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The Box of Oddities

Your Brain Is Hiding Things From You

The Box of Oddities

John Elliott and Kat Walls

Society & Culture, True Crime, Comedy

4.8 • 3K Ratings

🗓️ 8 April 2026

⏱️ 40 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

What if reality isn’t what you think it is? In this episode of The Box of Oddities, Kat and Jethro peel back the limits of human perception—starting with a real scientific phenomenon that suggests some people can see millions more colors than the rest of us. Meet the mysterious test subject known as CDA-29, whose vision may reveal that what we call “reality” is just a simplified version our brains can handle. If that’s true… what are we not seeing? Then, the journey shifts from science to something far more unsettling. Deep within the historic forts of San Juan, Puerto Rico, a sentry once vanished without a trace—sparking centuries of chilling theories involving vampires, shadowy creatures, and something lurking just beyond the edge of perception. Fast forward to the 1970s, and reports of blood-drained livestock begin surfacing across the island… leading to one of the most infamous cryptids in modern history: the Chupacabra. Is it folklore? Misidentified animals? A military experiment gone wrong? Or something far stranger? Plus, in this episode’s “Thing in the Middle,” discover some of the strangest taxes ever imposed—from urine in Ancient Rome to window taxes that literally darkened cities. This episode blends science, mystery, and the unsettling possibility that the world around you is far more complex—and far more terrifying—than you realize. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

Welcome to True Spies.

0:02.0

The podcast that takes you deep inside the greatest secret missions of all time.

0:08.0

Suddenly out of the dark that's appeared in Laubman.

0:10.0

You'll meet the people who live life undercover.

0:13.0

What do they know? What are their skills?

0:16.0

And what would you do in their position?

0:18.0

Vengeance felt good.

0:20.0

Seeing these people pay for what they'd done felt righteous.

0:24.6

True spies from Spyscape Studios, wherever you get your podcasts.

0:31.8

The Box of Oddities.

0:35.6

So after our last episode, when you told the story about how you were, you just finished

0:41.7

up dog sitting and house sitting, and you left notes for the dogs to not pee in certain

0:49.3

parts of the house and then forgot to remove the notes.

0:54.2

We were all wondering, what was the reaction of the homeowner?

0:59.2

So, yeah, I did get a text that said, I am home.

1:03.7

So I arrived home after having to pee pretty bad after a long drive.

1:08.7

Then I see your note for the boys and I laughed so hard I nearly

1:13.0

peed my pants. I'm going to leave it and see if they are so disobedient that they pee on the note.

1:20.1

Oh, that's glorious. She's funny. What a great moment that is. Yeah. I'm glad it wasn't. Hello, yes, please never come to my home again. It could have gone either way. I really could have. Really. I think this ought to be built into a recurring theme. Every time you watch her dogs, you leave notes for the dogs. Or maybe take it a step further and start leaving notes for like the trees and things in the yard.

1:47.9

Well, here's the thing about that is while I was there, a branch fell off one of the trees because it was heavy with airplants.

1:56.2

And so obviously I had to pick the airplants up and put them back into a tree.

2:01.4

So I found a nice little crook in a tree and I jam them in there so that they would have a place to live.

...

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