Midnight Facts for Insomniacs
Episodes
Sketchy and Unethical Psychological Experiments
08 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Modern researchers are expected to follow strict ethical guidelines, but it wasn't always this way. For thousands of years, scientific experimentation...
Sleep and Insomnia (finally!)
01 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In an episode that is long overdue, the boys explore the biology and science of sleep, and offer useful tips for tackling sleep disorders (including.....
The Darwin Awards
24 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Warning: if you're not a fan of dark humor, feel free to skip this episode. We won't judge you! For our fellow twisted weirdos...enjoy. "The Darwin ...
Organized Crime, Volume 1: The Yakuza
17 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
For many of us, the word “Yakuza” conjures images of full-body tattoos and severed pinkies, but the actual legacy of organized crime in Japan is m...
Weird and Terrifying Animals
10 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Ask and you shall receive! Listeners have been requesting an episode about weird and scary animals, and MFFI finally delivered. Be careful what you wi...
Off the Deep End: Facts and Mythology of the Ocean
03 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
This one is unofficially subtitled "off the rails." If you're not a fan of tangents and silliness, maybe skip the second half. But if you enjoy a heal...
Lost Civilizations
27 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Lost civilizations have been puzzling archaeologists and transfixing the public for centuries. From multilayered honeycombs to underground mazes to un...
Insomniacs Inbox: Bats, Penguins, and the Great Emu War
20 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In the first ever “Insomniacs Inbox” episode, Shane and Duncan respond to listener feedback, get schooled on Irish names, and pick sides in the ...
Cryptids: from the Loch Ness Monster to the Dobhar-chu
13 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
From Bigfoot to Nessie to the Jersey Devil, Shane and Duncan break down the lore and origins of the most popular cryptids. In this episode: Nessi...
Unfiltered Fairytales
06 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
These aren’t your grandma’s fairytales. Gather ’round for a soothing rendition of "How Some Children Played at Slaughtering" and the infamous "G...
Ancient Texts: from the Devil’s Bible to the Magna Carta
30 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Before there were printing presses and modern mass-produced books, there were tablets, tomes, and scrolls. Some were full of wisdom, some were full of...
Scandals: Hollywood Edition
23 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In part two of the MFFI "Scandals" series, Shane and Duncan cover sex, drugs, and murder in tinseltown. In this episode: Mel Gibson VS a paper ba...
Superstition: Black cats and devils and mirrors, oh my
16 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
When you step on a crack, do you immediately worry about your mother's back? Do you avoid walking under ladders, or regularly toss salt over your shou...
Unique, Strange, and Creepy Historical Humans
09 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Humans can be amazing creatures. Nellie Bly revolutionized mental healthcare and circumnavigated the globe; Violet Jessop beat incalculable odds and s...
Scandals: Music and Murder
02 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Murder, suicide, more murder, also...music! Plus some extra murder. This is a dark one. Enjoy! In this episode: The Beatles are bigger than Jesus P...
The Fermi Paradox, A.K.A ”Where are the Aliens?”
25 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Where are all the aliens?? According to scientists, the Milky Way galaxy should be teeming with life, but when we point our telescopes and radio dishe...
Armageddon, Ragnarok, and End Times
18 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Don't rapture me, bro! In the 666th episode of MFFI (not really) Shane and Duncan get cryptic with eschatological prophesies and learn all about the e...
Weird and Obscure Facts about the Human body
11 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Which is the smallest bone in the human body? The largest muscle? Which of your fingernails grows fastest? At what time of day are you tallest? If you...
The World’s Most-Hated Corporations
04 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Corporations are easy to hate, and some get a bad rap. But there are companies so vile, so cartoonishly evil, that they need to be called out. Wallow ...
The Dark Side of Disney
28 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
All is not as it seems in the House of Mouse. Grab your fastpass and buckle up for a journey behind the scenes of the happiest place on earth. It's go...
Myths in the Modern World: The Olympians
21 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Legends never die, they’re just recycled. Torture, betrayal, incest...ancient myths are woven so tightly into modern culture that they're inextricab...
Secret Societies
14 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
First rule of secret societies: you do not podcast about secret societies. Secret rituals, secret initiations, secret handshakes. From the sini...
Human Superpowers
07 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
What qualifies as a "superpower," and do superhumans exist? Are there any drawbacks to being extraordinary? Don your cape and spandex for an entertain...
Pointless, Petty Wars
30 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The only thing worse than wars are stupid, ridiculous, petty, unjustified wars. These are those wars. In this episode: The Pig War Spain Vs Denma...
Pirates: Were they anything like the stereotype? (No. But kind of. But mostly no.)
23 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Were pirates really the peg-legged, eye-patched, parrot-toting, swashbuckling sea vagabonds depicted in Hollywood? Dive into the weird, filthy history...
UFOs ARE REAL (but they’re probably not aliens)
16 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Join Shane and Duncan for an extraterrestrial (maybe?) exploration of all things flying and unidentified. Find out the real name of Area 51, learn abo...
Medical Quackery: From snake oil to coca wine
09 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
True story: back in the 1800s you could buy a gram of cocaine at a local drug store for 25 cents, and corn flakes were waging a war against masturbati...
More Misconceptions: If You Didn’t Know, Now You Know
02 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
What's the spiciest part of a hot pepper? (Hint: it's not the seeds.) How long does a Twinkie actually last? Which types of food do mice crave way mor...
More cults: Moonies, Jonestown, Heaven’s Gate
30 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Cults...still the worst. In part 2: Find out which suicide-cult Shane thinks is "kind of charming”; plus door-to-door monkey sales, Flavor Aid isn't...
Idioms (common sayings): Mysteries Solved
20 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Do white elephants exist? (Spoiler: yes.) Was there actually a "Riot Act" and did anyone read it? (There was, and they did). Join Shane and Duncan f...
Screwups and Blunders (Part 2)
15 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Another batch of epic mistakes that led to death, destruction, and mayhem. Also, cannibalism. Plus: Shane sucks at accents, Duncan disses NASA, and ca...
Screwups: humanity’s biggest blunders (part 1)
15 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Everyone makes mistakes, but only a select few are capable of making mistakes so massive that they change the course of history. From a drunken oil-ta...
Pandemics, Plagues, and Scourges
15 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Are you prepared for the zombie apocalypse? From the Black Death to Ebola, from SARS to Zika, Shane and Duncan explore the worst pandemics in history,...
Cults: NXIVM and Branch Davidians
15 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Cults. They're the worst. In part one: Duncan can't pronounce "Ayn," Shane can't pronounce "Raniere," and everyone hates MLMs. Plus perverts abound, m...
Common Misconceptions
13 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
What color is the sun? How many spiders do you swallow in your sleep every year? (Spoilers: not yellow, and none.) In this episode Shane and Duncan ...
Mysterious Disappearances
13 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
How many Americans go missing every year, and how many of those disappearances remain unsolved? Which states have the highest numbers of missing peopl...
Box Office Disasters
06 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Bombing on stage as a comedian is embarrassing, but bombing in theaters with a multi-million dollar budget is waaay worse. In the latest episode, Shan...
Conspiracy Theories
01 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Shane and Duncan deep-dive into the paranoid rabbit hole of conspiracy theories. From flat-earthers to the Berenstain Bears, explore the genesis of so...
Infamous Hoaxes
19 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Shane and Duncan explore hoaxes, swindles, and cons, and Shane reveals the most damaging hoax ever. In this episode: Nessie The Great Moon Hoa...
Notorious Heists
12 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Shane schools Duncan on the wild world of heists, and reveals the most expensive heist ever perpetrated. In this episode: D.B. Cooper The Antwer...
Unexplained Phenomena
05 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
What do deja vu, the "Wow" signal, and a mushroom in Texas all have in common? As you might have guessed by the title, they're all examples of unexpla...