MonsterTalk Airwave Media
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- Science
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MonsterTalk: The Science Show About Monsters is a free audio podcast that critically examines the science behind cryptozoological (and legendary) creatures, such as Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, or werewolves.
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Bone Stacks of Mt. St. Helens
Is Bigfoot making peculiar stacks of bones in the forests of Mt. St. Helens? Archaeologist Andy White joins us to discuss the hypothesis that was the topic of a research paper by a Bigfoot proponent Mitchell Townsend.
Andy's website (and response to Townsend's claims)
Andy also has a YOUTUBE CHANNEL.
Taphonomy
Bigfoot proponent Townsend has been on Coast-to-Coast-AM more than once, where he also promoted his ideas about hidden images in stones.
Mitchell's ideas are VERY reminiscent of the Richard Shaver work which we described as both apophenia and art.
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Three Mini Mysteries
Karen and Blake discuss three little mysteries they've run across while doing research that didn't quite warrant an individual episode, and which might benefit from some crowd-sourcing.
Examples of "Bigfoot Tree Forts"
Colorado Site discussing
Tik-Tok Bigfoot Structures
Fairy-Braids:
This is a real phenomenon - example article with photos
Loren Coleman discussing MK Davis discussing Bigfoot braids (Cryptomundo)
Some examples of algorithmic analysis of biological behaviors (gScholar)
Silver and Milk Preservation:
Example of claims in modern source: Ask A Prepper
Article about historic use of silver in baby bottles
The Oligodynamic Effect
Side-chat on Rat Kings:
An article (with some great photos) on Rat Kings
The less regal Squirrel King
Who invented Pasteurization?
The Smurfing Danger of Colloidal Silver
Emily Rosa Science-Fair Program
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Legend Tripping: Devil's Tower
Matt and Karen report back from their trip to Devil's Tower, Wyoming.
reuters debunk traced to Facebook Satirical Post
Watch CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND via Amazon affiliate link
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BigFootage
[This episode contains some adult language.]
This is the story of the search for Bigfoot as conducted by the NORTH AMERICAN WILDLIFE RESEARCH CENTER. (Which sounds a lot like the real Bigfoot research group North American Wildlife Research Team that famously setup the only permanent Bigfoot trap maintained by the national park service.) But while a lot of the stuff in this film sounds real - the whole thing is made up. The IMDB page gives you the details on the cast.
A very good widescreen version of the movie is available streaming on Amazon. (Affiliate Link)
The film follows a team of investigators who travel for months into British Columbia on horseback to find the secret valley of the Bigfoot where they will radio-tag a creature for study. Along the way they will tell Bigfoot stories and watch stock nature footage play out to a Jaws-derivative soundtrack.
If that sound sketchy, keep in mind their whole trip was planned by computer.
The computer even gave them a sketch of what they should be looking for!
The party of adventurers heads off into the wilderness.
They will encounter many shadowy creatures along the way.
They will try to out-science Bigfoot. Good luck with that.
This is a historically significant film in some ways - and has led to some interesting research which will be discussed in a near-future episode of the regular show. I'm still digging.
I included a brief snippet from the Eddie Murphy Biopic Dolemite Is My Name, which tells the story of Rudy Ray Moore. I loved this movie and recommend the biopic which is streaming on Netflix. (That's *not* an affiliate link - but you will need a Netflix account to watch it.)
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The Science of Weird Shit with Professor Chris French
We're excited to have Professor Chris French back to introduce his brand new book, The Science of Weird Shit: Why Our Minds Conjure The Paranormal (Affiliate Link).
Links:
Wilson & Barber and the "fantasy prone personality"
Richard Wiseman appearances on MonsterTalk
Susan Blackmore (wikipedia)
Anomalistic Psychology
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The Black Monk of Pontefract
We catch up with Richard Estep and Bil Bungay, co-authors of The Black Monk of Pontefract: The World's Most Violent and Relentless Poltergeist to talk about the history and strange happenings alleged to take place in the village of Pontefract in Yorkshire.
Website of the house (for bookings and photos)
You can rent Bil's movie When The Lights Went Out on Vimeo for a small fee.
And here is Bil's Parapod movie on Apple's platform.
Colin Wilson's book on the topic (Poltergeist) which has the chapter that made Pontefrat famous.
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Customer Reviews
Monster talk
I love this podcast. Open minded well intentioned skeptics. Heavy on facts and great back and forth with the hosts. Informed guests I have learned fantastic facts and fun history. Many thanks are long overdue and well deserved- Dan B
Informative
Having a skeptical podcast on monsters, aliens, and cryptids is refreshing in the sea paranormal podcasts. A lot of other podcasts that discuss the paranormal have a bad habit at taking things at face value and not really dissect the case they’re presented with. MonsterTalk provides a healthy dose of science and fact checking that I don’t see enough of in paranormal podcasts. Of course, MonsterTalk’s true goal is science, not belief in the supernatural. But I always feel that science needs to come first. The world is a big place, and we still don’t know a whole lot about it. But it can interesting without the existence of monsters.
Yawn
One of the most relaxing shows to take a nap to.