The Macabrecast

For thousands of years, Western medicine was ruled by a belief in the four humors. This week, Brooke is diving back in to tell us all about the history of all four: blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile. Whether people thought the humors were separated in the body or operating like a slushie machine, they definitely believed that they ruled how bodies work in strange and interesting ways. 

In a continuation of our chats about Mass Psychogenic Illness (MPI) from episode 94, Holly shares the details of a strange tragedy from 1804. What started as ghost sightings in Hammersmith, London quickly escalated to murder one night. But that wasn't the end of it, the legal debate this case inspired continued on for decades afterwards.

Join us this week for Brooke's telling of the Scottish ballad about Tam Lin. His story centers around the love of his life and how she rescues him from the evil Queen of the Faeries. This ballad has drama, fae, shapeshifting, badass women, basically everything. And if you want more ballads, check out Episode 66: The Harrowing History of Murder Ballads!

Brooke is getting down to the nitty gritty with this episode’s focus—cadavers and their many careers! Dare to explore the plethora of ways bodies continue to live on after death, from the mundane plastic surgery training lab to the more grueling body farm! 

At a convent in France, during the middle ages, the nuns raised their voices in a beautiful chorus...of meowing? Holly will be sharing the strange tale of the meowing nuns this week, but we'll also be diving a little deeper. We'll chat about some other strange happenings at convents around Europe and learn a little bit about what could be the link between them: mass psychogenic illness. 

We're back with another little guy! The Gumbaroo is out there, lurky in the forests of the Pacific Northwest and you can learn all about this strange creature this week. This guy is friends with the Squonk and Hugag which you can hear more about in past episodes too.
 
Audio Warning: Toward the last half of the episode, there are a couple spots where we cut out for a second. Your audio isn't broken, it's us! Sorry about that, gang.

We're back for Part II of the whirlwind theft-streak of the Breitwieser and Kleinklaus. This episode delves deeper into the question of the Breitwieser's psyche and the dramatic and idiotic final capture. The cherry on top is the extraordinary way Breitwieser discovers his treasure-trove attic has been stripped bare. Listen in to find out what it takes to (poorly) dispose of 230+ works of art in less than a week!

We dive into a whirlwind tale about a couple in romance and in theft! Brooke divulges all the details about the infamous art thief Stephane Breitwieser and his girlfriend Anne Catherine Kleinklaus who hit museums all across Europe in the 1990s. Pull up a chair for a long episode of intrigue, theft, and confusion before we jump into part two next time.