occult

A collection of 26 posts

Blog

Following a vintage automatic writing planchette ad down a rabbit hole

Digging into the backstory of an ad in Mystic magazine.

Blog

Modern automatic writing planchettes

Are automatic writing planchettes still a thing?

Blog

The History of Automatic Writing Planchettes

The story of the planchette, a predecessor of the Ouija board.

Blog

Paranormal fires and UFOs

What's the connection between fires and paranormal entities?

Blog

Trusting your own perception

It's hard to trust yourself.

Blog

Screaming plants (Learning Things: April 3, 2023)

Thoughts on plant communication and an attempt at automatic drawing.

Blog

How I learn things (Learning Things: March 20, 2023)

Some things I want to learn, including how to make DIY paranormal investigation gadgets.

Episodes

Local spirits, ghosts of the living, and haunted churches (Insights from Consorting with Spirits: Your Guide to Working with Invisible Allies by Jason Miller)

I really get into it in this one! The stated goal of this episode is to talk about some fascinating takeaways from Consorting with Spirits: Your Guide to Working with Invisible Allies by Jason Miller. However, get ready for many digressions about my own paranormal experiences.

paranormal Featured

Where to start listening

Stumped on where to start listening? Let me make some recommendations!

Episodes

Fortune Telling Teacups

A look at the fortune telling teacups, which were popular in the early 20th century, and were adorned with symbols meant to aid in interpreting tea leaves. Highlights include: • The different varieties of fortune telling teacups • An attempt at a tea leaf reading Episode Script for Fortune Telling Teacups DISCLAIMER:

Episodes

Johannes Kelpius and Occult Monks in Philadelphia

In the 1690s, a Transylvania-born mystic, occultist, musician, and writer named Johannes Kelpius led a group of 40 Rosicrucian monks to colonial Philadelphia to wait for the end of the world. Though Kelpius and his group of highly-educated mystics were disappointed when the day of revelation didn’t come, they

Episodes

The Book of Thoth and the First Egyptologist

A look at the legendary Book of Thoth and the historical figure who inspired Ancient Egypt’s most famous fictional sorcerer and is considered the first Egyptologist. Setne Khamwas, aka Prince Khaemweset, was the son of Ramesses the Great, as well as a high priest of Ptah, and a historian

Episodes

Se-Osiris, Ancient Egyptian Wizard

A look at the magic-filled legends of Se-Osiris, Ancient Egyptian Wizard, who, as a pre-teen, traveled to the underworld and later dueled with a reincarnated sorcerer. Setne II, an Ancient Egyptian story that’s survived on papyrus, tells the tale of a Dante’s inferno-like descent into the underworld, and

Episodes

Ancient Egyptian Tomb Raider and Wizard Setne

A look at the magic-filled legends of Ancient Egyptian tomb raider and wizard Prince Setne, a character based on the son of Ramesses II, who goes on a tomb-raiding journey to acquire a magical book. And it’s the prequel to the stories about his 12-year-old boy wizard son, Se-Osiris.

Episodes

The Cult of Santa Muerte, aka Saint Death

A look at Santa Muerte, or Saint Death, a Mexican folk saint who gives hope to people on the edges of society, whose popularity has skyrocketed over the last 20 years. The Catholic Church has condemned Santa Muerte as “satanic,” the Mexican military has destroyed shrines to her, the Mexican

Episodes

Thomas Edison's Spirit Telegraph

A look at Thomas Edison’s Spirit Telegraph, an apparatus to contact the spirit world that he claimed to be working on, but which never surfaced. In 1920, famed inventor Thomas Edison gave a series of interviews bragging about a device he was testing, a spirit telegraph, which spiritualists could

Episodes

Quinta da Regaleira Symbolism: The Occult Mysteries of a Portuguese Palace and Garden

Quinta da Regaleira Symbolism: A deep dive into the mysteries and history of a strange palace and garden built by an eccentric millionaire in Sintra, Portugal. Sometimes described as a playground for adults, Quinta da Regaleira is a mysterious estate built by a millionaire entomologist in the early 20th century,

Episodes

Kill Daddy: The Turley Ouija Board Murder (Ouija Boards Part 9)

The Turley Ouija Board Murder: In 1933, a girl shot her father on the orders of a Ouija board. Or was it her former-beauty-queen mother who encouraged the violence? When playing with a Ouija board with her mother, 14-year-old Mattie Turley receives the message that she must kill her father

Episodes

More 1920s Ouija Board Stories (Ouija Boards Part 8)

We take a look at more 1920s Ouija board stories, including more tales of Ouijamania. Highlights include: • The ghost of Marie Antoinette • A supposedly Ouija-crazed cop who hijacked a car at gunpoint and proceeded to disrobe • A doomed treasure hunter • Queerness in 1920s San Francisco • The ghosts who haunted European

Episodes

1920s Ouijamania (Ouija Boards Part 7)

We take a look at “Ouijamania” in the 1920s, relating the panic over Ouija boards to big movements in the year 1920, including womens suffrage, prohibition, and, unfortunately, eugenics. Ouijamania is the phenomenon where people, usually women, supposedly went crazy because of their Ouija board use, usually resulting in their

Episodes

Ouija after World War I (Ouija Boards Part 6)

Ouija after World War I: We tried talking about 1920s Ouijamania but there was too much good stuff in the late 19teens. Highlights include: • Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Harry Houdini playing with a Ouija board in an Atlantic City hotel room • The pope hiring a former psychical researcher to

Episodes

Victorian Egyptomania (Ouija Boards Part 5)

We take a detour in our look at the Ouija board and dive into Victorian Egyptomania. In the Victorian Era, people were really into death and the supernatural. Americans and Europeans also started traveling to Egypt and bringing back mummies and other pieces of Egyptian culture. We talk about some

Episodes

19th Century Ouija Board Stories / Early Ouijamania (Ouija Boards Part 4)

19th century Ouija board stories: Chris digs up some early stories of people getting waaay too obsessed with their Ouija boards. Highlights include: • a rare story of a 19th century black woman’s experience with Ouija • a couple destroying their home to (supposedly) convert the world to Masonic principles • Presidential

Episodes

William Fuld (Ouija Boards Part 3)

In the 20th century, William Fuld’s name became synonymous with Ouija boards. We look at how William Fuld got into the Ouija game, the feud with his brother that split the family for nearly a century, his mysterious death that resulted from some advice that the board gave him,

Episodes

Helen Peters and Ouida / Invention (Ouija Boards Part 2)

We take a look at the board’s invention, in particular two women behind it, Helen Peters and Ouida: a highly-educated, unconventional medium who later ended up denouncing Ouija, and the eccentric, dog-obsessed English writer whose name may have inspired the board’s. In 1886, homemade talking boards became a