Casting Lots: A Survival Cannibalism Podcast

Alix Penn and Carmella Lowkis
  • 5.0 (36)
  • History

Join hosts Carmella and Alix as they explore real-life cases of survival cannibalism in this true history podcast. Casting Lots: A Survival Cannibalism Podcast is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://castinglotspod.home.blog/

  1. Jun 21

    Now on YouTube: Casting Lots Season 3

    Casting Lots Season 3 is now on YouTube! Make sure you're subscribed to stay up-to-date with future releases. Subscribe here: https://www.youtube.com/@castinglotspodcast TRANSCRIPT https://castinglotspod.home.blog/2026/06/21/now-on-youtube-casting-lots-season-3/ CREDITS Written, hosted and produced by Alix Penn and Carmella Lowkis.  Theme music by Daniel Wackett. Find him on Soundcloud as Daniel Wackett. Logo by Ashley. Find her on Instagram @tallestfriend. Casting Lots is part of the Morbid Audio Podcast Network. Network sting by Mikaela Moody. Find her on Bandcamp as mikaelamoody1. Casting Lots: A Survival Cannibalism Podcast is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://castinglotspod.home.blog/

    Now on YouTube: Casting Lots Season 3

  2. Mar 16

    Casting Lots Season 2 is now on YouTube!

    Casting Lots Season 2 is now on YouTube! Make sure you're subscribed to stay up-to-date with future releases. Subscribe here: https://www.youtube.com/@castinglotspodcast TRANSCRIPT https://castinglotspod.home.blog/2026/03/16/casting-lots-season-2-is-now-on-youtube CREDITS Written, hosted and produced by Alix Penn and Carmella Lowkis.  Theme music by Daniel Wackett. Find him on Soundcloud as Daniel Wackett. Logo by Ashley. Find her on Instagram @tallestfriend. Casting Lots is part of the Morbid Audio Podcast Network. Network sting by Mikaela Moody. Find her on Bandcamp as mikaelamoody1. Casting Lots: A Survival Cannibalism Podcast is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://castinglotspod.home.blog/

    Casting Lots Season 2 is now on YouTube!

  3. Jan 19

    Still hungry?

    Casting Lots is now on YouTube! Subscribe to us now and get ready to re-listen to all your Season 1 favourites, including the Franklin Expedition, the Donner Party, the Whaleship Essex and the Raft of the Medusa… Subscribe here: https://www.youtube.com/@castinglotspodcast Find out about Carmella's books here: UK - https://www.penguin.co.uk/authors/286178/carmella-lowkis US - https://www.simonandschuster.com/authors/Carmella-Lowkis/201665927 TRANSCRIPT https://castinglotspod.home.blog/2026/01/19/still-hungry/ CREDITS Written, hosted and produced by Alix Penn and Carmella Lowkis.  Theme music by Daniel Wackett. Find him on Soundcloud as Daniel Wackett. Logo by Ashley. Find her on Instagram @tallestfriend. Casting Lots is part of the Morbid Audio Podcast Network. Network sting by Mikaela Moody. Find her on Bandcamp as mikaelamoody1. Casting Lots: A Survival Cannibalism Podcast is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://castinglotspod.home.blog/

    Still hungry?

  4. 12/05/2022

    S4 E6. One last bite…

    The time has come: it's the final episode of Casting Lots. For real this time. Join Alix and Carmella for all your remaining cannibalism questions answered, plus a bonus Arctic adventure involving an Italian airship and a very good dog. Did you know Casting Lots now has merch? Find us on Redbubble: https://www.redbubble.com/people/CastingLotsPod/shop TRANSCRIPT https://castinglotspod.home.blog/2022/12/05/s4-e6-one-last-bite/ CREDITS Written, hosted and produced by Alix Penn and Carmella Lowkis. Theme music by Daniel Wackett. Find him on Twitter @ds_wack and Soundcloud as Daniel Wackett. Logo by Ashley. Find her on Twitter and Instagram @tallestfriend.Casting Lots is part of the Morbid Audio Podcast Network. Network sting by Mikaela Moody. Find her on Bandcamp as mikaelamoody1. BIBLIOGRAPHY Filimonov, A. and R. Coalson. (2018). Cannibal Island: in 1933, nearly 5,000 died in one of Stalin’s most horrific labour camps. Available at: https://www.rferl.org/a/cannibal-island-in-1933-nearly-5-000-died-in-one-of-stalin-s-most-horrific-labor-camps/29341167.html Hug, C. (2012). ‘Nobile’s drama and Amundesen’s end’. Polar Journal, 24 April. Available at: https://polarjournal.ch/en/2021/04/24/nobiles-drama-and-amundsens-end/ Museum of the World Ocean. (n.d.). Umberto Nobile’s Expedition 1928. Available at: https://www.krassin.ru/en/o-ledokole-en/podvig-vo-ldakh-en.html Piesing, M. (2021). N-4 Down. Boston, NY: Mariner Books. ‘Ring Around Nobile’. (1928). Time, 6 August. Available at: https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,787439-1,00.html ‘Was Zappi a cannibal?’. (1929). Worker, 17 April, p. 2. Available at: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/71159996 Casting Lots: A Survival Cannibalism Podcast is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://castinglotspod.home.blog/

  5. 11/29/2022

    S4 E5. DINNER GUESTS – Nibedita Sen & The Mayday Podcast

    We are joined by our final dinner guests, writer Nibedita Sen and Ana and Luca of The Mayday Podcast, to talk speculative fiction, colonialism and some disastrous adventures that may not have ended in survival cannibalism, but probably should have. Did you know Casting Lots now has merch? Find us on Redbubble: https://www.redbubble.com/people/CastingLotsPod/shop TRANSCRIPT https://castinglotspod.home.blog/2022/11/29/s4-e5-dinner-guests-nibedita-sen-the-mayday-podcast/ CREDITS Written, hosted and produced by Alix Penn and Carmella Lowkis. With guest appearances from Nibedita Sen and The Mayday Podcast. Nibedita can be found on Twitter and Instagram as @her_nibsen, or check out her website at https://www.nibeditasen.com/. 'Ten Excerpts from an Annotated Bibliography on the Cannibal Women of Ratnabar Island' is published in Nightmare Magazine (May 2019, 80). Read it here: https://www.nightmare-magazine.com/fiction/ten-excerpts-from-an-annotated-bibliography-on-the-cannibal-women-of-ratnabar-island/. The game 'First Times' is available in Strange Horizons (2022): http://strangehorizons.com/fiction/first-times/. Watch Nibedita and Carmella along with some other familiar faces in the panel 'Worldbuilders After Dark: Cannibalism in Real World and Genre Fiction' via Worldbuildersinc on YouTube (14 December 2020): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ik7yV0kVJdM. The Mayday Podcast can be found online at https://themaydaypod.com/, and on Twitter and Instagram as @TheMaydayPod. Theme music by Daniel Wackett. Find him on Twitter @ds_wack and Soundcloud as Daniel Wackett. Logo by Ashley. Find her on Twitter and Instagram @tallestfriend.Casting Lots is part of the Morbid Audio Podcast Network. Network sting by Mikaela Moody. Find her on Bandcamp as mikaelamoody1. Casting Lots: A Survival Cannibalism Podcast is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://castinglotspod.home.blog/

  6. 11/21/2022

    S4 E4. DINNER GUESTS – Ally Wilkes & Linnea Hartsuyker

    Why do we (being the specific group of people who make and listen to Casting Lots: A Survival Cannibalism Podcast) enjoy narratives about survival cannibalism so much? Authors Ally Wilkes and Linnea Hartsuyker join us to discuss the power of storytelling. Did you know Casting Lots now has merch? Find us on Redbubble: https://www.redbubble.com/people/CastingLotsPod/shop TRANSCRIPT https://castinglotspod.home.blog/2022/11/21/s4-e4-dinner-guests-ally-wilkes-amp-linnea-hartsuyker/ CREDITS Written, hosted and produced by Alix Penn and Carmella Lowkis. With guest appearances from Ally Wilkes and Linnea Hartsuyker. Ally Wilkes can be found on Twitter as @UnheimlichManvr and on Instagram as @av_wilkes, or visit her website to find out more: https://www.allywilkes.com/. All the White Spaces (Titan Books, 2022) is out now: https://titanbooks.com/70684-all-the-white-spaces/. Linnea Hartsuyker can be found on Twitter and Instagram as @linneaharts, or explore her website: https://www.linneahartsuyker.com/. The Half-Drowned King is the first novel in her trilogy of books (Little, Brown, 2017): https://www.hachette.co.uk/titles/linnea-hartsuyker/the-half-drowned-king/9780349142531/. For further information on the caloric content of sea lice, please refer to ‘Chances for Arctic Survival: Greely’s Expedition Revisited’ by J.M. Węslawski and J. Legeżyńska in Arctic (2002), 55(4), pp. 373-379: http://pubs.aina.ucalgary.ca/arctic/Arctic55-4-373.pdf. Theme music by Daniel Wackett. Find him on Twitter @ds_wack and Soundcloud as Daniel Wackett. Logo by Ashley. Find her on Twitter and Instagram @tallestfriend. Casting Lots is part of the Morbid Audio Podcast Network. Network sting by Mikaela Moody. Find her on Bandcamp as mikaelamoody1. Casting Lots: A Survival Cannibalism Podcast is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://castinglotspod.home.blog/

  7. 11/14/2022

    S4 E3. DINNER GUESTS – Richard Sugg, Curiosity of a Child & Grave History

    One historian and six podcasters walk into a bar… This week, we’re chatting corpse medicine, recipe recommendations and penny dreadfuls with academic Richard Sugg, Ric and Anton of the Curiosity of a Child podcast, and Teddy and Catriona of the Grave History podcast. Did you know Casting Lots now has merch? Find us on Redbubble: https://www.redbubble.com/people/CastingLotsPod/shop TRANSCRIPT https://castinglotspod.home.blog/2022/11/14/s4-e3-dinner-guests-richard-sugg-curiosity-of-a-child-amp-grave-history/ CREDITS Written, hosted and produced by Alix Penn and Carmella Lowkis. With guest appearances from Richard Sugg, Curiosity of a Child’s Ric and Anton, and Grave History’s Teddy and Catriona. Richard Sugg can be found on Twitter as @DrSugg and on Instagram as @drrichardsugg. Read more about corpse medicine in his book Mummies, Cannibals and Vampires, third edition (self published, 2020): https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mummies-Cannibals-Vampires-History-Medicine/dp/B08DSZ2ZXX/. Or try Richard’s books for children, Our Week with the Juffle Hunters (self published, 2019): https://www.amazon.co.uk/Week-Juffle-Hunters-Richard-Sugg/dp/1086958969/ and Ride Your Horse Through the Chocolate Sauce (self published, 2020): https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ride-Horse-Through-Chocolate-Sauce/dp/B08QRB3DKY/. The Curiosity of a Child podcast can be found online at curiosityofachild.com, or on Twitter and Instagram as @curichildpod. Not sure where to start? Try their episode on ‘Corpse Medicine: From mummies to brains to mellified man’ (31 October 2020): https://curiosityofachild.com/episodes/halloween-special-corpse-medicine. The Grave History Podcast can be found on Twitter as @GraveHistoryPod. For more on penny dreadfuls, try their episode ‘Dreadful and Nasty’ (5 April 2020): https://soundcloud.com/gravehistorypodcast/10-dreadful-and-nasty, or get your gross on with ‘You Know Cholera, John Snow’ (5 September 2020): https://soundcloud.com/gravehistorypodcast/15-you-know-cholera-john-snow.  Theme music by Daniel Wackett. Find him on Twitter @ds_wack and Soundcloud as Daniel Wackett. Logo by Ashley. Find her on Twitter and Instagram @tallestfriend. Casting Lots is part of the Morbid Audio Podcast Network. Network sting by Mikaela Moody. Find her on Bandcamp as mikaelamoody1. Casting Lots: A Survival Cannibalism Podcast is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://castinglotspod.home.blog/

  8. 11/07/2022

    S4 E2. DINNER GUESTS – Neil McRobert & Nicasio Andres Reed

    What’s so scary about cannibalism? We talk to horror experts Neil McRobert, host of Talking Scared Podcast, and Nicasio Andres Reed, editor at the Deadlands, to find out. Did you know Casting Lots now has merch? Find us on Redbubble: https://www.redbubble.com/people/CastingLotsPod/shop TRANSCRIPT https://castinglotspod.home.blog/2022/11/07/s4-e2-dinner-guests-neil-mcrobert-amp-nicasio-andres-reed/ CREDITS Written, hosted and produced by Alix Penn and Carmella Lowkis. With guest appearances from Neil McRobert and Nicasio Andres Reed. You can find Neil McRobert on Twitter as @NakMac. Hear more from Neil on the Talking Scared Podcast: https://talkingscaredpod.com/. You can read his short story, ‘A Well-Fed Man’, in The Fiends in the Furrows II, published by Nosetouch Press (2020): https://www.nosetouchpress.com/project/the-fiends-in-the-furrows-ii-more-tales-of-folk-horror/. Or check out Neil’s recommendations of ‘The 50 Best Horror Books of All Time Will Scare You Sh*tless’ in Esquire, 9 May 2022: https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/books/g37676766/scary-horror-books/. You can find Nicasio Andres Reed on Twitter as @nicasioreed, and the Deadlands online: https://thedeadlands.com/. Looking for something to read? Try Katie Gill’s ‘The Custom of the Sea’ in Deadlands 13 (May 2022): https://thedeadlands.com/issue-13/the-custom-of-the-sea/. Theme music by Daniel Wackett. Find him on Twitter @ds_wack and Soundcloud as Daniel Wackett. Logo by Ashley. Find her on Twitter and Instagram @tallestfriend. Casting Lots is part of the Morbid Audio Podcast Network. Network sting by Mikaela Moody. Find her on Bandcamp as mikaelamoody1. Casting Lots: A Survival Cannibalism Podcast is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://castinglotspod.home.blog/

See All (60)

5
out of 5
36 Ratings

About

Join hosts Carmella and Alix as they explore real-life cases of survival cannibalism in this true history podcast. Casting Lots: A Survival Cannibalism Podcast is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://castinglotspod.home.blog/

Information