Short Stuff: Curse of Broken Mirrors
The hosts explore the superstition that breaking a mirror brings seven years of bad luck and trace its roots through ancient Greek and Roman beliefs about reflections and souls. They discuss how mirrors evolved from reflective water and polished metal to glass, why mirrors came to be associated with the soul, and where the "seven years" idea may have originated. The episode also covers various folk remedies for broken-mirror bad luck, and other mirror- and glass-related superstitions surrounding death, demons, and marriage rituals, tying it all to the Halloween season.
Selects: How ESP Works (?)
Hosts Josh Clark and Charles W. "Chuck" Bryant explore extrasensory perception (ESP), outlining different proposed phenomena such as telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition, retrocognition, mediumship, psychometry, and telekinesis. They trace the history of parapsychology from early work by William James and the Society for Psychical Research through J.B. Rhine's laboratory studies with Zenner cards and later experiments like Ganzfeld setups, Princeton's PEAR random number generator research, and Daryl Bem's controversial precognition studies. Throughout, they contrast believers' interpretations with skeptical explanations involving coincidence, attentional bias, subliminal cues, and issues of scientific rigor and reproducibility.
Short Stuff: China's Corpse Walkers
The hosts discuss a Chinese funerary custom from the Zhangji region of Hunan province in which Taoist priests would "walk" corpses back to their birthplace so the dead could be properly buried and avoid becoming restless, problematic spirits. They explain the beliefs behind corpse walking, how the rituals supposedly worked with black cats and magical reanimation, and then reveal the practical mechanics of how priests likely created the illusion using bamboo poles and group transport known as corpse herding. Along the way, Chuck shares a personal story about rescuing and nursing a kitten named Olivia back to health.