Big Tops, Bigger Blunders

The Box of Oddities

John Elliott and Kat Walls

True Crime, Society & Culture, Comedy

4.9 • 2.9K Ratings

🗓️ 25 August 2025

⏱️ 42 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Our Live Fall Tour Starts on September 10th! More Info Here! The Circus of Lost Children & The Drunken Battle of Karansebes Step right up for one of the strangest rides in history—this episode of The Box of Oddities brings you the hauntingly peculiar tale of the Circus of the Lost Children, a traveling show with mysteries darker than the big top shadows themselves. Were these wandering performers guardians of misfits, or something far more unsettling? Then, hold onto your bayonets (and maybe your Schnapps ®) as we march straight into the Battle of Karansebes—arguably the most disastrously hilarious military blunder ever recorded, where an army accidentally defeated itself before the enemy even arrived. From eerie carnival lore to slapstick battlefield chaos, this episode proves truth really is stranger than fiction. Tune in, laugh, shiver, and marvel at the oddities history tried to sweep under the rug. New episodes twice a week—subscribe to The Box of Oddities wherever you get your podcasts! #WeirdHistory #Oddities #PodcastComedy #CircusOfTheLostChildren #BattleOfKaransebes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'll now hand you over to my best man, Eddie.
0:04.0	Wow, wow, wow, second time's a charm, eh, Billy Boy?
0:09.0	Oh God.
0:10.0	Substitution, courtesy of Paddy Power, embarrassing Eddie, makes way for sensible Samuel.
0:15.0	Cool, that was close.
0:16.0	You might not always pick the right starter, but your sub can still deliver.
0:19.0	Because with Paddy's super sub, your bet rolls over to the player coming on. Paddy Power. Valid on selected leagues and markets only. Pre-match and in-play bets on qualifying player outcome selections only. T's and Cs and exclusions apply. 18 plus, scummelaware.org. When you have a pixel 10, you may get asked a few questions. Like, what is that? How did you do that? And can we use your camera instead?
0:44.2	Ask more of your phone. Google Pixel 10.
0:50.0	What follows may not be suitable for all audiences. Listener discretion is advised.
0:56.3	The world is full of stories.
1:00.2	Stories of mysteries.
1:02.9	Of curiosities.
1:06.1	Of oddities.
1:08.8	Join Cat and Jethro Gilligan Toth for the strange, the bizarre, the unexpected,
1:17.3	as they lift the lid and cautiously peer inside the box of oddities.
1:25.1	So should we talk about the uneasy nature, the uneasy feeling that we both are
1:31.1	sensing in the room, kind of an awkwardness, kind of, I'm wondering if you're pissed at me,
1:37.2	you're probably pissed at me, you know, that kind of thing. You want to talk about that and just
1:44.0	put it right out there on the podcast?
1:45.7	Yeah, I'm just, I'm really hoping that we both come in because we did touch on it.
1:51.2	And I'm hoping that our having one of those weird moments that like everyone has like immediately before recording.
2:00.9	Like is it going to affect how the podcast sounds?
	...

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