Squaring the Strange

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.

Ben and special guest Matt Crowley reminisce about their first encounter, at a Bigfoot conference in Idaho about a dozen years ago. We look at some cultural aspects of Bigfootery, and Matt walks us through his "I can't unsee this" moment involving the Skookum cast, which has been touted as the best piece of Bigfoot evidence since the Patterson-Gimlin film.

This episode is a walk-through of Ben's investigation into the facts, theories, and folklore of a mysterious burial vault on Barbados. Due to strange natural phenomenon, ghosts, or a curse, the dead are said to not be able to rest within its walls. In the 1800s, stories emerged of the vaults contents being strewn about, inexplicably, while it was sealed. There's a lot to unpack, and Ben takes us through explanations, supposed eye-witness accounts, and folkloric roots.

Richard Saunders of The Skeptic Zone joins us to discuss organ theft tales! The notion of waking up one day without a few organs, the biological equivalent of being pick-pocketed, has been a pernicious and persistent rumor. In the 1990s, the idea of waking up in a bathtub full of ice with an ominous note did not seem so far-fetched, and notions of rich Westerners kidnapping children from developing countries to harvest them for spare parts fuels fear and hatred to this day. Ben brings his folklore knowledge to the topic and we discuss some pop culture and news stories that have to do with organ theft. We also look at some biological and medical limitations and examine how these theft legends differ from actual organ trafficking, which is a whole different can of kidneys.

Ben and Celestia are joined by the SciBabe, Yvette d'Entremont, to discuss the scourge of MLMs (Multilevel Marketing) companies. These organizations, some of the bordering on pyramid schemes, have a long and storied history in America. Many target women, often seeming like a good option to stay-at-home mothers eager for income and independence. But the math doesn't tell such an optimistic story, nor does the trail of shamed failed distributors, online rants, and FTC prosecutions.

We begin with Ben's breakdown of the just-released documents that show FBI involvement with Bigfoot. Then Celestia examines an "uncanny" drawing of a child that didn't exist yet. Our main topic is a deep dive into Ben's real-time analysis of psychic predictions about the Holly Bobo murder. An assortment of predictions followed predictable social scripts and serve as a good example of the vast stream-of-consciousness non-information generated whenever a widely publicized crime is unsolved.

We have several short topics this week, starting with a few news items of interest. Pascual brings us a reasoned look at 5G network coverage and how it will (and won't) impact us once mobile carriers switch over. Ben looks at one of the few "scientific" reviews of ghost EVP, and what could have improved the quality of the study. Then Celestia talks about cat folklore and a mishmosh of cat-related woo that's been peddled by well-meaning shelters who want to help get cats adopted. To round up our satchel of skepticism, Ben investigates a tangential miracle that may or may not have occurred in Fatima back in 1917 while the sun was dancing.