Wow do we have an episode for you!  First we are joined by Courtney from Book of the Dead Podcast who is an amazing podcaster with an amazing show!  We also take a moment to comment on the murder of Renee Good and while we don't do a deep dive because it is political, we do make it clear that a) it was, in fact, a murder and b) we make it clear that it wasn't right and we are here for those listeners who may be lost, hurt or confused in these dark times.  Then we dig into the Yuba County 5, a California cold case that ranks right up there with the Dyatlov Pass Incident for being unsolvable  Maybe higher because a slab avalance seems the likely solution to that mystery...but there is no easy answer to the Yuba County 5.  Why would five men drive miles out of their way into the Plumas County forest?  Why would they get out of a car that had half a tank of gas, was mechanically sound, and not stuck.  Why would they hike 19 miles to a forest service trailer where at least three men died along the way?  Why was a fifth man discovered dead in a forest service trailer with several weeks growth of beard?  Why did he die from exposure and malnutrition when the trailer had both food and heat?  Why did he have another man's shoes with him what happened to the one man who was never found and who's gold watch was also found in the trailer?  We ask all these questions but there aren't really any answers in this mysterious, historical, true crime deep dive into a cold case from all the way back in 1978.  

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/family-plot--4670465/support.

Our latest episode goes hog wild as we talk about the heroic Ida B. Wells.  From taking care of her brothers and sisters at the age of 16 after her parents and brother died of yellow fever to teaching in black schools to writing for local papers and taking on lynchings in the South.  And this wasn't even forty years after the Brooks Sumner Affair where South Virginia's Senator Preston Brooks attacked Massachussets Senator Charles Sumner hitting him over the head many times after he gave a powerful Anti-Slavery speech.  And this was a black woman born into slavery who told the truth about lynchings in a way the South was not ready to hear.  A lynch mob would tear her newspaper asunder, force the papers owner to sign a retraction at gunpoint while she happened to be in New York...and in New York she stayed continuing to write the truth about lynchings in the South, even going to England where she spoke publicly about the issue, embarassing the US abroad.  Even when she campaigned for women's suffrage, she refused to march in the back, jumping in the middle of the parade as it happened walking with white female suffragists.  Largely forgotten by history, she was quoted by US. President Joe Biden when he signed the US first anti-lynching law in 2022.  So come with us down the trail of history and lets learn about this firebrand in our first informational episode of 2026!

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/family-plot--4670465/support.

Our annual year-in-review show where we cover things past, things present and things future.  We discuss the year as a whole, what we've learned and how we managed to cope as well as discovering the fact that we are all about Found Family and we enjoy our listeners who reach out to ask if they can join us for dinner!  A feel good end of year wrap up with thanks to a lot of good people.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/family-plot--4670465/support.

A bit shorter episode this week, the perfect size for that jaunt over the river and through the woods to see grandma...or to run to the store and fight Tobey Macguire for that last dented can of jellied cranberry sauce.  This week we ask the question is Santa a cryptid?  We tell a brief tale of his origin, mention that Saint Nicholas is somehow both the patron saint of children and sex workers and every year on december 25th goes on the world's largest buisiness trip.  We discuss supposed real sightings of the big man (Does he drive a pristine red Mustang with Alaska plates that read 'BIGGUY'?  We don't know but someone claims he does.    Plus a few humorous, very not real, cryptid style reports of Santa as told by various fake people in this ho-ho-holiday episode of the Family Plot Podcast!

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/family-plot--4670465/support.

We are joined this episode by Kansas City Comedian Dale Hilton to discuss the London Beer Flood of 1814 and the Gorbals Hot Whiskey Disaster of 1906.  We do cover these two strangely historical events and also discuss Beer and how it lead to both the formation of society as well as the invention of refrigeration because people wanted to keep their beer cold.  We also discuss 'Generic' Beer, trashcan punch parties, a store similar to Wal-mart and Target named Venture's , Purple Passion (available in cans and two liter-bottles) and so much more in this end of year but we're still learning in the festive episode filled with friendship and suspicious liquid cheer!

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/family-plot--4670465/support.

A shorter episode this week but that makes it the perfect length to listen to on your way to Holiday Shopping.  This week we go uplifting as we dig into the life of Beatrice 'Tillie' Shilling.  The child of a master butcher and one of thre girls born and raised in the South of England, she spent her pocket money on tools and penknives, deconstructed devices to see how they fit together and worked and played with Meccano sets, early construction toys allowing children to build working models of cars and cranes.  She would even win a competition for building from these kits.  By the age of 14, she bought her first motorcycle originally to beat her sisters in bike races.  But she tuned, tinkered and replaced every single part remaking the machine and soon was speeding around on it everywhere.  She began to study practical electronics and work in the field as young as 15, even going on to become an Engineer (in the 1930's when women just didn't do such things).  We cover the life of this amazing woman and how she saved both the Spitfire and the Hurricane, earned an OBE and hit the ton at Brooklands as a motorcycle racer in this uplifting, girl powerm yes it's in Surrey but there's no fringe on top episode of the Family Plot Podcast!

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/family-plot--4670465/support.

We begin with a trigger warning, this week we talk about the results of people apparently catching fire spontaneously and the gruesome remains that sometimes leaves behind.  We attempt to go easy but still if you find yourself challenged by some of these descriptions, feel free to skip the episode.  You matter.  What a week!  This week we tackle the burning subject (quite literally( of spontaneous human combustion.  We dig into historic cases both fairly mundane and incredibly strange.  We discuss cases and theories from ancient to modern, including the wick effect and how it literally demands the person sit in one place, unmoving while they burn to mostly ash.  We discuss the very strange case of Mary Reeser and so much more and we also talk to author, and friend of the show, Dan B. Fierce about his upcoming plans.  Check it out!

https://linktr.ee/danbfierce

https://a.co/d/2wRgwvc

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/family-plot--4670465/support.

Boy, do we have a show for you.  It's Thanksgiving and Arthur is feeling rowdy and wants to fist fight at the back of a Denny's. plus he's hyper fixating on the new LPS!  We dig into the mysterious death of Ohio immigrant and businessman Mitchell Siegel and how that unsolved death led to the creation of the character of Superman.  We also find that Superman has a lot in common with a character named Doc Savage and how Superman, and other costumed superheroes grew out of the pulps.  We talk modern takes on the character, and all the pop culture feels and friends.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/family-plot--4670465/support.

We have so much to tell you about!  In this episode, we dig into the life of Storme DeLarverie, a man who was born to a black mother and white father.  Mom was a servant and Dad was wealthy.  Because he was a child of black and white parents he was never issued a birth certificate and chose to celebrate his birthday on December 24th.  His dad paid for his education but he was raised mostly by his grandfather.  He joined the Ringling Brothers Circus as a show rider and began to get on stage at Jazz Clubs at only 15.  He would travel Europe with a jazz ensemble before returning to the United States where he joined the Jewel Box Revue.  The Jewel Box was at the time the only interracial drag show and it toured all over the country even to military bases.  And Storme became the show's lone drag king and emcee.  He was on hand at the Stonewall when the infamous uprising began in New York City aand may have been the one to kick off violence.  He later went on to become the Guardian of Greenwich Village in this, wow this was a true American episode of the Family Plot Podcast.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/family-plot--4670465/support.

So many things in this episode.  Arthur discusses his new mask, Poppi Playtime, and hanging out with his brother who visited from college in this corner and then we dig into the tragedy that was the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake, what happened, how it happened and the people who lived through it.  We cover their response and the hope for humanity when this city, founded as part of Mexico in 1776, was 80 percent destroyed and built back up just four years later.  We learn about how the American Red Cross partnered with the US Army to help create refugee camps and distrubute supplies to a needy populace.  All this and so much more in this earth-shaking episode of the Family Plot Podcast.  (Previous episodes referenced include episodes 135, 183, 188, 225 and 260.)

Dean's Book - Map of Hollows is available at Amazon.com!

https://a.co/d/gJzsv7C

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/family-plot--4670465/support.