Bittersweet Infamy

Oct 27 2024 112 ep. 87 mins 29

Bittersweet Infamy Podcast artwork

Storytellers and best friends Josie Mitchell and Taylor Basso share the stories that live on in infamy: the strange and the familiar, the tragic and the comic—the bitter and the sweet. New episodes every other Sunday; returning from break December 24! Support the show: ko-fi.com/bittersweetinfamy

Society & Culture True Crime

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#112 - A Spirited Tour of Spiritualism

Oct 27 2024 126 mins

Halloween special + season finale! Josie tells Taylor about the haunting history of the modern Spiritualist movement—from the crafty teen sisters who brought it to life, to the high-profile feud between Harry Houdini and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle that nearly caused its demise. Plus: get dressed up for Jimi (地味) Halloween, Japan's costumed celebration of the mundane and everyday;

#111 - The War of the Worlds

Oct 13 2024 103 mins

Halloween special! Taylor tells Josie about the 1938 Orson Welles radio play about a Martian invasion that allegedly caused a mass hysteria, and the 1949 Ecuadorean remake that went even further. Plus: flesh out your fall reading list with the world's largest collection of books bound in human skin!

#110 - The Killers of Eden

Sep 29 2024 102 mins

Guest host Peter Chiykowski tells Josie and Taylor about the pod of orcas who hunted in harmony with humans until a brutal betrayal ended it all. Plus: catch up with Darwin the Ikea Monkey, the stylish snow macaque whose fetching winter coat kept him warm through a chilly legal battle.

#109 - Night at the Dick Museum

Sep 22 2024 98 mins

Josie tells Taylor about the Icelandic Phallological Museum, which contains the world's largest display of phalluses, and curator Sigurður Hjartarson's quest for the collection's crown jewel: a human penis. Plus: listen to "Amelia's Song," the mysterious melody that reunited a family across cultures, continents, and centuries.

#108 - Satan's Last Stronghold

Sep 15 2024 89 mins

Guest host Erika Jo Brown tells Josie and Taylor about the evangelical Christian fervour that led American missionary John Chau to contact the voluntarily isolated people of North Sentinel Island—with deadly results. Plus: get to know Erika Jo with a harvest-fresh game of Bitter or Sweet?

#107 - The Tower

Sep 08 2024 98 mins

Taylor tells Josie about Alicia Esteve “Tania” Head, the prominent 9/11 survivor who was exposed as a fraud. Plus: a deep dive into the centuries-old history of the ama, Japan's legendary pearl divers.

#106 - The Party Bus Omnibus

Aug 25 2024 112 mins

Josie celebrates Taylor's birthday with a series of infamous party stories, featuring guests of honour from Kim Kardashian to Kim Jong-il. Plus: step into the ring with the Fighting Cholitas, the professional wrestlers crushing stereotypes of Indigenous women in Bolivia.

#105 - I Hate Brenda

Aug 14 2024 110 mins

Taylor tells Josie and guest host Mitchell Collins about '90s nighttime soap queen and tabloid bad girl Shannen Doherty. Plus: a closer listen to hit em, the new musical genre that came to its creator in a dream.

#104 - Artifact or Fiction?

Jul 28 2024 102 mins

Josie tells Taylor about the muddy line between forgery and art, and how Mexican ceramicist Brígido Lara made it even muddier. Plus: 1972 Democratic presidential candidate George McGovern, his VP pick Thomas Eagleton, and the electroshock controversy that killed their campaign in only 18 days.

#103 - Mine, All Mine

Jul 17 2024 91 mins

Taylor tells Josie about the legend of Slumach's gold, and the curses, killings, and calamity surrounding the mythical lost mine of Pitt Lake, British Columbia. Plus: Pakistani-American artist Shahzia Sikander and the controversial sculpture that lost its head in the culture wars.