Squaring the Strange

Celestia is fresh from the Very Vegas SkeptiCamp, and a week earlier Jon Michael presented at the West Virginia SkeptiCamp, so he visits to compare notes and then chat about will o' the wisps, RFK's "walkback" on Tylenol, J.D. Vance speculating on UFOs being supernatural, and the resurgence of the Welfare Queen boogeyman. For our main segment, Ben and Celestia take a tour of legends involving brands, corporations and products. Anyone in marketing will appreciate the merging of folklore, commercial design and crisis communication all these stories bring to light. From Tootsie Pop contests to the allegedly Satanic imagery in the Proctor & Gamble logo, there's a lot to dig into. Did a Coke "magic can" kill someone? Did Pepsi have to give some teenager a military jet? Are secret symbols stamped into Oreo cookies, turning these delicious dunkers into a devilish communion wafer? And what was the real origin story behind Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer?

First, Celestia and a voice from the past discuss a hat trick of rat stories (maybe a rat trick?). Then Ben chats with author, ghost story enthusiast and former ghost hunter Cody Polston about the historic Territorial House in Corrales, New Mexico. Cody led an investigation there, and Ben worked there as a teenage busboy, so their points of view collide as they talk about what they've heard about the venue and what they'd experienced in person. From moving chairs to lit cigarettes, people have reported strange phenomena, attributing the experiences to restless spirits, perhaps those who died on the enormous "hanging tree" out front. Built in the 1800s and converted to the Territorial House restaurant in 1903 and then later the Tea House, the building (destroyed in 2012 by a fire) was indeed the scene of a handful of murders over the years. The discussion branches off into a few things common to many ghost stories, the nature of folklore and the psychology of ghost hunting itself.

We've got a bushel of SWAYSOs first! Chocolate is disappearing, an ongoing "psychic study" tries to recruit Ben, Las Vegas tries to recruit a random ghost hunter, Trump tries to find Amelia Earhart files, and Netflix releases "The Truth about Jussie Smollett?" Then at 43:12, we bring on Brian Brushwood, who Celestia cornered while he was visiting Las Vegas for Scoopfest. We talk about his many shows -- Scam School, Scam Nation, World's Greatest Con, Modern Rogue, Great Night, and NatGeo's "Hacking the System -- as well as his current work in deceptive role play, or "wolf-masking." Brian talks about anxiety being mankind's greatest superpower and the terrifying fact that AI makes even small-dollar scam targets worthwhile.

Much of our intro segment is spent with Celestia gnashing her teeth about the recent Trump-RFK-Oz press conference that unveiled a purported link between acetaminophen and autism. It was . . . not good. Then Ben and Celestia are joined by Skeptoid's Brian Dunning to discuss his lifelong love of Death Valley and his part in the solution to a longtime mystery there: the sailing stones of Racetrack Playa. These heavy rocks have, for decades, mystified visitors (and apparently park rangers too) by leaving long, winding trails behind them when no one was looking. The remote location would seem to rule out hoaxing, so it had to be some natural phenomenon -- and no, it was not magnetic fields or vortexes. Note: Celestia mistakenly calls Nevada's Three Kids manganese mine a mercury mine, but because it bothered the heck out of her she looked it up right before typing these notes!

Bigfoot prints . . . do they track? So many questions! First, we discuss skeptic offerings at Dragon Con, then muse about Florida wanting to get rid of vaccine mandates for public school and RFK Jr. rolling back access to the COVID-19 shots just as we enter respiratory virus season. Seasoned Bigfoot enthusiast Matt Crowley ("Bigfooter of the Year," 2005) joins us to discuss all aspects of the main, namesake evidence for Bigfoot. Those huge honkin' tracks of his (or hers). We go into the competitive subculture of Bigfootery and nuances like dermal ridges and toe flexion. How do believers reckon with the lack of consistency across different footprints, when it comes to number of toes and such? Is it proper to call Bigfoot prints, and casts, a type of folk art? Matt recommends many good books on the topic, and we learn our way around the many names, experts, and hoaxers in the scene since the 1950s.

First, Ben and Celestia discuss the needle-spiking panic fallout, missing kids in Virginia, screw worms, radioactive shrimp and seeing double in Las Vegas. Then our main segment is secret signs and signals! Real or legendary, these signs and markers are throughout human history to tell "those in the know" what to expect (food, sex, danger). From secret codes sewn into quilts to help the Underground Railroad effort to rock cairns and inukshuks, there are many tales of people making an effort to show others a safe path. We also look at the ancient bro code known as Masonic symbols, which manly men have been putting on their erections for generations. And of course we must touch on the world of swinger symbols, where anything from pineapples to a toe ring might be sending signals -- or just giving people a laugh.

First, Ben and Celestia react to the CDC shooting, then Ben looks at some skeptical-leaning responses of ghost hunters to Dan Rivera's death and the Annabelle narrative. Rounding out current events, Celestia has another RFK-adjacent story, this one about two women hospitalized after peptide injections at a Las Vegas wellness festival. For our main segment, food historian and Vegas gal-about-town Sarah Lohman joins us to share some interesting food mythos... everything from beer, MSG, spices and spoiled meat to the connection between corn flakes, enemas, masturbation and vegetarian dishes. Along the way we discover Sarah's downright distaste for Johnny Appleseed and rate our favorite Vegas buffets while learning about the history of cheap shrimp cocktail. Then, for dessert -- pink slime!

This week, we talk about the Blackhawk helicopter crash report, the damage an unfortunate rumor about a college student caused, and the frightening prospect of necessary, useful data being stifled or simply going away. Then, for our main segment, Ben and Kenny go over the infamous Columbus poltergeist case, an incident from 1984 involving, you guessed it, a young woman with some issues who was suddenly haunted by a mysterious force. Tina Resch was consistently underestimated by "experts" who looked into the case after some photos of a flying phone rocketed Tina's adopted family into the national spotlight. The Amazing Randi was not allowed on the property, but we have information from plenty of other sources, including Resch herself, that she was faking the incidents. Still, this self-debunked case has much to teach us about how the sensationalism around a supposed supernatural event can take over lives.

Ben and Celestia are fresh off the boat after heading to the Bermuda Triangle on Skeptoid Adventures! We talk a little on current events, as is our habit, then get to some short-form interviews with some of our skeptical shipmates. We chat with Richard Saunders, Dr. Angela Mattke, Ross Blocher, Susan Gerbic, and Jeff Wagg about their experiences over the years and what challenges (and solutions) are bubbling up in the skeptical vortex these days.

First, Ben and Celestia discuss pediatricians standing up to the CDC, a cloud-surfing Jesus in the Philippines, and needle-spiking mayhem in France. Then we have longtime friend of the podcast Susan Gerbic join us to talk about so many topics she's close to: empathy and how skeptics can approach education with respect; the big-name psychics that she's been a perpetual thorn to; the cycle some women get pulled into to act as no-name psychics with small followings; the UFO community's hate crush on her; Guerilla Skeptics of Wikipedia; skepticamps across America; and how to raise up the next generation of skeptical activists.

The inimitable Richard Saunders joins us to look at a recent documentary focusing on a group of working psychics in New York City. First we discuss the Great Australian Psychic Prediction Project and Richard's more recent work on restoring a video of James Randi in Australia, now available for viewers. The documentary, "Look Into My Eyes," directed by Lana Wilson, follows a group of psychics who also dabble in theater, and draws many parallels between those two worlds. We cover the messages and ambiguity present in the film -- it's definitely not a documentary that aims to test the reliability of psychic predictions, rather it explores how people connect and communicate. The psychics themselves are shown as humble, sincere people who have found purpose in their craft and believe they are helping others. The camera lingers on patrons who are clearly using the psychics as a kind of therapeutical setting, and there's a lot to unpack in terms of ethics and authenticity. We all have thoughts!

First we cover a few things on our radar: Ben is reminded of an old mail-based scam, Celestia gets excited over a few astronomical news items, and we both lament the MAHA report and its seemingly made-up citations. Then Robert Bartholomew joins us to discuss the new book he wrote with Paul Weatherhead, "Social Panics and Phantom Attackers: A Study of Imaginary Assailants." Have you heard of the Mad Gasser, Spring-Heeled Jack, the Monkey Man, Whipping Tom, or any of the pet eaters, needle spikers, drones or zeppelins menacing innocent people? In the right time and place, these attackers seemed not only plausible but terrifying. Bob goes over patterns in these attacker phenomenons, as well as the social function they serve -- often a cautionary tale grounded in current moral context, with a dash of xenophobia and fear of technology thrown in. These attackers, while complete fiction, nevertheless had victims: not just those who believed a scratch or bruise was surely from the evildoer, but those who were mistakenly arrested or beaten by vigilante mobs. The societal cost can also be measured in thousands of extra police hours as well as heightened anxiety and stress.

First we chat about a weird little chupacabra play Ben saw, then discuss the conspiracies that have metastasized from Joe Biden's prostate cancer and the resurgence of our old nemesis the Food Babe. For our main topic, we have esteemed historian of magic Owen Davies, who wrote the book (two, actually) on grimoires. In pop culture we see them in horror movies, comic books and even old children's movies like "Bedknobs and Broomsticks," but real (or "real") grimoires have been an ever-present relic for thousands of years. Grimoires are a mix of magic, marketing, fraud -- and sometimes blood -- and they have evolved along with the changes in ancient information technology, i.e., parchment and the printing press. From the Grand Grimoire of the early 18th century to Lovecraft to the pulp grimoires of the 1960s, magical words and demonic conjurations have gotten around one way or another.

No, Pascual did not get abducted by a UFO ... but neither did three kids in 1969, we're pretty sure. We have Pascual back to explain how his podcasting sabbatical has turned into a retirement, alas. Then we discuss how fluoride is connected to addiction and crime rates, some alternatives to the CDC for accurate public health information, and the viability of reopening Alcatraz as a prison. Our main topic is a ufo abduction incident that occurred on Labor Day weekend 1969 in Massachusetts ... or perhaps (as Ben suggests) the real "incident" occurred in 2018? Three kids were allegedly taken into alien crafts and examined, then returned, in plain sight of hundreds of people -- at least that's the story if you don't look a little deeper. And you know we will.

We start off with a first-ever viewer mail taste test! Then our standard report on the state of public health and government functionality (spoiler, it ain't great). Our main topic is acronyms and some specific word-based folklore. Is the term "OK" really the greatest word ever created? And how was it created? Then, whether it's linking a rock band to Satan or lambasting a large bureaucratic organization, false "bacronyms" are mini stories all unto themselves. Finally, there's maritime and military terms like SOS, FUBAR and SNAFU, as well as the possibly acronym-related origins of Uncle Sam.

After some current events about dire wolves, dire outbreaks of measles, and dire science denial in the White House, we discuss some true (and some not-so-true) tales of people surviving dire circumstances. People have come back alive from the frigid ice of Antarctica, a shipwreck on the bottom of the sea, and the deep jungles of South America. Others have claimed to have survived well-known disasters but been found out as frauds. And still another category intrigues us . . . survivors that never were. In fairy tales from 500 years ago and in earthquakes today, sometimes we humans have a deep psychological need to find hope in the face of disaster and believe that a small child has somehow miraculously survived.

First we hit on a few current events, including a new monolith outside of Las Vegas and a "shadow" CDC website fake. Sharon Hill joins us again, this time to discuss her new "Pop Cryptid Spectator" and all the delightful cryptidabelia that inspires it. She's noticed a rise in paranormal thinking when it comes to cryptids, as opposed to the old-school zoological framing. How has the internet fed into cryptid spread as well as evolution? She also notes that any cryptozoological gatekeepers are now long gone, so it's a wild heyday of "anything goes" as cryptids turn into blobby, cute versions of their old selves and even Skibidi Toilet has a chance at being labelled a cryptid. We touch on snack foods, movies, games, town mascots, and festivals like Pennsylvania's "Squonkapalooza."

Ben has been on a cruise, and brings back an interesting story on how quickly rumors and conspiracy theories can form in that environment. We pay tribute to Joe Nickell, a truly versatile skeptic and investigator, and go over the Stand Up for Science marches that took place last week. Then we turn to current events wrought by the Trump administration: the kerfuffle over "transgender mice" is more complicated than you think; RFK's faint praise of the MMR vaccine; and the CDC's planned study on vaccines and autism.

First, Ben and Celestia discuss an angler fish and a kayak-curious humpback whale in the news, as well as the measles outbreak, some cryptid legislation in California, and an update on the drone panic. Our main segment guest is Gail De Vos, who discusses the world of furries. Far older than most realize (around for 50 years now!), furries have been built into a political boogeyman and garnered a reputation of sexual degeneracy that is hard to shake. With similarities to both masquerade balls and biker gangs, furries are simply a community -- one that often raises money for charitable causes. Oh, and there are two legitimate reasons why a school might purchase bulk quantities of kitty litter, and neither involve furry-friendly litter boxes!

First Ben and Celestia discuss the unending slew of bad news for skeptics, and our hopes that science and public health can survive this onslaught. And, do we all have a spoonful of plastic in our brains? Then we tackle love fortune telling, love languages, and aphrodisiacs. From apple peels to blood type, people just love prognosticating about love. And what is the allure of an aphrodisiac? The notion of a forbidden (or just expensive) food or spice that puts people in the mood is so common that just about everything, at some time or in some place, has been said to have this power.