Which would be in your top 5? Tell us in the Discord...

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The Sun is an unrelenting nuclear inferno. Mercury is a dense little rock with zero atmosphere and the worst sunburn in the system. Venus is a cautionary tale wrapped in sulfuric acid clouds, spinning in the wrong direction just to be difficult. And Mars is a frozen desert haunted by the ghost of ancient oceans.

In this episode, Shane and Duncan dig into the bizarre and extreme nature of the inner planets, unpacking strange rotations, impossible temperatures, missing magnetic fields, and Martian cliffs that make the Grand Canyon look like a pothole. Nothing in the inner solar system is normal, and it only gets weirder from here.

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This week, plunge with Shane and Duncan into the most maddening mental puzzles ever devised, from ancient identity crises and time travel nightmares to philosophical traps that refuse to be solved.

If you replace every part of a ship, is it still technically the same boat? Should you always switch doors and trust the guy in the blazer with the game show smile, or trust your own instincts? And what happens when a donkey can’t make up its damn mind?

Welcome to a crash course in logic traps, ethical nightmares, and timeless brain knots. BYO aspirin.

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Midnight Merch

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RIP to a great director and an amazing human.

Which would be in your top 5? Tell us in the Discord...

~

Support the show by becoming a Midnight Minion, Menace, or Maniac, and unlock exclusive bonus content over at PATREON

~

Chat with fellow insomniacs and vote on episode topics via DISCORD

~

Join the Midnight Masses!

Become an Insomniac by dropping a review, adding us on social media, and contacting us with episode ideas.

And we now have Midnight Merch! Show your Insomniac pride and pick up a tee shirt or coffee mug to spread the word!

Midnight Merch

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-Merry Christmas, insomniacs! Here's a blast from the past. We hope you're having an amazing holiday season-

How is Santa Claus connected to cannibalism? Which Christmastide holiday commemorates the slaughter of children? How should you decode the cryptic numerology message 20+C+M+B+22? And what's with all of those airborne reindeer? Welcome to Ghosts of Christmases Past, in which Shane and Duncan explore how tree-worship and animal sacrifice evolved into the bizarre, festive, highly commercialized holiday we know today. So whether you're feeling the Christmas spirit or just feeling jaded and grinchy, grab a cup of heavily-spiked eggnog, get cozy by the yule-log, and join the boys as they unpack the fascinating pagan history of Christmas.

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In this episode:

• Christmastide
• Christmas Eve
• The Feast of Saint Stephen, Protomartyr
• Childermas, The Feast of the Holy Innocents
• Herod the Great
• The Feast of the Circumcision of Christ, Octave of the Nativity, Solemnity of Mary
• The Feast of the Holy Family
• 12th Night, Epiphany Eve
• Chalking the Door
• Saturnalia
• The Holiday of Yule
• Yule Boar, Yule Goat, Yule Log
• Anglican Revelers vs. Puritan Grinches
• The Story of the Nativity
• December 25th Becomes the Arbitrary DOB
• Christenmas, Christ Mass, and Xmas
• Christmas Trees
• Saint Nicholas of Myra, aka Saint Nick, aka Nicholas the Wonderworker
• Sinterklaas
• Christmases Around the World
• Reindeer
• Thomas Nast
• Haddon Sundblom and Coca-Cola

~ Join the Midnight Masses!

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In this special live-streamed double-retrospective, Shane and Duncan trace the evolution of podcasting from its humble beginnings in the shadow of radio and RSS feeds to its rise as a billion-dollar media juggernaut. Along the way, they peel back the curtain on the origin of Midnight Facts for Insomniacs, from the first chaotic and unpolished episodes recorded in a parked car to the latest chaotic and unpolished episodes consumed by a devoted community of night owls, knowledge junkies, and insomniac misfits.

Whether you’re a longtime fan or just tuning in, this is the origin story you didn’t know you needed.

~

Support the show by becoming a Midnight Minion, Menace, or Maniac, and unlock exclusive bonus content over at PATREON

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Join the Midnight Masses!

Become an Insomniac by dropping a review, adding us on social media, and contacting us with episode ideas.

And we now have Midnight Merch! Show your Insomniac pride and pick up a tee shirt or coffee mug to spread the word!

Midnight Merch

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Alfred Nobel made a fortune inventing things that go boom, earning the nickname “merchant of death.”

But with his own death approaching, he set out to salvage his legacy by creating a prize meant to celebrate peace, science, and human progress. The history of that prize, however, is anything but peaceful.

This week, Shane and Duncan explore the strange evolution of the Nobel Prize, from its explosive beginnings to secret refusals, scandalous recipients, and one prize Nobel never actually intended.

~

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Chat with fellow insomniacs and vote on episode topics via DISCORD

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Join the Midnight Masses!

Become an Insomniac by dropping a review, adding us on social media, and contacting us with episode ideas.

And we now have Midnight Merch! Show your Insomniac pride and pick up a tee shirt or coffee mug to spread the word!

Midnight Merch

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In the first full-episode MFFI livestream, Duncan opens the spellbook on the roots of witchcraft and the modern movements keeping the magic alive.

So grab your crystals (or your skepticism) and settle in for a tale of treacherous ale-wives, black cats, pointed hats, and centuries of persecution. From sacred symbols to sanitized stereotypes, this episode unpacks how witchcraft was vilified, commodified, and eventually rebranded.

~

Support the show by becoming a Midnight Minion, Menace, or Maniac, and unlock exclusive bonus content over at PATREON

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Chat with fellow insomniacs and vote on episode topics via DISCORD

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Join the Midnight Masses!

Become an Insomniac by dropping a review, adding us on social media, and contacting us with episode ideas.

And we now have Midnight Merch! Show your Insomniac pride and pick up a tee shirt or coffee mug to spread the word!

Midnight Merch

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