As we approach our one-year anniversary Squaring the Strange, the podcast I co-host with Pascual Romero and Celestia Ward, I wanted to review early episodes you may have missed!

Episode 8: Popobawa-da-vida

In the news this week, Ben examines the defamatory statements about Chobani Yogurt founder made by Alex Jones, and his subsequent retraction. Pascual examines misattribution of terrorist motives, and the notion that the Manchester attack was motivated by hatred of Ariana Grande’s music, persona, and stockings rather than the overt political goals that terrorists themselves clearly communicate. The guys talk about this speculative trend, which has happened with many recent attacks, and how it can be a form of victim-blaming and a result of people’s desire to find explanations–even if those explanations have no evidence–for what seems like senseless violence. Then they explore the main topic, a monster in Zanzibar called the popobawa, described variably as invisible, shape-shifting, a one-eyed dwarf, or a winged creature with an enormous penis. In 1995 there was a mass scare, leading Zanzibar citizens to sleep outside to avoid encounters with this feared predator (said to do “bad things at night and try to make sex with the men”). Ben lists off similarities the popobawa has to other cryptids and phantom attackers he has investigated, and shares some details about the magical, dusty, exotic land that is Zanzibar. While there, he found that belief in the popobawa was far from what mystery-mongers had described, and he learned that the popobawa is said to threaten victims that if they do not tell others of their attack, it will keep coming back.

You can find more on me and my work with a search for “Benjamin Radford” (not “Ben Radford”) on Vimeo, and please check out my podcast Squaring the Strange!