We discuss the details of the case of Christopher McCandless who opted into living a nomadic lifestyle and ultimately starved to death in the Alaskan wilderness leading to a somewhat cult following.  What led him to do what he did and why do people still risk their lives to emulate his ultimately fatal decision to live unprepared in the wilderness?

We discuss to urban legends that revolve around female monsters.  The first is the Kuchisake-onna, or “slit faced woman”, of Japan.  She confronts lone travelers at night and murders those that no longer find her beautiful after revealing her bloody slit open mouth.  The second is Baba Yaga, the Slavic grandma living in the woods in her chicken-footed home, cooking and eating children.

One of the great revolutions in the history of the development of humankind is the controlled use of fire.  When did we as a species learn to keep and make fire?  What changes did it make to humans socially and physically.  Jeni, our resident Anthropologist, has the answers.

Our episode this week is on the Dust Bowl of the 1930s.  A time when major drought, grasshopper plagued, swarms of jackrabbits, and massive migration shook the Great Plains of the United States.  Take a listed and find out the multiple horrors of the Dirty Thirties.

This week we discuss Floriography better known as the Language of Flowers.  Floriography is a long practiced means of coded communication through the arrangement and display of flowers.  Want to tell someone that you enjoyed their party and want to be friends, there's an arrangement for that.  Want to tell someone they disgust you and you think they are childish, there's an arrangement for that.  Take a listen and learn about the secret language of flowers.

The Pony Express only functioned for about 18 months in 1860-61, but the mail delivery service has somehow managed to sink it's way into the zeitgeist of the America West due to the influence of the Buffalo Bill Cody Wild West Show.  Take a listen and find out what the Pony Express was really like.
 

The concept of the Holy Grail as ultimate quest item, the true goal of any quest has sunk into the fabric of our culture.  When did the concept of the Grail and the Grail quest get started?  What is the Grail: last supper cup? serving dish? magic rock?  Is there any adaptation of the Grail Quest better than that of Monty Python?  These questions and more are answered this week.

Take a listen and learn about the history of the hit cartoon franchise Scooby-Doo.  Created in the late sixties and still going strong today, it was originally made as part of an attempt to push back against violence in kid's cartoons.  Want to know how the characters got their personalities, what Shaggy's real name is, and how Scooby got is strange name?  We've got you covered.

In today's podcast we discuss the phenomenon of The Wild Hunt, a bit of folklore shared under various names and guises all over much of Europe.  The core principle is a spectral hunt of spirits roaming the countryside lead by a shadowy figure rumored to be anything from death itself to King Arthur.  Spirits condemned to join the hunt are forced to ride until they have absolved themselves, and anyone witnessing the hunt ride by is doomed to ill fate.  Take a listen and learn more about the ghostly riders and hounds of the wild hunt!

Take a listen and learn about Nellie Bly, or Elizabeth Cochran.  She was a pioneer in the filed of investigative journalism, famous for going undercover as a patient to expose the horrible conditions in mental institutions and for traveling around the world in less than 80 days to break the record of the fictional Phileas Fogg.  Her various turns in life lead her to running a steel company and being a war correspondent on the eastern front of WWI in addition to her more well know stint as world traveller.