Strange Country

Grover Cleveland was one of those nondescript walrus-mustached presidents that everyone forgets about, but he made an impact on the life of Maria Halpin. Strange Country co-hosts explore Cleveland's shady past and shed light on a woman's story more people should know.

Theme music: Resting Place by A Cast of Thousands

Sources used:

"Cleveland signs devastating Dawes Act into law." History.com, A&E Television Networks, www.history.com/this-day-in-history/cleveland-signs-devastating-dawes-act-into-law.

Dotinga, Randy. "A Presidential Sex Scandal, 1884-Style." The Christian Science Monitor, 29 July 2011, www.csmonitor.com/Books/chapter-and-verse/2011/0729/A-presidential-sex-scandal-1884-style.

History.com Staff. "Grover Cleveland." History.com, A&E Television Networks, 2009, www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/grover-cleveland.

Keiles, Jamie Lauren. "Grover Cleveland, a Rapist President." Broadly, 26 Aug. 2015, broadly.vice.com/en_us/article/wjeeyx/grover-cleveland-a-rapist-president.

Lachman, Charles. "Grover Cleveland's Sex Scandal: The Most Despicable in American Political History." The Daily Beast, The Daily Beast Company, 23 May 2011, www.thedailybeast.com/grover-clevelands-sex-scandal-the-most-despicable-in-american-political-history.

Lachman, Charles. Secret life: The lies and scandals of president Grover Cleveland. Skyhorse Publishing, 2012.

Schupman, Edwin. "Boarding Schools: Struggling with Cultural Repression." Native Words Native Warriors, National Museum of the American Indian, www.nmai.si.edu/education/codetalkers/html/chapter3.html.

Schlossberg, Tatiana. "Love Christmas Lights? Thank the 22nd President." The New York Times, 16 Dec. 2014, www.nytimes.com/2014/12/16/us/the-history-of-christmas-lights.html.

Serratore, Angela. "President Cleveland's Problem Child." Smithsonian.com, Smithsonian Institution, 26 Sept. 2013, www.smithsonianmag.com/history/president-clevelands-problem-child-100800/.

Maybe listening to this podcast makes you feel like a chicken with its head cut off. But that means you're likely in line to make some serious cash unlike the cohosts of Strange Country. Listen to them discuss the infamous headless Mike and maybe finally give an answer to the infernal question: what came first the headless chicken or the deformed egg?

Theme music: Resting Place by A Cast of Thousands

"Common Chicken Sayings Idioms Other Funny Things We Say." BackYard Chickens, www.backyardchickens.com/articles/common-chicken-sayings-idioms-other-funny-things-we-say.47662/.

Frauenfelder, Mark. The World's Worst: A Guide to the Most Disgusting, Hideous, Inept, and Dangerous People, Places, and Things on Earth , May 5, 2005.

Cite your source for the love of chicken:

"Making Money From a Headless Chicken. Plucking Oppoertunity in the US" Sept. 12, 2015. The Island. http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=131629. Accessed Feb. 2018.

Silverman , Steve. "Einsteins refrigerator : And other stories|EINSTEINS REFRIGERATOR - KYMQFPDWWLI VQ." Google Sites, sites.google.com/site/kymqfpdwwlivq/einsteins-refrigerator-and-other-stories-einsteins-refrigerator.

"The Chicken that Lived Without a Head for 18 Months." September 2015. The BBC

Do you believe in UFOs? Alien abductions? In the 1960s, there were a slew of these reports, the most famous being Betty and Barney Hill who claimed they were abducted and experimented on by aliens. Strange Country co-hosts Beth and Kelly explore this phenomena and uncover deep truths about themselves, mainly that Beth has no idea how to say dachshund.

Theme music: Resting Place by A Cast of Thousands

Sources and more sources:

Blumenthal, Ralph. "On the Trail of a Secret Pentagon U.F.O. Program." New York Times, 18 Dec. 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/12/18/insider/secret-pentagon-ufo-program.html.

Carey, Benedict. "Explaining Those Vivid Memories of Martian Kidnappers." New York Times, 9 Aug. 2005, www.nytimes.com/2005/08/09/health/explaining-those-vivid-memories-of-martian-kidnappers.html.

Colavito, Jason. "Alien Abduction at the Outer Limits." Jason Colavito, www.jasoncolavito.com/alien-abduction-at-the-outer-limits.html.

"Exeter UFO Festival." Exeter UFO Festival, www.exeterufofestival.org/.

Fox, Margalit. "Betty Hill, 85, Figure in Alien Abduction Case, Dies." New York Times, 23 Oct. 2004, www.nytimes.com/2004/10/23/us/betty-hill-85-figure-in-alien-abduction-case-dies.html.

Friedman, Stanton T., and Kathleen Marden. Captured!: the Betty and Barney Hill UFO experience. New Page Books, 2007.

Fuller, John G. The Interrupted Journey. Dial Press, First eBook edition 2015, books.google.com/books?id=i-xWDQAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_atb#v=onepage&q&f=false.

Harris, Paul. "Cold War Hysteria Sparked UFO Obsession, Study Finds." The Guardian, 5 May 2002, www.theguardian.com/science/2002/may/05/spaceexploration.research.

History.com Staff. "History of UFOs." History.com, A&E Television Networks, 2009, www.history.com/topics/history-of-ufos.

McGaha, James, and Joe Nickel. "'Exeter Incident' Solved! A Classic UFO Case, Forty-Five Years 'Cold'." CSI, 2011, www.csicop.org/si/show/exeter_incident_solved_a_classic_ufo_case_forty-five_years_cold.

Radford, Benjamin. "Alien Abduction: Looking Back at America's First Case." LiveScience, Purch, 17 Apr. 2009, www.livescience.com/3530-alien-abduction-america-case.html.

Watson, Nigel. "The Hill Abduction." SkepticReport, www.skepticreport.com/sr/?p=156.

Warren G. Harding is usually the first on the list of worst presidents....until now. But what is really strange is his death. Or is it? Co-hosts Beth and Kelly explore the death of Harding and dispel the myth that his wife had anything to do with although Kelly wouldn't blame her if she did. The bigger mystery is who is Jerry???

Theme music: Resting Place by A Cast of Thousands

Cite your sources:

Beck, Julie. "Americanitis: The Disease of Living Too Fast." The Atlantic, 11 Mar. 2016, www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2016/03/the-history-of-neurasthenia-or-americanitis-health-happiness-and-culture/473253/. Accessed 16 Jan. 2018.

Bomboy, Scott. "Generations Later, President Warren Harding's Sudden Death Recalled." Constitution Daily, 1 Aug. 2017, constitutioncenter.org/blog/after-90-years-president-warren-hardings-death-still-unsettled.

Eschner, Kate. "Florence Harding, Not Eleanor Roosevelt, May Have Created the Modern First Lady." Smithsonian.Com, 15 Aug. 2017, www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/florence-harding-roosevelt-modern-first-lady-180964486/. Accessed 16 Jan. 2018.

Ferrell, Robert H. The strange deaths of President Harding. University of Missouri Press, 1996.

"First Lady Biography: Florence Harding." National First Ladies' Library, www.firstladies.org/biographies/firstladies.aspx?biography=30. Accessed 16 Jan. 2018.

Greenspan, Jesse. "The Unexpected Death of President Harding, 90 Years Ago." History.com, 2 Aug. 2013, www.history.com/news/the-unexpected-death-of-president-harding-90-years-ago. Accessed 16 Jan. 2018.

Smith, Jordan Michael. "The Letters that Warren G. Harding's Family Didn't Want You to See." The New York Times Magazine, 7 July 2014, www.nytimes.com/2014/07/13/magazine/letters-warren-g-harding.html?_r=0.

Kang, Lydia, and Nate Pedersen. Quackery: A Brief History of the Worst Ways to Cure Everything. New York, Workman Publishing, 2017.

Markel, Howard. "The 'Strange' Death of Warren G. Harding." PBS News Hour, 2 Aug. 2015, www.pbs.org/newshour/health/strange-death-warren-harding.

Nawsaw, David. "Worst Lady? The Wife of Warren Harding May Have Been the First Lady of Deceit." The New York Times, 2 Aug. 1998, Books sec. The New York Times On The Web, www.nytimes.com/ books/98/08/02/reviews/980802.02nasawt.html. Accessed 16 Jan. 2018.

Tolson, Jay. "Worst Presidents: Warren Harding (1921-1923)." U.S. News & World Report, 16 Feb. 2007, www.usnews.com/news/special-reports/the-worst-presidents/articles/2014/12/17/ worst-presidents-warren-harding-1921-1923. Accessed 16 Jan. 2018.

Hang onto your muffs! Or at least hide it on your leg so Cordelia Loomis can't get to it. Strange Country Episode 25 is all about the Loomis Gang, a family of horse thieves who stole horses and a bunch of other stuff in the mid-1800s near Cazenovia NY. Hey isn't that where Cazenovia Bagels is?

Cite Your Sources Man…

Thompson, W. Harold. Body, Boots & Britches. Dover Publications, New York. 1962

Loomis family- horse thieves, used the Erie canal to Albany and sell the horses to the Army. PA to Canada- their network. The Civil War was very profitable for the gang.

http://www.oneidadispatch.com/article/OD/20060515/NEWS/305159997

https://beekman1802.com/the-loomis-gang/

https://www.watervillepl.org/wp-content/uploads//2013/05/LoomisFamilyHistory.pdf

https://www.theoutbound.com/new-york/kayaking/paddle-the-nine-mile-swamp

http://www.cnyhomepage.com/news/hidden-history-wash-loomis-part-1/847890340

https://cnyartifactrecovery.wordpress.com/2013/11/15/loomis-gang/

http://reprints.longform.org/loomis-gang

The Loomis Gang Brian Peter Falk documentary.

When you feel a slight cold coming on, do you have the desire to dig up a dead family member and burn his heart for your cure? If so, then this episode is for you. Strange Country explores the anti-vampire rituals in 18th- and 19th-century New England that were used to ward off consumption. While it may suck, this episode sure doesn't.

Theme music: Resting Place by A Cast of Thousands

Sources used:

Bard, Megan . "In 1854, Vampire Panic Struck Connecticut Town." The Register Citizen, 8 Nov. 2008, www.registercitizen.com/news/article/In-1854-vampire-panic-struck-Connecticut-town-12156066.php.

Bell, Michael E. Food for the dead: on the trail of New Englands vampires. Wesleyan University Press, 2011.

Bendici, Ray. "The Jewett City Vampires, Griswold." Damned Connecticut, www.damnedct.com/the-jewett-city-vampires-griswold.

Johnson, Kirk. "28 Graves Giving Up Secrets of the 1700's." The New York Times, 10 Sept. 1992, www.nytimes.com/1992/09/10/nyregion/28-graves-giving-up-secrets-of-the-1700-s.html.

Little, Becky. "The Bloody Truth About Vampires." National Geographic, National Geographic Society, 27 Oct. 2016, news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/10/vampires-europe-new-england-halloween-history/.

Mandal, MD Dr Ananya. "History of Tuberculosis." News-Medical.net, 30 Oct. 2017, www.news-medical.net/health/History-of-Tuberculosis.aspx.

Odone, Jamison. "Poor Nancy Young, the Suspected Teen Vampire of Rhode Island." Atlas Obscura, Atlas Obscura, 10 Jan. 2017, www.atlasobscura.com/articles/poor-nancy-young-the-suspected-teen-vampire-of-rhode-island.

Pringle, Heather. "Archaeologists Suspect Vampire Burial; An Undead Primer." National Geographic, National Geographic Society, 15 July 2013, news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/07/130715-vampire-archaeology-burial-exorcism-anthropology-grave/.

Thomson, Samuel. New guide to health: or, Botanic family physician. Containing a complete system of practice, upon a plan entirely new: with a description of the vegetables made use of, and directions for preparing and administering them to cure disease. To which is added a description of several cases of disease attended by the author, with the mode of treatment and cure. Vt., 1851, archive.org/details/cihm_01684.

Tucker, Abigail. "The Great New England Vampire Panic." Smithsonian.com, Smithsonian Institution, 1 Oct. 2012, www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-great-new-england-vampire-panic-36482878/.

Nothing…not too much wine or Hermione the cat laying on the computer keyboard and pausing the show mid word can stop co-hosts Beth and Kelly from diving into the deep, dark depths of the Patricia Hearst kidnapping. On Feb. 4, 1974, three members to the Symbionese Liberation Army, crashed into Hearst's apartment, threw the newspaper heiress into the trunk and continued their failed revolution. Beth and Kelly also learn much about themselves—mainly that Beth refuses to be defined by driving a minivan.

Theme music: Resting Place by A Cast of Thousands

Sources used:

The Lost Tapes: Patty Hearst. Smithsonian Channel, www.smithsonianchannel.com/shows/the-lost-tapes/patty-hearst/1004513/3437440.

Toobin, Jeffrey. American heiress: the kidnapping, crimes and trial of Patty Hearst. Profile Books, 2017.

What kind of capitalist are you? Did you play Monopoly for hours with your family in hopes of owning all the land and hoarding all the money? Guess what? That's not how the game was originally meant to be played. And remember the sweet story of the inventor of Monopoly, Charles Darrow, a poor man, destitute and desperate to support his wife and children on a lowly electrician's salary-only to come to amazing riches once he invented and sold the exciting game of Monopoly to the Parker Brothers monopoly? That's not how the game was originally invented either.

It was all the works of the brilliant Lizzie Magie, who owned the patent for the Landlord's Game-the original monopoly game, which by the way included the anti-monopoly version.

Join us for the tale of Lizzie, a woman who is very likely related to Beth, and a woman who said one of our most favorite quotes ever, "I'm glad I was taught how to think, not what to think."

Enjoy our 22nd episode and we'll take Atlantic Avenue, with a couple of little green houses.

Theme music: Resting Place by A Cast of Thousands

Cite Your Sources Man...

Anspach, Mark. Anti-Monoploy Inc. Anti-Monopoly Inc. 2015-2016.

Dodson, Edward J. "The True History of the Monopoly Game" Henrygeorge.org. Henry George Institute. 2017

Pilon, Mary. The monopolists: obsession, fury, and the scandal behind the worlds favorite board game. Bloomsbury, 2016.

Pilon, Mary. "Monopoly's Inventor: The Progressive Who Did Not Pass Go." The New York Times. Feb. 13, 2015. https://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/15/business/behind-monopoly-an-inventor-who-didnt-pass-go.html?rref=collection%2Fbyline%2Fmary-pilon&action=click&contentCollection=undefined®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=4&pgtype=collection

The Bell Witch tormented the Bell family for four years starting in 1817, according to a reporter named Martin V.B. Ingram who wrote the definitive, but terrible book in 1894. Beth slogged through the book until she couldn't take it anymore and marvels that the legend sustained itself. Listen as Strange Country attempts to coherently tell this story from a most incoherent book. Beth manages to get in a reference to Tommy Wiseau's The Room and, Kelly only yawns twice!!

Theme music: Resting Place by A Cast of Thousands

Cite your sources:

Bell, Richard Williams, and M. Todd Cathey. Our family trouble: the story of the Bell Witch of Tennessee. M. Todd Cathey, 2013.

"Home of the Bell Witch." The Bell Witch Cave, www.bellwitchcave.com/ghost_hauntings/bell_witch.htm

Ingram, M. V. An authenticated history of the famous Bell witch: the wonder of the 19th century, and unexplained phenomenon of the Christian Era ; the mysterious talking goblin that terrorized the west end of Robertson County, Tennessee, tormenting John Bell to his death ; the story of Betsy Bell, her lover and the haunting sphinx. Lowood Press, 2011. Originally published in 1894.

Lew, Josh. "The spooky history of Bell Witch Cave." MNN - Mother Nature Network, Mother Nature Network, 5 June 2017, www.mnn.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/stories/spooky-history-of-bell-witch-cave.

Nickel, Joe. "The 'Bell Witch' Poltergeist." CSI, Jan./Feb. 2014, www.csicop.org/si/show/the_bell_witch_poltergeist.

Young, Nicole. "Psychic: I know the real Bell Witch story." USA Today, 27 Oct. 2015, www.usatoday.com/story/life/nation-now/2015/10/27/psychic-bell-witch-story/74713998/.

How do you define eccentricity? Dr. David Weeks decided to find out what makes an eccentric an eccentric and studied a whole bunch in 1984. Learn if you're one by listening to Strange Country Episode 20. Oh, and Beth really does not like FCC Chairman Ajit Pai.