The Weirdest Thing

Spooky season continues on The Weirdest Thing. This week Scotty delivers four tales of uncanny automotive accursedness from around the world--from ghostly headlights signalling the presence of an undiscovered roadside fatality in the UK, to a malevolent VW Beetle haunting a famously deadly Malaysian highway. But the primary focus is the Black Volga, a (possibly?) demonic luxury car stalking variou...

In our second Pocket Size episode, Amelia continues to celebrate spooky season with her list of her top 5 scary movies. These are all such bonafide, indisputable classics that even a horror dork like Scotty can brook no argument here. WARNING: Again...these are all CLASSICS. So don't come complaining to us about spoilers.

Amelia kicks off Fall--and spooky season--with the story of the wild life, tragic death, and VERY strange after-death of Argentina's famed first lady Eva Perón. Evita's corpse was "missing" for nearly two decades, and Amelia unpacks the bizarre myths, outlandish rumors, and macabre urban legends that surround its extraordinary journey to its final resting place. CONTENT WARNING: This sto...

Wait, what's happening? An episode on an off week? And on a WEDNESDAY?!? It's fire and brimstone coming down from the skies! Rivers and seas boiling! Forty years of darkness! Earthquakes! Volcanoes! The dead rising from the grave! Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together...MASS HYSTERIA! Actually, Scotty and Amelia have just decided they can't get enough of talking to each other on microphon...

Scotty goes scatalogically nostalgic this week with the story of the rise and fall of one of the 1980s' most notorious pop-cultural phenomena: the Garbage Pail Kids (and, of course, their dark doppelgängers, the Cabbage Patch Kids). Do you like all things phlegmy, pukey, poopy, and designed to piss off your parents? Then this is the episode for you!

Amelia takes us back to the tragic and infamous 1964 murder of Kitty Genovese and explains how it contributed to the development of the emergency "911" telephone system--but she also talks about how the bureaucratic bullsh*ttery of this episode's title has lead to flaws which continue to plague that system to this very day. Plus, Scotty and Amelia spend a few minutes at the top of the ep...

This week Scotty and Amelia discuss two deeply beloved films...well, beloved by them, at least. These are movies that received a shocking amount of (at best) apathy or (at worst) hatred from fans and critics at the time of their release. But your cohosts have taken them into their homes and hearts like abandoned puppies in a snowstorm. Scotty's pick is the 1997 film "The Rainmaker," base...

Scotty pays tribute to one of his favorite actors -- the recently departed Donald Sutherland -- with this episode's story about the making of the 1973 horror classic "Don't Look Now," along with his review of the film and Sutherland's performance (spoiler: he's a pretty big fan). And Amelia kicks things off with an impromptu endorsement of her new favorite brand of kombucha! SPOILER WARN...

This week Amelia takes us through the always fascinating, sometimes bizarre, and occasionally even bloody history of a few of history's most famous dresses. From Queen Victoria's wedding dress in 1840 through the baffling internet phenomenon of "The Dress" in 2015, this episode explores how these dresses became not just fashion sensations, but generational icons destined to be remembered...

We've got another short episode this week. Scotty brings you the tale of an Edwardian-era Clash of the Titans, when the burgeoning legend of escape artist and illusionist Harry Houdini was very nearly undone by an eager young gym owner--and future horror writer--named William Hope Hodgson. Plus Scotty and Amelia UNAPOLOGETICALLY discuss the recent casting announcement for season three of The Trait...

This week Amelia takes us through the ups and downs and jaw-dropping drama (and, man, do we mean DRAMA) behind the creation of Fleetwood Mac's 1977 album "Rumours." You want breakups? Epic temper tantrums? Brutal lyrical takedowns disguised as love songs about dogs? How about literal MILES of cocaine? We've got all that for you, and more. So how did a band going through such catastrophic...

This week Scotty does a deep dive into the history of "The Rocky Horror Picture Show," and describes how it went from smash stage hit to cinematic flop to perhaps the most beloved cult film of all time. He and Amelia conclude with a conversation about the more positive aspects of fan culture, and how it can provide a refuge for folks who've been otherwise excluded from the mainstream.

This week Amelia presents a bit of an amuse-bouche of an episode, with her story about the history of "the Wilhelm scream" and how it became perhaps the most recognizable sound effect in movie history. Scotty and Amelia also reminisce fondly about a few of their not-so-glamorous experiences on movie sets over the years. To watch a compilation of clips of the Wilhelm scream, click here: h...

HELLO, boils and ghouls! We made it to 100 episodes! And in celebration, we've got yet another WEEEIRD story for you this week! Your GhouLunatic host Scotty takes his partner Amelia deep into the rat-infested catacombs of 1950s horror comics, where rotting corpses rise from the grave and the putrid stench of pearl-clutching U.S. Senators threatens to bring down an entire industry of writers, artis...

This week Amelia talks about the concept of generations--from Gertrude Stein and Ernest Hemingway's storied "Lost Generation," all the way up through today's "Zoomers" and Generation Alpha. And she and Scotty use irrefutable science and logic to determine which of the previous century's many generations is, in fact, the best (spoiler alert: it's obviously Generation X).

Don't adjust that dial (actually do, because Scotty kind of screwed up the level on his audio track )...this week's episode is about an alien invasion. Or so Orson Welles would have you believe. That's right; Scotty is bringing you the story of Mercury Theatre on the Air's infamous 1938 broadcast of H.G. Wells' "The War of the Worlds," the "panic" it created, the headlines it g...

In the first episode of our new one-story-a-week format, Amelia takes us on an exploration of Tiki culture--from its well-meaning (if questionable) origins to its more dubious evolution over time. And she poses the ever-important question: is it possible to responsibly Tiki in this day and age?

Break out your popcorn buckets, because Scotty and Amelia are going back to the movies this week with a special Oscars episode. They start off with some strong opinions about two of this year's big Best Picture contenders: Martin Scorsese's "Killers of the Flower Moon" and Cord Jefferson's "American Fiction." They follow that up with some, er, maybe less strong opinions about A...

This week Scotty reviews a pair of documentaries about two seminal bands who coincidentally share the same morbid name, while Amelia relates the story of the inspiring life and work--and the infuriating death--of Cuban-American artist Ana Mendieta. They conclude with some more Oscar talk; Scotty finally shares his thoughts on "Barbie" and talks about "The Zone of Interest," whi...

Happy 2024, everyone! For our first show of the new year, we have a couple wildly different stories for you. Amelia tells the tale of how one guy stole an idea and turned it into one of the biggest fast-food chains in the world. Meanwhile, Scotty details the sad life and strange death of Edgar Allan Poe. Since we're coming into Awards Season, we also spend a few minutes at the beginning talking ab...

Happy holiday season, everybody! We've got a couple wildly divergent stories for our final episode of 2023. Scotty talks about the strange--and disturbing--rise of Andrew Dice Clay, and how the comedian became trapped within the ugly confines of his own character. Amelia provides a refreshing glass of egg nog, however, with her discussion of the origins of some popular Christmas traditions. We als...

This week Scotty and Amelia welcome author/longtime friend Shannon C.F. Rogers onto the pod to discuss her new novel "I'd Rather Burn Than Bloom" (2023, Feiwel & Friends), named one of the " 20 Best Books to Read in July " by Kirkus Reviews and one of " The Best New YA Books of July 2023 " by Paste Magazine. We also talk about fan fiction,"The Animorphs,&quot...

We're closing out spooky season with a couple spooky-adjacent stories this week. Scotty talks about the bizarre and ultimately deadly story of the "Hammersmith Ghost," and Amelia takes us through the history of one of Disney's most popular rides: the Haunted Mansion. This podcast is powered by Pinecast .

Spooky spooky! We're back with some more Halloween-month content for you. This week we dive into two movies, "When a Stranger Calls" (1979) and "I Know What You Did Last Summer" (1997). We talk about the urban legends that inspired them (the-call-is-coming-from-inside-the-house and the tale of the Hookman, respectively), along with their possible connections to true stories. SP...

We're leaning hard into spooky season this week. Amelia talks about the grisly origins of the infamous "The Girl with the Green Ribbon" story, while Scotty takes us through the making and ignominious release of the "cursed" horror movie "Incubus," the first film ever made in the constructed Esperanto language. CONTENT WARNING: Our stories this week touch on murder, ex...