Some Topic - The Podcast

In 1835, the New York Sun began publishing reports claiming that astronomers had discovered life on the Moon. Not microscopic life. Forests, strange animals, intelligent beavers, unicorn-like creatures, and winged humanoids. The articles borrowed the name of respected astronomer John Herschel and wrapped increasingly ridiculous claims in enough scientific language to keep readers interested. In this Side Quest, we explore the Great Moon Hoax, how the newspaper built its fictional lunar world one installment at a time, how readers reacted, and why this nearly 200-year-old media stunt feels remarkably similar to modern viral misinformation. Hashtags: #SideQuest #GreatMoonHoax #Moon #NewYorkSun #MediaHistory...

Bubble Wrap began as a decorating idea. In 1957, engineers Alfred Fielding and Marc Chavannes sealed plastic material together to trap pockets of air and tried selling the result as textured wallpaper. It failed. Then they tried greenhouse insulation. That was not the breakthrough either. Eventually, they realized the same air-filled structure was excellent at protecting fragile objects during shipping. In this Side Quest, we explore Bubble Wrap’s strange journey from failed wallpaper to protective packaging—and how a product can fail repeatedly simply because nobody has discovered the right problem for it to solve yet. Hashtags: #SideQuest #BubbleWrap #Inve...

In 1925, Victor Lustig managed to sell the Eiffel Tower.

There was only one problem.

It was not his to sell.

Posing as a French government official, Lustig convinced scrap-metal dealers that Paris had secretly decided to dismantle the expensive landmark. Forged paperwork, secrecy, status, and even a carefully suggested bribe made the impossible story seem believable.

In this Side Quest, we explore how Lustig constructed the scam, why dealer André Poisson fell for it, why embarrassment helped the con artist escape—and why Lustig was confident enough to come back and try...

What happens when four sleep-deprived idiots fly into Montana, immediately throw themselves into freezing whitewater rapids, and then attempt to conquer two of America's most iconic national parks in a single long weekend? Chaos, obviously. In this installment of Some Travel, the crew heads west for an unforgettable adventure through Montana, Yellowstone National Park, and Glacier National Park. Along the way they discover that exhaustion, altitude, huckleberries, and questionable planning make for surprisingly great travel companions. The journey begins with a rental Kia that somehow becomes a Peloton on wheels, a whitewater rafting trip through icy waters fed by...

In 1975, a serious physics paper appeared with a Siamese cat listed as one of its authors. Physicist Jack Hetherington had written his paper using the word “we,” only to realize the journal preferred singular language for a single author. Instead of rewriting the manuscript, he added another author. His cat Chester became F. D. C. Willard and entered the scientific record alongside a legitimate paper on low-temperature physics. In this Side Quest, we explore one of academia’s strangest authorship stories, how the cat’s professional name was created, and the surprisingly interesting question hidden inside the joke: what does bei...

Napoleon Bonaparte survived some of the largest military campaigns in European history. According to one famous historical anecdote, he was also forced to retreat from rabbits. After the Treaties of Tilsit in 1807, a celebratory rabbit hunt was organized for Napoleon and his guests. But the rabbits released for the event may have been domesticated animals accustomed to being fed by humans. Instead of fleeing, they reportedly charged directly toward the hunting party. In this Side Quest, we separate the core story from its later embellishments and explore why the image of Napoleon retreating from hungry rabbits has survived for...

In this episode of Some Topic, the Conspiracy Corner opens its doors once again to one of the most enduring and misunderstood ideas in modern culture: the Illuminati. What begins as a chaotic, joke-filled back-and-forth about secret societies, folded dollar bills, and “naughty boys” quickly spirals into a surprisingly structured exploration of how a small historical group became a worldwide symbol of hidden control. Along the way, the conversation refuses to stay serious for long, bouncing between absurd humor and genuine historical curiosity. At the center of the discussion is the original Bavarian Illuminati, founded in 1776 by Adam Weishaupt. Far...

On January 15, 1919, more than two million gallons of molasses tore through Boston’s North End after a massive storage tank suddenly failed. Twenty-one people were killed and roughly 150 were injured as the wave smashed through buildings, moved vehicles, trapped victims, and coated the neighborhood in thick syrup. The disaster sounds almost comedic until you understand its scale. In this Side Quest, we examine the Great Boston Molasses Flood, the troubled tank behind it, the nightmare of the rescue and cleanup, and how the tragedy became part of a larger story about engineering standards and corporate responsibility. Hashtags: #SideQuest #BostonMolassesFlood #Bo...

On this episode of Some Topic, Nick and Brett crack open Columbus Day and immediately find themselves standing in the middle of history, mythology, politics, and a whole lot of uncomfortable truth. What starts as a joke-filled rundown of a holiday turns into a surprisingly sharp look at Christopher Columbus, the world he came from, and the legacy he left behind. The guys dig into Columbus’s background in Genoa, the merchant republic politics that shaped his worldview, and the strange ideas that may have influenced his belief about the shape of the Earth. Along the way, they revisit ol...

In 1859, the United States and Britain came dangerously close to fighting over San Juan Island. The immediate cause? An American settler shot a British-owned pig after finding it eating potatoes in his garden. A disagreement over compensation quickly collided with an unresolved international boundary dispute. Soldiers arrived. British warships appeared. Hundreds of armed men suddenly faced each other over an incident involving exactly one dead pig. In this Side Quest, we explore the Pig War, the disputed border behind it, the remarkable decision not to open fire, and how diplomacy kept an absurd confrontation from becoming a real war...

What happens when two dangerously underqualified podcasters try to untangle 19th century Afghanistan, British imperial politics, Sikh warlords, fake surgeons, poisoned ranch dressing, and a diamond worth possibly over a billion dollars? Absolute chaos. This week on Some Topic, the hosts plunge headfirst into the bizarre real-life story of Josiah Harlan — a Quaker botanist turned fake doctor turned mercenary-adjacent adventurer somehow bluffing his way into becoming a governor in the Sikh Empire. Because apparently confidence alone can get you very far in colonial Central Asia. The episode spirals through one of the strangest historical narratives imaginable as the hosts co...

Play-Doh was never supposed to be a toy. The soft compound originally came from a business selling wallpaper cleaner designed to remove coal soot from walls. But as cleaner heating systems and washable wallpaper became common, the product was losing its reason to exist. Then nursery-school teacher Kay Zufall realized children could use the material for modeling. In this Side Quest, we explore how a fading household cleaner was completely reimagined, how Play-Doh moved from dirty walls to classroom tables, and why sometimes a failed product does not need to be fixed—it needs a completely different purpose. Hashtags: #Si...

Nick and Brett celebrate World Octopus Day by diving headfirst into one of the strangest animals on Earth—a creature so bizarre it looks less like something that evolved in Earth’s oceans and more like a rejected extraterrestrial prototype. With eight sucker-lined arms, three hearts, copper-based blue blood, a razor-sharp beak, and a body made almost entirely of soft tissue, the octopus feels like nature’s attempt to see how many unusual traits could fit into a single animal. The episode begins by breaking down the octopus’s incredible anatomy. The hosts explore how a boneless body allows these an...

In 897, Pope Stephen VI ordered the corpse of a previous pope to be dug from its grave, dressed in papal clothing, seated on a throne, and formally put on trial. The dead defendant was Pope Formosus. Because Formosus could not exactly testify, a deacon was assigned to answer for him while his political enemies prosecuted the case. In this Side Quest, we explore the infamous Cadaver Synod, the political struggle behind the trial, what happened to Formosus after he was convicted, and how an attempt to destroy a dead pope’s legacy instead created one of the strangest episodes in...

In this Conspiracy Corner deep dive, the hosts take a hard look at Atlantis and ask the question that has haunted history buffs, crackpots, and curious listeners for centuries: was it ever real, or just one of the greatest stories ever told? What starts as a joke about Atlantean names quickly turns into a full-on exploration of evidence, imagination, and why lost civilizations keep grabbing our attention. The episode walks through the strongest arguments against Atlantis, including the lack of definitive ruins, artifacts, inscriptions, or human remains. From the Mediterranean to the Caribbean and beyond, the search for Atlantis...

One of the earliest webcams existed because computer scientists were tired of walking to an empty coffee pot. In 1991, researchers at the University of Cambridge aimed a camera at the coffee machine in their building’s Trojan Room. From their desks, they could check whether coffee was available before making the trip. By 1993, the feed had reached the World Wide Web and people around the world were watching a coffee machine they would never use. In this Side Quest, we explore how a tiny workplace annoyance helped create one of the internet’s earliest famous live video feeds. Hashtags: #Side...

The 1904 Olympic marathon in St. Louis might be one of the strangest sporting events ever held. Runners faced extreme heat, clouds of dust, almost no water, traffic on the course, spoiled fruit, and competitors making some very questionable decisions. One runner rode part of the course in a car. The eventual winner, Thomas Hicks, was given small doses of strychnine along with egg whites and brandy while struggling toward the finish. In this Side Quest, we explore the chaos of the 1904 marathon and how early Olympic competition helped teach future organizers nearly every safety lesson the hard way. Hashtags...

Some Topic returns with another chaotic deep dive where history, comedy, and completely unqualified aviation analysis collide at cruising altitude. Nick and Brett open the episode in full signature form, immediately establishing that nothing here is reliable, everything is improvised, and confidence is doing most of the flying. From raccoon interns to philosophical detours disguised as jokes, the show once again frames itself as a guided descent through structured nonsense. This week’s topic drifts into the golden age of air travel, where humanity briefly believed floating metal cities filled with smoking lounges were a reasonable idea. The conversation qu...

In 1932, Australia sent soldiers armed with Lewis machine guns into Western Australia to deal with thousands of emus destroying farmland. It did not go according to plan. The birds scattered, outran firing positions, survived chaotic encounters, and turned what was supposed to be a straightforward pest-control operation into one of history’s strangest military stories. In this Side Quest, we explore the Great Emu War, why the military was involved, why machine guns were surprisingly ineffective, and how a serious agricultural problem became immortalized as the time Australia supposedly “lost a war” to birds. Hashtags: #SideQuest #EmuWar #GreatEmuWar #Australia #Austra...

Bad customer service existed long before online reviews.

Around 1750 BCE, a man named Nanni sent an angry complaint carved into clay to a copper merchant named Ea-nasir. Nanni accused him of supplying poor-quality copper, breaking promises, and treating his messenger badly.

Thousands of years later, the tablet survives—and so does Ea-nasir’s reputation.

In this Side Quest, we explore what may be history’s oldest surviving customer complaint, the ancient trade network behind it, and why a furious Bronze Age customer still sounds surprisingly modern.

Hashtags: #SideQuest #EaNasir #AncientHistory #History #Bronze...

What if Atlantis wasn’t a lost civilization waiting to be discovered, but a story designed to make people think? In this episode of Some Topic, Nick and Brett dive back into Conspiracy Corner to investigate one of history’s most persistent mysteries: was Atlantis real, a philosophical invention by Plato, or a distorted memory of something that actually happened? What begins as a discussion about philosophy quickly becomes a chaotic journey through ancient disasters, mysterious structures, and increasingly ambitious theories about humanity’s forgotten past.

The hosts begin with Plato, examining the role Atlantis plays alongside ideas...

What if the past influences who you are—but doesn’t have to decide who you become? In this episode of Some Topic, Nick and Brett take on The Courage to Be Disliked, the bestselling book that turns psychology, philosophy, and personal responsibility into a conversation about how to live. What begins with raccoon intern broadcasts, fake HR memos, and caffeine-fueled nonsense gradually becomes one of the podcast’s most introspective discussions yet.

At the center of the episode is Alfred Adler’s psychology, presented through the book’s fictional dialogue between a philosopher and a student. Nick break...

This week on Some Topic, Nick and Brett dive into one of history’s most enduring mysteries: Atlantis. What begins as a chaotic Conspiracy Corner segment quickly spirals from SpongeBob nostalgia into ancient philosophy, lost civilizations, rising sea levels, and the question of whether humanity keeps recycling the same story of a great city swallowed by catastrophe. Was Atlantis a real place, a symbolic warning, or an ancient thought experiment that refuses to stay buried?

Before tackling the lost city, the hosts open with the usual Conspiracy Corner energy: absurd internet rumors, pop-culture tangents, and wildly speculative “what...

Arrr, mateys! Nick and Brett celebrate Talk Like a Pirate Day with an aggressively committed pirate voice, questionable vocal endurance, and a historical adventure that nearly sinks before it even leaves the harbor. After reflecting on a disastrous first recording attempt, the hosts investigate why fictional pirates sound the way they do—and why apparently every pirate must pronounce their R’s like they’re trying to intimidate the English language itself.

The episode explores the connection between western British ports, rhotic West Country accents, and Robert Newton’s legendary performance as Long John Silver. His portrayal helped e...

Grab your stein, put on your lederhosen, and prepare for a history lesson that's far more intoxicated than your high school textbook. This week on Some Topic – The Podcast, Nick and Brett dive headfirst into one of the world's most famous celebrations to answer a surprisingly simple question: if it's called Oktoberfest... why does it mostly happen in September? Along the way they uncover how a royal wedding in 1810 somehow snowballed into a two-century-long international party fueled by millions of liters of beer, mountains of bratwurst, and enough questionable decisions to fill several Olympic swimming pools.

The co...

Two dangerously underqualified hosts return with one of their most chaotic deep dives yet—this time into the strange, hilarious, and surprisingly real story of American adventurism in Afghanistan. What starts as a casual conversation about trees, anime, and nostalgia quickly spirals into a historical fever dream involving fake surgeons, self-declared princes, and a man who quite literally tried to carve out a kingdom for himself in Central Asia. As always, the line between fact and absurdity is not just blurred—it’s completely ignored.

At the center of this episode is the bizarre life of Josiah Harlan...

What happens when one of the oldest conspiracy theories collides with Nazi mythology, underground civilizations, cult leaders, and decades of misinformation?

In this episode of Some Topic, Nick and Brett return for the final installment of their multi-part journey into the Hollow Earth theory. After tracing its origins through early scientific speculation, mystical teachings, and esoteric beliefs, they finally arrive at the version most people recognize today: hidden kingdoms, secret entrances at the poles, and claims of lost civilizations existing beneath our feet.

The conversation explores how Hollow Earth became entangled with stories about Agartha...

What if the monster was never really the monster?

In this episode of Some Topic, Nick and Brett crack open Frankenstein and get way too comfortable in the graveyard of literary misunderstandings. They start with the question everyone gets wrong at first: why do we call the creature Frankenstein when that is actually the name of the scientist? From there, the conversation spirals into high school memories, bad assumptions, and the strange cultural life of a book that became one of the most misunderstood stories ever told.

The episode dives into Mary Shelley’s life, th...

In this episode of Some Topic – The Podcast, the hosts venture into one of America's strangest unsolved mysteries: the infamous Mad Gasser of Mattoon. Set against the backdrop of World War II, the story begins in the quiet town of Mattoon, Illinois, where residents reported a bizarre series of nighttime attacks involving mysterious sweet-smelling gas, temporary paralysis, and shadowy figures lurking outside bedroom windows. What started as a handful of unsettling incidents quickly escalated into a full-blown community panic that would leave investigators baffled for decades.

As Brett unpacks the historical timeline of the events, Nick dives in...

In this episode of Some Topic – The Podcast, two dangerously underqualified hosts attempt to unpack one of history’s most complicated and misunderstood series of events: the Crusades. What begins as a sarcastic introduction quickly spirals into a chaotic mix of historical breakdowns, improvised analogies, and completely unfiltered commentary on religion, politics, and medieval warfare. Nothing is sacred, and very little is certain.

The episode opens in classic Some Topic fashion—self-aware, chaotic, and unapologetically unserious. The hosts frame themselves as raccoons rummaging through the “Library of Alexandria,” immediately setting the tone for a discussion that is equal part...

In this episode of Some Topic, Nick and Brett venture into one of the strangest discoveries from their Yellowstone rafting trip: a mysterious compound perched above the river that looked less like a ranch and more like a self-contained nation. What began as a guide's offhand comment about a nearby religious group quickly spiraled into a deep dive on the controversial history of the Church Universal and Triumphant, a movement that mixed Christianity, Buddhism, New Age spirituality, apocalyptic prophecy, and enough conspiracy theories to fill an underground bunker. Along the way, the hosts unpack firsthand observations from the trip...

What starts as chaotic nonsense quickly spirals into something unexpectedly real in this episode of Some Topic – The Podcast. Two confidently unqualified hosts dive headfirst into the absurd, weaving through jokes about raccoon interns, imaginary HR departments, and existential nonsense—only to stumble into a surprisingly legitimate conversation about salt, iodine, and how humanity may have accidentally gotten smarter. It’s comedy disguised as ignorance, or maybe ignorance disguised as comedy.

As the episode unfolds, the conversation shifts toward the human body—specifically the thyroid—and how something as simple as iodine plays a massive role in regulating...

What if the monster was never really the monster? In this episode of Some Topic, Nick and Brett crack open Frankenstein and immediately confront one of the greatest literary misunderstandings of all time: Frankenstein is the scientist, not the monster. From there, the conversation spirals through high school memories, bad movie adaptations, graveyards, and the strange cultural evolution of one of the most famous stories ever written.

The hosts explore the life of Mary Shelley and the bizarre circumstances that helped inspire her legendary novel. A rainy summer near Lake Geneva, a group of writers challenging each...

Have you ever heard a ghost story so strange that it accidentally changed government policy? In this episode of **Some Topic**, the crew journeys into one of the weirdest paranormal mysteries ever recorded: the legend of **Jeff the Talking Mongoose**. What begins as a spooky tale from a remote farmhouse on the Isle of Man quickly spirals into a bizarre blend of ghost story, cryptid encounter, media frenzy, and courtroom drama.

The story centers around the Irving family, who claimed that a mysterious entity named Jeff was living within the walls of their home. Jeff wasn't your...

Title

Cannibalism Part 2: Religion, Mythology, Pokémon, and Complete Chaos | Some Topic Episode 43

Description

Episode 43 picks up exactly where Episode 42 left off—and somehow immediately finds a way to become even more unhinged. After diving into the history, survival stories, and cultural controversies surrounding cannibalism in Part 1, Nick and Brett return for Part 2 with absolutely no intention of making the subject any more reasonable. What follows is a chaotic journey through religion, mythology, symbolism, evolution, animal behavior, food, and whatever other thoughts manage to escape before someone changes the subject.

The con...

In this episode of Some Topic – The Podcast, Nick and Brett reopen the “Conspiracy Corner,” a place where absurdity and paranoia blend into late-night comedy. The episode kicks off with their signature chaotic banter, immediately pulling listeners into a world where relationship drama, government distrust, and questionable dental hygiene all collide under the same fluorescent conspiracy light. What starts as a joke about teeth and cheating neighbors quickly spirals into something much larger: the idea that even something as ordinary as drinking water might be part of a hidden agenda.

The conversation pivots into Cold War-era paranoia, center...

What happens when two dangerously underqualified hosts decide that cannibalism is a perfectly reasonable podcast topic? Somehow, it becomes a chaotic journey through history, survival, morality, religion, cultural practices, and some truly questionable hypotheticals. In this episode of Some Topic – The Podcast, Nick and the crew dive headfirst into one of humanity’s darkest and most taboo subjects while doing what they do best: mixing genuine curiosity with terrible jokes and absolutely no qualifications.

The conversation begins with survival and the uncomfortable question of whether cannibalism can ever become morally acceptable when the alternative is death. From ther...

In this episode of Some Topic, the conspiracy corner gets dragged into the woods, where missing persons cases, national park mysteries, and the internet’s love of the supernatural collide in one absurd, hilarious debate. What starts as a joke about fluoride and secret control spirals into a surprisingly sharp conversation about how people disappear in the wilderness — and why some folks immediately jump to aliens, portals, or Bigfoot.

The hosts dig into the so-called Missing 411 phenomenon, where hikers, children, and other wilderness wanderers seem to vanish under eerie circumstances. From sudden weather shifts to disorientation, hypothermia, and...

What happens when two wildly underqualified hosts dive headfirst into one of the strangest stories in modern history? This episode of Some Topic – The Podcast spirals from chaotic humor into a surprisingly deep (and absurd) exploration of belief, identity, and how far people will go in search of meaning. Between raccoon theology, fake HR memos, and caffeine-fueled tangents, the conversation somehow finds its way to one of the most infamous cults ever documented—Heaven's Gate.

It starts as comedy—talking about comets, aliens, and whether you’d hop on a cosmic ride to “heaven” if offered—but quickly evolve...

What if the universe is overflowing with intelligent life… and we just haven’t heard from it yet? In this episode of Some Topic – The Podcast, Nick and Bre step back into the infamous Conspiracy Corner to tackle one of the biggest questions humanity has ever asked: are we alone in the universe? What starts as jokes about government secrets, Scientology, and “truth” quickly spirals into a deep dive on the Drake Equation, the famous formula created to estimate how many intelligent civilizations might exist in the Milky Way galaxy.

The conversation breaks down the origins of the Drake...