The new episode of Squaring the Strange is out, it's "The Head Show!" It's all about heads--too many and too few. Folklore about multi-headed or headless monsters, multi-headed people throughout history, beheadings, experiments on heads, and shrunken heads. Oh, and...
Media Literacy
Squaring the Strange #106: Leo Igwe on Modern Witchcraft Accusations
Human rights advocate Dr. Leo Igwe joins us to discuss the dangers posed by so-called "witch hunters" in his home nation of Nigeria and other parts of Africa today. He discusses the entrenched nature of magical beliefs in the region, as well as the complicated power...
Squaring the Strange #107: Crystal Skullduggery
For those who missed it: The recent episode of Squaring the Strange is out! In this episode we talk about caricature and mysterious crystal skulls. Can we trust what Dan Ayrkroyd tells us on his fancy vodka bottle? Are there really thirteen of these ancient and...
Imagining the End: The Apocalypse in American Pop Culture
I have a new book out! Or at least some contributions in a new book: Imagining the End: The Apocalypse in American Pop Culture. I wrote several sections including on the Antichrist, the Mark of the Beast, the Rapture, Latter-Day Saints Prophecy, and more. ...
‘Why Are You Asking?’ Reporting The Black Santa Story
In a previous blog I discussed my research into an ugly episode of racial hatred that tainted the 2016 holiday season. The Mall of America hired its first African-American Santa Claus, an Army veteran named Larry Jefferson. A local newspaper, the Minneapolis Star...
The True, Heartwarming Story Of The Mall Of America’s Black Santa
Amid the encroaching commercialization of Christmas, Black Friday sales, and annual social media grumblings about the manufactured controversy over whether “Merry Christmas” or “Happy Holidays” is appropriate, an ugly episode of racial hatred tainted the beginning of...
Squaring the Strange #108: The Dangers and Consequences of Ghost Hunting
For those who missed it, on the new episode of Squaring the Strange, we discuss the darker side of ghost hunting. Not a demonic dark side, but instead real-world harms and consequences. Things like trespassing dangers, costs to historical sites and organizations, loss...
Squaring the Strange #106: Leo Igwe on Modern Witchcraft Accusations
Celestia and I are especially pleased with a recent episode of Squaring the Strange, in which we spoke to Leo Igwe, the tireless skeptic, humanist, and human rights advocate in Nigeria. His work on behalf of people persecuted as witches in sub-Saharan Africa...
Trudeau, Cherry, and Canadian Racism Polls
The issue of racism in Canada was recently brought into sharp focus when, shortly before the Canadian election, photos and videos of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in blackface and brownface emerged. They had been taken on at least three occasions in the 1990s and...
2019 Halloween Candy Tampering Case Revealed As Hoax
Last month a Maine man made national news for finding tampered Halloween candy. He posted on social media that he found a needle in candy his son had bitten into. Police investigated and found he lied, hoaxing the whole thing (probably for attention). He's now been...