Podcasts by Pre-Dead Boys

Pre-Dead Boys

You're gonna rot - but that doesn't have to be a bummer! Prepare for the inevitable with Max and Dorian as they explore the history and culture of death and decomposition.

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Further podcasts by Pre-Dead Boys

Podcast on the topic Geschichte

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Pre-Dead Boys
65: Cremation from 2021-02-01T19:25

Max and Dorian come clambering back from break to discuss CREMATION, the act of burning dead bodies! Cremation has essentially become end-of-life option number 2 in America today, but the prac...

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Pre-Dead Boys
64: Kyla Rice - Cadaver Dog Trainer from 2020-11-26T19:39:33

We've got an EXTRA SPECIAL episode for ya - an interview with Human Remains Detection Dog trainer & handler Kyla Rice, and her German Shepherd Emrick! Kyla gives us the lowdown on why she ...

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Pre-Dead Boys
63: Death in Space from 2020-11-11T00:57:16

Whether or not there's life beyond our planet, there's plenty of death! Max and Dorian discuss these accounts, as well as what happens to bodies in vaccuum, the long list of animals sent into ...

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Pre-Dead Boys
62: Ghosts from 2020-10-30T03:01:24

In Spooky Seasons past, the boys have taken on vampires, zombies, and frankensteins. This year, their crosshairs are set on the scammy world of spirits! Retrace the history of ghosts from reli...

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Pre-Dead Boys
BONUS: Evil Dead from 2020-10-19T10:00

HAPPY SPOOKY SEASON! Here’s an UNLOCKED BONUS EPISODE. To get access to MORE bonus episodes like this and lotsa extra goodies, support us on Patre...

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Pre-Dead Boys
61: Politics&Death from 2020-09-22T10:00

Oh, you think the current leaders of the world are old and decrepit? YOU AIN'T SEEN NOTHIN' YET. In this episode, Max and Dorian plunge into the wacky world of countries ruled by dead people!<...

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Pre-Dead Boys
60: Ossuaries from 2020-09-07T10:00

Too many bones? Not enough graves? Time for some interior design!

Join Max and Dorian as they examine several grim, yet beautiful locations decorated floor-to-ceiling with bones - as ...

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Pre-Dead Boys
59: The Brain from 2020-08-17T10:00

The most fascinating organ in the body is still the one we know the least about... But that won't stop Max and Dorian from illuminating what we DO know.

Learn more about the exact poi...

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Pre-Dead Boys
58: Black American Death Care from 2020-08-03T10:00

The funeral industry faces many challenges. But the segment of it that serves, and is comprised of, Black Americans faces its own unique struggles.

Join Max and Dorian as they explore...

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Pre-Dead Boys
57: Animals 2 from 2020-07-20T10:00

This week, Max and Dorian look at more animal stories! It’s a little bit of a bummer at first as they examine how animals grieve, but they end on an uplifting note by honoring some HEROIC DOGS...

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Pre-Dead Boys
56: Veneration from 2020-06-29T19:11:27

Mere minutes before Dorian sets out on a death-defying stunt, Max teaches him about the religious act of honoring a dead person through relics! Although most of their discussion revolves aroun...

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Pre-Dead Boys
55: Death and the Internet from 2020-06-15T10:00

In an extremely online world, no one truly disappears when they die. Join Max and Dorian as they explore death in the era of Web 2.0! It's a realm of digital remains, post-mortem social media ...

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Pre-Dead Boys
54: Food from 2020-06-01T10:00

Love food? TOO BAD, according to several cultures! While some funeral celebrations have sweet confections and savory meals for the mourners to enjoy, others strictly prohibit the enjoyment of ...

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Pre-Dead Boys
1: Bone Diaries ep. 1 from 2020-05-25T10:00

Dorian found a dead squirrel. He wants its bones.

Click here to read Jake's Bones.

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Pre-Dead Boys
53: Necropolises from 2020-05-11T10:00

Cities of the dead (a.k.a. Necropolises) sound scary, but are actually pretty chill! This week, Max and Dorian learn about the Vatican, the Giza pyramids, and other large burial destinations a...

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Pre-Dead Boys
52: Gravediggers from 2020-04-27T11:00

Whether by heroism, necessity, or both, the essential worker steps up when average people consider a job too lowly or risky. Enter the gravediggers!

In this episode, Max and Dorian te...

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Pre-Dead Boys
51: What to Do in a Pandemic from 2020-03-31T19:17:09

Are you anxious over the current global crisis? Max and Dorian have the remedy for your socially-distanced blues!

For those not on forced quarantine, might we recommend a visit to you...

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Pre-Dead Boys
50: Corpse Scandals from 2020-03-17T02:52:07

Let's look at some BIGTIME mismanagement of dead bodies! Max and Dorian begin their exploration with a long-abandoned island of bummer buildings and overstuffed graves, then wrap up (heh) by u...

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Pre-Dead Boys
49: Bog Bodies from 2020-03-02T11:00

Murder! Human sacrifice! And... peat?! It may sound crazy, but that cruddy fossil fuel is key to understanding the incredible things that happen when a corpse is stuffed into a bog. Discover t...

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Pre-Dead Boys
48: Body Farms from 2020-02-17T11:00

It's the TWO YEAR ANNIVERSARY of the Pre-Dead Boys, and things get a little steamy! Specifically, dead bodies get steamy. And chilly. And eaten by squirrels. And run over by lawnmowers.
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Pre-Dead Boys
47: Plagues from 2020-02-05T11:00

Are you afraid you'll catch an illness? So is Max! His paranoia led to a frenzied deep-dive into the history of epidemics. Join him as he shares his newfound knowledge with Dorian, from the Bl...

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Pre-Dead Boys
46: Coffin Tech from 2020-01-20T11:00

WE'RE BACK BAY-BEE, with a hot (yet comprehensive) take on the cutting edge of coffin developments throughout history! Discover the measures taken to make coffins better for those buried alive...

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Pre-Dead Boys
45: Deathy Holidays from 2019-12-30T11:00

In the name of the Kallikantzaros, the Mari Lwyd, and the unholy Krampus: Max and Dorian wish you a merry new year, and gift you with an episode absolutely STUFFED with death-centric winter ho...

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Pre-Dead Boys
44: Body Composting from 2019-12-16T11:00

Do you realize how much garbage we put into the earth when we perform traditional western burials? Before Dorian hops on his soapbox to rant about it, Max educates him (and you!) on the mechan...

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Pre-Dead Boys
43: Exhumation from 2019-11-25T18:42:18

Why dig up a stinky dead body? Well, there are good reasons to do that, like honoring lost war heroes and resolving legal disputes. There are also gross reasons that make you rethink things li...

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Pre-Dead Boys
42: Daredevils from 2019-11-11T18:45:03

It's time to look death in the eye and say NOT TODAY! Learn about Evel Knievel, Buster Keaton, Alex Honnold, and other American legends who chucked their body into death-defying situations and...

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Pre-Dead Boys
41: NECROMANCY from 2019-10-28T21:26:43

Frankenstein isn't the only person to attempt to raise the dead! Join Max and Dorian on their crash-course through necromancin' in ancient Greek literature, the Hebrew Bible, and HP Lovecraft*...

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Pre-Dead Boys
Patreon FAQ from 2019-10-24T10:00

We launched a Patreon! Here's a mini-episode explaining what it is and how it works.

Help us keep this podcast running, and get bonus rewards! Listen
Pre-Dead Boys
BONUS: The Texas Chain Saw Massacre from 2019-10-21T10:00

In 1974, America was beginning to see the uncomfortable truth beneath things like war, politics, and the oil & meat industries. That same year, a little indie film reflected those deceptio...

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Pre-Dead Boys
40: FRANKENSTEIN from 2019-10-14T17:38:48

Two centuries ago, on vacation in Geneva, a young novelist with a lifelong morbid curiosity conceived one of the most enduring and fascinating stories of all time. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein ...

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Pre-Dead Boys
39: Native American Burial Mounds from 2019-09-30T10:00

Though the histories and cultures of indigenous people are often lost, the evidence they've left behind might be closer than you expect. In this episode, the boys share information on Native A...

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Pre-Dead Boys
38: BODIES UNDER OUR FEET!! from 2019-09-16T10:00

Ever look into your hometown's local history? Max and Dorian can't help but be proud of their beautiful city, warts and all. So imagine their excitement at discovering that one of their favori...

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Pre-Dead Boys
37: Embalming from 2019-09-02T10:00

It’s no secret that Max and Dorian are firmly in the #YoureGonnaRot camp, and they’re not exactly fans of pumping chemicals into dead bodies to preserve them. But it’s time to open our minds! ...

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Pre-Dead Boys
36: Weird Cemeteries from 2019-08-12T10:00

Travel the world in 60 minutes as Max and Dorian scour the earth for the strangest final resting places in existence! Learn about the graves inside airports, restaurants, and parking lots; the...

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Pre-Dead Boys
35: Photography Part 2: Post Mortem from 2019-07-29T21:55:45

After last episode’s depressing foray into war photography, the boys drop a KING-SIZED EPISODE exploring Harlem’s reverential and innovative funeral photos, the obituaries of a small town in W...

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Pre-Dead Boys
34: Photography Part 1: War from 2019-07-08T11:00

When daguerreotype photography made its way to America, Mathew Brady capitalized on this burgeoning technology and changed the way the world understands violence. He was also kind of a dick wi...

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Pre-Dead Boys
33: Shrunken Heads from 2019-06-10T10:00

After popular demand, it’s finally time for the boys to cover the Shrunken Heads of the Shuar people! While many cultures practiced head hunting to intimidate their enemies, these ritualistica...

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Pre-Dead Boys
32: Norse Death Culture from 2019-05-27T10:00

Think Norse culture starts and ends with shooting flaming arrows at corpses on longboats? Surprises abound in this episode about Norse mythology (Odin, Loki, Thor, Ragnarok, et al), and how it...

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Pre-Dead Boys
31: SPORTS!! from 2019-05-13T11:00

If you think modern sports are violent, buckle up! Throughout sports history, fun pastimes have often given way to religious sacrifice and total brutality. Join Max and Dorian as they cover Roma...

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Pre-Dead Boys
30: Aokigahara from 2019-04-23T04:59:43

HEY GUYS WELCOME TO MY VLOG!!! 

Just kidding. Unlike other content-creators, your REAL favorite bros Max and Dorian are here to deliver an uncommonly respectful homage to the beautiful ...

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Pre-Dead Boys
29: Plants, Fungus&Death from 2019-04-09T12:00

Think plants are boring? THINK AGAIN! The Boys are back to dig up the dirt on interesting death-related stories about our floral and fungal friends. 

There's dead bodies inside trees. T...

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Pre-Dead Boys
28: Death Fashion from 2019-03-26T12:00

Pre-Dead Girl, you better WORK! This week, Max and Dorian discuss the weird practice of dressing a corpse - ranging from the baptism clothes of the early Christian church, to the stuffy suits we...

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Pre-Dead Boys
27: How to Fake Your Death from 2019-03-11T12:00

Ever wish you could just disappear? WHY, WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO HIDE??

Whether you're trying to escape debt, leave a rocky marriage, or prank your friends, staging your own death might ...

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Pre-Dead Boys
26: Public Executions from 2019-02-25T22:18:08

Before cheering crowds gathered at Ted Bundy’s execution, capital punishment and torture had been popular public spectacle for centuries.

Are humans just nasty freaks that love watching...

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Pre-Dead Boys
25: CANNIBALS!! from 2019-02-13T00:59:15

It’s been one full year of Pre-Dead Boys, and have they got a TREAT for you! Listen to the history of humans eating humans - for survival, for ritual practice… and just because they were stupid....

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Pre-Dead Boys
24: Transhumanism from 2019-01-28T18:12:40

Who wants to live forever? Transhumanists do!

The boys research mind-uploading, cryonics (again), and the soul (whatever that is) - all in an effort to learn about the science-fiction-i...

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Pre-Dead Boys
23: Mount Everest from 2019-01-16T01:00:33

The boys RETURN with horror and hubris-filled accounts of people who tried to conquer the largest mountain in the world. BUT FIRST: the strangest, grossest, and funniest death-related news of 20...

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Pre-Dead Boys
22: Animals from 2018-12-28T13:00

For the final show of 2018, Max shows Dorian a kitty drone, a gross mermaid, mummies buried with their pets… and the single most horrific and perverted thing he's ever seen.

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Pre-Dead Boys
21: Weird Funerals from 2018-12-10T13:00

FINALLY, after nearly a year of discussing death, Max and Dorian decide their funeral plans. Will it be as explosive as Hunter S. Thompson’s ceremony? A fake funeral like Chinese student Zeng Ji...

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Pre-Dead Boys
20: The Middle East from 2018-11-26T13:00

Good dogs, nasty vultures, Zoroastrianism, and the largest cemetery in the world! Join the boys as they explore the death culture and funeral rituals of Iraq, Afghanistan, and other parts of the...

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Pre-Dead Boys
19: TRAINS!! from 2018-11-12T13:00

Max and Dorian are going off the rails! Learn about presidential funeral processions, the railway with the COOLEST name, and just how gross an overpopulated city gets when cholera breaks out. Listen

Pre-Dead Boys
BONUS: Uzumaki from 2018-10-29T12:00

The Pre-Dead Book Club is in session! We discuss UZUMAKI, the bizarre and brilliant magnum opus of horror comics legend Junji Ito. Max and Dorian try to make sense of this creepy tome via Akira,...

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Pre-Dead Boys
18: VAMPIRES!! from 2018-10-22T12:00

Journey through history with Max and Dorian as they parse through the various folk tales that formed the modern day vampire, explore the hysteria of real-life cases of alleged vampirism, and try...

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Pre-Dead Boys
17: ZOMBIES!! from 2018-10-09T02:54:33

Psh. Zombies? On a so-called history podcast? Yeah right! Sounds like the boys are just covering fiction from now on!

Unless you ask the people of Haiti.

Or t...

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Pre-Dead Boys
BONUS: The Thing from 2018-10-01T12:00

As a special THANK YOU to everyone who has supported the podcast this far, here’s a BONUS EPISODE! Max and Dorian discuss the history of the film, the fan theories, possible themes of masculinit...

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Pre-Dead Boys
16: Corpse Theft from 2018-09-24T15:35:54

Murder and exploitation abound in the business of stealing dead people! While cadavers were hard to come by in the early days of modern medicine, there was no shortage of nefarious dudes willing...

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Pre-Dead Boys
15: Spontaneous Human Combustion from 2018-09-10T16:29:54

Man it’s a hot one! The boys take a look at the documented cases throughout history of humans bursting into flames. Surprisingly, the science isn’t quite as weird as you might think.

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Pre-Dead Boys
14: The Catacombs of Paris from 2018-08-27T23:01:04

You randy for bones? Then come learn all about the history of the Catacombs! Max and Dorian discuss the overflow of corpses that led to their creation, as well as some nasty wax… all before they...

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Pre-Dead Boys
13: Lying in State from 2018-08-13T12:00

What happens to a corpse when you put it on display? Max and Dorian discuss an English king who was at risk of exploding, a Russian ruler whose brain got reamed, and a dorky philosopher trapped ...

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Pre-Dead Boys
12: Death in Film from 2018-07-23T12:00

THE BOYS STRIKE BACK in their epic return, this time covering mortality in movies! Learn about family-friendly flicks like FACES OF DEATH and THE DRILLER KILLER, and shudder in horror as they di...

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Pre-Dead Boys
11: The Long Now from 2018-07-03T02:22:08

What will remain of human civilization in 10,000 years? How do you finance building a mountain clock? And can glowing cats save us from our own radioactive death garbage? Nothing stops Max and D...

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Pre-Dead Boys
10: Floridian Death Metal from 2018-06-19T04:02:53

Get BRUTAL with the boys as Dorian teaches Max (!!) about the finer points of the rich Death Metal scene of late 1980s/early 1990s Florida! Learn how the scene and the bands came to be, and list...

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Pre-Dead Boys
9: Death and the Ocean from 2018-06-04T12:00

Get nasty with Max and Dorian as they explore the horrific and beautiful depths of the sea! They examine the complex ecosystems of whale falls, the shameful sea burials of history, and how YOU c...

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Pre-Dead Boys
8: Death Hoaxes from 2018-05-21T12:00

IT’S TIME TO PARTY as Max and Dorian explore some strange and paranoia-drenched death hoaxes! They cover the victimization of wrongfully-declared dead in India, some comically inaccurate obituar...

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Pre-Dead Boys
7: Chinese Death Culture from 2018-05-07T12:00

Hop in the time-traveling mausoleum with Max and Dorian as they travel back and explore the rich history and culture of death in China! Learn about cliffside coffins, a city of ceramic soldiers,...

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Pre-Dead Boys
6: Mausoleums from 2018-04-23T12:00

GREAT GUTZON BORGLUM! The boys get downright presidential as they revisit MAUSOLEUMS, those big pretty buildings that store the dead above the ground! Listen as Max and Dorian teach you about th...

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Pre-Dead Boys
5: Cryonics from 2018-04-09T12:00

It’s the Pre-Dead Boys at their most skeptical as they explore the fringe science of cheating death by freezing bodies! Y’see, they’re only LEGALLY dead. And much to Max’s joy, he gets to tell D...

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Pre-Dead Boys
4: New Orleans Death Culture from 2018-03-26T12:00

Jazz funerals! Mausoleums! Airborne coffins! Max shares the rich culture and funerary practices of New Orleans, where music is as much a part of death as it is life. And Dorian eliminates a pote...

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Pre-Dead Boys
3: Mummies, Dummies, and Honey from 2018-03-12T10:00

Enter the fraud-riddled world of mummy trade as Max enlightens Dorian on the history of profiting off of enbalmed bodies… as well as poorly-made fakes! We wrap up (heh) with some details on how ...

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Pre-Dead Boys
2: Terror Management Theory from 2018-02-26T07:00

Ball is life… but is ball also death? Max and Dorian explore a unique death philosophy that involves sports, Van Gogh, and what sounds like a pretty rad t-shirt. 

You can read the study...

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Pre-Dead Boys
1: Sky Burials from 2018-02-12T13:00

In this inaugural episode, Max teaches Dorian about Tibetan Sky Burial! It's a pretty brutal yet surprisingly practical way to dispose of remains. Yum. Listen