Just A Story: Urban Legend Podcast

Join us this week for a special broadcast from under the sea! We will be exploring the long history of people who live underwater and the various purported forms they've taken throughout history. From fish, to dolphins, to seals and even walruses; the human/animal hybrids who populate the seven seas are incredibly diverse, and we will discuss them all right here! Let's see if we can't figure out why the world has been, and continues to be, so enamored with mermaids and their mythic kin while we're here. (And maybe make some fish puns). For more on this week's episode, and every episode: justastorypod.com Twitter: @justastorypod  Instagram: justastorypod  Leave a voicemail on the Urban Legend Hotline 1-(512)-222-3375       Help support the show: https://www.patreon.com/justastorypod

In WWI an urban legend was born that has persisted for a century. Its parents? British intelligence officers. They spread a nasty story about the Germans turning their own war dead into soap. And it stuck. But have people been turned into soap? We'll examine the true stories of inhumane craft projects and the dirty secrets of notorious detergent-rendering diabolicals. We'll also look into real world war crimes that yielded their own array of macabre souvenirs, concluding with the story of Ilse Koch and her infamous table lamps. For more on this week's episode, and every episode: justastorypod.com Twitter: @justastorypod  Instagram: justastorypod  Leave a voicemail on the Urban Legend Hotline 1-(512)-222-3375       Help support the show: https://www.patreon.com/justastorypod

Why do we tell jokes? They're sticky little stories with set-ups and punchlines, and they spread like wildfire. The epitome of the modern oral tradition, jokes have more to say than it might originally appear. Join us this week for a crash course in the history of gallows humor, and way it shaped the history of professional comedians in America. We'll also discuss the elusive line between profanity and art; humor and harassment; hysterically funny and horribly cruel. For more on this week's episode, and every episode: justastorypod.com Twitter: @justastorypod  Instagram: justastorypod  Leave a voicemail on the Urban Legend Hotline 1-(512)-222-3375       Help support the show: https://www.patreon.com/justastorypod    

Do you know why that house, school, building, fairground, place, etc. is haunted? It's because it was built atop an ancient Indian burial ground. Or at least that is what popular culture would have you believe. Especially in the 1970s. Why is that idea so, pardon the pun, haunting? We'll explore the origins of the notion, and the ways in which its power has been reinforced by fact and fiction. We'll be tackling topics from pilgrim plundering, to Jacksonian jackassery; from Manifest Destiny to dysentery; we will leave no stone unturned as we examine the history of settlements, perhaps entire nations, built upon the bones of Native Americans. Join us as we discuss the ghosts created by America. For more on this week's episode, and every episode: justastorypod.com Twitter: @justastorypod  Instagram: justastorypod  Leave a voicemail on the Urban Legend Hotline 1-(512)-222-3375       Help support the show: https://www.patreon.com/justastorypod

It seems like the history of definitions and dictionaries might be a bone dry topic. However, things are seldom what they seem. Things are complex, and complicated, and dark and ill-defined. Until they are not. This is the story of how words come to have definitions; and the battles, and madness, and passions that have shaped the language and the meanings we agree upon today. We'll kick this week off by exploring the fascinating false etymology of everyone's favorite foul word. Then learn about the American language, and the way in which its chief lexicographer hoped to shape the national identity. Finally we will explore the relationship between a criminally insane American Civil War doctor and the finest dictionary ever compiled.  For more on this week's episode, and every episode: justastorypod.com Twitter: @justastorypod  Instagram: justastorypod  Leave a voicemail on the Urban Legend Hotline 1-(512)-222-3375       Help support the show: https://www.patreon.com/justastorypod    

The monsters will get you, if you don't watch out. They're all around. They're just waiting for their chance to come out. Or are you waiting for yours? Join us this week for a series of strange cases as we learn that the worst place for monsters to hide, is inside.   For more on this week's episode, and every episode: justastorypod.com Twitter: @justastorypod  Instagram: justastorypod  Leave a voicemail on the Urban Legend Hotline 1-(512)-222-3375       Help support the show: https://www.patreon.com/justastorypod    

What's more frightening than the idea of your own child being kidnapped or harmed? Nothing. Right. Now that we've established that, let's look at the legend of the phantom social worker with fresh eyes. This story is not a boogeyman tale for children, it's a boogeyman story for their parents. This week we will explore the world of parental paranoia and the realities that fuel those fears. From Irish orphanages' hidden burial ground; to the Angel Maker, Amelia Dyer; to ninos rabados in Spain, we will find there is much to fear when you're trying to keep your babies safe. We'll conclude with an in depth look at the forgotten history of midcentury American maternity homes and the marks they left on our cultural landscape. For more on this week's episode, and every episode: justastorypod.com Twitter: @justastorypod  Instagram: justastorypod  Leave a voicemail on the Urban Legend Hotline 1-(512)-222-3375       Help support the show: https://www.patreon.com/justastorypod    

For years, decades, even centuries; the rumors of human beings bursting into flames of their own accord has been a rumor that no one can seem to put out.  The phenomenon known as Spontaneous Human Combustion, or SHC, as we in the biz call it, has been the subject of debate and gossip for quite some time, but what is it, exactly? Join us this week as we ask this question and attempt to answer it and others like: is it possible? If not, then how do you explain the mysterious (and well documented) cases thoughout history? And what's up with the Wicked Witch of the East feet left behind?   Guest Story Teller:   Clips from Arthur C Clarke's Mysterious Universe     For more on this week's episode, and every episode: justastorypod.com Twitter: @justastorypod  Instagram: justastorypod  Leave a voicemail on the Urban Legend Hotline 1-(512)-222-3375       Help support the show: https://www.patreon.com/justastorypod

The folk story Taily Po lurks in Appalachia righting what has been put wrong. He is a vengeful beast, but he might be more than just a monster. He may be a symbol of America's tradition of 'forgotten men and women' or 'the invisible class'. Maybe he is a symbol of their dismissal and detestation by the ruling class. Maybe he can help us all understand the wounds of class warfare in America, and the rise of the cult of the everyman in politics and in the American imagination. Join us this week as we explore the origins of Taily Po and the history of poor white trash.    Guest Story Teller:  Jesse Hall @wastedarkcell  For more on this week's episode, and every episode: justastorypod.com Twitter: @justastorypod  Instagram: justastorypod  Leave a voicemail on the Urban Legend Hotline 1-(512)-222-3375         Help support the show: https://www.patreon.com/justastorypod

From the dawn of time there have been reports about loved ones returning from the dead for one reason or another. They come to comfort us, or seek revenge, or keep a promise. In some cases these newly spectral friends or family members, may themselves be the ones to deliver news of their demise. Seeing, hearing or feeling the presence of a recently deceased loved one is a surprisingly common occurrence, even today, even in the age of un-superstition. So what does it mean and how does it work? Join us this week as we examine the classic ballad "Cold As Clay," its origins and successors, and the factual counterparts that give it its weight. We'll discuss the Society for Psychical Research, with a special focus on the lovely Edmund Gurney; and learn how none other than Mr. Mark Twain inspired his lifelong quest for answers regarding, the Phantasms of the Living.

In the gilded age, the lore and lure of the mystical power of Egypt was a pervasive component of popular culture. Foremost in the imaginations of the public were the various curses associated with tombs unearthed in the Nile River Valley. Of all the bad luck and strange circumstances that fueled belief in this phenomenon, the most infamous was surely the Curse of King Tutankhamen. After his tomb was opened by Howard Carter and Lord Carnavon, the Pharaoh set out on a reign of terror that haunted the lives of those who had contact with his burial chamber for decades to come. At least, the newspapers said that was the case. Then maybe it was a fungus, or spores, or a something science-y, maybe? Or maybe it was much ado about nothing? Or maybe Aleister Crowley killed them all? Yeah, you're right. That doesn't make sense, but we're still going to be discussing that theory, and many more this week as we look at the facts, fiction, and cultural landscape that helped create the curse of pharaohs. Guest Story Teller: Dominic Perry egyptianhistorypodcast.com For more on this week's episode, and every episode: justastorypod.com Twitter: @justastorypod  Instagram: justastorypod  Leave a voicemail on the Urban Legend Hotline 1-(512)-222-3375      Help support the show: https://www.patreon.com/justastorypod

The metaphor of going down the rabbit hole is defined in the dictionary of idioms as: to enter into a situation or begin a process or journey that is particularly strange, problematic, difficult, complex, or chaotic, especially one that becomes increasingly so as it develops or unfolds. We'll be taking such a journey as we explore the legendary history or rabbits in folklore. From jackalopes to tricksters; familiars, to the accidental agents to a military coupe, the rabbit has an important place in many facts and fictions. In this episode we'll take a look at those very important bunnies, as well as the question of where the Easter Bunny originated. Join us, before you're late for this very important date. Guest Story Teller: Hillbilly Horror Stories @therentdaddy For more on this week's episode, and every episode: justastorypod.com Twitter: @justastorypod  Instagram: justastorypod  Leave a voicemail on the Urban Legend Hotline 1-(512)-222-3375    Help support the show: https://www.patreon.com/justastorypod

There's something so haunting about the classic urban legend that describes the horror of discovering a body under your hotel bed. Well, maybe it's more haunting to imagine not discovering it. Is it the grotesque artifact or pall of complicity that we fear? Join us this week as we take a look at some real life cases of bodies hidden under beds, behind closed doors or locked in trunks that are just too strange to be made up. We'll discuss the cases of Dixie Shanahan and Dorian Corey and search for the stories that created their legendary endings. For more on this week's episode, and every episode: justastorypod.com Twitter: @justastorypod  Instagram: justastorypod  Leave a voicemail on the Urban Legend Hotline 1-(512)-222-3375    Help support the show: https://www.patreon.com/justastorypod

There are some locations that just inspire spooky lore: old, decrepit houses; imposing buildings and campgrounds. Somehow, colleges and universities manage to combine the feel of all these places. It's no wonder that nearly every campus has its own ghost stories. This week we are bringing you a a variety of these tales straight from the urban legend hotline! Our listeners have sent us fantastic, strange and unique local legends from their college days, and we'll be giving each one the Just A Story. We will examine the common themes and possible origins of some of these stories.  We'll also be looking at a real life murder mystery that began in a university library, and the legends that have grown from its legacy. We'll conclude by examining the possible origins of our own college ghost story, the legend of LSU's haunted dormitory.     For more on this week's episode, and every episode: justastorypod.com Twitter: @justastorypod  Instagram: justastorypod  Leave a voicemail on the Urban Legend Hotline 1-(512)-222-3375    Help support the show: https://www.patreon.com/justa

Conspiracy theories are a mainstay of modern culture. Whether anchoring complex theatrical thrillers, or filling air time in the twenty-four hour news cycle, the complex shadow machinations of mysterious actors create excellent alternative narratives and high entertainment value wherever we might encounter them. The interesting side effect of this ubiquitous coverage of conspiracy theories is that they have moved from the fringes, to the mainstream. Where did this start? When did we politically paranoid Americans stop trusting the government? Maybe we have always been skeptical, but the widespread systematic dogma that makes up the modern belief in conspiracy theories wasn't in place until after the Vietnam War. Join us this week as we discuss the burglary that brought down J. Edgar Hoover's COINTELPRO program We'll also talk about that program's pointed effort to inspire paranoia in the domestic population. We'll explore the lasting effects of this actual government conspiracy on the modern mind, why we believe conspiracy theories, and how these ideas spread. Of course, we would be remiss if we spoke of conspiracy theories and didn't mention "the most paranoid man in America," Alex Jones.  So we'll do that, too. Wake up, sheeple, this one is a doozie.  Guest Story Teller: Alex Jones infowars.com For more on this week's episode, and every episode: justastorypod.com Twitter: @justastorypod  Instagram: justastorypod  Leave a voicemail on the Urban Legend Hotline 1-(512)-222-3375    Help support the show: https://www.patreon.com/justastorypod