Fresh from a convention of caricature artists and with heads full of pareidolia, Ben and Celestia discuss a few topics of the day and then dig into crystal skulls. Can we trust what Dan Ayrkroyd tells us on his fancy vodka bottle? Are there really thirteen of these ancient and powerful relics? What is the Skull of Doom, and does it have strange properties that baffle scientists? These skulls provide a fascinating look into rewritten histories and the power of priming. We even look at an ill-conceived lawsuit against Steven Spielberg involving the crystal skulls featured in the latest Indiana Jones installment.

Human rights advocate Dr. Leo Igwe joins us to discuss the dangers posed by so-called "witch hunters" in his home nation of Nigeria and other parts of Africa today. He discusses the entrenched nature of magical beliefs in the region, as well as the complicated power structure that props up those who call out fellow citizens as witches. Religions brought from Europe now play into the mix, with Islam and Christianity working alongside traditional beliefs; witch hunters are often pastors or church leaders, solidifying their power further. Victims are often powerless--the elderly, disabled, or children--and once accused they must run for their lives, abandoned by family and often the state authorities as well. Dr. Igwe talks about the challenges of getting the message across to international agencies and the UN, whose members are sometimes hesitant to speak out against these atrocities for fear of seeming racist or Islamophobic, a trend Igwe decries as stifling critical debate and much-needed open dialogue.  

The Satanic Panic is a veritable cornucopia of skeptical angles, and for this episode we limit ourselves to a look back at the cultural feel of the 80s and early 90s and some seminal court cases that brought metal musicians to court to defend their craft and educate jurors on audio pareidolia. Along the way we reminisce about Dungeons & Dragons, Geraldo Rivera, and how technology affected the development of the panic. The parental hand-wringing and ensuing litigation also paved the way for an invigorated Satanic thrust in metal as theatrical bands embraced demonic imagery even further, sometimes quite seriously. And the journey ends with today, when Satanic metal is almost a quaint cliché and real-life Satanists resemble Shriners more than they do boogeymen. 

Just in time for Halloween, when scary clowns abound, Ben takes us on a tour of the modern clown panic phenomenon . . . from bands of phantom clowns in white vans showing up in the 1980s to the "Great Clown Panic of 2016" that went worldwide, to more recent fears about effects of homicidal clowns in our media. Clown panics touch on quite a few currents of fear, from unknown assailants to viral copycats to public outrage and urban legends about tainted Halloween candy. So get out your rubber nose and floppy shoes and enjoy the show! 

First, we look into an outrage-inspiring headline about a woman arrested for being topless at her own home. Then we dive into animal carcasses and reasons why suspicious dead animals have unnerved us throughout history. Hailed by Biblical prophecies and superstitions as a portent of doom, or seen as proof of malevolent mischief by--take your pick--aliens, hungry cryptids, Satanists, or (more realistically) corporate polluters, mysterious animal deaths have a long and storied history in the library of the strange. Let's unravel a few cases, including the Great Elk Murder Conspiracy, near Las Vegas, New Mexico, which Ben got to cover as it unfolded.

We begin with a longer-than-usual opening segment (because gosh darn it, a lot happened). Ben recounts his latest TV appearance and chupacabra follow-up. The AlienStock / Storm Area 51 thing happened, or tried to happen. And two movies open this week that are unsettling audiences due to clown content--one of the films contains Ben! Lastly, we take a cursory look at a tabloid story that mirrors the film Orphan. Then, for the last half of the episode, Ben takes us on a deep dive into the Ica Stones, a hoax wrapped in a riddle tucked into a quaint little museum-shrine in Peru. What impressed a doctor so much that he gave up medicine to collect these peculiar little tchotchkes, believing them to be proof of aliens, or a Biblical young earth, or both?

We open with Dr. Hans House, who schools us on infectious diseases, especially some little-known facets of ebola, measles and the flu. He shares some knowledge on public health efforts and how we can all do our part to reduce disease vectors and save lives. Then we chat with Kenny Biddle about his recent investigations into diploma mills and paranormal credential fakery. Ben shares a personal experience, which goes down some unexpected paths as he tells us the surprising discoveries he made while researching a college professor's background some years ago.

It's our 100th episode! We begin with a discussion of "Alienstock," the planned alien-themed music festival being imposed upon Rachel, NV, in the coming weeks. Then for our main topic we look at numerology and the mystical-seeming quality of numbers from a few different angles involving Pythagoras, power chords, and ocean waves, as well as the arbitrary decoder-ring version of fortune-telling that is numerology today and how it can be applied to everything from client names to historical dates to the Bible. 

This episode is a deep dive into some popular movies of the past few decades and their associated curses . . . some that are due to genuinely tragic or strangely coincidental circumstances, others that have been a bit cultivated by those wishing to market the movie or just tell a good yarn years after its release. Filmmaker and friend of the show Erik Kristopher Myers joins Ben and Celestia to look at several horror films and a couple of superhero movies that have been rumored to have curses attached to them.

This started off as a little bonus mini-episode (in between episodes 98 and 99) where we have a little roundtable about some frustrating patterns of thought we have spotted on social media and other types of public discourse; some have actual fallacy names, some don't necessarily have a label. Lo and behold, once we got chatting it turned into a regular length episode. Just a bit less formal. Hope you enjoy.