Goose Chase Podcast

Episode 81: The Valley of Fairies

This week we're talking about something relatively sweet and nice where nobody gets hurt or dies or gets swindled. Isn't that nice? The Cottingley Fairies were first photographed in 1917 by two young girls. The story spread, until it reached the ears of some important people and swept the country with its charm. This story is an interesting one that says a lot about who we are as people, and what we like to believe. There's also some weird stuff scattered around this episode. Sorry about that. 

Episode 80: Everyone Gets a Sales Pitch

This week we're talking about MLMs, or multi-level marketing companies. You might know them more commonly as pyramid schemes, but don't tell them that. In particular, we're looking at a cross section of these companies that centers around essential oils. People take them as supplements, put them on their skin, put them in their food, infuse them in the air, and more. But at least one of these companies has some skeletons in the closet, so we put on our skeptic hats and took a dive into the world of essential oils.

Episode 79: Time Cube - You Are an Idiot

We're talking about something this week that is unlikely to ever happen again in the form that it did. Timecube.com is a relic of a different time and is now in fact defunct (still available on the Wayback Machine), but it was established by a man named Gene Ray to spread the truth, the real truth, about how much time is in a day. Four days within every day, to be exact. Not with it so far? Give it some time. Gene Ray's story is sad, funny, angering, and sometimes all at once. Come experience the cubic reality with us. 

Episode 78: A Conservation Conversation

Humans -- we love fixing stuff as much as we love screwing it up in the first place. This week we're talking weird conservation, the odd strategies we have taken to try to revitalize animal populations. There are lots of them, all of them completely odd, and it says a lot about the insight and imagination of the people who work with these animal populations. We are just flat out amazed. 

Episode 77: A Mystery in the Mountains

Nature is a fascinating thing. It represents rejuvenation, isolation, fear, potential, and a thing to be bested by humankind. Sometimes it wins. We're talking about the Dyatlov Pass incident of 1959, where nine Russian hikers went into the wilderness, never to return. The discovery of their bodies only opened more mystery, and people are still debating about it to this day. We also eat a dessert with cheese on it, for reasons. 

Episode 76: This Podcast Will Self-Destruct

This week, we've got Dan as our guest! Dan surprised us with a wonderfully detailed history of the works of a truly prolific artist: Bansky. He's a household name now, which is a far cry from his humble origins doing little-seen street art in Bristol. As he continued to produce, people took notice. His work has been in many major cities, on the border wall between Israel and Palestine, and in the auction houses of the world. And nobody 100% for sure knows who he is.

Episode 75: Drinking Games with the Enlightened One

We've talked about lots of people who claim a direct line to the divine, but this is one of the stranger ones, and whether you realize it or not, you might know some of her work. We're talking about J.Z Knight, a leader of a movement of new-age spiritualists 6000-members strong, even to this day. Channeling the 30,000 year old spirit of Ramtha, an enlightened spiritual entity, J.Z. Knight has lead a movement that feels distinctly new-agey, complete with beliefs like that you can create a universe of your imagining, or that you are god. But also, some of her beliefs are downright regressive, and pretty offensive. And at least one person has paid heavily for listening to her. You be the judge on this one, but our alarm bells are going off. 

Episode 74: The Trouble with Incels

This episode is a difficult one. We're talking about Incels, a term that refers to the involuntarily celibate. You've probably heard of them, as some of them have made headlines carrying out high-profile acts of violence. This is an internet community with some overlap with other online communities of (primarily) disgruntled men. But the Incels have a particular way of escalating that disgruntled attitude to more and more dangerous places. We talk about the community, some of its causes, and possible venues for change. This isn't an easy discussion, but we think it's one worth having. 

Episode 73: Goose Chase Podcast - Established 1720

What year is it? This is an easy one, right? This can't possibly be a controversial question, right? Wrong. Various theories abound about "phantom time" and what year it really is, for reasons that are sometimes pretty obvious and in another case kind of ambiguous. What year is it really? Is history completely fabricated? How much do we really know about our own past? Sometimes simply injecting doubt sparks a whole new discipline. But what we really want is some hard evidence. 

Episode 72: A Terrible Waste of Monkeys

This week we're talking about one of the craziest things you probably don't realize is happening now, right out of the mad science classics. An Italian neurosurgeon promises the world HEAVEN: The HEad Anastomosis VENture. A new body, attached to your head. It's the future. Then some people online question whether he's real at all. Is he a man or a marketing stunt? If he's real, what is he after? This one takes some turns, but it goes right to the heart of some of our most basic biological fears. And as of today, the story is ongoing. Goose Chase!