S5 Ep11: Strange and Unexplained and the Great Comet of 1811

Strange and Unexplained with Daisy Eagan

True Crime, Society & Culture, Science

4.1 • 10K Ratings

🗓️ 21 August 2025

⏱️ 49 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In 1811, a comet streaked across the sky and seemed to bring with it end-of-times-like earthquakes. While one man used the comet to rally his people against the invasion of the colonizers, another was thwarted by the quakes from covering up a terrible crime.

"Strange and Unexplained" is a podcast from Grab Bag Collab & Three Goose Entertainment and is a journey into the uncomfortable and the unknowable that will leave you both laughing and sleeping with the lights on. You can get early and ad-free episodes on the Grab Bag Patreon page.

Follow us on Instagram

Episode Sponsors:

Miracle Made. Upgrade your sleep with Miracle Made!
Go to https://trymiracle.com/STRANGE and use the code STRANGE to claim your FREE 3 PIECE TOWEL SET and SAVE over 40% OFF.

Cornbread Hemp. Right now, Strange listeners can save 30% on their first order! Just head to cornbreadhemp.com/STRANGE and use code STRANGE at checkout.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Do you believe in signs from the universe?
0:07.9	Do you believe that a heavenly event can portend earthly ones?
0:12.5	If the skies lit up and then the earth cracked open and swallowed us,
0:16.9	wouldn't you think the sky had been trying to warn us?
0:22.4	Welcome to strange and unexplained with me, Daisy Egan.
0:25.9	I'm not a huge believer in signs from the universe.
0:29.5	I think the universe doesn't care much about us one way or the other.
0:33.2	Sometimes I do think that natural disasters are Earth's way of trying to shake us off, like fleas on a dog.
0:39.6	But plenty of people do believe in signs.
0:42.3	What I might call a coincidence or just cool timing, someone else might see as the universe sending them a message.
0:48.8	More power to you, if that's you.
0:50.9	I love all the ways people find to get through this life, especially the ways that don't
0:55.5	include being a dick to the people around you. So if it's looking for signs, look away. Listen,
1:01.9	sometimes a hat is just a hat, you know? And sometimes a comet is just a chunk of space debris
1:08.2	orbiting close enough to us so that we can see it every so often.
1:12.2	But it might not be so crazy to see a comet as a sign of things to come.
1:17.5	And for people without the benefit of scientific study and knowledge, it one begins innocuously enough.
1:45.5	In fact, it started out rather prosaically.
1:48.8	By March of 1811, a bright comet had been seen by almost everyone on Earth.
1:54.4	At first, it was too low in the sky for many to spot,
1:57.2	but by fall it had become a blazing presence across the sky, visible on Earth even
2:03.1	during the day, shocking in its constancy, and, as the world was not yet much limited by light pollution,
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Strange and Unexplained with Daisy Eagan, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Strange and Unexplained with Daisy Eagan and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.