Conversations on Death

Shelby Forsythia (she/her) is a grief coach author, and podcast host. In 2020, she founded Life After Loss Academy, an online course and community that has helped dozens of grievers grow and find their way after death, divorce, diagnosis, and other major life transitions.

Following her mother’s death in 2013, Shelby began calling herself a “student of grief” and now devotes her days to reading, writing, and speaking about loss. Through a combination of mindfulness tools and intuitive, open-ended questions, she guides her clients to welcome grief as a teacher and create meaningful lives that honor and include the heartbreaks they’ve faced. Her work has been featured in Huffington Post, Bustle, and The Oprah Magazine.

On this episode, we mainly dive into Shelby's framework on how to build a life after loss. Extremely helpful episode! Plus, you'll get to hear Jiji, Shelby's cat, chat with us too! :)

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Connect with Shelby!

Free workshop
Website
Instagram
Book:Your Grief, Your Way

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Chris Woodyard is a writer and historian based in Ohio. She studies death and the supernatural.  In addition to nine books on Ohio ghost-lore, as well as three volumes of historical ghost stories, she is the author of The Victorian Book of the Dead, on the popular and material culture of Victorian mourning and death, as well as A is for Arsenic: A Little Book of Victorian Death, a guide to the basics of Victorian mourning traditions and artifacts.

This episode is alllll about Victorian era mourning rituals (and there was a lot to discuss). Freaking fascinating! Enjoy!

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Connect with Chris!

Podcast - Boggart and Banshee: A Supernatural Podcast (with Dr Simon Young)
Facebook Group - Haunted Ohio by Chris Woodyard
Facebook Group - A Victorian Book of the Dead
Facebook Group - Mrs Daffodil
Blog
Twitter
Book - A is For Arsenic: An ABC of Victorian Death
Book - The Victorian Book of the Dead

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Elyse Neiman Seiter is an Emmy-Award winning TV producer/director with over 20 years experience producing shows for various networks including MTV, Food Network, HGTV, and Travel Channel. She became interested in death and dying after her own brush with cancer as a young mom, which woke her up to what was truly important in her own life. Elyse founded Mindful Films, a boutique production house dedicated to producing films/TV and digital content about stories of awakening, and is passionate about bringing this type of narrative medicine to the world. In 2023, Elyse completed a year-long course at the NY Zen Center on contemplative care and end-of-life, and is a regular hospice volunteer.

On today's episode, we talked about documenting the end-of-life process through film and about Riding Home, a documentary about Caryl, a dynamic Vermont horse trainer who confronts end-of-life with honesty, grace, and an irreverent sense of humor.

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Connect with Elyse!
Instagram
Kickstarter
Website
More about RIDING HOME
Emails directed to [email protected]

Resources
NY Zen Center's Contemplative Care Program
End-of-life planning resources and end-of-life options by state

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Dr. John Troyer is the Death Studies Scholar at Large and Overlord of Death in the Centre for Death and Society at the University of Bath in the UK. He's also the co-founder of the Death Reference Desk website, the Future Cemetery Project, and a frequent commentator for the BBC. His most recent book Technologies of the Human Corpse was published by The MIT Press in May 2020.

On this episode, we tackle a very controversial topic - necrophilia. We talk about famous cases, laws in the US and other parts of the world, the future of these laws... all the things you've ever wanted to learn about but felt too weird to Google. Enjoy!

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Connect with John!

Get his book!
Twitter
Website

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ABCnews.com has called Marc Hartzman "one of America's leading connoisseurs of the bizarre" and George Noory from Coast to Coast AM said he's "as bizarre as Robert Ripley." In addition to his books about UFOs, ghosts, Mars, Oliver Cromwell's embalmed head, weird things on eBay, sideshow performers, and unorthodox messages from God, Marc has written for Mental Floss, HuffPost, AOL Weird News, AllThatsInteresting.com, The Morbid Anatomy Online Journal, and Bizarre magazine. 

On today's podcast we chat about ghosts, mediumship, the supernatural, haunted sites, spiritualism, the embalmed head of Oliver Cromwell, and a bunch of other goodies. Enjoy!
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Connect with Marc!

Get his books!
Twitter/X
Instagram
Website

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Ray is an acclaimed author, metaphysical teacher, theorist, and coach. He is a survivor of a near-death experience (NDE) and has dedicated his life to helping others achieve their full potential. Ray's unique approach combines scientific theories with his own life experiences to reveal how anyone can harness the power of the mind, create their own reality, and BE Limitless!

Learn how his NDE completely shifted his life and the way he views and understands the universe as a result of this NDE!

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Connect with Paul!

Get his books!
Instagram
Twitter
Youtube
Website

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Paul Gambino has been an avid collector of the bizarre for over 25 years with an extensive collection of Victorian memorial photographs, antique funeria, mug shots, and vintage religious items.

Paul is the author of some absolutely gorgeous books (which I recommend you get your hands on ASAP): MORBID CURIOSITIES: Collections of the Uncommon and the Bizarre, SKULLS: Portraits of the Dead and the Stories They Tell, and KILLER COLLECTIONS: Dark Artifacts from True Crime. In July of 2024 Paul will release his latest book, The Art of Gothic Living: Dark Decor for the Modern Macabre. 
 

We chatted about collecting, got to know more about collectors, learned about dope ass collections, talked about mortality and death, the ethics of collecting, and bunch of other juicy shit you don't wanna miss! 

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Connect with Paul!

Get his books here!
Instagram
Website
Facebook

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Jackie Dent is a journalist and an author. She's been writing fiction for years, but found success with non fiction and a much more personal story about her grandparents donating their bodies to science. She's the author of "The Great Dead Body Teachers".  Her journey began when she started to dive into the reasons why her paternal grandparents had donated their bodies to a university. 

On this episode we cover everything from whole body donation, organ donation, who the donors are, dissection, to who the people behind making body donation possible are. Enjoy!

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Connect with Jackie!

Get the book!
Website
Facebook
Instagram

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Today I talked to Dr. Monica Walker, the Engagement Manager at the Old Operating Theatre Museum & Herb Garret in London, which is the oldest surviving surgical theater in Europe. She sees herself as a storyteller that gets to bridge the gap between academia and the general public through the stories and collection of the museum which stands as the last remaining bastion of Old St Thomas' Hospital in its original location near London Bridge. In her spare time she is also a creative photographer and freelance writer for National Geographic: Historia. 

We chat about history of the museum, of the hospital, victorian surgery, anatomy and dissection, bodysnatching, and about a lil something something that happened to me when I was visiting the museum last year! ;)

Enjoy! But also... go visit because it's the coolest!

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Connect with Monica + the Museum!

Museum Website
Museum Instagram
Museum X
Museum Youtube
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Monica's Instagram
Monica's X

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In 2006, Natalie Sudman went to Iraq, serving as a project engineer for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. While working in Iraq, the vehicle she was riding in was hit with a roadside bomb. Her book Application of Impossible Things vividly recounts her Near Death Experience when she went out of the body to the spirit world. There it was decided that her work on Earth was not done and with the help of spirit guides, they repaired the body so she could reenter it. 

Before this experience, Natalie was dubious about anything that smacked of the paranormal. This experience made her a believer. She shares her story here to demonstrate that the paranormal is normal and to assist others who have had similar experiences.

*Episode recorded in 2022*
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Connect with Natalie!
Website
Application of Impossible Things (Book)
Blog
Facebook
Information about readings

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