Lauren the Gothic Bookworm opens the tomb of maybe-classic The Mummy from 1999 as we discuss action movie tropes, Orientalism in Hollywood, the golden age of Egyptology in the popular imagination, and Arnold Vosloo. Digressions include: -The horror-centric directions the film almost went in -The lure of the ‘golden age of Egyptology’ in Western storytelling…

Professor Christine Ferguson visits the cabin to discuss the later adventures of Professor Challenger! In 1925, Arthur Conan Doyle’s serialisation of ‘The Land Of Mist’ began in the Strand magazine. This novel was the author’s great attempt to make his decades-long interest in spiritualism palatable to the widest audience possible. Did he succeed? Did he…

How many Lost World connections can we make in this episode about turn-of-the-century ghost writers searching for extinct animals in South America? Dr Edward Guimont is at hand to tell the tale, bringing essential palaeontological and colonial context for South America in 1900. Hesketh Hesketh Pritchard, creator of Flaxman Low, was sent on this expedition…

What if ‘fairies’ are a memory of a squat race of mysterious pre-humans who lived in Europe before modern humans arrived? Justin Mullis brings a LOT to the cabin in this episode. We cover: the origins of euhemerism and ‘explanations’ for Norse gods. Bernard Heuvelmans and euhemerism, our first (but not last!) connection to cryptozoology….

The 1961 Hill abduction is usually considered the ‘ground zero’ of the entire ‘genre’ of UFO abductions. It’s been pored over by UFO believers and skeptics for decades; been the stuff of TV movies and comic strips. In short, it’s been done to death. So I didn’t want to return to the subject without a…

Lisa drops into the cabin with a Halloween tale … the story of Pearl Curran, a woman who channelled a spirit calling herself ‘Patience Worth.’ As Patience, Pearl wrote books that gave her a new life among the literati, and eventually adopted a child who she raised as Patience herself. Sources: The Case Of Patience…

Bob Fischer, creator of ‘Haunted Generation,’ joins us for a wide-ranging chat about Hauntology, and how ‘Haunted Generation’ feelings of an uncanny childhood differ around the world. We cover Arthur C Clarke’s Mysterious World and the how the paranormal was presented in the 70s. We cover memories of a pre-digital age, Alan Garner and the…

For a ramble through the life of a person who made old, wyrd England the focus of his occult writings and poetry, Cian invites Justin Hopper to the cabin. We cover the life and times of Victor Neuburg, the now-obscure creator behind the Vine Press. A man who knew Aleister Crowley intimately, discovered Dylan Thomas,…

Jeb Card joins us to discuss the supposed witchcraft connections to the murder of Charles Walton on Valentines Day, 1945. Important players include (returning podcast fave) Margaret Murray, Egyptologist and writer of ‘The Witch Cult In Western Europe’ and Robert Fabian, Detective Superintendent of the London Met and early true crime tv celebrity. Both took…

Cian is joined by YouTuber ‘Truth Is Scarier Than Fiction’ to discuss the making of the Cryptid Iceberg videos and more! NOTES Buy Me A Coffee, or I’ll wood knock-you out! https://www.buymeacoffee.com/wideatlantic Truth Is Scarier Than Fiction Youtube https://www.youtube.com/c/Truthisscarierthanfiction/videos Truth Is Scarier on Twitter https://twitter.com/TruthScarier The Allure of Vintage Dinosaur Artwork by HoopsandDinoMan https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKXokoLHXQI