Stay ConnectedBoredom? We don't know her. Each week, join hosts Rachel and Maddie for a deep dive into whatever they're thinking about, taking a comedic and intellectual approach to weird, interesting, and unusual topics.
HYPERFOCUS is the perfect podcast for everyone…especially if you have ADHD like Rachel.
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How long can a fire burn? How long can you live in a town built on top of an underground fire? Why would you want to stay in here? Well, I'm gonna be honest...we don't answer all of these questions, but we do ask them.
Today, Rachel takes us through the story and history of how Centralia, Pennsylvania became a real-life, modern ghost town.
Sources:
https://www.history.com/news/mine-fire-burning-more-50-years-ghost-town
https://www.britannica.com/video/187023/coal-mine-fire-Pennsylvania-Centralia
https://www.legendsofamerica.com/centralia-pennsylvania/
http://www.dark-tourism.com/index.php/india/15-countries/individual-chapters/738-centralia#s
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/centralia-graffiti-highway-buried
If you've seen American Horror Story: Hotel or watched the documentary on Elisa Lam, you know about how unsettling and creepy the Cecil Hotel is. On today's episode, Maddie is diving deep into the disturbing and cruel history of one of America's most infamous hotels.
TW: This episode contains descriptions of suicide, death, murder, hauntings and conspiracy theories that may be upsetting to the listener.
Sources:
https://allthatsinteresting.com/cecil-hotel-los-angeles
https://nypost.com/2020/02/18/the-moral-crisis-of-skid-row-las-most-notorious-neighborhood/
https://medium.com/crimebeat/the-dark-history-of-hotel-cecil-a778d6c3d9e7
https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/entertainment/a35458616/the-cecil-hotel-history-timeline-true-story/
https://medium.com/lessons-from-history/the-murderous-cecil-hotel-has-been-claiming-lives-since-the-1920s-677af33f17b7
https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=DS19621013.2.19&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN--------1
https://medium.com/the-true-crime-edition/the-tragedy-of-pigeon-goldie-fdc2061c0960
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/572113/the-black-dahlia-murder-facts
https://medium.com/@jddean/the-serial-killers-who-haunted-the-cecil-hotel-5586e6f7d2d1
https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/tv/a35461475/elisa-lam-true-story-death-elevator-crime-scene-netflix/
Link to Elisa Lam Video: https://youtu.be/_rfLSVIA0L0
Link to Night Stalker Netflix Documentary: https://www.netflix.com/title/81025701
We all know that she wrote Frankenstein at a very young age, but what else do you know about the life of Mary Shelley? There's just. so. much. From death to affairs to weird things happening at graves (do we maybe see her inspiration for the story here?), Shelley's life was riddled with a difficult mix of trauma and success.
Sources:
https://www.biography.com/writer/mary-shelley
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/mary-wollstonecraft-shelley
https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/f/frankenstein/mary-shelley-biography-2
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/65624/mary-shelleys-favorite-keepsake-her-dead-husbands-heart
https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/letters-concerning-the-relationship-between-p-b-shelley-and-mary-godwin#
I'm sure you've heard of the Grand Canyon... you know the canyon by which all other canyon must objectively be compared to? Well tune in to today's episode to hear more about the architect who built up the national park in the early 1900s - as a woman - in a male-dominated field - without even the right to vote.
Sources:
https://pioneeringwomen.bwaf.org/mary-elizabeth-jane-colter/
https://www.mygrandcanyonpark.com/park/history/history-of-the-grand-canyon/
https://www.nps.gov/grca/learn/photosmultimedia/colter_hopih_photos.htm
https://www.nps.gov/articles/marycolter.htm
What do you do when you're sleep deprived and the Russian army is chasing you? You take a TON of drugs...or at least that's what Aimo Koivunen did.
This man has seen it ALL. Although, to be fair, not all of it was real. Join us on today's episode to go on Aimo's journey together!
SOURCES:
https://www.history.com/news/inside-the-drug-use-that-fueled-nazi-germany
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRHm26fKKb8
https://www.warhistoryonline.com/instant-articles/high-on-speed-and-delirious.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aimo_Koivunen
We are very tired. And very giggly. And very tired. Did I mention that we're tired? We still have no idea what happened to the file but look out for the full episode tomorrow! Sorry for the delay! We are doing our very best!
I'm sure you know the song and the TikTok trend... but do you know the man behind it? On today's deep-dive, Maddie takes the lead to share the mysterious stories about one of Russia's most legendary figures.
Sources:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/murder-rasputin-100-years-later-180961572/
https://www.history.co.uk/biographies/who-was-rasputin
Rasputin, Maria. My Father. New Hyde Park, New York: University Books, 1970.
Smith, Douglas. Rasputin: Faith, Power, and the Twilight of the Romanovs. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2016.
Tosh, John. The Pursuit of History. Harlow, England: Pearson Education Limited, 2010.
Wilson, Colin. Rasputin and the Fall of the Romanovs. New York: Farrar, Straus and Company, 1964.
How and why did the Stanford Prison Experiment end? Does it need to be debunked? Why do we care about it so much? Listen to our first ever "part two" to find out! Fair warning: Rachel gets really into it and tells people why they're wrong. But what else is new...?
It's our first two-parter! Rachel just can't keep it short, can she? Today we head down to the depths of a Stanford University basement where Dr. Zimbardo created a mock prison experiment that has lived on in infamy. Why? Listen to find out!
Sources:
https://www.prisonexp.org
https://www.newyorker.com/science/maria-konnikova/the-real-lesson-of-the-stanford-prison-experiment
https://www.nytimes.com/1973/04/08/archives/a-pirandellian-prison-the-mind-is-a-formidable-jailer.html
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0146167206292689
If you've heard of Alice in Wonderland, you're going to want to check this one out! Maddie deep-dives into Alice In Wonderland Syndrome (AIWS) and the fairy-tale-esque symptoms associated with this rare syndrome. Just like Alice found herself growing larger or smaller, seeing other things grow big or small, or even losing perception of time, those who suffer from AIWS can experience a wide variety of similar symptoms.
Sources:
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/65763/12-absurd-facts-about-alice-wonderland
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Alices-Adventures-in-Wonderland
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fneur.2019.00473/full
https://www.excedrin.com/migraines/causes/what-is-alice-in-wonderland-syndrome/
https://www.healthline.com/health/alice-in-wonderland-syndrome#causes
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1826192/pdf/canmedaj00720-0006.pdf
https://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/06/23/alice-in-wonderland-syndrome/
https://n.neurology.org/content/80/13/1262.short
https://www.goodtherapy.org/blog/psychpedia/aiws
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