Appalachia is Bigfoot territory. In a big way. This week, we look at the mythical beast's legend, lore and sizable economic impact in the region. And we follow one reporter’s journey through the mountains and foothills of western North Carolina in search of Sasquatch.

This episode comes to us from the wonderful folks at The Broadside from North Carolina Public Radio, a weekly podcast exploring stories happening in their home at the crossroads of the American South. Other topics include how the world ‘y’all’ is taking over the world, the impact of dangerous heat on workers, and why cola became the king of beverages.

Featuring Emily Cataneo and Jerry Millwood.

SUPPORT

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LINKS

Check out Emily Cataneo’s story on Appalachian Bigfoot culture at The Assembly here.

CREDITS

Outside/In host: Nate Hegyi

Outside/In team: Justine Paradis, Felix Poon, Marina Henke, and Kate Dario.

Executive Producer: Taylor Quimby

Intro music by bomull.

NHPR’s Director of Podcasts is Rebecca Lavoie

Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio.

Coyotes are a sort of goldilocks animal. They can be active during the day, and at night. They can hunt in groups, or survive solo. They’re wolfish enough to survive in the wild, dog-like enough to blossom in the big city.

That adaptability has arguably made coyotes one of the most successful mammalian predators on the planet. It’s also given them a reputation as opportunistic villains that prey on neighborhood garbage, livestock, and (occasionally) household pets.

So what makes these animals so special? And if coyotes are so good at living amongst us, how do we get better at living amongst them?

Featuring: Daniel Proux, Dan Flores, Christine Wilkinson, Stan Gehrt, and Kieon Halona

SUPPORT

Outside/In is made possible with listener support. Click here to become a sustaining member of Outside/In.

Follow Outside/In on Instagram or join our private discussion group on Facebook.

LINKS

If you enjoyed learning about coyote vocalizations, check out Janet Kessler’s blog about San Francisco coyotes, or her YouTube page, where you can find dozens of videos showing the diversity of coyote yips, yowls, barks, grows, and more .

Read about coyotes in the Massachusetts town of Nahant, where municipal officials asked the federal government to help kill them in 2022. (New York Times)

CREDITS

Host: Nate Hegyi

Reported and produced by Kate Dario

Mixed by Kate Dario and Taylor Quimby

Editing by Taylor Quimby

Our staff includes Justine Paradis, Felix Poon, and Marina Henke

Executive producer: Taylor Quimby

Rebecca Lavoie is NHPR’s Director of On-Demand Audio

Music by Blue Dot Sessions

Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio

Submit a question to the “Outside/Inbox.” We answer queries about the natural world, climate change, sustainability, and human evolution. You can send a voice memo to outsidein@nhpr.org or leave a message on our hotline, 1-844-GO-OTTER (844-466-8837).

Just a few weeks after we released the What Remains series, news broke that the Penn Museum discovered additional remains of 1985 MOVE bombing victims in the museum.

How did this happen? And what's next for the thousands of other human remains still in their possession?

Producer Felix Poon knew just the person to talk to for answers.

Featuring Rachel Watkins.

MORE ABOUT “WHAT REMAINS”

Across the country, the remains of tens of thousands of human beings are held by museums and institutions. Scientists say they’ve helped lay the foundations of forensic science and unlocked the secrets of humanity’s shared past.

But these bones were also collected before informed consent was the gold standard for ethical study. 19th and 20th-century physicians and anthropologists took unclaimed bodies from poorhouses and hospitals, robbed graves, and looted Indigenous bones from sacred sites.

Now, under pressure from activists and an evolving scientific community, these institutions are rethinking what to do with their unethically collected human remains.

In this series from Outside/In, producer Felix Poon takes us to Philadelphia, where the prestigious Penn Museum has promised to “respectfully repatriate” hundreds of skulls collected by 19th century physician Samuel George Morton, who used them to pursue pseudo-scientific theories of white supremacy. Those efforts have been met with support by some, and anger and distrust by others.

Along the way, Felix explores the long legacy of scientific racism, lingering questions over the 1985 MOVE bombing, and evolving ethics in the field of biological anthropology.

Can the institutions that have long benefited from these remains be trusted to give them up? And if so, who decides what happens next?

LINKS

Read the Penn Museum’s statement about the latest discovery of additional MOVE remains at the museum.

Listen to WHYY’s news report, Penn Museum discovers another set of human remains from the MOVE bombing.

You can find our full episode credits, listen to our back catalog, and support Outside/In at our website: outsideinradio.org.