Goose Chase Podcast

Episode 104: Mush, Togo, Mush!

This week we're talking about the story of the 1925 Nome serum run with our special guests Laura and TJ! The times were dark: Nome was experiencing the beginnings of an outbreak of diptheria. A serum was needed to treat it, and children were falling ill and dying. It was too cold, too far, at a bad time of year, and the only way to get that critical medicine was by sled dog. An expert musher and his unlikely lead dog made the drive, and the world rejoiced. But not all heroes were commended equally. This is the real story of an incredible journey and an incredible dog. 

Episode 103: Apocalypse Now... wait... no... Now.

This week we're doing our first remote Goose Chase with our friend and previous guest, Dan. We're talking about end of the world theories! Sometimes religious, or based on aliens, or technology gone awry, the world has been predicted to end many times now, sometimes by the same people over and over again. We talk about some notable predictions and some that are more obscure, and a little bit of theology on why you probably shouldn't put too much stock in some of them. Thanks again to Dan for doing this, and a little plug here for his podcast, Sequelize This, a fun show about movie sequels and movie chat in general. And you can also check out his album, "An Introduction to Saying Goodbye."

Episode 102: Hunting Down the Guru Hunter

This week, we're looking into Be Scofield, the self-described guru hunter who infiltrates, investigates, and covers cults and cult-like groups. She has been involved in writing about some familiar groups and people, such as Teal Swan, who we covered in a previous episode. And she claims to be instrumental in dismantling and disrupting groups around the world. Some of those claims seem a bit large, when evaluated with a skeptical eye, and the means seem like they might be ethically questionable. That, plus what seems like a lot of infighting within the community of people who follow and critique cult groups, sent Kristy down the rabbit hole of what looks like fact, fiction, truth, and exaggeration around Be Scofield and the grandiosity of her claims. By the end, we're still not totally sure what to think, but it's a fascinating look into the world of people in the business of identifying and taking down cults. 

Episode 101: Knock me out at the ballgame!

Today we're back for episode 101 and talking about Cleveland's infamous 1974 10-cent beer night. The Cleveland Indians promoted cheap beer and drew a huge crowd, but it was a game destined for tragedy. Bad blood off the Indians' last week's game against the Rangers and a whole bunch of taunting brought 25,000 angry Cleveland fans out to give it back to the Rangers at home. What follows is a kind of beautiful disgrace, something that's got Cleveland written all over it. 

Episode 100: Goose Chase Saves the World

We finally did it. Big old episode 100. We never thought we would be doing this for this long, but we're so glad to still be doing it. We still enjoy it, and we hope you all do. In this episode we look back on the first 99 episodes and issue some updates to some things that changed after we last talked about them. A couple of bad guys got theirs, some folks made a better life for themselves, and one woman made a fruit cake. Thanks for listening, friends. 

Episode 99: Freaky Flora

This week, in the midst of the craziness outside in the world, we're looking at weird nature as a means of inspiration that life, you know, finds a way. We're talking about strange plants that function in interesting ways and prove out exactly how interesting plants can be. Even though they can't think, they do have an incredible appearance of intent and purpose. And sometimes they eat meat. Rad. 

Episode 97: A Nazi in Cleveland

This week we're talking about John Demjanjuk, a man from Cleveland Ohio who spent nearly 40 years defending himself against the allegations that he was Ivan the Terrible, the name of a legendarily cruel concentration camp guard at Treblinka. After living out a normal life in Cleveland after immigrating in the 50s, evidence arose to suggest he had taken part in those crimes. He always maintained his innocence, but it took two extraditions and many years to finally put the argument to rest. 

Episode 96: Radium - For Vigor?

This week we have on special guest Aubrey to talk about about the Radium Girls of the 1920s. At the time, the need was simple: people to paint things with radium so that they glowed in the dark, like instrument panels for aircraft. This job invariably fell to many young women, and while the pay was great, the risk (unbeknownst to them) was very, very high. This story features some really graphic descriptions of the things that radium can do to the body. It's the timeless tale of big business vs. human safety, but safety wins in the end. Kind of. 

Episode 95: Dig

This week we're talking about a bitter rivalry between two bands you probably haven't heard of: The Dandy Warhols and the Brian Jonestown Massacre. West Coast bands with big sound and big egos, they became fast friends before devolving into something else. We take you through the bitter tit-fot-tat which may or may not have been exaggerated for publicity. 

Episode 94: Secure, Contain, Protect

This week we're joined by our guest Matt to talk about the legendary SCP Foundation. A group writing exercise that started on the internet in 2007, the SCP foundation is a work of science fiction that documents the presence, threat, and containment procedures for objects, entities, artifacts, and even mere concepts that threaten humanity. It's a wonderfully dense and structured world of fiction created by writers the world over, and Matt helps walk us through the history, the elements, the community, and even the mysterious lore around the origins of the foundation.