Claire and Jess talk about COVID-19 and what a mess the past year has been, as well as other notable plagues throughout history. Additionally, the movie Outbreak (1995) gets the recognition it finally deserves.

PS - Hey friends! We know the audio gets a little dicey at points in this episode and episode two, but we’ve worked on our process and it’s much better by episode 3. Thanks for sticking with us!

Sources:

• World Health Organization: Plagues, https://www.who.int/health-topics/plague#tab=tab_1
• Wikipedia: Pandemics, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandemic
• Internet Movie Database (IMDb), https://imdb.com/

Time to cover another terrifying event in everyone's life: the dreaded first date! Claire and Jessica recall their own first dates, the cardinal rule of dating, and why you should always be suspicious of Kyles.

Sources:

• https://www.mantelligence.com
• www.thepoke.co.uk
• My Favorite Murder Podcast

This week, Claire and Jessica dive into Claire's fear of disappearing without a trace and becoming an unsolved mystery. They talk about the unsolved mysteries that got them interested in true crime and Missing 411 (a documentary all about people who vanished), plus Claire shares her new favorite website, strangeoutdoors.com. 

Sources

• https://www.history.com
• https://mirror.co.uk

This week, Jess and delves into her fear of being wrongfully convicted after listening to Season 1 of the podcast Serial and the continuation of the case on Undisclosed. They also discuss other famous cases of wrongful convictions, including the Central Park 5, the West Memphis Three, and Jessica's ALLEGED theft of Hershey's Sundae pies from an alleged fast food restaurant while she was allegedly in high school. Allegedly. 

Sources:

• Serial podcast, from the creators of This American Life, by Sarah Koenig, plus the Undisclosed podcast
• Central Park 5 - Netflix: When They See Us, plus the Ken Burns Documentary, Central Park 5
• West Memphis 3 - Wikipedia page, plus the excellent Truth & Justice Podcast with Bob Ruff
• Deadline.com
• eji.org
• innocenceproject.org

This week, Claire and Jessica jump deep down into sinkholes, including the event that set off Jessica's lifelong fear and the signs you need to watch out for, like cracks in the sidewalk, or heavy rain. They pick up some survival tips from across the web so that you, too, can be a Head of Science.

If you like our podcast, please rate, subscribe, and/review, and tell your friends! We appreciate it!

PS - Here's a link to the story of the man who fell into a mischief of rats when a sinkhole opened up under him! https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-54747625

Sources:

• The Survival Journal, https://thesurvivaljournal.com/sinkhole-survival/
• Bustle's article on sinkholes
• Technical sinkhole website - USGS
• Simpler sinkhole website - National Geographic

Two truths and a lie:
1. Claire and Jess met at a Borders bookstore in Indiana.
2. They're in their 30s.
3. They both LOVE icebreakers.

Nothing strikes fear in the hearts of introverted/awkward people like the phrase "Share a fun fact about yourself!" and this week, Claire and Jessica explore the terrifying world of icebreakers. Discover why it strikes such fear in their hearts and how to prepare yourself in case you find yourself being forced to find a partner (hint: look for another person who looks miserable).

Claire and Jessica explore the spooky world of ghosts, including the different kinds that that exist (according to one dubious website) and their own experiences with the paranormal. They both consider a career in parapsychology (Jess is halfway there!) and explore the show that made them afraid of ghosts to begin with: the legendary Are You Afraid of the Dark?

Sources:

• https://paranormalschool.com/types-ghosts/
• http://www.unmuseum.org/ghosts.htm
• https://www.strangerdimensions.com/2013/06/21/infrasound-the-fear-frequency/

This week, Jessica dives deep - or should we say, soars high? - with one of her most frequently faced fears: flying. She discusses being a world traveler and some of her worst moments on planes. Claire, meanwhile, shares her biggest worry - which is just trying to find the plane in the first place.