A group of Canadian paranormal enthusiasts came together in the ‘70s to make up a ghost story… and then try to bring it to life. And, in a twist that nobody really saw coming, it might’ve worked. But what was Philip, if not a ghost?

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Hosted by Laurah Norton

Researched by Anna Luria and Maura Currie

Written, Produced and Engineered by Maura Currie

This episode originally ran as Premium Only episode 48.

One Strange Thing: True Paranormal Mysteries explores the archives of the unexplained, blending rigorous historical research with a wry, skeptical wit to investigate true supernatural stories and baffling mysteries that made headlines.

Dive into our Episode Mystery Archive — a curated, topic-organized source for documented hauntings, UFO sightings, cryptids, folklore, and bizarre true mysteries. Check it out here! https://www.onestrangethingpodcast.com/episodes-by-topic-mystery-archive

Sources on our website: https://www.onestrangethingpodcast.com/

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Copyright 2026 The Fall Line Podcast LLC - One Strange Thing Podcast

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Works Cited

NA, NT, The Times Colonist, 1976.

Claire Huff, “How Philip the…” Philadelphia Inquirer, 1976.

Brian Silcock, “100 years of…” The Age, 1983.

Living Library

SRIC

NA, “Owen, Alan Robert George,” Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology, ND.

The Philip Experiment

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Halloween month is here, strangers, and we’re diving right into its spooky history with a deep dive into the origins of jack o’lanterns, vegetable lanterns, and, of course, the folktale of Stingy Jack, a man so ornery and crafty that he tricked the Devil himself.

Find the fall pieces you’ll reach for most at Quince. Download the Quince app for app-exclusive offers, or go to Quince.com Get free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. Now available in Canada and the UK, too.

Get 20% off your DeleteMe plan when you go to joindeleteme.com/STRANGE and use promo code STRANGE at checkout!

Hosted and Written by Laurah Norton

Research by Laurah Norton and Anna Luria

Engineered by Rachel Boyd/Southern Gothic media

One Strange Thing: True Paranormal Mysteries explores the archives of the unexplained, blending rigorous historical research with a wry, skeptical wit to investigate true supernatural stories and baffling mysteries that made headlines.

Dive into our Episode Mystery Archive — a curated, topic-organized source for documented hauntings, UFO sightings, cryptids, folklore, and bizarre true mysteries. Check it out here! https://www.onestrangethingpodcast.com/episodes-by-topic-mystery-archive

Sources on our website: https://www.onestrangethingpodcast.com/

Join us on Patreon for early release and ad-free episodes, exclusive stories, and bonus

episodes: https://www.patreon.com/OneStrangeThing

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/onestrangethingpod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/One-Strange-Thing-114307627035607

Subscribe to our Substack: https://substack.com/@onestrangething

Copyright 2026 The Fall Line Podcast LLC - One Strange Thing Podcast

We work with Amplitude Media Partners (AMP) to power our advertising and grow with the right sponsors. Contact AMP with any ad inquiries; sales@amplitudemediapartners.com.

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Pennsylvania’s saddest, ugliest, and somehow most adorable cryptid, the squonk, is here to teach you a valuable lesson. And to melt. There’s that, too.

Hosted and Written by Laurah Norton

Research by Laurah Norton

Produced by Maura Currie

Engineered by Brandon Schexnayder

Get 20% off your DeleteMe plan when you go to joindeleteme.com/STRANGE and use promo code STRANGE at checkout!

This episode originally ran on the mainfeed as Episode 98.

One Strange Thing: True Paranormal Mysteries explores the archives of the unexplained, blending rigorous historical research with a wry, skeptical wit to investigate true supernatural stories and baffling mysteries that made headlines.

Dive into our Episode Mystery Archive — a curated, topic-organized source for documented hauntings, UFO sightings, cryptids, folklore, and bizarre true mysteries. Check it out here! https://www.onestrangethingpodcast.com/episodes-by-topic-mystery-archive

Sources on our website: https://www.onestrangethingpodcast.com/

Join us on Patreon for early release and ad-free episodes, exclusive stories, and bonus

episodes: https://www.patreon.com/OneStrangeThing

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/onestrangethingpod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/One-Strange-Thing-114307627035607

Subscribe to our Substack: https://substack.com/@onestrangething

Copyright 2026 The Fall Line Podcast LLC - One Strange Thing Podcast

We work with Amplitude Media Partners (AMP) to power our advertising and grow with the right sponsors. Contact AMP with any ad inquiries; sales@amplitudemediapartners.com.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Folklore can be fun, can’t it, strangers? It can also be downright terrifying, especially when used to frighten children into being good: everyone from Dolly Parton to Thomas Jefferson seems to have heard of Rawhead Bloody Bones and the cautionary tales of dark woods, drafty attics, and even lakes. But where did all the monstrous behavior begin? We try to find out.

Get 20% off your DeleteMe plan when you go to joindeleteme.com/STRANGE and use promo code STRANGE at checkout!

Hosted and Written by Laurah Norton

Research by Laurah Norton and Anna Luria

Engineered by Rachel Boyd/Southern Gothic media

One Strange Thing: True Paranormal Mysteries explores the archives of the unexplained, blending rigorous historical research with a wry, skeptical wit to investigate true supernatural stories and baffling mysteries that made headlines.

Dive into our Episode Mystery Archive — a curated, topic-organized source for documented hauntings, UFO sightings, cryptids, folklore, and bizarre true mysteries. Check it out here! https://www.onestrangethingpodcast.com/episodes-by-topic-mystery-archive

Sources on our website: https://www.onestrangethingpodcast.com/

Join us on Patreon for early release and ad-free episodes, exclusive stories, and bonus

episodes: https://www.patreon.com/OneStrangeThing

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/onestrangethingpod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/One-Strange-Thing-114307627035607

Subscribe to our Substack: https://substack.com/@onestrangething

Copyright 2026 The Fall Line Podcast LLC - One Strange Thing Podcast

We work with Amplitude Media Partners (AMP) to power our advertising and grow with the right sponsors. Contact AMP with any ad inquiries; sales@amplitudemediapartners.com.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the science world was overwhelmed with strange new findings out of Australia. One particular species was assumed to be a hoax… and even when it was established that the platypus was, in fact, real? It didn’t make these strange creatures make more sense.

Get 20% off your DeleteMe plan when you go to joindeleteme.com/STRANGE and use promo code STRANGE at checkout!

Hosted by Laurah Norton

Research by Anna Luria and Maura Currie

Written, Produced and Engineered by Maura Currie

One Strange Thing: True Paranormal Mysteries explores the archives of the unexplained, blending rigorous historical research with a wry, skeptical wit to investigate true supernatural stories and baffling mysteries that made headlines.

This episode was originally released as Premium Episode 54.

Dive into our Episode Mystery Archive — a curated, topic-organized source for documented hauntings, UFO sightings, cryptids, folklore, and bizarre true mysteries. Check it out here! https://www.onestrangethingpodcast.com/episodes-by-topic-mystery-archive

Sources on our website: https://www.onestrangethingpodcast.com/

Join us on Patreon for early release and ad-free episodes, exclusive stories, and bonus

episodes: https://www.patreon.com/OneStrangeThing

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/onestrangethingpod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/One-Strange-Thing-114307627035607

Subscribe to our Substack: https://substack.com/@onestrangething

Copyright 2026 The Fall Line Podcast LLC - One Strange Thing Podcast

We work with Amplitude Media Partners (AMP) to power our advertising and grow with the right sponsors. Contact AMP with any ad inquiries; sales@amplitudemediapartners.com.

Works Cited

George Shaw, “The Duck-Billed Platypus,” The Naturalist’s Miscellany, 1798.

NA, “Scientists Trying to Save…” The Washington Herald, 1928.

Abby Ohlheiser, “The platypus is so weird…” the Washington Post, 2015.

Natalie Zarrelli, “Why 19th-century naturalists…” Atlas Obscura, 2016.

Brian K. Hall, “The paradoxical platypus,” Bioscience, 1999.

Willey Ley, “Bring our private files…” Star Tribune, 1948.

James MacDonald, “The platypus is even weirder…” JSTOR Daily, 2018.

Gilad Bino et al, “The platypus: evolutionary…” Journal of Mammalogy, 2019.

Stephen C. George, “When scientists believed the adorable…” Discover Magazine, 2023.

NA, “The lying stones of…” Geological Society of London, 2017.

Jessica Leigh Hester, “The beautiful complexity of…” Atlas Obscura, 2018.

Annetta Black, “Objects of Intrigue: Fiji…” Atlas Obscura, 2013.

Douglas Main, “We knew platypuses…” National Geographic, 2020.

John Yoon, “What scientists learned from…” the New York Times, 2024.

Mindy Weisberger, “Platypuses glow an eerie…” LiveScience, 2020.

Lucie Cutting, “Woman spurred by platypus…” ABC, 2023.

Platypus

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We take a trip with Resurrection Mary, Chicago’s most famous hitchhiking ghost, down Archer Avenue and into the history that surrounds her endless treks to her eternal home: Resurrection Cemetery. As vanishing hitchhikers go, she might just be the most infamous. . . and perhaps the most beloved, too.

Get 20% off your DeleteMe plan when you go to joindeleteme.com/STRANGE and use promo code STRANGE at checkout!

Hosted and Written by Laurah Norton

Research by Laurah Norton and Anna Luria

Engineered by Rachel Boyd/Southern Gothic media

One Strange Thing: True Paranormal Mysteries explores the archives of the unexplained, blending rigorous historical research with a wry, skeptical wit to investigate true supernatural stories and baffling mysteries that made headlines.

Dive into our Episode Mystery Archive — a curated, topic-organized source for documented hauntings, UFO sightings, cryptids, folklore, and bizarre true mysteries. Check it out here! https://www.onestrangethingpodcast.com/episodes-by-topic-mystery-archive

Sources on our website: https://www.onestrangethingpodcast.com/

Join us on Patreon for early release and ad-free episodes, exclusive stories, and bonus

episodes: https://www.patreon.com/OneStrangeThing

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/onestrangethingpod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/One-Strange-Thing-114307627035607

Subscribe to our Substack: https://substack.com/@onestrangething

Copyright 2026 The Fall Line Podcast LLC - One Strange Thing Podcast

We work with Amplitude Media Partners (AMP) to power our advertising and grow with the right sponsors. Contact AMP with any ad inquiries; sales@amplitudemediapartners.com.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In January 1996, the small Brazilian city of Varginha became the center of one of the most famous UFO stories in South American history. Multiple witnesses, including three young women, reported seeing a strange creature with a large head and red eyes lurking in the streets, while others claimed the military had captured one or more living beings and recovered a crashed craft. To this day, Varginha is often called the "Brazilian Roswell."

In this special episode of Conspiracy Theories, Cults, and Crimes, Vanessa Richardson is joined by Laurah Norton to investigate the Varginha incident. For more, follow Conspiracy Theories, Cults, and Crimes. https://pod.link/1828469754

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