Jess & Hids Make A Podcast

Send us Fan MailOnce they finally stop laughing…sort of…Hids gives us a brief look at the Men in Black! They’re going back to 1947 and the start of the UFO craze in the US. We visit Washington State and learn a bit about the first appearance of the Men In Black. Are they supernatural? Are they FBI Agents? Are they just a hoax?Jess takes us across the ocean to Egypt and tells us about an amazing fossil find called Phiomicetus Anubis. Cute oversized sea puppy or vicious prehistoric predator? Hids’ Sources:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Men_in_blackhttps://www.history.com/articles/men-in-black-real-originsJess’ Sources:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phiomicetushttps://www.livescience.com/ancient-whale-god-of-death.htmlhttps://royalsocietypublishing.org/rspb/article/288/1957/20211368/86341/A-new-protocetid-whale-offers-clues-toSupport the showJoin our Discord!

Send us Fan MailTangents abound! Hids takes a look at a Smokey Bear, the iconic and longest running public service announcement campaign in US History! Wildfires are a very real threat across the US and the world, and Smokey has been a voice for prevention and safety for over 81 years!Jess takes a look at something slightly creepier than bears…vampires! Specifically the rise of the current ‘romantic’ vampire depiction from the Victorian era and a brief look at some of the earliest mentions of vampirism. We’ll definitely be looking forward to future episodes and deeper dives into this topic!Hids’ Sources:SmokeyBear.comhttps://www.adcouncil.org/campaign/wildfire-prevention/spread-the-wordhttps://smokeybear.com/#tipshttps://youtu.be/Myz93sXW66Y?si=kMshDXgnU7o7aYqk Jess’ Sources:https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/how-popular-culture-changed-our-view-of-the-vampirehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnold_Paolehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petar_Blagojevi%C4%87https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_England_vampire_panicSupport the showJoin our Discord!

Send us Fan MailWe’re back! This episode kicks off our new schedule. We’ll be dropping episodes every other week for the foreseeable future. This week Jess reminds us to touch grass and how good it is for us to be outdoors as she discusses Sylvotherapy. Nature is really cool and we all need to spend more time in it!Hids talks about another awesome woman from history: Amelia Earhart!! We’ve all been told the basics, she was a great pilot and did some cool things and then was lost at sea. But there’s SO MUCH MORE! Support the showJoin our Discord!

Send us Fan MailThis week we’re dropping a Warm Embers episode full of announcements, updates and conversations!Support the showJoin our Discord!

Send us Fan MailJoin us! Jess and Hids for a cozy, low stakes actual play D&D podcast! A Tale of Two Kobolds.Follow the adventures of Fizzz and Bang, two adorable Kobolds, as they face a world that’s bigger than they are in an effort to find each other, and maybe learn a bit about themselves along the way.Support the showJoin our Discord!

Send us Fan MailOrder has been restored and Jess goes first in this episode.She talks about the top secret illegal government project, MKUltra, famous now for dosing unwitting civilians with LSD and conducting horrible experiments on them.Hids introduces us to the brilliant scientific mind of Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler, the woman behind bluetooth and early forms of wifi. Oh, she was also the beautiful and talented actress, Hedy Lamarr.Support the showJoin our Discord!

Send us Fan MailWe have a shorter episode this week. Hids is still recovering from being sick and their voice is less than stellar. The streak breaks with this episode and Hids goes first! They give us a quick look at the pink fairy armadillo, an adorable little creature from Argentina!Jess pulled a recurring card and takes us back to the golden age of piracy and a look at the Jolly Roger and its variations and origins. Arrrr matey, yer gonna love this one!Support the showJoin our Discord!

Send us Fan MailHids’ streak of not going first lives on as Jess takes us back to New York, 1964. She dips into a true crime story, so a trigger warning for murder, but what she really gets into is the fascinating psychology of the Bystander Effect and how the death of Kitty Genovese kicked off a decades long study, and paved the way for the 911 emergency call system.Hids also travels back in time, but they go to West Virginia, 1966. A man is stopped on a lonely stretch of highway by…an alien spacecraft! Woodrow Derenberger experienced one of the first and most intriguing encounters with a being known as Indrid Cold, or the Grinning Man. He’s been tied to Mothman, but likely only because they were both seen in West Virginia around the same time frame. Was Indrid a bounty hunter going after Mothman? Was Mothman really Indrid’s lost pet!? Who knows!?Support the showJoin our Discord!

Send us Fan MailIt’s been a while since we’ve done a Raven Riff, so we’re bringing it back with a fun look at The Raven. We love cheesy movies, Vincent Price, and Edgar Allan Poe and this wonderfully cheesy comedic horror from 1963 has all three PLUS Boris Karloff and Peter Lorre. Unfortunately for Jess, this movie also features a young Jack Nicholson.Support the showJoin our Discord!

Send us Fan MailEpisode eight has arrived and we’re bringing out the Punk! Jess revisits various punk genres and we come up with a few of our own along the way.Hids does a bit of science-y stuff as they discuss Halley’s Comet and the Comet Panic of 1910!Support the showJoin our Discord!

Send us Fan MailIn our second episode of 2026, we finally decide it’s time to set some intentions and talk about our plans for the new year! The goal? Chill.Support the showJoin our Discord!

Send us Fan MailHey we’re back! We had a bit of time off to recharge our batteries and now we’re ready to kick off the new year and continue on with Season Two!Jess starts us off (are you surprised?) with the wild story of Centralia, PA, a town that burns with an eternal fire.Hids goes into a little bit of a linguistic journey through cemeteries and graveyards and tells us about the symbolism and meanings behind the markings, epitaphs, and various designs of headstones and grave markers.Support the showJoin our Discord!

Send us Fan MailJess opens with a holiday vibe and tells us about various holiday legends and superstitions from around the world. Hids had a bit of a wild magic surge and takes a little trip to Finland to see an art installation by Reijo Kela called The Silent People.Support the showJoin our Discord!

Send us Fan MailThings are slightly back to normal this week…well, only in the fact that Jess is going first! Huzzah! Jess gives us a brief history of the rise of the Fantasy genre in literature. Did you think Tolkien invented it? You might be surprised. Hids has a quick topic this week simply because there is very little known about the Telescope Fish! Hids thinks they’re kinda cute…in a creepy way. Seriously, look online for images. Cute or Creepy? Let us know what you think!Support the showJoin our Discord!

Send us Fan MailWe have a short episode today!It's a bit of a wild magic surge because we don't actually talk about the topics we drew in the last episode. Instead, Jess talks about The Spoon Theory, from its origins to how the metaphor is used today.Hids dives a bit deeper and talks about a handful of metaphors that branched from The Spoon Theory, including the avid TTRPG player's favorite, Spell Slot Theory.Support the showJoin our Discord!

Send us Fan MailCome along with more unedited chaos and science!! Jess tells us about fata morgana, a fascinating mirage that only happens in very specific conditions and has led to failed expeditions and oceanic superstitions like the Flying Dutchman!Hids wraps up their discussion on Edgar Allan Poe with a look at some of Poe’s influences on American literature as well as his many appearances in pop culture.Support the showJoin our Discord!

Send us Fan MailWe’re so stoked to be here with our first episode of Season Two! And oh boy, do we have a good one for you!This episode was recorded just a couple hours before upload, so it’s coming to you totally unedited and full of our usual chaos.In an odd synchronicity with our very first episode, Jess starts this season talking about one of our all-time favorite humans: Vincent Price! And in yet another little synchronicity, Hids talks about one of Vincent’s favorite authors: Edgar Allan Poe! AND- it’s our first two-part topic! Hids starts this week with some background on Poe and his wife, Virginia, and next week they’ll be discussing Poe’s literary works and his lasting influence on American literature!Support the showJoin our Discord!

Send us Fan MailWild Magic Surge! ADHD strikes… and so does the d20! Hids has gone first again!! Hids takes a quick look at the Hays Code. This was an attempt by Hollywood to avoid government regulation and censorship on the movies that were being produced from roughly the 1930s to mid 1960s. Jess spends some time in the same era, but she’s focusing on some of the architecture of the time, Googie! It’s fun to say, right? If you like The Incredibles, Jimmy Neutron, The Jetsons or anything with that futuristic space design, then you’re familiar with the Googie style of architecture.Support the showJoin our Discord!

Send us Fan MailWow! Fifty episodes!!We are so close to one year of Jess & Hids Make a Podcast! This episode is chaotic because why not? About ten minutes before we started recording, we asked a couple of our Patrons to give us 50 questions to answer. So… Well, here you go! Have fun and we hope you enjoy listening as much as we enjoyed recording!Support the showJoin our Discord!

Send us Fan MailSomething is seriously wrong with Hids’ d20. For the somethingth time in a row, they’re going first! This week, Hids delivers a brief history of the Wild Hunt, you know, the topic they promised early in October? Yep, finally making that happen! Jess is back on track with her famous women of history and tells us a bit about Doris Duke, an heiress to a massive fortune and her (mostly) philanthropic life. You’ll want to check out our Patreon bonus content for the scandal.Support the showJoin our Discord!

Send us Fan MailEpisode 48 is a wild ride!!!Actually…it’s a slightly chaotic shift into a realm of good news and Hope Punk vibes. We both found good things from around the internet to share and hopefully spread a little joy and scatter some warm embers across the downloads.Support the showJoin our Discord!

Send us Fan MailThere’s something seriously wrong with Hids’ dice… FIRST AGAIN! They rolled with it and took us down for a tropical dip in the oceans to meet the Mantis Shrimp! Neat Thing: it’s not even a shrimp! These awesome creatures not only pack a powerful punch, but they can also see in 16 different colors AND the ultraviolet spectrum. Humans can only see in 3 colors, how dull is that?Jess took us back in time to learn about the incredible Voynich Manuscript, a document that has puzzled historians, antique book collectors and code breakers for hundreds of years. Who do you think created this 15th century book?Support the showJoin our Discord!

Send us Fan MailWhat’s happening with the dice? Hids went first again! They took us to some fairgrounds and sideshows from the early 1900s…but not for the reason you might think! Hids introduces us to Dr. Martin Couney and his Infantorium! Thousands of premature babies were saved by Dr. Couney and his incubator sideshow and despite the critics, he was instrumental in finally getting incubators into hospitals in America by the middle of the century.Jess’ topic was less heartwarming. In keeping with the spooky vibe of October, she talks about some haunted movie sets! Or maybe cursed? Or maybe it’s just that things happened that could happen anywhere on any set? Have a listen and you decide, was it a curse or was it coincidence?Support the showJoin our Discord!

Send us Fan MailWhat can we say? We are so excited for our third year with our growing community on Patreon and Discord! We are going over all the details of our month-long celebrations, including our Scavenger Hunt and Rook Runners 5k virtual run!! Did we mention it’s a HUGE wooden laser-cut medal? Seriously… 4.5” x 7.5”!!!Support the showJoin our Discord!

Send us Fan MailHids kicked us off this week with a quick discussion about the Womanly Art of Parasol Self Defence! This was trending in the early 1900s in London and in the US as a ‘rise in hooliganism’ and the growth in women leaving the home without chaperones or entering the work force began to see more attacks and inappropriate advances from men toward women. Jess dove into dreams! She did a dive into the Korean culture of buying and selling dreams, which is pretty fascinating! She also talked a bit about the psychology of dreams and how manifesting your dreams and goals actually works.Support the showJoin our Discord!

Send us Fan MailIt's another unconventional episode!!We decided it would be super fun to give you, our dear sweet listeners, a glimpse of the bonus content our Patrons get! We chose, not only one, but TWO And Another Thing Episodes to share with you all!We chose episode 25 - The Line Between Cure And Kill With Bobby Lasagna and episode 34 - Baking Up Some Hot Fresh Minhwa Wild Magic Surge! If you need a refresher about those episodes, why not listen again? <wink>And if you want more And Another Thing bonus episodes, subscribe to our Patreon!Click here!!!Support the showJoin our Discord!

Send us Fan MailJess is back with her stories of amazing women in history! In this episode, she tells us about Octavia Butler, an award-winning African American author who broke barriers in science fiction. Known as the "Grand Dame" of the genre, she was the first Black woman to achieve renown in it.Hids’ original topic was shipwrecks on the Great Lakes of the United States & Canada, but many rabbit holes forced them to focus simply on some of the amazing facts about the Great Lakes, a bit about the geology of the area and why there are so many shipwrecks on the Great Lakes. We’ve definitely added this to our ‘we want to go there’ travel bucket list! Support the showJoin our Discord!

Send us Fan MailStrange things are afoot! Hids went first! The d20 has betrayed them!! Hids takes a brief look at the legend of Mothman, the curious cryptid/paranormal entity that was first seen in Point Pleasant, WV in 1966. Is the Mothman a harbinger of doom or is he just a brooding fluffy boi? Keeping on theme with odd and spooky things, Jess takes us on a little trip to Flagstaff, Arizona and the Hotel Monte Vista! We are actually staying there this week and our Patrons will get a LIVE video from the allegedly haunted hotel! Join our community at patreon.com/jessandhids.Support the showJoin our Discord!

Send us Fan MailWe noticed a small trend in the final episode of the last couple months: They’ve been kind of ‘off the rails’ from our normal episodes. We ended up having the same thing happen this month! BUT - we are excited to bring you some sneak peeks about future plans for our Patreon, and some of the fun things we are working on for our October anniversabirthamonth celebration! We launched our Patreon and began our official writing journey three years ago! We’re so happy with how far we’ve come and the community that we’ve grown since then, and we’d like to invite you to come join us!Click HERE for our Patreon PageClick HERE to join our Discord server!Support the showJoin our Discord!

Send us Fan MailLast week was cowgirls and aliens…this week is…ponies and possible bureaucratic cover ups?Keeping her streak alive, Jess goes first again and dives into the story of the Pony Express! Although short-lived, it was the fastest way to get important mail from the East coast to California in the 1860s. Hids follows up on the aftermath of the Roswell Incident from our last episode with a dive into Project Blue Book, the US Air Force’s efforts to study and classify the massive influx of ‘flying saucers’, or UFOs. Project Blue Book started with the best intentions but was incredibly hampered by skepticism, apathy and eventually a lack of funds and interest. Support the showJoin our Discord!

Send us Fan MailLook, we believe in aliens, okay? This week, Jess talks about Roswell, NM, the alleged crash site of an alien ship. Or maybe it was just a weather balloon? Also, we’re definitely making plans to attend the UFO Festival in Roswell next year! Hids talks about Caroline Lockhart. She was a journalist, author, newspaper owner and publisher, rodeo promoter, and rancher! Phew! This awesome lady from the late 1800s’ was a truly capable woman who did what she wanted to do and then wrote about it! Support the showJoin our Discord!

Send us Fan MailThis week we go on a weird and wildly chaotic journey from Scotland to Bermuda. Jess talks about the creepy and horrific tale of Sawney Bean….which probably (hopefully) didn’t really happen at all.Hids dives into the Bermuda Triangle. Not really though, because they’re terrified of the ocean and all the things in it. We talk about the USS Cyclops and Flight 19, two of the most widely known disappearances in the Triangle, and then we debunk it, even though we will always believe it was….aliens.Support the showJoin our Discord!

Send us Fan MailThis week’s episode is a slightly different format. Jess was feeling under the weather so we missed our recording window. In lieu of a regular episode, we had a little sit down and did a mini-version of our Patreon Tea Time! We answered a few questions that came up in our Tea Time lives about our books and other future plans. We’ll be talking about The Scarab Whispers, a book that is currently in edits, and our plans for a TTRPG in the same world setting as the book. We also talk about inspirations and ideas and how we attempt to get our ADHD brains to focus so we can fulfill our dreams of becoming published authors! Support the showJoin our Discord!

Send us Fan MailHey guess what! Jess went first again! This week she talks about the urban legend of Polybius, an arcade game from 1981. Or was it? Rumors abound, men in black appear, stories of people vanishing after playing the game are spread and nothing is actually confirmed. Hids takes on a listener submitted topic: Superstitions! They take a look at the psychology of superstitions and why so many of us are probably more than a little stitious. Did you know that superstitions can actually relieve anxiety and enhance performance?Support the showJoin our Discord!

Send us Fan MailADHD hit us hard this week and we were both struggling to focus on our topics. We decided to let our brains do their own thing and pick a random topic that they actually wanted to focus on! So Jess has been wanting to get back into baking lately, and we just went to a meet & greet/book signing with B. Dylan Hollis (go check him out, he’s hilarious!) so baking is definitely on her mind! She dives into a brief overview of the history of baking, from the simplest process of making a mash and cooking it in the heat of the sun to molecular gastronomy!Hids is definitely being influenced by the popularity of the new Netflix movie, KPop Demon Hunters. They dive into the symbolism of Derpy the tiger and Sussie the magpie, two side characters in the movie. We take a look at minhwa art, or ‘art of the people’, a form of art in Korea that was developed during the early years of the Chosun era.Support the showJoin our Discord!

Send us Fan MailDon’t panic…but Hids kicks off the episode this week! Grab your dice and character sheet, a selection of snacks and your imagination! Hids is taking us on an adventure as we learn the history of Dungeons & Dragons! From humble beginnings and a $2000 start up budget to a $1.72 billion industry, the history of D&D has shaped the tabletop role playing industry. Jess gives us a history lesson with a slice of murder! Learn about the murder of Duchess Francoise de Choiseul-Praslin, an event that was a tipping point that helped kick off the French Revolution!Support the showJoin our Discord!

Send us Fan MailHey, guess who started this episode?? Yep, it was Jess again! She takes us back to the 12th Century to meet an awesome woman who was a famous and recognized doctor of her time…and then was subsequently erased from history by male doctors and historians who studied ancient texts and thought, ‘this couldn’t possibly have been written by a woman!’ Fortunately, in the 2000s, more study was done and Trota’s name and history in medicine is becoming known once more!Hids also does a bit of time travel to talk about another amazing woman whose work has occasionally been attributed to her husband, although we are fairly certain he would have championed her imagination and writing prowess. Mary Shelley is now well-known for her writing of Frankenstien, or The Modern Prometheus, and indeed may have even invented the science-fiction genre!Support the showJoin our Discord!

Send us Fan MailWe're taking another break from the usual format of our show and answering a few questions that our lovely listeners submitted!Have a listen and get to know us a bit better!Support the showJoin our Discord!

Send us Fan MailJess dives into the fascinating world of ZOMBIE ANTS!!! It’s actually just a really cool fungus…maybe not super cool for the ants that it prefers to infect and take control of… Ophiocordyceps unilateralis has very specific tastes and we probably shouldn’t worry about it developing a taste for humans… probably…Hids takes us back to the 15th century and we learn about King Charles VI of France and his belief that he was made of glass…The phenomena of the Glass Delusion lasted around 200 years and afflicted the nobility and royalty of the time, especially those that were already suffering from or were predisposed to mental illness.Support the showJoin our Discord!

Send us Fan MailThings are back to normal and Jess starts off this episode with a Cryptid! (Hids was right, they must have ESP!)Jess tells us about a local to us cryptid: The Mogollon Monster! This is a variation of Bigfoot, or Sasquatch, but the Mogollon Monster tends to be a little more aggressive than Bigfoot.Hids talks about time travel! Sort of, they discuss the strange case of Sergei Ponomarenko…not the famous figure skater. This Sergei went missing from Kiev, Ukraine in 1958 and showed up in 2006 looking exactly as he did when he went missing….We’ll go over the police notes and you can decide if this is a true story or something more. (Aliens, it’s probably aliens)Support the showJoin our Discord!

Send us Fan MailIn a rare turn of events, Hids kicks the episode off this week! They're sharing the possible urban legend of Black Eyed Kids! Are they just a viral story or are the reported encounters real? Are they aliens? (It's always aliens.) We take a look at the alleged original encounter in 1996, but also talk about some historical mentions of children with black eyes. You can decide if you think they're real or not, but whatever you do, if a strange child shows up and demands to be let inside your home or car...don't let them in!Do you have ESP? Hids might... Jess did a little experiment to kick of her discussion of Extra Sensory Perception, and Hids got 3 of 5 correct!! Jess tells us about JB Rhyne, the person that coined the term and his 30-odd years of experimentation and study at Duke University. Jess also ended up yet again on the FBI website...seriously, we are visiting that site a lot lately....Support the showJoin our Discord!

Send us Fan MailJess kicks off this episode (again) with a fascinating discussion on the phenomena of sky trumpets! You'll have to decide if it's an actual audio phenomenon or just an internet hoax!Update: Hids might have heard a similar sound while in Texas!!!!Note: We didn't have time to record an intro to each sound clip. During the episode we have recordings from the following areas in order: Beijing, Indonesia, Japan, Kiev, Oklahoma, and Saskatchewan.Hids tells the odd tale of Mike, the Headless Chicken. Mike was meant for the dinner table but survived against all odds! Listen to his story, and if you're in Colorado this weekend (May 30 & 31, 2025) why not stop by Fruita and go to the Mike the Headless Chicken Festival!Support the showJoin our Discord!

Send us Fan MailThis episode has a lot of synchronicities that surprised us both! Jess kicks it off with her discussion on Frank Lloyd Wright. We are both in love with his architectural style...but not so much with the man himself. While an obvious genius in his chosen field, he's not a great guy and Jess gets into a few reasons why as we talk about some highlights of his life and career.Hids talks about Nikola Tesla, also a genius in his field but with a much more likable character than Mr. Wright. We also give a bit more insight into the 'War of the Currents' between Tesla and Edison and debunk a little of the smear campaign against Edison. We still aren't huge fans of Edison, just maybe he didn't do some of the things he was accused of during his so-called feud with Tesla.For a deeper dive and a bit more of the drama in the lives of both of these men, join our Patreon and check out our new segment: And Another Thing! This is new bonus content for our Patrons where we cover some areas of our topics that we didn't have time to dive into during the podcast!Support the showJoin our Discord!

Send us Fan MailJess and Hids both get on some FBI watchlist somewhere... Jess gives a rundown on the history of poison gardens, lists some plants to watch out for on your walks or in your own gardens, and finds an interesting person to cover in a future episode!Hids dives into what little information is available about Area 51, which is definitely NOT a top secret airbase but is absolutely highly classified and restricted now that the government has actually acknowledged its existence... Are there aliens and alien spacecrafts hidden inside? We can't confirm anything, but the truth, as they say...is out there.Support the showJoin our Discord!

Send us Fan MailTurn off the lights, look in the mirror....chant 'Bloody Mary' three times....Jess dives into an urban legend: Blood Mary! Did you ever try this when you had a sleepover? Hids takes on the case of Dan 'D.B.' Cooper, the only unsolved hijacking case in the history of commercial aviation!Welcome aboard, find your seats and prepare for takeoff!Support the showJoin our Discord!

Send us Fan MailDid you know that celery was once a prized table centerpiece and a symbol of just how wealthy and bougie you were? Did you also know there was (allegedly) a Venetian Mirror Mafia? Hids dives into things that were once only available to the incredibly wealthy but were later considered common and for the masses. Jess discusses Burt Shonberg, one of the pioneers of the psychedelic art era of the 1960s who's surrealistic art was featured in the Vincent Price film, The House of Usher. We do have a trigger warning here for discussion of drug use and a very brief mention of the occult and cults.Support the showJoin our Discord!

Send us Fan MailThis week, Jess talks to us about Floriography, or the language of flowers. Not the same language we talked about in last weeks episode with screaming daffodils though, this one is all about the meaning of flowers and how what flowers you send in a bouquet or singly can have very specific meanings!Hids takes a little dive into some psychological phenomena when they discuss the Third Man Factor, or Third Person Syndrome. Do our brains craft a presence for us when we are in a traumatic or extremely dangerous situation? It's quite possible.Support the showJoin our Discord!

Send us Fan MailWe did something a little different with this episode and played a very ADHD version of 21 Questions with each other!We used a Teen Vogue list that you can find HERE, with additional questions from various other Teen Vogue articles linked at the bottom of that page.Feel free to send us a message with YOUR answers!Support the showJoin our Discord!

Send us Fan MailThis week Hids gets to talk about an awesome woman from history! Kate Warne was the first female detective in the US and we seriously wish there was more information available about her! Jess talks to us about phobias and the different types and causes for why we fear what we fear!Support the showJoin our Discord!

Send us Fan MailY'all.... this one is hands down one of our favorites!Jess dives into a fantastic conspiracy theory that has Hids second guessing everything, and Hids talks about a cryptid that has very little information and may be a small conspiracy theory of its own!We hope you enjoy this episode, released to our Patrons on April 1st.Support the showJoin our Discord!