Spirits: Mythology, Legends, & Folklore

We love a theatre ghost, but what about THE Theatre Ghost - The Phantom of the Opera! We are joined by the author of Our Strange Duet, Erin A. Craig to discuss her adaptation of the stage play, how Phantom transformed her into a theatre kid, and her own spooky experiences backstage as a professional stage manager! 

Content Warning: This episode contains conversations about or mentions of fire and housing insecurity. 

Guest

E...

Grab your decks, cuties, because we are diving into the courtly game origins of tarot, its development into an occult staple, and many artists’ modern interpretations with the curators of The Morgan Library’s recent exhibition: Tarot! Renaissance Symbols, Modern Visions.

Content Warning: This episode contains conversations about or mentions of gambling and misogyny. 

Guests

-Dr. Claire Gilman is Acquavella Curator and...

We’ve got some spooky ones for you this time, gang! From creepy coins, haunted horses, and more than a few ghost cats. Plus, perhaps one of the scariest hauntings handled the most casually we’ve ever heard!

Content Warning: This episode contains conversations about or mentions of death, queerphobia, enslavement, and child death. 

Housekeeping

- Books: Check out our previous book recommendations, guests’ books, a...

Sometimes you have to take a quick sidebar to talk about a bunch of women with the same name, but very different roles in Arthurian legend! From a pure Elaine that dies of heartbreak, to another who is scheming to give birth to the Perfect Knight, you’d be surprised how many Elaines can fit in these Arthurian stories!

Content Warning: This episode contains conversations about or mentions of sexual assault, death, adultery, inj...

Feminist witches? Yes please! We’re joined by scholar and practicing witch, Emma Quilty, to talk about her research into modern witches, feminist practices, political activism, and witchy tupperware parties.

Content Warning: This episode contains conversations about or mentions of capitalism, abusive relationships, Charlie Kirk, misogyny, gender violence, and queerphobia.

Guest

Emma Quilty is a social anthropologist who works in...

After 500 episodes, we have some advice to impart on how to survive in mythology. Plus, we get really drunk. Thanks for 500 episodes. Here’s to 500 more. 

Content Warning: This episode contains conversations about or mentions of explicit sexual content, sexual assault, incest, childbirth/pregnancy, home invasion, and colonization. 

Housekeeping

- Books: Check out our previous book recommendations, guests’ books, ...

It’s important to maintain that Final Girl Energy, gang. That’s what all of these urban legends have been preparing you for! We learn why it’s important to train kids young to spot ghosts, and why bringing your spooky partner home may lead to finding out you’ve got ghosts watching you at night!

Content Warning: This episode contains conversations about or mentions of defecation, auditory hallucination, abusiv...

We are joined by storyteller, author, and researcher, Chinenye Egbuna Ikwuemesi to talk about African intellectual history, colonial historiography, and the Yoruba creation story. Learn how Obatala broke the world, and then brought it back together again and became the patron of disability. 

Content Warning: This episode contains conversations about or mentions of racism, enslavement, surgery, death in childbirth, colonialism, ...

We are joined by Felicia Day (!!!!!!!!) to talk about her newest graphic novel, Lost Daughter of Sparta, as well as Greek mythology, mythological retellings, and how these stories help us look at how modern society treats women.

Content Warning: This episode contains conversations about or mentions of misogyny, ageism, grief, infidelity, human sacrifice, death, sexual assault, kidnapping, queerphobia, 

Guest

Felicia Day is an act...

In preparation for the new Christopher Nolan epic, we’re visiting the ORIGINAL epic - The Odyssey. We walk you through the story, the plot beats to expect, what characters to look out for, and give our own thoughts and opinions on what an adaptation of The Odyssey should be. And yes, that runtime is correct - this is like our own epic of an episode.

Content Warning: This episode contains conversations about or mentions of deat...

We can’t talk about Arthurian Legend without talking about the Most Knight of All Time: Lancelot. We love this complex character, at times a Gary Stu, at times complicated and yearning. But you’ll hopefully come away with a new appreciation of the most well-known knight.

Content Warning: This episode contains conversations about or mentions of adultery, kidnapping, sex, death, violence, mental illness, violence against w...

We’re beating the heat by giving ourselves chills with your urban legends! From taking a gap year to summon demons to offering the fae the most exotic snacks you can find, we think you’re going to walk away from this episode with more than your fair share of goosebumps!

Content Warning: This episode contains conversations about or mentions of colonization, military, death, and suicide (21:20 - 29:34). 

Housekeeping

- ...

We’re joined by singer and songwriter Sammy Rae (of Sammy Rae & the Friends) to chat about her favorite thing besides music: cryptids! We hear about her becoming an honorary member of the Cryptozoology Museum, her love of cryptid documentaries, and the story of the UFO sightings of Varginha Brazil.

Content Warning: This episode contains conversations about or mentions of collective trauma, death, vehicle crashes, gun viole...

Pull up a chair at the Round Table as we discuss the centerpiece of King Arthur’s court! How many knights sat there (more than you’d think!), what did it look like, and what did it represent to these knights that swore fealty and chivalry? 

Content Warning: This episode contains conversations about or mentions of death, violence, and abduction. 

Housekeeping

- Books: Check out our previous book recommendations, g...

We teamed up with the folks at the Wine Enthusiast Podcast to chat about all things fairy wine, fairy food, the trope of “don’t eat the fairy food”, as well as how the tropes are being utilized in modern fantasy and romantasy! Grab a glass of wine (that didn’t appear in the middle of a ring of mushrooms, please!) and dive in with us. 

Content Warning: This episode contains conversations about or mentions...

We are offering our services as ghost mediators. It seems like something some of you need. Also featuring ghost unions, the most useless form of clairvoyance we’ve ever heard, and a creepy white-eyed grandma. Y’know, the usual. 

Content Warning: This episode contains conversations about or mentions of sexual content, family death, and pregnancy. 

Housekeeping

- Books: Check out our previous book recommendations, ...

Gardeners, as you start to see your plants begin to sprout, be cautious that there might be nature spirits lurking in your (garden) beds! This roundup, we talk about the various yokai that might be haunting your trees, fruits, and vegetables this spring and summer - gangly pumpkin spirits, dueling melons, and the BEAN BOIS!

Content Warning: This episode contains conversations about or mentions of death, animal death, illness, sexual...

We’re joined by the fabulous Keala Kendall to deep dive into the history of Hawaii, the ghosts of imperialism that haunt the island, and what Hawaiian Gothic looks like as we discuss her new book, That Which Feeds Us!

Content Warning: This episode contains conversations about or mentions of family death, colonization, racism, enslavement, gentrification, stillbirth, grief, sexual assault, genitalia, and queerphobia. 

Guest

...