New episode of Squaring the Strange is out! This week we dug up some strange ways people have sent off their deceased loved ones. As a medieval person, how would you keep Aunt Edna from coming back as a vampire or a bitey undead plague-spreader? Or in the Victorian...
Magic and witchcraft
Guest on Paranormal Activity podcast: Curses and Voodoo
I'm a recent guest on the Paranormal Activity podcast, talking about curses, voodoo, and voodoo dolls... Check it out HERE!
‘Clerical Error Fries Phoenix Faithful’ by Jim Underdown
My buddy Jim Underdown asks some pointed questions about recent news that a priest's wrong spoken word during baptisms jeopardized souls: "Fr. Andres Arango has jeopardized the everlasting souls of (presumably) hundreds of parishioners who were baptized by him — and...
Squaring the Strange #167: Bob Larson, the D-List Demon Dispatcher
The new episode of Squaring the Strange is out! This week we discuss an old Satanic Panic dog learning some new tricks. Televangelist Bob Larson has turned to giving remote exorcisms via Skype and Zoom these past few years, and we speak with two people who have...
“Más allá del mito: Las Brujas de Salem”
I'm quoted in a news article in the Spanish-language newspaper Clarin on the social and cultural drivers of witchcraft, including at Salem: "Más allá del mito: Las Brujas de Salem, la verdad de la ciencia a 330 años." ¡Léelo ahora!
Squaring the Strange # 161: Magician Roundtable!
New episode of Squaring the Strange is out! First Tim Mendham from the Australian Skeptics pops in for a quick visit, then we sit down for a discussion with Vegas magicians Matt Donnelly, R.J. Owens, and Vinny Grosso. Each of them has a perspective on magic and...
Karmas and Dogmas
A few years back I wrote a short piece on karma for the late, great, independent weekly The Alibi. There is a dark, cruel aspect to it: Everything bad that happens to you is your own fault... If you're beaten, robbed, raped, get hit by a bus or get cancer it's because...
Squaring the Strange #126: The Mark of the Beast!
New episode of Squaring the Strange is out! This week I look into a TikTok rumor of abductions at Target, and then we tackle the Beast! That is, the Mark of the Beast and the Number of the Beast. We talk of pimples and witch-prickers, the 1970s rise of 666 as a taboo...
Squaring the Strange # 136 – Leo Igwe on Witchcraft Persecution in Africa
The new episode of Squaring the Strange is out! First we discuss "monolith mania" then for our main segment we bring back Dr. Leo Igwe, who has fought to protect people accused of witchcraft in Africa and elsewhere. Please check it out, you can listen to it...
George Cherrie And The Venezuelan Dancing Devil
One of the most celebrated American naturalist/explorers was George K. Cherrie (1865–1948), who in his 1930 book Dark Trails: Adventures of a Naturalist (G.P. Putnam’s Sons) wrote about his adventures, primarily in Central and South America. G.K. Cherrie...