When Animals Attack Podcast

In Episode 26: Feline Fury, Jen and Nilo are joined by cat/horror experts Morgan Woolsey and Ben Raphael Sher to discuss what happens when good cats go bad! (Spoiler: they don’t. All Cats Are Beautiful.) We share an irl story of a family (supposedly) terrorized by a housecat before spending the majority of the episode digging into a range of cat horror films, including Strays, The Uncanny, Eye of the Cat, and Hausu, with brief references to Kuroneko, Uninvited, Demonia, Devil Story, Let the Right One In, The Black Cat, and more. For more from Ben and Morgan, you can find them on IG - @benraphaelsher and @quellehorror, respectively.

Sources:

https://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/calif-house-cat-sends-3-people-hospital-article-1.1762652 

https://meowtel.com/blog/post/how-to-handle-and-prevent-a-cat-attack

Musical snippet from “The Dreadful Story about Harriet and the Matches” by The Tiger Lillies

We know it’s been a while, crocodile. But we’re back with a vengeance in an episode nearly as massive as “the chief of beasts” himself! In Episode 25 Jen and Nilo share stories about unfortunate human encounters with crocs, and celebrate various entries in the crocsploitation subgenre: Rogue, Black Water, Dark Age, Lake Placid, Crocodile, Killer Crocodile, and Killer Crocodile 2.

Sources:

Gordon Grice, The Book of Deadly Animals

Hugh Edwards, Crocodile Attack

Michael Garlock, Killer Gators and Crocs: Gruesome Encounters from Across the Globe

Peter Hathaway Capstick, Maneaters

James Clarke, Man Is the Prey

“David/Sandy and Ken/Maura” (I Survived…, S5 E21, 2013)

https://www.aislingmagazine.com/aislingmagazine/articles/TAM30/ValPlumwood.html 

https://theconversation.com/when-and-where-do-nile-crocodiles-attack-heres-what-we-found-119037

https://www.britannica.com/list/7-crocodilian-species-that-are-dangerous-to-humans

http://www.crocodile-attack.info/welcome

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2008/jan/19/weekend.barbaramcmahon

https://movieweb.com/exclusive-andrew-traucki-goes-deep-into-black-water/

https://mondovulgare.com/2019/04/03/a-history-of-crocsploitation-crocodile-and-alligator-movies-that-is/

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-05-22-mn-60701-story.html

https://www.newsweek.com/giant-crocodile-kills-eats-8-year-old-girl-front-her-friends-1639539

https://www.news18.com/news/buzz/crocodile-named-osama-bin-laden-terrorized-african-village-ate-80-people-3849149.html

https://people.com/human-interest/12-year-old-boy-recounts-crocodile-attack-during-family-vacation-in-mexico/

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jul/25/saltwater-crocodile-attacks-solomon-islands

https://www.krugerpark.co.za/krugerpark-times-4-19-croc-attack-24762.html

Known variously as vampires, witch’s steeds, and sexual perverts, across myriad cultures and throughout human history the hyena has haunted our collective imagination. In the words of Peter Hathaway Capstick, “From the first, faraway woooo-uppp of the pack gathering to the sniggering chitter of the kill, the hyena is telling you something you don’t want to be reminded of: you’re just the meat after all and your day will come.” In episode 24, Jen and Nilo share stories of some unfortunate humans’ encounters with these cackling creatures and discuss the dubious merits of Hyenas (2011) and Endangered Species (2021).

Sources:

Gordon Gryce, The Book of Deadly Animals

Peter Hathaway Capstick, Death in the Long Grass

Peter Hathaway Capstick, Maneaters

James Clarke, Man Is the Prey

Human Prey 1.2, “Killers of the Savannah,” Animal Planet

https://letterboxd.com/animalattackpod/list/when-animals-attack-podcast-viewing-list/

https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-26294631

https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/20/africa/hyenas-kill-man-scli-intl/index.html

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/nov/21/kenya.xanrice

https://www.dreadcentral.com/reviews/23733/hyenas-2011/

In Episode 23, Jen and Nilo swap stories of unfortunate arachnid encounters before discussing the invading spider armies of Arachnophobia (1990) and Kingdom of the Spiders (1977) and the far more disturbing spider sex of Latvian art-horror curiosity Spider (1992).

SOURCES:

BJ Colangelo, “Kingdom of the Spiders (1977),” When Animals Attack: The 70 Best Horror Movies with Killer Animals

Gordon Grice, The Red Hourglass

Gordon Grice, The Book of Deadly Animals

Niklas Salmose, “We Spiders: Spider as the Monster of Modernity in the Big Bug and Nature-on-a-Rampage Film Genres,” Animal Horror Cinema: Genre, History and Criticism

https://www.grunge.com/161796/creepy-real-life-stories-about-giant-spiders/?utm_campaign=clip 

https://www.thecut.com/2020/10/sinkhole-opens-in-nyc-sidewalk-plunging-man-into-rat-pit.html 

https://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2013/11/potentially-deadly-spiders-found-in-supermarket-banana-bunch/

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/giant-hairy-spider-attacks-spark-panic-in-india/

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/jun/15/experience-i-was-nearly-killed-by-a-spider-bite

In episode 22, Jen and Nilo share stories of a variety of avian attacks, from magpies mobbing cyclists to starlings crashing planes to the terrifying exploits of the living velociraptor known as the cassowary. Then they discuss some of the best animal horror movies ever put to celluloid – The Birds and The Lighthouse – and possibly the worst film ever made, Birdemic. But the most fun entry this go-round was the 1987 schlockfest, Beaks (aka Birds of Prey).

Sources:

Gordon Grice, Deadly Kingdom: The Book of Dangerous Animals

https://www.cnn.com/2015/12/26/us/owl-attacks-officer/index.html

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jul/14/jair-bolsonaro-bitten-by-bird-during-coronavirus-quarantine

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/behind-scenes-national-zoo-worlds-most-dangerous-bird-180960704/

https://vancouverisland.ctvnews.ca/mobile/stubborn-peacock-claims-entrance-to-victoria-apartment-as-mating-ground-refuses-to-leave-1.5011228

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/goose-attack-leaves-ottawa-cyclist-shaken-and-scarred-1.2686751

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/video/animals/swarms-of-birds-hold-shoppers-captive-in-texas/vi-BB12UKVk?fbclid=IwAR0LOvhlSVP7rX6Kc7aynLKvakVi7cxXBzlGl-u97Cc1tWRXp1rogNjXlbE

https://quietthinker1.wordpress.com/2015/04/06/birdemic-confusion-disgust/

In episode 21, Jen & Nilo share stories about a recent mountain lion attack and the Zanesville Massacre, before hashing out their reactions to the Netflix limited series Tiger King. 

For more information about how you can contribute to organizing around the issues raised in this conversation check out:

Panthera, an org that advocates for big cats and their ecosystems, https://www.panthera.org/

DSA, an org dedicated to building progressive movements for social change, https://www.dsausa.org/

Sources:

https://www.gq.com/story/terry-thompson-ohio-zoo-massacre-chris-heath-gq-february-2012?printable=true

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/6-old-girl-attacked-mountain-204206954.html?soc_src=newsroom&soc_trk=com.apple.UIKit.activity.CopyToPasteboard&.tsrc=newsroom

In episode 20, Jen & Nilo are joined by two special guests, Ash & Jon of Horror Vanguard podcast, to dig into the 1984 Ozploitation classic, Razorback. Then they discuss the 1973 oddity Pigs, before sharing some true stories of pig and boar attacks.

To hear more from Jon and Ash about spooky movies and even spookier theory, check out Horror Vanguard wherever you get your podcasts, or find them on Twitter @HorrorVanguard. If you liked what you heard, you can also support their Patreon. 

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Sources:

Michael Tougias, ed., When Man Is the Prey

Gordon Grice, The Book of Deadly Animals

Edward R. Ricciuti, Killer Animals

Venetia Newall, Discovering the Folklore of Birds and Beasts

https://diaboliquemagazine.com/pigs-us-dvdblu-ray-review/

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/26/us/texas-woman-killed-feral-hogs.html

https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/25/us/feral-hog-death-trnd/index.html

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2005/12/12/hogs-wild?utm_source=onsite-share&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=onsite-share&utm_brand=the-new-yorker 

In episode 19, Jen & Nilo share true stories of harrowing encounters with the world's largest land predator in Canada, Alaska, Norway, and Russia. They also discuss two animal horror films: Unnatural and Wild Beasts. In the latter, a variety of animals get high on PCP and rampage through an unnamed German city; listen to learn more about a tiger tearing up a train, elephants rampaging on a runway, and the film's centerpiece, in which a polar bear busts in on a children's ballet class. 

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Sources:

I Was Prey, episode 1.4

Sabrina Shankman, Meltdown: Terror at the Top of the World, InsideClimate News: 2014. 

https://polarbearsinternational.org/news/article-polar-bears/polar-bear-questions-do-polar-bears-undergo-walking-hibernation/

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/xd537z/polar-bear-man-full-151

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-44996873

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/aug/05/polar-bear-mauls-british-death

https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/one-hunter-dead-two-injured-after-nunavut-polar-bear-attack

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/12/trouble-in-polar-bear-capital/510839/

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/feb/11/russian-islands-emergency-mass-invasion-polar-bears-novaya-zemlya

In a special Halloween episode, Nilo & Jen discuss vampire bats. They trade bat attack stories, and discuss three films that have viciously maligned our comrades of the sky: Chosen Survivors (1974), Nightwing (1979), and Bats (1999).

Sources:

“Blood Buddies,” Radiolab (2010)

https://www.livescience.com/463-spate-vampire-bat-attacks.html

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/bats-rabies-deforestation-brazil-urbanisation-diseases-humans-animals-transmission-between-species-a7768666.html

https://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2019/09/09/took-chunks-out-of-my-leg-rabid-bat-attacks-pennsylvania-man/

https://metro.co.uk/2017/05/30/man-dies-and-40-others-are-bitten-after-vampire-bats-attack-humans-in-brazil-6673199/

“Black Actors in Tech Roles in Action Movies,” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iomT4G0mebU

In Episode 17, Nilo & Jen are joined by CSU Fullerton Professor Chelsea Julian Reynolds to discuss predatory porpoises! Dolphins may seem cute, playful, and even magical… and they are. But sometimes they can be a little *too* interested in people, if you know what we mean. Either way, tune in to learn more about what happens when dolphins go bad, but be warned: it gets a little steamy.

Sources:

https://slate.com/technology/2014/05/adam-walker-saved-by-dolphins-from-shark-attack-the-myth-that-dolphins-protect-people.html

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/97m74c/is_the_whole_dolphins_raping_humans_a_real_thing/

https://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/columns/straight-dope/article/13045860/can-dolphins-rape-humans-when-animals-attack-sexually

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/oct/17/experience-i-was-attacked-by-a-dolphin

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/frisky-dolphin-tries-to-get-busy-divers_n_1862148

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/03/animals-rape-murder-morality-humans/585049/

https://www.aneroticstory.com/story/405-the-dolphin-way