The Box of Oddities

Welcome our newest sponsor, FÜM ⁠⁠tryfum.com/BOX⁠⁠ and use code BOX at checkout to get a free bite-friendly silicone Topper with purchase. What happens when scientists open a 134-year-old coffin and discover a body that has been remarkably preserved? And what happens when an inventor decides the automobile would be better if the passengers rode inside one enormous wheel? This week on The Box of Oddities, Kat and Jethro explore two extraordinary stories where science, mystery, and human ingenuity take some very strange turns. First, the mysterious death of Robert Kennicott, a 19th-century Smithsonian naturalist who died under suspicious circumstances in the Alaskan wilderness in 1866. Rumors of suicide followed him for more than a century. But when forensic anthropologists exhumed his remains in 2001, they discovered an astonishingly well-preserved body—and evidence of four toxic substances. Could modern forensic science finally solve a 135-year-old mystery? Then, buckle up for the Dynasphere, one of the most bizarre inventions in automotive history. Developed by British engineer John Archibald Purves in the 1930s, this gigantic motorized monowheel promised to revolutionize transportation. It actually worked! Unfortunately, steering was questionable, braking was terrifying, and passengers faced the deeply unpleasant possibility of something called gerbiling. Plus, in our spooky season edition of The Thing in the Middle, we explore five unsettling death superstitions from around the world, including ghost portals, mysterious knocking, and the surprisingly sinister implications of an empty rocking chair. Historic mysteries, preserved corpses, forgotten inventions, strange science, and supernatural folklore. It's another delightfully peculiar journey into the unexpected on The Box of Oddities. Keep flying that freak flag! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Inbox of Oddities: Ghostly Voices, Time Travel & Homesick Nipples The Freak Family has spoken, and once again, we're questioning whether any of you should be allowed out in public unsupervised. In this episode of Inbox of Oddities, Kat and Jethro dig into another gloriously strange collection of listener emails, bizarre personal experiences, paranormal encounters, and unsolicited corrections. First, a chilling Halloween ghost story takes us to Kentucky's historic Mayo Mansion, where a late-night ghost hunt produces a mysterious humming voice caught on an audio recording. Was someone—or something—trying to communicate from the other side? Then, a listener proposes a fascinating twist on time travel: What if we could observe the past without actually traveling there? Naturally, this raises more questions than answers. Elsewhere in the inbox, we hear firsthand tales of the famous Emma Crawford Coffin Races in Manitou Springs, Colorado, explore the emotional consequences of being mistaken for someone else's mother, and discover why one listener believes Jethro owes a preschooler a formal apology. Plus, Australian listeners correct our pronunciation, a mysterious connection to Gremlins resurfaces, we revisit flesh-eating turtles, and someone finally finds a community that understands the deeply unsettling phenomenon of homesick nipples. Yes. Homesick nipples. And with our 9th Annual Halloween Special approaching, we're looking for your creepiest true stories, unexplained experiences, and paranormal encounters. Record your story on your phone and send it to [email protected] for a chance to be featured! It's listener mail at its weirdest, funniest, and occasionally most disturbing. Keep flying that freak flag! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You’ve seen the Hindenburg footage. You’ve heard the famous radio broadcast. But what was it actually like to be inside the Hindenburg when it caught fire? Kat and Jethro revisit one of history’s most recognizable disasters through the eyewitness accounts of the people who survived it. Passengers were thrown across rooms as the airship tilted, an acrobat hung from the outside waiting for the right moment to drop, a mother threw her children from a window, and a teenage cabin boy survived thanks to an extraordinary accident involving a ruptured water tank. Of the 97 passengers and crew aboard, remarkably, 62 survived. Their stories reveal a side of the Hindenburg disaster that the famous newsreel footage could never capture. Then, Kat heads to the Great Lakes, where some Michigan sand dunes aren’t content to simply sit there looking picturesque. They move. Slowly. Relentlessly. And occasionally straight through somebody’s house. Near Silver Lake, homeowners have battled migrating dunes that can advance several feet a year, burying cottages, orchards, and anything else unfortunate enough to be in their path. And beneath the dunes near Lake Michigan lies the remains of Singapore, Michigan—a once-thriving 19th-century settlement gradually swallowed by sand. Two stories about being in exactly the wrong place at exactly the wrong time: surviving the Hindenburg from the inside, and the very patient sand dunes that will eventually have your house. Welcome to The Box of Oddities. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A body emerges from a California glacier more than sixty years after a World War II training plane vanished in the Sierra Nevada. He’s still wearing his military uniform, carrying coins, a fountain pen, and an address book—but who is he, and what happened to the other men aboard the missing aircraft? Then, we head to Colorado for the strange story of Emma Crawford, a young woman whose dying wish was to be buried high atop Red Mountain. Unfortunately, death was only the beginning of Emma’s travels. Her grave was moved, her coffin was swept down a mountainside, her remains spent years in a basement—and today, thousands of people gather every year to race coffins through the streets in her honor. In this episode of The Box of Oddities: the frozen mystery of WWII airman Leo Mustonen and the wonderfully bizarre history behind the Emma Crawford Coffin Races of Manitou Springs. Strange history, unsolved mysteries, frozen remains, bizarre burials, and one of America’s most unusual festivals. Just another day inside The Box of Oddities. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s time for another Freak Family Favorite, pulled from deep inside The Box of Oddities archives! First, Kat explores the surprisingly widespread history of dwarf mythology and reverence. From ancient Egypt, where people of short stature could hold prestigious positions and dwarf deities were associated with protection, childbirth, and regeneration, to Norse mythology and legends of mysterious underground craftsmen, the connection between dwarves, gods, magic, and folklore stretches across cultures and centuries. Then, Jethro revisits the deeply troubling disappearance of five-year-old Stephen McKernan. In 1988, Stephen vanished from a crowded Scottish holiday park after being out of his family’s sight for only seconds. Sixteen days later, his body was discovered six miles away—just beyond the area police had searched. Authorities concluded that Stephen wandered there on his own and died from exposure. But eyewitness reports, the brutal terrain, a six-foot fence, and one particularly strange detail involving Stephen’s shoes and socks raise questions that have never entirely gone away. Ancient gods, mysterious dwarves, a baffling disappearance, and a case officially considered solved that somehow still doesn’t feel solved. It’s another Freak Family Favorite from The Box of Oddities. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices