The Human Exception (The Human Exception)

In this two-part episode our hosts, Cayla, Nathan, Halli and Courtney take a look at two cases of intrigue:

• The Chamberlain-Kahn Act: On Jul 9 1918, US Congress brings in the Chamberlain-Kahn act. The law implemented a public health program that came to be known as the American Plan, whose stated goal was to combat the spread of venereal disease. Who was responsible for this spread? Women of course!
• Hiccups: Some people are blessed to never have had hiccups in their life, but most of us know the torment. But what happens if you get hiccups and don't stop? How can you actually stop them?

Pt.1

• The Chamberlain-Kahn Act

https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-121-122-more-than-a-hiccup-of-justice/

In this three-part episode our hosts, Cayla, Nathan, Halli and guest Courtney take a look at four cases of intrigue:

• The Forty Elephants: Halli tells us about some women that ran the crime world in ye old London: the forty elephants. A vicious and wily gang of shoplifters that ran for nearly a century, and the police really didn't want anything to do with them
• Simona Kossak: The rebel biologist, Simona Kossak, who moved into a cabin in a national forest and lived there for 30 years studying and caring for the wildlife, with a wild boar and terrorist crow at her side
• Parthenogenesis: A form of asexual reproduction that can be found throughout the insect and reptile kingdom
• The Clinton Body Count: The Clinton Body Count refers to a conspiracy theory that asserts that former U.S. President Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary Clinton have assassinated fifty or more of their associates. Such accusations have been around at least since the 1990s, when a pseudo-documentary film called The Clinton Chronicles, produced by Larry Nichols and promoted by Rev. Jerry Falwell, accused Bill Clinton of multiple crimes including murder

Pt. 2

• Simona Kossak
• Parthenogenesis

https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0065-0066-crime-biology-special-task-force/

In this two part episode our hosts, Cayla, Nathan and Halli take a look a three cases of intrigue:

1. The Great Emu War: In 1932 the Western Australian Minister of Defense, George Pearce declared war. The opposing army was 20,000 strong, but they had better fire power and opposable thumbs! They were woefully unprepared
2. The Birdman of Alcatraz: How does an Alaskan pimp with a taste of murder and violence become one of the leading canary researcher of his time from a cell on the Rock?
3. Teal Swan: The successful internet guru and spiritualist has made a name for herself over the last couple years, drawing in thousands to her 'tribe' and cashing in on their pain and suffering. Spiritual Leader or Cult Mastermind?

Sources and citations can be found here: https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0007-0008-the-teal-swan-of-alcatraz/

This week we have a very special guest, Kate! A survivor of CMRI, the Congregation of Mary Immaculate queen, a high control Catholic group that has existed right under our noses for the last 50 years

https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0132-kate-and-the-congregation-of-mary-immaculate-queen/

In this two-part episode our hosts, Cayla, Nathan and Courtney take a look at three cases of intrigue

• Coprophagy: "Eat shit". It's a phrase we've all heard, but have ever truly thought about it? Courtney tells us about coprophagy and why so many animals do it and where this phrase originally came from
• Folk Metal: Nathan gives us some fun information on the birth of Folk Metal. A sub-genre that deviates from the traditional anti-Christian themes, but still celebrates those themes of accepting "otherness"
• Princess Caraboo: A few miles north of Bristol in Southwest England is the small town of Almondsbury. It's the sleepy kind of English town where not a whole lot happens but on Apr 3 1817 something did happen. You see a an unknow woman had turned up, seemingly disoriented and speaking an unknown language. In a little over a week the entire town and surrounding area would know who she was: her name was Caraboo and she was a princess

Pt.1

• Coprophogy
• Folk Metal

https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0135-0137-crappy-caraboo-metal/

In this three-part episode our hosts, Cayla, Nathan, Halli and Courtney take a look at four cases of intrigue: 

• Clementine Barnabet: In November 1911, 19 year old Clementine Barnabet is arrested for the murder of a family of 6, her insistence on her innocence falling on deaf ears. Five months later in a startling turn of events, Clementine suddenly claims responsibility for 17 murders, including ones that occurred while she was imprisoned. And the reason? Blood sacrifices in hopes of gaining immortality. Well, that's what the news would have you think
• Yacht Killing Orcas: Since 2020 the Strait of Gibraltar has been experiencing some bizarre events: Orcas attacking boats
• Kanamara Matsuri: Japan is known for its respectful and buttoned up culture, so it may come as a surprise that in one city, there is a yearly festival held, dedicated to the penis.
• Cunning Folk: Before there were witches there were cunning folk, healers and wise people who in some cases practiced magic and in others didn't, in some cases were used to defend against black magic and in others considered just as bad as witches

Pt.3

• Cunning Folk

https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0102-0104-sex-magic-and-yacht-parties/

In this special bonus episode, our hosts return to the dark , spider-webbed cobbled corner of the internet where My Immortal resides

• My Immortal: The year is 2006, emo rock is so very in and the Harry Potter fandom is at an all-time high. Enter Ebony Dark'ness Dementia Raven Way, the core protagonist of what would go down as the most notorious fanfiction of all time and one whose legitimacy still is debated today

Part 1 https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/0039-campfire-stories-to-tell-on-the-internet/

Part 2 https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0052-my-immortal-pt-2/

Part 3+4 https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0073-0074-my-immortal-pt-3-and-4/

https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0083-my-immortal-pt-5/

Welcome to the Human Exception, a podcast about the strangest aspects of the human experience.

In this two part episode our hosts, Cayla, Nathan and Halli take a look a three cases of intrigue:

1. The secret room behind Mount Rushmore: Gutzon Borglum began construction in 1927 on stolen Lakota land with grander designs than he would ever get to realize
2. Brittany Murphy: On December 20 2009, Murphy would be rushed to the hospital after collapsing, only to die there. Then almost exactly 5 months later, her husband died the same way…
3. Was Shakespeare a woman?: You may have heard that Shakespeare was a collective of writers, but have you heard that he may have actually been a woman and that there's a whole society dedicated to this?

Sources and citations can be found here: https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0001/

Pt 1:

• Mount Rushmore - 2:10
• Brittany Murphy pt 1 - 19:28

Additional information can be found at the https://www.thehumanexception.com/

Hosts:

• Cayla @veranox on twitter
• Nathan @legionofmoose on twitter
• Halli @hallithegm on twitter

Music composed and performed by Jack Reed

In this two-part episode our hosts, Cayla, Nathan and Halli take a look a three cases of intrigue:

• The Yuba County 5: On February 24 1978, five young men from Yuba City, California attended a basketball game at California State University They were there to cheer on the UC Davis Basketball team in an away game against Chico State. Their plan, to see the match and then return home that night to prepare for their own game the following day. But they never made it home
• Ryan Shtuka: Ryan did what many kids his age did to earn some cash during the winter season. He went west, to Sun Peak Resort and a got job at the ski hill as a lift operator. On the night of Feb 17 2008 at about 2 am, Ryan left a house party with his roommates to make the 5 minute walk home. But he would never make it
• Jacob Gray: Jacob had left Port Townsend alone on his bicycle on April 5, 2017, towing a trailer full of camping gear. He was experienced in this kind of travel and surviving in the wilderness, it's what he had done his whole life. But the next day his trailer and gear were found 6.5 miles up Sol Duc Hot Springs Road. Strangely, Jacob's bow was on the ground, and arrows were sticking in the ground and out of the back of the trailer. But the owner of the bike and gear was nowhere to be seen.

Pt. 2

• Ryan Shtuka
• Jacob Gray

https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/0025-0026-gone-but-not-forgotten/

We dive further in The Jen Saga with our next guest, Eliot. Two years ago Eliot found himself watching a Youtube video: Down the Rabbit Hole, the Final Fantasy House. Settling in for a bizarre tale, Eliot would be surprised when he realized he knew Jen, Angel and Hojo. He had lived with them for a month back in 2003/2004. Now he's sharing his story for the first time

To learn more about the Jen Saga visit: https://www.thehumanexception.com/the-jen-saga/

In this two-part episode our hosts, Cayla, Nathan and Halli take a look a three cases of intrigue: 

• Cure-Alls: Since the beginning of time humans have always sought the easiest and quickest solutions. This isn't necessarily a bad thing! Some of our greatest innovations came from the hunt for a shortcut. But this also drove us to some of our worst ideas. 
• The Corrupted Blood Incident: On September 13th 2005 when the disease first began to spread, hopping from animal hosts into their owners and from there into the shop-keeps and other civilians. It came out of nowhere, no one could have expected something like this, there simply was no precedent. To put it lightly, Azeroth was shook
• Sleep Paralysis: Imagine waking in the night, heart thundering, adrenaline ripping through your body, shadows dancing before your eyes, but you, no matter how hard you try, cannot move. 

Pt.2

• The Corrupted Blood Incident
• Sleep Paralysis

Additional information can be found here: https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0018-0019-corrupted-paralysis-cure-alls/

In this two part episode our hosts, Cayla, Nathan and Halli take a look a three cases of intrigue:

1. The Great Emu War: In 1932 the Western Australian Minister of Defense, George Pearce declared war. The opposing army was 20,000 strong, but they had better fire power and opposable thumbs! They were woefully unprepared
2. The Birdman of Alcatraz: How does an Alaskan pimp with a taste of murder and violence become one of the leading canary researcher of his time from a cell on the Rock?
3. Teal Swan: The successful internet guru and spiritualist has made a name for herself over the last couple years, drawing in thousands to her 'tribe' and cashing in on their pain and suffering. Spiritual Leader or Cult Mastermind?

Intro and outro music composed and performed by Jack Reed

Jack's band, Nix the Scientist has released a new ep! Listen to it here: https://open.spotify.com/album/6vyRsT7j9ve7Un46h0aFPc

Sources and citations can be found here: https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0007-0008-the-teal-swan-of-alcatraz/

In this three-part episode our hosts, Cayla, Nathan and Halli take a look a three cases of intrigue:

• The Ancient Ram Inn: The most sure-fire way to guarantee an establishment is haunted is to build it atop a burial ground - and that's precisely what's happened in the case of the Ancient Ram Inn in Wotton-under-Edge in Gloucestershire, England.
• The Mermaid Inn: If the Mermaid Inn's 600-year-old lath and plaster walls could speak, they'd have countless stories to tell. However, most of those stories remain locked behind secret chambers, hidden in priest-holes, or behind sliding wall passages.
• The Winchester Mystery House: The Winchester Mystery House is a mansion in San Jose, California, that was once the personal residence of Sarah Winchester, the widow of firearm magnate William Wirt Winchester. The mansion is renowned for its size, its architectural curiosities, and its lack of any master building plan.

Pt. 1

• The Ancient Ram Inn
• The Mermaid Inn

For sources, pictures and more visit: https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0035-0036-the-ancient-winchester-mermaid-innn/

In this two-part episode our hosts, Cayla, Nathan and Halli take a look a three cases of intrigue: 

• Cure-Alls: Since the beginning of time humans have always sought the easiest and quickest solutions. This isn't necessarily a bad thing! Some of our greatest innovations came from the hunt for a shortcut. But this also drove us to some of our worst ideas. 
• The Corrupted Blood Incident: On September 13th 2005 when the disease first began to spread, hopping from animal hosts into their owners and from there into the shop-keeps and other civilians. It came out of nowhere, no one could have expected something like this, there simply was no precedent. To put it lightly, Azeroth was shook
• Sleep Paralysis: Imagine waking in the night, heart thundering, adrenaline ripping through your body, shadows dancing before your eyes, but you, no matter how hard you try, cannot move. 

Pt. 1

• Cure-alls

Additional information can be found here: https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0018-0019-corrupted-paralysis-cure-alls/

In 2000, Marley had just began their new life at Penn State in State College, doing the typical college things: too much schoolwork, lots of D&D and making new friends. Among these friends was a classmate, Jack and the two would become very close, that is until Jack's internet girlfriend would make the bus trip across the country to live with him. When Marley met Jen she was quiet, awkward and shy, they could've never anticipated how quickly things would change

This is a continuation of the Jen Saga

https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0057-marley-the-surly-mentor/

In this two-part episode our hosts, Cayla, Nathan, Halli and Courtney take a look at two cases of intrigue:

• Isla de las Munecas: South of Mexico City is a small manmade island that now belongs to the hundreds of dolls that call it home
• The Michael Jackson Allegations: In August 1993, Michael Jackson would first be accused of child abuse and since then there have been three other allegations. Despite the fact that Jackson was never convicted of these crimes the public narrative had deemed him guilty and has continued to do so the last thirty years. But turns out there's a lot more to this than the salacious headlines

Pt. 1

• Isla de las Munecas

https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0098-0099-the-ranch-of-lost-toys/

In this two-part episode our hosts, Cayla, Nathan and Courtney get to grill Halli on what it takes to break into self-publishing. Halli explains the importance of editors, formatting, ISBNs, covers and so much more!

https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0138-0139-so-you-want-to-write-a-book/

To help raise money for AbleGamers, Halli and Cayla did a live show on March 26th 2021 where they talked about:

• Fugu: The Deadliest Sushi: In Japan blowfish or more commonly known as fugu has been a delicacy for thousands of years, despite it being packed with a lethal neurotoxin, one we don't even have an antidote for. Yet you can buy it in restaurants!
• Counterfeit Wine: Anything that is worth money is bound to have a plethora of fakes sold by a conman with a desire for a quick buck. But wine? Halli tells us about how one,  Rudy Kurniawan went to extreme lengths to turn his hobby into a multi-million dollar empire

After our main topics, Halli and Cayla share some food trivia, followed by some bonus Dragon Age discussion, as most of their conversations eventually devolve into

The video version can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rEk1teVcZE

More episode stuff: https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0022-be-our-guest-live/

In this two-part episode our hosts, Cayla, Nathan and Courtney take a look at two cases of intrigue

• Brave Little Hunter and Friends: Courtney tells us about the orca calf that became orphaned on Vancouver Island and how a community came together to take care of it. Then she talks about the exciting new classification of another species of orca
• The Yeongno (영노): The yeongno is a character from Korean masked dances, a creature supposedly fallen from heaven that will only return once it has eaten 100 yangban, the noble elite of the Joseon era 

https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0129-0130-eat-the-rich/

Pt.1

• Brave Little Hunter and Friends
• The Yeongno (영노) pt.1 

In this two-part episode our hosts, Cayla, Nathan, Halli and guest Courtney take a look at three cases of intrigue:

• Sentient World Simulation: Did you know that if you have ever had an online presence, there's a series of servers in Indiana where a digital version of you exists?
• The Voynich Manuscript: In The Madman's Library by Edward Brooke-Hitching, he describes the Voynich manuscript as "the most famous cryptic manuscript of the medieval period" that has been "the obsessive focus of study around the world and as of yet, none of the professional and amateur cryptographers - including American and British codebreakers of both World War I and World War II - has been able to crack it."
• Alchemy: Alchemy is an ancient practice one with obscure tangled roots that may go back a couple millennia BC. Much of alchemy's history is shrouded in mystery and cyphers, and is a practice that has repeatedly been banned throughout history and has faced many hurdles, yet still managed to find its way even to today.

Pt.2

• Alchemy

https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0087-0088-the-alchemic-voynich-simulation/

Welcome back to the third part of our My Immortal reading!

Part 1: https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/0039-campfire-stories-to-tell-on-the-internet/

Part 2: https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0052-my-immortal-pt-2/

Part 3: https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0073-0074-my-immortal-pt-3-and-4/

• My Immortal: The year is 2006, emo rock is so very in and the Harry Potter fandom is at an all-time high. Enter Ebony Dark'ness Dementia Raven Way, the core protagonist of what would go down as the most notorious fanfiction of all time and one whose legitimacy still is debated today

https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0073-0074-my-immortal-pt-3-and-4/

In this three-part episode our hosts, Cayla, Nathan, Halli and guest Courtney take a look at four cases of intrigue:

• The Georgia Guidestones: It's known as America's Stonehenge. A 19-foot high stone monument in Elbert County, Georgia. Erected in 1980, it has never been fully explained. Or...explained at all, really. Everything about the Georgia Guidestones feels like a purposeful attempt at being obtuse and generating conversation and disagreement.
• Sailing Stones of Death Valley: In 1913 a group of researchers in Death Valley CA discovered something miraculous. Massive stones that were strewn across the valley floor left trails, some hundreds of feet long, in the cracked earth, as if they had moved on their own accord, as there were no signs of humans or animals in the area
• Live Rock: "Live rock" itself is not actually alive, but rather is simply made from the aragonite skeletons of long dead corals, or other calcareous organisms. A common fixture in saltwater aquariums that contributes to a healthy ecosystem and helps with tank upkeep. But sometimes when you bring live rock home, sometimes that's not all you're bringing home
• The Large Hadron Collider: The experiments at the Large Hadron Collider sparked fears that the particle collisions might produce doomsday phenomena, involving the production of stable microscopic black holes or the creation of hypothetical particles called strangelets. 

Pt 2

• Sailing Stones of Death Valley
• The Large Hadron Collider

https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0068-0070-a-guide-to-rock-and-ruin/

Since the day that Icarus went public in spring 2005 about his encounter with Jen, letters have poured in describing similar encounters. In this episode we read some of the smaller stories from the site, including some journal entries written by Icarus while he lived in Jen and Jack

• Letters to the Webmaster

Visit: https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0044-letters-to-the-webmaster/ for additional information

In this three-part episode our hosts, Cayla, Nathan, Halli and guest Courtney take a look at four cases of intrigue:

• Witchcraft in Europe: It was the mid 1400s when Europe began to get really concerned about their "witch problem" and this paranoia only grew to a fever pitch between 1500-1660 where up to 80,000 suspected witches were put to death in Europe. What happened? How did we get here? And are you a witch? The answer might surprise you
• Witchcraft in Japan: When people think of witches they think of the pointy hats and broomsticks that cackle off into the night. In Japan you would hear no such tales, instead you get blind women who are married to spirits, magic users who employ the skills of snakes and foxes and even witches who turn into cats and meek old ladies to catch young girls alone at night outside of temples for dinner. Let's go to Japan
• Witchcraft in America: Like a stubborn independent child, America likes to pretend their connection to their mother country of England ain't no thang. But let's face it, the basis of their entire society is based in the culture and practices brought over from Europe. Of all the things that were brought with them, was a book known as the 'Malleus Maleficarum' and with it a terror of witchcraft
• Modern Witchcraft: Times have changed, thankfully in most first world countries people are free to practice religions like Wicca with a focus on meditation, magic and balance with nature. Witches are far from dead, despite the efforts of nearly every country trying to burn them out. Today there is an estimated 200,000 Wiccans, let's talk about how that came to be

Pt. 1

• Witchcraft in Europe

Special thank you to Cat Dossett for our cover photo you can find her at https://www.catdossett.com/ or https://www.instagram.com/catdossett/

More info can be found here: https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0048-0050-witch-please/

The time has finally come to wrap up My Immortal for good. In celebration of our 100th episode and the final chapters of my immortal, your hosts gothed out and recorded this reading with video!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzWUG3MgvNQ

The audio episodes will be split into two with the next one coming next week, but if you want to hear/see the whole thing right now you can by watching the video linked here

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8

Shortly after recording these episodes, Cayla discovered a book that had been published in December 2020 that was packed with new information and interviews with friends and family of the five and others involved. The book is called: Out of Bounds: What Happened to the Yuba County Five? by Drew Beeson

Because of this we ended up recording a whole new episode: File 0027: Gone But Not Forgotten pt. 3

• The Yuba County 5: On February 24 1978, five young men from Yuba City, California attended a basketball game at California State University They were there to cheer on the UC Davis Basketball team in an away game against Chico State. Their plan, to see the match and then return home that night to prepare for their own game the following day. But they never made it home

https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/0025-0026-gone-but-not-forgotten/

In this three-part episode our hosts, Cayla, Nathan, Halli and guest Courtney take a look at four cases of intrigue:

• Witchcraft in Europe: It was the mid 1400s when Europe began to get really concerned about their "witch problem" and this paranoia only grew to a fever pitch between 1500-1660 where up to 80,000 suspected witches were put to death in Europe. What happened? How did we get here? And are you a witch? The answer might surprise you
• Witchcraft in Japan: When people think of witches they think of the pointy hats and broomsticks that cackle off into the night. In Japan you would hear no such tales, instead you get blind women who are married to spirits, magic users who employ the skills of snakes and foxes and even witches who turn into cats and meek old ladies to catch young girls alone at night outside of temples for dinner. Let's go to Japan
• Witchcraft in America: Like a stubborn independent child, America likes to pretend their connection to their mother country of England ain't no thang. But let's face it, the basis of their entire society is based in the culture and practices brought over from Europe. Of all the things that were brought with them, was a book known as the 'Malleus Maleficarum' and with it a terror of witchcraft
• Modern Witchcraft: Times have changed, thankfully in most first world countries people are free to practice religions like Wicca with a focus on meditation, magic and balance with nature. Witches are far from dead, despite the efforts of nearly every country trying to burn them out. Today there is an estimated 200,000 Wiccans, let's talk about how that came to be

Pt. 2

• Witchcraft in Japan

https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0048-0050-witch-please/

In this episode our hosts, Cayla, Nathan and Halli take a look a three cases of intrigue: 

• The Fernie Curse: Fernie BC was founded in 1897, a small coal mining town that owes its origins to a man named William Fernie. But over the next eleven years the town would face two horrific fires, a flood and one of the worst mining disasters in Canadian history. Could William Fernie also be the cause of the town's curse?
• Yuki Onna: The Yuki Onna is one of Japan's most well-known yokai (ghost-like monsters) yet the stories about her are all drastically different. Whether she be a dread vampire, loving bride or vengeful mother, only one thing is certain about this lady of the snow, you'll never know if she's a blessing or a curse until it's too late. 
• The Morrigan: As old as Irish folklore, the Morrigan whether described as a trifecta or as an individual is a symbol of great power, a goddess of war or queen of phantoms, the tales about her are infinite and her reach is still felt today

Additional information can be found here: https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0017-lets-get-mythical/

In this three-part episode our hosts, Cayla, Nathan, Halli and guest Courtney take a look at four cases of intrigue:

• Witchcraft in Europe: It was the mid 1400s when Europe began to get really concerned about their "witch problem" and this paranoia only grew to a fever pitch between 1500-1660 where up to 80,000 suspected witches were put to death in Europe. What happened? How did we get here? And are you a witch? The answer might surprise you
• Witchcraft in Japan: When people think of witches they think of the pointy hats and broomsticks that cackle off into the night. In Japan you would hear no such tales, instead you get blind women who are married to spirits, magic users who employ the skills of snakes and foxes and even witches who turn into cats and meek old ladies to catch young girls alone at night outside of temples for dinner. Let's go to Japan
• Witchcraft in America: Like a stubborn independent child, America likes to pretend their connection to their mother country of England ain't no thang. But let's face it, the basis of their entire society is based in the culture and practices brought over from Europe. Of all the things that were brought with them, was a book known as the 'Malleus Maleficarum' and with it a terror of witchcraft
• Modern Witchcraft: Times have changed, thankfully in most first world countries people are free to practice religions like Wicca with a focus on meditation, magic and balance with nature. Witches are far from dead, despite the efforts of nearly every country trying to burn them out. Today there is an estimated 200,000 Wiccans, let's talk about how that came to be

Pt. 3

• Witchcraft in America
• Modern Witchcraft

https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0048-0050-witch-please/

In this three-part episode our hosts, Cayla, Nathan and Halli take a look a three cases of intrigue:

• My Immortal: The year is 2006, emo rock is so very in and the Harry Potter fandom is at an all-time high. Enter Ebony Dark'ness Dementia Raven Way, the core protagonist of what would go down as the most notorious fanfiction of the era and one whose legitimacy still is debated today
• Ted the Caver: March 2001, a caving blog appears on Angelfire mostly unnoticed. What starts as a wholesome chronicle of sheer determination, man vs his environment, turns into one of the internet's first Creepy Pastas. Who is Ted? What happened? And is any of it even real?
• Ong's Hat: The town that's not actually a town, and not just because it's an unincorporated community with a population of zero. The Hat may have only ever comprised one single building: Ong's Hut. But for a place that barely exists it somehow is the subject of one of the internet's most bizarre tales

Pt. 1

• My Immortal

Sources and more can be found here: https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0030-0033-ted-the-immortal-from-ongs-hat/

In this three-part episode our hosts, Cayla, Nathan, Halli and Courtney take a look at four cases of intrigue: 

• Clementine Barnabet: In November 1911, 19 year old Clementine Barnabet is arrested for the murder of a family of 6, her insistence on her innocence falling on deaf ears. Five months later in a startling turn of events, Clementine suddenly claims responsibility for 17 murders, including ones that occurred while she was imprisoned. And the reason? Blood sacrifices in hopes of gaining immortality. Well, that's what the news would have you think
• Yacht Killing Orcas: Since 2020 the Strait of Gibraltar has been experiencing some bizarre events: Orcas attacking boats
• Kanamara Matsuri: Japan is known for its respectful and buttoned up culture, so it may come as a surprise that in one city, there is a yearly festival held, dedicated to the penis.
• Cunning Folk: 

Pt.2

• Yacht Killing Orcas
• Kanamara Matsuri

https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0102-0104-sex-magic-and-yacht-parties/

In this three-part episode our hosts, Cayla, Nathan, Halli and guest Courtney take a look at four cases of intrigue:

• The Snapewives: While known as the Snapewives, they referred to themselves as Snapeists. Snapeism was a small religious movement that formed in the early 2000s in the online space of livejournal. Its members were devoted to the omnipresent Severus Snape from the Harry Potter universe, and their practices included channeling and even spiritual marriage to the broody potion's professor
• God is an Asshole: Nathan tells us how if you look at the bible objectively, god reads like a petulant child that seems to get off on torturing the children they allegedly love so much
• Charles Silverstein: Charles Silverstein did a lot to help the gay rights movement, including getting homosexuality to be viewed as a way of being and not a mental illness
• Sounds of Alaska: Did you know that the northern lights make sound and that there is a mysterious horn that seems to sound randomly in Anchorage, Alaska and no one knows where it comes from?

Pt. 3

• Charles Silverstein
• Sounds of Alaska

https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0089-0091-the-gay-gods-of-anchorage/

In this two part episode our hosts, Cayla, Nathan and Halli take a look a three cases of intrigue: 

1. Baba Yaga: Like an unconventional fairy godmother, the Slavic witch Baba Yaga rides the line between villain and helper on her flying mortar. The fact that her house has chicken legs is far from the strangest thing about this legend of folkore. 
2. The Lost Dutchman's Gold Mine: The 19th century of America was awash with dreams of western gold and riches beyond imagine, leaving behind dozens of tales of lost treasure and mines. Among them is the Lost Dutchman's Gold Mine, but not all lost things are the worth your life.
3. The Final Fantasy 7 House: Almost two decades ago, a young man, Icarus finds himself moving in with some friends he met online for what promised to be a fun summer that quickly deteriorated into a horror tale of the ages and one of the internet's most well known legends

Pt. 2

• The FF7 House

Sources and citations can be found here: https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0011-0012-baba-yagas-dutchman-house/

In this three-part episode our hosts, Cayla, Nathan, Halli and guest Courtney take a look at four cases of intrigue:

• The Forty Elephants: Halli tells us about some women that ran the crime world in ye old London: the forty elephants. A vicious and wily gang of shoplifters that ran for nearly a century, and the police really didn't want anything to do with them
• Simona Kossak: The rebel biologist, Simona Kossak, who moved into a cabin in a national forest and lived there for 30 years studying and caring for the wildlife, with a wild boar and terrorist crow at her side
• Parthenogenesis: A form of asexual reproduction that can be found throughout the insect and reptile kingdom
• The Clinton Body Count: The Clinton Body Count refers to a conspiracy theory that asserts that former U.S. President Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary Clinton have assassinated fifty or more of their associates. Such accusations have been around at least since the 1990s, when a pseudo-documentary film called The Clinton Chronicles, produced by Larry Nichols and promoted by Rev. Jerry Falwell, accused Bill Clinton of multiple crimes including murder

Pt 1

• The Forty Elephants

https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0065-0066-crime-biology-special-task-force/

In this two part episode our hosts, Cayla, Nathan and Halli take a look a three cases of intrigue: 

1. Baba Yaga: Like an unconventional fairy godmother, the Slavic witch Baba Yaga rides the line between villain and helper on her flying mortar. The fact that her house has chicken legs is far from the strangest thing about this legend of folkore. 
2. The Lost Dutchman's Gold Mine: The 19th century of America was awash with dreams of western gold and riches beyond imagine, leaving behind dozens of tales of lost treasure and mines. Among them is the Lost Dutchman's Gold Mine, but not all lost things are the worth your life.
3. The Final Fantasy 7 House: Almost two decades ago, a young man, Icarus finds himself moving in with some friends he met online for what promised to be a fun summer that quickly deteriorated into a horror tale of the ages and one of the internet's most well known legends

Pt. 1

• Baba Yaga
• The Lost Dutchman's Gold Mine

Sources and citations can be found here: https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0011-0012-baba-yagas-dutchman-house/

This week we will be doing something a little different. Halli had the idea that we all share a couple things we're into or neat things we've come across recently. There's so many things that give us ideas for topics and so many of these ideas just aren't enough to do a full topic on so this gives you a little bit of insight into our minds and what some of those things are!

https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0108-0109-anything-anywhere-anytime/

In this three-part episode our hosts, Cayla, Nathan, Halli and Courtney take a look at four cases of intrigue:

• The Bielefeld Conspiracy: In 1994 a post would appear on a German Usenet site claiming the German city of Bielefeld didn't actually exist, that the whole thing was a conspiracy. So does Bielefeld exist?
• Aokigahara Forest: Also known as the Sea of Trees is an infamous forest in Japan, not just for its stunning beauty and miles of impenetrable vegetation, but for the alarming rates of suicide that happen there every year.
• History of Nails: Humans have been decorating their fingernails far as back as we can remember, but while today this is considered a frivolous, feminine form of expression, its histories have roots in war and symbolism of leadership
• Jack Parsons: Jack Parsons is a nebulous person, known both for his great scientific ventures and for his occult pursuits and friendships with LRH and Aleister Crowley

pt.2

• History of Nails

https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0105-0106-non-existent-glam-forests-and-rocket-science/

In this two-part episode our hosts, Cayla, Nathan and Courtney take a look at three cases of intrigue: 

• Perchta: In Austria and Bavaria, Dec 5th + 6th are special days, these are the days that Krampus visits children. The rest of the month is primarily dedicated to Santa, but on the week leading up to January 5th, that's when the Perchten rule in the name of Perchta
• Cold Plunges: A unique new way to better your health? Or a dangerous practice supported by unlicensed "health experts"?
• Christmas Roller-skating: In Venezuela they have a unique way of getting to mass during the holidays: on roller-skates

Pt.1

• Perchta

https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0119-120-a-belly-splitting-good-time/

In this two part episode our hosts, Cayla, Nathan and Halli take a look a three cases of intrigue:

1. The Moonville Tunnel: Moonville is a ghost town in Ohio. Little remains of this former mining community except a few foundations, a cemetery, and an abandoned railroad tunnel which is the subject of numerous ghost stories.
2. The Origins of Private Detectives: Eugène-François Vidocq was a French criminal who lived a wild life with multiple stints in prison, the army and a failed paper factory who somehow became the father of modern criminology and the private eye
3. The Tunguska Event: On the morning of June 30th 1908 a massive explosion occurred over the sparsely occupied eastern Siberian taiga. It flattened 80 million trees over an area of 2,150 km or 830 s miles, nearly the size of Tokyo. Despite thousands of investigations, no consensus has been reached on what exactly happened all those years ago.

Sources and citations can be found here: https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0005-0006-tunguska-detectives-of-moonville/

In this two-part episode our hosts, Cayla, Nathan and Courtney take a look at two cases of intrigue

• Brave Little Hunter and Friends: Courtney tells us about the orca calf that became orphaned on Vancouver Island and how a community came together to take care of it. Then she talks about the exciting new classification of another species of orca
• The Yeongno (영노): The yeongno is a character from Korean masked dances, a creature supposedly fallen from heaven that will only return once it has eaten 100 yangban, the noble elite of the Joseon era 

Pt.2

• The Yeongno (영노) pt.2 

https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0129-0130-eat-the-rich/

In this two-part episode our hosts, Cayla, Nathan, Halli and Courtney take a look in a Wilde case

• Jonathan Wilde: Thief-Taker General: Often called the first fence, Jonathan Wilde lived a bizarre and devious life, one where he took advantage of both the public and law enforcement. A criminal Robin Hood who didn't share the wealth he conned people out and even had an office in the Old Bailey for a time, Wilde was a fascinating figure and a trash human

https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0126-0127-going-wilde-in-18th-century-london/

In this two-part episode our hosts, Cayla, Nathan and Halli take a look a three cases of intrigue:

• The Quackery of Paul Bragg: Everyone has lied at one point in their lives, usually about small inconsequential things whether about your availability on a Friday night or saying we're good even when we feel like crap. But what about people who tell much bigger lies? Like the year and location of their birth? Their medical degree? The health benefits of apple cider vinegar? Time to meet Paul Bragg
• The Kelloggs: A name that exists in nearly everyone's pantry, Kellogg's was a big part of our lives to many of us that grew up with it. Created by two brothers, one often forgotten in the shadows of his much more prolific older sibling, the first flaked cereal was a total accident. But this story doesn't start or end with cereal. It starts with a desire to make a better, healthier world and ends with eugenics
• Young Living: Who doesn't love a good MLM? What could be more empowering than to run your own business, setting your own hours and going bankrupt chasing an impossible standard? There's a reason products end up as part of an MLM scam: they lack quality, function and sometimes even a passing FDA grade. But essential oils are harmless, right?

Pt. 1

• The Quackery of Paul Bragg

https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0045-0046-cereal-offenders-of-the-human-race/

This week we delve into the world of scary stories, their history and why we love them and Nathan tells us about some of the Jehovah's Witnesses propaganda against everyone's favorite holiday: Halloween!  https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0114-spooktacular-special/

In this two-part episode Nathan tells us what it was like growing up as a Jehovah's Witness, an organization that many outsiders think of as just another religion, but for survivors is more akin to a secretive cult rife with abuse of power and penchant for covering up atrocities and crimes within its own ranks

https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0060-0061-in-the-shadows-of-the-kingdom-hall/

Nathan has two stories to tell us, one about a woman and her battle with some hideous wall paper and the other about a man haunted since childhood by another with the same name and face

The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

William Wilson by Edgar Allen Poe

Pictures, links and more can be found at https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/0039-campfire-stories-to-tell-on-the-internet/

Welcome to the Human Exception, a podcast about the strangest aspects of the human experience.

In this two part episode our hosts, Cayla, Nathan and Halli take a look a three cases of intrigue:

1. My Immortal, Keanu Reeves: Keanu Reeves beloved actor, the man that said 'woah' and the internet's first boyfriend. If you've spent any time on the internet in the last decade, you assuredly have heard that Keanu is immortal. Could there possibly be anything to this theory?
2. Cats in Ancient Egypt: We have all heard that ancient Egyptians worshiped cats, but did you know that it wasn't that clear cut?
3. The Word Homosexual in the Bible: At some point of time you have heard someone say something along the lines of "God hates gays, it's in the bible", but did you know that they're wrong?

Sources and citations can be found here: thehumanexception.com/l/file-0003-0004-bastet-reeves-and-the-holy-bible/

In this three-part episode our hosts, Cayla, Nathan and Halli take a look at three cases of intrigue:

• The History of Recipes: Humans have been playing with our food since the beginning of time and we have been writing those experiments down since at least 1700 BC. Cookbooks tell us a lot about a people and the culture of the times. Also they help us make delicious things
• Nellie Bly: The scrappy young reporter who faked mental illness so that she could sneak her way into a mental hospital to find out the truth about the conditions and the people committed there.
• Brother XII: A mystic who in the later 1920s founded a cult in Nanaimo BC, known as the Aquarian Foundation

Pt. 3

• Brother XII

https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0116-0118-a-recipe-for-madness-and-mayhem/

In this two-part episode our hosts, Cayla, Nathan, Halli and guest Courtney take a look at four cases of intrigue:

• Poveglia Island: Who would have thought that a tiny island in a lagoon near Venice would be considered the most haunted place on earth? Not us! Nathan tells us about a tiny piece of land that has a long and terrifying history
• Bloody Mary: If you grew up in North American you have likely heard at least one iteration of the story, but turns out there's dozens if not hundreds and that come from around the globe
• Ghost Towns of the Upper Peninsula: The story isn't an unfamiliar one; many of these towns were built around a booming industry - mining, specifically for copper; lumber; intercontinental shipping on railroad grades that are now used as snowmobile trails. Welcome to the Keweenaw Peninsula, Michigan's beautiful, rugged copper country.
• Courtney's Ghosts: Courtney tells us about some spectral and unexplained encounters from her childhood

Pt. 1

• Poveglia Island
• Bloody Mary

https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0071-0072-haunted-people-places-and-things/

In this two-part episode our hosts, Cayla, Nathan and Halli take a look a three cases of intrigue:

• The Yuba County 5: On February 24 1978, five young men from Yuba City, California attended a basketball game at California State University They were there to cheer on the UC Davis Basketball team in an away game against Chico State. Their plan, to see the match and then return home that night to prepare for their own game the following day. But they never made it home
• Ryan Shtuka: Ryan did what many kids his age did to earn some cash during the winter season. He went west, to Sun Peak Resort and a got job at the ski hill as a lift operator. On the night of Feb 17 2008 at about 2 am, Ryan left a house party with his roommates to make the 5 minute walk home. But he would never make it
• Jacob Gray: Jacob had left Port Townsend alone on his bicycle on April 5, 2017, towing a trailer full of camping gear. He was experienced in this kind of travel and surviving in the wilderness, it's what he had done his whole life. But the next day his trailer and gear were found 6.5 miles up Sol Duc Hot Springs Road. Strangely, Jacob's bow was on the ground, and arrows were sticking in the ground and out of the back of the trailer. But the owner of the bike and gear was nowhere to be seen.

Pt. 1

• The Yuba County 5

https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/0025-0026-gone-but-not-forgotten/

In this three-part episode our hosts, Cayla, Nathan, Halli and guest Courtney take a look at four cases of intrigue:

• Ching Shih/Zheng Yi Sao: Ching Shih was a sex worker in the 1700s on a floating brothel in the city of Canton who would go on to lead a fleet consisting of 1,800 boats and is commonly referred to as the Pirate Queen
• Clair Patterson: The inventor of the first clean room and the guy that finally made us all stop eating lead
• The Satanic Temple: The words "praise Satan" conjure images of devil worship, the burning of dungeons and dragons books and animal sacrifice, or at the very least Sabrina the Teenage Witch. Most of us in the western world live in societies heavily influenced by Christian religions, even if we don't practice it ourselves, we generally are aware that Jesus was the good guy and Satan was the bad guy. So how has a religion named after such a controversial figure become one of the most progressive religions, not just that, organizations, in the modern world? Welcome to the Satanic Temple
• Multi Level Marketing Schemes: Once known as "Pyramid Schemes", MLMs are still going strong, sucking in more people than ever with promises of wealth and independence, but often only delivering debt and disappointment

Pt. 2

• The Satanic Temple

https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0079-0081-the-satanic-lead-pyramids-of-the-eastern-seas/

In this special two-part holiday episode our hosts, Cayla, Nathan, Halli and guest Courtney take a look at four of topics full of heartwarming and inspirational stories!

• Merry Chris-Fish: Courtney takes us on a tour of all the holiday inspired named marine creatures, from Christmas tree worms, to sea angels and even a crab that likes to take things from its environment decorate itself!
• The Great Tree Kangaroo: Tree kangaroo seems like a paradoxical term. Kangaroos are large, powerful land marsupials unlike anything on any other continent outside Australia. But evolution is a funny thing, and out of it we got tree kangaroos.
• Asian Holiday Traditions: We all know about Christmas, but there are countless holidays celebrated by thousands of other cultures. Nathan takes us to India and China explore a few!
• The Hatbox Baby: It was Christmas Eve 1931, when a couple driving through the Arizona desert encountered car troubles. They pulled over and as they were examining the damage, they heard a baby crying. 150 feet away they found a little girl, seven days old in a woman's hatbox. How had she got there? Where were her parents? Who was she? These questions wouldn't be answered for seventy years

Pt.1

• Merry Chris-Fish
• The Great Tree Kangaroo

https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0054-0055-deep-sea-diwali-roos-and-other-holiday-miracles/

In this three-part episode our hosts, Cayla, Nathan and Halli take a look at three cases of intrigue:

• Bette-Jean Masters: On Sunday July 3rd 1960, Edna Bette-Jean Masters, a 21 month old disappeared without a trace from the small logging community of Red Lake, British Columbia, Canada. It has been over 60 years, and yet we're still no closer to figuring out what happened 
• Feral Cattle: While listening to the book Islands of Abandonment by Cal Flyn, Nathan was reminded of the crazy world of wild Cattle. Cal takes a trip to the island of Swona in northern Scotland and encounters the local herd which she gives us insights about in her book, but did you know that there are multiple herds of wild cattle all over the world? Nathan takes us to a few of these places.
• Failed Products: NewProductWorks is a collection of thousands of consumer products from around the world (over 140,000 by an account from 2017). But it's not all brand empowerment and new design ideas. The warehouse also serves as a cautionary tale, that even brands can fail, and fail big time. Anyone remember Crystal Pepsi? How about toaster eggs? 

Pt. 3 

• Failed Products

https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0095-0097-bette-jeans-crystal-cattle/

In this two part episode our hosts, Cayla, Nathan and Halli take a look a three cases of intrigue:

1. The Winter Solstice: Long before Christmas was a thing, cultures all around the world celebrated the Winter Solstice (or something similar). Halli tells us about some of those practices
2. Mari Lwyd: December, the days are short, the weather cold. Loved ones are on our thoughts and Christmas is around the corner. It's the perfect time to grab your bros, dig up a horse skull tie some ribbons to it and challenge your neighbors to rap battles for booze and food
3. Gryla the Christmas Witch: Iceland's version on Santa Clause consists of a witch, her thirteen children and her giant cat who eats children who aren't wearing new clothes!

Part 1

• The Winter Solstice
• Mari Lwyd

Sources and citations can be found here: https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0009-0010-a-very-pagan-christmas/

In this two-part episode our hosts, Cayla, Nathan, Halli and guest Courtney take a look at four cases of intrigue:

• Peter the Dolphin: In the 1960s, Margaret Lovatt was part of a Nasa-funded project to communicate with dolphins. Soon she was living with 'Peter' 24 hours a day in a converted house and things would only get stranger
• Rabies: In most of the western world, the threat of rabies is rarely a concern only coming up if you get bit by an strange animal or one suspected of carrying the disease. It's easy to forget just how deadly and how terrifying rabies can be and Halli is here to remind us
• The Man from Tuared: In an airport in Tokyo, in 1954, a man gets stopped for having some suspicious documentation. The problem? His passport declared he came from a country that doesn't exist. It's an infamous urban legend, often cited as proof of parallel dimensions or alternative universes, you wouldn't expect there to be much truth in the story. Except that there is.
• Lady Pirates: Nathan has promised us a story about some famous lady pirates, but at the time of writing this we have not recorded it so I don't know what to write here yet! Yay!

Pt. 1

• Peter the Dolphin

https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0075-0077-rabid-pirate-dolphins-of-tuared/

In 2014 Chuck Tingle would explode the scene in a shower of chocolate milk and spaghetti, espousing love and erotic fiction. More myth than man, Dr. Tingle can attribute dozens of butt-pounding titles to his name and has been even nominated for two Hugo Awards! We each picked a titillating title from his collection and are excited present you with the wild wacky world of Chuck Tingle

For more information visit: https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0021-getting-the-tingles/

In this three-part episode our hosts, Cayla, Nathan and Halli take a look a three cases of intrigue:

• My Immortal: The year is 2006, emo rock is so very in and the Harry Potter fandom is at an all-time high. Enter Ebony Dark'ness Dementia Raven Way, the core protagonist of what would go down as the most notorious fanfiction of all time and one whose legitimacy still is debated today
• Ted the Caver: March 2001, a caving blog appears on Angelfire mostly unnoticed. What starts as a wholesome chronicle of sheer determination, man vs his environment, turns into one of the internet's first Creepy Pastas. Who is Ted? What happened? And is any of it even real?
• Ong's Hat: The town that's not actually a town, and not just because it's an unincorporated community with a population of zero. The Hat may have only ever comprised one single building: Ong's Hut. But for a place that barely exists it somehow is the subject of one of the internet's most bizarre tales

Pt. 2

• Ted the Caver pt. 1

Sources and more can be found here: https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0030-0033-ted-the-immortal-from-ongs-hat/

In this two part episode our hosts, Cayla, Nathan and Halli take a look a three cases of intrigue:

1. Hyenas: Hyenas get a bad rep, often portrayed as stupid, cowardly scavengers that heckle and antagonize our heroes. But they're Cayla's favorite mammal and she's going to tell you why
2. The Kakapo: New Zealand's national bird, the kakapo is one of the wonders of the world. Because how many ten pound, flightless, century living parrots do you know?
3. The Megalodon: Before Jaws, before the great white, there was the megalodon a massive shark measuring in at 50 feet and armed with over 250 teeth.

Pt. 2

• The Kakapo
• The Megalodon

Sources and citations can be found here: https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0014-15-cackling-megaloparrots/

In this two-part episode our hosts, Cayla, Nathan and Courtney take a look at two cases of intrigue:

• New House Rituals: Courtney tells us about new house rituals, practices based in folklore, superstition or tradition designed to bring luck, prosperity and clear out bad energy in a new living space
• Jehovah's Witnesses and the BITE Model: The BITE model of Authoritarian Control and a system developed by Steven Hassan designed to identify when a group or organization is exhibiting dangerous cult-like behavior. We will go through the checklist and discuss which items the Jehovah's Witnesses practice and what exactly makes them so dangerous

Pt.2

• Jehovah's Witnesses and the BITE Model

https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0124-0125-when-houses-bite-back/

In this two-part episode our hosts, Cayla, Nathan and Halli take a look a three cases of intrigue:

• Leshy, the Guardian of the Forest: in Slavic folklore, the Leshy is the pagan deity of the forest, capable of changing form. Some consider it a demon, others a fairy, but whatever it is, its legend endures
• Bigfoot: So, Bigfoot huh? The creature, the man, the myth, the legend? Why do so many people claim to see it lurking from a distance, and why is the legend so ubiquitous? 
• Fresno Nightcrawlers: When we think of cryptids we usually think of creatures that are scary or dangerous. Accompanied by dozens of horrifying accounts of encounters, most a brief glimpse or stare-down with the creature and others resulting in the damage of property, pets or persons. But every once in a while there's a creature that shows no threat as it traipses across you lawn

Pt. 1

• Leshy, the Guardian of the Forest
• Bigfoot

Additional information can be found here: https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0023-0024-bigfoot-nightcrawlers-of-the-forest/

February 2nd is Rheumatic Disease (previously known as Rheumatoid Arthritis) awareness day, a disorder very close to the hearts of our hosts, particularly Courtney. In this episode, Courtney tells the story of how she got her diagnosis and the struggles and victories she's encountered when trying to get treatment and support for her disorder. 

To learn more about RD please visit: https://www.arthritis.org/diseases/rheumatoid-arthritis 

https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0058-my-invisible-illness-rd/

This week we will be doing something a little different. Halli had the idea that we all share a couple things we're into or neat things we've come across recently. There's so many things that give us ideas for topics and so many of these ideas just aren't enough to do a full topic on so this gives you a little bit of insight into our minds and what some of those things are!

https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0108-0109-anything-anywhere-anytime/

In this two-part episode our hosts, Cayla, Nathan and Halli take a look a three cases of intrigue:

• Leshy, the Guardian of the Forest: in Slavic folklore, the Leshy is the pagan deity of the forest, capable of changing form. Some consider it a demon, others a fairy, but whatever it is, its legend endures
• Bigfoot: So, Bigfoot huh? The creature, the man, the myth, the legend? Why do so many people claim to see it lurking from a distance, and why is the legend so ubiquitous? 
• Fresno Nightcrawlers: When we think of cryptids we usually think of creatures that are scary or dangerous. Accompanied by dozens of horrifying accounts of encounters, most a brief glimpse or stare-down with the creature and others resulting in the damage of property, pets or persons. But every once in a while there's a creature that shows no threat as it traipses across you lawn

Pt. 2

• Fresno Nightcrawlers

Additional information can be found here: https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0023-0024-bigfoot-nightcrawlers-of-the-forest/

In this two-part episode our hosts, Cayla, Nathan, Halli and guest Courtney take a look at four cases of intrigue:

• The Nibiru Conspiracy: Halli tells us about the fascinating conspiracy that alleges we're pending a head-on collision with another planet any day now
• Go For a Punch: Nathan looks into the lost media mystery of "Go for a punch". An anime with horrific content that the internet has been searching for for years. But there may be an answer
• Tardigrades: Courtney is going to tell us all about the beloved water bear, the critter that will outlive us all
• The Montauk Project: Cayla digs deep into the conspiracy theory of the Montauk Project: a top secret underground facility where all manner of horrific things have purportedly happened. Montauk is where all conspiracy theories intersect 

https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0062-0063-planet-montauk-water-bears-and-lost-anime/

In this three-part episode our hosts, Cayla, Nathan and Halli take a look at three cases of intrigue:

• The History of Recipes: Humans have been playing with our food since the beginning of time and we have been writing those experiments down since at least 1700 BC. Cookbooks tell us a lot about a people and the culture of the times. Also they help us make delicious things
• Nellie Bly: The scrappy young reporter who faked mental illness so that she could sneak her way into a mental hospital to find out the truth about the conditions and the people committed there.
• Brother XII: A mystic who in the later 1920s founded a cult in Nanaimo BC, known as the Aquarian Foundation

Pt. 1

• The History of Recipes

In honor of ADHD Awareness Month, Cayla tells us all about her experience having and getting diagnosed with ADHD, and dispels many of the common myths

The year was 2015 when I first got my ADHD diagnosis. 6 months later, my entire life changed, I started a new career, started a webcomic and several podcasts, and most importantly recognized and left a 5.5 yr long abusive relationship

https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0082-adhd-not-just-for-boys/

In this two-part episode our hosts, Cayla, Nathan, Halli and Courtney take a look in a Wilde case

• Jonathan Wilde: Thief-Taker General: Often called the first fence, Jonathan Wilde lived a bizarre and devious life, one where he took advantage of both the public and law enforcement. A criminal Robin Hood who didn't share the wealth he conned people out of and even had an office in the Old Bailey for a time, Wilde was a fascinating figure and a trash human

https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0126-0127-going-wilde-in-18th-century-london/

In this two-part episode our hosts, Cayla, Nathan and Halli take a look at three cases of intrigue:

• The Great Maple Syrup Heist: You know what's more expensive than a barrel of crude oil? A barrel of maple syrup. So much so that between 2011 and 2012, one man smuggled nearly 3,000 tonnes of it out of the Canadian Reserve, valued at $18.7 million CAD
• Where We Bury Our Dead: Cemeteries are fascinating. I think a lot of people would agree with that statement. Certainly some may get the creeps when walking the silent paths through rows of headstones and monuments, knowing there are hundreds of deceased below their feet. But cemeteries are perfect encapsulations of our history, and they're important markers that tend to get overlooked.
• Cassowaries: One of the largest birds in the world and known for their vicious reputation, cassowaries are birds that not many know a whole lot about it (other than the fact that they most definitely want to kill you). Except that they don't, and they're actually pretty cool

Pt. 1

• The Great Maple Syrup Heist

https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0092-0094-the-sticky-the-dead-and-the-feathered/

In this three-part episode our hosts, Cayla, Nathan, Halli and Courtney take a look at four cases of intrigue: 

• Clementine Barnabet: In November 1911, 19 year old Clementine Barnabet is arrested for the murder of a family of 6, her insistence on her innocence falling on deaf ears. Five months later in a startling turn of events, Clementine suddenly claims responsibility for 17 murders, including ones that occurred while she was imprisoned. And the reason? Blood sacrifices in hopes of gaining immortality. Well, that's what the news would have you think
• Yacht Killing Orcas: Since 2020 the Strait of Gibraltar has been experiencing some bizarre events: Orcas attacking boats
• Kanamara Matsuri: Japan is known for its respectful and buttoned up culture, so it may come as a surprise that in one city, there is a yearly festival held, dedicated to the penis.
• Cunning Folk: 

Pt.1

• Clementine Barnabet

In this special two-part holiday episode our hosts, Cayla, Nathan, Halli and guest Courtney take a look at four of topics full of heartwarming and inspirational stories!

• Merry Chris-Fish: Courtney takes us on a tour of all the holiday inspired named marine creatures, from Christmas tree worms, to sea angels and even a crab that likes to take things from its environment decorate itself!
• The Great Tree Kangaroo: Tree kangaroo seems like a paradoxical term. Kangaroos are large, powerful land marsupials unlike anything on any other continent outside Australia. But evolution is a funny thing, and out of it we got tree kangaroos.
• Asian Holiday Traditions: We all know about Christmas, but there are countless holidays celebrated by thousands of other cultures. Nathan takes us to India and China explore a few!
• The Hatbox Baby: It was Christmas Eve 1931, when a couple driving through the Arizona desert encountered car troubles. They pulled over and as they were examining the damage, they heard a baby crying. 150 feet away they found a little girl, seven days old in a woman's hatbox. How had she got there? Where were her parents? Who was she? These questions wouldn't be answered for seventy years

Pt.2

• Asian Holiday Traditions
• The Hatbox Baby

https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0054-0055-deep-sea-diwali-roos-and-other-holiday-miracles/

This week Courtney and Cayla are going tell you some disturbing and bizarre stories from the Grimm Fairytales collection. We'll also talk a little bit about their history and how they were once even worse than most of us know!

Links and sources can be found here: https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/0039-campfire-stories-to-tell-on-the-internet/

In this three-part episode our hosts, Cayla, Nathan and Halli take a look a three cases of intrigue:

• The Ancient Ram Inn: The most sure-fire way to guarantee an establishment is haunted is to build it atop a burial ground - and that's precisely what's happened in the case of the Ancient Ram Inn in Wotton-under-Edge in Gloucestershire, England.
• The Mermaid Inn: If the Mermaid Inn's 600-year-old lath and plaster walls could speak, they'd have countless stories to tell. However, most of those stories remain locked behind secret chambers, hidden in priest-holes, or behind sliding wall passages.
• The Winchester Mystery House: The Winchester Mystery House is a mansion in San Jose, California, that was once the personal residence of Sarah Winchester, the widow of firearm magnate William Wirt Winchester. The mansion is renowned for its size, its architectural curiosities, and its lack of any master building plan. 

Pt. 2

• The Winchester Mystery House

For sources, pictures and more visit: https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0035-0036-the-ancient-winchester-mermaid-innn/

In this two-part episode our hosts, Cayla, Nathan and Halli take a look at three cases of intrigue

• Nashville Hot Chicken: Seems like every restaurant these days has hot chicken on the menu, but where did that idea originate?
• Binturongs: I have not seen a binturong in person, as far as I can recall. I certainly hope I would have remembered something that looks like a cross between a cat, a small bear, and a racoon, with a prehensile tail that's roughly the weight of a kindergartener.
• Trasmoz, Spain: In the 13th century, the entire village of Trasmoz, Spain, was excommunicated for witchcraft and in 1511, Pope Julius II ordered the village to be cursed and it is said to still be cursed today. That's the story anyways

Pt.1

• Nashville Hot Chicken
• Binturongs

https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0133-0134-trasmoz-hot-binturongs/

In this three-part episode our hosts, Cayla, Nathan, Halli and guest Courtney take a look at four cases of intrigue:

• Peter the Dolphin: In the 1960s, Margaret Lovatt was part of a Nasa-funded project to communicate with dolphins. Soon she was living with 'Peter' 24 hours a day in a converted house and things would only get stranger
• Rabies: In most of the western world, the threat of rabies is rarely a concern only coming up if you get bit by an strange animal or one suspected of carrying the disease. It's easy to forget just how deadly and how terrifying rabies can be and Halli is here to remind us
• The Man from Tuared: In an airport in Tokyo, in 1954, a man gets stopped for having some suspicious documentation. The problem? His passport declared he came from a country that doesn't exist. It's an infamous urban legend, often cited as proof of parallel dimensions or alternative universes, you wouldn't expect there to be much truth in the story. Except that there is.
• Lady Pirates: Nathan has promised us a story about some famous lady pirates, but at the time of writing this we have not recorded it so I don't know what to write here yet! Yay!

Pt. 2 

• Rabies
• The Man from Tuared

https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0075-0077-rabid-pirate-dolphins-of-tuared/

This week we dive into the Jehovah's Witness classic: Questions Young People Ask: Answers that Work. This is real literature produced by the church packed with answers to all the most pressing questions of JW youth, how do you resist peer pressure? What if you have shitty parents? What should you do if you feel like you might be gay? I am sure you can imagine where this is going

In this two-part episode our hosts, Cayla, Nathan and Halli take a look at two cases of intrigue

• The German American Bund: Nathan tells us about a weird time in American history between 1936 and 1941 where some thought the most American thing you could do was join a Nazi organization
• Cheetahs: People know a lot of things about cheetahs, they're really fast, they live in Africa, they're cool looking. What most people don't know is they are the most inbred creature on this planet

Pt. 2

• Cheetahs

https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0128-0129-nazis-wont-change-their-spots-but-cheetahs-will/

In this two-part episode our hosts, Cayla, Nathan and Halli take a look at three cases of intrigue

• Nashville Hot Chicken: Seems like every restaurant these days has hot chicken on the menu, but where did that idea originate?
• Binturongs: I have not seen a binturong in person, as far as I can recall. I certainly hope I would have remembered something that looks like a cross between a cat, a small bear, and a racoon, with a prehensile tail that's roughly the weight of a kindergartener.
• Trasmoz, Spain: In the 13th century, the entire village of Trasmoz, Spain, was excommunicated for witchcraft and in 1511, Pope Julius II ordered the village to be cursed and it is said to still be cursed today. That's the story anyways

Pt.2

• Trasmoz, Spain

https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0133-0134-trasmoz-hot-binturongs/

In this two-part episode our hosts, Cayla, Nathan, Halli and guest Courtney take a look at three cases of intrigue:

• Sentient World Simulation: Did you know that if you have ever had an online presence, there's a series of servers in Indiana where a digital version of you exists?
• The Voynich Manuscript: In The Madman's Library by Edward Brooke-Hitching, he describes the Voynich manuscript as "the most famous cryptic manuscript of the medieval period" that has been "the obsessive focus of study around the world and as of yet, none of the professional and amateur cryptographers - including American and British codebreakers of both World War I and World War II - has been able to crack it."
• Alchemy: Alchemy is an ancient practice one with obscure tangled roots that may go back a couple millennia BC. Much of alchemy's history is shrouded in mystery and cyphers, and is a practice that has repeatedly been banned throughout history and has faced many hurdles, yet still managed to find its way even to today.

Pt.1

• Sentient World Simulation
• The Voynich Manuscript

https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0087-0088-the-alchemic-voynich-simulation/

In this two-part episode we bring in a very special guest, Courtney Dossett, marine biologist and spunky fish wizard! Courtney tells us all about animals everyone thinks are super cute but are actually horrifying and then all the weird gooey creatures that oft get overlooked

Pt. 1

Adorable Monsters of the Sea

Sources and more can be found here: https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0033-0034-courtney-the-spunky-fish-wizard/

In this three-part episode our hosts, Cayla, Nathan, Halli and guest Courtney take a look at four cases of intrigue:

• The Nibiru Conspiracy: Halli tells us about the fascinating conspiracy that alleges we're pending a head-on collision with another planet any day now
• Go For a Punch: Nathan looks into the lost media mystery of "Go for a punch". An anime with horrific content that the internet has been searching for for years. But there may be an answer
• Tardigrades: Courtney is going to tell us all about the beloved water bear, the critter that will outlive us all
• The Montauk Project: Cayla digs deep into the conspiracy theory of the Montauk Project: a top secret underground facility where all manner of horrific things have purportedly happened. Montauk is where all conspiracy theories intersect 

Pt. 2

• Tardigrades
• The Montauk Project

https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0062-0063-planet-montauk-water-bears-and-lost-anime/

In this two-part episode our hosts, Cayla, Nathan, Halli and Courtney take a look at two cases of intrigue:

• Isla de las Munecas: South of Mexico City is a small manmade island that now belongs to the hundreds of dolls that call it home
• The Michael Jackson Allegations: In August 1993, Michael Jackson would first be accused of child abuse and since then there have been three other allegations. Despite the fact that Jackson was never convicted of these crimes the public narrative had deemed him guilty and has continued to do so the last thirty years. But turns out there's a lot more to this than the salacious headlines

Pt. 2

• The Michael Jackson allegations

https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0098-0099-the-ranch-of-lost-toys/

Michael Jackson: A Case for Innocence Podcast https://open.spotify.com/show/5OFkjoLLWkCAmvqiy2HcoV?si=6bb05724f0bf429d

Charles Thomson interviews Brett Barnes: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3x6bIgQv5yKmSN3SlwoKOi?si=ba48b5b3b40548c3

This episode we're going all the way back to 2000-2001 with our guest Nate. This is the next chapter in the Jen Saga. Nate knew Jen before State College, before Jack, before the FF7 house and is here to provide some unique insight into her background and roots

https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0077-nate-the-ex-from-the-before-times/

In this two-part episode our hosts, Cayla, Nathan and Courtney take a look at two cases of intrigue:

• New House Rituals: Courtney tells us about new house rituals, practices based in folklore, superstition or tradition designed to bring luck, prosperity and clear out bad energy in a new living space
• Jehovah's Witnesses and the BITE Model: The BITE model of Authoritarian Control and a system developed by Steven Hassan designed to identify when a group or organization is exhibiting dangerous cult-like behavior. We will go through the checklist and discuss which items the Jehovah's Witnesses practice and what exactly makes them so dangerous

Pt.1

• New House Rituals

https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0124-0125-when-houses-bite-back/

In this two-part episode our hosts, Cayla, Nathan, Halli and guest Courtney take a look at four cases of intrigue:

• Poveglia Island: Who would have thought that a tiny island in a lagoon near Venice would be considered the most haunted place on earth? Not us! Nathan tells us about a tiny piece of land that has a long and terrifying history
• Bloody Mary: If you grew up in North American you have likely heard at least one iteration of the story, but turns out there's dozens if not hundreds and that come from around the globe
• Ghost Towns of the Upper Peninsula: The story isn't an unfamiliar one; many of these towns were built around a booming industry - mining, specifically for copper; lumber; intercontinental shipping on railroad grades that are now used as snowmobile trails. Welcome to the Keweenaw Peninsula, Michigan's beautiful, rugged copper country.
• Courtney's Ghosts: Courtney tells us about some spectral and unexplained encounters from her childhood

Pt. 2

• Ghost Towns of the Upper Peninsula
• Courtney's Ghosts

https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0071-0072-haunted-people-places-and-things/

In this three-part episode our hosts, Cayla, Nathan, Halli and guest Courtney take a look at four cases of intrigue:

• Ching Shih/Zheng Yi Sao: Ching Shih was a sex worker in the 1700s on a floating brothel in the city of Canton who go on to lead a fleet consisting of 1,800 boats and is commonly referred to as the Pirate Queen
• Clair Patterson: The inventor of the first clean room and the guy that finally made us all stop eating lead
• The Satanic Temple: The words "praise Satan" conjure images of devil worship, the burning of dungeons and dragons books and animal sacrifice, or at the very least Sabrina the Teenage Witch. Most of us in the western world live in societies heavily influenced by Christian religions, even if we don't practice it ourselves, we generally are aware that Jesus was the good guy and Satan was the bad guy. So how has a religion named after such a controversial figure become one of the most progressive religions, not just that, organizations, in the modern world? Welcome to the Satanic Temple
• Multi Level Marketing Schemes: Once known as "Pyramid Schemes", MLMs are still going strong, sucking in more people than ever with promises of wealth and independence, but often only delivering debt and disappointment

Pt. 1

• Ching Shih/Zheng Yi Sao
• Clair Patterson

https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0079-0081-the-satanic-lead-pyramids-of-the-eastern-seas/

In this three-part episode our hosts, Cayla, Nathan, Halli and guest Courtney take a look at four cases of intrigue:

• The Snapewives: While known as the Snapewives, they referred to themselves as Snapeists. Snapeism was a small religious movement that formed in the early 2000s in the online space of livejournal. Its members were devoted to the omnipresent Severus Snape from the Harry Potter universe, and their practices included channeling and even spiritual marriage to the broody potion's professor
• God is an Asshole: Nathan tells us how if you look at the bible objectively, god reads like a petulant child that seems to get off on torturing the children they allegedly love so much
• Charles Silverstein: Charles Silverstein did a lot to help the gay rights movement, including getting homosexuality to be viewed as a way of being and not a mental illness
• Sounds of Alaska: Did you know that the northern lights make sound and that there is a mysterious horn that seems to sound randomly in Anchorage, Alaska and no one knows where it comes from?

Pt.2

• God is an Asshole

https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0089-0091-the-gay-gods-of-anchorage/

In this two-part episode our hosts, Cayla, Nathan and Halli take a look at three cases of intrigue

• The Beast of Gévaudan: In 1764, the quiet countryside of Gévaudan, France, had become not so quiet. Something was killing people, but no one was quite sure what and still aren't to this day
• How Trees Nearly Froze the World:  300 million years ago life as we know it nearly ended in the frigid grasp of a seemingly unstoppable ice age, and trees may have be an the root of it

Pt.1

• The Beast of Gévaudan

https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0140-0141-werewolves-of-pangea/

In this two-part episode our hosts, Cayla, Nathan and Courtney take a look at three cases of intrigue: 

• Perchta: In Austria and Bavaria, Dec 5th + 6th are special days, these are the days that Krampus visits children. The rest of the month is primarily dedicated to Santa, but on the week leading up to January 5th, that's when the Perchten rule in the name of Perchta
• Cold Plunges: A unique new way to better your health? Or a dangerous practice supported by unlicensed "health experts"
• Rollerskates and Parol: In Venezuela they have a unique way of getting to mass during the holidays: on roller-skates. Meanwhile in the Philippines, paper lanterns shaped as stars are used throughout the holidays

Pt.2

• Cold Plunges
• Rollerskates and Parol

https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0119-120-a-belly-splitting-good-time/

In this two-part episode our hosts, Cayla, Nathan and Courtney take a look at three cases of intrigue

• Coprophagy: "Eat shit". It's a phrase we've all heard, but have ever truly thought about it? Courtney tells us about coprophagy and why so many animals do it and where this phrase originally came from
• Folk Metal: Nathan gives us some fun information on the birth of Folk Metal. A sub-genre that deviates from the traditional anti-Christian themes, but still celebrates those themes of accepting "otherness"
• Nathan's playlist
• Princess Caraboo: A few miles north of Bristol in Southwest England is the small town of Almondsbury. It's the sleepy kind of English town where not a whole lot happens but on Apr 3 1817 something did happen. You see a an unknow woman had turned up, seemingly disoriented and speaking an unknown language. In a little over a week the entire town and surrounding area would know who she was: her name was Caraboo and she was a princess

Pt. 2

• Princess Caraboo pt.1

https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0135-0137-crappy-caraboo-metal/

In this three-part episode our hosts, Cayla, Nathan, Halli and guest Courtney take a look at four cases of intrigue:

• The Georgia Guidestones: It's known as America's Stonehenge. A 19-foot high stone monument in Elbert County, Georgia. Erected in 1980, it has never been fully explained. Or...explained at all, really. Everything about the Georgia Guidestones feels like a purposeful attempt at being obtuse and generating conversation and disagreement.
• Sailing Stones of Death Valley: In 1913 a group of researchers in Death Valley CA discovered something miraculous. Massive stones that were strewn across the valley floor left trails, some hundreds of feet long, in the cracked earth, as if they had moved on their own accord, as there were no signs of humans or animals in the area
• Live Rock: "Live rock" itself is not actually alive, but rather is simply made from the aragonite skeletons of long dead corals, or other calcareous organisms. A common fixture in saltwater aquariums that contributes to a healthy ecosystem and helps with tank upkeep. But sometimes when you bring live rock home, sometimes that's not all you're bringing home
• The Large Hadron Collider: The experiments at the Large Hadron Collider sparked fears that the particle collisions might produce doomsday phenomena, involving the production of stable microscopic black holes or the creation of hypothetical particles called strangelets. 

Pt 1

• The Georgia Guidestones

https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0068-0070-a-guide-to-rock-and-ruin/

In this two-part episode our hosts, Cayla, Nathan and Courtney take a look at three cases of intrigue

• Coprophagy: "Eat shit". It's a phrase we've all heard, but have ever truly thought about it? Courtney tells us about coprophagy and why so many animals do it and where this phrase originally came from
• Folk Metal: Nathan gives us some fun information on the birth of Folk Metal. A sub-genre that deviates from the traditional anti-Christian themes, but still celebrates those themes of accepting "otherness"
• Nathan's playlist
• Princess Caraboo: A few miles north of Bristol in Southwest England is the small town of Almondsbury. It's the sleepy kind of English town where not a whole lot happens but on Apr 3 1817 something did happen. You see a an unknow woman had turned up, seemingly disoriented and speaking an unknown language. In a little over a week the entire town and surrounding area would know who she was: her name was Caraboo and she was a princess

Pt. 3

• Princess Caraboo pt.2

https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0135-0137-crappy-caraboo-metal/

Welcome back to the third part of our My Immortal reading!

Part 1: https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/0039-campfire-stories-to-tell-on-the-internet/

Part 2: https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0052-my-immortal-pt-2/

• My Immortal: The year is 2006, emo rock is so very in and the Harry Potter fandom is at an all-time high. Enter Ebony Dark'ness Dementia Raven Way, the core protagonist of what would go down as the most notorious fanfiction of all time and one whose legitimacy still is debated today

https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0073-0074-my-immortal-pt-3-and-4/

In this two-part episode Nathan tells us what it was like growing up as a Jehovah's Witness, an organization that many outsiders think of as just another religion, but for survivors is more akin to a secretive cult rife with abuse of power and penchant for covering up atrocities and crimes within its own ranks

https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0060-0061-in-the-shadows-of-the-kingdom-hall/

In this special bonus episode, our hosts return to the dark , spider-webbed cobbled corner of the internet where My Immortal resides

• My Immortal: The year is 2006, emo rock is so very in and the Harry Potter fandom is at an all-time high. Enter Ebony Dark'ness Dementia Raven Way, the core protagonist of what would go down as the most notorious fanfiction of all time and one whose legitimacy still is debated today

Part 1 https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/0039-campfire-stories-to-tell-on-the-internet/

Part 2 https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0052-my-immortal-pt-2/

Part 3+4 https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0073-0074-my-immortal-pt-3-and-4/

Part 5 https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0083-my-immortal-pt-5/

https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0085-0085-my-immortal-pt-6-7/

In this episode HEX welcomes a new guest: Icarus, the mysterious webmaster of demon-sushi.com or more famously known on the internet as Zack, the whistleblower and survivor of the Final Fantasy VII house. It's been nearly 20 years since his encounter with Jenifer Cornet and Icarus has had some ups and downs, but is still going strong and living his best life, with his husband, three cats and making his webcomic Inhuman-comic.com

To learn about the Final Fantasy 7 house, listen to File 0012: Baba Yaga's Dutchman House Pt 2

Additional information and transcript can be found here: https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0016-icarus-the-ex-soldier/

In this three-part episode our hosts, Cayla, Nathan, Halli and Courtney take a look at four cases of intrigue:

• The Bielefeld Conspiracy: In 1994 a post would appear on a German Usenet site claiming the German city of Bielefeld didn't actually exist, that the whole thing was a conspiracy. So does Bielefeld exist?
• Aokigahara Forest: Also known as the Sea of Trees is an infamous forest in Japan, not just for its stunning beauty and miles of impenetrable vegetation, but for the alarming rates of suicide that happen there every year.
• History of Nails: Humans have been decorating their fingernails far as back as we can remember, but while today this is considered a frivolous, feminine form of expression, its histories have roots in war and symbolism of leadership
• Jack Parsons: Jack Parsons is a nebulous person, known both for his great scientific ventures and for his occult pursuits and friendships with LRH and Aleister Crowley

pt.3

• Jack Parsons

https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0105-0106-non-existent-glam-forests-and-rocket-science/

This week, Courtney tells us about some invasive species threatening our waters, from critters like the zebra mussel that travel on the hull of boats across land to get to new water sources, to the lion fish, a beautiful venomous fish that is decimating native fish populations everywhere

https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0056-marine-invaders-of-the-unwanted-kind/

In this two-part episode our hosts, Cayla, Nathan, Halli and Courtney take a look at two cases of intrigue:

• The Chamberlain-Kahn Act: On Jul 9 1918, US Congress brings in the Chamberlain-Kahn act. The law implemented a public health program that came to be known as the American Plan, whose stated goal was to combat the spread of venereal disease. Who was responsible for this spread? Women of course!
• Hiccups: Some people are blessed to never have had hiccups in their life, but most of us know the torment. But what happens if you get hiccups and don't stop? How can you actually stop them?

Pt.2

• Hiccups

https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-121-122-more-than-a-hiccup-of-justice/

In this three-part episode our hosts, Cayla, Nathan and Halli take a look at three cases of intrigue:

• The Great Maple Syrup Heist: You know what's more expensive than a barrel of crude oil? A barrel of maple syrup. So much so that between 2011 and 2012, nearly 3,000 tonnes of it out of the Canadian Reserve, valued at $18.7 million CAD
• Where We Bury Our Dead: Cemeteries are fascinating. I think a lot of people would agree with that statement. Certainly some may get the creeps when walking the silent paths through rows of headstones and monuments, knowing there are hundreds of deceased below their feet. But cemeteries are perfect encapsulations of our history, and they're important markers that tend to get overlooked.
• Cassowaries: One of the largest birds in the world and known for their vicious reputation, cassowaries are birds that not many know a whole lot about it (other than the fact that they most definitely want to kill you). Except that they don't, and they're actually pretty cool

Pt.3

• Cassowaries

https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0092-0094-the-sticky-the-dead-and-the-feathered/

In this three-part episode our hosts, Cayla, Nathan and Halli take a look a three cases of intrigue:

• The Quackery of Paul Bragg: Everyone has lied at one point in their lives, usually about small inconsequential things whether about your availability on a Friday night or saying we're good even when we feel like crap. But what about people who tell much bigger lies? Like the year and location of their birth? Their medical degree? The health benefits of apple cider vinegar? Time to meet Paul Bragg
• The Kelloggs: A name that exists in nearly everyone's pantry, Kellogg's was a big part of our lives to many of us that grew up with it. Created by two brothers, one often forgotten in the shadows of his much more prolific older sibling, the first flaked cereal was a total accident. But this story doesn't start or end with cereal. It starts with a desire to make a better, healthier world and ends with eugenics
• Young Living: Who doesn't love a good MLM? What could be more empowering than to run your own business, setting your own hours and going bankrupt chasing an impossible standard? There's a reason products end up as part of an MLM scam: they lack quality, function and sometimes even a passing FDA grade. But essential oils are harmless, right?

Pt. 2

• The Kelloggs

https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0045-0046-cereal-offenders-of-the-human-race/

In this three-part episode our hosts, Cayla, Nathan and Halli take a look at three cases of intrigue:

• Bette-Jean Masters: On Sunday July 3rd 1960, Edna Bette-Jean Masters, a 21 month old disappeared without a trace from the small logging community of Red Lake, British Columbia, Canada. It has been over 60 years, and yet we're still no closer to figuring out what happened 
• Feral Cattle: While listening to the book Islands of Abandonment by Cal Flyn, Nathan was reminded of the crazy world of wild Cattle. Cal takes a trip to the island of Swona in northern Scotland and encounters the local herd which she gives us insights about in her book, but did you know that there are multiple herds of wild cattle all over the world? Nathan takes us to a few of these places.
• Failed Products: NewProductWorks is a collection of thousands of consumer products from around the world (over 140,000 by an account from 2017). But it's not all brand empowerment and new design ideas. The warehouse also serves as a cautionary tale, that even brands can fail, and fail big time. Anyone remember Crystal Pepsi? How about toaster eggs? 

Pt. 2

• Feral Cattle

https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/file-0095-0097-bette-jeans-crystal-cattle/