Borrowed Bones
Families build you up, tear you down, and sometimes drag you into something truly unhinged. Borrowed Bones unearths the bizarre, toxic, and fascinating stories of family dynamics gone sideways. From the macabre to the just plain strange, we’re digging deep to uncover the skeletons hiding in the closets of history, culture, and beyond.
Episodes
We follow the Gonzalez Valenzuela sisters of Mexico, known as Las Poquianchis, from a violent upbringing to a brothel network that authorities link to trafficking, torture, and mass murder.
Sources:
Mexico Daily News, Mexico: Sisters of Shame, Las Poquianchis sisters: Mexico’s most notorious serial killers, The Dark Tale of the González Valenzuela Sisters, The New York Times, 2 Mexican Sisters Guilty In the Slaying of 80 Girls, ...
A respected Tampa, FL family is found butchered by an axe and the only survivor is an adult child, Victor, sitting in clean church clothes with blood stains underneath. Why did Victor slay his family? Was it hereditary mental illness? Or was it a drug fueled murder spree? Listen to hear how the Licata family murders were used to inspire fear throughout the nation for corporate gain and drug control.
Sources:
Tampa Bay Time...
Everyone knows the Wright brothers. Almost nobody knows the sister who kept the whole operation running. Katharine Wright packed the trunks, managed the politics, and got erased anyway. Listen to hear the Wright family story.
Sources:
Wright Family Bio, Wright Family History, Wright Family Stories , An Unusual Childhood , Milton's Diaries, Wright State University , Brittanica , The Wright's Sister , Who Flew...
The Netflix documentary, "The Carman Family Deaths" only scratches the surface of their family deaths. Listen to hear how a high status, New England family can ruin themselves from within.
Sources:
US Department of Justice, The Keene Sentinel , Rita's Obituary , John's Obituary , Biography.com, People.com, CTPublic.org, CT Insider ,
Dark Down East Part 1, Dark Down East Part 2, Dark Down East Part 3, Time.c...
John Weems' determination to free his family from slavery is one of trust, cooperation, and human ingenuity, spawning from the most desperate of situations. Listen to hear how John Weems and the underground railroad raised money and awareness to ensure the entire Weems family found freedom.
Sources:
BlackPast.org , Weems The People, WorldHistory.org, Archives of Maryland, The Shadow on the Household, Railroad Ties, Anna Ma...
From sailors’ ropes to Paris bartenders, our language gets tipsy in this Borrowed Words episode. We highlight popular drinking words and phrases on the biggest bar night of the year!
Sources:
Snopes.com , Factcheck.com, OED.com, Dictionary.com, Learnreligions.com, phrases.org, English.stackexchange.com, therealdill.com, Silvercircledistillery.com
E-Mail the show at BorrowedBonesPodcast@proton.me
A colony vanishes, a single word carved in wood, and a baby named Virginia Dare. Did the Roanoke colony assimilate, starve, or flee the storm?
E-Mail the show at BorrowedBonesPodcast@proton.me
Molly Bz Cookies - Promo Code: Bones
Get Good Feels Cannabis Seltzer - Promo Code: Bones
The blue Fugates of Kentucky were a family like none other. Donning either pale white or blue skin, this Appalachian family stood out.
Listen as we walk through the Fugate family line, dispelling untruths, and telling the whole story.
Sources:
Howstuffworks.com, DNAexplained.com, Historycollection.com, Blue People of Troublesome Creek, Ancestral Findings, MCMSNJ.net , More DNA stuff
Maggie and Kate Fox sparked the American seance craze after their older sister Leah, turned a parlor prank into a booming business model that still haunts today’s mediums and paranormal shows. Listen as we explain how the Fox sisters communicated with the dead.
Sources:
History.com, HeadStuff.org, National Women's Historical Society, Archive.org,
Original Report of the Hydesville Haunting , The Fox Sisters and the Birth of ...
We get into "Unknown Number: The High School Cat Fish ,” documentary that dives into a cyberstalking scandal that blindsided families and friends in small town, Beal City, MI
Sources:
The Cut, Cole's MLive Article, MLive, MLive, MLive, MDOC, Forbes
E-Mail the show at BorrowedBonesPodcast@proton.me
Molly Bz Cookies - Promo Code: Bones
Get Good Feels Cannabis Seltzer - Promo Code: Bones
Ever wonder why we say “graveyard shift” or “trick or treat”? Listen as we unravel the eerie origins of words and phrases we say every spooky season.
Sources:
Wordsmarts.com, Graveyard Shift, BetterWordsOnline.com, MentalFloss.com, Phrases.com, WordOrigins.com, LoveToKnow.com, TheExplain.com, UncoverWords.com, Etymonline.com, MerriamWebster.com, History.com
E-Mail the show at BorrowedBonesPodcast@proton.me
As we reach the final chapter in our Brothers Grimm trilogy, we follow Jacob and Wilhelm through their golden years at the University of Berlin. We see how these scholarly siblings who have already transformed folklore collection into a science, continue to make history even in their twilight years.
Sources:
The German Fairytale Route, The Romantic Movement, The Polar Star,
The second part of our Brothers Grimm series follows Jacob and Wilhelm through their publication of fairy tales and their groundbreaking academic work during a turbulent period in German history.
Sources:
Britannica.com, The Gottingen Seven, National Endowment for the Humanities, Grimm's Law Podcast Episode, Britannica.com Congress of Vienna.
E-Mail the show at BorrowedBonesPodcast@proton.me
The Brothers Grimm bathed in wine, lived in castles, and had doves nesting under their beds. Their real lives were as fantastical as the fairy tales they collected. Embark on this three-part story about Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, with our first guest, my twin sister, Samantha!
Sources:
"The Brothers Grimm: A Biography", by Ann Schmiesing,
Schmiesing, Ann. The Brothers Grimm: A Biography. Yale University Press, 2024.
&q...
In the heart of Uganda's Kibale National Park lies a remarkable story of family politics, power struggles, and territorial conflicts that mirror human societies in startling ways. The Ngogo chimpanzee community is the largest known chimpanzee group in the world. It provides a window into the complex social structures that govern great ape societies and, by extension, offers insights into our own evolutionary past
Sour...
Andrea Yates' story isn't just about a mother who killed her children—it's about mental healthcare failures, religious extremism, and societal pressure on mothers. What can we learn 20+ years later?
Sources:
Yates Family Memorial Site, Biography.com, Time.com, NYPost.com, PsychiatryOnline.org, NYPost.com, CNN.com, Psychiatry.com
E-Mail the show at BorrowedBonesPodcast@proton.me
Molly Bz Cookies -...
Three hundred years of ethical business seems almost impossible in today's world, yet the Twining family tea empire stands as a remarkable exception to our cynical expectations.
Sources:
Which Came First? Tea or Coffee?, Twinings Tea,
Witheridge Historical Archive, Livery Committee, Catherine of Braganza,
Twining Tea and Jane Austen, Back Then History, Richard Twining,
A seemingly picture-perfect family is shattered when Chris Watts decided he wanted another life. Shan'ann Watts was willing to work on their marriage, showing her love for her husband via Facebook videos and posts. However, that wasn't enough for Chris. A happy marriage on social media...isn't always a happy marriage in reality.
Sources:
Biography.com, Shan'ann's Obituary, Pregnancy Reaction Video, The Denve...
Our second installment of Borrowed Words has us talking about past presidents, prohibition, and admitting that sometimes, we just don't know.
Sources:
Sentence Stack, Bored Panda, Library of Congress, Symbolism and Metaphor, Word Origins, Phrase Finder, The Cooking Facts, Flavor Inside, History.com.
E-Mail the show at BorrowedBonesPodcast@proton.me
Molly Bz Cookies - Promo Code: Bones
The nightmarish saga of the Sexton family reaches its heartbreaking conclusion as they flee from Indiana to Florida. Packed into a cramped camper and paranoia mounting as authorities close in, tragedy strikes before their arrest.
Sources:
"House of Secrets" by Lowell Cauffiel
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