#135 - Mother of a Monster
Bittersweet Infamy
Trick-or-Treat Infamy + season finale! Josie tells Taylor about the dramatic life and times of English novelist Mary Shelley, and the infamous origins of her Gothic masterpiece, Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. Plus: is your Labubu a conduit for an ancient Mesopotamian demon? Find out in the final minfamous of season five!
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#134 - The Mad Trapper of Rat River
Bittersweet Infamy
Trick-or-Treat Infamy! Taylor tells Josie about Albert Johnson (not his real name), the mysterious outlaw who led Mounties on an explosive and deadly winter manhunt through Canada's Yukon and Northwest Territories. Plus: unpacking Taylor's trip to the Yukon, including the community of Carcross, population: 300, where the ghosts of Bessie Gideon and her parrot Polly haunt the century-old Caribou Hotel.
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#133 - Naked and Aflame
Bittersweet Infamy
Big Skookum B.C. Road Trip! In this special episode, Josie tells Taylor about the Sons of Freedom (a.k.a. the Freedomites), the religious sect with an affinity for public nudity and arson, and the history of the Doukhobors in British Columbia. Plus: join Josie, Taylor, and special guests Lucia Misch and Ruy Gonzalez as they wrap up the Big Skookum B.C. Road Trip, including stops at the South Enderby Flea Market, a Keremeos curio shop, and the party capital of Canada: Kelowna-fornia!
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#132 - Operation: Save Linda's Sweater
Bittersweet Infamy
Big Skookum B.C. Road Trip! Josie, Taylor, and special guests Lucia Misch and Ruy Gonzalez travel around Canada's beautiful westernmost province, British Columbia, with stops including the legendary Shambhala Music Festival in Salmo, a gusty ferry ride across Upper Arrow Lake, and a dip in the river-fed Lussier Hot Springs! Plus: Taylor loses a family heirloom, Josie gets some good news from home, Lucia spearheads a heroic rescue effort, and Ruy drinks too much prune juice.
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#131 - The Big Skookum Bittersweet Ambush
Bittersweet Infamy
Big Skookum B.C. Road Trip! In this special episode recorded at the Arthur O. Wheeler hut in Glacier National Park, Taylor and special guests Lucia Misch and Ruy Gonzalez ambush Josie with a game show all about the beautiful province of British Columbia. Watch the plan come together, and play along from home to prove your B.C. bona fides!
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#130 - Bury Me On Rattlesnake Island
Bittersweet Infamy
Big Skookum B.C. Road Trip! In this special episode, Taylor tells Josie about Lebanese-Canadian entrepreneur Eddy Haymour, and how his dream of building an Arabian theme park on Lake Okanagan led him to take 33 people hostage at the Canadian embassy in Beirut. Plus: join Josie, Taylor, and special guests Lucia Misch and Ruy Gonzalez as they kick off the first leg of a British Columbia road trip, with stops in Kamloops, Salmon Arm, and Glacier National Park!
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#129 - A Shipwreck Away from Abalonia
Bittersweet Infamy
Josie tells Taylor about the 1966 near-founding of the micronation of Abalonia on a sunken island 100 miles off the California coast, and how the would-be country's future was washed away with the tides. Plus: enter the mystical and dangerous world of catch fétiche, a.k.a. Congolese voodoo wrestling.
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#128 - Too Cute for Comfort
Bittersweet Infamy
Taylor tells Josie about Cuties (a.k.a. Mignonnes), the 2020 Netflix film by Senegalese-French writer/director Maïmouna Doucouré, and how it sparked a child exploitation panic that made its way to the U.S. Senate. Plus: illusionist Murray SawChuck breaks the magician's code, and gets disappeared from the Academy of Magical Arts.
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#127 - A Palace of Seeds and Nothing to Eat
Bittersweet Infamy
Josie tells Taylor how the botanists at the U.S.S.R.'s Institute of Plant Industry kept the world's largest seed bank intact during the infamously brutal Siege of Leningrad (1941-44). Plus: we examine the ancient roots of the al-Badawi tree, the millennia-old olive tree that keeps vigil over the embattled village of al-Walaja, Palestine.
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#126 - Spin-Out in the Fast Lane
Bittersweet Infamy
Taylor tells Josie about the cheating conspiracy behind Brazilian auto racer Nelson Piquet Jr.’s deliberate crash at the 2008 Formula One Singapore Grand Prix. Plus: a few notes on the reclusive Q Lazzarus, the mysterious voice behind the cult favourite song "Goodbye Horses."
info_outlineJosie tells Taylor about the unconventional art project that saw American artist Jill Magid propose to Italian archivist Federica Zanco with a diamond made from the physical remains of prominent Mexican architect Luis Barragán. Plus: head up to Dawson City, Yukon, and join the Sourtoe Cocktail Club—by drinking a cocktail made with a severed human toe!