My Favourite Flightless Bird Episode Yet
I feel really proud of this one, so wanted to let you know about it.
Hi,
So Tucker Carlson and Dom Lemon are gone, Elon’s rocket exploded, and I’m still reeling from that last episode of Succession.
Getting sick of people ranting to you about Succession? Or some other show? Then you’ll know how the more that one friend tries to convince you to watch a TV show, the less you feel like watching it. I’m pretty sure I’m yet to watch The Sopranos and The Wire as some kind of pigheaded protest against the people ranting to me about those shows over the years.
So I get it.
But if I was to rant at you about listening to one episode of my weekly podcast Flightless Bird, today’s episode is the one: I’ve listed all the places you can listen to it here: Spotify, Apple, Google, Stitcher, Podbean, etc.
In it, I visit the tiny town of Cassadaga, Florida — the unincorporated community that Tom Petty sang about back in 1979:
Well the clouds go by in the big blue sky
As the sun beats down on Casa Dega
And the moon pulls the tide and the tide brings night
But night is more than just a night in Casa Dega…
Cassadaga is known as the “psychic capital of America” — and is literally a town of psychics and mediums. More specifically, it’s a town of Spiritualists: people who claim to be able to talk to the dead. You know, The Sixth Sense.
Oh baby now I think I’m starting to believe the things that I’ve heard
Cause tonight in Casa Dega I hang on every word…
To me — this is America: Small towns. People who are characters. Characters with specific, sometimes slightly unusual beliefs.
And it goes deep: Abraham Lincoln, The 16th President of the United States, was a Spiritualist who once held a seance in the Red Room of the White House — asking the dead for advice on the future of the United States.
I like to think this podcast captures some of this strangeness — and also sweetness, somehow — in a bottle. Because I really liked this tiny town with its assortment of rescued cats, quant houses, and the oddballs who lived inside.
Along the way, I also brushed up against my first Big Tent Revival in America, something I didn’t even really clock was still a thing here. You’ll know from this newsletter that I have a fascination with Evangelical weirdness, and this visit certainly ticked a few boxes. I found many of their claims and beliefs utterly offensive, and they opened me with open arms. My visit took me right back to Stephen King’s excellent Revival.
Anyway, I like this episode of Flightless Bird. The show is not Spotify exclusive — so you can listen wherever you get your podcasts.
I’ve listed all the links up the top here.
I hope you like it. It has some good characters, and some good cats.
Have a great week,
David.
