In this episode of Cursed...ish, Angela Mattes and Daniel Stevens investigate one of America’s most infamous allegedly-hexed families: the Kennedys. From the death of Joseph Kennedy Jr. in World War II to the tragedies of Rosemary Kennedy, the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy, the scandal of Chappaquiddick, and the plane crash that killed JFK Jr., the Kennedy family story is packed with a staggering pattern of death, disaster, scandal, and political fallout. As the hosts trace the rise of America’s closest thing to a royal dynasty, they ask whether the so-called Kennedy curse is truly supernatural, or just what it looks like when power, trauma, and tragedy collide across generations. 

If you’re fascinated by American history, political dynasties, JFK conspiracy-adjacent lore, true crime, plane crashes, assassinations, and famous family tragedies, this episode dives deep into the dark legacy of the Kennedys with the skeptical, curious, macabre tone of Cursed...ish.

Questions, comments, or your own accursed tales to share? Send us a hex at [email protected].

The hosts of Cursed...ish are not responsible for any misfortunes that may befall you while listening to this podcast. By listening to Cursed...ish, you assume all risk of bad luck, ill omens, and unexplained catastrophes.

*Terms and conditions may be upheld by unknown forces.

In this episode of Cursed...ish, Angela Mattes and Daniel Stevens head into one of the darkest corners of the Harry Potter universe: the Unforgivable Curses. From Avada Kedavra to the Cruciatus Curse and the Imperius Curse, they unpack how the wizarding world casually hands children the power to torture, control minds, and kill instantly, then somehow treats that as normal school-adjacent information. Along the way, they dig into the horrifying implications of Hogwarts, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Mad-Eye Moody/Barty Crouch Jr.’s infamous classroom demonstration, and the moral chaos at the heart of this magical world. And then they ask the question that makes everything worse: if these curses are truly unforgivable, why does Harry Potter himself end up using them? Darkly funny, skeptical, and gloriously uncomfortable, this episode explores dark magic in Harry Potter, wizarding-world ethics, and why this beloved fantasy series gets much more disturbing the older you get.

Questions, comments, or your own accursed tales to share? Send us a hex at [email protected].

The hosts of Cursed...ish are not responsible for any misfortunes that may befall you while listening to this podcast. By listening to Cursed...ish, you assume all risk of bad luck, ill omens, and unexplained catastrophes.

*Terms and conditions may be upheld by unknown forces.

The Dybbuk Box may be the perfect cursed object for the internet age: part ghost story, part folklore confusion, part viral marketing miracle, and part “sir, please stop gifting this to relatives.” In this episode of Cursed...ish, we trace the story of the haunted eBay cabinet said to unleash nightmares, misfortune, illness, and general psychic bad vibes on anyone unlucky enough to own it. From Holocaust-linked origin claims to ghost-hunter fame and the possibility that the whole thing began as an elaborate piece of interactive horror fiction, we ask whether the Dybbuk Box is actually cursed, or just unbelievably good at making people want it to be.

Episode Sources:

Moss, Charles. “Finally, the Truth Behind the ‘Haunted’ Dybbuk Box Can Be Revealed.” Inverse, July 8, 2021 https://www.inverse.com/input/features/dybbuk-box-dibbuk-kevin-mannis-zak-bagans-haunted-hoax-revealed 

Biddle, Kenny. “A Closer Look: The Dibbuk Box.” Skeptical Inquirer, January 14, 2019 https://skepticalinquirer.org/exclusive/the-dibbuk-box/ 

Collis, Clark. “Little Box of Horrors.” Entertainment Weekly, July 27, 2012 https://ew.com/article/2012/07/27/little-box-horrors-2/ 

Questions, comments, or your own accursed tales to share? Send us a hex at [email protected].

The hosts of Cursed...ish are not responsible for any misfortunes that may befall you while listening to this podcast. By listening to Cursed...ish, you assume all risk of bad luck, ill omens, and unexplained catastrophes.

*Terms and conditions may be upheld by unknown forces.

The Curse of the Billy Goat is one of the most famous sports curse legends in American history. In 1945, Chicago Cubs fan and Billy Goat Tavern owner William Sianis was kicked out of Wrigley Field after trying to bring his pet goat to the World Series, and according to legend, he cursed the Cubs on the spot. What followed was decades of heartbreak, near-misses, black-cat omens, failed curse-breaking rituals, and one of the longest championship droughts in baseball history.

In this episode of Cursed...ish, we dig into the full story of the Billy Goat Curse, from its origins at Wrigley Field to the Cubs’ dramatic 2016 World Series win. Along the way, we explore Chicago Cubs history, the folklore surrounding sports curses, and the media hysteria that helped turn a bitter moment in 1945 into a legendary baseball myth. Was the Cubs’ losing streak just bad luck, or was the Curse of the Billy Goat real or just cursed...ish?

Questions, comments, or your own accursed tales to share? Send us a hex at [email protected].

The hosts of Cursed...ish are not responsible for any misfortunes that may befall you while listening to this podcast. By listening to Cursed...ish, you assume all risk of bad luck, ill omens, and unexplained catastrophes.

*Terms and conditions may be upheld by unknown forces.

Winning an Academy Award is supposed to be the greatest moment of an actor’s career. 

So why do so many winners say it ruined their lives? 

In this episode of Cursed...ish, Daniel and Angela investigate the long-rumored Oscar Curse: the idea that winning an Academy Award can derail careers, destroy relationships, or both. 

The story begins in 1985, when Sally Field won her second Oscar for Places in the Heart and delivered one of the most famous acceptance speeches in film history, often misquoted as “You like me, you really like me.” But for some actors, that moment of triumph is followed by a strange pattern: stalled careers, typecasting, industry backlash, and very public divorces. 

From early Hollywood to the modern film industry, the supposed victims of the Academy Awards curse include actors whose careers seemed to falter after winning the biggest prize in Hollywood. 

We look at the mysterious case of Luise Rainer, the first actor to win back-to-back Oscars in the 1930s, only to see her Hollywood career collapse almost immediately afterward. We also explore stories involving actors like Cuba Gooding Jr., Mira Sorvino, Halle Berry, Hilary Swank, Reese Witherspoon, Sandra Bullock, and Kate Winslet, whose careers or relationships reportedly changed dramatically after their Oscar wins. 

But is there really a supernatural curse tied to the gold statue? 

Or are the real forces behind the so-called Oscar Curse things like Hollywood power dynamics, sexism, typecasting, ego, and impossible expectations placed on award winners? 

Along the way, we examine the psychology of fame, the strange patterns people notice after big career milestones, and the darker side of Hollywood success. 

Because sometimes the moment you reach the top of the mountain… 

is the moment everything starts to fall apart. 

On Cursed...ish, we investigate the story behind the superstition and ask the question: 

Is the Oscar Curse real, or just cursed...ish?

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1749612

https://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/10.1287/orsc.2014.0951

Questions, comments, or your own accursed tales to share? Send us a hex at [email protected].

The hosts of Cursed...ish are not responsible for any misfortunes that may befall you while listening to this podcast. By listening to Cursed...ish, you assume all risk of bad luck, ill omens, and unexplained catastrophes.

*Terms and conditions may be upheld by unknown forces.

A diamond that promised invincibility… and left a trail of war, betrayal, and ruin across centuries of European history. 

In this episode of Cursed...ish, Daniel and Angela investigate the legend of one of the world’s most famous cursed diamonds: the Sancy Diamond. 

We begin in medieval Europe, where the stone, once known as the The Balle de Flandres, became associated with kings, warlords, and nobles convinced it would make them unstoppable. Instead, its owners seem to encounter a suspicious pattern of violent deaths, financial collapse, political disaster, and battlefield catastrophe. 

The story takes us through the chaotic life of Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, whose obsession with power, and rumored possession of the diamond, ended in disaster at the Battle of Nancy in 1477, where his body was discovered half-frozen in a river after a brutal defeat. 

From there, the diamond’s history only gets stranger. 

The stone allegedly survives theft, murder, and political upheaval, including a bizarre story of a messenger who swallowed the gem to keep it from robbers. Over the following centuries, the Sancy Diamond passes through the hands of European royalty, financiers, and aristocrats, appearing among the French crown jewels, disappearing during the French Revolution, and eventually landing in the collection of the Astor family—whose connection to the Titanic disaster adds yet another eerie chapter to the diamond’s reputation. 

Today, the Sancy Diamond rests in the Louvre Museum in Paris, where it quietly sits in a display case… waiting. 

But does the stone actually carry a supernatural curse? 

Or is its dark reputation simply the result of powerful people making dangerous decisions in the pursuit of wealth, power, and conquest? 

As always on Cursed...ish, we follow the history, examine the legend, and ask the question: 

Is the Sancy Diamond truly cursed, or just cursed...ish? 

Questions, comments, or your own accursed tales to share? Send us a hex at [email protected].

The hosts of Cursed...ish are not responsible for any misfortunes that may befall you while listening to this podcast. By listening to Cursed...ish, you assume all risk of bad luck, ill omens, and unexplained catastrophes.

*Terms and conditions may be upheld by unknown forces.

Why do so many buildings skip the 13th floor? Why do airlines avoid row 13? And why does a single number carry so much cultural dread? 

In the first episode of Cursed...ish, Daniel and Angela dig into the long, strange history of the world’s most infamous number: 13. 

From Friday the 13th superstitions to the tongue-twisting fear known as triskaidekaphobia, we explore why the number 13 has been treated as unlucky across centuries of folklore, religion, and popular culture. Along the way, we look at everything from the Last Supper and Norse mythology to the arrest of the Knights Templar on October 13, 1307, plus eerie patterns people have noticed in shipwrecks, plane crashes, and even the near-disaster of Apollo 13. 

But is there anything truly sinister about the number itself? 

Or are we just very good at spotting patterns and telling ourselves stories when coincidence stops feeling random? 

Daniel breaks down the mathematics of prime numbers, the curious idea of “happy numbers,” and even a bizarre proposal for a 13-month calendar that would give us a Friday the 13th every single month. Meanwhile Angela brings the cultural perspective, from Taylor Swift’s lucky 13 to the psychological pull of superstition. 

Along the way, we ask the real question at the heart of every cursedish story: 

When bad things happen on a particular date… 
are we witnessing a curse, or just pattern recognition at work? 

Welcome to Cursed...ish. 

Questions, comments, or your own accursed tales to share? Send us a hex at [email protected].

The hosts of Cursed...ish are not responsible for any misfortunes that may befall you while listening to this podcast. By listening to Cursed...ish, you assume all risk of bad luck, ill omens, and unexplained catastrophes.

*Terms and conditions may be upheld by unknown forces.