Weird Island

Hidden away in Woonsocket, RI is a church that has been called the Sistine Chapel of New England. Inside is one of the largest collections of frescoes in the United States. While the artwork is incredible, it’s only the beginning. After the paintings draw you in, what you find are stories--because all 475 people painted into the frescoes are real people who lived in Woonsocket in the 1940s. And so...

Have you heard the story of Hachiko, Japan’s most loyal dog? Find out why there’s a statue of Hachiko hidden in Woonsocket, RI.   To Visit: 1 Depot Square, Woonsocket, RI 02895 Episode Source Material: Akita (dog) History of the Akita Breed - The Akita Breed Akita History: Hachikō & the Revival of the Devoted Japanese Breed – American Kennel Club 15 thoughts on “What does Hachiko mean?” Hachikō Hi...

Episode Source Material The Birth of American Industry: Why Pawtucket? - Online Review of Rhode Island History The Industrial Revolution - The Big Story - Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor Rhode Island and the Industrial Revolution | EnCompass Slater Mill | EnCompass Brown University Portrait Collection Wikipedia, History of Rhode Island Samuel Slater - Wikipedia David Wilkinson (...

Episode Source Material:  GEOLOGY OF MASSACHUSETTS AND RHODE ISLAND - 184 The American journal of science Rhode Island State Rock: Cumberlandite Cumberlandite Raw Cubes stone of Venus – Song of Stones GC51DR2 Only in Rhode Island (Earthcache) in Rhode Island, United States created by Twohig260 Walking RI: Hunt for RI's rare state rock at Cumberland's Blackall/Ballou Preserve Cumberlandite - Cumber...

Episode Source Material:  Gotham state of mind: what do comics tell us about cities? Why Superhero Comics Are Obsessed With Cities DC Finally Confirms Metropolis is Located in New York CLE Myths: Ohio Bell Building Inspired Superman The Architecture of Superman: A Brief History of The Daily Planet Daily Star - Supermanica Daily Star (DC Comics) The Daily Planet in Film and Television | Arts & Cult...

Episode Source Material:  Respect (and Customers) Comes Back to Drive-Ins (Published 1997) Rustic Tri-View Drive-in Theatre in North Smithfield, RI Drive In Movie Theaters History Northeast Connecticut Rhode Island Massachusetts Lonsdale Drive-In: Rhode Island Blueways Drive-in Theaters: A History from Their Inception in 1933 The History of the Drive-In Movie Theater A History of the Drive-in Thea...

Episode Source Material:  VIDEO: Ride along with the Providence Police, 1993. Documentary featuring the old downtown Police HQ, the RISD May Day riot, and of course Buddy Cianci. : providence PROVIDENCE TUNNEL OPENED | New York Times Description of East Side Tunnel project East Side Train Tunnel providence.html What's underneath — Erik Gould Projects Transit advocates say reusing Providence train...

Controversy and Opinions on the Gaspee Affair:  Was the Gaspee Affair About Slavery? The Gaspee Affair was about the business of slavery – Uprise RI The Conspiracy to Destroy the Gaspee Additional Episode Source Material:  About: Gaspee Days Conflicts That Led Up To the Burning of the Gaspee Copy of the testimony of Aaron Briggs | EnCompass This Licentious Republic: Maritime Skirmishes in Narragan...

Episode Source Material:  Best Places - Donut Data Set Home / Rankings / Top Donut Cities A Dozen Things You Didn't Know About Dunkin' | Dunkin' The Salvation Army USA Blog - The Salvation Army Celebrates National Donut Day! National Donut Day Doughnut Girls: The Women Who Fried Donuts and Dodged Bombs on the Front Lines of World War I - World War I Centennial . Donut Day History - The Salvation A...

Check this out! 130 years of facial hair trends, in one chart Episode Source Material:  Ambrose Burnside, The Sideburned Civil War Commander Who Didn't Want The Job Ambrose Burnside - HISTORY 'Sideburns' The Hairy History of 'Sideburns' .  Why is this Style of Facial Hair Called Sideburns? How Sideburns Got Their Name | Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History the history of ‘burnsides’, ‘side...

Episode Source Material:  VIDEO: It Rained Fish In Mexico, Officials Say. No, It's Not The End Times (We Think) Rain of Fish MAY 1900 WEATHER DATA - NEWPORT, RHODE ISLAND MAY 1900 WEATHER DATA - NEWPORT, RHODE ISLAND Weatherwatch: Raining fish | US weather Can it rain frogs, fish, and other objects? Fish fall from sky with rain in northern Mexico Every Year, the Sky ‘Rains Fish.’ Explanations Vary...

Episode Source Material:  Third Floor - Rhode Island - Nellie M. Gorbea The Man Atop the Statehouse The Independent Man, "Hope," Rhode Island State House Rhode Island State House My Turn: Patrick T. Conley: Taking down the Independent Man Head of the Independent Man – URI's Cabinet of Curiosities Rhode Island State House State Capitol Buildings, Statues of Men at the Top RI's Independent Woman In...

Episode Source Material:  (Research for this episode turned up a lot of inconsistent dates and references to elephants by different names, ages, heights, weights, etc.--there doesn’t seem to be a consensus on where the Crowninshield elephant ended up or if Old Bet was the first or second elephant in America. I did my best to reference only the most apparently legitimate sources in my storytelling,...

Episode Source Material:  The Ugliest Buildings in Every US State Images: Apex About Apex Apex Department Store My Turn: Catherine W. Zipf: Mass. gets Pawsox; R.I. keeps Apex The Apex Companies The Apex of Potential  He Saw Start, Now End for Apex At Apex, history of inaction leads to next step ‘A false narrative’: Apex owners file new lawsuit in eminent domain fight $400M Pawtucket soccer project...

Episode Source Material:  Rumors: The Biltmore Hotel Real Stories of the Paranormal | Biltmore Hotel Providence Haunted Historic Taverns of Rhode Island:  From the Archive: Haunts around Rhode Island - providencejournal.com - Providence, RI A Haunted Murder Scene in Each New England State History: 1920's – The Providence-Biltmore Hotel had a Poultry Farm and Garden on the Roof — City Farmer News N...

Episode Source Material: Anthropodermic Books:  The Anthropodermic Book Project – A research project to identify the world's books bound in human skin Dark Archives: A Librarian’s Investigation into the Science and History of Books Bound in Human Skin The macabre world of books bound in human skin Anthropodermic Bibliopegy – A Flay on Words – Odd Things Considered Tanneries of human skin? Meudon A...

Episode Source Material:  History of the Providence Place Mall: Providence Architecture | Locations | Providence Place Mall What's in store for Providence Place's next 20 years? Assessing the Providence Place Mall The Death of the Providence Renaissance Nordstrom to close at Providence Place Providence Place - Wikipedia .  Arcade Providence Micro Lofts - Living in America's Oldest Mall History of...

Episode Source Material:  The Root of the Matter – The Rhode Island Historical Society Roger Williams Park cemetery tour untangles route to founder's final resting place 1868 Book, “A Fourteen Weeks Course in Chemistry,” by J. Dorman Steele Read the eBook Memorial of Roger Williams by Zachariah] [Allen online for free (page 1 of 2) Apple Tree Root | EnCompass Williams Root - A Brief History of Rog...

Episode Source Material: Jonnycakes:  Narragansett - HISTORY All About Johnnycakes - Herald Tribune  Famous Rhode Island Foods - Your AAA Network The Big Flavors Of Little Rhode Island Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity - White Cap Flint Corn  About our Corn, Narragansett Indian Flint Corn JOHNNYCAKE IS TRADITIONAL, AND CONTROVERSAL, IN RHODE ISLAND (Published 1981) What is a Johnnycake? What A...

Episode Source Material:  Hot Wieners: Food & Drink A Brief History Of The Hot Dog The Hot Wiener: A Rhode Island Icon Olneyville New York System Restaurant - Rhode Island's Best Hot Wieners! Awards Watch: Meet the 2014 America's Classics Break Out the Buns: The History of the Hot Dog How Hot Dogs are Made | NHDSC Rhode Island's hot wiener: Don't call it a hot dog Historical Society - Rhode Island...

To Visit:  Whydah Pirate Museum: 674 MA-28, West Yarmouth, Massachusetts Palatine Graves: 18 Old Town Road, Block Island, RI Episode Source Material:  A glimpse of RI's past: Captain Thomas Paine of Jamestown Black Sam Bellamy, the Pirate Who Fought Smart, Harmed Few, Scored Big Top Earning Pirates Robin Hood of the Sea Pirates of Rhode Island Newport and its Pirates: A Love/Hate Relationship The...

To Visit a Similar Spot: Medfield State Hospital, 45 Hospital Road, Medfield, MA 02052 Episode Source Material:  History of Psychiatric Hospitals • Nursing, History, and Health Care • Penn Nursing Dr. Joseph H. Ladd School Days of Darkness From the archives: FINAL DAY: Ladd Center shuts down quietly The Fall of an Icon, the End of an Era The Asylum Antiquarian – Medium https://www.rihs.org/mssinv/...

Small state, big on the weird! Weird Island brings you some of the strangest stories you probably haven’t heard before, all originating in little Rhode Island.

Episode Source Material:  Have Mercy  The Great New England Vampire Panic | History Food for the Dead: On the Trail of New England’s Vampires by Michael Bell Vampires, Bural, and Death: Folklore and Reality by Paul Barber Food For the Dead Website New England's Vampire History | Legends and Hysteria   UNCOVERING A THERAPY FROM THE GRAVE  

To Visit:  Newport Tower: 5 Touro Park St W. Newport, Rhode Island, 02840 Hours: Always available for viewing Newport Tower Museum: 152 Mill St, Newport, RI 02840 Dighton Rock: 3rd Avenue, Berkley, MA. 02779 Museum Hours: By appointment only; open daily at 9:00 SOURCES:  The Controversy Touching the Old Stone Mill in the Town of Newport: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015089568243&vi...