Midnight Facts for Insomniacs

Which would be in your top 5? Tell us in the Discord... ~ Become an Insomniac! Support the show on PATREON and unlock exclusive bonus content. ~ Join the community, chat with fellow insomniacs, and vote on episode topics via DISCORD ~ Send Shane and Duncan a message at [email protected] ~ Rep the show! Grab a tee or mug at the MIDNIGHT MERCH store and spread the word. ~ Follow us on INSTAGRAM

The internet will tell you Easter was stolen from a pagan goddess. The internet is wrong. Join Shane and Duncan as they crack open the strange, surprisingly contentious history of Easter. What starts with a 2nd-century church dispute over calendar math spirals into centuries of tradition, myth, and misinformation, touching on ancient lunar formulas, Roman torture devices, Lenten food rules that accidentally created a worldwide egg hunt, and global celebrations that make an American Easter look downright boring. From sacred arguments over celebration dates to global celebrations involving whips, water, and criminal effigies, this one gets weird fast. ~ Become an Insomniac! Support the show on PATREON and unlock exclusive bonus content. ~ Join the community, chat with fellow insomniacs, and vote on episode topics via DISCORD ~ Send Shane and Duncan a message at [email protected] ~ Rep the show! Grab a tee or mug at the MIDNIGHT MERCH store and spread the word. ~ Follow us on INSTAGRAM

Pirates. Snakes. Shamrocks. And the stomach-turning truth behind those green rivers... Saint Patrick’s Day is one of the world’s most recognizable holidays, but the real story is even stranger than the legends. Join Shane and Duncan as they dig into the bizarre history behind Saint Patrick’s Day, separating fact from fiction and uncovering how one man’s dubious autobiography somehow turned into a global celebration of Irish culture. ~ Become an Insomniac! Support the show on PATREON and unlock exclusive bonus content. ~ Join the community, chat with fellow insomniacs, and vote on episode topics via DISCORD ~ Send Shane and Duncan a message at [email protected] ~ Rep the show! Grab a tee or mug at the MIDNIGHT MERCH store and spread the word. ~ Follow us on INSTAGRAM

Hollywood promised spectacle. Audiences stayed home. In this fiscally irresponsible episode, Shane and Duncan return to the financial wreckage of modern blockbuster filmmaking, breaking down the numbers, the behind-the-scenes chaos, and the very modern phenomenon of studios insisting everything is fine while hundreds of millions of dollars evaporate. Prepare for a snarky, data-driven look at how blockbuster ambition sometimes turns into a masterclass in financial faceplants. ~ Become an Insomniac! Support the show on PATREON and unlock exclusive bonus content. ~ Join the community, chat with fellow insomniacs, and vote on episode topics via DISCORD ~ Send Shane and Duncan a message at [email protected] ~ Rep the show! Grab a tee or mug at the MIDNIGHT MERCH store and spread the word. ~ Follow us on INSTAGRAM

They say lightning never strikes twice, but Hollywood keeps proving otherwise. In this budget-busting pair of episodes, Shane and Duncan return to the cinematic graveyard for a fresh look at some of Hollywood’s most spectacular recent failures: the tangled mess of Megalopolis, the glossy fizzle of Tron: Ares, and a few other high-budget disasters that left studios scrambling. It’s a behind-the-scenes look at big swings, bigger misses, and the brutal math of modern moviemaking. ~ Become an Insomniac! Support the show on PATREON and unlock exclusive bonus content. ~ Join the community, chat with fellow insomniacs, and vote on episode topics via DISCORD ~ Send Shane and Duncan a message at [email protected] ~ Rep the show! Grab a tee or mug at the MIDNIGHT MERCH store and spread the word. ~ Follow us on INSTAGRAM

In part two of their irreverent jaunt through the solar system, Shane and Duncan venture beyond the inner planets into the vast outer reaches, where storms rage for centuries and icy moons hide oceans beneath their crusts. From Saturn’s sweeping rings to Neptune’s frigid winds, it’s a dramatic tour through the awe-inspiring outer reaches of our celestial neighborhood. ~ Become an Insomniac! Support the show on PATREON and unlock exclusive bonus content. ~ Join the community, chat with fellow insomniacs, and vote on episode topics via DISCORD ~ Send Shane and Duncan a message at [email protected] ~ Rep the show! Grab a tee or mug at the MIDNIGHT MERCH store and spread the word. ~ Follow us on INSTAGRAM

The Sun is an unrelenting nuclear inferno. Mercury is a dense little rock with zero atmosphere and the worst sunburn in the system. Venus is a cautionary tale wrapped in sulfuric acid clouds, spinning in the wrong direction just to be difficult. And Mars is a frozen desert haunted by the ghost of ancient oceans. In this episode, Shane and Duncan dig into the bizarre and extreme nature of the inner planets, unpacking strange rotations, impossible temperatures, missing magnetic fields, and Martian cliffs that make the Grand Canyon look like a pothole. Nothing in the inner solar system is normal, and it only gets weirder from here. ~ Become an Insomniac! Support the show on PATREON and unlock exclusive bonus content. ~ Join the community, chat with fellow insomniacs, and vote on episode topics via DISCORD ~ Send Shane and Duncan a message at [email protected] ~ Rep the show! Grab a tee or mug at the MIDNIGHT MERCH store and spread the word. ~ Follow us on INSTAGRAM

This week, plunge with Shane and Duncan into the most maddening mental puzzles ever devised, from ancient identity crises and time travel nightmares to philosophical traps that refuse to be solved. If you replace every part of a ship, is it still technically the same boat? Should you always switch doors and trust the guy in the blazer with the game show smile, or trust your own instincts? And what happens when a donkey can’t make up its damn mind? Welcome to a crash course in logic traps, ethical nightmares, and timeless brain knots. BYO aspirin. ~ Become an Insomniac! Support the show on PATREON and unlock exclusive bonus content. ~ Join the community, chat with fellow insomniacs, and vote on episode topics via DISCORD ~ Send Shane and Duncan a message at [email protected] ~ Rep the show! Grab a tee or mug at the MIDNIGHT MERCH store and spread the word. ~ Follow us on INSTAGRAM

-Merry Christmas, insomniacs! Here's a blast from the past. We hope you're having an amazing holiday season- How is Santa Claus connected to cannibalism? Which Christmastide holiday commemorates the slaughter of children? How should you decode the cryptic numerology message 20+C+M+B+22? And what's with all of those airborne reindeer? Welcome to Ghosts of Christmases Past, in which Shane and Duncan explore how tree-worship and animal sacrifice evolved into the bizarre, festive, highly commercialized holiday we know today. So whether you're feeling the Christmas spirit or just feeling jaded and grinchy, grab a cup of heavily-spiked eggnog, get cozy by the yule-log, and join the boys as they unpack the fascinating pagan history of Christmas. ~ Become an Insomniac! Support the show on PATREON and unlock exclusive bonus content. ~ Join the community, chat with fellow insomniacs, and vote on episode topics via DISCORD ~ Send Shane and Duncan a message at [email protected] ~ Rep the show! Grab a tee or mug at the MIDNIGHT MERCH store and spread the word. ~ Follow us on INSTAGRAM

In this special live-streamed double-retrospective, Shane and Duncan trace the evolution of podcasting from its humble beginnings in the shadow of radio and RSS feeds to its rise as a billion-dollar media juggernaut. Along the way, they peel back the curtain on the origin of Midnight Facts for Insomniacs, from the first chaotic and unpolished episodes recorded in a parked car to the latest chaotic and unpolished episodes consumed by a devoted community of night owls, knowledge junkies, and insomniac misfits. Whether you’re a longtime fan or just tuning in, this is the origin story you didn’t know you needed. ~ Become an Insomniac! Support the show on PATREON and unlock exclusive bonus content. ~ Join the community, chat with fellow insomniacs, and vote on episode topics via DISCORD ~ Send Shane and Duncan a message at [email protected] ~ Rep the show! Grab a tee or mug at the MIDNIGHT MERCH store and spread the word. ~ Follow us on INSTAGRAM

Alfred Nobel made a fortune inventing things that go boom, earning the nickname “merchant of death.” But with his own death approaching, he set out to salvage his legacy by creating a prize meant to celebrate peace, science, and human progress. The history of that prize, however, is anything but peaceful. This week, Shane and Duncan explore the strange evolution of the Nobel Prize, from its explosive beginnings to secret refusals, scandalous recipients, and one prize Nobel never actually intended. ~ Become an Insomniac! Support the show on PATREON and unlock exclusive bonus content. ~ Join the community, chat with fellow insomniacs, and vote on episode topics via DISCORD ~ Send Shane and Duncan a message at [email protected] ~ Rep the show! Grab a tee or mug at the MIDNIGHT MERCH store and spread the word. ~ Follow us on INSTAGRAM

In the first full-episode MFFI livestream, Duncan opens the spellbook on the roots of witchcraft and the modern movements keeping the magic alive. So grab your crystals (or your skepticism) and settle in for a tale of treacherous ale-wives, black cats, pointed hats, and centuries of persecution. From sacred symbols to sanitized stereotypes, this episode unpacks how witchcraft was vilified, commodified, and eventually rebranded. ~ Become an Insomniac! Support the show on PATREON and unlock exclusive bonus content. ~ Join the community, chat with fellow insomniacs, and vote on episode topics via DISCORD ~ Send Shane and Duncan a message at [email protected] ~ Rep the show! Grab a tee or mug at the MIDNIGHT MERCH store and spread the word. ~ Follow us on INSTAGRAM

In this chilling, thrilling, and revealing episode, MFFI explores the internet’s favorite collection of anonymous nightmares. From message boards to movie screens, the crowdsourced horror stories known as “creepypasta” have created legends, fueled obsessions, and, in one notorious case, inspired a real-life murder attempt. Follow along as Shane and Duncan unearth Slender Man, explore Candle Cove, and get lost in the Backrooms of the Internet. ~ Become an Insomniac! Support the show on PATREON and unlock exclusive bonus content. ~ Join the community, chat with fellow insomniacs, and vote on episode topics via DISCORD ~ Send Shane and Duncan a message at [email protected] ~ Rep the show! Grab a tee or mug at the MIDNIGHT MERCH store and spread the word. ~ Follow us on INSTAGRAM

Back by popular demand (and dark ritual), this Halloween classic rises once more from the archives. Join Shane and Duncan for a deep dive into the strange, spooky origins of everyone’s favorite night of costumes, candy, and cultural confusion. Lock the doors, light the jack-o’-lantern, and celebrate the season with this fan-favorite episode… now officially an annual tradition. ~ Become an Insomniac! Support the show on PATREON and unlock exclusive bonus content. ~ Join the community, chat with fellow insomniacs, and vote on episode topics via DISCORD ~ Send Shane and Duncan a message at [email protected] ~ Rep the show! Grab a tee or mug at the MIDNIGHT MERCH store and spread the word. ~ Follow us on INSTAGRAM