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The Box of Oddities

The Box of Oddities

By: Kat & Jethro Gilligan Toth
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The Webby Award-winning “Box of Oddities" is a podcast that delves into the strange and mysterious aspects of our world, exploring topics ranging from bizarre medical conditions to unsolved mysteries, and from paranormal phenomena to strange cultural practices from around the world. With a focus on oddities, curiosities, and the macabre, each episode is a journey into the unknown, where hosts Kat and Jethro Gilligan Toth share their love for unusual stories and inject their humor and commentary. From the strange history of medical practices to chilling true crime stories, to natural (and unnatural) events, "The Box of Oddities" satisfies your thirst for the weird and the unusual, offering an informative and entertaining look into the dark and mysterious corners of our world. JIMMY KIMMEL, ABC-TV says, "Should you be the type who has an interest in weird stuff, this is a fun thing to allow in your head!" “Truth is stranger than fiction, and the Box of Oddities is the strangest of all!” -SLUGGO, SIRIUS XM LITHIUM “Kat & Jethro wring humor from bizarre, macabre and perplexing places.” -BOSTON MAGAZINE© 2023 Eleven Eleven llc Social Sciences True Crime
Episodes
  • Inbox Of Oddities #87

    Inbox Of Oddities #87
    May 22 2026
    In this wildly weird installment of The Inbox of Oddities, Kat and Jethro spiral from marital bathroom boundaries into the strange psychological phenomenon of seeing 11:11 everywhere… and whether the universe is just trolling all of us. One listener swears the numbers followed her so relentlessly that even her 9-year-old daughter started noticing them too. Coincidence? Confirmation bias? A cosmic notification system with terrible timing? Also inside the Inbox of Oddities: a listener spends the night alone in the famously haunted Lemp Mansion, another recovers from a near-fatal case of “superflu” after asking the universe for self-improvement, and someone accidentally discovers that Box of Oddities listeners may be alarmingly enthusiastic about gallbladder tacos. Plus: necropants bathroom logistics, ceramic rooster collectors, cryptid museums, haunted mushroom hallucinations, truck drivers, barefoot shoe conspiracies, and the deeply unsettling reality that “My Ding-a-Ling” was Chuck Berry’s only number one hit. It’s ghosts, weird psychology, bizarre synchronicities, comedy, cryptids, body horror, and humanity at its absolute strangest. Warning: May cause compulsive clock-checking at 11:11. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    27 mins
  • The Girl They Tried to Kill Twice

    The Girl They Tried to Kill Twice
    May 20 2026
    What happens when centuries-old vampire panic collides with Icelandic corpse magic? In this episode of The Box of Oddities, Kat and Jethro descend into two of history’s strangest belief systems — where terrified villagers dug up the dead to “kill” them all over again, and magical trousers made from human skin were believed to generate endless wealth. First, we travel to 17th-century Poland, where archaeologists uncovered the grave of a young woman buried with a sickle across her throat and a padlock attached to her toe — anti-vampire precautions meant to stop her from rising from the grave. The discovery of “Zosia” reveals the horrifying reality behind Europe’s vampire panics, where disease, superstition, and fear transformed ordinary people into suspected monsters. But when forensic artists reconstructed her face centuries later, the world came face-to-face not with a vampire… but with a tragic young woman caught in one of history’s darkest mass delusions. Then, Kat takes us to remote Iceland and the legendary necropants — magical trousers made from the skin of a dead man. According to Icelandic folklore, these corpse britches could fill their wearer’s scrotum with endless coins… provided you followed an unbelievably complicated and horrifying ritual involving grave robbing, magic staves, and cursed inheritance. Welcome to the bizarre world of Icelandic witchcraft, where men — not women — were most often accused of sorcery. Also in this episode: The terrifying origins of vampire folklore Why tuberculosis helped fuel undead hysteria The grisly ways suspected vampires were “executed” after death Iceland’s infamous Museum of Sorcery and Witchcraft Corpse pants, cursed rituals, and dead-man denim A special crossover “Thing in the Middle” featuring Lindsay Schnebly and reasons you should absolutely listen to The Shallow End If you love dark history, bizarre folklore, weird archaeology, cursed objects, and comedy hiding inside humanity’s strangest beliefs, this episode is for you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    33 mins
  • Why Humans Are So Weird

    Why Humans Are So Weird
    May 18 2026
    From ancient survival instincts and prehistoric brain wiring to butter knives, bras, and the bizarre origin of high heels, this episode of The Box of Oddities explores the strange, hidden reasons humans behave the way we do. Why do we hoard jars and tangled phone chargers? Why does gossip feel irresistible? Why are we constantly checking our phones like nervous cave dwellers scanning for predators? Kat and Jethro dive into the fascinating science of inherited survival behaviors that may still be controlling modern life in ways we don’t even realize. Then, things get delightfully weird as they uncover accidental inventions and bizarre cultural pivots that changed history forever — including the French cardinal whose hatred of toothpicking helped invent the butter knife, the wealthy socialite who accidentally created the modern bra, and how Persian cavalry soldiers inspired today’s high heels. Plus: Olympic cigarettes, Titanic board games, Kiss coffins, Ratatouille wine, and one very traumatic Target yogurt incident during a blackout in Orlando. If you love odd history, strange psychology, human behavior, weird inventions, and darkly funny conversations about the hidden absurdities of civilization, this episode is for you. #TheBoxOfOddities #HumanBehavior #WeirdHistory #EvolutionaryPsychology #StrangeHistory #Oddities #AncientInstincts #BizarreOrigins #FunnyPodcast #Psychology #HistoryPodcast #ButterKnife #HighHeels #SurvivalInstincts #WeirdFacts #BoxOfOddities Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    31 mins
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