Dawn of Mantis: True Crime, Mysteries and More · Dawn of Mantis Podcast

DOM Ep366 - French Graves, Billy Goat Mayors and Bionic Kitties- Strange Stories From the Ether

February 20, 2026·58 min·2 clips

Boyfriend rushed to hospital same night

The crew calls it another mixed bag of oddities. They open with funny, strange, and disturbing events from history and then immediately act like three middle-aged gingers with too much confidence can sort them out. Brian and Abby are back, and the room clearly knows it. Joe has been coached on how to say the French bits, which gives the whole thing a little structure before it swerves again. The first stretch leans into French graves and burial rules. They kick around cremation costs in France, digging holes deeper, and whether stacked burials are actually a thing or just the kind of idea people invent when trying to make sense of death with no paperwork. The group keeps turning over the mechanics. They talk through how many people might fit in one burial plot, how headstones might work, and whether a family grave is one deep pit or something more ordinary. A past family-of-seven story comes back up. That sends them back into the same speculation about how the bodies were arranged and what a cemetery might really look like underneath the grass. The conversation never stays on one rail for long. One offhand line leads to another joke, which leads to another correction, which leads to another practical question nobody needed but everybody seems happy to answer. That looseness gives the episode its shape. It sounds like people in the same room building the story as they go, complete with pauses, repetitions, and a few mid-thought pivots. The jokes stay dry and a little morbid. The hosts keep the stakes visible even while they riff. By the end, it settles into a casual thank-you to Brian and Abby and a sendoff to listeners after the odd little trip. It is a random, fact-shaped hangout that prefers curiosity, skepticism, and a bad joke over any attempt at clean polish.

As heard by us

A loose, funny detour through French pronunciation, burial depth, and other historical oddities.

The episode leans into a grab bag of historical oddities, and the best part is watching the panel get tangled up in one strange detail after another.

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Why you'd press play

You want graveyard logistics, French pronunciation, and a room full of speculative detours.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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