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PODCAST

Wide Atlantic Weird

Wide Atlantic Weird: an Irish podcast about why people believe weird things. Now defunct, enjoy these episodes of investigating the world of the strange, remaining critical, not cynical. And enjoy the final episodes under the guise of the Lost Valley podcast too!

science social sciences

All Episodes

01:18:38

Lost Souls and Lost Cities: Stories of Polar Terror...

Wide Atlantic Weird ·

2021/07/17

In a MUSICAL episode long delayed, Cian welcomes Leanne from The Strange Ways blog to talk about the special place the chilly polar extremes have always held in fact and specifically horror fiction. The poles themselves become mirrors through which colonial-era Europeans saw themselves and measured their achievements. We discuss Dan Simmons' book The Terror, the more recent TV adaptation, the clairvoyants who searched for the lost Captain Franklin, Arthur Conan Doyle's captain Of The Pole Star,

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01:30:46

Mummy Lore In Myth And Fiction (with Lauren the...

Wide Atlantic Weird ·

2021/07/10

Take THAT, Bembridge scholars! Cian is delighted to welcome Lauren the Gothic Bookworm to the cabin for an awesome chat about all things Mummy, curses, and of course, Victorian Gothic! So many of our favourite writers, books, historical topics and more appear, including but not limited to: -the mummy in comparison to other 'classic' monsters -The Victorian/Edwardian fascination with Egypt and mummies; colonialism & orientalism -Victorian 'invasion' literature -early Victorian mummy

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01:27:33

Man Of The Year Million: The Ideas and Futurism of HG...

Wide Atlantic Weird ·

2021/07/03

Best remembered today for his incredible output of genre-defining early science fiction novels during the 1890s, for much of his career Herbert George Wells was perhaps better known for other things. From the early 1900s he positioned himself as a man who would predict the future. Cian and Dónal chat about War of The Worlds, When The Sleeper Wakes, Well' ideas about progress and eugenics, and about his amusing meetings with other famous folks from his day - Joseph Conrad, George Orwell, Orson Wells,

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00:36:51

Bonus Episode: Jurassic Park Trespasser

Wide Atlantic Weird ·

2021/06/26

From the vaults, comes a Crichton-adjacent bonus episode in which Cian and Chris 'The Voice' Joyce discuss Jurassic Park: Trespasser, a famous over-reaching early open-world game that pretty much disappointed everybody upon its release. But, sifting through the wreckage of this abandoned dream, the guys discover that somehow, life ... has found a way. NOTES: After much consideration, you have decided to endorse the podcast: Buy Me A Coffee The Jurassic Time Youtube videos of Hammond's

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01:30:01

Heuvelmania: Bernard's Sea Serpent Classification...

Wide Atlantic Weird ·

2021/06/15

Cameron McCormick, writer on marine monster mysteries and sea serpent superfan, drops into the cabin to talk about the work and influence of Bernard Heuvelmans, remembered as the 'father of cryptozoology.' Heuvelmans was important as an early figure in the codification of cryptozoology, but many of his ideas were to remain unique to him in the decades that followed. Despite his respected status as a pioneer, not many who followed built upon the specific zoological ideas he came up with to explain

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01:18:01

Neanderthals And Northmen: Eaters Of The Dead (with...

Wide Atlantic Weird ·

2021/05/29

Michael Crichton had a habit of recycling various Victorian-era fringe beliefs and obsessions in his techno-thriller fiction. With Eaters Of The Dead, he created a faux-academic 'translation' of the travels of the real-life Ibn Fadlan. The resulting novel has echoes of Beowulf, elements of cryptozoology, relic hominids, and a positive portrayal of Vikings as part of America's changing process of self-identification. Incoming professor of history at Bristol Community College, Fall River, MA, Dr

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01:10:26

From The Vaults: The Reincarnation of Bridey Murphy

Wide Atlantic Weird ·

2021/05/15

A classic episode about the fascination 1950s America had with a woman who relived a past life as a 19th century woman from Cork! Hypnotism, regression, and a time in podcasting history ...

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01:20:37

Red Sky At Night: Lost Cosmonauts (with Dr Tom Ellis)

Wide Atlantic Weird ·

2021/05/01

Dr Tom Ellis talks about the myth of the Lost Cosmonauts, why this symbol has had such staying power, and what it tells us about Western perceptions about the Soviet Union and its space programme. Topics include: -American reactions to Yuri Gagarin’s flight -The secrecy of the Soviet space programme breeding rumours and myths -The idea of the ‘communist mind’ and communism as a ‘secular religion’ -Robert Heinlein and the Lost Cosmonauts -‘Yurimania’ and promoting Yuri Gagarin as a sex symbol -The

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01:00:42

Early Modern Witchcraft Belief (with Imogen Knox)

Wide Atlantic Weird ·

2021/04/24

Cian is joined by Imogen Knox for a chat about witchcraft belief during the early modern period. Subjects covered: -stereotypes about medieval vs early modern witch trials -witch hunts as a 'top down' or 'bottom-up/ phenomenon? -vomiting of pins, apports, and other witch-related phenomena -the role of authorities in witch hunts -Matthew Hopkins, the Witchfinder General -witch-hunting before/after the Reformation -a case from Co Antrim and an earlier case it may be patterned after -the role of

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00:48:34

BONUS EPISODE: The Origins Of Kong

Wide Atlantic Weird ·

2021/04/17

This is a find from the vault - an old patreon episode that's an addendum to our COLONIALISM AND KONG episode, which you can find below. Loads more info about Willis O'Brien and the 1933 King Kong, the history behind the 'lost world' genre and 'jungle' pictures, my own background with stop-motion animation, O'Brien's lost projects, plus the bizarre expanded ecology of Skull Island in Peter Jackson's 2005 version. ORIGINAL KONG

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01:02:19

Irish Burial Customs and 'Teig O'Kane and the Corpse'...

Wide Atlantic Weird ·

2021/04/10

'I FOUND it hard to place Mr. Douglas Hyde's magnificent story. Among the ghosts or the fairies? It is among the fairies on the grounds that all these ghosts and bodies were in no manner ghosts and bodies, but pishogues--fairy spells. One often hears of these visions of Ireland.' Taking, of all things, the Hellboy story 'The Corpse' as a starting point, Cian is joined by Dr Aoife Bhreatnach from the Censored Podcast to talk about Irish burial customs, the stories of Douglas Hyde, changelings,

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00:41:57

Creatures Out Of Time: Those Who Hunt The Skunk Ape

Wide Atlantic Weird ·

2021/03/27

From what might become a semi-regular miniseries focusing on the monster-hunters of cryptozoology, this episode is about a man who had a sighting of the Florida 'skunk ape,' a regional type of Bigfoot, and it changed his life. Obsessed with the creature, he spent every day for six months sitting in his stand in the swamp until he captured photographs - and eventually footage - of the creature. What kind of man does it take to hunt the skunk ape? We find out. A portrait of the renegade, outsider,

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01:15:59

The Digital Campfire: Looking Back At Creepypasta...

Wide Atlantic Weird ·

2021/03/14

Cian and Chris host a campfire chat to remember the heyday of creepypasta: bad grammar, juvenile topics - and yet occasionally incredibly effective bite-size (ok, sometimes epic) slices of crowd-sourced digital horror. Creepypasta ruled the roost in the early days of Web 2.0, back when folks wondered whether Ted really was a caver, whether N64 cartridges really could be haunted, and why you should stay away from cabins in the woods (present company excluded, of course). Conversation

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01:01:55

Return to Yowie Country: The Australian Apeman Again

Wide Atlantic Weird ·

2021/02/27

Cian returns to the subject of the Australian 'yowie' with more detail, more opinions, and possibly more conclusions, giving an in-depth take on the most thorough piece of literature on the subject, the 2006 book The Yowie: In Search Of Australia's Bigfoot by Healy & Cropper. Subjects include: -aboriginal and pre-colonial tales of the 'yahoo' -links to contemporary US bigfoot culture -Yowie or yahoo? What's in a name ... -Do cultures worldwide report 'hairy man' beings? An archetype? -Colonial

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01:08:00

A House That Eats Girls: House (1977) with James Harding

Wide Atlantic Weird ·

2021/02/20

Cian invites James Harding from Toronto 16-bit rockers Villainest to the cabin for a chat about the 1977 Japanese movie 'House.' Frequently noted for its strangeness, Cian and James push past appearances to discuss the context in which the film was made in order to appreciate the creativity and joy this experimental haunted house movie brings! Topics include: -Villainest's amazing reworking of the 'House' theme (stick around till the end for the full track!) -memories of limited access to Japanese

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01:13:24

Invisible Empire: Mysticism And Colonialism in Joan...

Wide Atlantic Weird ·

2021/02/13

Join Cian at a chilly Cabin In The Woods for a Valentine's chat about the ever-mysterious Picnic At Hanging Rock. Whether you're more familiar with the book or the film, you'll be fine in terms of spoilers here, so grab an ale (no Fosters, please) and get ready for a disappear (ahem) into: -the tradition of 'Australian Gothic' -Picnic as a still-relevant urban legend -whiteness in the novel, Miranda Must Go, and the Australian 'tabula rasa' -why we love unresolved mysteries -a post-colonial

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01:08:00

Flat Earth Belief Throughout History (with Dr Edward...

Wide Atlantic Weird ·

2021/02/06

The podcast returns to the topic of flat Earth, and Cian is joined once again by Dr Edward Guimont from snowy New York to cover the history of who exactly believed the earth was flat, when did they believe it, and why did they believe it? A litany of topics are covered in this wide-ranging episode, including: -the infamous Bedford Level experiment naturalist with Alfred Russell Wallace -Flat earth belief within Christianity in the 19th century -Flat Earth belief in Islam, including Boko

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01:25:04

The Fictional Life Of Hulk Hogan Part 2 (with Dónal...

Wide Atlantic Weird ·

2021/01/23

In which Cian & Dónal once again take a headlock to the Hulkster's life and career by taking the claims of his 'auto-biography' to task. In this long-awaited follow-up we tackle: -Hogan joining the WWF and his relationship with Vince McMahon -The first Wrestlemania -Hogan and Mr T visit some kids to promote Wrestlemania -Rowdy Roddy Piper makes Hogan cry by ripping off his crucifix -Hogan and Vince bro out making 'No Holds Barred' -Hogan's relationship with Randy Savage & the Ultimate

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00:54:04

BONUS EPISODE: The Order and 1980s Domestic Terrorism

Wide Atlantic Weird ·

2021/01/19

In this episode, Cian and Ali discuss 80s domestic terrorist group who called themselves THE ORDER, in a direct lift from the 1978 white supremacist text The Turner Diaries. The MAGA goons who caused chaos at Washington this month contained at least a core of serious, organised, far-right insurrectionists whose ideas can be traced to this underground 'white supremacist bible' . They committed robberies, murders, and other crimes during the 1980s in order to fund their imagined race war and

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00:56:41

The Cottingley Fairies Go To The Movies: Part 2

Wide Atlantic Weird ·

2021/01/16

Cian returns to the mystical, mythical, WW1-era pastoral English fairyland only to find that it's become a weird British indie film hellscape of death, hallucinations, and poor life decisions in the SECOND of his Cottingley Fairy film analyses, this time talking about the 1997 movie PHOTOGRAPHING FAIRIES. Plus, as the film section is a bit short this time around, enjoy a bit of background about the extremely weird 'Turanian Dwarf Theory' in which writers and anthropologists came to believe that

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