True Weird Stuff

<p>Today's True Weird Stuff - Revisiting Tripping Johns</p> <p> </p> <div> <div> <div>One of our first episodes of True Weird Stuff was about the CIA dosing unsuspecting men with LSD and luring them to surveillance brothels. We're doing something a little different in this episode; we're providing live commentary as we listen back to "Tripping Johns."</div> </div> </div> <div> </div>

<p>Today's True Weird Stuff - Revisiting Talking To Heaven</p> <div> <div> <div> </div> <div>What happens when we die? Are you a person who believes that we flicker into and out of existence like earthbound fireflies, here and then gone? Or maybe you believe in an eternal soul that recycles itself lifetime after lifetime? What if you could know, what if you did know what happens when we die? In this episode, you’ll hear from internationally acclaimed spiritual medium James Van Praagh.</div> </div> </div> <div> </div>

<p>Today's True Weird Stuff - Killer Ouija Board</p> <p> </p> <p>Some say the Ouija board is just a game. A toy. A harmless way to pass the time. But in 1933, Dorothea Turley—once celebrated as America’s ideal of beauty—found herself trapped in a life she no longer wanted. Isolated, restless, and searching for answers, she turned to a Ouija board. What she got back was a sinister command: kill your husband.</p>

<p>Today's True Weird Stuff - Cursed Bread</p> <p> </p> <div> <div> <div>In 1951, a quiet French village descended into chaos after people began hallucinating, screaming about monsters, and even jumping from windows—all after eating bread. Officially blamed on contaminated grain, the case took a darker turn when connections to CIA LSD experiments and the mysterious death of a government scientist surfaced. Was this a tragic accident… or a secret test on an entire town?</div> </div> </div> <div> </div>

<p>Today's True Weird Stuff - The Jumper</p> <p> </p> <div> <div> <div>On November 28, 1953, a man crashed through a tenth-floor window at New York City’s Hotel Statler. His name was Frank Olson — a scientist working on some of the most disturbing top-secret programs of the Cold War. Days earlier, the CIA had secretly dosed him with LSD. The official story? A troubled man had a breakdown and jumped. But decades later, new evidence raised a terrifying possibility: Frank Olson didn’t jump...he was thrown.</div> </div> </div> <div> </div>

<p>Today's True Weird Stuff - Open Wide</p> <p> </p> <p>In the early 1900s, psychiatrist Dr. Henry Cotton claimed he could cure mental illness by removing hidden infections in the body. His theory led to a shocking medical practice at the New Jersey State Hospital for the Insane in Trenton—patients had all of their teeth pulled, tonsils removed, and even parts of their intestines surgically removed in an attempt to eliminate bacteria believed to cause insanity.  What started as a revolutionary medical theory quickly spiraled into one of the most disturbing chapters in psychiatric history.</p>

<p>Today's True Weird Stuff - Scarlett Sisters</p> <div> <div> <div> </div> <div>Born into Southern privilege, sisters Ada and Minna Simms escaped violent marriages, stumbled into show business, and eventually pivoted into running what became the most luxurious brothel in America. The Everleigh Club catered exclusively to millionaires, politicians, gangsters, and royalty. Ada and Minna transformed prostitution into an elite, curated luxury experience that also brought controversy to their front door.</div> </div> </div> <div> </div>

<p>Today's True Weird Stuff - Jeffrey Epstein, Vampire</p> <p> </p> <p>How do you build a conspiracy theory? Start with a villain. Add power. Stir in mystery. True Weird Stuff examines the internet's bizarre claim that Jeffrey Epstein is an immortal vampire who once lived as President Andrew Jackson. We trace the ingredients: the suspicious timing of press releases, strange digital footprints after Epstein’s death, the uncanny resemblance to the face on the $20 bill — and society's refusal to accept an unsatisfying ending.</p>

<p>Today's True Weird Stuff - Swing Your Partner</p> <p> </p> <div> <div> <div>From 17th-century folk traditions to 20th-century propaganda, the square dance traveled a long road before landing in your elementary school gym. What looks like homespun Americana hides a secret: a powerful man’s fear that jazz was a threat to white America. Sometimes the most wholesome traditions carry the darkest fingerprints.</div> </div> </div> <div> </div>

<p>Today's True Weird Stuff - Chronovision</p> <p> </p> <p>In 1972, a Vatican priest claimed he built a machine that could watch past events like a television...everything from ancient Rome to the crucifixion of Christ. Father Pellegrino Ernetti called his invention the Chronovisor, and Ernetti claimed the Vatican saw the machine, feared it, and hid it away forever. The Chronovisor promised answers that no religion or government could survive. Was it the greatest secret ever buried, or a warning about wanting proof too badly?</p>

<p>Today's True Weird Stuff - Internal Sunshine</p> <p> </p> <div> <div> <div>William J.A. Bailey wasn’t a doctor, but he convinced the public to trust him anyway—selling radium-laced water as a cure for nearly everything. One of those believers was Eben Byers, a wealthy athlete who drank more than a thousand doses, slowly poisoning himself until his jaw disintegrated and his skull began to rot before his death. The death of Eben Byers forced the world to finally confront the cost of pseudoscience that goes unchecked.</div> </div> </div> <div> </div>

<p>Today's True Weird Stuff - The Perfect Baby</p> <p> </p> <p>In 1919, a toddler known as one of America’s “Perfect Babies” vanished from his New Jersey home. Searchers scoured the woods. Accusations spread. Theories multiplied. When his remains were found deep in the swamp, they answered nothing. The disappearance and death of 2-year-old Billy Dansey spun a web of fear, superstition, prejudice, and failed justice.</p>

<p>Today's True Werid Stuff - Lynnewood Hall</p> <p> </p> <p>Lynnewood Hall was built as a monument to wealth, power, and permanence—an American Versailles, commissioned by the Widener family, meant to last for generations. But tragedy struck the Widener family at the height of their fortune, tying the mansion forever to the sinking of the Titanic and a grief no amount of money could undo. As decades passed, the house was stripped, sold, misused, and left to decay, becoming a silent witness to hubris, loss, and the slow collapse of a gilded dream.</p>

<p>Today's True Weird Stuff - Tiny Pedro</p> <p> </p> <p>In 1932, a prospector blasting for gold in Wyoming uncovered something no one expected: a tiny mummified human seated upright in a cave. Scientists examined it. Crowds paid to see it. And then—like so many pieces of ancient history—it disappeared. Join us as we uncover the legend of Tiny Pedro.</p>

<p>Today's True Weird Stuff - The Award Winning "Doomsday Clock"</p> <p> </p> <p>True Weird Stuff is currently on hiatus, but Sheri and Max will be back with a brand new episode next week. Until then, we present to you another one of their award winning episodes. Winner of two Signal Awards for best history episode and best editing, "Doomsday Clock" explores the origins of the clock, and its lingering flirtation with striking midnight.</p>

<p>The Award Winning "Once Upon A Shroom"</p> <p> </p> <p>Sheri and Max have placed True Weird Stuff on hiatus through the holiday season. Today, we present to you another one of their award winning episodes. Winner of a W3 Award for best history episode, Once Upon A Shroom dives into the story of the man who popularized shrooms in America.</p>