarre world of Victorian starvation contests and the tragic tales of the Starving Brides of Blackpool—young women who became public spectacles in a disturbing blend of endurance, showmanship, and societal obsession with purity. Then, Jethro takes us back to 17th-century England for the unsettling trials of Thom...

🎃 A chilling Box of Oddities Halloween celebration! Kat and Jethro rewind time to revisit the very first Halloween Special, recorded on a dark and stormy Halloween night years ago. In this fright-packed collection of true listener encounters, we dive into some of the most unsettling paranormal moments ever shared by the Freak Family — including ghostly apparitions, haunted highways, Civil War spi...

The Box of Oddities: 8th Annual Halloween Special Step into the shadows for our 8th Annual Halloween Special—where the veil thins, the lights flicker, and the stories come straight from you, the Freak Family. This year, listeners share their most chilling real-life encounters: a music box that plays from beyond the grave, a midnight sprint through a haunted cemetery, a towering white figure that d...

Halloween week gets weirder than ever on The Box of Oddities as Kat and Jethro dive into the chilling mystery of electronic voice phenomena (EVPs) — and why some recordings might not come from the past… but from the future. 😱📼 From eerie predictions like “April 10th… fire” to spectral warnings whispered before tragedy strikes, this episode explores whether time-slipping ghosts are trying to send...

INBOX OF ODDITIES 062: Meat Popsicles & Zombie Squirrels In this edition of the Inbox, the Freak Fam checks in with existential snack food, sasquatch fashion dilemmas, and a parrot who might be possessed by a 1960s sketch comedian. A Tampa household has now fully adopted the worldview that we are all just anxious meat popsicles waiting for a mysterious demise. Christine experiences a full-blown BO...

The undead are real. They just have antlers. This episode uncovers the terrifying rise of Zombie Deer Disease—a real-life, prion-fueled plague turning deer into vacant-eyed, drooling husks. It's spreading fast. It's nearly indestructible. And experts say it might jump to humans. Then: a nudist cult leader who worshipped coconuts, lived naked on a tropical island, and tried to save humanity with fr...

Last Chance to The Box of Oddities Live! Click Here! In this episode of The Box of Oddities, Kat and Jethro return from the road with fresh tales that will absolutely ruin your lake plans. First, we dive into the haunted beauty of Lake Natron, Tanzania’s blood-red, bird-mummifying wonder. Is it a cursed portal to the afterlife? A hellish mirror that turns animals to stone? Or just a volcano’s extr...

This time on The Box of Oddities, JG takes a bite out of the dark world of clinical vampirism, exploring the psychology and strange obsessions of those who crave more than just metaphorical blood. Then, Kat ventures into the chilling shadows of Spain to unravel the mysterious Vallecas Case, where the unexplained death of Estefanía Gutiérrez Lázaro left more questions than answers—and a trail of te...

In this week’s eerie episode of The Box of Oddities, Kat dives into the scandalous life of 17th-century Parisian fortune teller to the elite, La Voisin—witch, poisoner, and all-around dark delight. From secret rituals to deadly intrigues, La Voisin’s tale is as twisted as the streets of old Paris themselves. Then, brace yourself as the story takes a chilling turn to Cheeseman Park, where secrets l...

EPISODE 742: (with Christine Schiefer of "And That's Why We Drink) This Halloween, something spooky this way swaps. In this very special Paraween Host Snatchers edition of The Box of Oddities, Kat is joined by the delightfully haunted Christine Schiefer of And That’s Why We Drink—because JG has mysteriously vanished (probably abducted by science or a mothman, TBD). Together, Kat and Christine unpa...

Live Show Tickets And Information Here! Inbox of Oddities: Episode 61 – “Ghost Rides and Haunted Reflections” In this spine-tingling edition of The Inbox of Oddities, the Freak Family delivers another batch of strange, heartfelt, and hilariously unsettling tales straight from the beyond (and beyond belief). A listener from Austin swears his late uncle moonlights as an Uber driver—and somehow still...

Or: How to Dismantle a UFO Cult and Melt Your Hairbrush at the Same Time Before Kat and Jethro usher in a spooky new host-swap adventure for Paraween, they’re here to crack open a box full of unhinged history and semi-combustible materials. 🛸 First up, Jethro introduces us to Dorothy Martin, a mild-mannered 1950s suburbanite who claimed to be receiving alien transmissions from the planet Clarion....

Vote Box of Oddities For People's Choice Award Here! Live Show Info And Tickets Here! What do ancient Egyptians, Romanian grandmas, and angry Pac-Man ghosts have in common? They all want a bite to eat—from beyond the grave. This episode of The Box of Oddities serves up a global smorgasbord of traditions where feeding the dead isn’t just a metaphor—it’s a full-course afterlife buffet. From wine fun...

Vote Box of Oddities For People's Choice Award Here! Live Show Info And Tickets Here! Real emails. Unreal stories. Welcome to the Inbox of Oddities, where the freaks write in and the universe delivers receipts. Inside Kat & Jethro’s inbox, the stories are weirder than fiction and more human than a wax museum marriage meltdown. Listeners write in with tales of time capsules that issue ominous relat...

Vote Box of Oddities For People's Choice Award Here! Live Show Info And Tickets Here! Why does the Peoria Public Library seem to come with a return policy on souls? And what chilling new clues have surfaced in the decades-old vanishing of the Martin family in Oregon? In this episode of The Box of Oddities, Kat and Jethro dig deep into two mysteries that refuse to stay buried. First, explore the ha...

We are up for a Listener's Choice Award! Vote Here! What happens when you dig up Charlie Chaplin 11 weeks after his death? In this episode, Kat and Jethro wade into the bizarre tale of Chaplin’s posthumous kidnapping—complete with a ransom plot and a phone call that started with, “We have Charlie.” Spoiler: It’s not a prank if the coffin is real. Then, ever looked at your fingers and thought, “Why...

REM Sleep, Clock Curses, and Alien Heat Lightning Vote Box of Oddities For People's Choice Award Here! Live Show Info And Tickets Here! In this listener-powered episode of The Box of Oddities, JG and Kat crack open the inbox and out pour... auditory hallucinations, ghost clocks, spontaneous astral projection, and the shocking truth about “heat lightning.” (Spoiler: it’s probably aliens.) First, a...