The Worker's Cauldron

Hey all! This week we discuss the history of Chinese Communism as it relates to the world of ghosts and demons, obviously.
Bonus: The perils of giving birth to loquacious amphibians. 

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We discuss the strange story of Bridget Cleary, an Irish woman murdered in 1895 after her husband became convinced she was a fairy.  Her death was quickly utilized by British newspapers to justify their opposition to Irish Home Rule. Along the way, we talk about gender roles, political struggle, and the fairy faith in 19th century Ireland.

Bonus Content: Is Bigfoot a modern fairy?

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Are Communists the secret descendants of Yeti?

In today's episode, we explore the influence early 20th-century antisemitism had on the ideas of the Polish sculptor Stanislav Szuchalski.  

Bonus: How to learn anatomy by dissecting your own father

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Love magic was a constant fixture of daily life in colonial New Mexico, and we discuss how accusations of witchcraft were used by the Spanish Inquisition to mediate gender, class, and racial conflict in a deeply unequal society.

Bonus content: What to do if your dog is also the Devil, the proper care and feeding of enchanted male “parts”

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Content Warning: This episode contains discussions of racism, violence, and sexual abuse that some listeners may find disturbing.

We explore the origins of the Ku Klux Klan's tradition of masquerading as ghosts. We discuss the work of pioneering Black folklorist Gladys-Marie Fry, who documented this system of supernatural psychological control in her 1975 book Night Riders in Black Folk History.

Bonus Content: Labial Lincoln

Theme Music by Ian Lee

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Why we changed our podcast from Shit Gets Weird to the Workers Cauldron

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This episode we discuss the dark folklore around Christmas and how traditions ranging from Icelandic Christmas ogresses to the American Santa Claus have evolved with changing economies and social norms.

Bonus Content: A carnivorous Christmas cat, making Yuletide scarves from the intestines of naughty children, and why getting drunk at work is the real reason for the season.

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An episode under the former podcast name of Sh** Gets Weird.

This time  we explore mass spirit possessions in Southeast Asian factories. We discuss how the histories of colonialism, Cold War atrocities, and neoliberal policies collide with traditional spiritual beliefs, and how this, in turn, informs mass protests against capitalist work discipline.

Bonus Content: spectral were-tigers, ghosts on microchips, and tampon sniffing spirits

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An episode under the former podcast name of Sh** Gets Weird.


In this episode we explore how the history of settler-colonialism brought us the trope of the "Indian Ghost." We discuss spectral Indians in European American literature, how spiritualists confronted the genocidal western settlement, why Ghost Dances became popular, and why you might have anxiety about a house build on "Indian burial grounds." Content warning: contains discussions of racism and genocide

Bonus content: Failed Ramones covers, why Sitting Bull mocked Annie Oakley.

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An episode under the former podcast name of Sh** Gets Weird.


This episode explores the ideas of Michael Taussig, an anthropologist who wrote The Devil and Commodity Fetishism, a classic in the field of Marxist anthropology. We will discuss how indigenous Andean belief systems adapted and resisted those imposed by Catholic colonizers, and its relevance to political struggle in Bolivia today.

Bonus: Why the Devil of the Mines always has a boner.

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