Odd Things I've Seen: The Podcast

In this episode, I take you behind the scenes at the Natural History Museum in London to witness the most mindboggling biological artifacts in the entire collection: Archie the Giant Squid and actual specimens bottled by Charles Darwin himself on his world-changing HMS Beagle voyage. Oh, and I embark on a side quest for an infamous cursed jewel. Lotta stuff going on in this episode.

• Photos of Archie the Giant Squid and Darwin's specimens.

In this episode, I take you to the house where infamous occultist Aleister Crowley enjoyed a magick retirement and then to the severed arm of Saint Edmund. Surprisingly, neither of these two sites are in Europe. They're in New England. And they are mere hours from each other. The depth of oddity in any given state is astounding.

• Aleister Crowley House: 14 Church Lane, Hebron, NH

In this special episode of Odd Things I've Seen: The Podcast, I take you on location with me on a road trip I took last Saturday to see five oddities in Connecticut: Two sites connected to a Great Awakening preacher who has haunted me since childhood, a minor witch memorial, the house of a serial killer who inspired a delightful comedy movie, and an abandoned amusement park. This is the episode I show you what I mean by "within a tank or two of gas of any point in this country is some seriously cool oddity."

Too see photos from this trip, visit the OTIS Patreon Page, and download Issue 157 of the weekly OTIS Club Newsletter. This particular issue is free to the public, and if you like it, please consider joining so that I can do more podcasts like this one and so that you can have the maximum dosage of oddity in your life as recommended by the surgeon general.

Want to learn about the oddities I visit in real time? Follow me on Twitter, Facebook, or Patreon. I also write books that you can buy. Spooky books.

We're going international in this episode, heading to Italy to see what it's like/how exhausting it is to visit both Pompeii and Vesuvius in a single day. Volcanic ghost towns might be the most fascinating ghost towns.

• Pics from out stroll through Pompeii.

Plants are 80% of the planet's biomass. So it makes sense that there are some odd plants out there. I've seen a few in my day. Like a swamp full of cobra lilies in Oregon and a seven-foot-tall phallus-shaped corpse flower in New Hampshire. Let's get botanical.

• Pics from our time among the cobra lilies.

The story of Lizzie Borden and the ax murder of her parents has been told...to death. But the oddest part of the story is that today...you can stay the night at the crime scene. Which. We. Did.

• Pics from our night at Lizzie Borden's.

We head out to the Nevada desert to play chicken with Area 51. And see an Independence Day (the movie) time capsule. And eat at an alien-themed eatery.  And generally look for the truth that is out there. 

• Pictures from The Extraterrestrial Highway.