About this episode

This episode explores the haunting legacy of the Andrea Doria shipwreck and the bizarre world of festival queens.

What happens when a luxury ocean liner sinks... but refuses to stop claiming victims? And why do communities around the world crown queens of hot dogs, herring, pumpkins, and wild turkeys? In this episode of The Box of Oddities, Kat and Jethro dive into the haunting legacy of the Andrea Doria, the glamorous Italian ocean liner that collided with another ship in dense Atlantic fog and slipped beneath the waves off Nantucket in 1956. What should have been the end of the story became the beginning of a deadly obsession. Decades later, the wreck remains one of the most dangerous dive sites on Earth, earning a chilling reputation as the "Everest of Wreck Diving" and claiming the lives of experienced divers drawn to its dark corridors and ghostly remains. Then, Kat explores the surprisingly bizarre world of festival queens. From ancient fertility traditions and May Queens to modern-day Sausage Queens, Herring Queens, and Wild Turkey Queens, discover how centuries-old rituals evolved into some of the strangest community celebrations in history. Luxury shipwrecks, underwater mysteries, pagan traditions, hot dog royalty, and the weird ways humans celebrate themselves—it's all waiting…

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