The Graveyard Panic of 1862

The Box of Oddities

John Elliott and Kat Walls

Society & Culture, True Crime, Comedy

4.8 • 3K Ratings

🗓️ 3 June 2026

⏱️ 35 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

What happens when an entire city becomes convinced the dead are being stolen from their graves? And what if the rumor turns out to be both wrong... and horrifyingly right? In this episode of The Box of Oddities, Kat and Jethro uncover the bizarre true story of the Wardsend Cemetery Riot of 1862, when thousands of terrified Victorians stormed a cemetery in Sheffield, England, fearing grave robbers were selling corpses to medical schools. The truth behind the scandal revealed a disturbing burial scheme, public outrage, and one of the strangest riots in British history. Then, travel from a Victorian graveyard to the freeways of Los Angeles, where a frustrated artist secretly installed his own highway sign to fix a dangerous traffic problem. For months, nobody noticed—and the unauthorized sign may have helped save lives. Was it vandalism, public service, or a brilliant act of guerrilla urban design? From resurrection men and cemetery conspiracies to stealth infrastructure and accidental civic heroism, this episode explores the strange intersection of fear, ingenuity, and the unexpected ways ordinary people can change history. The Box of Oddities is a podcast dedicated to the weird, the wonderful, and the wildly true. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Listen up.
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0:45.2	a do-over for AI. Our panelists will discuss what you may see and what you may not see. This
0:52.0	week on MacB Break Weekly. Join us every tuesday you'll find it at
0:54.7	twit dot tv slash mbw or wherever you get your podcasts the box of oddities we have talked in the past
1:03.9	about the crypto zoology museum which was founded by uh Lauren Coleman who is worldowned when it comes to cryptozoology.
1:13.8	And it was in Portland, Maine, but they've relocated it to Bangor, Maine.
1:17.4	We're super excited about the new location, not just because, obviously, we're jazzed
1:22.9	that Bangor is getting a Cryptozoology museum, but, it's a very cool building that I'm glad is being
1:29.0	put to use. Yeah, it's a very art deco, 1940s kind of style. It looks like a gas station in
1:35.7	Back to the Future. It really does. And we're very fortunate to have an inside scoop. Oh, we do.
1:42.7	One of the members of the Freak family, Dean, was just hired there,
1:47.3	and he's going to be working full time at the Cryptozoology Museum so he can give us all kinds
1:52.0	of inside information. Also, maybe get us in for free. Maybe. That would be a cool place to do a live
1:58.5	show. Absolutely. Well, let's think about that.
2:01.7	And coming from Bangor, I mean, we've seen so many really cool things be developed there that are on the spooky side.
2:09.5	I think because, you know, it's where Stephen King lives.
2:11.9	It makes sense.
2:13.2	No, I think the spooky of Bangor predates Stephen King.
2:17.4	He just added to it.
	...

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