The strangest aspects of the human experience

File 0158: Five Exceptional Years

02/27/2026

March 13 2026

We celebrate another year around the sun for our dear podcast by reviewing this last year's topics and talking about any updates we have since found out 

Our Fifth Exceptional Year

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File 0143-0144: Tooth Fairies of Aotearoa

  • The Vipeholm Experiments: In 1947 a care facility in Sweden undertook a horrific experiment, testing the effects of sugar consumption on tooth decay, and their subjects? The disabled, who neither consented or were aware such an experiment was done. 
  • The Patupaiarehe: Most history books will tell you that the Maori were the firsts inhabitants of New Zealand, first settling the islands between 1280-1350 CE, but Maori tradition tells of a different people nestled deep in New Zealand's foggy mountains where they could hide from sunlight which was deadly to them. Their skin was pale, their hair was red and they were known as the Patupaiarehe

File 0145-146: The Ancient Writings of Bicycle Face

  • The History of The Written Language: It's easy to forget that the written language is still a relatively recent phenomenon in human history, we take for granted that everything in modern times is written down and anything posted to the internet is forever, for good or for bad. We write texts and posts memes without thinking about it, we jot down grocery lists, reply-all to email chains, nearly every aspect of our lives involve some form of written communication

  • If you recall from this episode the earliest records of written language I could find came from Mesopotamia between 3400-3100 BC

    While checking for updates I found a study I missed before by Genevieve von Petzinger

    Petzinger is a paleoanthropologist and she became intrigued by the earliest forms of visual communication. In my previous topic I briefly mentioned early human art, things like cave drawings of horses and buffalo. I also mentioned something referred to as "proto writing" which are symbols that were used in conjunction with some of these pictures to denote things like reproduction cycles for animals

    But turns out it goes much further than that, and it gets weirder. Petzinger became curious about this and read everything she could find on known cave art, and while complete illustrations have been heavily documented, what wasn't documented was the accompanying symbols that often surround these pieces. She began to wonder what these were and if there were any patterns

    She would spend years visiting dozens of caves across europe that had early human art to inspect these symbols herself and record them. She started to see a pattern, several patterns actually of symbols that were used across all of these locations

    These symbols were pretty simple, collections of dots, squiggly lines, outlines of hands that sort of thing, but when you look at them as a whole, it's fascinating that around the world there are common symbols we see used repeatedly, but not just that, they are used for tens of thousands of years. She was able to date some of these symbols back 40,000 years


File: 0147-0148: Fandom and How it Shaped Us

File 0149-0150: Fandom Cults: Andy Blake and Bit of Earth

Before there was Jen, there was Andy Blake

  • While I may not have any updates on Andy Blake, Abbey began trying to raise funds late last year for an opportunity to get a picture with and meet with the four original hobbit actors at FanExpo Portland. She wants to use this opportunity to reclaim something that was taken from her and get some closure.

    The internet rallied around her and she was able to get the funds she needs and is very excited and will be posting any pictures she gets. She also says it's a bonus that if this happens it will probably piss andy off 

    Checking into this led me to discover that Livejournal may be leaving us for good.

    The Russian company that owns LJ now made some sudden changes that may result in services outside of Russia being shut down permanently, or sold at any time (as reflected by the sudden changes that occurred recently). I will link to more information https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:ocsbmyulc2grbq3esflddyj6/post/3mbebi2xfxc25  

    But if you have an LJ and you want to preserve it, now is a really good time. Dreamwidth is a good alternative, it was made by a handful of people that had worked on LJ originally and uses some of the same core programming in how it works, except it's privately owned by an American citizen. Dreamwidth even has a super handy import tool that allows you to import you lj in a matter of a couple clicks. There are a lot of other alternatives that can be found in the thread I've linked

File 0151-0153: Swearing in Eden

  • The Science of Swearing: Whether you hate it or love it, swearing is a part of the human condition, but also turns out it has a much bigger impact than just being colorful language
  • Eden: Paradise Lost: In 2016 a UK show asked the question "What if we could start again?" and took 23 people and dropped them off in the wilderness of Scotland to see if they could survive and thrive. The results were unexpected

File: 0154-0155: Anatomic Lightning of Quebec

  • Léo Major, the Rambo of Quebec: Stubborn, focused, and an all-around badass, Leo Major is one of very few soldiers to receive the coveted DCM metal and receive a bar in addition. A native of Montreal, Canada he earned the nickname "The Rambo of Quebec" for his wild feats during WWII and the Korean War.
  • Anatomical Venuses: Incredibly detailed, accurate to life wax sculptures of women that could be disassembled to show the workings of human body
  • Catatumbo Lightning: Catatumba means "House of Thunder" in the language of the Bari, the indigenous people of the area around Lake Maracaibo. A well deserved name for a place that receives 1.6 million lightning strikes a year

File 0156-0157: The Bog Unicorn Tapestries

  • Bog Bodies: Over a thousand bog bodies have turned up across Europe, in at least 250 sites from Ireland to the Baltics. The oldest date back 10,000 years
  • Cayla pointed me to this article, talking about human remains found in Bellaghy, Northern Ireland in 2023. Scientists at the Archaeological Unit at the Police Service of Northern Ireland's Body Recovery Team, in partnership with various museums and forensic partners.
  • The remains are over 2000 years old and date to approximately 343 to 1 BEC (Iron Age).
    Further study revealed the body is female; significant because other bog bodies from the area have largely been male.
  • The body was missing its skull and there were "cut marks on the neck vertebrae", pointing to "intentional decapitation"
  • There was a woven item from some kind of plant material found on the body, below the knees, but has not been identified
  • Niamh Baker, Curator of Archaeology at National Museums NI, explained the depth of the research process that has been carried out thus far, to identify and further understand the remains. She said:
  • "Ballymacombs More Woman is certainly one of the most important archaeological discoveries on the island of Ireland. This important discovery gives us a glimpse into the lives of the people of our ancient past and offers insights into how they lived, interacted with their environment, and developed their cultures. As the organisation with statutory responsibility for acquiring, curating and conserving nationally significant archaeological finds in Northern Ireland, we immediately understood how a thorough research process would be required to ensure that this discovery was managed professionally and ethically to unlock her valuable story."

  • https://www.nationalmuseumsni.org/news/ballymacombs-more-woman 

  • Hunt of the Unicorn: The unicorn tapestries enthralled me as a child, the amount of effort put into them is staggering, and the fact that they have been preserved so well is amazing. But then I got to wondering, what exactly is the story behind them? And turns out, we're not 100% sure

  • Nothing new per se but there is a film that came out in 2025 called "death of a unicorn" starring Paul Rudd that supposedly took inspiration from the tapestries. The film is set in modern times and deals with Paul Rudd accidentally running over a unicorn and the hell that comes down on him and those in his life because of this. This film is a horror comedy that leans hard into the oldest unicorn lore about it being a dangerous creature above all else

    I haven't seen it yet, but it is on my list     https://news.artnet.com/art-world/as-seen-on-death-of-a-unicorn-unicorn-tapestries-2628111 


From Past Seasons

File #0001-0002: Rushing to Brittany with a Shake

Brittany Murphy: On December 20 2009, Murphy would be rushed to the hospital after collapsing, only to die there. Then almost exactly 5 months later, her husband died the same way...

On Jan 1 2026 Dave LaChapelle a photograph in the film industry made a post. He talks about how he met Brittany Murphy during the photoshoot for the Clueless poster in 1994 and just bubbly and so full of energy

https://people.com/photographer-david-lachappelle-remembers-brittany-murphy-11879172  

File 0005-0006: Tunguska Detectives of Moonville

The Tunguska Event: On the morning of June 30th 1908 a massive explosion occurred over the sparsely occupied eastern Siberian taiga. It flattened 80 million trees over an area of 2,150 km or 830 s miles, nearly the size of Tokyo. Despite thousands of investigations, no consensus has been reached on what exactly happened all those years ago. 

I don't know how I missed this before but apparently since 2016 the UN has declared June 30 international asteroid day, the date picked being the same date as the tunguska event in 1908

File 0007-0008: The Teal Emu of Alcatraz

The Great Emu War: In 1932 the Western Australian Minister of Defense, George Pearce declared war. The opposing army was 20,000 strong, but they had better fire power and opposable thumbs! They were woefully unprepared

File 0009-0010: A Very Pagan Christmas

Mari Lwyd: December, the days are short, the weather cold. Loved ones are on our thoughts and Christmas is around the corner. It's the perfect time to grab your bros, dig up a horse skull tie some ribbons to it and challenge your neighbors to rap battles for booze and food 

  • Hope is a small town a couple hours outside of Vancouver and turns out they had their own Mari Lwyd this year. On Dec 20 they brought out a mari lwyd and allowed people to get pictures with the creature all to raise money for the 2026 Concert in the Parks a yearly event that hosts musicians at various park locations throughout the lower mainland 
  • They managed to raise over a $1000 and look forward to doing this again next year!

  • https://hopestandard.com/2025/12/25/over-1000-raised-during-mari-lwyd-event-in-hope/ 

File 0017: Let's Get Mythical

Yuki Onna: The Yuki Onna is one of Japan's most well-known yokai (ghost-like monsters) yet the stories about her are all drastically different. Whether she be a dread vampire, loving bride or vengeful mother, only one thing is certain about this lady of the snow, you'll never know if she's a blessing or a curse until it's too late.

  • Assassin's creed shadows takes place in feudal Japan and turns out they have a character that embodies the legend of the Yuki Onna. I haven't yet played it but thought that was neat
  • Meanwhile in Japan the yearly Koenji Fest that happens in October includes a parade known as "The Parade of One Hundred Yokai" is the Kanto region's largest monster parade — welcoming over 200 dedicated performers from all around Japan dressed up in yokai spirit costumes. 

  • https://japan-forward.com/hidden-wonders-an-eerie-yokai-parade-in-koenji/ 

File 0023-0024: Bigfoot Nightcrawlers of the Forest

Fresno Nightcrawlers: When we think of cryptids we usually think of creatures that are scary or dangerous. Accompanied by dozens of horrifying accounts of encounters, most a brief glimpse or stare-down with the creature and others resulting in the damage of property, pets or persons. But every once in a while there's a creature that shows no threat as it traipses across you lawn

Last year PBS's Monstrum did a segment on the Fresno Nightcrawler

I also found something about how some young people in Fresno have rallied around the Nightcrawler as a queer symbol

"Queerness is depicted as monstrous," said Alexandra Carrillo Fresno local says, "That's why we've attached ourselves to the Fresno nightcrawlers. They're a representation of Fresno, and through them, other people can recognize how special Fresno really is."

https://fresnoland.org/2025/05/01/the-fresno-nightcrawler/ 


File 0028-0029: Hell: Locusts with a Chance of Meat Showers

A Plague of Locusts: Did you ever wonder why North America doesn't get locust swarms anymore? It used to happen quite consistently, but around the 1900s the locusts just disappeared. And this was before the invention of pesticides. This makes North America and Antarctica the only two continents that don't experience the occasional locust swarm, what's up with that?! 

  • Only a couple days ago a new discovery was announced. Scientists have found a soil-based method that seems to be of immense help against the battle of locusts

    They have created a nitrogen based fertilizer and found that crops grown with it

    Compared to the untreated plots, the treated plots showed three clear differences: fewer locusts, less crop damage and a doubled crop yield.

    This appears to be biologically related. One of the reasons that locusts raze is that they need energy to keep up their swarming behavior. Because of this they typically target crops that are high in carbohydrates, but using the nitrogen fertilizer it makes the crops have a much higher density of protein which seems to make them less appealing to the locusts

    Researchers ran a trial with 100 farmers who grew both nitrogen fertilizer treated plots and untreated plots and the results were staggering

    But unfortunately this isn't a very viable solution for most farmers. The fertilizer isn't cheap and unfortunately the project had its funding pulled last year.

    But not all is lost: they had taught the farmers that they had worked with how to compost and create this fertilizer, in the past unused plant material would simply be burned, but these farmers learning about this method have switched to composting, seeing just how much of a difference it made

    The researchers are applying for new grants to try and expand their research

    https://phys.org/news/2026-01-soil-based-method-locust-swarms.html 

File 0075/0076/0078: Rabid Pirate Dolphins of Tuared

Rabies: In most of the western world, the threat of rabies is rarely a concern only coming up if you get bit by an strange animal or one suspected of carrying the disease. It's easy to forget just how deadly and how terrifying rabies can be and Halli is here to remind us 

File 0087-0088: The Alchemic Voynich Simulation

The Voynich Manuscript: In The Madman's Library by Edward Brooke-Hitching, he describes the Voynich manuscript as "the most famous cryptic manuscript of the medieval period" that has been "the obsessive focus of study around the world and as of yet, none of the professional and amateur cryptographers - including American and British codebreakers of both World War I and World War II - has been able to crack it."

  • There is potential news on the Voynich Manuscript. A paper published in November 2025 states that the Manuscript "is compatible with being a ciphertext by attempting to develop a historically plausible cipher that can replicate the manuscript's unusual properties. The resulting cipher—a verbose homophonic substitution cipher I call the Naibbe cipher—can be done entirely by hand with 15th-century materials, and when it encrypts a wide range of Latin and Italian plaintexts, the resulting ciphertexts remain fully decipherable and also reliably reproduce many key statistical properties of the Voynich Manuscript at once. My results suggest that the so-called "ciphertext hypothesis" for the Voynich Manuscript remains viable, while also placing constraints on plausible substitution cipher structures."

    And somehow, it ties to tarot?

    "I have designed two variants of the Naibbe cipher. One uses the 78-card tarocchi (tarot) deck, which was created in 15th-century Italy to play trick-taking card games. The other variant uses a standard 52-card deck, whose basic design was established in the Mamluk Sultanate."

    You can read the entire paper at the link provided. I remain skeptical, but this is intriguing.
    https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01611194.2025.2566408#d1e111 

File 0102-0104: Sex, Magic and Yacht Parties

Cunning Folk: Before there were witches there were cunning folk, healers and wise people who in some cases practiced magic and in others didn't, in some cases were used to defend against black magic and in others considered just as bad as witches 

  • The Canton Arts Center at Stanford University recently put on an exhibition called: "Cunning Folk: Witchcraft, Magic, and Occult Knowledge", an "intimate, single-gallery exhibition allowing visitors to closely and thoughtfully explore the intersection of artistic and magical practice in early modern Europe."

    "Featuring diverse, richly detailed early modern prints, the exhibition also includes a seldom-seen magic roll displayed in its entirety, illustrated books that documented and propagated the witch trials, a sound installation featuring early modern "witch ballads," and everyday objects reflecting lived belief and practices. Works include famous Northern Renaissance witchcraft prints like Albrecht Dürer's The Four Witches (1497) and Hans Baldung Grien's Witches (1510), a German protective textual amulet containing a set of nomina magica (words used in magical rituals), and editions of important illustrated demonological treatises. Contemporary works set alongside the early modern pieces respond to these histories, such as a cabinet by Sunny A. Smith (b. 1972), a Bay Area sculptor whose ancestors were present in Salem during the trials, and a cast body sculpture by Isabelle Albuquerque (b. 1981) from her series Orgy for Ten People in One Body, sitting astride a broom and covered in a patina of ash."

    https://www.seegreatart.art/witchcraft-magic-and-occult-knowledge-at-cantor-art-center/ 


File 0116-0118: A Recipe for Madness and Mayhem

Nellie Bly: The scrappy young reporter who faked mental illness so that she could sneak her way into a mental hospital to find out the truth about the conditions and the people committed there.

File 0128-0129: Nazis won't change their spots but cheetahs will

Cheetahs: People know a lot of things about cheetahs, they're really fast, they live in Africa, they're cool looking. What most people don't know is they are the most inbred creature on this planet 

  • A paper published Jan 15 2026 reports on a recent discovery of several caves in Saudi Arabia that contained the remains of 61 cheetahs, 7 of which were naturally mummified

    In modern day Saudia Arabia populations of asiatic cheetahs which are native to the area were thought to be fewer than 50 in 2017. Researchers hope that this discovery will uncover new information which might help stabilize modern populations and help them recover

    The remains vary over thousands of years in age with the newest specimen being from around 1700-1800 AD, and the oldest dating around 2200 BC. Comparing the sizes and DNA of the differing specimens helps form an idea of the species that populated the area and around what times

    https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-025-03021-6 

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asiatic_cheetah


File 0133-0134: Trasmoz Hot Binturongs

Binturongs: I have not seen a binturong in person, as far as I can recall. I certainly hope I would have remembered something that looks like a cross between a cat, a small bear, and a racoon, with a prehensile tail that's roughly the weight of a kindergartener. 

  • Don't forget, even animals in a zoo can be dangerous! That includes the bear/racoon-esque binturongs. In December 2025, two employees at the Smithsonian National Zoo were injured by Lola, a 12-year-old binturong. One employee was bit as they were trying to get Lola's weight, and when Lola refused to let go, the employee who came in to assist was also bitten.

    https://nationalzoo.si.edu/news/safety-incident-smithsonians-national-zoo 



File 0138-0139: So, You Want to Publish a Book

I feel like there's always some kind of drama in book world, especially in the indie press/self-pub part. The biggest news, in my opinion, was the complete closure of Baker & Taylor, a book distributor in the US that had been in operation for over 200 years. This is a BIG deal in the land of books, not just for libraries, but also for bookstores. Baker & Taylor distributed across the country to libraries and bookstores, and with them now gone, those places have to find another distributor to work with. The obvious one is Ingram, another large book distributor, but other companies (Barnes & Noble, Amazon) are now diving headlong into the distribution game.

https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/98777-baker-taylor-prepares-plan-to-shut-down.html 

https://www.npr.org/2026/01/07/nx-s1-5668426/libraries-books-distributor-closing 


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