Odd Things I've Seen: The Podcast

We're headed to Staten Island. to a chicken wing joint. That has a 13-foot-long artificial great white shark hanging from its ceiling whose name is JAWS. But not thee one from the movie, the one from the ride. This one's a weird one, so strap on your life jacket, grab a harpoon gun, and make sure your boat is of adequate size.

• Photos from my visit.
• Address for 494 Chicken: 3785 Victory Blvd, Staten Island, New York.
• Universal Studios Hollywood tram tour video.
• Universal Studios Orlando original JAWS ride video.
• Universal Studios Orlando revamped JAWS ride video.
• Photos of JAWS decaying in a yard in Maryland.
• The history of JAWS the ride.
• Want to learn about the oddities I visit in real time? Follow me on Twitter, Facebook, or Patreon.
• I also write other books that you can buy. Spooky books.

 

In Part 2 of this interview with my wife about this thing called OTIS, we delve into her photography and how that intersects with the project, some of her favorite oddities and where she wants to go the most, what it's like doing OTIS with kids, and--my favorite part in the entire interview--we talk about ending this OTIS project.

Don't forget to listen to Part 1, as well as the minisode pulled from the interview where we somehow end up arguing Halloween vs. Christmas. That minisode is going on the OTIS Club Patreon and will be open to all member levels, which means you can hear it for as little as $1.

• Odd Things My Wife's Seen (including photos of her).
• The OTIS Club Patreon, where you can get the bonus minisode.
• The time saw the House on the Rock in Wisconsin.
• The time we went to the City Museum in Washington.
• Want to learn about the oddities we visit in real time? Follow me on Twitter, Facebook, or Patreon.
• I also write other books that you can buy. Spooky books.

For almost the entire 12 years of OTIS, there have actually been two I's in that acronym, my own and my wife's. Lindsey's never told her half of the OTIS story, though, until now. In this first part of the interview, we cover how the whole thing started (which was around the time we met each other), what our first oddities we visited together were, what oddities she is completely uncomfortable visiting, the types of oddities she loves to see, and her take on our night at Lizzie Borden's.

Also debuting today, a minisode pulled from the interview where we somehow end up arguing Halloween vs. Christmas. That minisode is going on the OTIS Club Patreon and will be open to all member levels, which means you can hear it for as little as $1.

• Odd Things My Wife's Seen (including photos of her).
• The OTIS Club Patreon, where you can get the bonus minisode.
• The time we stayed together at the Lizzie Borden House.
• The time we visited Ed Gein sites.
• Want to learn about the oddities we visit in real time? Follow me on Twitter, Facebook, or Patreon.
• I also write other books that you can buy. Spooky books.

In this episode, I take you to Hamilton, Ohio, to see the hollow-earth-inspired gravestone of one of the theory's biggest evangelists, and then we go to Estero, Florida, to see the remnants of a hollow earth cult whose definition of hollow earth is mind-blowing.

• Photos of my visit to the hollow earth-inspired grave of John Symmes.
• Photos of my visit to the remains of the Koreshan hollow earth cult.
• Address for the grave of John Symmes in Symmes Park: Sycamore St. and South Third St., Hamilton, Ohio.
• Address for Koreshan State Park: 3800 Corkscrew Rd., Estero, Florida.
• Want to learn about the oddities I visit in real time? Follow me on Twitter, Facebook, or Patreon.
• I also write other books that you can buy. Spooky books.

We recently trekked to the Springfield area of Massachusetts to see some seriously weird, creepy, and fascinating oddity, and recording the whole outing. That's the "Special On-Location" part. I'd tell you more, but it's kind of all in the title.

• Photos of this road trip on OTIS.
• A deeper dive into Witch Path.
• GPS Coordinates for Monk Cave: 42.506533, -72.409833
• Address of South Cemetery (Grave of Martha Dwight, the Vampire): 143 Mill Valley Rd., Belchertown, MA 
• Address of Fairview Cemetery (Grave of Edward Bellamy): 687 Front St, Chicopee, MA
• Witch Path address: Witch Path, Springfield, MA
• Want to learn about the oddities I visit in real time? Follow me on Twitter, Facebook, or Patreon.
• I also write other books that you can buy. Spooky books.

Gather 'round, and I'll elucidate, everything I've learned over a decade of visiting Sleepy Hollow, New York, during the Halloween season. The only thing you need to know in advance is that the Headless Horseman is my favorite monster. 

• All of my OTIS articles on Sleepy Hollow.
• The 2019 OTIS Halloween Season is in full swing over at oddthingsiveseen.com. 
• Want to learn about the oddities I visit in real time? Follow me on Twitter, Facebook, or Patreon.
• I also write other books that you can buy. Spooky books.

In this episode, I answer the four questions I'm always asked about Salem, Massachusetts: When to go there, what to do there, what are my favorite spots there, and how do I feel about partying on the corpses of the murdered?

• All of my OTIS articles on Salem.
• My book on Salem, which I wrote after living there for all of October: A Season With the Witch: The Madness and Mayhem of Halloween in Salem
• The 2019 OTIS Halloween Season is in full swing over at oddthingsiveseen.com. 
• Want to learn about the oddities I visit in real time? Follow me on Twitter, Facebook, or Patreon.
• I also write other books that you can buy. Spooky books.

We're one month away from the 58th anniversary of the most famous alien abduction in the history of the lore: The Betty and Barney Hill Incident. On the 47th anniversary, my wife and I, newly arrived in New Hampshire, spent a night retracing their route through the White Mountains, and then we saw their graves, actual artifacts from the incident, and a bathroom gas station exhibit dedicated to them. The truth is in the Granite State.

• Photos from our reenactment and our visits to the two exhibits.
• Address for the roadside sign:664 US-3, Lincoln, NH
• Address for the gas station exhibit: 467 US-3, Lincoln, NH
• Address for their graves: 8-2 N Rd, Kingston, NH
• Want to learn about the oddities I visit in real time? Follow me on Twitter, Facebook, or Patreon.
• I also write books that you can buy. Spooky books.

In a first for this podcast, I present a candid, unscripted story of my recent visit to The Haunted Museum in Las Vegas, Nevada. The museum is owned by Zak Bagans (of "Ghost Adventures" fame) and features the earthly remains of Charles Manson, Jack Kevorkian's van, a dybbuk box, and a jaw-dropping array of other oddities, murderbilia, and paranormal artifacts.

• Address for the Haunted Museum: 600 E. Charleston Blvd. Las Vegas, NV 89104
• Website for the Haunted Museum.
• No photos for this episode, as photos were not allowed. 
• Want to learn about the oddities I visit in real time? Follow me on Twitter, Facebook, or Patreon.
• I also write books that you can buy. Spooky books.

In our second ever Special On-Location episode, I take you with me on a recent road trip we took to Baltimore, Maryland, to see some of the sights that make the state so spooky, including the unmarked grave of Herman Munster, the site where the Ouija board named itself, the Edgar Allan Poe House, and on a whim, we head up to the top of the Washington Monument...Baltimore's Washington Monument.

• Photos from the trip.
• Photos of Elijah Bond's Oujia board grave.
• Photos of the Edgar Allan Poe House.
• Address for Fred Gwynne's Grave: 2101 Old Westminster Pike, Finksburg, MD
• Address for the Oujia board plaque (the Baltimore Washington Monument is across the street): 529 N. Charles St., Baltimore, MD
• Address for the George Peabody Library: 17 E Mt Vernon Pl, Baltimore, MD
• Address for the Edgar Allan Poe House:203 N Amity St, Baltimore, MD 
• Want to learn about the oddities I visit in real time? Follow me on Twitter, Facebook, or Patreon.
• I also write books that you can buy. Spooky books.