Don't Look Now
What could an Engineer and an Archaeologist have to talk about? Listen to us discuss history, mysteries, science, culture and art. The world is vast and episode by episode we learn about the way the world works.
Episodes
304 episodes
304 - The Nutcracker
Were you aware that the Nutcracker Ballet was not much of a hit when first performed in 1892 in St. Petersburg, Russia? While the music was well received, the ballet itself was not an instant fan favorite. It didn't grow to high pop...
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Season 1
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Episode 304
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24:49
303 - The Great Whiskey Fire of Dublin
On June 18th, 1875 a warehouse full of thousands of casks of whiskey caught fire in the Liberties area of Dublin causing a river of flaming whiskey to pour down the streets, often up to six inches deep. While the fire did a great deal of ...
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Season 1
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Episode 303
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41:57
302 - The Rhinelander Scandal
Today's podcast is about a divorce case in New York that took place 100 years ago. Kip Rhinelander, the heir to a prominent New York Family, secretly married Alice Jones, a working class girl. While this would normally draw the ire of his...
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Season 1
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Episode 302
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45:18
301 - Christmas Lights: The Origin Story
This week we discuss the holiday season's most famous bright spot: Christmas Lights. Decorating trees, houses, shopping malls, and making up vast displays; Christmas lights are a staple of the holiday season. When did electric light...
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Season 1
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Episode 301
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29:49
300 - Your Looks Are Criminal
This week's podcast in on Cesare Lombroso, an Italian anthropologist and criminologist that had the unfortunate assertation that criminality was inherited and could be directly identified through physical traits. While we now know that so...
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Season 1
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Episode 300
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37:05
299 - The Candyman Murder
While the Candyman movies involve a mysterious paranormal murderer that can be summoned thought the bathroom mirror stalking the projects of Chicago, they are based on a true story. Today's podcast discusses the bizarre details surroundin...
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38:26
298 - The Mummified Bandit
This week's episode tells the story of Elmer McCurdy, a not too successful bandit of the old west who was eventually killed in Oklahoma in 1911. However, McCurdy's story didn't end then. After being embalmed, no one wanted to pay fo...
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Season 1
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Episode 298
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36:23
297 - Ghosts in the Legal Machine
We're back after a one week hiatus with stories of the bizarre area where the law and ghosts overlap. We have two stories this week: the first where the testimony of a ghost is officially admitted as evidence in a trial, and the second wh...
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Season 1
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Episode 297
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33:46
296 - The Pumpkin Patch
Have you ever wondered where the tradition of the pumpkin patch came from? Today, every Halloween season, we have active pumpkin patches on farms that have not just the obligatory pumpkins for sale, but giant slides, corn mazes, hay rack ...
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Season 1
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Episode 296
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33:55
295 - Bloody Mary - Demon or Drink
Today's episode is dedicated to the debate about who the childhood scare game "Blood Mary" takes its inspiration from. Is it Queen Mary of England, a legendary witch, or a Balkan Countess. Since we are talking about Bloody Marys it'...
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Season 1
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Episode 295
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28:25
294 - Your Friendly Neighborhood Cryptid
This week we have multiple stories of cryptids from around the US. There's always a fun story of the local creepy monster or legend to make kids out camping rethink their decisions when they wake up in the middle of the night. This ...
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Season 1
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Episode 294
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31:47
293 - The Ogress of Reading
My apologies for the late podcast this week... the blue screen of death reared its ugly head, but the computer issues are now fixed and the podcast is finally posted.Our topic this week is Amelia Elizabeth Hobley-Dyer, the Ogress of Rea...
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Season 1
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Episode 293
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36:44
292 - The Origins of the Scots
Where did the people of Scotland come from? The Picts were living in Scotland when the Romans arrived but where did they come from and who did they descend from? Theorys abound: from home grown stories of them descending from an Egy...
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Season 1
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Episode 292
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32:41
291 - Mystery of the Missing Faberge Eggs
The ornate eggs that Faberge made for the imperial family of Russia are famous around the world. 52 eggs were made for the imperial family, and the majority of these are still around today, on display around the world in various collections.&nb...
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Season 1
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Episode 291
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28:42
290 - Daniel Dunglas Home
Daniel Dunglas Home (pronounced Hume) was a medium of the mid 19th century that gained fame in both Europe and the US for his ability to levitate and move objects during seances. He became one of the most famous mediums of the spiritualis...
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Season 1
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Episode 290
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43:41
289 - The Wendigo
The concept of a Wendigo, a malevolent spirt that can cause someone to become an insatiable cannibal is a part of Algonquin Folklore that is both part cryptid and part culture-bound syndrome. While the concept has entered the vernacular o...
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Season 1
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Episode 289
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36:38
288 - The Unsinkable Margaret Brown
This week's topic is the life of Margaret Brown, better known as The Unsinkable Molly Brown in mostly fictionalized accounts after her death. Margaret was born in Hannibal, Missouri about 30 years after Mark Twain. She is famed for ...
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Season 1
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Episode 288
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32:50
287 - The Jackalope
Today's podcast is about one of the more light-hearted cryptids out there. The mysterious jackalope, seen mounted on many walls but not often in the wild. Take a listen and find out about this icon of the great plains.
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Season 1
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Episode 287
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36:46
286 - Miraculous Stairs and Vampires in New Orleans
Today's podcast has two topics: the miraculous staircase of the Loretto Chapel in Santa Fe, New Mexico and the vampires of New Orleans. Both of which are linked, oddly enough, by their relationship to nuns.
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Season 1
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Episode 286
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35:39
285 - Andrew Cunanan and the Versace Murder
Andrew Cunanan was a serial murderer that killed five people during a crazed spree in 1997. His most famous and final victim, other than himself, was Gianni Versace, the famed clothing designer. What drove him to do what he did?&nbs...
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Season 1
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Episode 285
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32:03
284 - Jonestown
The conclusion of our two part episode on Jim Jones and the People's Temple. The People's Temple moves to California and problems begin in earnest. The cult eventually moves to Guyana and creates the settlement of Jonestown where is...
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Season 1
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Episode 284
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1:02:23
283 - Jim Jones before Jonestown
We discuss the early life of Jim Jones, the cult leader most infamous for the mass murder/suicide of his followers at Jonestown in Guyana. From his start in life as part of a desperately poor and dysfunctional family, to his alternately b...
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Season 1
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Episode 283
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52:47
282 - Pukwudgies and Magic Frogs
Today's podcast deals with a couple of the lesser known cryptids of the United States: The Pukwudgies of the Massachusetts woods and the wand wielding frog people of Ohio. Time for a little detour into the weird ;)
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Season 1
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Episode 282
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26:36
281 - The Angel Makers of Nagyrev
During and after World War I, a group of women living in Nagyrev, Hungary, used arsenic to poison up to 300 men. The ringleader of the group was Zsuzanna Fazekas, a local midwife with a strangely missing husband. The poisoning was i...
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Season 1
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Episode 281
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37:20
280 - The Affair of the Poisons
Our topic this week is the Marquise de Montespan, a noblewoman renowned for her beauty and with that became the mistress of King Louis XIV of France and one of the post powerful people in the country. She was accused of being part of the ...
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Season 1
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Episode 280
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36:28