The strangest aspects of the human experience

Full Topic List

Animals

Topics about real life animals (or speculative biology)

Conspiracy Theories

Conspiracy Theories and information about the people behind and involved in them

Crime

It's illegal y'all 

  • Bette-Jean Masters / File 0095: Bette-Jean's Crystal Cattle: On Sunday July 3rd 1960, Edna Bette-Jean Masters, a 21 month old disappeared without a trace from the small logging community of Red Lake, British Columbia, Canada. It has been over 60 years, and yet we're still no closer to figuring out what happened 
  • The Birdman of Alcatraz / File 0008: The Teal Emu of Alcatraz : How does an Alaskan pimp with a taste of murder and violence become one of the leading canary researcher of his time from a cell on the Rock?
  • Brittany Murphy / File 0001/0002: Rushing to Brittany with a Shake: 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...

  • Clementine Barnabet / File 0102: Sex, Magic and Yacht Parties: In November 1911, 19 year old Clementine Barnabet is arrested for the murder of a family of 6, her insistence on her innocence falling on deaf ears. Five months later in a startling turn of events, Clementine suddenly claims responsibility for 17 murders, including ones that occurred while she was imprisoned. And the reason? Blood sacrifices in hopes of gaining immortality. Well, that's what the news would have you think

  • Counterfeit Wine / File 0022: Be Our Guest (live) : Anything that is worth money is bound to have a plethora of fakes sold by a conman with a desire for a quick buck. But wine? Halli tells us about how one, Rudy Kurniawan went to extreme lengths to turn his hobby into a multi-million dollar empire
  • The Forty Elephants / File 0065: Crime & Biology: Special Task Force: Halli tells us about some women that ran the crime world in ye old London: the forty elephants. A vicious and wily gang of shoplifters that ran for nearly a century, and the police really didn't want anything to do with them
  • The Great Maple Syrup Heist / File 0092: The Sticky, The Dead and The Feathered: You know what's more expensive than a barrel of crude oil? A barrel of maple syrup. So much so that between 2011 and 2012, nearly 3,000 tonnes of it out of the Canadian Reserve, valued at $18.7 million CAD

  • The Michael Jackson Allegations / File 0099: The Ranch of Lost Toys: In August 1993, Michael Jackson would first be accused of child abuse and since then there have been three other allegations. Despite the fact that Jackson was never convicted of these crimes the public narrative had deemed him guilty and has continued to do so the last thirty years. But turns out there's a lot more to this than the salacious headlines

Cults

Known cults (cults that also are known as a common religion are in Religion) 

  • The Final Fantasy 7 House / File 0012: Baba Yaga's Dutchman House : Almost two decades ago, a young man, Icarus finds himself moving in with some friends he met online for what promised to be a fun summer that quickly deteriorated into a horror tale of the ages and one of the internet's most well known legends
  • This has become part of an ongoing series, see The Jen Saga for more information and links to additional episodes including interviews with survivors and new stories as we delve deep into the trail of destruction left behind by Jennifer Cornet
  • Teal Swan / File 0008: The Teal Emu of Alcatraz : The successful internet guru and spiritualist has made a name for herself over the last couple years, drawing in thousands to her 'tribe' and cashing in on their pain and suffering. Spiritual Leader or Cult Mastermind?

History

Topics about historical practices, events, people and origins  

  • Cats in Ancient Egypt / File 0003: Bastet Reeves and the Holy Bible : We have all heard that ancient Egyptians worshiped cats, but did you know that it wasn't that clear cut?
  • Cure-Alls / File 0018: Corrupted Paralysis Cure-Alls: Since the beginning of time humans have always sought the easiest and quickest solutions. This isn't necessarily a bad thing! Some of our greatest innovations came from the hunt for a shortcut. But this also drove us to some of our worst ideas. 
  • The Great Emu War / File 0007: The Teal Emu of Alcatraz : 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
  • The Lost Dutchman's Gold Mine / File 0011: Baba Yaga's Dutchman House : The 19th century of America was awash with dreams of western gold and riches beyond imagine, leaving behind dozens of tales of lost treasure and mines. Among them is the Lost Dutchman's Gold Mine, but not all lost things are the worth your life.
  • Mari Lwyd / File 0009: A Very Pagan Christmas : 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
  • The Mermaid Inn / File 0035: The Ancient Winchester Mermaid Inn: An inn. A smuggler's hideaway. A home to priests. A bohemian club. And apparently very, very haunted. Oh and secret passages and a visit from the Queen.
  • The Moonville Tunnel / File 0005: Tunguska Detectives of Moonville : Moonville is a ghost town in Ohio. Little remains of this former mining community except a few foundations, a cemetery, and an abandoned railroad tunnel which is the subject of numerous ghost stories.
  • The Origins of Private Detectives / File 0005: Tunguska Detectives of Moonville : Eugène-François Vidocq was a French criminal who lived a wild life with multiple stints in prison, the army and a failed paper factory who somehow became the father of modern criminology and the private eye
  • The Tunguska Event / File 0006: Tunguska Detectives of Moonville : 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.
  • The Voynich Manuscript / File 0087: The Alchemic Voynich Simulation: 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."
  • Where We Bury Our Dead / File 0093: The Sticky, The Dead and The Feathered: Cemeteries are fascinating. I think a lot of people would agree with that statement. Certainly some may get the creeps when walking the silent paths through rows of headstones and monuments, knowing there are hundreds of deceased below their feet. But cemeteries are perfect encapsulations of our history, and they're important markers that tend to get overlooked.
  • The Winter Solstice / File 0009: A Very Pagan Christmas : Long before Christmas was a thing, cultures all around the world celebrated the Winter Solstice (or something similar). Halli tells us about some of those practices
  • Witchcraft and Wizardry:
  • Witchcraft in Europe / File 0048: Witch Please: It was the mid 1400s when Europe began to get really concerned about their "witch problem" and this paranoia only grew to a fever pitch between 1500-1660 where up to 80,000 suspected witches were put to death in Europe. What happened? How did we get here? And are you a witch? The answer might surprise you
  • Witchcraft in Japan / File 0049: Witch Please: When people think of witches they think of the pointy hats and broomsticks that cackle off into the night. In Japan you would hear no such tales, instead you get blind women who are married to spirits, magic users who employ the skills of snakes and foxes and even witches who turn into cats and meek old ladies to catch young girls alone at night outside of temples for dinner. Let's go to Japan

The Internet

The internet is a weird and wacky place. Topics about internet culture, groups and lore  

  • The Corrupted Blood Incident / File 0018: Corrupted Paralysis Cure-Alls : On September 13th 2005 when the disease first began to spread, hopping from animal hosts into their owners and from there into the shop-keeps and other civilians. It came out of nowhere, no one could have expected something like this, there simply was no precedent. To put it lightly, Azeroth was shook
  • Eliot the Master of the Poltergeist / File 0020: Eliot, Master of the Poltergeist: We dive further in The Jen Saga with our next guest, Eliot. Two years ago Eliot found himself watching a Youtube video: Down the Rabbit Hole, the Final Fantasy House. Settling in for a bizarre tale, Eliot would be surprised when he realized he knew Jen, Angel and Hojo. He had lived with them for a month back in 2003/2004. Now he's sharing his story for the first time 
  • The Final Fantasy 7 House / File 0012: Baba Yaga's Dutchman House : Almost two decades ago, a young man, Icarus finds himself moving in with some friends he met online for what promised to be a fun summer that quickly deteriorated into a horror tale of the ages and one of the internet's most well known legends
  • This has become part of an ongoing series, see The Jen Saga for more information and links to additional episodes including interviews with survivors and new stories as we delve deep into the trail of destruction left behind by Jennifer Cornet
  • My Immortal / File 0030: Ted the Immortal from Ong's Hat pt. 1 : The year is 2006, emo rock is so very in and the Harry Potter fandom is at an all-time high. Enter Ebony Dark'ness Dementia Raven Way, the core protagonist of what would go down as the most notorious fanfiction of all time and one whose legitimacy still is debated today
  • Readings: Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 + 4 / Part 5 / Part 6 + 7 / Part 8 + 9
  • My Immortal, Keanu Reeves / File 0003: Bastet Reeves and the Holy Bible : Keanu Reeves beloved actor, the man that said 'woah' and the internet's first boyfriend. If you've spent any time on the internet in the last decade, you assuredly have heard that Keanu is immortal. Could there possibly be anything to this theory?
  • Ong's Hat / File 0032: Ted the Immortal from Ong's Hat pt. 3 : The town that's not actually a town, and not just because it's an unincorporated community with a population of zero. The Hat may have only ever comprised one single building: Ong's Hut. But for a place that barely exists it somehow is the subject of one of the internet's most bizarre tales

  • The Snapewives / File 0089: The Gay Gods of Anchorage: While known as the Snapewives, they referred to themselves as Snapeists. Snapeism was a small religious movement that formed in the early 2000s in the online space of livejournal. Its members were devoted to the omnipresent Severus Snape from the Harry Potter universe, and their practices included channeling and even spiritual marriage to the broody potion's professor

  • Ted the Caver / File 0031: Ted the Immortal from Ong's Hat pt. 2 : March 2001, a caving blog appears on Angelfire mostly unnoticed. What starts as a wholesome chronicle of sheer determination, man vs his environment, turns into one of the internet's first Creepy Pastas. Who is Ted? What happened? And is any of it even real? (part 2: Ted the Caver Revealed)

Medicine

Topics that are primarily validated by science and focus more on the medicine aspect than other aspects   

  • The Corrupted Blood Incident / File 0018: Corrupted Paralysis Cure-Alls : On September 13th 2005 when the disease first began to spread, hopping from animal hosts into their owners and from there into the shop-keeps and other civilians. It came out of nowhere, no one could have expected something like this, there simply was no precedent. To put it lightly, Azeroth was shook
  • Cure-Alls / File 0018: Corrupted Paralysis Cure-Alls: Since the beginning of time humans have always sought the easiest and quickest solutions. This isn't necessarily a bad thing! Some of our greatest innovations came from the hunt for a shortcut. But this also drove us to some of our worst ideas. 
  • Rabies / File 0076: Rabid Pirate Dolphins of Tuared: In an airport in Tokyo, in 1954, a man gets stopped for having some suspicious documentation. The problem? His passport declared he came from a country that doesn't exist. It's an infamous urban legend, often cited as proof of parallel dimensions or alternative universes, you wouldn't expect there to be much truth in the story. Except that there is.
  • Rheumatic Disease / File 0058: Chronic Illness, the Invisible Monster: RD:  February 2nd is Rheumatic Disease (previously known as Rheumatoid Arthritis) awareness day, a disorder very close to the hearts of our hosts, particularly Courtney. In this episode, Courtney tells the story of how she got her diagnosis and the struggles and victories she's encountered when trying to get treatment and support for her disorder.
  • Sleep Paralysis / File 0019: Corrupted Paralysis Cure-Alls: Imagine waking in the night, heart thundering, adrenaline ripping through your body, shadows dancing before your eyes, but you, no matter how hard you try, cannot move. 

Mythos and Folklore

Myths over the years, mythical people and creatures. Places of wonder, stories and legends and more  

  • Alchemy / File 0088: The Alchemic Voynich Simulation: Alchemy is an ancient practice one with obscure tangled roots that may go back a couple millennia BC. Much of alchemy's history is shrouded in mystery and cyphers, and is a practice that has repeatedly been banned throughout history and has faced many hurdles, yet still managed to find its way even to today.
  • Baba Yaga / File 0011: Baba Yaga's Dutchman House : Like an unconventional fairy godmother, the Slavic witch Baba Yaga rides the line between villain and helper on her flying mortar. The fact that her house has chicken legs is far from the strangest thing about this legend of folklore. 
  • Cunning Folk / File 0104: Sex, Magic and Yacht Parties: 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 Fernie Curse / File 0017: Let's Get Mythical : Fernie BC was founded in 1897, a small coal mining town that owes its origins to a man named William Fernie. But over the next eleven years the town would face two horrific fires, a flood and one of the worst mining disasters in Canadian history. Could William Fernie also be the cause of the town's curse?
  • Gryla the Christmas Witch / File 0010: A Very Pagan Christmas : Iceland's version on Santa Clause consists of a witch, her thirteen children and her giant cat who eats children who aren't wearing new clothes!
  • Leshy, the Guardian of the Forest / File 0023/0024: Bigfoot Nightcrawlers of the Forest : in Slavic folklore, the Leshy is the pagan deity of the forest, capable of changing form. Some consider it a demon, others a fairy, but whatever it is, its legend endures
  • Sounds of Alaska / File 0091: The Gay Gods of Anchorage: Did you know that the northern lights make sound and that there is a mysterious horn that seems to sound randomly in Anchorage, Alaska and no one knows where it comes from?
  • The Morrigan / File 0017: Let's Get Mythical : As old as Irish folklore, the Morrigan whether described as a trifecta or as an individual is a symbol of great power, a goddess of war or queen of phantoms, the tales about her are infinite and her reach is still felt today 
  • The Origins of Scary Stories/ File 0114: Spooktacular Special: It's said that for as long as storytelling has existed, as has the genre of horror. Fear is considered one of the basest human emotions, as HP Lovecraft is so frequently quoted as saying: "The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown."
  • Witchcraft and Wizardry:
  • Witchcraft in Europe / File 0048: Witch Please: It was the mid 1400s when Europe began to get really concerned about their "witch problem" and this paranoia only grew to a fever pitch between 1500-1660 where up to 80,000 suspected witches were put to death in Europe. What happened? How did we get here? And are you a witch? The answer might surprise you
  • Witchcraft in Japan / File 0049: Witch Please: When people think of witches they think of the pointy hats and broomsticks that cackle off into the night. In Japan you would hear no such tales, instead you get blind women who are married to spirits, magic users who employ the skills of snakes and foxes and even witches who turn into cats and meek old ladies to catch young girls alone at night outside of temples for dinner. Let's go to Japan
  • Yuki Onna / File 0017: Let's Get Mythical : 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. 

Persons of Interest

Celebrities, Other public or historical figures, groups  

  • The Birdman of Alcatraz / File 0008: The Teal Emu of Alcatraz : How does an Alaskan pimp with a taste of murder and violence become one of the leading canary researcher of his time from a cell on the Rock?
  • Charles Silverstein / File 0091: The Gay Gods of Anchorage: Charles Silverstein did a lot to help the gay rights movement, including getting homosexuality to be viewed as a way of being and not a mental illness

  • Ching Shih/Zheng Yi Sao / File 0079: The Satanic Lead Pyramids of the Eastern Seas: Ching Shih was a sex worker in the 1700s on a floating brothel in the city of Canton who would go on to lead a fleet consisting of 1,800 boats and is commonly referred to as the Pirate Queen

  • Clair Patterson / File 0079: The Satanic Lead Pyramids of the Eastern Seas: The inventor of the first clean room and the guy that finally made us all stop eating lead 

  • Clementine Barnabet / File 0102: Sex, Magic and Yacht Parties: In November 1911, 19 year old Clementine Barnabet is arrested for the murder of a family of 6, her insistence on her innocence falling on deaf ears. Five months later in a startling turn of events, Clementine suddenly claims responsibility for 17 murders, including ones that occurred while she was imprisoned. And the reason? Blood sacrifices in hopes of gaining immortality. Well, that's what the news would have you think

  • The Clinton Body Count / File 0067: Crime & Biology: Special Task Force: The Clinton Body Count refers to a conspiracy theory that asserts that former U.S. President Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary Clinton have assassinated fifty or more of their associates. Such accusations have been around at least since the 1990s, when a pseudo-documentary film called The Clinton Chronicles, produced by Larry Nichols and promoted by Rev. Jerry Falwell, accused Bill Clinton of multiple crimes including murder
  • Eliot the Master of the Poltergeist / File 0020: Eliot, Master of the Poltergeist: We dive further in The Jen Saga with our next guest, Eliot. Two years ago Eliot found himself watching a Youtube video: Down the Rabbit Hole, the Final Fantasy House. Settling in for a bizarre tale, Eliot would be surprised when he realized he knew Jen, Angel and Hojo. He had lived with them for a month back in 2003/2004. Now he's sharing his story for the first time 
  • The Forty Elephants / File 0065: Crime & Biology: Special Task Force: Halli tells us about some women that ran the crime world in ye old London: the forty elephants. A vicious and wily gang of shoplifters that ran for nearly a century, and the police really didn't want anything to do with them
  • File 0021: Getting the Tingles: In 2014 Chuck Tingle would explode the scene in a shower of chocolate milk and spaghetti, espousing love and erotic fiction. More myth than man, Dr. Tingle can attribute dozens of butt-pounding titles to his name and has been even nominated for two Hugo Awards! We each picked a titillating title from his collection and are excited present you with the wild wacky world of Chuck Tingle
  • The Hatbox Baby / File 0055: Deep Sea Diwali Roos and Other Holiday Miracles Pt. 2: It was Christmas Eve 1931, when a couple driving through the Arizona desert encountered car troubles. They pulled over and as they were examining the damage, they heard a baby crying. 150 feet away they found a little girl, seven days old in a woman's hatbox. How had she got there? Where were her parents? Who was she? These questions wouldn't be answered for seventy years
  • Icarus the Ex-SOLDIER / File 0016: Icarus the Ex-SOLDIER: In this episode HEX welcomes a new guest: Icarus, the mysterious webmaster of demon-sushi.com or more famously known on the internet as Zack, the whistleblower and survivor of the Final Fantasy VII house.
  • Jack Parsons / File 0107: Non-Existent Glam Forests and Rocket Science: Jack Parsons is a nebulous person, known both for his great scientific ventures and for his occult pursuits and friendships with LRH and Aleister Crowley
  • Jacob Gray / File 0025: Gone But Not Forgotten pt. 2 : Jacob had left Port Townsend alone on his bicycle on April 5, 2017, towing a trailer full of camping gear. He was experienced in this kind of travel and surviving in the wilderness, it's what he had done his whole life. But the next day his trailer and gear were found 6.5 miles up Sol Duc Hot Springs Road. Strangely, Jacob's bow was on the ground, and arrows were sticking in the ground and out of the back of the trailer. But the owner of the bike and gear was nowhere to be seen.
  • The Kelloggs / File 0046: Cereal Offenders of the Human Race Pt. 2:  A name that exists in nearly everyone's pantry, Kellogg's was a big part of our lives to many of us that grew up with it. Created by two brothers, one often forgotten in the shadows of his much more prolific older sibling, the first flaked cereal was a total accident. But this story doesn't start or end with cereal. It starts with a desire to make a better, healthier world and ends with eugenics 
  • The Man from Tuared / File 0076: Rabid Pirate Dolphins of Tuared: In an airport in Tokyo, in 1954, a man gets stopped for having some suspicious documentation. The problem? His passport declared he came from a country that doesn't exist. It's an infamous urban legend, often cited as proof of parallel dimensions or alternative universes, you wouldn't expect there to be much truth in the story. Except that there is.

  • The Michael Jackson Allegations / File 0099: The Ranch of Lost Toys: In August 1993, Michael Jackson would first be accused of child abuse and since then there have been three other allegations. Despite the fact that Jackson was never convicted of these crimes the public narrative had deemed him guilty and has continued to do so the last thirty years. But turns out there's a lot more to this than the salacious headlines

  • Morgan the Future Trauma Counselor / File 0059: Morgan the Future Trauma Counselor: Morgan is currently attending school to become a licensed therapist with a focus on trauma. In this episode we'll talk about the power dynamics of abusive relationships and overcoming trauma. She even helps provide a little bit of insight when it comes to Jen and her serial predatory behavior

  • My Immortal, Keanu Reeves / File 0003: Bastet Reeves and the Holy Bible : Keanu Reeves beloved actor, the man that said 'woah' and the internet's first boyfriend. If you've spent any time on the internet in the last decade, you assuredly have heard that Keanu is immortal. Could there possibly be anything to this theory?
  • The Origins of Private Detectives / File 0005: Tunguska Detectives of Moonville : Eugène-François Vidocq was a French criminal who lived a wild life with multiple stints in prison, the army and a failed paper factory who somehow became the father of modern criminology and the private eye
  • The Quackery of Paul Bragg / File 0045: Cereal Offenders of the Human Race Pt. 1: Everyone has lied at one point in their lives, usually about small inconsequential things whether about your availability on a Friday night or saying we're good even when we feel like crap. But what about people who tell much bigger lies? Like the year and location of their birth? Their medical degree? The health benefits of apple cider vinegar? Time to meet Paul Bragg  
  • Robyn the Viking / File 0013: Robyn the Heathen Viking:  In this special HEX episode, we welcome our first guest! Robyn joins us all the way from Norway to tell us a bit about Norse mythology and how it's making a comeback today through a heathenous religious group known as Åsatrufellesskapet Bifrost
  • Ryan Shtuka / File 0025: Gone But Not Forgotten pt. 2 : Ryan did what many kids his age did to earn some cash during the winter season. He went west, to Sun Peak Resort and a got job at the ski hill as a lift operator. On the night of Feb 17 2008 at about 2 am, Ryan left a house party with his roommates to make the 5 minute walk home. But he would never make it
  • Simona Kossak / File 0066: Crime & Biology: Special Task Force: The rebel biologist, Simona Kossak, who moved into a cabin in a national forest and lived there for 30 years studying and caring for the wildlife, with a wild boar and terrorist crow at her side
  • Teal Swan / File 0008: The Teal Emu of Alcatraz : The successful internet guru and spiritualist has made a name for herself over the last couple years, drawing in thousands to her 'tribe' and cashing in on their pain and suffering. Spiritual Leader or Cult Mastermind?
  • Was Shakespeare a Woman? / File 0001/0002: Rushing to Brittany with a Shake : You may have heard that Shakespeare was a collective of writers, but have you heard that he may have actually been a woman and that there's a whole society dedicated to this?
  • The Winchester Mystery House / File 0036: The Ancient Winchester Mermaid Inn: The Winchester Mystery House is a mansion in San Jose, California, that was once the personal residence of Sarah Winchester, the widow of firearm magnate William Wirt Winchester. The mansion is renowned for its size, its architectural curiosities, and its lack of any master building plan. 
  • The Yuba County 5 / File 0025: Gone But Not Forgotten pt. 1: On February 24 1978, five young men from Yuba City, California attended a basketball game at California State University They were there to cheer on the UC Davis Basketball team in an away game against Chico State. Their plan, to see the match and then return home that night to prepare for their own game the following day. But they never made it home

Psychology

How the brain works, mental illness, how the world changes our perspective, human development and strange phenomena   

Religion

Groups and practices that are oriented around spiritual beliefs and worship

  • Asian Holiday Traditions / File 0055: Deep Sea Diwali Roos and Other Holiday Miracles Pt. 2 : We all know about Christmas, but there are countless holidays celebrated by thousands of other cultures. Nathan takes us to India and China explore a few!
  • God is an Asshole / File 0090: The Gay Gods of Anchorage:  Nathan tells us how if you look at the bible objectively, god reads like a petulant child that seems to get off on torturing the children they allegedly love so much
  • Questions Young People Ask / File 0110: Questions Young People Ask: This week we dive into the Jehovah's Witness classic: Questions Young People Ask: Answers that Work. This is real literature produced by the church packed with answers to all the most pressing questions of JW youth, how do you resist peer pressure? What if you have shitty parents? What should you do if you feel like you might be gay? I am sure you can imagine where this is going
  • Jehovah's Witnesses / File 0060-0061: In the Shadows of the Kingdom Hall:  Nathan tells us what it was like growing up as a Jehovah's Witness, an organization that many outsiders think of as just another religion, but for survivors is more akin to a secretive cult rife with abuse of power and penchant for covering up atrocities and crimes within its own ranks
  • JW Halloween Propaganda / File 0114: Spooktacular Special: Growing up I didn't have any real involvement with Halloween, and it made sense since the Organization was pretty staunchly against it. I'm get to read you some of the propaganda that was fed to me as a kid, and is continually regurgitated throughout the years. Oddly enough, I learned something about other cultures and their celebrations of the dead, and how they honor them, so that's fun.
  • Robyn the Viking / File 0013: Robyn the Heathen Viking: In this special HEX episode, we welcome our first guest! Robyn joins us all the way from Norway to tell us a bit about Norse mythology and how it's making a comeback today through a heathenous religious group known as Åsatrufellesskapet Bifrost

  • The Satanic Temple / File 0080: The Satanic Lead Pyramids of the Eastern Seas: The words "praise Satan" conjure images of devil worship, the burning of dungeons and dragons books and animal sacrifice, or at the very least Sabrina the Teenage Witch. Most of us in the western world live in societies heavily influenced by Christian religions, even if we don't practice it ourselves, we generally are aware that Jesus was the good guy and Satan was the bad guy. So how has a religion named after such a controversial figure become one of the most progressive religions, not just that, organizations, in the modern world? Welcome to the Satanic Temple

  • The Snapewives / File 0089: The Gay Gods of Anchorage: While known as the Snapewives, they referred to themselves as Snapeists. Snapeism was a small religious movement that formed in the early 2000s in the online space of livejournal. Its members were devoted to the omnipresent Severus Snape from the Harry Potter universe, and their practices included channeling and even spiritual marriage to the broody potion's professor

  • The Word Homosexual in the Bible / File 0004: Bastet Reeves and the Holy Bible : At some point of time you have heard someone say something along the lines of "God hates gays, it's in the bible", but did you know that they're wrong?

Society and Culture

Social behavior, subcultures and observations  

  • Asian Holiday Traditions / File 0055: Deep Sea Diwali Roos and Other Holiday Miracles Pt. 2 : We all know about Christmas, but there are countless holidays celebrated by thousands of other cultures. Nathan takes us to India and China explore a few!
  • Counterfeit Wine / File 0022: Be Our Guest (live) : Anything that is worth money is bound to have a plethora of fakes sold by a conman with a desire for a quick buck. But wine? Halli tells us about how one, Rudy Kurniawan went to extreme lengths to turn his hobby into a multi-million dollar empire
  • Failed Products / File 0097: Bette-Jean's Crystal Cattle: NewProductWorks is a collection of thousands of consumer products from around the world (over 140,000 by an account from 2017). But it's not all brand empowerment and new design ideas. The warehouse also serves as a cautionary tale, that even brands can fail, and fail big time. Anyone remember Crystal Pepsi? How about toaster eggs?
  • Fugu: The Deadliest Sushi / File 0022: Be Our Guest (live): In Japan blowfish or more commonly known as fugu has been a delicacy for thousands of years, despite it being packed with a lethal neurotoxin, one we don't even have an antidote for. Yet you can buy it in restaurants!
  • History of Nails / File 0106: Non-Existent Glam Forests and Rocket Science: Humans have been decorating their fingernails far as back as we can remember, but while today this is considered a frivolous, feminine form of expression, its histories have roots in war and symbolism of leadership
  • Kanamara Matsuri / File 0103: Sex, Magic and Yacht Parties: Japan is known for its respectful and buttoned up culture, so it may come as a surprise that in one city, there is a yearly festival held, dedicated to the penis 
  • Mari Lwyd / File 0009: A Very Pagan Christmas : 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

  • The Satanic Temple / File 0080: The Satanic Lead Pyramids of the Eastern Seas: The words "praise Satan" conjure images of devil worship, the burning of dungeons and dragons books and animal sacrifice, or at the very least Sabrina the Teenage Witch. Most of us in the western world live in societies heavily influenced by Christian religions, even if we don't practice it ourselves, we generally are aware that Jesus was the good guy and Satan was the bad guy. So how has a religion named after such a controversial figure become one of the most progressive religions, not just that, organizations, in the modern world? Welcome to the Satanic Temple

  • Where We Bury Our Dead / File 0093: The Sticky, The Dead and The Feathered: Cemeteries are fascinating. I think a lot of people would agree with that statement. Certainly some may get the creeps when walking the silent paths through rows of headstones and monuments, knowing there are hundreds of deceased below their feet. But cemeteries are perfect encapsulations of our history, and they're important markers that tend to get overlooked.

  • The Winter Solstice / File 0009: A Very Pagan Christmas : Long before Christmas was a thing, cultures all around the world celebrated the Winter Solstice (or something similar). Halli tells us about some of those practices

Superstitions and Mostly Harmless Practices

Practices that aren't backed by science but are done by people to achieve desired effects that don't really harm them or other people and the reasons behind them  

There's nothing here! Suggest something!

Urban Legends, Mysteries and Hoaxes

Modern Folklore, stories with relative renown. These stories differ from conspiracy theories due to their mythic nature and little to no supporting facts  

Weird Science

Topics backed by science

  • Alchemy / File 0088: The Alchemic Voynich Simulation: Alchemy is an ancient practice one with obscure tangled roots that may go back a couple millennia BC. Much of alchemy's history is shrouded in mystery and cyphers, and is a practice that has repeatedly been banned throughout history and has faced many hurdles, yet still managed to find its way even to today.
  • The Large Hadron Collider / File 0069: A Guide to Rock and Ruin: The experiments at the Large Hadron Collider sparked fears that the particle collisions might produce doomsday phenomena, involving the production of stable microscopic black holes or the creation of hypothetical particles called strangelets.  
  • The Science of Being Scared (Sh*tless)/ File 0114: Spooktacular Special: So why in the hells do we even like to be scared in the first place? Scary movies, books, music, shows…it's all extremely popular, and every year it feels like there's more of it. So why do many of us willingly sit down to consume something that will scare the living daylights out of us? It seems counterintuitive.
  • The Sentient World Simulation / File 0087: The Alchemic Voynich Simulation: Did you know that if you have ever had an online presence, there's a series of servers in Indiana where a digital version of you exists?

The World is Weird

Places of interest and worldly (natural) events that draw intrigue and wonder