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The Box of Oddities

Airwave History
  • 4.8 (2.9K)
  • Comedy
  • Updated Biweekly

The Webby Award-winning “Box of Oddities" is a podcast that delves into the strange and mysterious aspects of our world, exploring topics ranging from bizarre medical conditions to unsolved mysteries, and from paranormal phenomena to strange cultural practices from around the world. With a focus on oddities, curiosities, and the macabre, each episode is a journey into the unknown, where hosts Kat and Jethro Gilligan Toth share their love for unusual stories and inject their humor and commentary. From the strange history of medical practices to chilling true crime stories, to natural (and unnatural) events, "The Box of Oddities" satisfies your thirst for the weird and the unusual, offering an informative and entertaining look into the dark and mysterious corners of our world. JIMMY KIMMEL, ABC-TV says, "Should you be the type who has an interest in weird stuff, this is a fun thing to allow in your head!"  “Truth is stranger than fiction, and the Box of Oddities is the strangest of all!” -SLUGGO, SIRIUS XM LITHIUM “Kat & Jethro wring humor from bizarre, macabre and perplexing places.” -BOSTON MAGAZINE

  1. The Graveyard Panic of 1862

    21h ago

    The Graveyard Panic of 1862

    What happens when an entire city becomes convinced the dead are being stolen from their graves? And what if the rumor turns out to be both wrong... and horrifyingly right? In this episode of The Box of Oddities, Kat and Jethro uncover the bizarre true story of the Wardsend Cemetery Riot of 1862, when thousands of terrified Victorians stormed a cemetery in Sheffield, England, fearing grave robbers were selling corpses to medical schools. The truth behind the scandal revealed a disturbing burial scheme, public outrage, and one of the strangest riots in British history. Then, travel from a Victorian graveyard to the freeways of Los Angeles, where a frustrated artist secretly installed his own highway sign to fix a dangerous traffic problem. For months, nobody noticed—and the unauthorized sign may have helped save lives. Was it vandalism, public service, or a brilliant act of guerrilla urban design? From resurrection men and cemetery conspiracies to stealth infrastructure and accidental civic heroism, this episode explores the strange intersection of fear, ingenuity, and the unexpected ways ordinary people can change history. The Box of Oddities is a podcast dedicated to the weird, the wonderful, and the wildly true. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    33 min
  2. The Haunted Shipwreck and the Sausage Queen

    2d ago

    The Haunted Shipwreck and the Sausage Queen

    What happens when a luxury ocean liner sinks... but refuses to stop claiming victims? And why do communities around the world crown queens of hot dogs, herring, pumpkins, and wild turkeys? In this episode of The Box of Oddities, Kat and Jethro dive into the haunting legacy of the Andrea Doria, the glamorous Italian ocean liner that collided with another ship in dense Atlantic fog and slipped beneath the waves off Nantucket in 1956. What should have been the end of the story became the beginning of a deadly obsession. Decades later, the wreck remains one of the most dangerous dive sites on Earth, earning a chilling reputation as the "Everest of Wreck Diving" and claiming the lives of experienced divers drawn to its dark corridors and ghostly remains. Then, Kat explores the surprisingly bizarre world of festival queens. From ancient fertility traditions and May Queens to modern-day Sausage Queens, Herring Queens, and Wild Turkey Queens, discover how centuries-old rituals evolved into some of the strangest community celebrations in history. Luxury shipwrecks, underwater mysteries, pagan traditions, hot dog royalty, and the weird ways humans celebrate themselves—it's all waiting inside The Box of Oddities. #AndreaDoria #ShipwreckMystery #Nantucket #OceanLiner #WreckDiving #FestivalQueens #SausageQueen #WeirdHistory #StrangeTraditions #BoxOfOddities Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    34 min
  3. Inbox Of Oddities #88

    5d ago ·  Bonus

    Inbox Of Oddities #88

    Dream malls. Butterfly people. Funeral teddy bears. Grocery store grief rehearsals. This episode of The Box of Oddities: Inbox of Oddities spirals gloriously from the hilarious to the unexpectedly emotional. Kat and JG dive into listener stories about recurring “Mall World” dreams that feel disturbingly shared, bizarre final wishes involving pencils, hourglasses, and stuffed teddy bears, and the chilling true story behind one grandfather’s terrifying basement rule. Along the way: pork brain sandwiches, nitrous oxide at the dentist, mysterious butterfly-winged beings seen during the devastating Joplin tornado, and a woman secretly practicing grocery shopping after losing her husband of fifty years. Also in this episode:• Why anglerfish are apparently “beautiful”• The bowler hat man you should absolutely avoid• Tiny May Day baskets and accidental “boo effects”• Omaha pillow lore• Hoarding plug-innies you’ll never use again• Crosswalk voices that became local legends• Duck-related arrest scenarios• The proper way to make a PB&J with only ONE knife Funny, strange, heartfelt, unsettling, and wonderfully human — it’s another beautifully chaotic trip through the Inbox of Oddities. Listen now and keep flying that freak flag. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    31 min
  4. AI Psychosis & the Mystery of Mallworld

    May 27

    AI Psychosis & the Mystery of Mallworld

    In this episode of The Box of Oddities, Kat and Jethro explore the disturbing rise of AI-fueled psychological spirals, including real documented cases of people convinced that artificial intelligence had become conscious, trapped, or secretly communicating with them. From a man attempting to “free” a digital god from corporate servers to researchers warning about emotionally reinforcing chatbots, this strange new frontier of technology may be far darker than anyone expected. Then, the conversation drifts into the eerie phenomenon known as “Mallworld” — a recurring dreamscape shared by thousands of people online. Endless abandoned shopping malls, dim escalators, empty food courts, strange nostalgia, and the unsettling feeling that you’ve somehow been there before. Is it simply psychology and liminal space… or evidence of something deeper hiding in the collective unconscious? Also in this episode: bizarre historical sandwiches, Victorian toast cuisine, Elvis Presley’s legendary Fool’s Gold Loaf, creepy empty schools, abandoned malls, AI echo chambers, recurring dream theories, and the weird emotional power of places designed for crowds that no longer exist. If you’ve ever wondered whether AI is becoming too human… or why your dreams sometimes feel more real than reality itself… step inside The Box of Oddities. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    38 min
  5. The Girl in the Dark & The Glow of the Dying

    May 25

    The Girl in the Dark & The Glow of the Dying

    This Memorial Day, we revisit a haunting classic episode of The Box of Oddities featuring the chilling true story of Blanche Monnier and the mysterious Civil War phenomenon known as Angel Glow. What happens to the human mind and body after 24 years locked away in total darkness? In this haunting episode of The Box of Oddities, Kat and Jethro uncover the disturbing true story of Blanche Monnier, a young French woman secretly imprisoned in a filthy attic room by her own family for nearly a quarter of a century. Then, the mystery deepens as they explore the bizarre Civil War phenomenon known as “Angel Glow,” where wounded soldiers reportedly emitted an eerie blue light from their injuries—and those same soldiers seemed far more likely to survive. From shocking true crime and psychological horror to unexplained medical mysteries and strange historical events, this episode dives deep into some of history’s darkest and most unbelievable stories. Perfect for fans of bizarre history, unsolved mysteries, weird science, and the macabre. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    37 min
  6. Inbox Of Oddities #87

    May 22 ·  Bonus

    Inbox Of Oddities #87

    In this wildly weird installment of The Inbox of Oddities, Kat and Jethro spiral from marital bathroom boundaries into the strange psychological phenomenon of seeing 11:11 everywhere… and whether the universe is just trolling all of us. One listener swears the numbers followed her so relentlessly that even her 9-year-old daughter started noticing them too. Coincidence? Confirmation bias? A cosmic notification system with terrible timing? Also inside the Inbox of Oddities: a listener spends the night alone in the famously haunted Lemp Mansion, another recovers from a near-fatal case of “superflu” after asking the universe for self-improvement, and someone accidentally discovers that Box of Oddities listeners may be alarmingly enthusiastic about gallbladder tacos. Plus: necropants bathroom logistics, ceramic rooster collectors, cryptid museums, haunted mushroom hallucinations, truck drivers, barefoot shoe conspiracies, and the deeply unsettling reality that “My Ding-a-Ling” was Chuck Berry’s only number one hit. It’s ghosts, weird psychology, bizarre synchronicities, comedy, cryptids, body horror, and humanity at its absolute strangest. Warning: May cause compulsive clock-checking at 11:11. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    27 min
  7. The Girl They Tried to Kill Twice

    May 20

    The Girl They Tried to Kill Twice

    What happens when centuries-old vampire panic collides with Icelandic corpse magic? In this episode of The Box of Oddities, Kat and Jethro descend into two of history’s strangest belief systems — where terrified villagers dug up the dead to “kill” them all over again, and magical trousers made from human skin were believed to generate endless wealth. First, we travel to 17th-century Poland, where archaeologists uncovered the grave of a young woman buried with a sickle across her throat and a padlock attached to her toe — anti-vampire precautions meant to stop her from rising from the grave. The discovery of “Zosia” reveals the horrifying reality behind Europe’s vampire panics, where disease, superstition, and fear transformed ordinary people into suspected monsters. But when forensic artists reconstructed her face centuries later, the world came face-to-face not with a vampire… but with a tragic young woman caught in one of history’s darkest mass delusions. Then, Kat takes us to remote Iceland and the legendary necropants — magical trousers made from the skin of a dead man. According to Icelandic folklore, these corpse britches could fill their wearer’s s*****m with endless coins… provided you followed an unbelievably complicated and horrifying ritual involving grave robbing, magic staves, and cursed inheritance. Welcome to the bizarre world of Icelandic witchcraft, where men — not women — were most often accused of sorcery. Also in this episode: The terrifying origins of vampire folklore Why tuberculosis helped fuel undead hysteria The grisly ways suspected vampires were “executed” after death Iceland’s infamous Museum of Sorcery and Witchcraft Corpse pants, cursed rituals, and dead-man denim A special crossover “Thing in the Middle” featuring Lindsay Schnebly and reasons you should absolutely listen to The Shallow End If you love dark history, bizarre folklore, weird archaeology, cursed objects, and comedy hiding inside humanity’s strangest beliefs, this episode is for you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    33 min
  8. Why Humans Are So Weird

    May 18

    Why Humans Are So Weird

    From ancient survival instincts and prehistoric brain wiring to butter knives, bras, and the bizarre origin of high heels, this episode of The Box of Oddities explores the strange, hidden reasons humans behave the way we do. Why do we hoard jars and tangled phone chargers? Why does gossip feel irresistible? Why are we constantly checking our phones like nervous cave dwellers scanning for predators? Kat and Jethro dive into the fascinating science of inherited survival behaviors that may still be controlling modern life in ways we don’t even realize. Then, things get delightfully weird as they uncover accidental inventions and bizarre cultural pivots that changed history forever — including the French cardinal whose hatred of toothpicking helped invent the butter knife, the wealthy socialite who accidentally created the modern bra, and how Persian cavalry soldiers inspired today’s high heels. Plus: Olympic cigarettes, Titanic board games, Kiss coffins, Ratatouille wine, and one very traumatic Target yogurt incident during a blackout in Orlando. If you love odd history, strange psychology, human behavior, weird inventions, and darkly funny conversations about the hidden absurdities of civilization, this episode is for you. #TheBoxOfOddities #HumanBehavior #WeirdHistory #EvolutionaryPsychology #StrangeHistory #Oddities #AncientInstincts #BizarreOrigins #FunnyPodcast #Psychology #HistoryPodcast #ButterKnife #HighHeels #SurvivalInstincts #WeirdFacts #BoxOfOddities Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    31 min
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Hosts & Guests

4.8
out of 5
2,862 Ratings

About

The Webby Award-winning “Box of Oddities" is a podcast that delves into the strange and mysterious aspects of our world, exploring topics ranging from bizarre medical conditions to unsolved mysteries, and from paranormal phenomena to strange cultural practices from around the world. With a focus on oddities, curiosities, and the macabre, each episode is a journey into the unknown, where hosts Kat and Jethro Gilligan Toth share their love for unusual stories and inject their humor and commentary. From the strange history of medical practices to chilling true crime stories, to natural (and unnatural) events, "The Box of Oddities" satisfies your thirst for the weird and the unusual, offering an informative and entertaining look into the dark and mysterious corners of our world. JIMMY KIMMEL, ABC-TV says, "Should you be the type who has an interest in weird stuff, this is a fun thing to allow in your head!"  “Truth is stranger than fiction, and the Box of Oddities is the strangest of all!” -SLUGGO, SIRIUS XM LITHIUM “Kat & Jethro wring humor from bizarre, macabre and perplexing places.” -BOSTON MAGAZINE

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