The Wonderkamer

Jen takes the dilettantes back to the early 19th century to explore the peculiar and tragic lives of the Brontë family. For sources and further reading, please visit www.thewonderkamer.ca

Tracy takes Jen and Dave into her own sports fandom and the byzantine world of Formula 1. In 2007, a disgruntled Ferrari employee is alleged to have circulated a dossier of top secret technical information to rival McLaren. It then gets strange. For sources and further reading, please visit www.thewonderkamer.ca

Dave takes The Wonderkamer in a new direction and tackles stories of paleontology. Two hundred fifty-one million years ago, the world was an extremely different place as strange creatures walked out of the swamps onto dry land for the first time. These critters were our ancestors and they ruled the Earth far before the dinosaurs. This is the story of their time on Earth - and their great doom. For...

Seventeenth-century author Sir Thomas Browne was a true Renaissance man:  a doctor, a scholar, a scientist, and… a mythbuster! In this episode,  Jen will delve into Pseudodoxia Epidemica , Browne’s 1646 compendium debunking hundreds of ancient legends, myths, and old wives’ tales.

The complete success of La Croisière Noire leads André Citroën to  attempt the genuinely insane, a full expedition from Beirut to Peking. For the list of sources, please go to www.thewonderkamer.ca

Tracy reveals her passion for automotive history as we learn about the Citroën expeditions. In this first part, French automaker André Citroën commissions two African expeditions done entirely by car.  For sources, please visit www.thewonderkamer.ca

In the final part of the VTubers series, Dave steps away from the exploitation of talent by their employers, and instead examines pressures from the fans and media. When VTuber companies or talents try to stay apolitical, they may find themselves stepping into politics anyways. Here we explore the lewdtuber agency VAllure, the controversies of Pipkin Pippa, and the highway robbery of ninety-dollar...

Part 2 of our series of VTubers explores the rise and fall of the American "talent first" agency Vshojo. And how one of the most promising businesses in the scene resorted to robbing a charity to stay afloat. For sources and links, please visit www.thewonderkamer.ca

Dave begins his descent into madness as he explores the sprawling world of vtubers,  a multi-billion dollar industry featuring streamers who perform behind animated avatars. In part one, he investigates "black corpos," the unethical corporations notorious for exploiting talent and sparking endless scandals. Sources and additional materials are available on the website at www.thewonderkamer.ca...

Join us for the final episode of Jen's look into the life of Kurt Cobain.

Jen explores the life of rock star Kurt Cobain by taking a psychogeographical journey into the heart of Washington State. Part 1 begins in Seattle and takes us to Aberdeen, WA. Part 2 will be released next week, on March 19, 2026. Apologies for the state of Tracy's mic. It was in the process of dying. Sources and further reading can be found at www.thewonderkamer.ca

Tracy dives into the history of sex work in the settlement of the Canadian prairies. Here she talks about how sex workers were foundational to the economic and cultural function of early settlements, with special emphasis on Winnipeg, Saskatoon, and Calgary. Sources and Further Reading Bourgeois, N. (2018). Race, space, and prostitution: The making of settler colonial Canada. POWER. https://www.po...

Although Walter Raleigh is famous for founding the first permanent  settlement in North America, history has largely forgotten his  half-brother who was a genius, a fool, a bloodthirsty psychopath, a  terrible explorer, and somehow founded the British empire. Sources and Further Reading Chidsey, D. B. (1932). Sir Humphrey Gilbert: Elizabeth's racketeer . Harper & Brothers. Gosli...

Jen tries her best to gross out Dave and Tracy with bizarre tales of the preservation of human body parts for “educational” (?) purposes. Please note that you might not want to be eating while you listen to this one. CW: Suicide Please check www.thewonderkamer.ca for sources and further reading. https://www.thewonderkamer.ca/episodes/2anatomicalspecimens

In 1931, several RCMP officers responded to a complaint in the Northwest  Territories. A man probably called Albert Johnson had been hanging  another man’s traps. What followed is the greatest manhunt in Canadian  history. Sources and Further Reading Anderson, F. (2025, March 19). The Death of Albert Johnson in the Arctic . https://www.jkcc.com/albert/ Butts, E. (2019, April 28). Al...

The Wonderkamer is a new Canadian podcast about curiosity. Our three hosts are dilettantes, those who have interest without expertise. In each episode, a host will satisfy their curiosity by sharing stories on a topic they've researched. Nothing is off limits! Our first three episodes premiere on February 12th, with new episodes following every other Thursday.