Goose Chase Podcast

Hi. We missed you. This week we're talking about Zendik Farms, something that could have started as a jazzy summer camp and instead turned into a freaky sex-prescriptive cult with a language all of its own. With excerpts from "Mating in Captivity" by Helen Zuman and many other sources, we work our way through the cult from its inception to its ultimate demise (see, this one has a happy ending!). So good to chase geese with you again.

Now that we have your attention: We're talking today about Love Canal, a neighborhood in New York that became the poster child for toxic chemical disasters in the late 70's. What was dreamed up to be a model town full of homes, shopping, and clean hydroelectric power came to be something so far from its intentions that it's borderline unbelievable. But this is more than the story of one environmental incident in one small town. The pattern is much larger, and it's surprising exactly how broad the impacts are. 

We're not saying don't be sober, we're just saying maybe cool it with the enthusiasm. We're talking about "The Group," as it's often known: a collection of a handful of drug and alcohol treatment programs for children and young adults, practitioners of a unique concept called "Enthusiastic Sobriety." Sounds good in practice, but the behaviors and governance of this little collective left us scratching our heads and wondering whether any good was actually being done. In general, it seems like it may be creating new problems altogether. And some of it bears resemblance to some shady groups we've talked about in the past. 

This week we're talking about Black Eyed Children, a creepypasta-esque legend of spooky black-eyed kids showing up and demanding to be let in. We zero in closely on the first appearance of the story, popularized in an internet mailing list, and try to determine where it came from, and if it may have inspired and led to the countless instances that followed it. Spooky stories are kind of magical, but we're skeptics at heart, so we decided to see where this one would take us. 

This week we're talking about numerology. People have been fascinated with numbers for a long time in ways ranging from the superstitious to the mystical and religious, and we're looking at the ways people arrive at and interpret numerological representation of themselves, their personalities, their fortunes, and more. We're also talking about the number 13 in particular, that most legendary of numbers in western interpretation, and what it means to people in different places and of different persuasions. Bring your calculator for this one. 

For some reason everyone wants their town, state, or country to be the capital of murder, serial killing, and every other form of true crime. We have some theories why but that's beside the point. Ohio is home to some noteworthy killing, and even if we don't hold the title, we're a contender. Join us as we talk about some homegrown serial killing, including some that are recent and (in fairness) kind of upsetting. 

This week we talk about some of the biggest paranormalists you have never heard of on this, the last day of Spooptober! The Warrens of Connecticut are involved with over 10,000 investigations (or so they say) and you might know some of their cases. We look into this and come up with some conclusions of our own. Get spooped!

This episode is a heavy one. Disclaimers up front: we're talking about a lot of heavy things. Child abuse, sex abuse, and the worst of people's abilities to manipulate each other. We're talking about Teal Swan. She's got around 500k followers on YouTube, has written a number of books, and claims to have some really unbelievable abilities. But a number of articles and on-the-record sources about what it's like to know her is harrowing. And her tragic backstory beggars belief. She may be the most dangerous person we have ever discussed. And what she's doing is happening now. Spooptober continues.

This week we talk about the legendary Winchester Mystery House with special presenter Aubrey and special guest Melissa! This is the house you're thinking of: endless rooms, hallways to nowhere, and more than a little bit the inspiration behind Rose Red, this is the house that guns and ghouls built. Aubrey has seen it in person, and relays the personal spoop factor to us in our first spooptober thriller!

This week we talk about two VERY different passion projects by two very different people. We discuss Randyland in Pittsburgh and The Heidelberg Project in Detroit, both means of creating something fantastic and beautiful in places that sorely needed them. Their motives are different. Their stories are different. And they're received very differently. However there is a thread that ties them both together: a need to create beauty and comfort in bleak places.