MonsterTalk

In a follow-up to our episode on Gargoyles, photographer and author Mathew M. Duman has produced a new book visiting ten American campuses with gothic architectural and artistic features to document them for your edification and delight. Check out his book, The Grotesque 10 at his website.

During our interview, we talked about the term for the sculptures on a church bench. Some of these are called Bench Ends, and others are called Poppy Heads. I thought I should include that detail here.

You can check out my new show, The Horror Podcast by subscribing via the links on this page.

Check out our Audible deal, where you can select Peter Law's book The Frighteners or any of the amazing titles from the Audible collection.

 

What is it like to be an ordained minister who loves the macabre? And is there a value to the morbid, horrific and dark milieu beyond the financial? What if it turned out that horror can even be therapy? We talk with author Peter Laws about these questions and more.

The Frighteners: A Journey Through our Cultural Fascination with the Macabre 

 

Peter's author page 

Peter on Twitter 

Peter's website 

 

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There are a lot of weird Tick stories in the news lately.  From stories of exsanguinated cows in North Carolina, to books about government conspiracy and bioweapons testing of ticks as delivery vehicles for disease, it seems everybody's trying to latch onto tick and tick-borne disease stories. 

Acarologist Dr. Danielle Tufts, visits with us to help debunk some of the outright myths about ticks, to tell us more about how these diseases are transferred, and to get a better grip on how frightened we should be, and what we can do to protect ourselves from the millions of tiny vampires waiting out there.

Photos of tick lifecycle and academic articles on relevant tick species are attached to the show notes.

Some terms from the show you might not be familiar with:

Serology - the scientific study or diagnostic examination of blood serum, especially with regard to the response of the immune system to pathogens or introduced substances.

We discuss three types of chromosomal polyploidy:

Diploid - containing two complete sets of chromosomes

Triploid - containing three complete sets of chromosomes

Aneuploid - contains an abnormal number of chromosomes

If you thought Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter was fun - wait till you hear the shocking true story of Thomas Jefferson, Monster Hunter!  We're joined by Justin Mullis who presented his paper on Jefferson's work in Cryptozoology at the Of Gods and Monsters conference at Texas State in San Marcos, in April 2019.

Links of interest:

Martin Rudwick - The Meaning of Fossils 

Glossopetrae - an outdated theory about fossilized shark teeth

 Lee Alan Dugatkin's Mr. Jefferson and the Giant Moose  

Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon - "the father of all thought in natural history in the second half of the 18th century "

The full poem about Lewis & Clark's pursuit of Mammoth is on Page 11 of this digitized document.

Some additional reading suggested by listeners:

Big Bone Lick: The Cradle of American Paleontology 

American Monster: How the Nation's First Prehistoric Creature Became a Symbol of National Identity

We've officially hit a decade of MonsterTalk. In this episode we get "old school" and talk about the legendary Mapinguari, and how cryptozoologists have tried to explain the folklore of this massive South American animal by claiming it to be a kind of Bigfoot creature, or even a Giant Ground Sloth. We take a deep dive into what Paleontology can tell us about the real historical records of Giant Ground Sloths (Megatherium) and see how well these creatures line up with the legend of the Mapinguari.Our guest is Uruguayan paleontologist Dr. Richard A. Fariña.   Links Dr. Fariña's Giant Sloth website (English / Spanish) Paper describing the site of the Arroyo del Vizcaíno site near Sauce, Uruguay The Shasta Giant Sloth site David C. Oren's theory of Sloths as possible explanation of Mapinguari has been covered in The New York Times and Discovery Magazine. Apparently, Behemoth from Godzilla: King of the Monsters 2019 is a Mapinguari! Who knew? We also discussed a few megafauna in this episode. Here's our Who's Who for those names: Gomphothere - similar to an elephant or mammoth Glyptodon - similar to an enormous armadillo Megatherium - a gigantic ground sloth that is the main paleontological subject of the episode   And don't forget the question of Sloths and Avocados! The paper for that research is here.

In part two of our Shaver Mystery coverage, we look at the influence of Ray Palmer and Richard Shaver on Science Fiction, UFOlogy, and the cultural fringe. (Part two of our Shaver Mystery coverage featuring Drs. Jerry Drake and Jeb Card).

Read the episode notes

In this episode of MonsterTalk, we get a brief overview of the history of Hollow Earth theories and start our deep dive into the topic of The Shaver Mystery with repeat guests Dr. Jerry Drake and Dr. Jeb Card. Weird-Science, lost civilizations, UFOs, and Nazis — this story has more threads than a fancy bedsheet set!

Read the episode notes

MonsterTalk revisits the story of Zana, the alleged Almasti wild woman of Abkhazia who was the subject of Bryan Sykes DNA research in his book The Nature of the Beast. A legendary forest spirit of the Balkans may have some relevance to the story of Zana and her descendants.

Read the epsiode notes

Where do Dragons come from — and why do so many cultures have them? Learn about the origins of Dragon legends with Eric Mortensen of Guilford College. Our conversation also touches on Fairies and Yeti — and we will doubtless be revisiting both Eric and the topic of Dragons in future episodes.

Read the episode notes

An interview with White House historian Lindsay Chervinsky (of the White House Historical Association) about the ghostly legends of the White House.

Read the episode notes