Skeptoid

Bats are scary and rabies is deadly, but do you need to worry about you or your pets catching the disease from them?

A report from the recent Skeptoid Adventures trip to Death Valley, including how many brave souls we lost in the desert and how they met their fate; and announcing the next Skeptoid Adventures trip to the Bermuda Triangle! Reserve your spot now at https://skeptoid.com/events/30285

A mysterious man is said to have arrived in Japan in 1959 from a country that never existed.

Seven creepy stories from seven listeners, and seven guesses by me.

A thoroughly discredited idea, that the Mesoamerican Olmec people were Black Africans, continues to gain traction.

This buried rock wall found throughout Rockwall County has people wondering about its origin.

It's Skeptoid's 18th birthday! Won't you help us celebrate by giving us a little birthday present?

Can dogs be taught to speak intelligently using floor buttons that represent words?

Highlights from 18 years of the Skeptoid podcast.

Fifteen trivia questions from previous aviation themed episodes of Skeptoid.

15 popular myths about sleeping, debunked.

Join the Skeptoid Flash Mob at CSICon 2024 in Las Vegas. Visit skeptoid.com/store to get your shirts.

Lots of companies sell pheromone products claiming to calm down your dog or cat, but there's a very big problem with that basic claim.

Is this just another in a long line of legendary lost mines that never produced a speck of gold, or is there more to it this time?

Turns out that the cause of death known as excited delirium is not an actual cause of death at all.

If I were to summarize how and why I do what I do, I might put it this way.

Does a mythical place where the elephants go to die actually exist?

The claim that medical error is the third leading cause of death in the US has never been close to true.

Is your phone really tracking your driving habits and selling the data? Maybe more so than you know.

The weirdest, creepiest, funniest, and just plain strange stories from the era of crewed space flight.

Pseudoarchaeologists often will cite the Younger Dryas climatic event as proof of their ancient advanced civilization.

Not only is the entire wellness industry BS, it exists because of people who are especially gullible.

Fear not; the aliens are not coming to Earth.

Skeptoid's Death Valley Adventure is holding 5 tickets for students and active duty military. To apply to get one, visit skeptoid.com/deathvalley

A roundup of all those things that movies always get wrong and make you mad.

How we decide what makes a good topic for a skeptical documentary film.

This modern UFO case has been declared to be one of the most compelling ever.

The true history of a mythical place.

This procedure promising facial rejuvenation is basically a full face tattoo of your own blood.

A bizarre subculture of Helen Keller Truthers believe that she was either faking her deafblindness or even that she didn't exist at all.

A roundup of 15 common myths about coffee. Which ones had you always believed?

Skeptoid answers another round of listener feedback questions.

Come join the Skeptoid Adventures trip for 2024, a journey of exploration in Death Valley!

The story goes that this stone covered with Viking runes was found in a Minnesota field in 1898. Its true history is much more interesting.

Get the snazzy new Skeptoid Hydro Flask tumbler or radical new Skeptoid coffee mug. Both are engraved so they’ll never fade. Now available at the Skeptoid store at Skeptoid.com.

Was the SARS-CoV-2 virus of natural origin, or was it engineered in a Chinese research lab?

A close look at where recycling of some common materials is actually at these days.

It's time once again for Skeptoid to correct another round of errors in previous shows.

Some say creepy children with huge balloon heads stalk the woods at night, waiting to attack you.

The not-so-famous UFO case that caused the US Congress to spend millions of taxpayer dollars.

This controversial treatment for PTSD involves moving the eyes side to side.

Part 3 in our roundup of scientists who took the ultimate plunge and experimented on themselves.

In 2006, a flying saucer spent minutes literally hovering right above Chicago's O'Hare International Airport... so the story goes.

Can everything important about you and those you interact with be boiled down to a single digit?

What were these early UFOs that chased and harried World War II fighter pilots?

Were two waves of ax murders in the American south in the early 20th century truly associated with Louisiana Voodoo?

Proponents of alien visitation often claim the Alcubierre drive makes faster than light possible. Here's why it can't exist.

Skeptoid is looking for institutional partners and/or title sponsors for a proposed video series.

Was this infamous 1976 dioxin disaster as bad as reported, or might it have been much worse than we thought?

The carcasses of headless goats are floating in the Chattahoochee River; too many for a prosaic explanation.

A Benedictine monk is said to have built a device allowing him to see and hear historical events.

We break down four popular myths about Martin Luther King Jr. that just won't go away.

A failure mode analysis of my most-hated episode ever: #230 on the use of DDT to fight malaria.

Skeptoid rapid fires a bunch of mini-episodes in answer to your questions.

A year-end Ask Me Anything session to tell you everything you ever wanted to know about Skeptoid and more.

Help us say goodbye to 2023, Skeptoid style.

Does science have a way to reliably cure the hiccups?

This Brazilian island is said to be too dangerous to visit due to countless venomous snakes.

Some believe that taking a deadly frog poison confers a vast array of New Age wellness benefits.

Some believe this speculative rogue planet is on a collision course with the Earth.

Much content online is designed for high engagement, not for accuracy.

Skeptoid corrects another round of errors in past episodes pointed out by listeners.

Celebrating Halloween with the creepiest ghost stories sent in by you, our listeners.

Do lots of famous pop musicians really die at the age of 27, or is there something in science that just makes us think so?

Did the village of Nazareth exist at the time of Jesus, making it possible for there to have been a Jesus of Nazareth?

Some claim that artificial turf sports fields emit poisonous chemicals, making them dangerous for children.

What better way to celebrate 17 years of the Skeptoid podcast than a 17-question pop quiz!

Does a monster salamander the size of Asia's largest live undiscovered in the Pacific Northwest?

If you're going to be at CSICon 2023, join the Skeptoid Flashmob! skeptoid.com/store

Can you really make your eyesight better with a simple series of eye movements and exercises?

Severed feet have been washing up on the shores of the Salish Sea since 2007. What could be the cause?

How an old Italian UFO hoax became proof of alien visitation to the US Congress

This supplement is claimed by social media influencers to be Nature's Ozempic.

Reports from some extreme adventurers say that a benevolent presence sometimes appears to provide comfort.

Pop culture tells us the famous Norden bombsight from World War II was actually terribly inaccurate. Was it?

This greatest of all imaginable treasures from the Dead Sea Scrolls probably never existed.

Is the world record highest air temperature a solid measurement, or might it be invalid?

Are these remarkable stones natural, or proof of an ancient advanced civilization?

Were these two men from an Amazon tribe that had been massacred, or could their story be explained more simply?

A look into the origin story of swamp gas as the explanation for UFOs.

A roundup of the ways that work — and that don't work — to help a conspiracy theorist free himself from the rabbit hole.

In which I issue yet another round of corrections to past episodes.

Popular wisdom tells us that just touching fentanyl can produce a lethal overdose. What's the fact and what's the fiction?

Are ground sloths that somehow survived their extinction responsible for cryptid sightings in the Amazon?

Did giants really walk the Earth in our recent past?

Skeptoid answers a round of student questions recorded during a visit to the College of Central Florida.

Skeptoid answers a round of student questions recorded during a visit to the College of Central Florida.

This Bigfoot-like cryptid is said to haunt the swamps of Florida. But has the story been around as long as people think?

Watch out next time you take a poll... is someone trying to learn about you, or manipulate you?

The hunt for the greatest treasure of gold ever imagined.

The hunt for the greatest treasure of gold ever imagined.

The hunt for the greatest treasure of gold ever imagined.

A popular Internet claim asserts that the DNA of the octopus is literally alien in origin.

Although the Expanding Earth may seem like a silly conjecture, it was actually one of the leading geophysical models quite recently.

Is it true that the oil companies knew how much harm they were doing as far back as the 1970s?

Is it true that the oil companies knew how much harm they were doing as far back as the 1970s?

Today's quiz tests whether you've been skeptical of what you think you know about St. Patrick's Day.

Popular tales claim no plants at all will grow inside this round clearing in North Carolina, said to have been made by the Devil himself.

After every earthquake, there's always someone who claims to have predicted it. Is earthquake prediction possible?