This week we decided to talk about two holiday season movies that manage to not be about Christmas. Scotty chose the classic animated film "An American Tail" (1986), which has become a bit of a Hannukah tradition for many Jewish families. Meanwhile, Amelia chose "Knives Out" (2019), a movie that is rapidly becoming the "'Die Hard' of Thanksgiving."

SPOILER ALERT: If you haven't seen "Knives Out," you should definitely watch it before listening to this episode.

To get your tickets for the 6th Annual Ugly Sweater Revue, visit the Duke City Repertory Theatre website.

We've got a couple morbid stories for you this (yuck) Black Friday. Scotty relates the wild, violent tale of the Bloody Espinosas of southern Colorado, while Amelia takes us deep into the mystery of "disaster ghosts."

CONTENT WARNING: This week's stories mention sexual assault, murder, plane crashes, and deadly fires. Happy Thanksgiving!

Spooky Season continues here at the Weirdest Thing podcast! Amelia takes us on a tour of some of Hollywood's most haunted hotels, and Scotty details the sordid lives and extravagant crimes of Scotland's Burke and Hare.

CONTENT WARNING: This episode is full of murder.

Happy Spooky Season! This week Scotty talks about the New England vampire panics of the 18th and 19th century, and Amelia gives the true story behind the Winchester Mystery House. Plus some general musings about true crime and hauntings.

To read Scotty's short story "Basically Normal" in the Dark Matter Magazine Halloween Special, go to https://darkmattermagazine.shop/blogs/halloween-special-issue-2022. The issue is FREE to read online through Halloween!

To RSVP for the last weekend of "Opinionated Slut," go to https://www.dukecityrep.com/shows. The shows are being streamed live, so you don't even have to be in Albuquerque to see them! Amelia's final performance is Saturday, Oct. 29.

We're coming into your earholes this week with a couple major natural disasters. Amelia talks about the 1985 Mexico City earthquake and the subsequent "Miracle of Hospital Juárez." Scotty describes the Great Peshtigo Fire of 1871, which remains the deadliest fire in U.S. history.

CONTENT WARNING: This week's stories both detail crushings, burnings, boilings, drownings, and just about any other horrible way you can think of to die. Proceed with caution.

Scotty tried to claim we were being lazy this week, but Amelia violently disagreed. Either way, we have another research-free movie episode for you guys, where each of us picked a favorite film that we knew the other would probably never watch on their own. Scotty chose the Coen Brothers' 1991 black-comic Hollywood horror/noir Barton Fink, and Amelia selected Alfonso Arau's 1992 adaptation of Laura Esquivel's magical-realist novel Like Water for Chocolate.

As Amelia said: to know these movies is to know us.

WARNING: We go DEEP into spoiler territory with both of these films, so if you haven't seen them we suggest you take an afternoon to check them out before listening to this episode.

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THE Weirdest Thing is back! And this week we're coming at you with a couple stories about conflicts within the entertainment industry. Scotty kicks things off with Van Morrison's "revenge album" against Bang Records, and Amelia does a deep dive into the infamous Comedy Store strike.

CONTENT WARNING: This episode discusses suicide.

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Welcome to the last episode of A Weirdest Thing! To close out this Amelia-less era, Scotty invited his Boston bestie Mandy Connor on to have a full-on horror-fan geek out. We cover our mutual love of Stephen King, our personal criteria for what makes "good" horror, books and movies that freaked us out as kids, Scotty's experience participating in the infamous "Grossout Contest" at KillerCon, and much much more. We also detail a shared haunting experience in Boston, and Mandy thoroughly freaks Scotty out with a terrifying story from her childhood that she'd never told him before.

Amelia is BACK! Stay tuned for the next episode of THE Weirdest Thing, coming to your earholes very soon!

CONTENT WARNING: This episode contains a brief mention of suicide.

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This week Scotty talks to Bram Stoker-winning horror author Gwendolyn Kiste about her life, work, and influences. We also discuss her upcoming historical horror novel Reluctant Immortals, and its examination of the "forgotten women" of both Stoker's Dracula and Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre.

Reluctant Immortals will be released on August 23! Click the link for more information: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Reluctant-Immortals/Gwendolyn-Kiste/9781982172350

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This week Scotty and actor/comedian/rock star Lauren Poole have a wide-ranging conversation about everything from theatre, the best lessons ever learned from teachers, the enduring power of Korn, writing music, going viral, touring with indie legends, and (of course) Lauren's kickass band Prism Bitch.

Check out Prism Bitch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/PrismBtch

Check out Scotty being an absolute creeper in the "Ya Ya" music video: https://youtu.be/YY95JSu8bkc

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