Tracing Owls

Matt and Angel lose their minds digging through the questionable origins of beloved international cryptids! 

Starting a cryptid podcast just as a fun way to talk about monsters, their desire for proper research oftentimes leads them head first into the dark underbelly of our historical past they never anticipate! Cultural appropriation, colonial imperialism, and even blatant racism have been a staple of cryptozoology since its inception. 

Has this changed at all in modern times, or are we now repurposing these stolen cultural icons to sell cheap products to the masses? To answer this, we also take a brief dive into Matt and Angel's favorite pastime: Discussing shitty cryptid movies! We almost get eaten by ghost sharks along the way 🤣

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Huge THANK YOU!!! to Matt and Angel from Cracking Cryptids and Curios for sharing their first guest appearance with my show, providing so many hard laughs along the way and giving me a sense of hope that casual cryptid podcasts can actually do great research and focus on the cultural complexity of these topics ❤️

Check out their podcast Cracking Cryptids and Curios HERE

Follow them on Twitter @CrackingCurios or Instagram @crackingcryptids

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Send us suggestions and comments to [email protected]

Follow us on Instagram @tracingowls or Twitter @TracingOwls

Check our Linktree: linktr.ee/tracingowls

Intro sampled from "Something strange lurks in the shadows" by Francisco Sánchez (@fanchisanchez)

Sound effects obtained from https://www.zapsplat.com

Puxley is back to lose some more credibility as we attempt to shit talk UFO Twitter, but end up being fucked by the Trickster! Due to technical issues and IRL matters we ended up botching this recording session, so it is uploaded for your listening displeasure!

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Huge THANK YOU!!! to Puxley for just sitting down to hang out and have some fun ❤️

If you wish to reach out to Puxley, follow him on Mastodon @[email protected]

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Send us suggestions and comments to [email protected]

Follow us on Instagram @tracingowls or Twitter @TracingOwls

Check our Linktree: linktr.ee/tracingowls

Sound effects obtained from https://www.zapsplat.com

Dr. Jack Hunter administers a healthy dose of ecological and animistic thought into our pre-concieved notions on the nature of paranormal phenomena! 

He is an anthropologist exploring the borderlands of consciousness, religion, ecology and the paranormal, with his book "Greening the Paranormal" emphasizing the inherent connections between paranormal phenomena and the natural processes in our environment. 

Today, I put my biologist cap on and sat down with Dr. Hunter to discuss physical mediumship, the connections between animistic and Gaianistic thought, symbiosis as a driving force of evolution, and how multidisciplinary approaches may help us better understand the complexity of phenomena.

I highly recommend reading his book "Greening the Paranormal: Exploring the Ecology of Extraordinary Experience", which you may find on Amazon

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Huge THANK YOU!!! to Dr. Jack Hunter for being such a nice, open and thoughtful guest! This was my first time ever interviewing an academic, and Dr. Hunter openly conversed with me as with a peer ❤️

Follow Dr. Hunter on Instagram @drjackhunter or Facebook at DrJackHunter

Check out his website as well at jack-hunter.webstarts.com

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Send us suggestions and comments to [email protected]

Follow us on Instagram @tracingowls or Twitter @TracingOwls

Check our Linktree: linktr.ee/tracingowls

Intro sampled from "Something strange lurks in the shadows" by Francisco Sánchez (@fanchisanchez)

Sound effects obtained from https://www.zapsplat.com

Lizz shares her experience being haunted by a pesky poltergeist, who even makes an appearance on today's show! 

Fooling around with an Ouija board as part of her former podcast, Lizz unintentionally summoned a noisy ghost which has been plaguing her ever since with knocks, spilled cereal and flying shoes! 

Moving to a different apartment, she found herself yet again facing tricksterish pranks from this uninvited squatter who refuses to pay the rent. She eventually accepts her miserable fate, lowering her standards enough to end up on my show! 🤣

If by any chance you're single and would like to mingle with this ghost, try looking it up on GhostSingles.com

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Huge THANK YOU!!! to Lizz from You Should Have Ghosted Podcast for briefly rising out of her podcasting grave to share this haunting tale! 🤣

Check out the ghost of her recently deceased podcast You Should Have Ghosted HERE

Follow her on Instagram @youshouldhaveghosted

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Send us suggestions and comments to [email protected]

Follow us on Instagram @tracingowls or Twitter @TracingOwls

Check our Linktree: linktr.ee/tracingowls

Intro sampled from "Something strange lurks in the shadows" by Francisco Sánchez (@fanchisanchez)

Sound effects obtained from https://www.zapsplat.com

For Halloween, Landen shares spooky stories of his former job as an autopsy technician! 

Spending almost 8 years of his life in the death investigation field, he has witnessed quite a fair share of disturbing sights: broken bones, dismemberment, castration, maggots and even liquefied remains, all in a day's work! 

But after getting used to the smell of blood and rot, you start to realize that the single most terrifying aspect of death... is its unforeseen exposure of our own ineptitude in living!

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Huge THANK YOU!!! to Landen from Autopsy. Podcast for consistently fucking my show over by bringing up disturbing stuff nobody ever wanted to know! I "totally" did not ask for any of this beforehand 🤣

Check out his podcast, creatively named Autopsy. HERE

If you are tired of real corpses and wish to listen to discussion on fake ones, check his new podcast Horror Makes You Brave HERE

Follow Landen on Instagram @autopsypodcast or Twitter @autopsy_podcast

Check out his website as well at www.autopsypod.com (yes, he is semi-professional)

Also,  if you can't get enough of his logo, which is not stroke inducing like my own logo, check out his SWAG HERE

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Send us suggestions and comments to [email protected]

Follow us on Instagram @tracingowls or Twitter @TracingOwls

Check our Linktree: linktr.ee/tracingowls

Intro sampled from "Something strange lurks in the shadows" by Francisco Sánchez (@fanchisanchez)

Sound effects obtained from https://www.zapsplat.com

Is the purpose behind paranormal phenomena to shatter our sense of self? Gradually chipping away at our manufactured identity until we are left exposed to the collective consciousness surrounding us? 

And is there an invisible ecology of consciousness we are able to tap into once our individual barriers are demolished? I sure as hell don't know, but my ignorance and blindness never stopped me from rambling in a quasi-intellectual manner! 

Today I express my personal thoughts on individuality, monism, the role of ego death in spiritual enlightenment, and even loss of identity as a process of establishing communication with the overarching source of our consciousness.

For a more well-researched discussion on these topics grab a copy of Joshua Cutchin's new book Ecology of Souls: A New Mythology of Death & the Paranormal

For another take on this topic, also check out Aliens: The First and Final Disclosure , a new book by Jeremy Vaeni

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Send us suggestions and comments to [email protected]

Follow us on Instagram @tracingowls or Twitter @TracingOwls

Check our Linktree: linktr.ee/tracingowls

Sound effects obtained from https://www.zapsplat.com

A mysterious British gentleman joins to share his life history of high strangeness. 

Starting with terrifying events which imprinted onto him since early childhood, Puxley has been haunted by a plethora of paranormal phenomena for the past 5 decades: Poltergeist activity, levitation, time displacement, spook lights, manifested objects, albino deer and even a gnome encounter, to name a few. 

Could all of this be a hitchhiker effect perpetually haunting him? Or is this the result of Puxley residing in the vicinity of Stonehenge? We don't know, and frankly we don't even care! 

My guest does not seek publicity, sensationalism or any explanation of his experiences, only an authentic conversation with someone who will listen to an honest genuine man sharing his story. Along the way we also discuss synchronicities, psychedelics, the complexity of our inner ecosystem, and how phenomena leads to death of ego and unity with the overarching natural world.

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Huge THANK YOU!!! to Puxley for asking me to participate in this conversation. He later expressed that the experience of sharing his story had a very therapeutic effect and opened new doors for him to start piecing together the meaning behind these events ❤️

If you wish to reach out to Puxley, follow him on Twitter @JohnyMeatSack

...well fuck, he deleted Twitter, so reach out to him on Mastodon @[email protected]

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Send us suggestions and comments to [email protected]

Follow us on Instagram @tracingowls or Twitter @TracingOwls

Check our Linktree: linktr.ee/tracingowls

Erin from Myth Monsters helps subvert the role of female monsters in Classic Greek mythology! 

Medusa, Harpies, even the The Chimera for centuries have been used as slaying fodder of manly heroes hellbent on displaying their masculinity, to the detriment of the much subtler feminine natural forces. Just look at the story of Hades and Persephone (also discussed). 

Are the feminine monsters of myth a cultural reflection of an overarching social issue we still face nowadays, and how do we rectify this? 

Today we discuss contemporary society's reclaiming of the monstrous feminine, why monsters are much more intricate than heroes, and we even delve a bit into the portrayal of classic mythology in the gaming world! Yes, girls play games too, and oftentimes much more creatively ❤️

FACTUAL CORRECTION: I kinda used the term Harpy to refer to Sirens and probably confused poor Erin. It seems Sirens were officially the ladies punished by Demeter. Greek mythology is more convoluted than X-Men comics! To be fair, both Harpies and Sirens are bird-women, and equally badass 🤣

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Huge THANK YOU!!! to Erin from Myth Monsters Podcast for sharing her vast mythological knowledge, personal belief system and swaying the episode into a very intricate cultural and sociological discussion which reminds how mythology is still important even in today's world ❤️

Check out her podcast Myth Monsters HERE , remember, it's spelled Myth, not Mythical 🤣

Follow them on Twitter @mythmonsterspod or Instagram @mythmonsterspodcast

Check out their website as well at mythmonsters.co.uk 

Support them on Patreon at www.patreon.com/mythmonsters

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Send us suggestions and comments to [email protected]

Follow us on Instagram @tracingowls or Twitter @TracingOwls

Check our Linktree: linktr.ee/tracingowls

Intro sampled from "Something strange lurks in the shadows" by Francisco Sánchez (@fanchisanchez)

Sound effects obtained from https://www.zapsplat.com

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FURTHER READING:

How a Medusa Sculpture From a Decade Ago Became #MeToo Art | New York Times

Problems in Greek Mythology and the Me Too Movement

Harpies: Terrifying Bird-Women of Greek Mythology

The Ancient Greek Goddess Chimera Embodied Fear of Females

Bellerophon - The Works of Chivalry

Kidnapped! The Shocking Story Of Persephone And Hades

We are proud to present our long-awaited community project! Strange Semantics is an in-depth look at the language that we use to  describe this incredible field that we find ourselves in. Terms like paranormal, supernatural, otherworldly, supranatural, supernormal, paraweird, and Fortean are examined through the input of 30 of the most fascinating people in the Fortean community. Podcasters, authors, philosophers, and artists from all over the world provide invaluable  insight on a criminally overlooked aspect of Fortean studies. So, sit back and enjoy a trip across the spectrum of paranormal research!

Listen to the project on Campfire: Tales of the Strange and Unsettling:

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/strange-semantics/id1577035566?i=1000583282928

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3b7tbySaeeksl2SOnlM8ap?si=c1367a8cf7bd4017

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Huge THANK YOU!!! to ALL of our collaborators listed below who made this project possible! We have been so excited to share all of your voices and hear what the phenomenon means to you and how it shapes your creative endeavors ❤️

Aaron Deese, host of Hey Strangeness, author of the upcoming book The Texas Dogman Triangle

Abby Carroll, paranormal investigator, host of Mysteries of the Past & Present on YouTube

Ainsley Cullen, paranormal investigator and blogger at Sydney Spooks⠀

Alan B. Smith, host of Paranormal Now and Coffee & UFOs, creator of HALF LIGHT documentary

AP Strange, discordian weirdo and donut wizard, friend to goblins everywhere

Belief Hole, podcast hosted by 3 brothers, covering conspiracies and the paranormal

Christopher F Cogswell, PhD, host and creator of The Mad Scientist Podcast

Chris Xydas, artist and sculptor at Cryptid Curio

Cole Herrold, researcher for the New World Explorers Society

Dasos Crowsong, druid, writer, crafter and head wand maker at Morgan’s Wand Emporium⠀

David Perkins, fortean writer, researcher and expert in the cattle mutilation phenomenon

Fred Andersson, mystery aficionado, writer and fortean television producer

Greg Bishop, author, publisher of The Excluded Middle, host of Radio Misterioso

Heather Moser, author, folklorist and researcher for Small Town Monsters

Jeff Foran, artist and creator behind Strangeology

Dr. Jack Hunter, author, anthropologist and fortean researcher

Jeremy Vaeni, author, host of Paratopia Podcast and former alien abductee

Joshua Cutchin, author, musician, researcher and comparative folklorist

Dr. Karen Stollznow, doctor of linguistics, researcher, author and host of Monster Talk⠀

Karly Latham, aka The Village Tarot Witch, practicing medium, tarot reader, writer and artist⠀

Lisa and Shane, hosts of Dark Notes Podcast and experiencers of high strangeness

Lon Strickler, Fortean researcher, published author, creator of Phantoms & Monsters

Luke Greensmith, writer, folklorist, filmmaker, creator of LukeLore Podcast

Marc Storrs, graphic designer, web nerd and host of Cryptonaut Podcast⠀⠀

Matthew Schang, experiencer, community-builder and host of Mothboys Podcast⠀

Molly Briggs, writer for Paranormality Magazine, host of Weird Like Me UFOs and Other Phenomenon Podcast

Rick Belcher,  Bigfoot fanboy, community-builder and host of Spooks, Creeps & Assorted Devilries Podcast

Stephanie Quick, writer, synchronicity-seeker and researcher of erotic mysticism⠀⠀

Todd Purse, artist, musician, comic creator and host of Create Magic Podcast

Local Delawarian Todd joins for a wacky unmasking of the Selbyville Swamp Monster! Back in 1964 Fred Stevens, a resident of Selbyville, Delaware, decided to sell a load of newspapers by dressing up as a monster, carrying a spiked bat and scaring the living daylights out of unwary drivers! 

A few dead chickens and drunk shooters later, Fred was forced to abandon the mantle of The Swamp Monster... yet even decades later people still keep witnessing Dat Gosh-Darn Swamp Monster!

However, the swamp monster is only the tip of the anomalous iceberg that is Sussex County: Decapitated ghost girls, witch trees, phantom cars, misplaced kangaroos, sentient UFOs and even the Catman's graveyard, there are many more liminal residents who call the surrounding area home! 

Could Sussex County be an actual window area hidden right beneath our noses... or is this stench of high strangeness just the result of us pulling stuff out of our asses? Ask any skeptic, they will tell you it's all just swamp gas!

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R.I.P. William Frederick Stevens, a.k.a. "The Swamp Monster"! (1937 - 2021)

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Huge THANK YOU!!! to Todd Purse for radiating with so much enthusiasm and positive energy, but also for the amazing episode artwork he created!

If you wish to see more art like this, follow Todd on Instagram @toddde85

Check Todd's new spooky season podcast Weird Coffee for more creepy Delaware legends!

Check Todd's regular podcast Create Magic - Daily Weirdo Art

...and support him by visiting his website www.createmagicstudios.com

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Episode artwork by Todd Purse @toddde85

Send us suggestions and comments to [email protected]

Follow us on Instagram @tracingowls or Twitter @TracingOwls

Check our Linktree: linktr.ee/tracingowls

Outro music obtained from https://www.zapsplat.com

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FURTHER READING:

Frederick Stevens - Obituary - Bishop-Hastings Funeral Home

Selbyville Swamp Monster: Fact or Fiction | ShoreBread

The Witch's Tree & the Selbyville Swamp Monster

Selbyville Swamp Monster ~ The Crypto Crew

Catman - An Urban Legend - Puzzle Box Horror

12 Creepy Stories and Urban Legends from Delaware - Ranker

Denver Michaels (2018): Detours into the Paranormal: Atlantic City Road Trip.

George Mitrovic (2020): Amazing Encounters with Monsters and Mysteries of East Coast North America- Volume 1: Connecticut to New Jersey.

Josh Hitchens (2021): Haunted History of Delaware. The History Press