The Worker's Cauldron

As the world went into lockdown, people began to more ghosts and mysterious lights in the sky. And this wasn't the first pandemic to be followed by the paranormal. Support the show

Are violent villagers really hunting vampires in the African country of Malawi? This week we discuss the history of this small nation,  how Western news outlets mischaracterized the movement against alleged vampires,  and look for the real bloodsuckers--social precarity, the forces of international finance capital, and neocolonialism. Our sources are:  Protesting unemployment and precarity? Mappin...

This week, we sweep away the stereotypes surrounding "genies," aka jinn, to see what they can teach us about the psychological and spiritual ramifications of the mass forced migrations in the age of the global “War on Terror.” Bonus Content: Racist Danes and Sleep Paralysis References: Islam, Migration and Jinn: Spiritual Medicine in Muslim Health Management Legends of the Fire Spirits:...

Mutilation Nation This week, we discuss the cattle mutilation wave that hit the heartlands of the United States during the 1970s. This is how the near-collapse of the cattle industry and the end of the Vietnam War precipitated rumors of secret cults, extraterrestrials, cryptids, and a secret government conspiracy all hell-bent on slicing up cows. And also how this all relates to radical right-wing...

In 2012, workers building on a dam in Zimbabwe all walked off the job in protest of unsafe working conditions. What made this story international news was that the workplace danger was mermaids. This week, we discuss the spiritual significance of the njuzu, or the mermaid in Shona indigenous religion, how the country’s troubled history of colonialism informs this belief, and what it all has to do...

Hey all! This week we discuss the history of Chinese Communism as it relates to the world of ghosts and demons, obviously. Bonus: The perils of giving birth to loquacious amphibians.  Support the show

We discuss the strange story of Bridget Cleary, an Irish woman murdered in 1895 after her husband became convinced she was a fairy.  Her death was quickly utilized by British newspapers to justify their opposition to Irish Home Rule. Along the way, we talk about gender roles, political struggle, and the fairy faith in 19th century Ireland.   Bonus Content: Is Bigfoot a modern fairy? Support the sh...

Are Communists the secret descendants of Yeti? In today's episode, we explore the influence early 20th-century antisemitism had on the ideas of the Polish sculptor Stanislav Szuchalski.   Bonus: How to learn anatomy by dissecting your own father Support the show

Love magic was a constant fixture of daily life in colonial New Mexico, and we discuss how accusations of witchcraft were used by the Spanish Inquisition to mediate gender, class, and racial conflict in a deeply unequal society. Bonus content: What to do if your dog is also the Devil, the proper care and feeding of enchanted male “parts” Support the show

Content Warning: This episode contains discussions of racism, violence, and sexual abuse that some listeners may find disturbing. We explore the origins of the Ku Klux Klan's tradition of masquerading as ghosts. We discuss the work of pioneering Black folklorist Gladys-Marie Fry, who documented this system of supernatural psychological control in her 1975 book Night Riders in Black Folk Histo...

Why we changed our podcast from Shit Gets Weird to the Workers Cauldron Support the show

This episode we discuss the dark folklore around Christmas and how traditions ranging from Icelandic Christmas ogresses to the American Santa Claus have evolved with changing economies and social norms. Bonus Content: A carnivorous Christmas cat, making Yuletide scarves from the intestines of naughty children, and why getting drunk at work is the real reason for the season. Support the show

An episode under the former podcast name of Sh** Gets Weird. This time  we explore mass spirit possessions in Southeast Asian factories. We discuss how the histories of colonialism, Cold War atrocities, and neoliberal policies collide with traditional spiritual beliefs, and how this, in turn, informs mass protests against capitalist work discipline. Bonus Content: spectral were-tigers, ghosts on m...

An episode under the former podcast name of Sh** Gets Weird. In this episode we explore how the history of settler-colonialism brought us the trope of the "Indian Ghost." We discuss spectral Indians in European American literature, how spiritualists confronted the genocidal western settlement, why Ghost Dances became popular, and why you might have anxiety about a house build on "In...

An episode under the former podcast name of Sh** Gets Weird. This episode explores the ideas of Michael Taussig, an anthropologist who wrote The Devil and Commodity Fetishism, a classic in the field of Marxist anthropology. We will discuss how indigenous Andean belief systems adapted and resisted those imposed by Catholic colonizers, and its relevance to political struggle in Bolivia today. Bonus:...

An episode under the former podcast name of Sh** Gets Weird. How the economic crisis of the 1970's, and the capitalist response to it, popularized a belief in the demonic among American Christians. From Traditionalist Catholics to Charismatic Evangelicals, from The Exorcist to the Satanic Panic, the neoliberal era is crawling with the diabolic.  Bonus content: The sexual life of home furnitur...

An episode under the former podcast name of Sh** Gets Weird. What does the social history of Scotland tell us about the mysterious monster of Loch Ness? In this episode, we explore the earliest documentation of something weird in the lake, discuss the monstrous denizens of Highland folklore, and discuss how the monster we know today emerged in the Great Depression. Bonus content: Irresistible demo...

An episode under the former podcast name of Sh** Gets Weird. This week of Sh!t Gets Weird, we explore the intersections of settler colonialism, "scientific" racism, cultural appropriation and Bigfoot. Bonus content: Detailed discussion of bigfoot gluteal anatomy Support the show

An episode under the former podcast name of Sh** Gets Weird. The intersections of UFO beliefs of the left-wing Posadist International, the far right terror cult of Aladino Felix, and the struggle for worker and peasant power in Latin America’s 20th century. Bonus: The use of flatulence in radical rhetoric, how to propose to a woman with Leon Trotsky’s transitional program and triangular craft over...

An episode under the former podcast name of Sh** Gets Weird. An exploration of how deindustrialization and the “Black Aquarius” impacted paranormal encounters in early 1970’s Britain. We ask if the analytical concept of hauntology as elucidated by the late critical theorist Mark Fisher can be applied to tabloid stories of the supernatural. Bonus: Werewolf ghosts and Druid nipple torture Support th...

An episode under the former podcast name of Sh** Gets Weird. This episode explores the links between poltergeist activity at a Rochester New York home and the spark that ignited the social movement for women's suffrage.  Bonus: Poltergeist activity as a path to enlightenment and when God tells you go on a diet. Books if you want to learn more: Radical Spirits by Ann Braude, Ghosts of Futures...