Family Plot

We begin with a trigger warning, this week we talk about the results of people apparently catching fire spontaneously and the gruesome remains that sometimes leaves behind.  We attempt to go easy but still if you find yourself challenged by some of these descriptions, feel free to skip the episode.  You matter.  What a week!  This week we tackle the burning subject (quite literally( of spontaneous human combustion.  We dig into historic cases both fairly mundane and incredibly strange.  We discuss cases and theories from ancient to modern, including the wick effect and how it literally demands the person sit in one...

Boy, do we have a show for you.  It's Thanksgiving and Arthur is feeling rowdy and wants to fist fight at the back of a Denny's. plus he's hyper fixating on the new LPS!  We dig into the mysterious death of Ohio immigrant and businessman Mitchell Siegel and how that unsolved death led to the creation of the character of Superman.  We also find that Superman has a lot in common with a character named Doc Savage and how Superman, and other costumed superheroes grew out of the pulps.  We talk modern takes on the character, and all the pop cult...

We have so much to tell you about!  In this episode, we dig into the life of Storme DeLarverie, a man who was born to a black mother and white father.  Mom was a servant and Dad was wealthy.  Because he was a child of black and white parents he was never issued a birth certificate and chose to celebrate his birthday on December 24th.  His dad paid for his education but he was raised mostly by his grandfather.  He joined the Ringling Brothers Circus as a show rider and began to get on stage at Jazz Clubs at only 15.  He wou...

So many things in this episode.  Arthur discusses his new mask, Poppi Playtime, and hanging out with his brother who visited from college in this corner and then we dig into the tragedy that was the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake, what happened, how it happened and the people who lived through it.  We cover their response and the hope for humanity when this city, founded as part of Mexico in 1776, was 80 percent destroyed and built back up just four years later.  We learn about how the American Red Cross partnered with the US Army to help create refugee camps and distrubute sup...

This week we look into the life of Norah Emily Editha Fornario, better known as Netta.  Her body was discovered wearing no more than a black cloak and a blackened silver cross lying atop a mound with a dagger shape carved into it.  The mound was what locals called a fairy hill and to this day, no one knows how her death came about.  We study her life, her fascination with psychic research and how she eventually became a member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.  We dig into what little is known about her life and what stra...

In this, the last spooky season episode for the year, we go into the mind of HP Lovecraft and the shared universe he created.  A man touched by his family's brushes with both greatness and madness, he was never a huge success in his lifetime and held horrible, racist views that he supported with pseudoscience like eugenics.  But as troubled and troubling as he was and is, the Mythos is one of the larger shared universes in fiction.  A place where humanity is just a short sad blip on existence and the universe at large just does not care and wil...

Man this was a fun and intense spooky season episode.  First, we are joined by CJ from the Rainbow Crimes podcast and then Arthur covers a few things ranging from recent mental health struggles and to his gaming addiction to Dandy's World.  All four of us dig into the case of Herb Baumeister.  Herb is a possibly (and likely) gay man himself who hunted other gay men whom he brought back to his home to murder.  In addition, authorities in Indiana and Ohio believe him to also be the I-70 Strangler and victims of both series of murders were found on h...

Well, this episode is a doozy, we cover the history of the Whaley House Haunted Museum, covering it's time as a public gallows for San Diego, to it's purchase by Thomas Whaley and how it became part theater, part courthouse, part general store and part home.  The family suffered fires, deaths and public humiliations among other setbacks as they continued to live in this home.  We cover it's delapidation and it's rebuilding into an exact replica of the home it was and it's place in San Diego that showcases the past in an up close and personal way, but also th...

This episode is a doozy.  For spooky season we dig into the life and crimes of the infamous duo, William Burke and William Hare.  During a time when resurrectionists ran rampant, Burke and Hare cchanged the game.  Instead of digging up fresh corpses for the medical establishment to practice upon, they killed people (through a method called burking) and sold their bodies as fresh corpses.  We cover the history of medical science at the time and why fresh cadavers were necessary.  
We discuss the lifes of Burke and Hare, what led to selling their first body and how they made s...

Well, we cram a whole lotta information into not so much time this epsiode.  This episode takes us to New York City to visit The Basilica of St. Patrick's Old Cathedral and to Boston to visit the Old North Church.  We cover the history of these Crypts, find out when they were built, why they were built and what led to their underground storage spaces for the dearly departed.  We cover their hauntings and appearances in popular culture as well so join us for this special spooky season episode as we dive deep into the spectral shenanigans and living history of...

TW:  We do at one point briefly discuss suicide, so if this is a problem for you, feel free to skip the part about the spooklight's origins, which is where the discussion happens.  This week, Arthur talks school ande grandma, Laura talks her recent birthday (other Virgos holla!) and then we talk the Hornet Spooklight.  Seen over E 50 Road better known as spooklight road to the locals.  The area is also called the Devil's Promenade and the Spooklight is often seen over this cursed stretch of ground.  It lets viewers chase it, often dodging out of the way or going behin...

In this episode, we jump to our second campaign, a Call of Cthulhu based campaign called Lore for the Pages.  In this episode, our heroes inherit both a bookstore and a home from KH Hillman, a bookseller who for years has been selling Cthulhu Mythos and occult books and objets d'arts by mail to unscrupulous buyers.  Now, our heroes have to reclaim these lost objects before they are used to cause more problems.  The first adventure is set in the fictional town of Sargasso Springs Alabama, a coastal town that is suffering from a strange infestation of bugs and some unu...

This week, we head back to the 1800's to meet the man who would become known as 
Billy the Kid!  Born Henry McCarty in New York City, he eventually went west with his Mother and brother with stops in Indiana and Wichita before landing in Silver City New Mexico.  His mom died when he was just 14 and his stepdad abandoned him to head to California to start mining.  Henry's first criminal act was to steal food for which he served ten days in jail.  Later he went on to become a horse thief and a Regulator and fought in a con...

We have such an episode for you today!  We are staying true to both our Missouri and nerdy roots to bring you the life of Samuel Langhorne Clemens better known as Mark Twain, America's Favorite Humorist.  We learn of his many jobs including Riverboat Pilot, Prospector, Newspaper man, journalist, printer's devil, and of course, writer extraordinaire!  We talk his rivalry with Bret Harte and the flop that was Ah Sin.  We discuss his similarities to Ambrose Bierce and other modern writers that loved him or were influenced by his work.  We reference a lot of past episodes including:  
Ambrose Bierce...

This is an episode of our new TTRPG podcast Family Role. Each week we will alternate between D&D adventures and Call of Cthulhu adventures.  Hopefully, we will be joined by cool guests along the way.  This week features 8 year old Alexandria 'Lexi' Boese as Grelda the Mighty, a Fey Hexblade Warlock; Arthur Williams portraying Albion Bonze a Tiefling Monk and Laura Williams as Noelle 'Dutch' Bunny, a Harengon Sharp Shooter.  Music is provided by Music by Ievgen Poltavskyi from Pixabay.  All ad intro/outros are performed by Dean Boese as is Riordan Rourke, a luckless NPC Bard and the other c...

There is so much going on in this episode, I almost don't know where to begin.  In his corner, Arthur discusses his new school year, art and Undertales.  Then we settle in to learn about Matilda Joslyn Gage.  Raised in a home that was a stop for the Underground Railroad, she learned lessons early about equality and doing the right thing and translated those messages into a voice for the right of women to vote, to invent, to live on their own terms and not just women.  She beilieved in the sovereignty of indiginous people and the abolishment of slavery.  We ne...

Man what an episode!! In Arthur's Corner, he discusses his online school and the tragedy of needing a new kitten.  Then we dig into the murders in Keddie California.  We study the history of the area, what made it popular and what made it begin to fail.  We talk about it's engineering marvel, the Keddie Wye.  We also look into Glenna 'Sue' Sharp's past, what led to her moving from Massachussetts to California with her five children.  We talk about how she moved to Keddie and her murder, the murder of her oldest son and his best friend as well as th...

We talk about so much in this episode.  Arthur takes us to his corner to discuss his new school and a new OC he's literally creating while he talks.  Plus we talk Gavin Newsom's hilarious tweets, and the Garfield commercial about fat cats.  Then we settle in to discuss this week's topic, the US Ghost Army.  Officially they were the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops trained in what was then called Camp Pines but these days is called Fort Hood.  We discuss their triumphs and a few of their failures, we discuss their legacy, their place in pop culture and how final...

This episode is so chock full of content, you might accidentally learn something in the first ten minutes.  In Arthur's Corner, among other things, he talks about a recent visit to Children's Mercy Hospital and Dean brings up Josh Gates as Arthur talks his 'hear me out's.  We discuss Horrifying History and the fact they posted a snippet of one of Laura's stories,and we talk Octoberpod and of course we discuss the Cash-Landrum UFO Incident.  Often called one of the 'Big 3' UFO experiences (along with Roswell and Rendlesham) we discuss what they saw and the way it affected the...

Well this was as fun an episode to do as (we hope) it is for you to listen to.  In Arthur's Corner he talks Dandy's World, getting over illness and his return to school as well as his recent popularity as a young transman on Threads.  The rest of the Laura suggested show we discuss Clara Barton, her life as a young, possibly neurodivergent woman, how she grew up with only one close friend and the love of her family leading to her first career as a school teacher and someone who created the public school system in Bordentown New Je...

There is so much going on in this episode, we almost needed a playbook.  First, we visit Arthur's Corner to find out he's feeling sick and he recently lost his kitten.  After that we dig in the Death of Ricky C. McCormick, a man one psychiatrist diagnosed with having "a brick wall in his mind",  We cover his mother, his potential father (we have no real idea who that might be) his unsuccessful attempts at becoming educated, his aunt, hjis cousin, his many girlfriends, his children, and his jobs.  We discover his short stint as a drug mule and his viol...

This week we head to Carthage Missouri to attend the birth of a Wild West :Legend, the Bandit Queen Belle Starr,  We discuss her birth, her family, her brothers who all came to bad ends, including one who disappeared mysteriously.  We discuss her family's ties to the South as the Civil War came and went and her family's move to Scylene, Texas where she drove one of the wagons.  She idolized the James-Younger gang and learned how to shoot, eventually becoming a legendary outlaw and a planner of criminal activities, employing various criminals for various purposes, fencing their ill gotten gai...

TRIGGER WARNING - This Episode contains mentions of accidental shootings and murder-suicide.  If these are too much for you, please, feel free to skip the episode.  You Matter!

Well, Friends and Neighbors, pull up a chair and sit a spell as we go back to the birth of Kansas City to talk a little about the early days of Kansas City and a figure that came out of it named Sands. W. Hopkins.  A child who lost his parents young, was raised by his Uncle, hunted a ghost, with pistols of course, while attending college, lost his wife in...

This week on Family Plot, we’re joined by our youngest plotter—8-year-old Lexi Boese—who asked us to tell the story of Autherine Juanita Lucy, the first Black student admitted to the University of Alabama. Her brave enrollment in 1956 was court-ordered and historic… and it ignited the largest anti-integration riot in American history. What followed was a shameful twist: Lucy was expelled “for her safety”—a coward’s move cloaked as concern. Even the local Birmingham paper applauded the university’s decision, celebrating the city’s “peace”—a peace built on exclusion. (Yeah… that didn’t age well.) In this episode, we dive into Luc...

In this episode we are joined by Kelsey Black, of the Book Burrow Bookstore in Pflugerville Texas as we discuss the history of Bookstores as Resistance Centers.  We discuss David Ruggles and the first Black-owned bookstore in the United States and how he was a figurative and literal stop on the Underground Railroad, selling books about feminism and the abolitionist movement.  We talk the FBI's illegal COINTELPRO and how they went after book stores like Hakim's and The Drum and Spear Bookstore.  We discuss the Gotham Book Mart, the 8th Street Bookstore and Peace Eye Books in New York City and...

This is such an episode, so full of information that you will not believe it!  This week, our second of 2 PRIDE episodes this month, we discuss the life and times of Harvey Milk.  We will look into the history of this young gay man who will grow up in the fifties and sixties before becoming a popular merchant and politician in the Castro Street area of San Francisco.  We cover his political career and his murder in this special, let this bullet destroy every closet door episode of the Family Plot Podcast!!!

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Arthur couldn't be with us as we recorded the episode, so he recorded his parts early and danged if it don't sound like he was there with us!  Arthur was starting on his first shift at McDonald's and was happy with his first day of work.  He mentions it in his corner.  Meanwhile Dad, Mom and Brenda discuss Delphine LaLaurie, her life and strangeness and how cruel she was to her slaves.  We also discuss the wider specter of slavery, suggest perhaps some reasons for her crueltties (not that she deserves our kindness) and try to sift out the truth from...

It's time to watch To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar! and get ready for PRIDE!  Put on your most rainbow-y outfit and catch this, the first of two special PRIDE episodes this month!  Today's episode we introduce Alice B. Toklas.  Lover, confidant and essentially spouse to writer Gertrude Stein, she also was a writer in her own right and one of her books The Alice B. Toklas contained a recipe for Haschich Fudge that made her a counterculture icon.  (we will of course share the recipe here in the show notes, we are nothing if not full service.)  She a...

Like a good candy bar, this episode is chock full of nutty goodness!  In Arthur's corner he discusses (among other things) a concert he recently attended featuring Staind and Breaking Benjamin, among others.  Dean suggests that it was a butt rock concert, promptimg stares from Laura and Arthur.  Plus we go back to episode 18 to discuss famed Independence fugitive Sharon Kinne, discussing her life and crimes and her capture in Mexico.  We talk her trials and her escape from a Mexican prison and the last time we told this tale , that is all we knew.  Now, however, we have been able...

Our very special 250th Episode begins with a word of congratulations from the one and only Ed October from OctoberpodAM.  The show itself is full of goodness about the life of Eliza, not Alexander Hamilton.  We cover this sutprising and interesting woman in our special episode of the Family Plot Podcast.  This week's subject was chosen by Laura so we lead off with her and learn so much about this beautiful, supporting loving woman who may just be the reason her husband is so well known todaay.  So join us as we talk Eliza Hamilton in this very special 250th epis...

This episode comes with a Trigger Warning as we discuss potential victims of suicide as well as infant mortality in the section After Arthur's Corner and again in our final thoughts.  If these things are too much for you, feel free to skip, you matter.

That being said, this episode gets weird as we discuss the strange life of Phil Schneider, the myster of Valiant Thor and the interesting events captured on the Guardian UFO Tape.  Are these incredible hoaxes or is there some truth to be had here.  So join us as we dig deep into these con...

Well, we have a gem of an episode here, where we look into the life of James MacLaine and William Plunkett.  We follow what we can of their births and young lives as we discuss how the pair came to be the Gentleman Bandits that they were, what famous people they robbed, how they got caught and their final, if quite different, fates.  We also discuss what a blunderbuss is and why it would make a good brand name for underwear, whether James is related to John of the Die Hard Franchise, and so much more in this 1700's historical ep...

What an episode!!! In Arthur's Corner, he discusses fudge, chocolate chip cookies and 12 Angry Men.  We also discuss the neurodivergent line that seems to run through our family.  Then we settle down and begin to discuss this week's subject, Victoria California Woodhull.  This woman, born to a devout spiritualist and a con man that got them ran out of their Homer Ohio home.  She's married to a 'doctor' at 15 and works travelling medicine shows and spiritualist spectacles which eventually leads her to meet Cornelius Vanderbilt.  She becomes a powerful figure, who believes in women's suffrage, the Free Love Movement (which in th...

Well this episode is a ton of fun.  We are joined by longtime friend of the Fam, Stand Up Comic and Dutch Uncle Dale Hilton.  He requested we cover a topic called the Whisky Wars and it is a doozy.  In 1973 Canada and Denmark were unable to agree as to which country owned the kidney-shaped nothing of an island called Hans Island.  With neither side willing to set aside their claim to the island, this led to an interesting 'conflict' of a sort.  Over the next several years, the countries would take turns visiting the island leaving their flag, a bottl...

This episode has so much going on, we don't know where to begin.  Arthur discusses a recent family visit to Kansas City's Case Park and some rather naughty grafitti he discovered.  The family discusses their favorite Kansas City Barbecue joint and Arthur discusses making Spanish Tortillas.  All that plus we cover the strange case of the Greenbrier Ghost, the only ghost in American history to implicate her killer in this amazing story about the early days of West Virginia.  You can't make this stuff up in this amazingly historic and hysterical episode of the Family Plot Podcast.

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We cover soooo very much in this episode.  The Seven Layer Dip of Hell.  Author S. J. Tilly. Stuffed Austrian Shepherds.  Sponsor Girls.  And so very much more as we head, in spirit, to Milwaukee Wisconsin to talk about the life, trial, and conviction of Lawrencia 'Laurie' Bembenek.  We cover her life's story and how she was brutally railroaded into a murder conviction for a murder that it is impossible for her to have committed.  We cover her appeals, and finally her desperate escape which made her a folk hero.  We cover all this and her brutal bad luck in the res...

This episode we have so much to talk about, that we barely have time to talk about the episode.  We discuss Mrs. O'Leary's cow, the movie 'Near Dark', the Independence Center Mall, more stuff in Arthur's Corner, what it must have been like to be an inmate freed because of the fire and so, so much more.  We examine the histroy of the city around the time of the fire and whether or not the fire played into the rise of the Chicago Mafia in this deeply historical 'Now that's a fire!' episode of the Family Plot Podcast!

We are joined in this episode by member of the Fam, longtime friend and writer extraordinaire Dan B. Fierce as well as Lexi Boese as we discuss the origins of four more fairy tales.  We divide & conquer as Dean takes Rip Van Winmkle, Arthur covers Jack & the Beanstalk, Dan covers the tale of Bluebeard and Laura tells us the story of Rapunzel.  Afterwards, we talk about the tales origin,what it;s based on and so, so much more in this highly cool episode of the Family Plot Podcast!

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What can I say about this episode?  It runs the gamut.  The main topic is the Triangle Shirtwaiste Fire and how two businessmen who were in the habit of locking doors while employees worked doomed 147 mostly immigrants and women to their deaths.  We talk the history of the company, the state of the US for workers in 1911 and the fire itself.  We also cover the trial and the legacy of the fire.  Arthur reminisces about his trip to Planet Comicon, and talks the Roblox sensation Dandy's World as we discuss why it's so important why there needs to be laws in pl...

We have so MUCH rich muchness in this episode.  A veritable souffle of things to learn and family banter!  Lexi stops by to tell us she feeels sponsored.  Gotta love our 7 year old.  Arthur lets us know about his upcoming trip to Planet Comicon in his corner and we talk about being without water as the trailer court we live in ;upgrades' their pipes.  And none of that is even the show topic!!!  Ever heard of Starlite?  Not Starlink, Starlite?  (Pay attention bunkie).  It's an incredible compound that if it was put on an egg, and an acetylene torch was then used...