{"podcast":{"title":"The Box of Oddities","slug":"the-box-of-oddities-512437","podcast_index_feed_id":512437,"rss_url":"https://feeds.megaphone.fm/ARML9966973519","website_url":"https://www.theboxofoddities.com/","image_url":"https://megaphone.imgix.net/podcasts/efe03e02-6869-11ee-bf09-cf71efb55eff/image/0ba2683aa6e575c1f421dd0c1f11eeb9.jpg?ixlib=rails-4.3.1&max-w=3000&max-h=3000&fit=crop&auto=format,compress","author":"John Elliott and Kat Walls","episode_count":940,"summary":"The Webby Award-winning “Box of Oddities\" is a podcast that delves into the strange and mysterious aspects of our world, exploring topics ranging from bizarre medical conditions to unsolved mysteries, and from paranormal phenomena to strange cultural practices from around the world. With a focus on oddities, curiosities, and the macabre, each episode is a journey into the unknown, where hosts Kat and Jethro Gilligan Toth share their love for unusual stories and inject their humor and commentary. From the strange history of medical practices to chilling true crime stories, to natural (and unnatural) events, \"The Box of Oddities\" satisfies your thirst for the weird and the unusual, offering an informative and entertaining look into the dark and mysterious corners of our world. JIMMY KIMMEL, ABC-TV says, \"Should you be the type who has an interest in weird stuff, this is a fun thing to allow in your head!\" “Truth is stranger than fiction, and the Box of Oddities is the strangest of all!” -SLUGGO, SIRIUS XM LITHIUM “Kat & Jethro wring humor from bizarre, macabre and perplexing places.” -BOSTON MAGAZINE","last_synced_at":"2026-06-12T14:18:43.319486+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-box-of-oddities-512437"},"episode":{"title":"From the Morgue to the Melting Earth","slug":"from-the-morgue-to-the-melting-earth","published_at":"2026-04-20T04:01:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-box-of-oddities-512437/from-the-morgue-to-the-melting-earth","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-box-of-oddities-512437","url":"https://tracking.swap.fm/track/YfZO4tERxneauNcW9Fgn/mgln.ai/e/211/traffic.megaphone.fm/ARML7327176113.mp3?updated=1776381516","audio_url":"https://tracking.swap.fm/track/YfZO4tERxneauNcW9Fgn/mgln.ai/e/211/traffic.megaphone.fm/ARML7327176113.mp3?updated=1776381516","summary":"What does it take to be declared dead… and then wake up in a morgue? In this episode of The Box of Oddities, we uncover the astonishing true story of Vulcana, a Victorian-era strongwoman who shattered expectations, defied societal norms, and performed feats of strength that left audiences questioning reality. But it’s not her iron-bending or fire-defying heroics that haunt history—it’s the moment she was pronounced dead after a tragic accident… only to regain consciousness among the corpses. Then, we shift from human resilience to something far more unsettling: a massive, ever-expanding scar in the Siberian wilderness known as the Batagaika Crater, ominously nicknamed the “Gateway to the Underworld.” What looks like a giant wound in the Earth is actually a rapidly growing collapse caused by thawing permafrost—one that’s revealing ancient ecosystems, long-extinct creatures, and even viable prehistoric DNA. As scientists race to understand this phenomenon, the crater continues to widen—releasing greenhouse gases, exposing long-buried secrets, and raising unsettling questions about what else might emerge from the thaw. Also in this episode: A bizarre encounter involving a dog, a “hairball,” and an unexpected discovery The strangest items you can buy from Japan’s infamous “horror vending machines.” And a reminder that sometimes the line between the explainable and the unexplainable is thinner than we’d like to believe From a woman who refused to stay dead… to a landscape that refuses to stay still—this episode explores strength, survival, and the eerie consequences of a world changing beneath our feet. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices","meta_description":"What does it take to be declared dead… and then wake up in a morgue? In this episode of The Box of Oddities, we uncover the astonishing true story of Vulc…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":1874,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-box-of-oddities-512437/episodes/from-the-morgue-to-the-melting-earth/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-box-of-oddities-512437/from-the-morgue-to-the-melting-earth.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}