Election Week in America is fast approaching—and if you’re like us, you’re probably a little burned out with horse race politics. So we’re offering up something different. This week, we ask three veteran political reporters a single question: what’s one of the most bizarre stories you've ever covered?

Featuring:

• Colin Campbell, Capitol Bureau Chief and host of the WUNC Politics Podcast
• Jeff Tiberii, co-host of Due South
• Adam Hochberg, editor of the American Homefront Project

Links:

• Sign up for the WUNC Politics Newsletter

Cover image: Steve Rainwater/Wikimedia Commons

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In Dare County, North Carolina climate change, a bureaucratic mess and one of the wildest coastlines in America are combining to create a perverse spectacle. Since 2020, over 30 houses in this region have fallen into the Atlantic Ocean.

Featuring:

• Colin Campbell, Capitol Bureau Chief and host of the WUNC Politics Podcast
• Rebecca Hersher, correspondent at NPR

Links:

• NPR: People's houses are collapsing into the ocean. FEMA gives them no other option.
• WUNC News: Erosion help is on the way for Buxton's disappearing beach
• Main Street NC

Cover image: A lone house out in the Atlantic Ocean dealing with snow and overwash in Buxton NC. (Photo by Daniel Pullen)

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The completion of the Swannanoa Tunnel brought the railroad to western North Carolina and transformed the region. For almost 150 years, the legacy of the project has been one of growth and economic progress. But recent research about its construction has unearthed a tragic lost history. And surprisingly, the key to it all – was hidden in a song.

Featuring:

• Jefrey Keith, professor of history and college archivist at Warren Wilson College

Links:

• The Bitter Southerner: Somebody Died, Babe: A Musical Cover-Up of Racism, Violence, and Greed

Cover image: Incarcerated laborers circa 1880 working at Swannanoa Cut on the Western North Carolina Railroad near Round Knob in Buncombe County, North Carolina.

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