This week on The Box of Oddities, it's Freak Family Friday—our sacred ritual of opening the email portal and unleashing your most unsettling, hilarious, and "wait, is this even legal?" listener stories. Plus, we’re digging into the archive crypt to resurrect some of your most requested weirdest-of-the-weird episodes.

Listener love, spine-tingling flashbacks and enough oddities to make a taxidermist weep with joy—this episode is stitched together with your weirdest, wildest, most wonderful words.

#BoxOfOddities #WeirdPodcast #TrueWeird #HauntedInbox #ListenerStories #CreepyEmails #FreakFamilyFriday #PodcastRecommendations #OddButTrue #AbsurdHistory

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Why does a six-story elephant loom over the Jersey Shore like a Victorian kaiju? And what kind of dystopian mollusk surveillance program is Poland running these days? In this episode of The Box of Oddities, Kat and Jethro investigate the bizarre legacy of Lucy the Elephant. This 138-year-old wooden behemoth once moonlighted as a real estate lure, a tavern, and possibly the most haunted elephant architecture in history.

Then it’s off to Warsaw, where the city’s water purity is guarded not by scientists but by clams—actual clams—with jobs. Learn how these shelled sentinels are hooked up to biometric sensors and become the unsung bivalve heroes of municipal hygiene.

A pachyderm with a history. Mollusks with a mission. Just another day in the oddiverse.

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In this episode of The Box of Oddities, we begin with the extraordinary life—and tragic death—of Khaled al-Asaad, the Syrian archaeologist who courageously protected the ancient city of Palmyra from destruction. Refusing to reveal the location of hidden treasures, he faced unspeakable brutality to ensure the survival of irreplaceable history. His legacy is carved not in stone but in sacrifice.

Then, from solemnity to sheer absurdity, we dive headfirst into The Great Stork Derby—a 1930s Canadian legal spectacle where a millionaire’s will turned childbirth into a competitive sport. Yes, a real-life baby-making contest. What happens when estate law meets aggressive procreation? A weirdly fertile lawsuit.

Two stories: one man dies for ancient artifacts; several women compete for a fortune by having the most artifacts.

Heroism and hilarity. Antiquity and maternity. Welcome to The Box.

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Inbox of Oddities #043: The Duck, the Frog, and the Glitch in the Gas Station Matrix

In this electrifying edition of the Inbox of Oddities, the Freakverse flexes hard. A lonely duck returns with backup, a frog named Jeffrey maybe poisons a listener via tongue-torch, and the plumbing gods get petty when mocked. Also in this episode: mail-predicting cats and a bathroom mirror that knocks back.

Listener tales of the absurd, uncanny, and accidentally profound. Is the universe trying to tell us something? Maybe. Is it doing so through ceiling fans and ducks with vendettas? Definitely.

Submit your stories. Fly your freak flag. And remember: if your backyard starts shrinking or your cat joins the postal service… you're probably not alone.

#InboxOfOddities #BoxOfOddities #StayWeird #GlitchInTheMatrix #DuckRevenge #FreakVerse #WeirdStories #SupernaturalHumor

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What do a mysterious metal orb and a sadistic ultramarathon have in common? They’re both ready to ruin your weekend—and they’re both in this episode of The Box of Oddities.

First, Kat and Jethro roll into the strange saga of the Betz Sphere—a shiny, sentient-looking ball discovered in Florida that might be haunted, alien... or just really into Foghat. Then, lace up for the Barkley Marathons, the grueling backwoods race that has chewed up Navy SEALs and spit out their shoelaces. With no official start time, no GPS, and a course mapped in blood and sarcasm, it’s less “fun run” and more “forest-based psychological thriller.”

From paranormal spheres to sadistic sprints, this episode dives headfirst into the bizarre. Because who needs sanity when you’ve got The Box of Oddities?

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In this episode of The Box of Oddities, things get weird—fast. First, JG explores the chilling legend and even chillier reality of Wendigo psychosis—a rare (and horrifyingly real) condition where individuals become obsessed with consuming human flesh. Spoiler: It’s not a new fad diet. Then, Kat balances the darkness with heartwarming stories of random acts of kindness that didn’t just make someone’s day—they triggered astonishing ripple effects across lives, time zones, and possibly dimensions. It’s cannibalism meets compassion, because why not?

Tune in for a mind-bending blend of the macabre, mysterious, and meaningful, delivered with the trademark curiosity and humor you expect from The Box of Oddities.

Whether you're into dark folklore, psychological anomalies, or unexpected tearjerkers, this episode has your weird little heart covered.

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What do a duck with refined musical taste, a prophetic child, a phantom couch with mom-guilt, and a mysterious man named “Lars” (who pays in silver and fears airborne horsefish) all have in common? In this latest Inbox of Oddities episode, they’re all real tales from you, the wonderfully weird freak family.

Join Kat and JG as they dive headfirst into listener-submitted stories featuring:

Plus: meet the man who wants a Heineken in his cold dead hand, a taco-bearing dream intruder with your Gmail password, and the legend of the village that said, “Yes, we will roll cannonballs down Main Street.”

Weird? Absolutely. Heartwarming? Surprisingly. Hilarious? Always. The freak flag flies high in this one.

#Podcast #WeirdStories #SleepParalysis #Paranormal #BoxOfOddities #InboxOfOddities #HauntedHouse #TimeLoop #GhostSignals #PodcastCommunity #ListenerStories #TrueWeirdness #DuckTalesButWeirder

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Operation Highjump and Tycho Brahe

Was Antarctica the site of a secret Nazi UFO battle? And did a 16th-century astronomer really keep a pet elk... that kept falling down the stairs? In this delightfully peculiar episode of The Box of Oddities, Kat and Jethro dive deep into the chilling conspiracy theories behind Operation Highjump, a U.S. Navy mission shrouded in mystery, paranoia—and possibly interdimensional penguins. Then, it’s off to the Renaissance, where the brilliant but wildly eccentric Tycho Brahe charts the stars while hosting epic parties, wearing a brass nose, and feuding with a man over math (which ends precisely how you'd expect).

Join us as we explore the weird, the wonderful, and the questionably historical. Because when facts get strange, we dig stranger.

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In this episode of The Box of Oddities, Kat, and Jethro unbox a double dose of historical weirdness and cultural curiosity. First, meet Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher—Prussian war hero, chaos gremlin, and the kind of guy who believed he was pregnant with an elephant. (Spoiler: He wasn’t.) His wild behavior helped defeat Napoleon but also raised a few powdered eyebrows.

Then, we head to the island of Pere in Papua New Guinea, where death isn’t just a biological inconvenience—it’s a suspicious social faux pas. In these ancient belief systems, people don’t just die… someone causes it. Naturally. Because obviously.

Ghosts, generals, and a little gastrointestinal confusion—what more could you want?

🎧 Tap play for bizarre military delusions and deeply-held death conspiracies from cultures that see the afterlife very differently.

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#WeirdHistory #DeathCulture #BoxOfOddities #TrueWeird #BlücherFacts #PapuaNewGuinea #Oddcast

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The Inbox of Oddities is a delightful bonus episode where Kat and Jethro dive into the treasure trove of listener emails, comments, and messages sent by you—the ever-curious Freak Family. From spine-tingling personal encounters with the paranormal to bizarre trivia, mysterious coincidences, and even a touch of the hilariously strange, this episode is a wild ride of oddities shared by the ones who make this community so unique. Tune in for heartfelt stories, jaw-dropping revelations, and the twisted humor that makes every episode of The Box of Oddities an unforgettable experience.

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