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Memento Morbid

Memento Morbid 7 Episodes Aug 13, 2026

Memento Morbid is a podcast hosted by Joanna Ebenstein, founder of Morbid Anatomy, featuring conversations about death, the human condition, and life's mysteries. Guests include death workers, artists, authors, and others who explore rituals, stories, and the ways people confront mortality. The show aims to reveal beauty, humor, and meaning in life by facing death directly. Listeners can submit voice notes about death and dying for possible inclusion in future episodes.

Episodes

17: ‘Spiritual Gumbo’ - Lilith Dorsey Aug 13, 2026 3618 "Voodoo dolls are the one thing I'm always on my high horse about."In this episode, Joanna is joined by author, filmmaker, anthropologist and initiated New Orleans Voodoo priestess Lilith Dorsey for a rich conversation that dismantles centuries of myth while exploring the profound spiritual philosophies at the heart of African diasporic religions.Together, they trace how traditions such as New Or

16: Reality TV: A Poison and a Pox? - Evan Michelson Aug 6, 2026 3569 "I don't keep the most valuable things. I keep the things that sing to me." — Evan MichelsonWhat makes an object into a portal for memory, grief, beauty, and the sacred?This week, Joanna Ebenstein is joined by Evan Michelson—collector, curator, television personality and co-founder of the legendary Obscura Antiques & Oddities—to explore a lifetime spent discovering meaning in the overlooked,

15: ‘The Deathosphere’ – Joanna Ebenstein & Producer Jess Jul 30, 2026 2567 "It's the death of organisms that creates the fertility of the soil."When a storm in Mexico forces a last-minute change of plans, host Joanna Ebenstein is joined by Memento Morbid's Series Producer, Jess Gunasekara, for a special behind-the-scenes conversation reflecting on the remarkable first season of the podcast thus far.Together they revisit the guests, books and ideas that have lingered lon

14: ‘Death Makes Creativity Possible’- Dylan Thuras Jul 23, 2026 3378 What happens when the project that defined your life suddenly no longer belongs to you?This week, Joanna Ebenstein is joined by her longtime friend Dylan Thuras, co-founder of Atlas Obscura, to explore wonder, grief, creativity, and what it means to let go of the work that has shaped your identity.Long before algorithms and influencers transformed the internet, Joanna and Dylan were part of a sma

13: Hoodoo: Healing & Harm - Yvonne Chireau Jul 16, 2026 3542 What if the dead are not gone at all, but woven into the fabric of everyday life?Historian, scholar of religion and Black studies, and Sinners consultant Yvonne Chireau joins Joanna Ebenstein for a rich conversation about African American conjure, hoodoo, ancestry, and the many ways we misunderstand the relationship between the living and the dead.Drawing on decades of research into Black religio

12: From Pixar to Peculiars - Lee Unkrich Jul 9, 2026 3800 Academy Award-winning filmmaker Lee Unkrich—director of Coco, Toy Story 3, and longtime Pixar creative—joins Joanna Ebenstein for a deeply personal conversation about collecting, mortality, and the unexpected ways art can reshape our relationship with loss.Long before Coco brought Día de Muertos to a vast global audience, Lee was fascinated by cemeteries, ghost stories, and the uncanny. In this i

11: ‘Living Persons Guide to the Dead’- Tiffany Hopkins Jul 2, 2026 3336 What if mediumship and creativity trace back to the same roots?In this episode of Memento Morbid, Joanna Ebenstein is joined by medium, researcher, educator and author Tiffany Hopkins for a wide-ranging conversation that moves between science, spirituality, and the porous edges of perception. From her academic background in cognitive science, computing, music, and international business, Tiffany

10: Sparkling Skeletons and Costumed Cats - Paul Koudournaris Jun 25, 2026 3177 What happens when a lifelong fascination with mortality leads you into crypts, catacombs, pet cemeteries, and skull festivals across the world?Photographer, writer, and art historian Paul Koudounaris joins Joanna Ebenstein for a wide-ranging conversation about death, beauty, human remains, and the stories we tell through the dead. Best known for his acclaimed books Empire of Death, Heavenly Bodie

9: ‘Ectoplasm? It looks like cheesecloth’ – Shannon Taggart Jun 18, 2026 2822 What happens when a photographer spends 25 years documenting people who believe they can speak with the dead?Photographer Shannon Taggart joins Joanna Ebenstein for a fascinating conversation about spiritualism, séance culture, spirit photography, and the enduring human desire to remain connected with those who have died.Best known for her acclaimed book Séance, Taggart reflects on how a mysterio

8: Mysticism, Sex, and the Impossible- Jeffrey Kripal Jun 11, 2026 2271 Is Reality Stranger Than We’re Willing to Admit? Religious scholar and author Jeffrey J. Kripal joins Joanna Ebenstein for an engrossing conversation exploring mysticism, sexuality, death, and the edges of what we call “real.”Kripal reflects on his early years in a Catholic seminary, where fasting, faith, anorexia, and psychoanalysis shaped his understanding of religion as far stranger and more p

7: ‘Impossible Bodies’ - Asti Hustvedt Jun 4, 2026 3139 In this episode of Memento Morbid, Joanna Ebenstein speaks with independent scholar, historian, and author Asti Hustvedt about hysteria, gender, spiritualism, and the uneasy territory where medicine meets the uncanny.What happens when the body refuses to behave according to science?Beginning in nineteenth-century Paris, the conversation explores hysteria as a once-dominant medical diagnosis — one

6: ‘I've never not known death’ - John Troyer May 28, 2026 3559 What happens when a lifetime spent studying death collides with personal loss?Death scholar, writer, and educator John Troyer joins Joanna Ebenstein for a conversation about mortality, grief, funeral culture, and the sometimes uneasy relationship between intellectual understanding and lived experience.Best known for his book Technologies of the Human Corpse and his work with the Centre for Death

5: ‘Darkness is Healthy and Holy’ - Pam Grossman May 21, 2026 2905 What happens when we recognise creativity as a form of magic?Writer, curator, and cultural critic Pam Grossman joins Joanna Ebenstein for a conversation about witchcraft, creativity, death, and the unseen forces that shape our lives.Best known for her books Magic Maker and Waking the Witch, Grossman reflects on her lifelong relationship with magic — from childhood fascinations with mythology and

4: ‘Death isn’t a problem to fix’ - Oliver Burkeman May 14, 2026 2508 What does it mean to live well, knowing our time is finite?Author Oliver Burkeman joins Joanna Ebenstein for a conversation about time, mortality, and what it means to live well inside finite lives.Best known for Four Thousand Weeks, Burkeman reflects on his shift from scepticism about self-help and productivity culture to a deeper engagement with anxiety, limitation, and acceptance. Together, th

3: 'Grave Dirt & Mud Pies' - Leila Taylor May 7, 2026 2979 Grave dirt makes the best mud pies… Leila Taylor, writer, designer, cultural critic and Creative Director of Brooklyn Public Library, joins Joanna Ebenstein for a rich, wide-ranging conversation about the Gothic as both a cultural form and a lived sensibility—one that moves through memory, history, music, and space.Drawing from her acclaimed books Darkly: Black History and America’s Gothic Soul a

2: 'I'm a Monster Now'- Paul Giamatti Apr 30, 2026 2686 What Does It Mean to Become Someone Else?Award-winning actor and producer Paul Giamatti joins Joanna Ebenstein for a wide-ranging, eerie, and often amusing conversation about monsters, performance, and the porous boundary between life and death.From childhood fascinations with werewolves and classic horror to the uncanny psychological states accessed through acting, Giamatti reflects on a lifelon

1: 'Corpse Girl' - Caitlin Doughty Apr 23, 2026 3101 What Happens to a Body After Death?Mortician, author and death care reformer Caitlin Doughty joins Joanna Ebenstein for a candid, curious and surprisingly funny conversation about what really happens to our bodies after we die and why modern Western culture would rather not think about it.From Caitlin’s early days working in a crematory to founding Order of the Good Death, they explore death posi

Welcome to Memento Morbid…. Apr 15, 2026 174 Memento MorbidFascinating, poignant, and surprisingly life-affirming conversations about death, the human condition, and life’s great mysteries.Join Joanna Ebenstein, founder of Morbid Anatomy, for Memento Morbid, a series of surprisingly life-affirming conversations around topics that tend to be deemed morbid. Meet a wide range of fascinating individuals including death workers, artists, New Yor

Memento Morbid

Episodes

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