Wide Atlantic Weird

Latest Episodes:

Edwardians And Dinosaurs: The Prehistory Of 'The Lost World' May 17, 2020

Show notes

Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Lost World is the proverbial ‘not-terrible’ dinosaur story. Let’s face it, besides Jurassic Park, there aren’t many. And Conan Doyle knocked it out of the (ahem) park back in 1912 when he brought prehistoric creatures of literary age in this tale of daring Englishmen, led by the infuriating Professor Challenger, finding dinosaurs alive and well on a flat-topped mountain in the jungles of South America.

The book is a seminal text in the colonial-era adventure genre. In this episode of WIDE ATLANTIC WEIRD, Cian sups on a Bud on the porch of the cabin in the woods and covers the myriad influences on old ACD when he wrote The Lost World. Explore the Victorian and Edwardian obsession with archaeology and exotic places. Percy Fawcett disappearing into the Amazon in 1925. The discovery of Troy. The colonial adventurer who later became an anti-imperial Irish revolutionary. The birth of what we now call cryptozoology – the hunt for mystery animals in both fact and fiction. And exactly why might readers in 1912 have been primed to believe that living dinosaurs might just exist? Down a quick brandy to steady your nerve, pack your elephant gun, and follow a crumbling map to EDWARDIANS AND DINOSAURS: THE PREHISTORY OF ‘THE LOST WORLD.’

Ladybird Pickwick Cassette Edition

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvNLbyuqsLU

Lost And Found In Maple White Land by Sherri S. Malch

https://michaeldelahoyde.org/dinosaurs/lost-world-tude/

The Lost City of Z by David Grann

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3398625-the-lost-city-of-z

Frank Reade and Romaina – from Science Fiction Studies

https://www.depauw.edu/sfs/reviews_pages/r70.htm

Darren Naish on Piltdown Man and Conan Doyle (Tetrapod Zoology)

https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/tetrapod-zoology/piltdown-man-came-from-the-lost-world-well-no-it-didn-t/

Discovery of Mountain Gorillas from Mountain Gorilla Conservation Fund

https://www.saveagorilla.org/discovery.html

Beasts And Men by Carl Hagenbeck, 1909

https://archive.org/details/beastsmenbeingca00hage

Hunting Monsters by Darren Naish, 2016

https://www.amazon.com/Hunting-Monsters-Cryptozoology-Reality-Behind-ebook/dp/B01B867JTO

The Shores Of Hell: History And Memories of DOOM (with Ian Stokes) May 10, 2020

Show notes

In 1993, the world of gaming was changed forever by Doom, a fast-paced game with action and horror elements that was hugely controversial for its violent and Satanic plot. Joining Cian for a beer and a chat about the history of the game is Ian Stokes, the Wide Atlantic Weird resident IT guy. Grab yourself a brew for a conversation about the wild and woolly days of cowboy game developers, space marines and imps from Hell, connections to moral panics and school shootings, a film so bad even the Rock couldn’t save it, and a tie-in book series that turned out to be covert Mormon propaganda. Don’t put it off any longer – there are weird growling sounds coming from the interior of this episode, so charge your BFG and head inside to take on the forces of the underworld in THE SHORES OF HELL: HISTORY AND MEMORIES OF DOOM. (major thanks to Mr Stokes for the extremely thorough notes this episode!)

Videos

John Romero Dooms Development: A year of madness

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBU34NZhW7I

Doom Cover Art Collection (Includes PC, playstation art etc)

https://doom.fandom.com/wiki/Cover_art

Doom Music

Robert Prince

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cixW6rogZ48

Notable Songs (PC)

At dooms Gate (Master Of Puppets): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cixW6rogZ48&t=0s

Adrians Asleep (Alice In Chains Angry Chair): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cixW6rogZ48&t=6861s

PlayStation

Aubrey Hudges (Playstation)

https://aubreyhodges.bandcamp.com/album/doom-playstation-official-soundtrack

Notable Songs (Play Station)

Main Theme https://aubreyhodges.bandcamp.com/track/doom-playstation-main-theme

Breath of Horror: https://aubreyhodges.bandcamp.com/track/breath-of-horror-level-deimos-anomaly

Books/Comics

RIP & Tear Comic: https://www.doomworld.com/10years/doomcomic/comic.php

PC Gamer Crapshoot Doom Novels: https://www.pcgamer.com/crap-shoot-doom-the-novels/

It Never Gets Respect: Metallica and the making of St Anger (with Dónal Gill) May 06, 2020

Show notes

Another strange tale from the world of music here as Cian and Donal delve into Metallica’s infamously difficult phase during the recording of their much-maligned St Anger album. Metallica stand head and shoulders above most other groups in the metal world, and at the time they were making this record their star was still shooting up. But personal problems left them wracked with insecurity and an identity crisis that played out onscreen in the documentary Some Kind Of Monster. The film is full of unintentionally hilarious moments as these monster egos tiptoe around one another on eggshells, using nonsense therapy-language, and making ludicrous musical decisions.

It was an incredibly strange time for one of the biggest bands on Earth, and the guys have a lot to say about it. So grab yourself a coffee, get FRANTIC, and fall madly in anger with IT NEVER GETS RESPECT: METALLICA AND THE MAKING OF ST ANGER.

Donal's Facebook for Obscure Kiss Riff Of The Day

https://www.facebook.com/Donal.S.Gill

Twisted Pair: Is Neil Breen Self-Aware? (with Ali Keane) May 01, 2020

Show notes

A proper, enjoyable 'bad movie' needs to have been made with by someone who truly believes in what they're doing, without irony.

Cian and Ali enjoy a beer and return to the subject of their very first episode: the so-bad-they’re-good films of visionary ‘auteur’ Neil Breen. This time they finally discuss his divisive 2018 movie Twisted Pair, an effort that had them wondering whether Breen had finally become self-aware and if the game was finally up. Would Breen now become another Tommy Wiseau, incapable of delivering the unselfconscious gold of his early career? Well, the guys have been thinking about it for some time but they’ve finally decided. So take a listen to TWISTED PAIR: IS NEIL BREEN SELF-AWARE and decide for yourself.

Quote about Breen from Bad Movie Bible

https://www.badmoviebible.com/single-post/2017/11/22/WORDS-The-Selfish-Breen-Why-Neils-Movies-are-the-Most-Inward-Looking-and-Why-Hes-a-Creepy-Psychopath

Escape Bar Gig on Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=escape%20escape%20bar%20none%203&epa=SEARCH_BOX

The Scuts on Bandcamp

https://thescuts.bandcamp.com/

Dead Men Working In The Cane Fields: The Zombies of William Seabrook's 'Magic Island' Apr 29, 2020

Show notes

As something of a follow-up to our last episode about the birth of the ‘Spooky New Orleans’ archetype, join Cian for a lockdown bottle of ale on the porch at the Cabin in the Woods for a reading from the book ‘The Magic Island’ by William Seabrook. In 1929, Seabrook’s book was a massive success, telling dark tales about Haiti and its voodoo secrets, and in particular popularising the word ‘zombie’ among Western audiences. Having always been haunted by a story about zombified sugar-cane plantation workers, Cian has tracked the story down to the chapter ‘Dead Men Working In The Cane Fields’ from this book. So pour yourself some rum and settle down for a story from the very dawn of the zombie genre – the Dawn of the Dead, if you will.

Lafcadio Hearn In New Orleans Apr 26, 2020

Show notes

The popular image of New Orleans as a spooky, mysterious city full of witchcraft and voodoo needs no introduction. But few know that the city owes this image largely to the work of an Irishman named Lafcadio Hearn – a Victorian-era writer and traveller who sought out magic and mystery wherever he went, a collector of folklore and stories of everyday life. During his ten years writing about life in the Crescent City, he emphasised its sensuality and difference from the rest of America.

Today, the ripples he created still affect how we think about New Orleans and Louisiana. So join Cian for a bourbon at the cabin in the woods as we explore the backstreets of the French Quarter and the bayous beyond, searching for the reality behind the myths of voodoo queens and superstitions.

Sources:

A Fantastic Journey by Paul Murray

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fantastic-Journey-Literature-Lafcadio-Hearn/dp/1873410239

Inventing New Orleans by Frederick Starr

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Inventing-New-Orleans-Writings-Lafcadio/dp/1578063523/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=inventing+new+orleans&qid=1587906188&s=books&sr=1-1

Book Of The Dead by Jamie Russell

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Book-Dead-Complete-History-Zombie/dp/1903254337/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=book+of+the+dead+jamie+russell&qid=1587906222&s=books&sr=1-1

Ghosthunter theme (PS2) The Swamp Cemetary

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sY6c4nkB4x4&t=119s

Marie Laveau by Papa Celestin

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLRfDLJLjxc&t=29s

Tellers Of Weird Tales

https://tellersofweirdtales.blogspot.com/2017/03/weird-tales-books-stories-of-walking_18.html

Lafcadio Hearn Japanese Gardens

http://www.lafcadiohearngardens.com/

What You Did Not Create: Slipknot And Nu-Metal Nostalgia Apr 21, 2020

Show notes

Get ready for a look back at a strange world: 2001 was a different time. A time of baggy jeans, wallets on chains, and a strangely heavy, angry, and proudly stupid style of music that inexplicably became mainstream. It was the era of Nu-Metal: a subgenre now so hated and disgraced that even those of us who were fans are happy to pretend it all just never happened.

For myself and my brother Donal, one of our key memories of this bizarre time is the book Slipknot: Behind The Sickness Inside The Masks. It’s an absurd, juvenile, but breathlessly genuine time capsule of an age that has yet to be enshrined in any sort of nostalgic movement. We loved this book as teenagers and we’re returning to it now.

Slipknot were perhaps the breakout stars of the Nu-Metal era and this book chronicles them at the height of their intensity and bombastic ridiculousness. Get ready for dead crows in jars, shitting on stage, dicks for noses, and rotting cow heads. We discuss Nu-Metal in general, the nature of nostalgia, and why Metallica’s St Anger was terrible.

Live from lockdown, from the cabin in the woods in West Cork and lovely Montreal, Quebec, this is Wide Atlantic Weird; this episode: What You Did Not Create: Slipknot And Nu-Metal Nostalgia.

Choose-Your-Own-Satanic-Panic: Fighting Fantasy And House Of Hell Apr 05, 2020

Show notes

Join Cian for a quarantine session of brandy and nostalgia at the cabin in this much-delayed episode. If you fondly remember reading (and cheating) through Fighting Fantasy gamebooks in the 80s, this installment has you covered, as Cian talks us through House Of Hell, his favourite FF adventure. It's a haunted house game that really goes into far more disturbing territory than most. Cian spots the influences of Dennis Wheatley in this creepy Satanists-for-kids adventure, and wonders as to the influence of the Satanic Panic too. Whatever the truth, House Of Hell remains an oddly unsettling addition to this genre, replete with cultists, goat heads, sacrifices on altars, and a torturously-constructed puzzle. You may never escape from the House! So roll up your stats, grab some cheese and brandy, and MAY YOUR STAMINA NEVER FAIL! To listen, turn to paragraph 88.

Wide Atlantic Weird on Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/WideAtlanticWeird/?modal=admin_todo_tour

House Of Hell App from Tin Man Games

http://fightingfantasyapps.com/books/house-of-hell/

House of Hell Solution by Lafe Travis

http://yosemite-sam.net/Solutions/HouseHell.htm

Geraldine Cummins: The Cork Psychic Apr 04, 2020

Show notes

With the world in the midst of difficulties and upheaval, we bring you a brief update on the Wide Atlantic Weird status, as well as a short episode about a woman from County Cork who was famous in the 1920s for her mediumship, automatic writing, her follow-up books to the Bible (!) and for telling fortunes for the great and the good. Her name was Geraldine Cummins, and while not well-remembered today, her success during her lifetime tells us much about the state of belief in these ideas in Ireland in the early 20th century.

Wide Atlantic Weird Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/WideAtlanticWeird/?modal=admin_todo_tour

World Famous Psychics & Mystics by Margaret Nicholas

https://www.abebooks.com/first-edition/Worlds-Greatest-Psychics-Mystics-NICHOLAS-Margaret/804178116/bd

All Of Them Witches: Margaret Murray And The Witch-Cult Hypothesis Mar 18, 2020

Show notes

Reading Lovecraft is a great way to discover new writers and strange old pseudoscientific theories. In this episode I discuss how through Lovecraft I first learned of Margaret Murray and the infamous Witch-Cult Hypothesis – the idea that the ‘witches’ persecuted in early-modern witch trials were in fact the survivors of an ancient pagan cult. Yes, not only did people take this idea seriously, but they ran with it. Really ran with it. This episode of WIDE ATLANTIC WEIRD delves into what Murray believed, what others made of it, and the long-term effects of this particular odd belief. Cthulhu, wicca, Dennis Wheatley, Rosemary’s Baby: they all have their part to play in ALL OF THEM WITCHES: Margaret Murray And The Witch-Cult Hypothesis. So burn your black candles, put on your wicker antlers, crack open an ale and sit by the fire for a bewitching (sigh) episode of WIDE ATLANTIC WEIRD.

Sources:

Wide Atlantic Weird on Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/WideAtlanticWeird

The Witch-Cult In Western Europe, Margaret Murray, 1921

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Witch-Cult_in_Western_Europe

The Call of Cthulhu, H. P. Lovecraft, 1928

http://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/texts/fiction/cc.aspx

Supernatural Horror In Literature, H. P. Lovecraft, 1927

http://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/texts/essays/shil.aspx

The Golden Bough, James Frazer, 1890

http://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/texts/essays/shil.aspx

The Devil Rides Out by Dennis Wheatley, 1934