True Weird Stuff is the award-winning podcast hosted by Sheri Lynch. Surprising, odd, bizarre - and sometimes insane. Always true. Let us tell you a story…
Today's True Weird Stuff - A Real Stiff
Elmer McCurdy was an American outlaw who couldn't pull off a smooth heist to save his life. He tried to use his Army training with nitroglycerin to rob banks and trains, often to no avail. After accidentally robbing the wrong train in 1911, a drunken McCurdy met his demise after firing at the deputy sheriffs searching for him. And for the next 65 years, McCurdy's mummified corpse wound up being used as a traveling sideshow attraction known as "The Bandit Who Wouldn't Give Up."
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1:11:55
Human Cloning
Today's True Weird Stuff - Human Cloning
In the previous episode of True Weird Stuff, we told the story of Raëlism, the religious UFO cult led by Claude Vorilhon. We're now diving into one of their core beliefs: that Jesus was resurrected through cloning and humans need to perfect human cloning to achieve immortality. That would lead to a claim made in 2002 by a scientific company created by Raëlians that the first human clone had been born.
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1:42:25
The Messenger
Today's True Weird Stuff - The Messenger
This is the story of a man who created a religion around UFO's. Claude Vorilhon was a journalist who claimed he was abducted by aliens in 1973. He said they told him humans were created by extraterrestrial species using advanced technology, and then they renamed him Raël and sent him back to Earth to serve as ambassador to their faith. And thus, Raëlism was born.
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1:25:53
Coconut Cult
Coconut Cult
In the early 1900s, a German author named August Engelhardt packed up his library of books, moved to the South Pacific island of Kabakon, and started a sun-worshipping coconut cult. He believed the way to become closer to God and gain immortality was by consuming coconuts and nothing else. Engelhardt convinced dozens of people to join him on the island, but many of them died from illness or malnutrition. And the ones who didn't perish fled, having realized the lunacy of a man who was cuckoo for coconuts.
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1:26:37
A Curse on You
Today's True Weird Stuff - A Curse on You
Alchemist. Astrologer. Magician. Georg Faust was considered a heretic in medieval Europe, primarily because he practiced black magic and summoned the spirits of the dead. Through legend and literature, Faust was hated by many, not just because of his fraudulent ways, but because of his pact with the devil for knowledge and power; a debt the devil would quickly collect.
True Weird Stuff is the award-winning podcast hosted by Sheri Lynch. Surprising, odd, bizarre - and sometimes insane. Always true. Let us tell you a story…
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