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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On a chilly evening in 1961, a B-52 crashed in rural eastern North Carolina near the town of Goldsboro. Any plane crash is bad, but this one was particularly dangerous because onboard that bomber were two nuclear weapons. The event was perhaps the closest the United States has ever come to accidentally detonating a nuclear bomb—and kicking off a nuclear war.

This episode originally published on January 2, 2025.

Featuring:

• Jay Price, Military and Veterans Affairs reporter at WUNC and The American Homefront Project
• Stephen Schwartz, independent nuclear weapons expert and author of “Atomic Audit: The Costs and Consequences of U.S. Nuclear Weapons Since 1940”

Links:

• Read Jay's article from 2018 marking the 50th anniversary of the Goldsboro nuclear accident.
• View photos of the Mars Bluff Crater left behind by the nuclear accident in Florence, South Carolina.

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Like millions of Africans, Omar ibn Said was brought to the New World against his will where he spent the rest of his life enslaved in the Carolinas. But there was something remarkable about this man from present day Senegal; he was an incredibly well-educated Muslim scholar who could write Arabic. Now, 200 years later, we're finally getting to properly read Omar's letters to America.

Featuring:

• Rhiannon Giddens, musician, actor and co-writer of the Pulitzer-winning opera Omar
• Mbaye Lo, professor at Duke University and co-author of I Cannot Write My Life: Islam, Arabic and Slavery in Omar ibn Said's America

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A little over 40 years ago, filming began in North Carolina for an ambitious movie called Maximum Overdrive. The project was led by a legendary producer who’d made some of the greatest films of all-time. And it was written and directed by the most famous author in the world—Stephen King. It seemed like a can’t miss production. But then… everything that could go wrong, did go wrong. The result was a 'cocaine-fueled' disaster that helped put the Southern film industry on the map.

Featuring:

• Bob Gunter, cameraman and actor
• Dan Brawley, executive director of the Cucalorus Film Foundation

Links:

• Jengo's Playhouse in Wilmington, NC
• The Assembly: After 40 Years, Maximum Overdrive Is Still Bad Enough to be Good

Cover image: A still from the 1986 cult classic horror film Maximum Overdrive. It starred Emilio Estevez, was produced by Dino De Laurentiis, and was directed and written by Stephen King. Maximum Overdrive was one of the first major movies filmed on location in Wilmington, North Carolina and is considered one of the pioneering productions of the modern Southern film industry.

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For most people, whistling is just a casual way to pass the time. But there’s a small worldwide community of whistling enthusiasts who've taken the artform to a whole new level. This week, we tell the strange story of competitive whistling in America and follow one man’s journey from North Carolina all the way to Japan in a quest to become one of the greats.

Featuring:

• Leslie Boney, competitive whistler and contributor at The Assembly

Links:

• The Assembly: The Trill of the Chase

Cover image: Masashi Ebihara performing in the final round for A Cappella Adult Division at the 47th World Whistlers Convention 2026 at Scrum21 Hall in Kawasaki, Japan (Photo by KQuhen via Wikimedia Commons)

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The cafeteria has been a cultural and culinary touchstone in the South for generations. But recently, many of these restaurants have shuttered their doors. In 2025, the long-serving North Carolina chain K&W Cafeterias closed its last location, marking the end of an era. But the spirit of the communal serving line still lives on in a few remaining restaurants. This week, we visit one of them in search of the perfect tray and find out what’s lost when the cafeteria serving line stops.

Featuring:

• Nikki Miller-Ka, food and travel writer and contributor for The Assembly

Links:

• The Assembly: The End of the Line

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