HBM025: The Sasquatch of Pumpkintown VS Motley Crue Jon Bon Jovi

Homemade Bigfoot costumes can get you in a lot of trouble. And in gun-toting community of Pumpkintown, SC, a fake Bigfoot costume might get you killed too. But when the recession caused a local outfitter’s store sales to sag, it was a risk he was willing to take.

In the episode, Ben Becker tells the story of a disgusting hound dog named “Motley Crue John Bon Jovi”, a tobacco-juice soaked Sasquatch suit, and the world’s worst hot sauce.

Sharp listeners should note that no one fact-checked a single claim in this story. Wait, actually, we did look up Pumpkintown on Google Maps. It’s a real place. Use discretion before you use anything else in your term paper.

Music from: Flowerpetal Downpour ||| Lucky Dragons ||| Nym ||| Swamp Dog

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HBM024: The Friendliest Town In Texas

Shoppingspree Clark showed up on the side of the road outside the “Friendliest Town in Texas” with nothing more than a sketchpad and the burnt-out ruin of the RV he’d just bought.

Content Note: Explicit Content

Coleman, Texas’ self-claimed title is true because it used to be on a billboard above the highway. And the people that live there are diverse, troubled, religious, unusual…and friendly.

This episode contains many adult themes, including suicide, prejudice, and racism. There are also unbleeped swear words and racial slurs. Use discretion.

This episode was originally released by Shoppingspree Clark in June 2013.

Most of the music on this show comes from Shoppingspree himself. His moniker, Crunchy Person, has some good albums up on Bandcamp.

Music from: Javelin ||| Seagull Invasion

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HBM023: The Near Destruction of Rey Jaguar [Extended Cut]

Photo by Jeff Emtman

For lucha libre wrestlers, masks are everything. They wear them in the ring, they wear them to the grocery store, they wear them any time they appear in public. No one knows what face lies under that mask, so it makes sense that de-masking a Luchadore or Luchadora is highest taboo in the sport.

In this episode, we travel to Seattle’s South Park neighborhood for Lucha Libre In The Park, a free wrestling event put on by Lucha Libre Volcanica. Costumes, yelling kids, exquisite masks, cross-dressing, motorcycles, bad victory speeches--everything you would expect, and one thing that no one saw coming.

Check out the crazy photos from that night right here

This piece’s shortened form (6 minutes) was entered as a submission in KCRW’s 24-Hour Radio Race. Listen to the original.

And also listen to the other entries!

Music from: Lucky Dragons ||| The Black Spot

Here Be Monsters is now a proud member of the Mule Radio Syndicate, which distributes some other really great podcasts. Check them out at MuleRadio.net.

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HBM022: The Holy Ghost Fixes David's Brain

David Blackshire Key has been called a douchebag more times than he can count. It's probably because he used to wear big sunglasses--day and night, indoors and out. He wasn't a movie star, he just had brain cancer.

Writer and radio producer Bridget Burnquist produced this show.

One of his side-effects was a strange sensitivity to light called "photophobia". Even after doctors removed the tumor, his painful sensitivity continued. So he turned to his faith, looking for healing from a supernatural force.

In this show, we reference Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry in Redding, California.

Music from: Lucky Dragons ||| Swamp Dog ||| Flower Petal Downpour ||| The Black Spot

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HBM021: Potential Energy

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Photo by Jeff Emtman

Season 2 of Here Be Monsters begins.

The reasons why I bike at night are diverse. It’s partly because I don’t feel graceful anywhere else, it’s partly to run away and it’s partly out of persistent defiance of my failing vision.

I recently biked out to a parking garage on the outskirts of Boulder, Colorado and remembered the most significant moment of my eighteenth year, a night that made everything I do now possible.

The story involves electronic dance music, a laundromat, a bunch of sweaty teenagers pretending like it’s the eighties and one of the loudest amplifiers I’ve ever heard.

Music Nym ||| The Black Spot

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HBM020: Without Name

Please note: This is an early episode of Here Be Monsters that aired in 2013. This episode no longer appears on the official HBM feed. However, you can still download it here.

Eugene up and left for California one morning without packing a thing from his apartment in Brooklyn, New York. HBM producer Lina Misitzis and her roommate Adrian got the apartment at a discount. The condition, though, was that they took the place as Eugene left it—full of his left-behind life. For two years they enjoyed Eugene's magazine subscriptions, ate out of his bowls, slept on his old couch and used his designer spices.

Content Note:
This episode discusses sex work, drug use and animal abuse. We beeped the swears though.

In this episode, Lina goes back to her old neighborhood looking for nothing in particular. She's greeted by familiar faces, new tenants, and a series of loose ends that tell a modern ghost story.

Photos of Eugene’s apartment coming soon to the HBM facebook page

Music from: Phantom Fauna ||| The Black Spot ||| Swamp Dog

Please please please, review HBM on iTunes so that we can make their New and Noteworthy section.

Special thanks this week to the Brooklyn Historical Society.