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The Box of Oddities — Comedy
The Box of Oddities

The Webby Award-winning “Box of Oddities” is a podcast that delves into the strange and mysterious aspects of our world, exploring topics ranging from bizarre medical conditions to unsolved mysteries, and from paranormal phenomena to strange cultural practices from around the world. With a focus on oddities, curiosities, and the macabre, each episode is a journey into the unknown, where hosts Kat and Jethro Gilligan Toth share their love for unusual stories and inject their humor and commentary. From the strange history of medical practices to chilling true crime stories, to natural (and unnatural) events, “The Box of Oddities” satisfies your thirst for the weird and the unusual, offering an informative and entertaining look into the dark and mysterious corners of our world.
JIMMY KIMMEL, ABC-TV says, “Should you be the type who has an interest in weird stuff, this is a fun thing to allow in your head!”

“Truth is stranger than fiction, and the Box of Oddities is the strangest of all!” -SLUGGO, SIRIUS XM LITHIUM

“Kat & Jethro wring humor from bizarre, macabre and perplexing places.” -BOSTON MAGAZINE

Copyright: © 2023 Eleven Eleven llc

Latest Episodes:

Ghosts in Your DNA Sep 16, 2026

Show notes

There are ghosts in your DNA—entire lost populations whose names, languages, and worlds vanished, yet whose genetic fingerprints are still moving through people alive today. Then: the deeply unsettling truth about seeds that have sprouted in human lungs, ears, and other places nature never intended a garden to grow.

In this episode of The Box of Oddities, Kat and Jethro explore ancient “ghost populations,” Neanderthals, Denisovans, and the 7,100-year-old woman whose DNA revealed a hidden branch of human history. Plus, they meet the unfortunate people who discovered that sometimes “it went down the wrong pipe” can become a very literal medical nightmare.

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The Missing Head Behind David Attenborough’s Pub Sep 14, 2026

Show notes

A forgotten 1952 Pan Am crash helped shape the safety briefing you hear on every flight—and now, 74 years later, the Clipper Endeavor has been found 2,000 feet beneath the Atlantic. Then: a skull discovered during a renovation connected to David Attenborough leads back to one of Victorian London’s most gruesome unsolved-for-131-years murder mysteries.

A lost airliner, a missing head, and the very specific reason you should never inflate your life vest inside the plane. This is Box of Oddities.

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Inbox Of Oddities #99 Sep 11, 2026

Show notes

On this Inbox of Oddities, Kat and Jethro open the mailbag for a wonderfully strange collection of listener stories: gargoyle-like creatures watching from a grandmother’s curtain rod, an eerie phone call from a man who may have been dead, a child who seemed to know far too much about the “lady upstairs,” and an unexpected bathroom encounter with Monkees legend Mickey Dolenz.

They also reflect on the 25th anniversary of 9/11, hear a powerful reminder that bravery can mean doing the thing even while you’re afraid, and put out the call for your true spooky stories for the ninth annual Box of Oddities Halloween special. It’s paranormal encounters, weird celebrity pee lore, anxiety, mysterious USB drives, and the magnificent freak family—just the way an Inbox should be.

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The Psychology of Going Nowhere Sep 09, 2026

Show notes

A young woman boards an elevated train in 1907, reaches her stop…and simply cannot make herself leave. Her strange case of “nervousness” becomes a newspaper curiosity, but more than a century later, it feels startlingly familiar. Then, why do lost people so often make the one choice most likely to keep them lost? From the forests of Nova Scotia to the Sahara Desert, we explore the unnerving ways panic can scramble your internal compass.

The Box of Oddities: where history gets weird, the brain gets stranger, and sometimes the best thing you can do is stay put.

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Odd Jobs, Bad Science, and Three Generations of Horror Sep 07, 2026

Show notes

In this classic episode, we celebrate Labor Day by looking at the most unusual jobs. Some people get paid to break into buildings, test mattresses, cuddle strangers, or bring horses into therapy sessions. Then there’s the far darker side of deciding who is “fit” for society: the true story of Carrie Buck, a young woman institutionalized and sterilized against her will in a Supreme Court case whose legacy still haunts America. It’s strange work, terrible pseudoscience, and the kind of history that should never be forgotten.

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Inbox Of Oddities #98 Sep 04, 2026

Show notes

This week’s Inbox of Oddities is full of the kinds of stories that make you wonder whether the universe is gently trying to get your attention. From a beloved dog who may have kept watch long after he was gone, to a grandmother’s promise delivered through a stubborn patch of flowers, the Freak Family shares paranormal experiences, unexpected kindness, rescued pups, healing, and a reminder that sometimes we get the chance to be somebody else’s Santa.

Plus, Jethro and Kat put out the call for your true scary stories for the ninth annual Box of Oddities Halloween Special. Record your experience on your phone and send it to curator@theboxofoddities.com—you may hear it in this year’s spooky celebration.

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Freaks, Feathers, and Yellow Fever Sep 02, 2026

Show notes

A sideshow performer known as Koo-Koo the Bird Girl becomes one of the most unforgettable faces in Tod Browning’s 1932 film Freaks—yet the real Minnie Woolsey remains almost a mystery. We trace the strange, sad, and surprisingly human story behind the feathers, enormous glasses, and a few seconds of dancing that outlived nearly everything else known about her.

Then: a young doctor named Stubbins Ffirth sets out to prove that yellow fever isn’t contagious by conducting one of history’s most stomach-turning medical experiments on himself. Plus, cow muffin bingo, lawnmower races, frog jumping, crab beauty pageants, and other wonderfully odd Labor Day traditions.

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Ten Dimes and One Very Stubborn House Aug 31, 2026

Show notes

What can ten dimes do? For Osceola McCarty, they represented a lifetime spent washing other people’s clothes—and a quiet act of generosity that would eventually change the lives of more than a hundred students. Discover how a Mississippi laundress who left school in the sixth grade saved a remarkable fortune and created an educational legacy that continues growing decades after her death.

Then, when developers decided one stubborn little house stood in the way of progress, its owners refused to budge. What followed was a three-year standoff that left their home balanced atop a towering pillar of dirt in the middle of an enormous construction pit. It became one of China’s most famous “nail houses” and sparked a national debate over property rights, eminent domain, and how far powerful developers will go to hammer down the people standing in their way.

Generosity measured in dimes and defiance measured in feet above a construction site. It’s The Box of Oddities!

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Inbox Of Oddities #97 Aug 28, 2026

Show notes

Can you feel time passing—or taste pizza using only your imagination? This week, the Freak Family opens our eyes to the wildly different ways our brains experience the world, including one listener whose sense of time appears as a constantly shifting spectrum of colors. We also hear about an eerily timed Dolly Parton “Boo Effect,” an Australian linguistic injustice, sad nipple syndrome as bedroom conversation, and a deeply moving message about grief, hospice, dark humor, and permitting ourselves to feel it all. It’s heartfelt, hilarious, occasionally inappropriate, and brought to you entirely by the beautiful weirdos who fill our inbox. Keep flying that freak flag!

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Black Holes, Nazis, & Fresh Baked Goods Aug 26, 2026

Show notes

Are We Living Inside a Black Hole? And Why You Should Never Trust a Nazi With a Plate Of Cookies.

What if our entire universe is hiding inside a black hole? The James Webb Space Telescope has uncovered strange new clues about the early cosmos—including an ancient galaxy that appears far more developed than it should be and a mysterious imbalance in the way distant galaxies rotate.

Then, meet the WWII interrogator who extracted secrets from hundreds of Allied pilots without threats or violence. His weapons were casual conversation, carefully placed misinformation…and sometimes a plate of cookies. How did prisoners reveal valuable intelligence without realizing they’d said anything at all?

Two mind-bending stories involving cosmic mysteries, psychological manipulation, snack cakes, and the unsettling possibility that everything we know exists inside someone else’s patch of darkness. It’s The Box of Oddities!

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