Episodes
Oct. 27, 2025
Feared and Revered: The Wendigo and Other Cryptids
A classic cocktail opens a door to stranger places. We start with the crisp snap of a gin and tonic and its unexpected past as a colonial malaria remedy, then step into the woods, deserts, and fog banks where four legends sti...
Oct. 22, 2025
The Origin of Weird: Will West and William West
Two men. Same name. Same face. Same measurements. Different fingerprints. The Leavenworth intake room went silent in 1903 when Will West’s file appeared to match a prisoner already serving time: William West. That uncanny col...
Oct. 20, 2025
I Don't Do Nautical Things: Submarine R-14
Stuck 100-plus miles off Hawaii with dead engines and a silent radio, a 1919 submarine shouldn’t have had a chance. Ours did. We walk through the improbable rescue of USS R-14—how a small crew turned hammocks into sails, bunk...
Oct. 13, 2025
The Audacity of that Kid: William Patrick Hitler
Ever wondered what it takes to outrun a last name that shaped world history? We dive into the strange, complicated life of William Patrick Hitler—born in Liverpool, raised by an Irish mother, and briefly swept into the social...
Oct. 8, 2025
The Origin Of Weird: The Tunguska Event of 1908
A blue-white fireball tore across a quiet Siberian morning and turned a vast forest into matchsticks—yet left no crater. We dive into the 1908 Tunguska event with clear storytelling and sharp science, tracing how eyewitness h...
Oct. 6, 2025
For Profit For His Hairs: MLK Jr.
A single microphone, a sea of people, and a line that still echoes—and a copyright story few expect. We follow “I Have a Dream” from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial into the courts, where old statutes and modern rulings dec...
Sept. 29, 2025
Medieval NDA: John of Nepomuk
A king’s temper, a vicar’s signature, and a midnight plunge off the Charles Bridge—this is the real John of Nepomuk, stripped of centuries of rumor and retold from the sources that watched it happen. We kick off light—birthda...
Sept. 24, 2025
The Origin of Weird: Dennis Wilson and Charlie Manson
The shocking intersection of California surf culture and one of America's most notorious killers comes to light in our exploration of Dennis Wilson's dangerous dance with Charles Manson. What began as a chance encounter with two young hitchhikers in 1968 evolved into a bizarre living arrangement th…
Sept. 22, 2025
"Execute or Evacuate, You Decide": Hugh Thompson Jr.
When helicopter pilot Hugh Thompson Jr. flew over the Vietnamese village of My Lai on March 16, 1968, he couldn't believe what he was seeing. Below him, American soldiers—his brothers in arms—were systematically executing una...
Sept. 15, 2025
Spitcicles: The 1925 Serum Run
The frigid winter of 1925 brought more than just bitter cold to Nome, Alaska—it delivered a deadly diphtheria outbreak that threatened to devastate the isolated town of 1,400 people. With the harbor frozen solid and no roads ...
Sept. 10, 2025
The Origin Of Weird: Robert Liston and his 300% Mortality Rate
Would you believe a surgeon could accidentally kill three people in one operation? Welcome to the blood-soaked world of pre-anesthesia surgery through the story of Robert Liston, the fastest knife in the West End of London. B...
Sept. 8, 2025
Icky Fishy: Karen Silkwood
What happens when a lone whistleblower challenges a powerful nuclear corporation? The story of Karen Silkwood unfolds like a thriller, but with deadly real-world consequences that forever changed workplace safety standards. A...
Sept. 1, 2025
Twisted Mustache Villain: Lady Jane Grey
Have you ever wondered what it would feel like to become a monarch overnight—against your will—only to lose everything just days later? This episode unravels the heartbreaking story of Lady Jane Grey, England's "Nine Days Que...
Aug. 27, 2025
The Origin of Weird: The Reincarnation of Omm Sety, The Dorothy Eady Story
Have you ever wondered if our souls might carry memories from past lives? The story of Dorothy Eady challenges everything we think we know about consciousness and history. After falling down the stairs at age three and being ...
Aug. 25, 2025
I'm Just a Bride of Satan: Mary Osgood
What would you confess to if your life depended on it? In 1692, Mary Clements Osgood faced this impossible choice when she was blindfolded, led before a Salem courtroom, and accused of witchcraft after afflicted girls stopped...
Aug. 18, 2025
Fire to the Fuel: Henry Box Brown
The wooden box seemed impossibly small – just three feet long, two feet eight inches deep, and two feet wide. But for Henry Brown, it represented something far more significant than its dimensions: the path to freedom. In Mar...
Aug. 13, 2025
The Origin of Weird: Mayor Lincoln the Goat
Ever wondered what would happen if your town elected a goat as mayor? In this delightfully quirky episode, Bradley teams up with a special guest co-host – his young son Xavier – to explore the fascinating story of Lincoln the...
Aug. 11, 2025
Now With Less Catholic: The Walker Sisters
Hidden in the mist-shrouded valleys of Tennessee's Little Greenbrier cove, six remarkable women defied the march of progress for nearly half a century. The Walker Sisters—Margaret, Martha, Mary Polly, Nancy, Louisa, and Hedy—lived entirely self-sufficiently on their family homestead while the world…
Aug. 4, 2025
Threadbare Underwear: Hetty Green
The tale of America's wealthiest woman reads like fiction, yet Hetty Green's extraordinary life defied all expectations of Gilded Age wealth. Born in 1834 to a prosperous Quaker family, young Hetty wasn't groomed for society balls—she was trained in finance, reading financial newspapers to her gran…
July 30, 2025
The Origin of Weird: Humphry Davy
Ever wonder how laughing gas went from Victorian party entertainment to dental offices? Our journey through the life of Humphrey Davy reveals the surprisingly wild origin story behind one of medicine's most unusual discoverie...
July 28, 2025
The Whole Thing’s a Latrine: Henry Gunther
What drives a soldier to charge toward enemy lines one minute before a ceasefire? Henry Gunther's tragic story serves as a haunting reminder of war's senseless waste. Born to German-American parents and growing up in a predominantly German neighborhood in Baltimore, Gunther was drafted into WWI in …
July 21, 2025
See Something? Don't Say Something: The Shelton Brothers Gang
The forgotten criminal dynasty that ruled Illinois before Capone even knew their names. Meet the Shelton brothers – Carl, Earl, and Bernie – three farm boys who transformed themselves into the most powerful bootleggers in sou...
July 16, 2025
The Origin Of Weird: Lawn Chair Larry
Ever wondered what would happen if you tied 45 giant weather balloons to a lawn chair? In 1982, truck driver Larry Walters answered this question with an adventure that transformed him from an ordinary man with a dream into a...
July 14, 2025
Slabalanche: Dyatlov Pass Incident Part 3
The mystery of Dyatlov Pass has haunted us for over 60 years, presenting one of history's most perplexing unsolved cases. Nine experienced hikers from the Ural Polytechnic Institute ventured into Russia's Ural Mountains in 1959, only to be found dead under circumstances so bizarre they've spawned 7…