MonsterTalk

March 7, 2012

050 – HELL HATH NO FURRY!

Episode 50 of MonsterTalk takes us to a small English village in the 1570s where a morning church service is interrupted by a horrific storm which heralds, perhaps, the appearance of Satan himself in the form of a huge black hound. Join us as we talk with David Waldron (author of Shock! The Black Dog of Bungay) as he helps us discover the […]

Regular Episode 32 sec read

February 22, 2012

049 – INTERNET VIDEO HOAXES: A MAMMOTH UNDERTAKING

Did you see that popular Internet video that allegedly showed a mammoth crossing a river in Siberia? You probably figured it was a hoax—and we did too—but we decided to get to the bottom of the matter. Join us as we discuss the methods and motives for Internet hoax videos. This episode also includes interviews with documentary film maker Ludovic Petho and […]

Regular Episode 36 sec read

February 8, 2012

048 – MONSTERS IN AMERICA

IN THIS EPISODE of MonsterTalk, the hosts talk with the author of Monsters In America, Dr. Scott Poole. His book chronicles the history of monsters from colonial America to modern times—and tries to tackle the issue of meaning in a world where monsters are “meaning machines.” Further Reading The Hilton Sisters (conjoined twins) Freaks (Todd Browning’scontroversial film) Gods & Monsters (Novel) Gods & Monsters (Film) VISIT MONSTERTALK ON FACEBOOK! […]

Regular Episode 36 sec read

January 18, 2012

047 – SOMETHING WICCAN THIS WAY COMES

IN THIS EPISODE of MonsterTalk, two skeptics interview a witch about how to battle evil with magic. Emily Carlin is a magical instructor at The Grey School—an online magical university and the author of Defense Against the Dark: A Field Guide to Protecting Yourself from Predatory Spirits, Energy Vampires and Malevolent Magic. Is magic the best defense against evil monsters? Or is skepticism? […]

Regular Episode 22 sec read

December 21, 2011

046 – SQUATCHING WITH THE KRAMPUS

By popular demand, we take a brief aside into fantasy to talk with one the more sinister figures associated with the Winter Holidays: The Krampus. Then we get a bit more serious as we welcome one of the co-hosts of the popular podcast The Bigfoot Show, documentarian and comedian, Scott Herriott. Scott has made several films about walking the Pacific Coast Trail and […]

Regular Episode 29 sec read

December 7, 2011

045 – UNBOTTLING SOME JINN

IF YOU THINK GENIES ARE FUNNY like in Aladdin, or sexy like in I Dream of Jeannie get ready to have your assumptions challenged. In the Middle East, Jinn aren’t whimsical characters of fantasy. They are considered to be frightening, real entities that haunt desolate places and can perform terrible magic. In this episode of MonsterTalk we interview author Robert Lebling about his book Legends of […]

Regular Episode 27 sec read

November 15, 2011

Special: MonsterTalk meets Skeptiko – The Psychic Detective Finale

IN SEPTEMBER OF 2008, Ben Radford appeared as a guest on the podcast Skeptiko, hosted by Alex Tsakiris. During that interview, he agreed to take up Alex’s challenge to investigate the best case of the efficacy of psychic detectives. What followed was months of research, numerous interviews and a follow-up which ended in acrimony. Now, three years after the initial […]

Crossover Event 9 min read

November 9, 2011

044 – PARANORMALITY: PSYCHIC DOGS, GHOSTS AND SILLY VOICES—AN INTERVIEW WITH RICHARD WISEMAN

Today on MonsterTalk, we share an interview with Dr. Richard Wiseman recorded at TAM9—the James Randi Educational Foundation’s “Amazing Meeting.” It is a wide-ranging interview that discusses Wiseman’s new book, Paranormality: Why we see what isn’t there, as well as ghosts, psychic dogs and the trouble with counting dolphins. It has naught to do with monsters, but it is an amusing interview […]

Regular Episode 44 sec read

October 26, 2011

043 – CRYPT O’ ZOOLOGY: DINOSAURS IN AFRICA!

FROM THE LOST WORLD to Alley Oop to The Flintstones, the idea of dinosaurs and humans living together has captured the imagination of readers across the globe. But there are some who believe that this idea isn’t fictional. Is there a population of sauropod dinosaurs living in Africa in modern times? In this episode of MonsterTalk, we interview paleontologist Dr. Donald Prothero at TAM9 about his […]

Regular Episode 43 sec read

October 5, 2011

042 – Bad Wolf

ON NOVEMBER 8, 2005 Canadian geological engineering student Kenton Carnegie went for a walk. He told people that he’d be back by 5 pm. When he hadn’t returned by 7 pm, a search party went out and discovered his remains in the woods. In this episode of Monstertalk (a follow-up to last week’s), we interview professor Valerius Geist about the true cause of […]