Squaring the Strange

After some chatting about current and upcoming events, we dive into a mysterious entity in a women's toilet in Bangladesh. Ben brings his love of ghosts and mass hysterias to the party, as we examine all the cultural and folkloric factors that play into why female factory workers are experiencing ghostly (or djinny?) encounters in the loo.

Who would fake their own abduction? It turns out, plenty of people. Whether it's the "runaway bride," who says the stress of wedding planning made her snap, or the McDonald's worker who claimed a maniacal clown kept her from getting to work, hoaxed kidnapping cases end up taking time away from legitimate crimes as well as creating fodder for news and social media. Why do people do it? Some crave attention or simply paint themselves into a corner with one lie leading to another. Others narrate a harrowing tale on Facebook about how they narrowly avoided a kidnapper's grasp. People also lie about kidnapping attempts upon their children--or they invent fictional kidnapped children in order to make their stolen car into a high priority carjacking. Ben has researched kidnapping hoaxes for decades and brings us his thoughts on the patterns and repercussions from these bizarre crimes.

First, Ben, Pascual, and Celestia discuss the recurring social media uproar about why something isn't being covered by the media, as well as the recent public concern over disappearing mailboxes. Then for our main segment, Ben celebrates the 25th anniversary of his favorite cryptid beastie, the chupacabra, and we examine it's past, present, and future as a legend. Ben digs into his original notes about the very first sighting, and shows us some interesting discrepancies that are always overlooked in the chupacabra lore.

Susan Gerbic, of Guerilla Skepticism on Wikipedia, joins Celestia and Ben to bring us up to date on her recent psychic research and writings, as well as her team's ongoing efforts in shoring up the information on various Wikipedia pages in response to pandemic misinformation. Ben shares his thoughts on one of the last public theatrical events he attended before Covid-19: the Theresa Caputo Experience! We compare and contrast some of the psychological tricks and showmanship involved in a psychic's stage performance and how people get sucked into a celebrity psychic's crafted image.

This is a bonus episode (free to all, as I'm not clicking the box that says "charge patrons for this creation"), wedged between episodes 126 and 127, in which we chat about recent rumors floating around the interwebs--often intersecting with Covid-19 fears and the ever-present existential threat of "stranger danger," where people see nefarious rings of child-trafficking in otherwise mundane happenings. In addition to all the other issues the current pandemic is shining a spotlight on, our societal tendency to form and spread rumors is certainly in high gear during this time of uncertainty and unease.

With statues being front and center in the news earlier this month, we decided to take a few tours of the stranger side of statues. From graveyard statues that take strolls when you're not looking to spooky statues that allegedly can't be photographed. Myths involving statues coming to life, or live people being turned to stone, is a rich vein of folklore that reaches forward even to our most recent pop culture. Ben recounts some cases he personally investigated of miraculous "weeping" statues, and then we cover statues as guerilla art pieces that appear mysteriously overnight as publicity stunts and political statements.

Heard about the college parties where kids are intentionally trying to infect themselves with Covid--even betting money on who can catch it first? We sure have, and there will likely be many more tales popping up as the pandemic continues. And it provides an intersection of folklore, moral panic, media literacy, and helpful versus harmful "public awareness" that we (meaning Ben) love to dissect and learn from. Why has this rumor taken off, and is there anything to it? We also take a look at other types of disease urban legends and the alleged HIV "bug chasers" that Rolling Stone (mis)reported on in the early 2000s.

After some discussion on a few current events that resulted in quick debunkings, Ben, Pascual, and Celestia take a close look at what could be real-time formation of a social panic. Antifa has all the hallmarks of a propped-up paper tiger used by some as a political tool, and by others as a social boogeyman. We look at the coverage, the rumors, the Trump tweets, the implications, and the real statistics. How has the reputation of this nebulous non-organization caused harm? Plus we look into the price of bricks versus hippie crystals and the best state to register a converted schoolbus.

We are joined today by filmmaker and encyclopedia of weird film knowledge Erik Kristopher Myers. The notion of a "snuff film" is a strange convergence of conspiracy thinking, urban legend, moral panic, and actual film trivia, and we tour the genre--or, rather, things that have been assumed part of this elusive genre--from the Manson family to Faces of Death to an early found-footage gore fest called Cannibal Holocaust. Have any real snuff films ever been uncovered, or any black market snuff rings investigated? What are the factors that play into our belief in, and fear of, these monstrous commodifications of our mortality? And how have moviemakers and underground video producers capitalized on the idea?

We chat a bit about various news, including the passing of physicist Peter Brancazio, who explored popular sports illusions, and Ben's recent outreach project attempting to get answers from the "Plandemic" filmmaker. Then our main segment covers a veritable salad of plant-based folklore. From very old tales to modern misconceptions, we touch on the ancient Greek dryads and related myths, how to safely dig up a mandrake root, and whether or not houseplants purify the air.