Episode 206 – On Ken Russell's 'Altered States': Live at Indiana University Bloomington
This episode was recorded before a live audience at Indiana University Cinema as part of Weird Academia, a series of events that brought much high strangeness to Bloomington, Indiana, in January 2026....
11 Feb 1h 21min
Episode 205 – Discipline and Delight: On the Hierophant Card in the Tarot
In this episode of Weird Studies, we turn to the fifth Major Arcanum, the Hierophant, symbolizing tradition, instruction, and the exoteric aspect of spiritual practice. Drawing on Meditations on the T...
28 Jan 1h 33min
Episode 204 – The Perilous Realm: J.R.R. Tolkien's 'On Fairy Stories'
For Tolkien, fairy stories are not stories about fairies, but stories that take place in Faerie. And in doing so, they make Faerie present. They are not escapist fantasies but disclosures of a real mo...
14 Jan 1h 16min
Holiday Bonus: Scavengers in the Ruins of Heaven
To tide us over as we prepare for a new season of Weird Studies, here is an "audio extra," originally recorded for our Patreon supporters, wherein we discuss imposter syndrome, the eternal inadequacy ...
31 Dec 202532min
Episode 203 – Distant Early Warnings: A Return to Marshall McLuhan's 'Book of Probes'
Back in episode 112, Phil and JF devised a gimmick for a show: randomly select one of the many aphorisms in The Book of Probes, a compendium of Marshall McLuhan’s prophetic quips designed by David Car...
10 Dec 20251h 26min
Episode 202 – The Human is Two: On 'The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde'
In this episode, JF and Phil discuss Robert Louis Stevenson’s Gothic classic, the tale that conjured the fog-shrouded London hellscape that has haunted the modern imagination ever since. Though writte...
26 Nov 20251h 21min
Episode 201 – On James Whale's 'Frankenstein' and 'Bride of Frankenstein,' with Peter Bebergal
In this episode, Phil and JF are joined by independent scholar Peter Bebergal, author of Strange Frequencies, Season of the Witch, and other books on the intersections of culture, religion, and the oc...
12 Nov 20251h 10min
Halloween Special: A Reading of Arthur Machen's "The White People"
Originally released in 2018 but remixed for your listening pleasure, here's Phil reading Arthur Machen's classic weird tale, "The White People." Happy Halloween! Machen's "The White People" was discu...
31 Okt 20251h 39min
