Should You Need Us

Extra! Extra! Listen all about it! This week Alex uncovers Washingtons first UFO sighting! The Maury Island Incident of 1947. It starts with a quiet day on Puget Sound and ends with falling white lava goo and the very first appearance of the infamous Men in Black.

Happy Worm Moon from your favorite podcasters. After your pals discuss moonly matters, Harlie dives headfirst into the swamp. This week's topic is about big foots little cousin from Florida, the Skunk Ape. Who may or may not have Napoleon Complex. But what we do know is he's smelly, likes lima beans, and has mystic powers. Want to connect? Have a story to share? Check us out on Instagram @should_you_need_us_podcast or email us at [email protected]

Yes, we are the problem. You can fact check us on that, because sometimes Alex genuinely can’t remember whether a story happened in real life or in a Simpsons episode. This week’s episode is chock‑full of scams, butt lifts, condom taxes, and a few questionable conversations about AI.  But the real story? Seattle’s beloved Monorail. It arrived as a gleaming promise of the future but ended as one of the city’s most spectacular transit scams.   Want to connect? Check us out on Instagram @should_you_need_us_podcast or email us at [email protected]

Thanks for holding tight, listeners! After a week off, we’re back and immediately causing emotional damage by discussing the tragic, and frankly preventable death of Charlotte the Groundhog. But the main event this week is the Bandit Who Wouldn’t Give Up: Elmer McCurdy. His life was chaotic enough, but the real story begins after he dies. Because Elmer didn’t just leave a legacy… he left a corpse that went on a decades‑long tour of carnivals, sideshows, movie sets, and haunted attractions. This is the strangest post‑mortem career in American history. Want to connect? Check us out on Instagram @should_you_need_us_podcast or email us at [email protected]

This week Harlie surprises Alex with not one but two hot Alien destinations in Mexico. Why are they here? Are they here to protect us, dig for sparkly minerals, or maybe they just needed a beach day? Whatever it may be, these towns fully embrace their out--of-towners, or should I say their out-of-planeters.

This week, your favorite podcast pals dive into the eerie world of post‑mortem photography, the Victorian trend that turned death into a final family portrait.  Listeners, have you put thought into what you want to happen to your body when you die? How do you want to be memorialized? Will your ashes be pressed into a vinyl record? Will you donate your body to science? Become fertilizer for someone’s favorite weed plant? Or will your cats eat you? It’s exactly the kind of after‑life planning you didn’t know you needed. Share your plan with us  on Instagram @should_you_need_us_podcast or email us at [email protected]

This week, Harlie tells us the story of a cryptid.....? Maybe an ape, or an alien, or possibly a kangaroo. Whatever it was, it bounced through the forests of Enfield, Illinois, leaving chaos, claw marks, and confused locals in its wake.    Want to connect? Check us out on Instagram @should_you_need_us_podcast or email us at [email protected]

Happy Episode 15! In this week's episode, Harlie uncovers the most dangerous spy of World War II. Virgina Hall, a woman whose legend is still hiding in the shadows. She was a one‑legged, no‑nonsense spy who outwitted Nazis. Expect danger, deception, STDs, and a wooden leg with more grit than half the men in the war.   Want to connect? Check us out on Instagram @should_you_need_us_podcast or email us at [email protected]

In this episode, Alex steps into one of Seattle’s darkest chapters: the Wah Mee Massacre. This is the story of what was once an exclusive gambling club in the International District of downtown Seattle. But one night, the Wah Mee club became the site of one of the deadliest mass murders in Washington State history. Alex unpacks the story and community shock that followed, tracing how a single night in 1983 reshaped a neighborhood and left a legacy still felt today.   Want to connect? Check us out on Instagram @should_you_need_us_podcast or email us at [email protected]

In this episode, Harlie takes us on a walk down a Swedish New Year’s Eve tradition. The Year Walk, rooted in Scandinavian folklore. This centuries-old ritual, dates back to the 1600s and was believed to reveal omens of the year ahead. From ghostly visions in graveyards to strange signs along the path.  Want to connect? Check us out on Instagram @should_you_need_us_podcast or email us at [email protected] Sources ...A VERY FAIRY GARDEN...: ~The Brook Horse Årsgång - Wikipedia The Swedish New Year's Year Walk Tradition Explained Spooky Winter Holiday Lore: Our Favorite Reads - Atlas Obscura Nokken | The Demonic Paradise Wiki | Fandom Swedish Årsgång: The Year Walk | USC Digital Folklore Archives To See What the Upcoming Year Holds, Take a Solo Walk in a Dark Forest - Atlas Obscura

Backup episode alert! This episode Harlie grooves through the mystery of the Dancing Plague. In the summer of 1518, the streets of Strasbourg erupted into a dance off? Hundreds of people moved uncontrollably for days, some until death, in what became one of history’s strangest epidemics. Was it a curse? The work of the Devil? A hallucinogenic fungus? Or a collective breakdown? Want to connect? Check us out on Instagram @should_you_need_us_podcast or email us at [email protected]

It’s the holiday season, and in the spirit of giving, Harlie shares a hazardous a gift guide. This episode we look back at the most hazardous toys ever sold. From radioactive labs to Lawn Darts, this episode uncovers the shocking history of children’s toys. It's a miracle our parents survived.    Want to connect? Check us out on Instagram @should_you_need_us_podcast or email us at [email protected]

In this week’s episode, Alex unravels the extraordinary life of Jack Parsons. Parsons was a rocket genius who believed that science and magic were two sides of the same flame. But his brilliance was matched by his obsession with the occult. By day, he tested rocket engines; by night, he performed sex-magic rituals inspired by Aleister Crowley. Parsons was once described visionary but eventually, he was dismissed as a madman.   Want to connect? Check us out on Instagram @should_you_need_us_podcast or email us at [email protected]

Thanksgiving was weird. From Lincoln’s pet turkey to kids in rags begging on the streets of New York, this episode uncovers the forgotten traditions that once defined this American holiday.   Want to connect? Check us out on Instagram @should_you_need_us_podcast or email us at [email protected]

Alex dives us into a legend of a ship swallowed by storm and silence. One stormy night in Tacoma Washington, a ship and its crew vanishes. Locals whisper of a curse, a ghost ship doomed to haunt the waters of Commencement Bay. This is the curse of the Andelana. Step aboard… if you dare.   Want to connect? Check us out on Instagram @should_you_need_us_podcast or email us at [email protected]

What happens when a stage magician joins the war effort? In this episode we dive into the chronicles of the strange and spectacular missions of the Magic Gang, a covert unit of misfits who turned the North African desert into a stage. With fake harbors, sunshields, spoiled Worcestershire sauce paint, and explosive camel dung, they transformed deception into defense. Or did they? Want to connect? Check us out on Instagram @should_you_need_us_podcast or email us at [email protected]

In this Halloween special, we dive into the hazy weirdness of the Pacific Northwest: from the elusive Batsquatch, to a Manhattan loving ghost bear, to a passive-aggressive spirit who haunts bathrooms by leaving the toilet seat up (rude). And maybe even an octopus rumored to haunt the treetops. Tune in for a journey through the region’s most bizarre cryptids and hauntings.  Want to connect? Check us out on Instagram @should_you_need_us_podcast or email us at [email protected]

Seattle’s Beacon Hill is known for its sweeping views, but beneath its surface lies a desecrated cemetery, a forgotten history, and a haunting legacy. In this episode, Harlie and Alex explore the eerie truth buried in their city. Unraveling the chilling saga of the Comet Lodge Cemetery. Once sacred ground for the Duwamish people, later buried by colonizers, bulldozed by developers, and denied by the city. This story spans centuries of colonial erasure, Indigenous memory, and civic neglect. Featuring spectral legends, shady land deals, and a man who knocked on doors warning neighbors they lived atop Babyland. Check us out on Instagram @should_you_need_us_podcast

South Carolina. Summer of ‘88. A car is mauled. A teenager is chased. A sheriff is baffled. And somewhere in the shadows of Scape Ore Swamp… something scaly is watching. Welcome to the legend of the Lizard Man. Check us out on Instagram @should_you_need_us_podcast

In this episode of Should You Need Us, we dig into the mischief-soaked origins of Halloween in America, egging, arson, and all. Meet the unlikely hero who helped turn it around: Elizabeth Krebs, the flower-loving widow from Hiawatha, Kansas. After years of waking up to smashed squash and flaming mail trucks, Elizabeth had enough.  Check us out on Instagram @should_you_need_us_podcast   COjn9WQcLhjJ58P3eQQK

In this episode of Should You Need Us, we follow the pawprints of protest dogs! Those uncanny companions who stood beside students, workers, and rebels in the streets of Athens, Santiago, and beyond. From Kanellos and Loukanikos in Greece to El Negro Matapacos and El Vaquita in Chile, these dogs weren’t just mascots. They were street philosophers. Check us out on Instagram @should_you_need_us_podcast

In this episode, we dive into the wild, brilliant, and deeply human story of Antanas Mockus—Bogotá’s pants-dropping professor turned mayor. From a country scarred by civil war and guerrilla violence, Mockus emerged with no party, no platform, and no money. Just a cape, a mime squad, and a radical belief in civic imagination. Check us out on Instagram @should_you_need_us_podcast

An educational comedy podcast for the wonderfully weird. Join Alex and Harlie as they dive headfirst into bizarre world events, odd historical twists, and stories you definitely didn’t cover in high school. From the quirky to the downright baffling, each episode is packed with laughter, curiosity, and unexpected lessons about the human experience. Expect strange tales, sharp wit, and a welcoming dose of community. Because learning should be weirdly fun. And remember, Should You Need Us, we'll be here! Check us out on Instagram @should_you_need_us_podcast