Spooky Science Sisters

Almost four years into our time as the Spooky Science Sisters and we are finally delivering on our promise of talking about the Salem Witch Trials. What we thought would be one of our original set of episodes back in 2020 was pushed back, along with our own trip to the Witch City. Well, in September 2023, we finally took that trip, and we are so excited to share our thoughts about Salem with you! We promise the wait was worth it. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, Pandora, iHeartRadio, and more.

Want to listen without the ads? Check out our Patreon, where you can get ad-free episodes & more! https://www.patreon.com/spookyscipod

Here are our sources:

1. https://www.pem.org/salem-witch-trials.
2. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/a-brief-history-of-the-salem-witch-trials-175162489/
3. https://salem.lib.virginia.edu/overview.html
4. https://penntoday.upenn.edu/news/possessed-salem-witch-trials
5. https://www.neh.gov/article/records-salem-witch-trials
6. https://www.law.berkeley.edu/research/the-robbins-collection/exhibitions/witch-trials-in-early-modern-europe-and-new-england/
7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witch_trials_in_the_early_modern_period
8. https://www.science.smith.edu/climatelit/witch-trials/
9. https://www.thoughtco.com/european-witch-hunts-timeline-3530786
10. https://www.thecollector.com/european-witch-hunting/
11. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witch-hunt
12. https://www.britannica.com/topic/witchcraft/The-witch-hunts
13. https://time.com/4543405/connecticut-witch-trials/
14. https://www.lib.uchicago.edu/collex/exhibits/salem-witch-trials-legal-resources/

Another Christmas episode!? What a merry surprise. Grab some nog and join us to hear about a few spooky Christmas traditions we weren’t able to get to in our 2022 episode. Happy Holidays, and we’ll see you in the New Year! Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, Pandora, iHeartRadio, and more.

Want to listen without the ads? Check out our Patreon, where you can get ad-free episodes & more! https://www.patreon.com/spookyscipod

Here are our sources:

1. https://www.wales.com/about/culture/mari-lwyd
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mari_Lwyd
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoodening
4. https://mominitaly.com/la-befana-italy-christmas-witch/
5. https://www.southernliving.com/christmas-spider-6831872
6. https://10best.usatoday.com/interests/food-culture/pickle-ornament-christmas-german-tradition/

A lot of you have probably come across social media posts and even news articles that the holiday we know as Christmas is just ripoff of Pagan mythology and traditions. Meagan is joined by Substitute Sister Tyson Kemp to discuss and debunk many of these claims. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, Pandora, iHeartRadio, and more.

You can find Tyson telling wonderful, well-researched spooky and skeptical stories @tysonunkempt on TikTok and Instagram!

To read more about debunking the Pagan origins of Christmas, we recommend you check out blog posts by Spencer McDaniel (https://talesoftimesforgotten.com/2019/12/08/just-how-pagan-is-christmas-really/) and Dr. Peter Gainsford (https://kiwihellenist.blogspot.com/2018/12/concerning-yule.html).

Want to listen without the ads? Check out our Patreon, where you can get ad-free episodes & more! https://www.patreon.com/spookyscipod

Here are our sources:

1. https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna50284202
2. https://bigthink.com/the-past/no-christmas-not-stolen-pagan-festival/
3. https://www.nyu.edu/about/news-publications/news/2022/december/who-waged-the-very-first–war-on-christmas–.html#:~:text=In%20fact%2C%20the%20Christian%20celebration,longer%20after%20the%20winter%20solstice.
4. https://www.thedailybeast.com/did-christians-really-steal-christmas-from-the-pagans
5. https://unherd.com/2020/12/the-myth-of-pagan-christmas/
6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_syncretism
7. https://psmag.com/social-justice/a-brief-history-of-the-christmas-controversy-pagan-roots-secularization-97073
8. https://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/calendar/invictus.html
9. https://historyforatheists.com/2020/12/pagan-christmas/
10. https://talesoftimesforgotten.com/2019/12/08/just-how-pagan-is-christmas-really/
11. https://kiwihellenist.blogspot.com/2018/12/concerning-yule.html
12. https://kiwihellenist.blogspot.com/2017/12/christmas-reminder-2017.html
13. https://kiwihellenist.blogspot.com/2015/12/christmas-and-its-supposed-pagan-links.html

Welcome to our fourth (!!!) volume of Halloween Listener Stories. Yes, we know it’s almost a month after Halloween, but it’s always Halloween in our hearts, right!? Listen to hear us try to debunk three creepy tales featuring a haunted (?) hotel room, mysterious nocturnal jewelry removals, and a phantom smell. Have your own story to share? Be sure to send it to us any time to hear it debunked next Halloween! Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, Pandora, iHeartRadio, and more.

Want to listen without the ads? Check out our Patreon, where you can get ad-free episodes & more! https://www.patreon.com/spookyscipod

Let’s talk about death, baby! Burying and memorializing the dead is typically thought of as a distinctly human (or at least hominid) act. In this episode, Meagan is joined by Substitute Sister and history teacher, Amy Manlapas, to talk about what that has looked like for the last few hundred thousand years (we’ve been digging graves for a long time!). Starting with the 400,000 year old (and pre-burial-practices) Sima de los Huesos (Pit of Bones) in Spain, we dig through the history of graves leading up to the modern cemetery. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, Pandora, iHeartRadio, and more.

You can find Amy on TikTok @amymanlapas or through her website: https://amy-elizabeth.net/.

Want to listen without the ads? Check out our Patreon, where you can get ad-free episodes & more! https://www.patreon.com/spookyscipod

Here are our sources:

1. https://www.sciencealert.com/keith-eggener-ted-talk-on-history-of-the-cemetary
2. https://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/behavior/burial
3. https://www.talkdeath.com/the-most-fascinating-ancient-burial-rituals/
4. https://www.americanscientist.org/article/the-latest-on-homo-naledi
5. https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/jul/22/small-brained-early-humans-homo-naledi-cleverer-storm
6. https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/our-strange-unsettled-history-of-mourning
7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funeral
8. https://ideas.ted.com/11-fascinating-funeral-traditions-from-around-the-globe/
9. https://news.wisc.edu/archeologists-uncover-evidence-of-intentional-burial-cave-engravings-by-early-human-ancestor/
10. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/ancient-human-relatives-may-have-buried-their-dead-180982308/
11. https://www.brown.edu/Departments/Joukowsky_Institute/courses/archaeologicaltheory/5144.html
12. http://www.spoilheap.co.uk/burial.htm 
13. https://portaltothepast.newsouthassoc.com/sample-page/mortuary-archaeology/
14. https://pages.vassar.edu/realarchaeology/2015/09/21/rituals-and-remains/
15. https://www.sciencealert.com/the-oldest-known-burial-site-in-the-world-was-not-made-by-our-species
16. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03457-8
17. https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/african-genesis/oldest-burials-and-their-significance/1B10F74654E37D2BC17D34C79E819134
18. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/scientists-discover-oldest-known-human-grave-africa-180977659/
19. https://www.aa.com.tr/en/africa/scientist-discover-worlds-oldest-burial-site-in-south-africa/2915622
20. https://www.sutori.com/en/story/the-evolution-of-ancient-burial-practices-and-beliefs-to-the-modern-day–4egVs2akSCxkc2dsHhcr8dwP
21. https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2023/06/05/homo-naledi-burial/
22. https://www.sapiens.org/culture/hominin-burial/
23. https://www.worldhistory.org/tomb/
24. https://www.worldhistory.org/burial/
25. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-seeds-of-civilization-78015429/
26. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/scientists-discover-oldest-known-human-grave-africa-180977659/
27. https://thenaturalhistorian.com/2014/06/26/pit-of-bones-spain-human-origins-creationism/

Meagan is joined by Substitute Sister and Professor for the History of Science at Kean University, Dr. Brian Regal, to talk about the O.G. spooky science – alchemy and its influences on science as we know it today. Although alchemists came to be associated with gold, mysticism, the Philosopher’s Stone, and in some cases, fakery, many were careful experimentalists who made significant discoveries in the areas of metallurgy, chemistry, distillation, and more. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, Pandora, iHeartRadio, and more.

You can get in touch with Brian via his website (https://sites.google.com/a/kean.edu/brian-regal-phd/) or on Twitter @RomeoA25.

Want to listen without the ads? Check out our Patreon, where you can get ad-free episodes & more! https://www.patreon.com/spookyscipod

Here are our sources:

1. https://www.chm.bris.ac.uk/webprojects2002/crabb/history.html
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alchemy
3. https://sciencehistory.org/stories/magazine/the-secrets-of-alchemy/
4. https://www.breakingatom.com/learn-the-periodic-table/history-of-chemistry-alchemy
5. https://blogs.kent.ac.uk/specialcollections/2018/08/15/a-brief-history-of-alchemy-or-my-alchemical-romance/
6. https://spacedoutscientist.com/2015/05/16/alchemy-how-a-tradition-spanning-millennia-became-modern-chemistry/
7. https://www.rsc.org/periodic-table/alchemy/what-is-alchemy
8. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxiLuz9kHi0
9. http://www.chymist.com/History%20Alchemy.pdf 
10. https://science.howstuffworks.com/alchemy-to-chemistry.htm
11. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/alchemy-may-not-been-pseudoscience-we-thought-it-was-180949430/
12. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2018/01/30/this-chemist-is-unlocking-the-secrets-of-alchemy/
13. https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bwk9AVZFXx4aM3gwTHpldmE2clE/view?resourcekey=0-y52X8h7sfuLQ6YZqwupLXg
14. https://archive.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2009/03/15/good_as_gold/
15. https://daily.jstor.org/when-did-alchemy-end/
16. https://bigthink.com/the-well/crazy-criminal-alchemy-modern-science/
17. https://www.alchemywebsite.com/symbolic.html

It is time for our fifth round of Short & Spooky stories, which, according to The Fast and the Furious franchise naming scheme, must be called Short Five. This also means that we are bringing you five spooky stories and each one has to have some aspect including or related to the number five. There’s a little bit of everything here from alien encounters, to haunted dolls, to cursed phone numbers, and more! Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, Pandora, iHeartRadio, and more.

Here is a link to the bridge video Paige references: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luoITwck2oc&t=48s

Want to listen without the ads? Check out our Patreon, where you can get ad-free episodes & more! https://www.patreon.com/spookyscipod

Here are our sources:

Robert the Doll:

1. https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/story-behind-robert-the-doll
2. https://www.artisthousekeywest.com/robert-the-doll
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_(doll)
4. Lore Podcast, Episode 15: Unboxed

Emily’s Bridge:

1. https://stowecountryhomes.com/attractions/emilys-covered-bridge-stowe-vt/
2. https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/emilys-bridge
3. https://vermonthistory.org/emilys-bridge
4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luoITwck2oc&t=48s

The Little Witch Girl:

1. https://www.npr.org/2019/10/05/767488427/clay-mcleod-chapman-on-the-remaking
2. https://www.timesleader.net/opinion/myth-of-the-witch-girl-next-door/article_accafcd4-d957-11e8-a852-2bf2236a2e10.html
3. http://www.the-press.com/Sept%2010%202009.html 

Flatwoods Monster:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flatwoods_monster
2. https://skepticalinquirer.org/2000/11/the-flatwoods-ufo-monster/
3. https://www.snopes.com/articles/383097/flatwoods-monster-mothman-owl/
4. https://braxtonwv.org/the-flatwoods-monster/

Spooky numbers:

1. https://nextluxury.com/interesting/scary-numbers-to-call/

Struggling to figure out who you are in this world? Never fear – there’s a test for that! In fact, there’s A LOT of them. In this episode, we discuss the historical origins of personality tests, and discuss two popular ones available today – the MBTI and the Big Five – with a focus on what’s “real” and what’s pseudoscience. You’ll even get to hear our results! Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, Pandora, iHeartRadio, and more.

The free MBTI we took: https://www.16personalities.com/free-personality-test

The Big Five test we took: https://bigfive-test.com/

A comparison of our Big Five results: https://bigfive-test.com/compare/W3sibmFtZSI6Ik1lYWdhbiIsImlkIjoiNjRkMTE0NDNiZWZlZDgwMDA4ODM5NGViIn0seyJuYW1lIjoiTWUiLCJpZCI6IjY0YzMyNTM1OGVkNGJkMDAwODczZmU2MCJ9XQ%3D%3D

Want to listen without the ads? Check out our Patreon, where you can get ad-free episodes & more! https://www.patreon.com/spookyscipod

Here are our sources:

General:

1. https://rightasrain.uwmedicine.org/life/leisure/personality-tests#:~:text=The%20tests%20capitalize%20on%20our,isn’t%20a%20bad%20thing.
2. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/people-are-strange/201909/your-favorite-personality-test-is-probably-bogus
3. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/people-are-strange/201909/why-do-we-personality-tests-even-the-bad-ones
4. Stuff You Should Know podcast – How Personality Tests Work
5. https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2021/mar/03/they-become-dangerous-tools-the-dark-side-of-personality-tests
6. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/first-personality-test-was-developed-during-world-war-i-180973192/
7. https://vervoe.com/history-of-personality-tests/
8. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-accurate-are-personality-tests/
9. https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/the-enduring-allure-of-the-personality-quiz
10. https://bigthink.com/neuropsych/brief-history-personality-tests/
11. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_temperaments
12. https://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~duchan/new_history/ancient_history/humor_theory.html

Myers-Briggs:

1. https://www.npr.org/2018/09/22/650019038/how-the-myers-briggs-personality-test-began-in-a-mothers-living-room-lab
2. https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelbarthur/2018/09/16/the-strange-history-behind-the-mbti-and-what-that-can-mean-for-career-owners/?sh=674490ae2fb3
3. https://www.vox.com/2014/7/15/5881947/myers-briggs-personality-test-meaningless
4. https://www.discovermagazine.com/mind/the-problem-with-the-myers-briggs-personality-test
5. https://eu.themyersbriggs.com/en/tools/MBTI/Myers-Briggs-history
6. https://www.myersbriggs.org/about-us/myers-briggs-jung-legacy/
7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myers%E2%80%93Briggs_Type_Indicator#CITEREFLilienfeldLynnLohr2014

The Big Five:

1. https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/assessment-and-selection/other-assessment-methods/personality-tests/
2. https://www.retorio.com/blog/big-5-history-psychometric-test
3. https://www.verywellmind.com/trait-theory-of-personality-2795955#:~:text=The%20first%20trait%20theory%20was,traits%20into%20three%20levels%3A3
4. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-big-five/

Several times throughout human history, people have experienced extreme events that made them believe their world might be coming to end. In this episode, we discuss two of these terrifying times, the Late Antique Little Ice Age that began around 536 CE, and the Dust Bowl that plagued American and Canadian prairies from 1930-1936. We then journey further back in time to discuss the mass extinction events that have occurred several times across Earth’s history, and take a look forward at what might ultimately destroy the planet we call home. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, Pandora, iHeartRadio, and more.

Want to listen without the ads? Check out our Patreon, where you can get ad-free episodes & more! https://www.patreon.com/spookyscipod

Here are our sources:

536 CE “The Worst Year to be Alive”

1. https://www.science.org/content/article/why-536-was-worst-year-be-alive
2. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379122005674
3. https://sciencenorway.no/archaeology-climate-cultural-history/the-long-harsh-fimbul-winter-is-not-a-myth/1613223
4. https://radiolab.org/podcast/worst-year-ever
5. https://www.discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/five-apocalypses-humanity-has-survived

Dust Bowl:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dust_Bowl
2. https://www.history.com/topics/great-depression/dust-bowl
3. https://benjaminleebison.com/pages/the-dust-bowl
4. https://drought.unl.edu/dustbowl/
5. https://www.weather.gov/media/oun/newsletter/spring2010.pdf

Mass Extinction:

1. https://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/dinosaurs-ancient-fossils/extinction/mass-extinction
2. https://kottke.org/18/06/the-dinosaur-killing-asteroid-that-struck-earth-was-unbelievably-huge-and-fast
3. https://www.discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/mass-extinctions
4. https://www.livescience.com/mass-extinction-events-that-shaped-Earth.html
5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunguska_event 
6. https://www.sciencefocus.com/space/if-humans-dont-finish-it-when-will-the-world-actually-end/