Consensual Face-Punching

The Box of Oddities

John Elliott and Kat Walls

True Crime, Society & Culture, Comedy

4.9 • 2.9K Ratings

🗓️ 13 August 2025

⏱️ 38 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

TICKETS FOR THE LIVE FALL TOUR HERE! Somewhere in the shadows of the 1990s UK, an unsettling rumor spread: men and women posing as social workers, knocking on doors, asking questions they had no right to ask… and then vanishing. Were they government agents, criminals, or ghosts with clipboards? JG investigates the eerie phenomenon of the Phantom Social Workers — a case file that manages to be equal parts unnerving and confusingly bureaucratic. Meanwhile, Kat takes us to the dizzying streets of Bolivia, where the Tinku Festival blends dance, ritual, and a fair bit of consensual face-punching. In a centuries-old tradition meant to honor the Earth Mother, participants exchange blows not out of malice, but in hopes of a good harvest. Think of it as a county fair where the pie-eating contest could give you a black eye. From mysterious door knockers to cultural haymakers, this episode packs enough intrigue and oddity to make your curiosity tap out. #PhantomSocialWorkers #TinkuFestival #WeirdHistory #StrangeButTrue #TheBoxOfOddities #Podcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:22.8	entrepreneurs like you. Sign up for your $1 a month trial at Shopify.com slash setup.
0:30.3	If you like this podcast, can we recommend another one? It's called Big Picture Science.
0:35.8	You can hear it wherever you get your podcast and its name
0:38.6	tells part of the story. The big picture questions and the most interesting research in science.
0:45.4	Seth and I are the host. Seth is a scientist. I am Molly and I'm a science journalist and we talk
0:50.3	to people smarter than us and we have fun along the way. The show is called Big Picture Science and as Seth said, you can hear it wherever you get your podcasts.
1:00.4	What follows may not be suitable for all audiences.
1:03.2	Listener discretion is advised.
1:05.9	The world is full of stories.
1:10.2	Stories of mysteries,
1:12.6	of curiosities,
1:15.6	of oddities.
1:18.6	Join Cat and Jethro Gilligan Toth for the strange,
1:23.6	the bizarre, the unexpected,
1:26.6	as they lift the lid and cautiously peer inside the box of oddities.
1:34.4	Man, did we get a thunderstorm last night?
1:36.6	And it came out of nowhere, just one of those huge cracks of thunder.
1:43.3	Scared the crap out of me. It was intense for sure and it went on for a bit
	...

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