Bittersweet Infamy

Bittersweet Infamy

By Josie Mitchell + Taylor BassoSociety & CultureHistory
Download on the App Store

Bittersweet Infamy episodes

  • #142 - Fact or Fiction: Disappearing Acts
    April Fool's Fact or Fiction special! Josie tells Taylor three stories about people deciding to vanish: the masked wrestler who convinced his mother he died in the 1978 Jonestown massacre; the Japanese trend of jōhatsu (蒸発), or disappearing into thin air; and the literary legend who swapped limelight for... lightning? Two of these stories are true, and one is a lie. Guess along with Taylor and see if you can spot the sham!

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    1 hr 46 min
  • #141 - Fact or Fiction: Kidding Around
    April Fool's Fact or Fiction special! Taylor tells Josie three stories about children's television gone awry: a brand-new Wiggle blows over the limit; a malfunctioning spaceship burns a Brazilian kids' show to the ground; and Bananas in Pyjamas get held hostage by the Russian mob. Two of these stories are true, and one is a lie. Guess along with Josie and see if you can separate fib from fact!

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    1 hr 2 min
  • #140 - F for Flamin' Hot
    Josie tells Taylor about the spicy history of one of America's favourite snack foods, Flamin' Hot Cheetos—and how the brand's well-known rags-to-riches origin story may actually be a flamin' hot fraud.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    1 hr 35 min
  • #139 - Invasion of the Iceworm
    Taylor tells Josie about Camp Century, the U.S. military's once-innovative, now-abandoned science base in northwestern Greenland—and how it was merely a cover for Project Iceworm, a top-secret Cold War plan to hide hundreds of nuclear weapons within the Greenland Ice Sheet.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    1 hr 43 min
  • #138 - Do Not Pass Go, Do Not Collect $200
    Josie tells Taylor about the hidden history of the classic board game Monopoly, and how Parker Brothers covered up its unlikely roots as the anti-monopolist polemic, The Landlord's Game.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    1 hr 36 min
  • #137 - Divorced, Beheaded, Died...
    Season six premiere! Taylor tells Josie about the temperamental Tudor King of England, Henry VIII, and his six ill-fated wives: Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Catherine Howard, and Catherine Parr.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    1 hr 46 min
  • #136 - Merry Mitchmas!
    Josie Margaret Mitchell, Taylor Mitchell Basso, and guest host Mitchell Charles Collins ring in Mitchmas, a made-up holiday celebrating people named Mitchell, by exchanging infamous stories—including a compendium of psychic pets, the surprising history of Christmas tree tinsel, and how a song that came to its writer in a nightmare became Natalie Imbruglia's 1997 smash hit "Torn."

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    1 hr 27 min
  • #135 - Mother of a Monster
    Trick-or-Treat Infamy + season finale! Josie tells Taylor about the dramatic life and times of English novelist Mary Shelley, and the infamous origins of her Gothic masterpiece, Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. Plus: is your Labubu a conduit for an ancient Mesopotamian demon? Find out in the final minfamous of season five!

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    1 hr 54 min
  • #134 - The Mad Trapper of Rat River
    Trick-or-Treat Infamy! Taylor tells Josie about Albert Johnson (not his real name), the mysterious outlaw who led Mounties on an explosive and deadly winter manhunt through Canada's Yukon and Northwest Territories. Plus: unpacking Taylor's trip to the Yukon, including the community of Carcross, population: 300, where the ghosts of Bessie Gideon and her parrot Polly haunt the century-old Caribou Hotel.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    1 hr 34 min
  • #133 - Naked and Aflame
    Big Skookum B.C. Road Trip! In this special episode, Josie tells Taylor about the Sons of Freedom (a.k.a. the Freedomites), the religious sect with an affinity for public nudity and arson, and the history of the Doukhobors in British Columbia. Plus: join Josie, Taylor, and special guests Lucia Misch and Ruy Gonzalez as they wrap up the Big Skookum B.C. Road Trip, including stops at the South Enderby Flea Market, a Keremeos curio shop, and the party capital of Canada: Kelowna-fornia!

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    1 hr 49 min

About Bittersweet Infamy

From the publisher's feed

Storytellers and best friends Josie Mitchell and Taylor Basso share the stories that live on in infamy: the strange and the familiar, the tragic and the comic—the bitter and the sweet. Check back on…