We’re joined by Christina Ward of Feral House publishing to talk about the intersection of food, culture, belief, control, and the weird as she tells us about two of her recent projects:American Advertising Cookbooks and Holy Food.
In part two of our two-part interview with Owen Davies, we continue the discussion of witches and witch prosecutions with thoughtful considerations of the meaning of witch and how it can be an identity or an accusation. Be sure and catch both parts of this fascinating chat. Some related viewing/reading: A curious case of Black Magic in Norfolk Blake’s article […]
In this episode we talk with Dr. Alice Vernon about her fascinating look at the history of ghost hunting and psychical research, from the late 19th century to today. Ghosted: A History of Ghost Hunting, and Why We Keep Looking (Affiliate Link) Night Terrors: Troubled Sleep and the Stories we Tell About It Ghostwatch (wikipedia) – (our previous coverage) The […]
Blake and Karen discuss the legendary photo said to capture 19th century cowboys or soldiers with a giant bird or pterosaur.
FLASHBACKWe’re looking back at October 5, 2011 this week and an interview with Valerius Geist (February 2, 1938 – July 6, 2021) about the myths and reality of wolves. How dangerous are they? There’s complexity and nuance here. Some people fiercely believe wolves are just peaceful misunderstood beautiful animals that would not hurt a person. Others believe they’re fierce and […]
This week on MonsterTalk, Blake and Karen are joined by Matthew Baxter to revisit Karen’s classic investigation book Haunting America — newly re-released in paperback just in time for Halloween 🎃. Together they discuss how the book began as a project for the James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF), the fieldwork behind its famous cases, and the updated edition’s new conclusion and color photos.👻 Topics discussed: […]
Blake is joined by regular contributor Matt Baxter, and special guest Kara Van Hoose from the Colorado Department of Parks and Wildlife to discuss the (not that mysterious) outbreak of “tentacle bunnies” in Colorado this summer. News reports of “rabbits with tentacles” Deer wasting disease (zombie deer) “Colorado Cannibal” Alfred Packer Colorado Parks & Wildlife Karl Shuker’s blog about Jackalope […]
A fascinating chat about Australian Magpies (Gymnorhina tibicen) with Dr. Grainne Cleary in which we talk about the role of stories in creating monsters, the role of citizen science, and lots of cool biology facts about these birds. Not everything about Magpies is black and white, it turns out. Why do birds do that?(affiliate link) Your Backyard Birds(booktopia – Australian […]
Blake recounts his recent visit to see Robert the Doll, and his findings after a deep dive into newspapers and other literature. Patrons get follow-up info from the girl who was the subject of the “true doll haunting” from episode #114! Plus – see the attached PDFs for some of the research material used to craft this episode. Karen’s latest […]
We’re joined by Dr. Justin Mullis to get a better understanding of the incredibly lore-dense anime series Dan Da Dan. Justin’s academia profile Legend of Momotaro Some links recommended by Justin:This is a really good video about the history of the Flatwoods Monster in Japanese video games. Highly recommended. This is the Religious Dispatches article about koro. Here’s the Japan Today interview with the current editor of […]