The Box of Oddities

Ghosts in Your DNA

The Box of Oddities

Show Notes

There are ghosts in your DNA—entire lost populations whose names, languages, and worlds vanished, yet whose genetic fingerprints are still moving through people alive today. Then: the deeply unsettling truth about seeds that have sprouted in human lungs, ears, and other places nature never intended a garden to grow.

In this episode of The Box of Oddities, Kat and Jethro explore ancient “ghost populations,” Neanderthals, Denisovans, and the 7,100-year-old woman whose DNA revealed a hidden branch of human history. Plus, they meet the unfortunate people who discovered that sometimes “it went down the wrong pipe” can become a very literal medical nightmare. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

More from The Box of Oddities

Oct 23, 2026

Ghostly Encounters, Scottish Mario & Halloween Chaos | Inbox of Oddities

Oct 21, 2026

In this Halloween-season episode of Box of Oddities, Kat and Jethro explore a grisly chapter of New England folklore: the 1817 exhumation of Dartmouth student Frederick Ransom. As tuberculosis—then called consumption—devastated his Vermont family, his father followed a desperate “vampire” remedy: Frederick’s heart was removed from his grave and burned in a blacksmith’s forge.

Oct 19, 2026

Edgar Allan Poe’s Rattling Skull & The Honeymoon Murder at Acadia National Park

Oct 16, 2026

The Box of Oddities Halloween Special Preview: True Ghost Stories, Haunted Houses & Unexplained Encounters

Oct 14, 2026

Can riding a train actually drive you insane? And why have cultures around the world spent centuries telling stories about women with teeth in places teeth absolutely do not belong?

See all episodes →