Sure China is sending balloons to spy on the United States, but during WWII Japan sent thousands of balloons over the U.S. mainland to start fires and wreak havoc. There were some close calls, but one time they worked with horrific results.
Weird Bit 51 - Quick Cryptid Corner - The Kappa
Introducing Quick Cryptid Corner! - brief takes on unexplained creatures from across the globe. We start with the Kappa, a Japanese beast of lakes and rivers with a turtle shell, a water-filled dish that forms the top of its skull, and, some say, a taste for children who stray too close to its lair.
Episode 266 - Frank Olson, The Man Who Really Did Know Too Much
Frank Olson was there at the inception of MK Ultra. He worked hard at developing mind control drugs, but eventually something got in the way - a conscience. Olson tried to free himself from the awful world he had stumbled into. But "they" would not let him go...
Episode 265 - MK Ultra and the Quest for Mind Control Part 2
In Part 2 of the MK Ultra saga we work through the lowlights of the worst things researchers did in their quest for mind control. Finally, it would all come crashing down and eventually exposed, but is it possible we still don't know what we don't know?
Episode 264 - MK Ultra and the Quest for Mind Control - Part 1
After WWII ended the CIA thought the West was in imminent danger of succumbing to a red tide sweeping the world. They would do anything to win. Anything - including trying to control mindds and turn people into potentially murderous slaves.
Episode 263 - Arm in the Aquarium
It was a lovely autumn day in Sydney's Coogee Bay Aquarium in April of 1935. Kids squealed at the newest attraction - a 14-foot tiger shark circling its tank. Squeals turned to screams, though, when the shark vomited up a mass of foul-smelling muck that included a bird, a rat - and a human arm. Shark attack victim? Not so fast...
Episode 262 - Have A Weird New Year
Celebrating the start of a new year is global. Some of us do so in weird and wonderful ways. Here is a taste of strange new year traditions from around the world.
Episode 261 - The Actual War on Christmas
Before there was Walmart telling their greeters to say "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas" there were the Puritans. Those guys followed their anti-Christmas bias all the way to banning observance of the holiday in public and private in England and America. Now that's a war.
Episode 260 - Dying to Sleep: Death by Nightmare Syndrome
The premise of horror hit Nightmare on Elm Street was that you could die in your dreams. That can't really happen, can it? For over 100 new immigrants to the U.S. in the 1980s, it could. This is the story that inspired a classic horror franchise.
Episode 259 - Judge Crater and the Greatest Vanishing Act of All Time
Before there was Jimmy Hoffa, there was Judge Joseph Crater. How could a well-known New York Supreme Court judge vanish without even a suggestion of a trace? And when Judge Crater disappeared, he stayed disappeared.
Weird Bit 50 - The Boy in the Box and the Unknown Woman of Rahway
We will soon know the identity of the mysterious Boy in the Box, but another unknown murder victim remains a mystery. Who was the well-dressed woman found with her throat slit in Rahway, New Jersey in 1887? No one knows because, despite her obvious wealth, no one ever came forward to claim her.
Episode 258 - Weird News #3
This time we bring you killer whales and kangaroos, a real life Winnie the Pooh who gets high on honey, splooting squirrels, cloning a thylacine, and sleepy chicken that is not what you think. And yes, we realize this has become pretty animal-centric so we promise noanimals next time. Maybe.
Episode 257 - More Free Range Kids
The “Pony Boys” wanted to take their Shetland pony to the Montreal Expo, 350 miles from home. Sure, said their mom, knowing her kids were ages 9 and 11. And shouldn’t little Lennie ride his horse Ginger Mick to Sydney on a 2,500 kilometer round trip alone? He was 9 years old after all. Heartwarming or horrifying? You decide.
Episode 256 - The Irish Vanishing Triangle
Did a serial killer stalk Irish women through the 1990s? If so, no one ever found their remains or the monster who did it. Or was there never any connection at all?
Weird Bit 49 - Erwin the German Who Thought He Was in San Francisco But Was in Bangor
See Title
Sources
https://www.futilitycloset.com/2021/01/11/podcast-episode-327-the-misplaced-tourist/
Bangor Daily News article by Kent Ward, December 4, 2009
Episode 255 - Evil Kids: Top 13 Horror Movies with Kids Behaving Badly, Part 2
More terrible kids scary movies, ending with the number one bad-kid movie, a mostly forgotten classic with the most monstrous baby to ever go on a killing spree.
Episode254 - Evil Kids: Top 13 Horror Movies with Kids Behaving Badly, Part 1
We bring you the “best” horror movies where children do horrific things to people. From classics to little known gems, these are kids behaving badly.
Episode 253 - The Legend of the Dark Watchers
They lurk along the high ridges of the Santa Lucia Mountains on California’s Central Coast. Ten foot tall faceless things in black cloaks that silently monitor those who travel through their rugged territory. Who - or what - are the Dark Watchers?
Episode 252 - The True Story Behind The Exorcist
The Exorcist is the scariest movie ever made. You probably know about the levitating victim, flying objects, twisting heads, bad words, tons of projectile vomit, and crucifix abuse. But did you know this horrifying story was based on actual events? You do now.
Episode 251 - The Fresno Nightcrawler
It’s a super creepy something that struts across a meadow or your backyard in the dead of night in billowy pajama pants. It’s two long legs jutting straight from a tiny head and it moves in an odd, jerky motion. If this thing wasn’t caught on tape we wouldn’t believe it was real.