Latest Eccentric Podcast Episodes
Strange Country Ep. 252: Munchausen Syndrome
Strange Country - February 16, 2023 11:00 - 58 minutes ★★★ - 173 ratingsWhat drives someone to pretend to have a serious illness? In this episode of Strange Country, cohosts Beth and Kelly discuss two women who convinced friends, loved ones and colleagues that they were dying. Theme music: Big White Lie by A Cast of Thousands Cite your sources: Kettler, Sara. ...
Strange County Ep. 251: Afong Moy
Strange Country - February 09, 2023 11:00 - 49 minutes ★★★ - 173 ratingsHello dear readers! Happy Listening Love month! Join Beth and Kelly as we try to learn the real story of Afong Moy, the first Chinese woman immigrant in America. 1834 was the year when middle-class Americans were looking to spend some cash at Marshalls, but could only attend exploitative shows f...
Strange Country Ep. 250: Patterson-Gimlin Bigfoot Film
Strange Country - February 02, 2023 11:00 - 52 minutes ★★★ - 173 ratingsAs librarians, Beth and Kelly know Bigfoot books are located in the nonfiction section; the 001s for the unexplained, yet to be definitively proved. But for Bigfootaphiles, the penultimate proof is a nearly minute-long shaky film of a sasquatch walking near a creek bed shot in 1967 in northern C...
Strange Country Ep. 249: Henry Ford
Strange Country - January 26, 2023 11:00 - 40 minutes ★★★ - 173 ratingsWelcome back, readers! Where the hell have you been? This episode--249, if you are counting—Kelly and Beth explore the side of Henry Ford that weirdly gets left out of his story. Ford, the innovator and 20th-century Elon Musk, is also Henry Ford the antisemite. He didn’t try to hide it, and neit...
Strange Country Ep. 248: Shirley Jackson
Strange Country - December 08, 2022 11:00 - 56 minutes ★★★ - 173 ratingsShirley Jackson has had a resurgence this century, her works being turned into successful series and movies. But when she was writing in the mid-20th century, she had to contend with sexism, a philandering husband, a cold mother, and male reviewers who didn’t get her writing about the plight of ...
Strange Country Ep. 247: Mother Jones
Strange Country - November 17, 2022 11:00 - 37 minutes ★★★ - 173 ratingsDearest Dashies: It’s time to learn about the Most Dangerous Woman in the World, aka, Mother Jones. Have you ever heard of her? Do you read the magazine that has her namesake? Mother Jones is a worthy woman to know and love and maybe resurrect from the dead. She stood up for what was right as fa...
Strange Country Ep. 246: Tony Costa
Strange Country - November 10, 2022 11:00 - 54 minutes ★★★ - 173 ratingsFrom May 1968 to the following winter, Tony Costa went on a killing spree in Cape Cod. He claimed an alter ego egged him on to do the murderous deeds. Strange Country co hosts Beth and Kelly talk about this tiresome asshole and the problems of New Journalism in today’s episode. Theme music: Bi...
Strange Country Ep. 245: Anthony Comstock
Strange Country - November 03, 2022 10:00 - 43 minutes ★★★ - 173 ratingsDear Dash Hounds: Be thankful you can listen to Beth and Kelly today because, if ol’ misogynist Anthony Comstock had any say, we would have been shut down years ago. Our episode dives into the mayonnaise jar that is vice and the mailing of such materials. The Comstock Laws were created in 1873 a...
Halloween Short Story: Faces at the Window
Crime Scholar - October 31, 2022 08:38 - 23 minutes ★★★★★ - 41 ratingsHappy Halloween! In this episode, I'm sharing one of my favorite short ghost story called "Faces at the Window" by Rose Wilder Lane. It is based, in part, on the true story of the Bloody Benders, who murdered lodgers at their residence in the 1800s. Lane is the daughter of Laura Ingalls Wilder, ...
Strange Country Ep. 244: Creepy Clowns
Strange Country - October 27, 2022 10:00 - 49 minutes ★★★ - 173 ratingsKelly’s back!!! And just in time because in this episode of Strange Country, we send in the clowns—lots of em pouring out of that one tiny car. Cohosts Beth and Kelly dive into the Clown Panic of 2016 and recognize that Americans need some media literacy lessons stat. Theme music: Big White Li...
Strange Country Ep. 243: Horror Movies Inspired By Real Stories
Strange Country - October 13, 2022 10:00 - 55 minutes ★★★ - 173 ratingsLife imitates art, as they say, and in these cases life inspired some famous horror films. In today’s episode, Strange country co-host Beth and guest host Terry talk about the inspiration behind Scream, Poltergeist and When a Stranger Calls. Don’t worry Dash Hounds, Kelly will be back. Theme m...
Strange Country Ep. 242: Axis Sally
Strange Country - October 06, 2022 10:00 - 51 minutes ★★★ - 173 ratingsMildred Gillars was the American mouthpiece for Nazi Germany. Known by the GIs as Axis Sally, Gillars tried to derail the war effort by spewing garbage over the airwaves. Strange Country co-hosts Beth and Kelly discuss Gillars rise to fame in Nazi Germany and how she’d likely have a cozy spot in...
Strange Country Ep. 241: This One's For Da Birds
Strange Country - September 29, 2022 10:00 - 34 minutes ★★★ - 173 ratingsDear Dash Hounds and Readers: Join us this week on a flight of fancy—not really—actually the opposite. Dead birds falling from the sky in Arkansas. Thousands. So what caused it? Can you figure it out faster than E.T. can phone home? This is all intentional word salad to keep you interested and i...
Strange Country Ep. 240: Howard Hughes Hoax
Strange Country - September 22, 2022 10:00 - 47 minutes ★★★ - 173 ratingsIn 1971, middling author Clifford Irving was able to convince a giant publisher that he landed the white whale—the autobiography of reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes. This was a guaranteed best seller. Problem was, Irving had made the whole thing up. Strange Country co-hosts Beth and Kelly dis...
Strange Country Ep. 239: Taliesin Massacre
Strange Country - September 08, 2022 10:00 - 44 minutes ★★★ - 173 ratingsFrank Lloyd Wright is considered one of America’s most influential 20th century architects. While he built homes designed for family togetherness, he was blowing his own family apart. He and his mistress Mamah Borthwick squired away to Wisconsin where Wright built Taliesin. Newspapers referred t...
Strange Country Ep. 238: Monkey Colonies
Strange Country - September 01, 2022 10:00 - 48 minutes ★★★ - 173 ratingsDear Dash Hounds: Beth and Kelly realized we don’t talk enough about animals. Sure there are many stories about strange ‘Mericans, but what about the monkeys in this country? Get ready for a wild episode full of surprise monkey noises, and facts about two monkey colonies that are right in our ba...
Strange Country Ep. 237: Lonely Hearts Killers
Strange Country - August 18, 2022 10:00 - 52 minutes ★★★ - 173 ratingsRaymond Fernandez took advantage of widows and spinsters who sent their bios into the Lonely Hearts Club in the 1940s. Martha Beck was one such lonely heart who fell for Raymond and took part in his schemes where the two murdered three people for their money. Strange Country cohosts Beth and Kel...
Strange Country Ep. 236: Osh-Tisch
Strange Country - August 11, 2022 10:00 - 32 minutes ★★★ - 173 ratingsWelcome Readers to an episode surely to enlighten you or at least make you think: why didn’t I know who this person was? You may find the the story of Osh-Tisch, a Crow Bode, who was born as male and lived as female in the turn of the century, to be important for a number of reasons including; 1...
Strange Country Ep. 235: Holiday Magic Cosmetics
Strange Country - August 04, 2022 10:00 - 58 minutes ★★★ - 173 ratingsWilliam Penn Patrick founded Holiday Magic Cosmetics in 1964. The defunct company is mainly known by law students learning about pyramid schemes. Strange Country co-hosts Beth and Kelly talk about this company and its bizarre management style which could involve eating turds. Theme music: Big ...
Strange Country Ep. 234: Twelve Tribes and Travel Tips
Strange Country - July 28, 2022 10:00 - 59 minutes ★★★ - 173 ratingsIt’s summertime, Readers, and that means time to cautiously hit the road, head to the skies, climb aboard (that’s what she said). No really. Kelly said that—be sure to laugh during the intro to today’s episode. We do hope you are all catching some time to travel this summer, and we have a few ti...
Strange Country Ep, 233: Jeffrey MacDonald, Part 2
Strange Country - July 21, 2022 10:00 - 1 hour ★★★ - 173 ratingsIn the concluding episode on Jeffrey MacDonald, Strange Country co-hosts Beth and Kelly delve into the theory that maybe MacDonald didn’t murder his wife and kids. Maybe he did, but Errol Morris outlines a case where it appears MacDonald was not given a fair shake at his criminal trial. Theme ...
Strange Country Ep. 232: Jeffrey MacDonald, Part 1
Strange Country - July 14, 2022 10:00 - 1 hour ★★★ - 173 ratingsJeffrey MacDonald was convicted in 1979 of killing his pregnant wife Colette and two young daughters Kimberly and Kristen. These murders have been the subject of documentaries, books, tv series, and most importantly, Strange Country Podcast. In today’s topic, cohosts Beth and Kelly’s discuss the...
Strange Country Ep. 231: Natalie Wood
Strange Country - July 07, 2022 10:00 - 1 hour ★★★ - 173 ratingsThe mystery surrounding Natalie Wood’s death continues to captivate 40 years after the fact. The answer to the question, why was Natalie Wood in the Pacific Ocean on a late, cold drizzly night, has never been sufficiently answered. Theories abound though, and Strange Country co-hosts Beth and Ke...
Strange Country Ep. 230: Biosphere 2
Strange Country - June 16, 2022 10:00 - 53 minutes ★★★ - 173 ratingsCould we actually replicate the biomes of Earth on other planets? In September 1991, eight intrepid explorers entered Biosphere 2 in the Arizona desert to spend two years seeing if humans could sustain life in the same way biosphere 1, the Earth, does. And it wasn’t so great, unless you’re heavi...
Strange Country Ep. 229: Margaret Sanger
Strange Country - June 02, 2022 10:00 - 49 minutes ★★★ - 173 ratingsWhere do you fall on the abortion debate? Some people like to believe that if you are pro choice, you must idolize Margaret Sanger. But wait. . . do you even know who that is? Listen today, dear Dash Hounds, as we hear who this outspoken woman was. A thumbs up or a thumbs down? Is Margaret worth...
Oscar Zeta Acosta: Fear, Loathing, and the Disappearance of a Brown Buffalo
Crime Scholar - May 30, 2022 05:52 - 58 minutes ★★★★★ - 41 ratingsThe character of Dr. Gonzo in the book and film Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is based on a real person: a one-time military airman...turned Baptist missionary...turned legal aid attorney...turned Los Angeles County Sheriff's candidate...turned author...turned missing person. This is the story...
Strange Country Ep. 228: Gordon Kahl
Strange Country - May 26, 2022 10:00 - 53 minutes ★★★ - 173 ratingsNothing is certain but death and Strange Country’s guarantee of exquisitely-designed mousepads. Oh, and taxes. But some people really don’t like paying taxes and take their ire too far. Strange Country co-hosts Beth and Kelly discuss Gordon Kahl, an avid anti-government pro-Posse Comitatus fan w...
Strange Country Ep. 227: Recovered Memory Therapy
Strange Country - May 19, 2022 10:00 - 50 minutes ★★★ - 173 ratingsOur memories are fallible and malleable. In the 1980s and 1990s, recovered memory therapists convinced patients they had been sexually abused in some cases by satanic cults and repressed all memory of it. Strange Country cohosts Beth and Kelly discuss the trial of George Franklin who was convict...
Strange Country Ep. 226: Dismantling of Roe v. Wade
Strange Country - May 05, 2022 10:00 - 39 minutes ★★★ - 173 ratingsOn this episode of Strange Country, Ofterry and Ofbryan talk about the U.S. Supreme Court draft opinion dismantling women’s reproductive freedoms. Forced birth advocates are rejoicing. The rest of us, not so much. Theme music: Big White Lie by A Cast of Thousands Cite your sources: Campoam...
Strange Country Ep. 225: Mildred Fish Harnack
Strange Country - April 28, 2022 10:00 - 37 minutes ★★★ - 173 ratingsIn a time when democracy ruled, women had all the freedoms, people went to college and news sources were plentiful and trustworthy Wisconsin native Mildred Fish Harnack and her husband, Arvid, chose to begin their newlywed lives in the fun city of Berlin. Have you heard of it? Beth may have ment...