In the summer of 1518, a woman began dancing in the streets of Strasbourg and couldn't stop. From a cursed Christmas Eve in 1021 to the great outbreak of 1374 in Aachen and Liège, where clergy performed exorcisms on dancers they believed were possessed by demons, this bonus minisode explores the strange history of dancing mania, also known as choreomania or St. Vitus’s Dance. How do we make sense of bodies that won't stop moving?

In 1865 a German physician published an account of an outbreak of meowing among a group of nuns in a medieval French convent. Where did this story originate? Was there really an epidemic of meowing nuns? Where did the idea that women are naturally prone to hysteria come from, and why did it persist well into the nineteenth century? This minisode brings you the story of the meowing nuns of medieval France and the men who told their story.

Since ancient times Avernus, an ancient volcanic crater in the Campania region of southern Italy, has been the source of legend. This minisode brings you the story of Italy’s legendary gateway to the underworld.

Once upon a time in Japan, a dragon fell in love with a goddess. In this subscriber-exclusive minisode, I bring you the story of the Ryūko-Myōjin shrine and the legend behind it.

The illustrious mistress of King Henry II of France was a woman whose beauty, intellect, and influence left an indelible mark on the French court. However, the very substance that promised her immortality might have been her undoing. This subscriber-exclusive minisode brings you the story of Diane de Poitiers and her potentially deadly pursuit of youth and beauty.