Podcast
Odd Anthropology
Hosted by Ivy Boyd and Taisha Koster · EN
Taisha Koster (BA in anthropology) and Ivy Boyd (anthropology student) bring you fascinating stories of the stranger side of humanity. New episode every month.
12episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
16: Orkney - Skara Brae (And Buddo!)
Apr 100:37:46Tap to summarizeThis month, Taisha takes us back to our dream home of Scotland and one of its most in-tact Neolithic settlements. Get ready for some fun archaeological discussions, meet our new bestie Buddo, and enjoy it all with a dash of whimsy and some extra bloopers inserted at the end of the episode.Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/oddanthropology/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/oddanthropologySubstack: https://oddanthropology.substack.comEmail: oddanthropology@gmail.comMusic by Joel Fazhari from Pixabay
Transcribe →15: The Curse of King Tut's Tomb!
Mar 900:35:40Tap to summarizeWelcome back friends! This month, let's take a closer look at the origins of the alleged curse behind the opening of the tomb of King Tutankhamun...Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/oddanthropology/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/oddanthropologySubstack: https://oddanthropology.substack.comEmail: oddanthropology@gmail.comMusic by Joel Fazhari from PixabayResources used for this episode:Owen Jarus, "King Tutankhamun: Life, death and mummy of ancient Egypt's boy pharaoh", Live Science, 2024Wikipedia Pages (Listen, SOMETIMES they are useful!) George Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon Tomb of Tutankhamun Curse of the pharaohs
Transcribe →14: Curious Considerations Vol. II - One Year Anniversary! (Voting for Favorite Episode of 2025)
Feb 100:26:58Tap to summarizeThis month, hosts Taisha and Ivy (future Vampire Hunters) round up last year’s subjects and let the listeners vote on their favorites! Who do you think would win in a fight between Tollund Man and Piltdown Man? Could Nessi beat them all? Join us and find out! We also chat some more about reoccurring enemy of the podcast IMPOSTER SYNDROME and discuss degree-seeking in anthropology. It's a great time, we promise! Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/oddanthropology/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/oddanthropologySubstack: https://oddanthropology.substack.comEmail: oddanthropology@gmail.comMusic by Joel Fazhari from Pixabay
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13: Ghosts!
Dec 2900:39:33Tap to summarizeWhat is a ghost? How long have we believed in them? Have they changed over time? This month, host Ivy decides to wrap up 2025 with an episode on ghosts by sharing some history and notable examples through time. We owe a HUGE thank you to everyone who has tuned in this year, and we cannot wait to be back again in 2026 with more stories of odd anthropology! Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/oddanthropology/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/oddanthropology Substack: https://oddanthropology.substack.com Email: oddanthropology@gmail.com Music by Joel Fazhari from Pixabay Suggested reading/videos: Dr. Irving Finkel, “The First Ghosts”, Hodder, 2021 Dr. Justin Sledge, “The Evolution of Ghosts”, Esoterica (YouTube), 2025 JoAnn Scurlock, “Mortal and Immortal Souls, Ghosts and the (Restless) Dead in Ancient Mesopotamia”, Religion Compass, 2016 Project Gutenberg - Pliny the Younger Letters to Licinius Sura (LXXXIII)
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12: Bipedalism and Sasquatch!
Nov 1200:47:25Tap to summarizeThis month, Taisha covers the basics of our bipedal (walking on two feet) evolution, using it to segway into the fascinating topic of SASQUATCH! Join us for casual conversations regarding our favorite Bigfoot theories, notable stories and encounters, and more on this illusive creature/spirit/alien... who knows!YouTube videos mentioned in this episode:Indigenous history and accounts - https://youtu.be/ApbXUAAeAWw?si=TilLw5aXXpt1l7zcApe Canyon Attack - https://youtu.be/4tp0A2zg6fs?si=gtBzRA-33s7cVMF_Capturing Bigfoot with Nutella (Haunted Objects Pod) - https://youtu.be/js7kMSV0NuE?si=V3rXf8HdFV0ABnQ6 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/oddanthropology/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/oddanthropologySubstack: https://oddanthropology.substack.comEmail: oddanthropology@gmail.comMusic by Joel Fazhari from Pixabay
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11: What Caused the Salem Witch Trials?
Oct 600:47:13Tap to summarizeIT'S THE BEST MONTH OF THE YEEEAAR! Let's celebrate with a subject most befitting: The Salem Witch Trials of 1692. Specifically, host Ivy talks about what events actually led to this deadly event. Was it all a land grab? Misogyny? Ergot poisoning? Let's find out!Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/oddanthropology/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/oddanthropologySubstack: https://oddanthropology.substack.comEmail: oddanthropology@gmail.comMusic by Joel Fazhari from PixabayResources used for this episode:Bolitho, Riley. The New England Puritans: History, Social Order, and Gender, Perspektywy Kultury, 2021;34(3):59-72 Linder, Douglas O. The Witchcraft Trials in Salem: An Account, UMKC School of Law, famous-trials.com/salem/2078-sal-acct. Accessed 29 June 2025.Parker, Geoffrey. Global Crisis: War, Climate Change and Catastrophe in the Seventeenth Century, “The Little Ice Age”, 1st ed. 2013 Yale University PressSchiff, S. (2015) The Witches: Salem 1692, New York, Little, Brown and Company, 2015
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10: Lilias Adie
Sep 200:43:32Tap to summarizeHappy September! Or shall we say, “Cemtember”. This month, Taisha eases us further into spooky season with a story involving some of our favorite topics: Scotland, witches, archaeology, a grave, and a missing skull… Can we solve the mystery? Probably not. But Scotland, please hire us to at least give it a try! Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/oddanthropology/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/oddanthropologySubstack: https://oddanthropology.substack.comEmail: oddanthropology@gmail.comMusic by Joel Fazhari from PixabayResources used for this episode:https://www.gutenberg.org/files/41928/41928-h/41928-h.htmhttps://fifecoastandcountrysidetrust.co.uk/witches-trail/https://www.differentia.co.uk/news/2020/10/2/fife-witches-trailhttps://engole.info/lilias-adie-witch/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/wanted-missing-bones-scottish-witch-180973033/https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-tayside-central-41775398https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-29689688https://witches.hca.ed.ac.uk/faq/https://www.britannica.com/place/Fife-council-area-Scotlandhttps://www.thenational.scot/news/17859215.bid-find-missing-bones-scottish-witch-feared-rise-dead/https://museumblog.wp.st-andrews.ac.uk/2020/09/15/witchcraft-and-mystery-or-the-object-that-never-was-in-our-collection/https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/A0457F3E3512CC1B3B342D118B9CE53E/S0009640700109655a.pdf/the-scottish-witchcraft-act.pdfWitches of Scotland Podcast – Episodes 21, 22, & 23Mill Dust and Dreaming Bread – Scott Richardson-Read
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9: The Paris Catacombs Pt. 2 (The ghosts!)
Aug 1900:29:05Tap to summarizeWe are excited to announce our new collaboration with Bath & Body Works, featuring the highly anticipated Corpse Wax line! (Just kidding though, don't get mad Bath & Body Works!) Today, Ivy wraps up her two-part series on the Paris Catacombs with some of its most famous ghostly tales. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/oddanthropology/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/oddanthropologySubstack: https://oddanthropology.substack.comEmail: oddanthropology@gmail.comMusic by Joel Fazhari from PixabayResources used for this episode:The Unexplained The Haunted Catacombs of France for Mediumhttps://medium.com/@TheUnexplained/the-haunted-catacombs-of-france-2ca1c5228169 Leyla Alyanak 9 Eminently Haunted Places in Paris for Off Beat France https://www.offbeatfrance.com/most-haunted-places-in-paris.html
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8: The Paris Catacombs Pt. 1
Aug 100:35:58Tap to summarizeThe Paris Catacombs (well, its actually an "ossuary") is one of the most famous tourist attractions in France. Floor to ceiling human bones, along with the dark, cave-like nature of the catacombs, gives this location a somber, macabre, yet intriguing appeal. For this episode, co-host Ivy shares the history of its creation and dives into the issue of ethics often brought up when discussing human remains which have been used in such a manor. (How does this tie in with anthropology, you might ask? Um…old bones…yeah, we can justify its discussion here on Odd Anthro!) Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/oddanthropology/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/oddanthropology Substack: https://oddanthropology.substack.com Email: oddanthropology@gmail.com Music by Joel Fazhari from Pixabay Resources used for this episode: Jessica Pearce Rotondi The Dark Origins of the Paris Catacombs (November 2023, updated May 2025) for HISTORY https://www.history.com/articles/paris-catacombs-origins Philibert Aspairt for Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philibert_Aspairt Les Catacombes de Paris - History https://www.catacombes.paris.fr/en/history
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7: Homo Floresiensis
Jul 100:37:27Tap to summarizeAlso known as the "hobbits", this early human stood at around three feet tall and may be involved in local folklores...Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/oddanthropology/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/oddanthropologySubstack: https://oddanthropology.substack.comEmail: oddanthropology@gmail.comMusic by Joel Fazhari from PixabayResources used for this episode:https://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/human-fossils/species/homo-floresiensishttps://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/homo-floresiensis-hobbit.htmlhttps://australian.museum/learn/science/human-evolution/homo-floresiensis/https://aeon.co/ideas/investigating-homo-floresiensis-and-the-myth-of-the-ebu-gogohttps://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/aug/16/flores-hobbit-human-downs-syndrome-claim-homo-floresiensis
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