Here Be Monsters

Here Be Monsters
  • 4.6 (1.2K)
  • DOCUMENTARY

An independent podcast about fear, beauty and the unknown. Since 2012. Hosted by Jeff Emtman and others.

  1. HBM159: Final Haircuts

    FEB 19

    HBM159: Final Haircuts

    During a moment of personal turmoil, Rocky Villanueva gets an email from a long-time client.  His client is in his final weeks of life, and is getting his last wishes taken care of.  One of those wishes: to look like himself when he dies.   Rocky says that many hairdressers and barbers have similar experiences: helping their clients through the last stages of life and letting them look the way they want to look for a final time. Rocky packs his haircutting tools and bikes across Berlin to spend an hour with his client, giving him a haircut and receiving advice on love and grief.  Producer: Jeff EmtmanMusic: The Black Spot, Serocell, Phantom Fauna Sponsor: The Summer Diary of a Lady Artist The sponsor for this episode is The Summer Diary of a Lady Artist.  It’s a fictional illustrated diary of an artist navigating love and hatred. The Summer Diary of a Lady Artist is now available at all online book stores. See Jeff’s favorite images from the book, on the podcast website Want to sponsor an episode? HBMpodcast.com/sponsor Support Here Be Monsters with a small monthly contribution: patreon.com/HBMpodcast/

    32 min
  2. The Thaw & Die Grenze

    12/09/2024

    The Thaw & Die Grenze

    Jeff walks to the edge of Berlin and explains why the Here Be Monsters feed has been quiet for so long.  On the way, Jeff talks about plans for upcoming episodes, looks at the ways that moving to Berlin has changed him, and discusses a pair of films featuring Tilda Swinton: Cycling the Frame (1988), and The Invisible Frame (2009). Both movies feature Swinton riding a bicycle around the entirety of the Berlin Wall—or, in the case of the latter, where the Berlin Wall used to be.  Please follow Here Be Monsters on Patreon: patreon.com/HBMpodcast Field recordings heard in this episode (starting around the 17:20): a former site of the Berlin wall in Marienfelde  ~  birds and insects near Portbou, Spain  ~  canoe paddling near the in Germany’s Spreewald  ~  geese and peacocks calling on Peacock Island (Pfaueninsel)  ~  dusk crickets near Locarno, Switzerland  ~  a massive pipe organ that was part of Italy’s submission to the 2024 Venice Biennale  ~  public transport boats in Venice revving their engines  ~  Jeff singing in a bathroom while a faucet drips  ~  Water splashing against cement in Banyuls-sur-mer, France  ~  Hiking the Walter Benjamin memorial trail on the France / Spain border  ~  Baby goat at the peak of a mountain on the France / Spain border  ~  A canal boat passing in Amsterdam, Netherlands  ~  An announcement bidding visitors to be quiet while visiting France’s Cathedral of Our Lady of Strasbourg.   Producer: Jeff EmtmanMusic: The Black Spot

    24 min
  3. HBM158: An Illusion

    12/14/2022

    HBM158: An Illusion

    n the midst of a stressful move, HBM producer Jeff Emtman finds comfort in the phasing techniques developed by minimalist composer, Steve Reich.  Note: this episode contains sounds that cannot be accurately represented by speakers.  Please use headphones.   Steve Reich compositions excerpted in this episode:  Clapping Music, performed by Steve Reich and Wolfram Winkel Violin Phase, performed by Jonathan Morton  Pendulum Music, performed by Joan Cerveró, Víctor Trescolí, Isabel León, and  Estefanía Sánchez Here Be Monsters is an independent podcast supported by listener donations.  If you’d like to make a small monthly contribution, visit patreon.com/HBMpodcast.  Producer: Jeff Emtman

    40 min
  4. HBM157: The Raw Whatever

    11/28/2022

    HBM157: The Raw Whatever

    Allen H Greenfield is a UFOlogist and occult researcher.  He’s also a father of three.   His first child, Alex was the subject of HBM155: Ghosts Aliens Burritos.  In that episode, Alex tells stories from his childhood of chasing strange phenomena with his father.  In this episode, Here Be Monsters host Jeff Emtman talks to Allen to get the “fatherly perspective” on UFOs, black lodges, tarot, The Day the Earth Stood Still, and (most of all) how to be a good parent.  Allen Greenfield is currently working on the final installment of a trilogy whose first two entries are Secret Cipher of the UFOnauts and Secret Rituals of the Men in Black.  The forthcoming book is yet to be titled.  Also heard on this episode: Rick Emtman, who is Jeff’s dad. Content Note: LanguageProducer: Jeff EmtmanMusic: Serocell, The Black SpotSponsor: Pal’s Plants Pal’s Plants is a Flatbush, Brooklyn based subscription service for potted plants and intriguing zines.   Plants can be delivered to the 5 boroughs of New York City.  Zines can be delivered anywhere in the USA.   Pal’s Plants is customized to your preferences.  They’ll have you fill out a short survey when you sign up so that you can be sure to get something you like each month in the mail.  Pal’s Plants makes a great gift.  Use offer code HBM50 at signup to get half off your first month’s subscription.   Thank you Pal’s Plants for sponsoring Here Be Monsters.

    40 min
  5. HBM156: Heavy Load-Bearing Body

    11/09/2022

    HBM156: Heavy Load-Bearing Body

    Berlin’s Schwerbelastungskörper is a massive concrete structure that, today, is hidden in plain sight between a railroad and an apartment building.  It’s one of just a dozen remaining pieces of Nazi Architecture in Berlin.  And it’s not much to look at. It was built in 1941 as a test structure for a triumphal arch that Hitler wanted to build in that spot.  The Schwerbelastungskörper (“heavy load-bearing body”) is the arch’s test structure.  It weighs about 12,650 metric tonnes, or about 28 million pounds, and it’s the equivalent weight of one of the four massive legs of the never-built arch. This plan was abandoned as World War 2 accelerated.  And the structure remained, slowly sinking into Berlin’s marshy soil, providing proof of the arch’s impossibility.  In this episode, HBM host Jeff Emtman visits the Schwerbelastungskorper, records some impulse responses in the structure’s single room and reflects on his discomfort in finding beauty in another Nazi structure nearby, Tempelhof Airport (now a public park and refugee camp).  Also mentioned on this episode: The Berlin Airlift, Austrian Tyrol, The Little Mermaid (1989), and Der Herr Der Ringe (Lord of the Rings movies dubbed in German).   Here Be Monsters is an independent podcast supported by listener donations.  If you’d like to make a small monthly contribution, visit patreon.com/HBMpodcast.  Registration for the Here Be Monsters Art Exchange is open until November 10th, 2022.  Sign up: https://HBMpodcast.com/art/ Producer: Jeff EmtmanMusic: The Black Spot

    19 min
  6. The HBM Art Exchange is Back!

    10/24/2022

    The HBM Art Exchange is Back!

    The Here Be Monsters Art Exchange is back! It’s a really simple and wonderful thing where you, gentle listener, can mail a piece of art to a stranger and get a piece of art in return. It’s open to artists of all experience levels from around the world. The deadline to sign up is November 10th, 2022. Sign up and more info here: https://www.hbmpodcast.com/art The art exchange is made possible this year by HBM listener Devon Sherman, who’s offered her time and expertise to help with communication between artists. Thank you Devon. Devon is a past participant in the art exchange, and has an ongoing project where she illustrates Robert Burton’s The Anatomy of Melancholy. Another listener, known as “Endless_Want”, also helped out by making the Art Exchange’s promotional video, which you can see on the sign-up page and on our Instagram and Twitter. Music: The Black Spot, Robbie Quine—Glitter Rock Werewolf

    13 min
  7. HBM155: Ghosts Aliens Burritos

    08/24/2022

    HBM155: Ghosts Aliens Burritos

    Content Note: pervasive language, brief mentions of bigotry. Alex Greenfield says that there was no such thing as a normal day when he was a kid.  His dad (Allen H Greenfield) self describes as a “researcher in the shadow world.” And his mom soon grew tired of her husband’s lifestyle, which included a lot of time on the road: chasing rumors of cryptids, ghosts, and aliens.   But after his parents split up, Alex, his dad, and an ever changing cast of motorcycle gang members and step-moms kept seeking the occult.  Some of the topics discussed in this episode: St. Simons Island in Georgia (and reported hauntings), The Okefenokee Swamp (and the ignition of swamp gas), The Three Mile Island Nuclear Accident (and subsequent protests), Mono Lake in California (and the UFO sightings  there), and a movie called Being There (wherein the character played by Peter Sellers appears to walk on water). Alex Greenfield is the writer of The Sand, 10.0 Earthquake, and other movies.  He also used to be the head writer for WWE Smackdown.  Alex’s dad, Allen H Greenfield (aka. T Allen Greenfield), is a UFOlogist and occultist.  He is the author of Secret Cipher of the UFOnauts, The Story Of The Hermetic Brotherhood Of Light, and other books.  Unrelated to this episode, but do give a listen to the limited series that Jeff’s been mixing for Crooked Media.  It’s called Another Russia, and it’s about the assassination of Russian dissident Boris Nemtsov, as told by Ben Rhodes and Zhanna Nemtsova.  Available now on every podcast app.   Also, Jeff’s headed back to Berlin, Germany for about a month.  If you know any good stories/interviews he should record while he’s there, send a DM on Twitter or Instagram, or use the contact form. Here Be Monsters is an independent podcast supported by listeners and sponsors.  Producer: Jeff Emtman Music: The Black Spot, Circling Lights, August Friis Sponsor: is / ought books  is / ought books is a publisher of spiral bound self help manuals, art books, and non literary works on paper.All titles from is / ought books are available to buy online via the link below. is / ought books are also distributed via Small Press Distribution (SPD). Thank you is / ought books for sponsoring Here Be Monsters.

    32 min
  8. HBM154: Ancient Roman Recipes

    06/22/2022

    HBM154: Ancient Roman Recipes

    Sally Grainger was originally a chef, but in her 20’s, she was gifted a copy of an ancient Roman cookbook called Apicius.  Apicius is a bit of a fluke.  It shouldn’t have survived the 2000-ish year journey into the modern era, but it did.  And in this episode of Here Be Monsters, Grainger explains how Apicius persisted due to being a favorite text for monks-in-training to practice their gilding skills.  And thus, this fascinating book of recipes (featuring cooking instructions for boiled ostrich soup, complex sauces, and cucumbers stewed with brains) is still feeding people today. While cuisine today might seem distant from ostrich soup, Grainger thinks that Roman food often gets inaccurately portrayed as overly decadent or overly spiced.  Cooked correctly, the cuisine is quite balanced, she says.  And in her book, Cooking Apicius, she uses her knowledge of ancient Roman life to put the recipes in context for a contemporary kitchen and contemporary cooks.  Also, on this episode, Jeff also reads from a 1932 English translation of Apicius by Joseph Dommers Vehling, which is available in the public domain thanks to Project Gutenberg.  Producer: Jeff EmtmanMusic: The Black Spot Have you seen the new HBM stickers? They’re beautiful.  Get yours here.  As of publish date: if you buy 4, one of them will be free.  The discount gets applied automatically when you add them to your cart.

    24 min
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Hosts & Guests

4.6
out of 5
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About

An independent podcast about fear, beauty and the unknown. Since 2012. Hosted by Jeff Emtman and others.

Information

  • Creator
    Here Be Monsters
  • Years Active
    2012 - 2025
  • Episodes
    155
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Here Be Monsters LLC (861412)
  • Show Website
    Here Be Monsters

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