Episode 1: The Weird World of Wrestling
Release Date: October 31, 2022
In this inaugural episode of Season 5 we finally feature weird stories from one of Barry’s all time favorite sources of entertainment: professional wrestling. We talk about how a carnival side show attraction grew into the multi-million-dollar sports entertainment spectacle we know it as today. And since we specialize in bizarre stories, we tell about the strange tale of one professional wrestler who lived on the lam for years after writing bad checks, to being mistaken for a victim of the Jonestown massacre, to finally being caught after being arrested for attempted murder. It’s a twisted tale centered around an industry that we put firmly into the Some Weird file.
Episode 2: Greenland’s Elite Dog Sled Unit and Project Ice Worm
Release Date: November 14, 2022
The Some Weird Podcast goes to Greenland! This gigantic icy island has been our semi-obsession ever since we told the story of a Greenland shark choking on a moose hide on one of Newfoundland’s majestic beaches. We will tell you all about an elite military group called the Sirius Dog Sled Team and one time when they had to fight the bad guys. We also have the story of Project Ice Worm. This Cold War era super-secret under-the-ice military base was intended as a strategic defense against communism but was it really viable? Learn all about it in the episode.
Episode 3: The Southend Werewolf
Release Date: November 28, 2022
Werewolves. Today we think of them as a classic Halloween costume or a recurring movie monster but stories of these beasts have been around for hundreds if not thousands of years. In this episode we will talk about the werewolf mythos including, but not limited to, the Michael J. Fox vessel Teen Wolf. We then take a turn to the possibly true story of The Southend Werewolf. Did some poor afflicted Englishman really turn into a werewolf? Was he suffering from lycanthropy? Did Ed and Lorraine Warren exorcise the beast? Who knows?! But we had fun talking about it!
Episode 4: Hoaxes: The Cardiff Giant and the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus
Release Date: December 12, 2022
Some hoaxes are meant to scam you out of money. Some are to prove a point with fake news. Some are just for fun. In the 1860s, a staunch atheist wanted to prove the bible story of giants roaming the Earth a fraud and came up with an expensive and elaborate hoax now known as The Cardiff Giant. You can still see it in Cooperstown, NY along with the baseball hall of fame! Over a hundred years later, a mystery person launched and internet campaign to save the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus. This was purely for fun but it ended up being used as a tool to teach kids about internet safety. Want to check it out? The site is still up: https://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/
Episode 5: Poop Logs, Yule Lads, and KFC: Weird Christmas from Around the World
Release Date: December 26, 2022
Here is North America, we have Christmas traditions like hanging stockings on the mantle, setting out milk and cookies for Santa, and putting a decorated tree in our homes. But Christmas traditions are as diverse as the people who celebrate them. In this episode, we look at some of the weirdest Christmas traditions from around the world.
Bonus: ** Remastered ** The Christmas Mummers
Release Date: December 26, 2022
In this **remastered** episode from Season 1 we talk about Christmas Mummering in Newfoundland, a truly unique tradition of dressing up in the craziest of homemade disguises and traveling house to house performing and dancing for payment of booze and Purity syrup. Sounds fun, right? But, as always, there is a darker side. What happened to make this Christmastime tradition illegal for 100 years and how do horse skulls fit in?
Episode 6: True Conspiracy Theories: MKULTRA and Big Tobacco
Release Date: January 9, 2023
Get ready for a trip down the rabbit hole with stories about Conspiracy Theories that turned out to be true. First, it’s all about MKULTRA and the quest for mind control then we look at the lengths Big Tobacco went through to refute the scientific proof that cigarettes are hazardous to your health.
Bonus: The Montreal Screw Job
Release Date: January 23, 2023
Here is a special bonus episode for you wrestling fans out there! This story was originally cut for time from our Weird World of Wrestling episode but we are glad that we can present it for you this week. The Montreal Screw Job is the story of how WWE owner Vince McMahon and his co-conspirators plotting to screw over Canadian professional wrestler Brett ‘The Hitman’ Hart in 1997… or is the story of one of the greatest ‘works’ of al time?
Episode 7: The Football War and the Pig War
Release Date: February 6, 2023
Do you have a favorite sports team? Barry does. It’s the Cleveland Browns. He loves them. That’s weird enough but in this episode, Barry tells us the far weirder story of a war that broke out between El Salvador and Honduras in 1969 where the catalyst was a soccer game. Then, Crissy turns the clock way back to the1859 when there was almost a war between the United States and the future country of Canada over a pig that just couldn’t stay away from a farmer’s delicious potatoes. We hope you enjoy these stories about weird wars.
Episode 8: The Bermuda Triangle Flight 19 and the Disappearance of Malaysia Flight 370
Release Date: February 21, 2023
In this episode we dive in to the origin story for one of the world’s most mysterious places – The Bermuda Triangle with the tale of Flight 19. What could have happened to this seemingly normal military exercise at the dawn of The Cold War? Then, we tell you about the modern disappearance of Malaysia Flight 370 which seemed to have blipped out of existence in 2014. These aviation disappearances are definitely some weird!
Episode 9: (Nearly) Un-Killable Rasputin and Michael Malloy
Release Date: March 6, 2023
There have been people in the world gifted with greater resilience that most. Call them survivors or just call them lucky. In this episode we tell the story of the multiple attempts to end the mad monk Ra-Ra-Ras-pu-tin lover of the … well, you know and of even more attempts to un-alive a poor, unfortunate man named Michael Malloy. One was targeted to end his growing power and influence over the rulers of pre-revolution Russia and the other was targeted for life insurance. Both were as tough as a carpenter … the bug not the builder. This will all make sense after you listen to this wild episode of The Some Weird Podcast.
Episode 10: Stories from Newfoundland
Release Date: April 25, 2023
Based on listeners votes we present Newfoundland-themed stories about statues, pirates and tables! Special guest Trivia Ted is all about statues great and small. Where did they come from and why do we have them? Barry gets into famed pirate Peter Easton and his possible buried treason which is allegedly protected by a ghost. Then Crissy tells table-centric urban legends from Memorial University of Newfoundland.