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#107: Deeply Impressed [Helen Duncan goes on trial]

The Ancient and Esoteric Order of the Jackalope

Release Date: 12/02/2024

On Hiatus until January 2026 show art On Hiatus until January 2026

The Ancient and Esoteric Order of the Jackalope

Greetings, initiates. #13 here. You are expecting an episode of the Ancient Order of the Jackalope, the secret society/podcast about uncovering hidden stories and sharing them with the world, and I am here to explain why you're not getting one. I have a lot of stuff going on in my life right now. You don't need to know what it all is, you just need to know that it's not all good. I had thought I was coping with everything quite well, and then I had a moment that made it very clear that I was not really coping at all. Looking back, I could see this has been a problem for a while. I have been...

info_outline #118: They Came from Inner Space [the weird life of Dr. Walter Siegmeister] show art #118: They Came from Inner Space [the weird life of Dr. Walter Siegmeister]

The Ancient and Esoteric Order of the Jackalope

Dr. Walter Siegmeister believed we could create a psychic master race by taking off our clothes, moving to the jungle, and consuming only fruit and megadoses of lecithin. And that wasn't even the weirdest thing about him. Key sources for this episode include Walter Siegmeister's The Hollow Earth: The Greatest Geographical Discovery in History; Walter Kafton-Minkel's Subterranean Worlds: 10,000 Years of Dragons, Dwars, the Dead, Lost Races & UFOs from Inside the Earth; and Professor Solomon's Visitors to the Inner Earth. Jenn Thorson: The Ancient and Esoteric Order of the Jackalope is...

info_outline #117: Kulopus [Elwood Towner, aka #117: Kulopus [Elwood Towner, aka "Chief Red Cloud"]

The Ancient and Esoteric Order of the Jackalope

Come for the strange, sad, and hate-filled story of the Q Shaman of 1940: Elwood Towner, a.k.a. "Chief Red Cloud," who spoke at Nazi rallies in full Native American ceremonial regalia. Stay to hear #13 gets angry and go off the rails. Key sources for this episode include Arnie Bernstein's Swastika Nation: Fritz Kuhn and the Rise and Fall of the German-American Bund; Kenneth William Townsend's World War II and the American Indian; Knute berger's "The strange case of the Northwest's Native American Nazi"; and contemporary newspaper reports. The Ancient and Esoteric Order of the Jackalope is...

info_outline #116: The Marshal is Missing! [the heist of Marshal Pétain's remains] presented by #42 (Alex Baumans) show art #116: The Marshal is Missing! [the heist of Marshal Pétain's remains] presented by #42 (Alex Baumans)

The Ancient and Esoteric Order of the Jackalope

In February 1973, French right wingers broke into the grave of of fascist dictator Philippe Pétain and made off with his mortal remains. This is the tragicomic story of what led them to that moment... and what happened afterwards.  Key sources for this episode include Jean-Yves La Naour’s On a volé le Maréchal; Michel Dumas’ La permission du Maréchal; Hugo Coniez’s La mort de la IIIe Republique; and Julian Jackson’s France on Trial: The Case of Marshal Petain. Presented by #42 (Alex Baumans). Alex is pathologically interested in anything unusual and obscure. He’s a closet...

info_outline #115: Fluffy Raffles Comes To Town [who?] show art #115: Fluffy Raffles Comes To Town [who?]

The Ancient and Esoteric Order of the Jackalope

She was the meandering metropolitan mystery, the famous will-o'-the-wisp of the continent, who fooled police and the public from Abilene to Akron. Who was this mysterious and alluring woman, and why did she love bread so much?  Thanks to the initiates who contributed their voices to this episode, including Dorothy Sibole (#7), Eric Leslie, and Jenn Thorson! Jenn Thorson: Little Lake Theater Company: Key sources for this episode include contemporary newspaper report and that's about it. (You may find this hard to believe, not a lot of people are out there writing about this.) So let me...

info_outline #114: Unhuman Animals [Pennsylvania's anti-cartoon bills of 1903] show art #114: Unhuman Animals [Pennsylvania's anti-cartoon bills of 1903]

The Ancient and Esoteric Order of the Jackalope

In 1903 Pennsylvania found the recipe for disaster: two of the greatest political cartoonists of the day, and an easily caricatured governor with no sense of humor. Their battle went to some...u unexpected places. Key sources for this episode include... Stephen Piott's "The Right of the Cartoonist: Samuel Pennypacker and the Freedom of the Press," contemporary newspaper reports... and that's it. Almost every other source I found either did not go into any detail about the act, or got the specifics so very wrong (like confusing the Pusey and Salus-Grady bills) to the point where I had to doubt...

info_outline #113: Such Was Railroading [the Castle Shannon Railway War] show art #113: Such Was Railroading [the Castle Shannon Railway War]

The Ancient and Esoteric Order of the Jackalope

Milton D. Hays had two things: a dream of a railroad linking Pittsburgh to the coal fields of southwestern Pennsylvania, and a lack of ethics that would allow him to realize that dream. This is the story of the Castle Shannon Railway War. Key sources for this episode include contemporary newspaper reports; the Bridgeville Area Historical Society, Brookline Connection, and Carrick-Overbrook Historical Society web sites; and N.A. Critchett's fantastic (and highly inaccurate) "Double Gauge." The Ancient and Esoteric Order of the Jackalope is a secret society devoted to the idea that that which...

info_outline #112: There Must Come a Change [Octavius Valentine Catto] show art #112: There Must Come a Change [Octavius Valentine Catto]

The Ancient and Esoteric Order of the Jackalope

Octavius Valentine Catto was truly a man for all seasons: scholar, activist, politician, baseball star. He could have been the inspiring black leader Reconstruction-era Philadelphia needed... if he hadn't been murdered. Key sources for this episode include Daniel Biddle and Murray Dubin's Tasting Freedom: Octavius Catto and the Battle for Equality in Civil War America; Joe William Trotter Jr and Eric Ledell Smith's African Americans in Pennsylvania: Shifting Historical Perspectives; Michael E. Lomax's Black Baseball Entrepreneurs: 1860-1901: Operating by Any Means Necessary; Ryan A. Swanson's...

info_outline #111: Samozvantsy [false Dmitrys in the Time of Troubles] show art #111: Samozvantsy [false Dmitrys in the Time of Troubles]

The Ancient and Esoteric Order of the Jackalope

The Tsarevich Dmitry Ivanovich died from an accidental self-inflicted knife wound in 1591... but that didn't stop him from popping up to try and reclaim his throne in 1604. And 1607. And 1611. And 1612. And... Key sources for this episode include Chester S.L. Dunning's Russia's First Civil War: The Time of Troubles and the Romanov Dynasty; Maureen Perrie's Pretenders and Popular Monarchism in Early Modern Russia: The False Tsars of the Time of Troubles; Paul Avrich's Russian Rebels, 1600-1800; and Peter Julicher's Renegades, Rebels and Rogues Under the Tsars. Special thanks to Kristen...

info_outline #110: The Choice of the Next Generation [the Cola Wars in space] show art #110: The Choice of the Next Generation [the Cola Wars in space]

The Ancient and Esoteric Order of the Jackalope

War! The balance of power in the Cola Wars has been shifting for years. In a stunning move, Coke has swept into NASA and is about to send its signature beverage into orbit... but not if the underdogs at Pepsi have anything to say about it... Key sources for this episode include Charles T. Bourland and Gregory L. Vogt's The Astronaut's Cookbook; David H. Harland's The Story of the Space Shuttle; Tony Reichart's Space Shuttle: The First 20 Years; numerous patent applications; and contemporary newspaper reports. I'll be presenting at the Intelligent Speech conference on February 8, 2025!...

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More Episodes

Helen Duncan was the last person persecuted in Britain for being a witch. Except she wasn't the last, she wasn't a witch, and she wasn't exactly persecuted either...

https://order-of-the-jackalope.com/deeply-impressed/

Key sources for this episode include  C.E. Bechhofer Roberts' The Trial of Mrs. Duncan; Gena Brealey and Kay Hunter's The Two Worlds of Helen Duncan; Harry Price's Leaves of a Psychist's Case-Book; Marion Gibson's Witchcraft: A Story in Thirteen Trials; Paul Tabori's Harry Price: The Biography of a Ghost Hunter; Ruth Paley and Simon Fowler's Family Skeletons: Exploring the Lives of Our Disreputable Ancestors; and contemporary newspaper reports.

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I'll be presenting at the Intelligent Speech conference on February 8, 2025! Register now at https://intelligentspeechonline.com/ and get 10% off with the promo code JACKALOPE!

The Ancient and Esoteric Order of the Jackalope is a secret society devoted to sharing strange stories and amazing facts. No topic is off limits -- if it's interesting or entertaining, we'll do an episode about it!