Fringe History

Welcome to the culture of Pluviculture! Or as folks in America during the late 1800s called Rainmaking! A fringe science where savvy folk would travel to small towns throughout the Midwest & across the sw to draught ridden towns to promise them rain! In Nebraska a whole “rain god association” had formed teaching folk how to make rain grow in the sky! There were countless methods to do this from explosions to noxious fumes & chemicals. & today I bring you one of the most famous rainmakers who saved… or cursed the city of San Diego. Cuz in 1914 San Diego was plagued for years by draughts & LA taking their water. So the locals demanded the city council hire their local famous rainmaker, Charles Hatfield. & while the city accepted his offer to fill their dam, the city attorney, Cosgrove, made sure the city would never pay out even if rain came. & rain definitely came, but then it never stopped! & after a major storm smashed into San Diego, the rainmaker expected to be paid. Rumors say he told the city council they gotta pay now or the will witness REAL RAIN! & this was only days before the famous Hatfield Flood. So I’ll talk about this sensational story & Charles Hatfields whole life to figure out if he was just an excellent grifter, or a mad scientist bent on helping his nation! I’ll also talk other big names in Pluviculture & modern rainmakers! From Californias dowsing rod wielding Water Witches to a Florida company that claims it can make rain on demand! Plus some insight on real life weather modification & CLOUDSEEDING to see if the rainmakers where actually onto something! Lastly I’ll take you to these exact locations & many more around San Diego including abandoned gold mines, worlds largest objects & a church teaching 4th dimensional travel! I’ve got it here for you on the Season 1 Finale of Fringe History! The Podcast will be on hiatus for the rest of the summer after bringing you dozens of folklore legends over 1 year now. I’ll be returning in the fall with many more legends, but in the mean time I’ll be streaming folklore & metazoo cards on twitch! @FringeHistorygames. Checkout my other my project, a mature post-apocalyptic audiodrama called Grease Valley Radio for more cryptid adventures! & if ya need to reach me I’ll always be on the Instagram @fringehistorypod ! Thank you for all the great times & I hope to be back to ya soon with many more Cryptids & Americana legends! Fringe History is Created, Produced & hosted by Basti B. Cover Art by SCUMMY.Loves.You on Insta! For podcast updates + Daily Cryptid drops & case photos follow the Instagram @FringeHistorypod To reach out with Cryptid sightings, supernatural encounters or anything else email me at FringeHistorypod@gmail.com

South West Explorer be warned to not try any of the fermented cactus juices you may find leaking out there. Cuz you may have just come along the path of a Cryptid with razor sharp bone claws & a real territorial attitude. So let’s jump into fearsome creatures of the lumberwoods again from da guy William T Cox as we learn about this desert legend who’s been spotted all over Arizona back in the 1910. But these big cats made of plant are on a path to get wasted! The drunk cats love to dance and sing shrieking songs while rasping its bone claws together to make a sorta music! So listen out for its songs & let’s see what the legend of the cactus cat brings, with modern appearances in the secret saturdays Cartoon Network show & pokemon! Let’s start the summer with a South West legend, what does this folklore represent & what animals really do claw out catci & drink their juices? Plus I do some spec bio on the creature & speculate on variants that could populate our world & could see on desert hikes! Join the Cactus cat on this weeks Fringe History! Fringe History is Created, Produced & hosted by Basti B. Cover Art by SCUMMY.Loves.You on Insta! For podcast updates + Daily Cryptid drops & case photos follow the Instagram @FringeHistorypod To reach out with Cryptid sightings, supernatural encounters or anything else email me at FringeHistorypod@gmail.com

Welcome to the forgotten river county of NJ, where the trees overhang creates dark tunnels along the Musconetcong river. In these haunting waters multiple fisherman have reported a creature with incredible powers. A 7ft scaled mantis creature with the ability to cloak itself, massive wings & a hypnotic buzz that can daze those it encounters. But no attacks have been reported, the opposite actually as some have said the can sorta “talk” via a kinda telepathy! So are these creatures friends or for? Maybe just observers, from space perhaps? Others say they could be mutant bug / man hybrids made in the NJ hills or even say a large Cryptid bug we haven’t discovered! Well I’ve got the lowdown on the eyewitness accounts & what the lead researcher on this phenomena has got to say! Fringe History is Created, Produced & hosted by Basti B. Cover Art by SCUMMY.Loves.You on Insta! For podcast updates + Daily Cryptid drops & case photos follow the Instagram @FringeHistorypod To reach out with Cryptid sightings, supernatural encounters or anything else email me at FringeHistorypod@gmail.com

Whatchu know about a Wamp? What a strange creature coming to us from a great Cryptid series Yarns of the Bigwoods! A gray sack with arms & legs w/ a wild hollow tail used to shake salt onto the root of trees. A delicious treat for the local deers which makes the Wamp a best friend to the hunters of the lumberwoods! But as with many Cryptid tales, for all the details i don’t get I get to sus out for myself, so using some spec bio I wanna figure out it’s behaviors, diets, locomotion & biomes it could potentially live in! I’m talking PNW arboreal fruitivore versions to a tide pool lurking ones that fish out crabs, fish & seaweed then returning to its sea cave homes! I’m thrilled to crack back into yarns of the Bigwoods from newspaper articles from 1922-1925 across America & Canada! So ima try to bring art child’s wild Cryptid creation to the modern era, on this weeks Tale from the Fringes! Fringe History is Created, Produced & hosted by Basti B. Cover Art by SCUMMY.Loves.You on Insta! For podcast updates + Daily Cryptid drops & case photos follow the Instagram @FringeHistorypod To reach out with Cryptid sightings, supernatural encounters or anything else email me at FringeHistorypod@gmail.com

Have you ever heard of a jetpack monster?? Well there’s been a couple sightings throughout time, but Nebraskas falls city holds on of the most strange encounters with one! Technicolor lights draped across the 15 ft metal wings on the creatures back & the eyewitness could only describe it as a demon! Could this had been a mad scientist from the deep corn fields? I mean most actual jetpack tech was developed by private inventors! The most famous, Yves Rossy, vowed to never give his jetpacks to any military or company! I mean that’s the first human to reach & maintain a jets altitude… he flew over the Grand Canyon, from France to Britain in 9mins. But we’ll talk about all sorts of jetpack history & how the French government debuted hoverboard snipers in 2019😂 So let’s look into the Falls city jetpack monster, but also Kazakhstans Jetpack monstrosity, the 3 chelahis jetpack minutemen, modern spring heel Jack reports & the 1835 NYC great moon hoax where folk believed in bat winged humans building temples on the moon! All of that on this case of Fringe History! Fringe History is Created, Produced & hosted by Basti B. Cover Art by SCUMMY.Loves.You on Insta! For podcast updates + Daily Cryptid drops & case photos follow the Instagram @FringeHistorypod To reach out with Cryptid sightings, supernatural encounters or anything else email me at FringeHistorypod@gmail.com

Criminals & Villiany await in todays tales, from torturous robbers throwing travelers into their Basement pitt to mystic Highwaymen who terrorize farmers & travelers in the hills of eastern NY! These Tales come from Charles M Skinners “myths & legends of our own Lands”, a fantastical text featuring folklore across America from 1860-early 1900s. But these come from his stomping grounds along the Hudson! So let’s talk about Francis WoolCott, a tall dark man who gained his warlock gifts from a mystic message on a meteor he found crashed atop Mt Riga State park. He & his nightriders use their magic steeds to extort folks of all their goods, but learn how to escape their wrath today! A great campfire legend for a summer in Upstate New York’s Capital region! Plus Monster mosquitoes, Mold Vampires & learn who lurks in the deep Valley of Zoar & why the usage of natural deformations in Horror has been a problematic trope living to modern film. Let’s talk about what our criminals & outlaws say about our own society on this weeks tale from the Fringes!

Have you heard of those Atmospheric Beasts lingering in our sky’s? Well today we aren’t talking about Air Rods or Sky Squids, but instead a vivid description of a haunting desert encounter with what was reported as a flying saucer but the anonymous writer swears it was an animal! An 8 ft metallic clam like beast that reacted to him & bled a frothy wirey substance. But before he could fully observe this beast, him & his friends fled as the scene was eclipsed in shadow by a 30ft version of the Same specie. Was this the creature that injured our lil buddy or was this it’s potential parent or mate? If the larger one didn’t harm the smaller one then what did? I’ll look into some other Atmospheric Beasts including the original account of the Indiana’s Crawfordville Monster! An Eldritch beast, an 18 foot white shroud with a large flaming eyeball wriggling through the country sky! Plus air rods, sky squids, cloud whales & sky serpents! Let’s talk about Nevadas Gargantuan Gliders on this weeks Case of Fringe History! Highly recommend hearing “In The Field” podcast for further descriptions of Atmospheric Beasts in their “cloud animal” ep! Fringe History is Created, Produced & hosted by Basti B. Cover Art by SCUMMY.Loves.You on Insta! For podcast updates + Daily Cryptid drops & case photos follow the Instagram @FringeHistorypod To reach out with Cryptid sightings, supernatural encounters or anything else email me at FringeHistorypod@gmail.com

Prepare yourself for the Desert Quickness!! This weeks Cryptid is an inescapable beast of the shrublands who kicks roadrunners out of its path & has been known to hunt loggers of the Sierras. I’ll go over the legend of the infamous SW creature of the lumberwoods, The Roperite! From the legends of William T Cox to Henry Tyron & even schoolastic pages, this animal of Americana folklore has popped up throughout time. But modern days the strange animal has no creature feature or references in shows! So I’m gonna bring this creature to life & even do a lil spec Bio on its Life & behaviors. Stick around to the end to hear about the otherworldly beast a Air Force pilot meet on top of a mesa, for a hint at next weeks, FRINGE HISTORY! Fringe History is Created, Produced & hosted by Basti B. Cover Art by SCUMMY.Loves.You on Insta! For podcast updates + Daily Cryptid drops & case photos follow the Instagram @FringeHistorypod To reach out with Cryptid sightings, supernatural encounters or anything else email me at FringeHistorypod@gmail.com

Who’s that peepin through your window? & what’s that sweet odor in the air?? Well don’t worry all your neighbors are on the streets with guns & bats looking for them… welcome to Mattoon IL during WW2, where squads of elite police & even the FBI came to investigate what the town called “the Mad Gasser of Mattoon”. Im gonna bring back the story with the original newspaper articles & breakdown a timeline of the events before looking into Scott Maruna’s 2003 book “The Mad Gasser: dispelling the hysteria”. This case has been used to officially describe mass hysteria, but what if there’s another culprit? Maybe even a police cover up when they locked away a local chemical engineer into a mental institute! I’ll dive into Farley Llewelyn’s story & if his sister helped this gay man seek revenge against the town that othered him. & of course the travel as always as eastern Illinois homes witch graves, an abandoned observatory in the prairie for some potential urban exploring, & the city that holds the most worlds largest objects in America!! Check it all out on this weeks case of Fringe History. Fringe History is Created, Produced & hosted by Basti B. Cover Art by SCUMMY.Loves.You on Insta! For podcast updates + Daily Cryptid drops & case photos follow the Instagram @FringeHistorypod To reach out with Cryptid sightings, supernatural encounters or anything else email me at FringeHistorypod@gmail.com

Let’s talk about Witches! Particularly a hag who lurks through the streets of New Yorks Capital! When this shrill old woman only got 12 baked goods when she wanted a dozen, she cursed the German baker! Not only did his business begin to fail, but the smoke from his chimney would choke him & invisible hands pelted him with hot coals! Only when visited by the ghost of a saint did he realize how to end the Albany Curse! I’ve got this exciting story from Charles M Skinners, Myth & legends of our own lands, a favorite of mine! Plus mentions of a few other nearby Hudson River legends, from a Dutch dress wearing queen Goblin, Heer, of Dunderburg or the widely told tale of ol time traveling Rip Van Winkle! & the origins of French toast?! Plus more Old Albany talk, a local urban legend where the Albany Hag could be living today leading a cult who lives under our sewers! Hear about it all today on Tales from the Fringes! Fringe History is Created, Produced & hosted by Basti B. Cover Art by SCUMMY.Loves.You on Insta! For podcast updates + Daily Cryptid drops & case photos follow the Instagram @FringeHistorypod To reach out with Cryptid sightings, supernatural encounters or anything else email me at FringeHistorypod@gmail.com

Join my travels as I road-trip 14 hrs in 2 days around the Unitah basin! I’m excited to bring you all one of my favorite travels to one of Americas most funded supernatural sites, as the American government spent millions of dollars in the mid 2000s to investigate the many anomalies on this property. On this ranch all of weird cultures mash together from poltergeist & ghosts, to ufos & unexplained lights, potentially even portals?! BulletProof Dire Wolves & other strange Cryptid creatures lurk nearby like Large headed black dogs. So let’s talk about that time I got kicked off of SkinWalker Ranch. While I didn’t see any anomalies on my short time there, I did meet a man in black named “the dragon” who ordered me to turn back. & so instead I drove an hour away through a beautiful red dust road to the hard to reach Fantasy Canyon! Let me tell ya how to get there & how to avoid getting kicked off the ranch & offer other great atlas obscura options in the Unitah basin as the whole region is renown for high Strangeness! Hear about it all now on the newest case of Fringe History! Fringe History is Created, Produced & hosted by Basti B. Cover Art by SCUMMY.Loves.You on Insta! For podcast updates + Daily Cryptid drops & case photos follow the Instagram @FringeHistorypod To reach out with Cryptid sightings, supernatural encounters or anything else email me at FringeHistorypod@gmail.com

Do you hear that song every morning that wakes up the world around us? Especially in spring months some would describe it as the spring chorus, but what if a smol creature whose organs are musical instruments leads this chorus & brings about this song with every step! So I’ll be bringing to life the legend of the Callopode, a yarn of the big woods created by Art Child’s in a collection of fantastical beasts from the 1920s! & I’ll try to speculate on this creatures real world life, it’s locomotion, diet & which state, region & biome it would live in! From SW shrublands to the Appalachian Mtns, I could see this elusive lil guy playing his song across the States! Plus a lil spec Bio on vibration harvesting organs?! Listen to it now on this Tale from the Fringes! Check out Sam Kalensky’s website for awesome stickers of the Callopode & follow them on Insta! Fringe History is Created, Produced & hosted by Basti B. Cover Art by SCUMMY.Loves.You on Insta! For podcast updates + Daily Cryptid drops & case photos follow the Instagram @FringeHistorypod To reach out with Cryptid sightings, supernatural encounters or anything else email me at FringeHistorypod@gmail.com

Have you heard of the New England Undead / Vampire panic phenomenon in the 18th Century? We are still currently finding graveyards effected by this mass hysteria where bodies were exhumed in a monster hunt lead by superstitious religious folk, sometimes making tonics of the bodies organs. The Last “Vampire” to meet this fate of Lena Mercy Brown, who some called a teenage psychic Vampire. But was she just victim to the infamous disease “consumption” & her body desecrated to calm the living from an issue they just don’t understand yet? I look to clear her name & share her remarkable quilting skills by sharing articles from the Rhode Island Historical society & the Smithsonian to figure out just what the New England Vampire phenomenon really was & its effects we still see today on this weeks Fringe History. Fringe History is Created, Produced & hosted by Basti B. Cover Art by SCUMMY.Loves.You on Insta! For podcast updates + Daily Cryptid drops & case photos follow the Instagram @FringeHistorypod To reach out with Cryptid sightings, supernatural encounters or anything else email me at FringeHistorypod@gmail.com

It’s a phenomenon that has struck 5 nations across the world, on farmland & country roads folk have spotted a phantom creature dashing past their eyes! I couldn’t believe it, but the 2013 Oklahoma Hunter video is undeniable! Then I find news articles from 1930s in PA about Monstrous Blood sucking Kangaroos! So just what is the Phantom Kangaroo Phenomenon?! Do you live in one of the many towns effected by these strange sightings? I’ll talk about the string of sightings in the 70s in Wisconsin! Even the 2010 numerous sightings in the Japanese Mountians. & did Wyoming really have a biology professor sign off on “project sage hopper”, a plan to introduce large packs of Kangaroos to the Wyoming Wilderness? I mean you can visit a Kangaroo farm today in Arlington WA! So tune in to hear a lot about these mysterious Phantom Kangaroos on this weeks Tale From the Fringes! Fringe History is Created, Produced & hosted by Basti B. Cover Art by SCUMMY.Loves.You on Insta! For podcast updates + Daily Cryptid drops & case photos follow the Instagram @FringeHistorypod To reach out with Cryptid sightings, supernatural encounters or anything else email me at FringeHistorypod@gmail.com

In Americas “Dead Sea” an experiment that was documented by the University of Utahs biology department occurred. In 1875 Ocean Leviathans were hauled by boats then by a 1 of a kind Train to be rehomed in the Great Salt Lake in hope of populating it with WHALES! Now this urban legend has been disputed for over a century & most facts of the Salt Lake would tell us this should be impossible. But locals then began spotting Lake Monsters! The Northshore monster, the ancient Great Brine shrimp, Old Briney & even the more well known Bear Lake Monster all find their origins to potentially this News Article from 1890! Learn all about these Lake monsters that range from 75 ft alligators with horse Heads to an Apex Predator of the Cambrian Era, surviving extinction events to surface on the shore the Salt Lake City! & what was the fate of English Scientist, James Wickham’s, amazing whale Experiment! Plus where to visit when you head over to Salt Lake City & spice your travel up with some atlas obscura locations, the Big 5 national Parks & the worlds largest organism Pando! All on this weeks Case of Fringe History. “The Great Brine Shrimp” Creature Feature on YouTube @GPCHILDS (19:15). Fringe History is Created, Produced & hosted by Basti B. Cover Art by SCUMMY.Loves.You on Insta! For podcast updates + Daily Cryptid drops & case photos follow the Instagram @FringeHistorypod To reach out with Cryptid sightings, supernatural encounters or anything else email me at FringeHistorypod@gmail.com

A Hungry Creature from the Lumberwoods slowly comes our way on this Tale! It’s hairless, black, shiny & has no wrinkle on its body, almost rubbery. No predator can pierce is Hide & even the greatest hunters who shoot at it find their bullets coming right back at them! But, as most cryptids do, it has a weakness! An explosive weakness! So if you live on the west coast, be careful as this beast may be closer then you think. It has many hilarious depictions, so let’s look into the creature from 4 books that vary, one looking like a stove pot with 13 different limbs… from my fav US forester William t Cox, Henry Tyron, George Mendoza & Patricia Lauber, let’s talk about the Gumberoo! Fringe History is Created, Produced & hosted by Basti B. For podcast updates + Daily Cryptid drops & case photos follow the Instagram @FringeHistorypod To reach out with Cryptid sightings, supernatural encounters or anything else email me at FringeHistorypod@gmail.com

OI travelers, buckle up for a Wild tale of high sea swashbuckling adventures of the Smuggler king of the Swamps surrounding Louisiana! This Patriot Privateer belongs to a set of 3 brothers who were arrested for piratey over a century past the golden age of Piracy. But the youngest of the became a legend cemented in Creole, Jewish & American history as we look into the tale of the Smuggler King who saved America from Britain, Jean Laffite! He wore many hats, Admiral of 60 ships, Commander of an army of 1,100 sea hardened men, puppeteer of a secret police across 3 nations, a lover, an artist, a socialite & above all a man of the poor! But every pirate has their horrible misdeeds & Laffite is no exception as his dealings in the slave trade, though nuanced are unforgivable even if it tortured him in his old age. So let’s look through this Americana legends journal, as we try to figure out what really happened in the War of 1812, during the Battle for New Orleans! How did Laffite become a renown smuggler in one of Americas most spiritual cities? & what was his life like on the run after America burned his final of 3 communes? & Did he really die alongside Napoleon Bonaparte on a deserted island? & as always my favorite part is visiting these historic locations! As his smugglers den is now a historic national park, with re-enactments of his famous battles & a whole town named after his legend. Visit his famous bar in New Orleans & hear about all the strange atlas obscura locations to spice up your trip to the swamps! Or visit his legendary Texas Island home less than an hour outside of Houston on the beautiful coastal waters where some of his hidden treasure may still lay under his famous Mansion, the Mason Rogue, which you can visit the ruins of today! Hear about it all on this Gigantic Case of Fringe History! 🖼 @scummylovesyou #podcast #weird #travel #history #historypodcasts #strange #fringe #fringehistory #fringeart #highstrangeness

Tales from the Fringes brings you a creature unlike most, a flesh eating stag who can fly high above the ocean to hunt Sailors who can’t escape. This beast is said to be unharmed by any weapon the Greek had at the time to stop them. A sibyl once rumored that a great horde of Perytons would bring Rome to ruins. So let’s look into this fantastical beast on this new series, featuring shorter stories that may only have a page or two describing their myths. We will keep their names alive here & keep Fringe History core Cases for things tied at least a little closer to history. This Series will explore many lesser known cryptids, haunted relics, Supernatual encounters & most any weird culture event I can get my hands on! This shorter format will allow for more tales to wind up in your mind & for me to take on more case YOU would like to hear about! This creatures source was the book of imaginary Beings from 1957 by Jorge Luis Borges, an outstanding sci-fi writer & wonderful cataloguer of creatures! But as with much folklore DnD has brought this legend to their tabletops. & let’s also consider just how a creature like this could live amongst us today & where it would reside. & as with all folklore, discuss how this story pertains to our lives & what it is symbolic for. Redemption? A lost soul? Or cannibalism? Hear about it on the Debut of TALE FROM THE FRINGES. Fringe History is Created, Produced & hosted by Basti B. For podcast updates + Daily Cryptid drops & case photos follow the Instagram @FringeHistorypod To reach out with Cryptid sightings, supernatural encounters or anything else email me at FringeHistorypod@gmail.com

What’s that Brilliant light in the sky?? & why is it shimming down a telephone pole like a Parrot?! This Beast is no ordinary Cryptid, as we look into an Iowa legend that has had many theories but it’s original headline was “Winged Monster”! Let’s explore this pterodactyl with a lazer horn & a bulletproof forcefield on as we look into the Van Meter Visitor this week on Fringe History! I never knew much about Iowa & even jokes it didn’t exist as a kid but this small midwestern state holds many flying cryptids & worlds largest random objects! Albert the 30ft cement Bull & Elwood the worlds largest CEMENT Gnome await as we figure out exactly what the town of Van Meter saw in 1903. They shot every bullet they had at the creature but it escaped into the subterranean coal mines under their town, but recent reports have occurred so let’s look into them! Plus travel spots like the nearby Bonnie & Clyde shootout marker or the first train robbery in the west by Jesse James gang! (Not Pecos Bill…) We’ll talk about Chad Lewis’s book on Van Meter & his theory connecting John keel into the equation with Ultra-dimensional demons & Reality hacking. Listen in today to have maybe a lil something weird to talk about at the thanksgiving table & watch out for GOBBLESQUATCH! Fringe History is Created, Produced & hosted by Basti B. Cover Art by SCUMMY.Loves.You on Insta! For podcast updates + Daily Cryptid drops & case photos follow the Instagram @FringeHistorypod To reach out with Cryptid sightings, supernatural encounters or anything else email me at FringeHistorypod@gmail.com

Well Howdy there folks! Sit by the campfire & listen up to the story of The First Cowboy! The Rider of the Cyclone! The Coyote boy who tamed all varmints & created the Cattle run. For in West Texas there is the King killer of the Mad Men, Pecos Bill! But was he a cowboy demigod who inspired the rowdy folk to have fun again & taught the cattle rancher how to become a full cowboy? Or was he a trickster god who invented popular western crimes like train robbing & created centipedes & scorpions just to prank his fellow cowboys? & just what kinda mind would create this legend? Maybe a Hollywood screenwriter who called himself the Mercenary of 10 flags after his international wars. Let’s explore the legend of Pecos Bill & find out what kinda fun there is to have in west Texas on this weeks case of Fringe History!