Horse Manure, Dead Whales & LSD

The Box of Oddities

John Elliott and Kat Walls

True Crime, Society & Culture, Comedy

4.9 • 2.9K Ratings

🗓️ 25 July 2025

⏱️ 48 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Tickets for The Box of Oddities Live Tour Here! In this Freak Family Favorites episode of The Box of Oddities, we investigate three very different ways humans have tried to solve very different problems—with wildly questionable success. First, we ride back to 1894, when the streets of major cities were ankle-deep in horse poop and people feared civilization would be buried in a literal pile of its own progress. What was the solution to the Great Horse Manure Crisis? Spoiler: it wasn’t a bigger shovel. Then, we dive into the squishy, grotesque, and oddly therapeutic world of Victorian medicine with a "cure" for rheumatoid arthritis that required the patient to crawl inside a dead whale carcass. You read that right. It’s less “spa treatment,” more “Jonah fan fiction.” And finally, we pedal straight into psychedelic history with a celebration of Bicycle Day—the trippy anniversary of the world’s first intentional LSD journey in 1943. A chemist. A bike. And a brain on technicolor fire. From poop-pocalypse panic to whale-based healing rituals and accidental acid trips, this episode is a wild ride through the absurd corners of human history. 🧠✨ Curiosity is a gateway drug. #LSDHistory #WhaleTherapy #HorseManureCrisis #BicycleDay #VictorianMedicine #WeirdHistory #OdditiesPodcast #BoxOfOddities #HumanityIsWeird #StrangeButTrue Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	I've ruled out uni because I want to live at home.
0:02.0	I've ruled out uni because I want to earn money.
0:05.0	I've ruled out uni because of my grades.
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0:17.0	We're open to all. Plus, you'll have the support of expert tutors. So rethink your
0:23.6	future with the degree you didn't think was possible. The Open University. The future is open.
0:30.1	Rated T for Teen. Each year, thousands of adults lose their shred. It's an epidemic simply known as
0:36.8	shred loss, but it doesn't have to be this way, because
0:39.3	rekindling your shred is as easy as playing the new Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 and 4.
0:43.3	With new parks, cross-platform multiplayer, and sick new game modes, we can put an end to shred loss everywhere.
0:51.3	Get the new Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 and 4 and show the world that the shred's not dead.
0:56.8	Get Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 and 4 available now.
1:00.2	What follows may not be suitable for all audiences.
1:03.0	Listener discretion is advised.
1:05.8	The world is full of stories.
1:10.0	Stories of mysteries. Stories of mysteries.
1:12.6	Of curiosities.
1:15.6	Of oddities.
1:17.6	Join Cat and Jethro Gilligan Toth for the strange,
1:22.6	the bizarre, the unexpected,
1:26.6	as they lift the lid and cautiously peer inside the box of oddities.
	...

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