Welcome To The Oddity Shop, Where The Bizarre is Always on Sale. This Christmas, your Curator Kara is gifting us all a Michigan True Crime Story.

\We revisit the Michigan co-ed murders across Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti in the late 1960s, where a clean-cut college student hid behind charm and familiarity while women disappeared. This isn’t a lurid deep-dive into a killer’s mystique. It’s a careful retelling of the victims’ lives, the warning signs people ignored, and the moments of courage that finally cracked the case.

We walk through the shifting “safe” culture of a college town where hitchhiking felt normal and dorms stayed unlocked. Witness after witness noticed the small things: dead, cold eyes in a wig shop, a hovering presence, a fresh coat of paint in a basement that smelled like bleach. When those observations were reported early and clearly, the investigation turned. Forensics aligned with accounts, and the murders stopped. That’s the point: vigilance is a practice. You don’t need to be a detective to make a difference; you just need to act on the feeling that something isn’t right.

If this episode resonates, share it with a friend, hit follow, and leave a quick review. And tell us: what safety habit will you change today? Your insight might help someone else speak up when it counts.

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Welcome To The Oddity Shop, Where The Bizarre is Always on Sale. This week, your Curator Zach has a Dark Christmas Cannibal Legend.

Somewhere in the borderlands between France and Germany a scarecrow waits by the road. We follow the threads of Hans Trapp, the “Christmas cannibal,” from his roots in the very real Hans von Trotha. A petty, powerful baron who feuded with an abbey and defied the Pope, to the folklore figure who haunts December nights with straw-stuffed sleeves and a sharpened stick.

We unpack how a historical grudge spiraled into legend: dams built and shattered, towns flooded, papal letters ignored, and excommunication that turned authority into theater. Then we trace the folklore’s second life, as Hans Trapp becomes Saint Nick’s dark companion across Alsace. Santa offers sweets while the scarecrow tallies sins with sticks and chains. Along the way, we talk about why December carries so many shadow-creatures, how negative reinforcement outmuscles kind intentions.

If you love haunted history, European folklore, and the strange places where church politics meet campfire stories, this one’s for you.

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The Shop's phone lines are open! Give us a call and leave a voicemail (Or two!) with your creepy personal tale/oddity, and it could be featured on a future episode!
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Welcome To The Oddity Shop, Where The Bizarre is Always on Sale. This week, your Curator Kara Has Gone Mad with Nellie Bly

We open the doors to Blackwell’s Island, once home to New York’s almshouse, workhouse, penitentiary, and the infamous asylum, and follow the razor‑sharp path of Elizabeth Jane Cochrane, better known as Nellie Bly, whose undercover reporting forced the public to look straight at what it wanted to ignore. From the ice-cold intake baths to rancid meals and nights spent shivering under thin blankets, we revisit the details she recorded and the people she met: grieving widows, immigrant women who couldn’t be understood, and a teenager who didn’t know why she was there.

We walk through how Bly engineered her commitment, the moment she dropped the act and was believed even less, and the terrifying reality of the “credibility trap” once you’re labeled insane.

This story isn’t just Victorian scandal; it’s a mirror. Understaffed psychiatric wards, overwhelmed hospitals, and carceral “solutions” still echo the same logic: out of sight, out of mind.

If this resonated with you, use your voice: share the episode, leave a review, and subscribe so more people find these stories—and the courage inside them.

Check out Our Website for all references used in this episode!

Get All Your Spiritual Supplies From Mystic Moons On Etsy, or Check out their Facebook

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The Shop's phone lines are open! Give us a call and leave a voicemail (Or two!) with your creepy personal tale/oddity, and it could be featured on a future episode!
616.320.4935

JOIN US ON PATREON: Click Here!
Join the Oddity Shop on Patreon for Day Early Access to Episodes and tons of bonus content!!!

Visit our Website to learn more!
Email Us at: oddityshoppodcast.com
www.OddityShopPodcast.com

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