Our last episode of Season 1! The Walter E. Fernald School was initially created in 1848 to house mentally-disabled children and train them to lead productive, independent lives, but ended up becoming an abusive, sub-standard institution with horrifying conditions run by a proud advocate of the eugenics movement.

Content Warning: This episode contains depictions of graphic violence that some people may find disturbing, as well as descriptions of physical and sexual abuse against children.

Timecodes:

19:12-19:31 graphic description

19:31-20:49 physical & sexual abuse

20:49-25:00 illegal experimentation

25:00-26:20 deaths

We discuss the concept of HBO's The Last of Us, in honor of the season one finale that aired Sunday night. Due to the warming climate, could the very real Cordyceps fungi (AKA zombie-ant fungi) somehow evolve to infect humans like it infects insects, essentially turning us into a race of mind-controlled zombies? No spoilers, promise - we only talk about the premise of the show (which is revealed in the first five minutes of the pilot).

Tell us your thoughts - should we be worried?! TikTok & Instagram: @twoblackcatspod

In 2018, 33 scientists published a paper in a scientific journal arguing that octopus eggs and/or viruses were carried to earth by a comet that crashed during the Cambrian explosion millions of years ago, seeding the planet with these creatures.

Do you think octopuses are from outer space? Let us know on our Instagram or Tiktok accounts (@twoblackcatspod)!

FYI we'll be going away for a couple weeks - thanks for being awesome and see you on March 14th!

For years, fishermen and villagers living near Lake Baikal in Siberia have told of strange lights coming from under the water, humanoid "silver swimmers", and mysterious flying objects.

Tiktok & Instagram: @twoblackcatspod

Duh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh MOTHMAN! In this episode we venture into the world of cryptids for the first time, and it takes us to the 1960s in Point Pleasant, West Virginia, when residents began reporting sights of a winged humanoid creature with glowing red eyes.

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Bob Lazar claims he worked at Area 51 in the late 80s reverse-engineering alien spacecraft. Is he telling the truth?

With guest Sarah Scherer!

Tiktok & Insta: @twoblackcatspod

In this episode we discuss who exactly wrote the bible, how the stories were compiled, and examine some wild tales--including ones about cannibalistic giants, Mary's fiery vagina, & Jesus's childish antics--that unfortunately didn't make it to the final draft.

Steven's fantasy novel: The Legend of 7 & 8: The Vengeance of Kings (Buy it on Amazon!)

The Uncanny Valley is an eerie or unsettling feeling experienced in response to something that is not-quite-human. Before dolls, animations, and robots were even invented, did it somehow serve our ancestors to weed out things that closely resembled humans beings (but were not)?

What's possibly worse than the CIA doing unethical experiments on unwilling people in their pursuit of mind control (MKULTRA)? Welcome to Project Artichoke, where the CIA did all of the above, but specifically with the goal of getting people to carry out assassinations of both foreign and American officials against their will. 

For twenty years, the CIA--with the help of Nazi scientists--experimented on unknowing US citizens using various methods including brainwashing, torture, abuse, isolation, sensory deprivation, and drugs.