One Strange Thing: True Paranormal Mysteries

Sports fans have superstitions. . . and believe in curses. For Japan’s Hanshin Tigers, a huge win led to their biggest regret: an alleged curse tied to an American fast-food icon from Kentucky. Be sure to check the link in the show notes for an update!
Update since our original premium release (2022): https://www.mlb.com/news/the-japanese-team-cursed-by-colonel-sanders

Hosted, written, and researched by Laurah Norton
Additional research by Bryan Worters
Produced and Engineered by Maura Currie

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Get 20% off your DeleteMe plan when you go to joindeleteme.com/STRANGE and use promo code STRANGE at checkout!

This episode was originally released as Premium Episode 24.
One Strange Thing: True Paranormal Mysteries explores the archives of the unexplained, blending rigorous historical research with a wry, skeptical wit to investigate true supernatural stories and baffling mysteries that made headlines.
Dive into our Episode Mystery Archive — a curated, topic-organized source for documented hauntings, UFO sightings, cryptids, folklore, and bizarre true mysteries. Check it out here! https://www.onestrangethingpodcast.com/episodes-by-topic-mystery-archive

Sources on our website: https://www.onestrangethingpodcast.com/
Join us on Patreon for early release and ad-free episodes, exclusive stories, and bonus
episodes: https://www.patreon.com/OneStrangeThing
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Copyright 2026 The Fall Line Podcast LLC - One Strange Thing Podcast
We work with Amplitude Media Partners (AMP) to power our advertising and grow with the right sponsors. Contact AMP with any ad inquiries; sales@amplitudemediapartners.com.


Works Cited
Trevor Raichura, The Hanshin Tigers English News, The Hanshin Tigers.
Ron Jenkins, “Missing Colonel Sanders. . .” The Oklahoman, 2009.
N/A, AP, “Colonel Sanders Pulled. . .” The Salt Lake City Tribune, 2009.
Ken Belson, “Japan’s Tigers defy past. . .” The International Herald Tribune, 2003.
N/A, “Bass Hopes Soaked. . .” The Lawton Constitution, 2009.
Steven Stark “Japan’s Tigers Dispel. . .” The Gazette, 2003.
N/A, France Press Agency AFP “Japan Baseball Fans. . .” 2009
Staff, “Japanese Baseball Fans Hope. . .” The Guardian, 2009.
Jim Armstrong, “Licking the Colonel” The National Post, 2009.
N/A, “The Curse of the Colonel” Global Post Asia, 2009.
N/A. “Twins Draft Hurler. . .” The Star Tribune, 1972.
Janice Tay, “Breaking the Curse. . .” The Straits Times, 2009.
N/A, “Hanshin Tigers,” Japanball.
Robert Siegel, “An End to. . .” All Things Considered, NPR, 2009.
N/A, “Baseball: Struggling Tigers. . .” Agence France Presse, 2009.
Jay Alabaster, “Colonel Sanders Rescued. . .” Associated Press International, 2009.
Danglickman, “Is this the End. . .” Baseball Continuum, 2014.
Jim Armstrong, “Long Wait Over. . .” Associated Press International, 2003.



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Pennsylvania’s saddest, ugliest, and somehow most adorable cryptid, the squonk, is here to teach you a valuable lesson. And to melt. There’s that, too.
Hosted and Written by Laurah Norton
Research by Laurah Norton
Produced by Maura Currie
Engineered by Brandon Schexnayder
Get 20% off your DeleteMe plan when you go to joindeleteme.com/STRANGE and use promo code STRANGE at checkout!

This episode originally ran on the mainfeed as Episode 98.
One Strange Thing: True Paranormal Mysteries explores the archives of the unexplained, blending rigorous historical research with a wry, skeptical wit to investigate true supernatural stories and baffling mysteries that made headlines.
Dive into our Episode Mystery Archive — a curated, topic-organized source for documented hauntings, UFO sightings, cryptids, folklore, and bizarre true mysteries. Check it out here! https://www.onestrangethingpodcast.com/episodes-by-topic-mystery-archive

Sources on our website: https://www.onestrangethingpodcast.com/
Join us on Patreon for early release and ad-free episodes, exclusive stories, and bonus
episodes: https://www.patreon.com/OneStrangeThing
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/onestrangethingpod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/One-Strange-Thing-114307627035607
Subscribe to our Substack: https://substack.com/@onestrangething

Copyright 2026 The Fall Line Podcast LLC - One Strange Thing Podcast
We work with Amplitude Media Partners (AMP) to power our advertising and grow with the right sponsors. Contact AMP with any ad inquiries; sales@amplitudemediapartners.com.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Folklore can be fun, can’t it, strangers? It can also be downright terrifying, especially when used to frighten children into being good: everyone from Dolly Parton to Thomas Jefferson seems to have heard of Rawhead Bloody Bones and the cautionary tales of dark woods, drafty attics, and even lakes. But where did all the monstrous behavior begin? We try to find out.

Get 20% off your DeleteMe plan when you go to joindeleteme.com/STRANGE and use promo code STRANGE at checkout!

Hosted and Written by Laurah Norton
Research by Laurah Norton and Anna Luria
Engineered by Rachel Boyd/Southern Gothic media
One Strange Thing: True Paranormal Mysteries explores the archives of the unexplained, blending rigorous historical research with a wry, skeptical wit to investigate true supernatural stories and baffling mysteries that made headlines.
Dive into our Episode Mystery Archive — a curated, topic-organized source for documented hauntings, UFO sightings, cryptids, folklore, and bizarre true mysteries. Check it out here! https://www.onestrangethingpodcast.com/episodes-by-topic-mystery-archive

Sources on our website: https://www.onestrangethingpodcast.com/
Join us on Patreon for early release and ad-free episodes, exclusive stories, and bonus
episodes: https://www.patreon.com/OneStrangeThing
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/onestrangethingpod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/One-Strange-Thing-114307627035607
Subscribe to our Substack: https://substack.com/@onestrangething

Copyright 2026 The Fall Line Podcast LLC - One Strange Thing Podcast
We work with Amplitude Media Partners (AMP) to power our advertising and grow with the right sponsors. Contact AMP with any ad inquiries; sales@amplitudemediapartners.com.



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In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the science world was overwhelmed with strange new findings out of Australia. One particular species was assumed to be a hoax… and even when it was established that the platypus was, in fact, real? It didn’t make these strange creatures make more sense.
Get 20% off your DeleteMe plan when you go to joindeleteme.com/STRANGE and use promo code STRANGE at checkout!

Hosted by Laurah Norton
Research by Anna Luria and Maura Currie
Written, Produced and Engineered by Maura Currie
One Strange Thing: True Paranormal Mysteries explores the archives of the unexplained, blending rigorous historical research with a wry, skeptical wit to investigate true supernatural stories and baffling mysteries that made headlines.
This episode was originally released as Premium Episode 54.
Dive into our Episode Mystery Archive — a curated, topic-organized source for documented hauntings, UFO sightings, cryptids, folklore, and bizarre true mysteries. Check it out here! https://www.onestrangethingpodcast.com/episodes-by-topic-mystery-archive

Sources on our website: https://www.onestrangethingpodcast.com/
Join us on Patreon for early release and ad-free episodes, exclusive stories, and bonus
episodes: https://www.patreon.com/OneStrangeThing
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/onestrangethingpod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/One-Strange-Thing-114307627035607
Subscribe to our Substack: https://substack.com/@onestrangething


Copyright 2026 The Fall Line Podcast LLC - One Strange Thing Podcast
We work with Amplitude Media Partners (AMP) to power our advertising and grow with the right sponsors. Contact AMP with any ad inquiries; sales@amplitudemediapartners.com.


Works Cited
George Shaw, “The Duck-Billed Platypus,” The Naturalist’s Miscellany, 1798.
NA, “Scientists Trying to Save…” The Washington Herald, 1928.
Abby Ohlheiser, “The platypus is so weird…” the Washington Post, 2015.
Natalie Zarrelli, “Why 19th-century naturalists…” Atlas Obscura, 2016.
Brian K. Hall, “The paradoxical platypus,” Bioscience, 1999.
Willey Ley, “Bring our private files…” Star Tribune, 1948.
James MacDonald, “The platypus is even weirder…” JSTOR Daily, 2018.
Gilad Bino et al, “The platypus: evolutionary…” Journal of Mammalogy, 2019.
Stephen C. George, “When scientists believed the adorable…” Discover Magazine, 2023.
NA, “The lying stones of…” Geological Society of London, 2017.
Jessica Leigh Hester, “The beautiful complexity of…” Atlas Obscura, 2018.
Annetta Black, “Objects of Intrigue: Fiji…” Atlas Obscura, 2013.
Douglas Main, “We knew platypuses…” National Geographic, 2020.
John Yoon, “What scientists learned from…” the New York Times, 2024.
Mindy Weisberger, “Platypuses glow an eerie…” LiveScience, 2020.
Lucie Cutting, “Woman spurred by platypus…” ABC, 2023.
Platypus



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We take a trip with Resurrection Mary, Chicago’s most famous hitchhiking ghost, down Archer Avenue and into the history that surrounds her endless treks to her eternal home: Resurrection Cemetery. As vanishing hitchhikers go, she might just be the most infamous. . . and perhaps the most beloved, too.

Get 20% off your DeleteMe plan when you go to joindeleteme.com/STRANGE and use promo code STRANGE at checkout!

Hosted and Written by Laurah Norton

Research by Laurah Norton and Anna Luria

Engineered by Rachel Boyd/Southern Gothic media

One Strange Thing: True Paranormal Mysteries explores the archives of the unexplained, blending rigorous historical research with a wry, skeptical wit to investigate true supernatural stories and baffling mysteries that made headlines.

Dive into our Episode Mystery Archive — a curated, topic-organized source for documented hauntings, UFO sightings, cryptids, folklore, and bizarre true mysteries. Check it out here! https://www.onestrangethingpodcast.com/episodes-by-topic-mystery-archive



Sources on our website: https://www.onestrangethingpodcast.com/

Join us on Patreon for early release and ad-free episodes, exclusive stories, and bonus

episodes: https://www.patreon.com/OneStrangeThing

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/onestrangethingpod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/One-Strange-Thing-114307627035607

Subscribe to our Substack: https://substack.com/@onestrangething

Copyright 2026 The Fall Line Podcast LLC - One Strange Thing Podcast

We work with Amplitude Media Partners (AMP) to power our advertising and grow with the right sponsors. Contact AMP with any ad inquiries; sales@amplitudemediapartners.com.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.