Originally posted on Patreon on March 11, 2024.

As we're exploring tools used by ghost hunters and mediums, let's take a look at the Ouija board, a mass produced version of the talking board, which was born out of the impatience of Spiritualists attending seances in the late 1800s.

Happy Halloween! In celebration, Hallie is proud to present Perfect Skin, a short horror story, written exclusively for the MCP by author L.J. Stanton.

This audiobook will be free for everyone for two weeks. After that, it will only be accessible to patrons of the MCP.

CW: Body horror, pregnancy horror, birth horror

In the beginning of 1692, young women in Salem village began experiencing strange symptoms, which were soon blamed on witchcraft. The girls began accusing neighbours of bewitching them, escalating the situation. More and more young women became afflicted and more townsfolk were accused. 19 people were eventually executed.

In this second instalment, Hallie discusses the criminal trials, the executions, and the rise and fall of the power of the afflicted.

In the beginning of 1692, young women in Salem village began experiencing strange symptoms, which were soon blamed on witchcraft. The girls accused three women of bewitching them, but instead of resolving the case, the matter only escalated. More young women were afflicted and more townsfolk were accused, and 19 people were eventually executed.

In this first instalment, Hallie discusses what was going on in Salem when accusations began to fly, who was afflicted, who was accused, and who was hearing the cases.

In this special spooky season episode, Hallie interviews Ryan Matthew Cohn (Oddities) and Regina Marie Rossi (Oddities Flea Market) about their upcoming book The Witch's Door. They talk exploded skulls, provenance, ethical collecting and more! The book is part personal history and part examination of specific objects from their massive oddity and curiosity collection. 

MCP host Hallie sites down with John and Rob Donkin, also known as Bad Viking Games, to discuss thier cozy mystery game Strange Horticulture. You are the owner of horticultural shop in the bleak town of Undermere. Many of the plants you stock can heal or harm. When murder strikes, you are dragged into a web of intreague involving witches, cults, and many toxic plants. 

CW: Detailed descriptions of execution methods and corpse desecration

Before 1868, executions in England were held in designated public spaces. One of these was famous due to its long history as a place of death and for the large number of criminals that could be executed at once. That place was Tyburn and its infamous execution apparatus was known as the Tyburn Tree.

"Lizzie Borden took an axe

and gave her mother 40 whacks.

When she saw what she had done

she gave her father 41." 

Or did she?

In this epic remaster of the MCP's very first episode, we go over the details of the murder case against Lizzie Borden, and discuss what might have happened in Fall River on Aug 4th, 1892. 

The original epiosde was released on July 31, 2016 and was titled 'An Axe to Grind.'

Please enjoy this remasterd and updated version!

During the Victorian era, the display of differently abled humans, termed the Freak Show, was a hugely popular form of entertainment. Today this form of entertainment is nearly taboo, but the morbid fascination with disability and physical differences remains. Let's discuss why.

It may come as a surprise, but most plants aren't very friendly. Like most creatures, they survive by defending themselves against predators, parasites, and pathogens. Some have developed quite extreme defence mechanisms, and they are subject of this episode.

CW: animal experimentation, mental illness, suicide, non-consensual surgical procedures, malpractice and abuse in mental health facilities.

One of the most infamous procedures from the era of psychosurgery is the Lobotomy. From the beginning there was criticism that lobotomy was too unpredictable and invasive to treat mental illness. Despite this, the procedure was marketed as a miracle cure and thousands of vulnerable people were subjected to it, with and without their consent.