SPILLED.

• The Dancing Plagues - There Wasn't Just One...

  In this episode, we get into the absolutely unhinged Dancing Plague of 1518 — the real moment when hundreds of people in Strasbourg danced for days, weeks, and sometimes literally to death. We look at the dance manias that came before, the political and religious chaos that had everyone on edge, and how it all escalated after Frau Troffea started dancing and just… didn’t stop. We break down the competing explanations of the time — curses, saints, divine punishment, choreomania, humors, ergot, even early “hysteria.” Then we connect it to now: what the dancing plague can teach us about mass psychogenic illness, social contagion, and the way behaviors go viral today, from TikTok tics to doomscrolling spirals. A weird, chaotic, and surprisingly relevant deep dive into one of history’s strangest events.   Sources: Andrews, Evan. “What Was the Dancing Plague of 1518?” History, August 31, 2015. Lapinskas, Vincas. “A Brief History of Ergotism: From St. Anthony’s Fire and St. Vitus’ Dance until Today.” Medicina Teorija ir Praktika, 2007. Miller, Lynneth J. “Divine Punishment or Disease? Medieval and Early Modern Approaches to the 1518 Strasbourg Dancing Plague.” Dance Research 35, no. 2 (2017): 149–164. Petlevski, Sibila. “Choreomanic NeuroDance and Its Aesthetics: Dance Research and Controversies Connected to Cognitive Neuroscience and Meme Theory.” In Taboo–Transgression–Transcendence in Art and Science, 650–674. Sweeney, John. “INFECTIOUS CONNECTIVITY: ILLUSTRATING THE THREE TOMORROWS.” In The Postnormal Times Reader, edited by Ziauddin Sardar, 137–58. Turner, Osie. The Dance Manias of the Middle Ages. The Forlorn Press, 2013. Waller, John. “A Forgotten Plague: Making Sense of Dancing Mania.” The Lancet 373, no. 9664 (2009): 624–625. Waller, John C. “In a Spin: The Mysterious Dancing Epidemic of 1518.” Endeavour 32, no. 3 (2008): 117–121.

  --------  

  58:19

  --------

  58:19
• Exotic Dancer Turned WW1 Spy: Mata Hari

  efore she became the most infamous “female spy” of World War I, Mata Hari was a Dutch dancer who turned her heartbreak and reinvention into performance art. Celebrated across Belle Époque Europe for her seductive “Eastern” dances, she embodied every fantasy — and every fear — men had about powerful women. When war broke out, that fantasy turned fatal. Accused of being a double agent, Mata Hari was tried, convicted, and executed for espionage — though the evidence was almost entirely fabricated. In this episode, we unravel how a woman who blurred the line between performance and identity became the perfect scapegoat for France’s paranoia. Was she a master spy, a myth, or just a woman ahead of her time?   Sources: Alfonso, Kristal L. M. “Introduction.” Femme Fatale: An Examination of the Role of Women in Combat and the Policy Implications for Future American Military Operations. Air University Press, 2009. http://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep13932.6. Anderson, Jack, and Joseph Spear. “Mata Hari Was Framed, Files Show.” Washington Post, November 23, 1985. Central Intelligence Agency. https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP90-00965R000100120015-5.pdf. Andrews, Evan. “The Dancer Who Became WWI’s Most Notorious Spy.” History, August 5, 2016. https://www.history.com/articles/the-exotic-dancer-who-became-wwis-most-notorious-spy. “‘Mata Hari’ alias McLeod Margaretha Geertruida (Marguerite Gertrude): Executed by the French in 1917 for Accusations of Spying for Germany, KV 2/1, 1914–1924.” The National Archives (UK). https://cdn.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documents/filesonfilm/mata-hari-alias-mcleod-margaretha-geertruida-marguerite-gertrude-kv-2-1.pdf. Matano, Lisette. “Letters from Mata Hari.” Georgetown University Library, June 24, 2016. https://library.georgetown.edu/special-collections/manuscripts/letters-mata-hari. Myers, Alice. “France Executes Mata Hari.” EBSCO Research Starters, 2023. https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/history/france-executes-mata-hari. Solly, Meilan. “Revisiting the Myth of Mata Hari, From Sultry Spy to Government Scapegoat.” Smithsonian Magazine, November 1, 2017. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/revisiting-myth-mata-hari-sultry-spy-government-scapegoat-180967013. Wheelwright, J. “The Language of Espionage: Mata Hari and the Creation of the Spy-Courtesan.” In Languages and the First World War: Representation and Memory, edited by C. Declercq and J. Walker, 164–177. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137550361_11. Wheelwright, J. “Poisoned Honey: The Myth of Women in Espionage.” Queen’s Quarterly 100, no. 2 (2019): 291–309. “Mata Hari.” Fries Museum, https://www.friesmuseum.nl/en/collection/icons/mata-hari. Accessed 2 Nov. 2025. Pitel, Laura. “Cache of Files Unveils British and Irish Conquests in Mata Hari’s Last Summer of Seduction.” The Times, 21 Oct. 2023, https://www.thetimes.com/world/europe/article/cache-of-files-unveils-british-and-irish-conquests-in-mata-haris-last-summer-of-seduction-gp0zc8spp. “‘Mata Hari’ alias McLeod Margaretha Geertruida (Marguerite Gertrude): Executed by the French in 1917 for Accusations of Spying for Germany, KV 2/1, 1914–1924.” The National Archives (UK), https://cdn.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documents/filesonfilm/mata-hari-alias-mcleod-margaretha-geertruida-marguerite-gertrude-kv-2-1.pdf. Accessed 2 Nov. 2025. Andrews, Evan. “The Dancer Who Became WWI’s Most Notorious Spy.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 5 Aug. 2016, https://www.history.com/articles/the-exotic-dancer-who-became-wwis-most-notorious-spy. “Mata Hari.” Vincentian Collections, DePaul University, https://resources.depaul.edu/vincentian-collections/story/footnotes/Pages/MataHari.aspx. Accessed 2 Nov. 2025. “New-York Tribune (New York, NY), June 25, 1905.” Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/sn83030214/1905-06-25/ed-1/.

  --------  

  45:43

  --------

  45:43
• Abe Lincoln’s Ghost & White House Seances

  Is Abraham Lincoln still haunting the halls of the White House?  This week on SPILLED., we’re talking presidential paranormal activity. He showed up in offices and bathrooms alike. Was Honest Abe trying to warn us… or just checking in on democracy? Join us as we unpack the ghostly lore surrounding Lincoln, the séances held in the White House, and why America’s most solemn president became its most famous spirit. Expect spooky history, dramatic retellings, and our completely unqualified theories. Tune in if you love ghost stories, U.S. history, or the weird overlap between politics and the paranormal. Sources: Bach, Jennifer L. “Acts of Remembrance: Mary Todd Lincoln and Her Husband’s Memory.” Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association 25, no. 2 (2004): 25–49. http://www.jstor.org/stable/20149062. Baker, Jean H. Mary Todd Lincoln: A Biography. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1987. DJangi, Parissa. “Séances at the White House? Why These First Ladies Turned to the Occult.” National Geographic, April 24, 2024. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/seances-at-the-white-house. Kommel, Alexandra. “Séances in the Red Room: How Spiritualism Comforted the Nation during and after the Civil War.” White House History, April 24, 2019. https://www.whitehousehistory.org/seances-in-the-red-room. Moore, R. Laurence. “Spiritualism and Science: Reflections on the First Decade of the Spirit Rappings.” American Quarterly 24, no. 4 (1972): 474–500. https://doi.org/10.2307/2711685. Pimple, Kenneth D. “Ghosts, Spirits, and Scholars: The Origins of Modern Spiritualism.” In Out Of The Ordinary: Folklore and the Supernatural, edited by Barbara Walker, 75–89. University Press of Colorado, 1995. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt46nwn8.10. White House Historical Association. “White House Ghost Stories.” White House History. Accessed October 21, 2025. https://www.whitehousehistory.org/press-room/press-backgrounders/white-house-ghost-stories. “Last Hours Of Abraham Lincoln.” The British Medical Journal 1, no. 231 (1865): 569–70. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25204716. West, Nancy M. “CAMERA FIENDS: EARLY PHOTOGRAPHY, DEATH, AND THE SUPERNATURAL.” The Centennial Review 40, no. 1 (1996): 170–206. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23740730.

  --------  

  39:09

  --------

  39:09
• No Blood, No Sparkles — China’s Hopping Vampires

  A corpse that hops through the night in Qing dynasty robes—sounds fake, right? But the jiāngshī was once a very real fear. This week, we’re talking about China’s “hopping vampires,” and how they came from something way less supernatural: family obligations, burial delays, and the weird science of what happens to a body when you can’t lay it to rest. We get into corpse-walking rituals, qi-stealing, peachwood talismans, and why people started sleeping with mirrors by their beds. We also compare the jiāngshī to the Western vampire—because spoiler: they’re not drinking blood, and they’re definitely not hot. By the end, it’s not really a question of vampire or virus. It’s about what happens when death doesn’t go smoothly, and how communities turned anxiety into rules, rituals, and really good ghost stories. Works Cited Works Cited All About History Team. “Chinese Hopping Vampires: The Qing Dynasty Roots Behind the Jiangshi Legend.” All About History, 2 Dec. 2015, www.historyanswers.co.uk/ancient/two-new-bookazines-on-sale-today/ . Accessed 21 Oct. 2025. Blair, John. Killing the Dead: Vampire Epidemics from Mesopotamia to the New World. Princeton University Press, 2025. https://doi.org/10.2307/jj.29075015 . “Jiangshi: The Hopping Dead.” Fangoria, www.fangoria.com/jiangshi-the-hopping-dead/ . Accessed 21 Oct. 2025. Francis, Sing-chen Lydia. “‘What Confucius Wouldn’t Talk About’: The Grotesque Body and Literati Identities in Yuan Mei’s ‘Zi Buyu.’” Chinese Literature: Essays, Articles, Reviews (CLEAR), vol. 24, 2002, pp. 129–60. https://doi.org/10.2307/823479 . “[Google Books preview; book title unavailable].” Google Books, books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=xhJgEAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA146. Accessed 21 Oct. 2025. Liu, Xiongfei, editor. “A Mystery in Western Hunan: Walking Corpse.” ChinaCulture.org, 5 Dec. 2011, en.chinaculture.org/chineseway/2011-12/05/content_426742.htm. Accessed 21 Oct. 2025. Louie, Kam, and Louise Edwards. “Introduction.” Censored by Confucius: Ghost Stories by Yuan Mei, by Yuan Mei, M. E. Sharpe, 1996, pp. vii–xviii. Radford, Benjamin. “Vampires: Fact, Fiction and Folklore.” Live Science, 22 Oct. 2014, www.livescience.com/24374-vampires-real-history.html . Accessed 21 Oct. 2025. Tran, Nga. “Hopping Vampire – 僵尸 (Jiāngshī).” Chinese Popular Culture Terms, vol. 2, University of Houston Libraries, 2023, uhlibraries.pressbooks.pub/chin3343fa23/chapter/hoppingvampire/. Accessed 21 Oct. 2025. Wood, S. A. “The Jiang Shi.” Medium, 10 Feb. 2020, medium.com/@shwnwd/the-jiang-shi-b97532e7e975. Accessed 21 Oct. 2025. Yuan, Mei. Zibuyu, “What the Master Would Not Discuss,” According to Yuan Mei (1716–1798): A Collection of Supernatural Stories. Vol. 1, edited by Paolo Santangelo, in cooperation with Yan Beiwen, Brill, 2013.

  --------  

  1:01:21

  --------

  1:01:21
• How to Spot a Witch: The Origin of Witches, Witch Hunts, and…Demon Sex?

  Join Kendyl and Delaney as they explore the origins of witches and witch hunts across early modern Europe when bad weather, curdled milk, or a cranky neighbor could get you accused of serving the devil. We unpack what actually made someone a “witch,” who decided that, and how it all ties back to the social and religious stressors of the time. Plus: Kendyl buys a spell off Etsy (for science) and learns that modern witchcraft… may not come with a money-back guarantee.   Sources:  Primary / Foundational The Bible: Exodus 22:18; Deuteronomy 18:10–12; Leviticus 20:27; 1 Samuel 28 (Witch of Endor). Kramer (Institoris), Heinrich, and Jacob Sprenger. Malleus Maleficarum (1486). Boguet, Henri. Discours des sorciers (Lyon, 1610). Alice Kyteler case (Ireland, 1324) — as summarized in the packet. “Confession of Béatrice” — heretical/diabolic confession excerpts summarized in the packet. Suzanne Gaudry (France, 1652) — trial narrative summarized in the packet. Rebecca Lemp (Germany, 1590s) — coerced confession example summarized in the packet. Secondary / Scholarship & Reference Bailey, Michael D. “The Meanings of Magic.” In Magic: The Basics, pp. 8–23. Abingdon & New York: Routledge, 2018. Behringer, Wolfgang. “Weather, Hunger and Fear: Origins of the European Witch-Hunts in Climate, Society and Mentality.” German History 13, no. 1 (1995): 1–27. Cole, Lucinda. “Rats, Witches, Miasma, and Early Modern Theories of Contagion.” In Imperfect Creatures: Vermin, Literature, and the Sciences of Life, 1600–1740, 24–48. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2016. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt1gk0873.5 Larsen, Aaron John Henry. “Darkest Forests and Highest Mountains: The Witches’ Sabbath and Landscapes of Fear in Early Modern Demonologies.” European Review of History 31, no. 1 (2023): 157–174. https://doi.org/10.1080/13507486.2023.2230591 Moore, R. I. The Formation of a Persecuting Society: Authority and Deviance in Western Europe, 950–1250. 2nd ed. Oxford: Blackwell. (esp. pp. 94–116 as flagged in notes) Oster, Emily. “Witchcraft, Weather and Economic Growth in Renaissance Europe.” Journal of Economic Perspectives 18, no. 1 (2004): 215–228. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3216882 Winkler, Albert. “Judicial Murder: The Witch-Craze in Germany and Switzerland.” Swiss American Historical Society Review 59, no. 1 (2023). (BYU ScholarsArchive) Berkeley Law — Robbins Collection. Witch Trials in Early Modern Europe and New England (exhibit/overview; legal developments & diabolical witchcraft framing).

  --------  

  1:16:51

  --------

  1:16:51

More Comedy podcasts

Trending Comedy podcasts

About SPILLED.

SPILLED.: Podcasts in Family