Human anomalies, Spiritualists, quack scientists, and other odd characters and stories from the weirdest pages of history. All brought to you by author Marc Hartzman.
Why We Love Being Scared: A Conversation with Psychologist and Author Coltan Scrivner
We humans have always been fascinated by the things that frighten us. In this episode of Weird Historian, Marc Hartzman speaks with psychologist Coltan Scrivner, author of Morbidly Curious: A Scientist Explains Why We Can’t Look Away (Penguin Books), about why we are drawn to horror films, haunted houses, and true crime, what our fascination with the macabre reveals about human nature, and much more.
Learn more and order the book at ColtanScrivner.com (https://www.coltanscrivner.com)
Sign up for Coltan Scrivner’s Morbidly Curious Thoughts (https://www.morbidlycuriousthoughts.com) Substack .
Visit WeirdHistorian.com (https://www.weirdhistorian.com) for more of the weird and wonderful.
15 Sept 2025
Freaky Things and Live Shows: George the Giant’s Strange Museum of Oddities and Wonders
Meet George “The Giant” McArthur, a sideshow performer who swallows swords, eats fire, pounds nails into his nose—and collects oddities. Oh, and he was also in Tim Burton’s wonderful film, Big Fish.
We first met more than 20 years ago at showman Bobby Reynold’s home while I was writing American Sideshow. As Halloween nears, he’s opening George the Giant’s Strange Museum of Oddities and Wonders for the 7th year in Bakersfield, California. Among those oddities and wonders are two-headed animals, breast milk soap, a killer bat, paintings made in human blood, true crime objects, and as you’ll hear from George, much more.
If you’d like to hear about how George got started in the world of sideshow, please check out my other podcast, co-hosted with sword swallower Dan Meyer, To The Hilt (https://open.spotify.com/show/5f4uImjpm6TOicpyadvL1J).
Find George the Giant online:
GiantsOddities.com (https://giantsoddities.com)
Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/share/162feEZXXu/?mibextid=wwXIfr)
Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/therealgeorgethegiant?igsh=Y21ieW01eG1tNmM3)
22 Aug 2025
The Martians Are Coming! Author David Baron Speaks About His New Book, "The Martians"
Is there life outside of Earth? More than a hundred years ago, there was widespread belief that intelligent Martians were an advanced civilization and contact with our interplanetary neighbors was inevitable.
Science journalist and author David Baron explores this early fascination with Martians in his new book, THE MARTIANS: The True Story of an Alien Craze that Captured Turn-of-the-Century America (Liveright: Aug. 26, 2025), and discusses the many strange and amazing extraterrestrial tales with Weird Historian.
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