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Strange As It Seems

56 episodes · CBS · Historical

Play Strange As It Seems on Radio Days

Short dramatized oddities of history and nature, created by cartoonist John Hix from his newspaper feature. Two or three strange-but-true stories a show, from a king who couldn't die to a raven that was really a white owl. Syndicated in the mid-1930s.

Sources: RadioGOLDINdex

Episodes

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Undated

• The Author Who Ate His Book CBS · 13 min
  The first show of the series. Stories: the author who ate his book, the world's largest family, and the lamp that burned seventy years.
• The Man Who Ate a Fortune CBS · 11 min
  Stories: "The Man Who Ate A Fortune" and "Birth Of The Star Spangled Banner."
• The Man Who Sold the World CBS · 12 min
  Stories: "The Man Who Sold The World" and "Sergeant Molly Pitcher."
• The Banquet of Ghosts CBS · 12 min
  Stories: "The Banquet Of Ghosts" and "The Pony Express."
• How America Was Named CBS · 11 min
  Stories: "How America Was Named" and "The Mystery Airplane."
• The Raw Deal CBS · 12 min
  Stories: "The Raw Deal" and "The Vanishing Derelict."
• Where Is the Swanee River? CBS · 12 min
  Stories: "Where Is The Suwannee River," "The Strange Salesman," and "The Peace Treaty From The Heavens."
• Fort Blunder CBS · 11 min
  Stories: "Fort Blunder" and "The Hymn Writer Who Never Saw A Church."
• The Diamond Dinner CBS · 11 min
  Stories: "The Diamond Dinner" and "The Meeting of Schubert and Shakespeare."
• The Elephant Who Ran A Zoo CBS · 12 min
  Stories: "The Elephant Who Ran A Zoo" and "The Phantom Flower."
• The Costliest Temple in the World CBS · 11 min
  Stories: "The Costliest Temple In The World" and "Stranded In Midair."
• The Mysterious River CBS · 11 min
  Stories: "The Mysterious River" and "The King Who Died to Save His Life."
• The Self-Appointed Record Breaker CBS · 12 min
  Stories: "The Self-Appointed Record Breaker" and "Does Absence Make The Heart Grow Fonder?"
• The Woman Who Tempted Fate CBS · 15 min
  Stories: "The Woman Who Tempted Fate" and "Poles Apart."
• The World's Smartest Counterfeiter CBS · 15 min
  Stories: "The World's Smartest Counterfeiter," "Mrs. Bloomer," and "The Strange Story of The Steamboat."
• The World's Largest Diamond CBS · 15 min
  Stories: "The World's Largest Diamond," "Stonewall Jackson: The Accidental Martyr," and "Living Thermometers."
• The Power of the Press CBS · 15 min
  Stories: "The Power Of The Press," "The Woman Who Makes Her Living With A Pea Shooter," and "The Outlaw Genius."
• Rome Transplanted CBS · 15 min
  Stories: the ghost of Shakespeare, and Rome transplanted.
• Stories About the Oregon Trail CBS · 15 min
  Stories: "Stories about The Oregon Trail," "The Absent Minded President," and "The Queen Who Hid From Herself."
• The Peacemakers CBS · 15 min
  Stories: "The Peacemakers" and "The Holy Horse."
• The Happy Accident CBS · 15 min
  Stories: "The Happy Accident," "The Lowdown On Hollywood," and "The Mule that Owns A Farm."
• London Pays Rent to the King CBS · 15 min
  Stories: "London Pays Rent To The King," "The Road To Mandalay," and "The Fatal Roulette Game."
• Poe's Raven Actually a White Owl CBS · 15 min
  Stories: "The Tale Of The Raven" and "The Rooster Bridegroom."
• The Martyr To Etiquette CBS · 15 min
  Stories: "The Martyr to Etiquette" and "The Storm That Saved An Empire."
• The Devil Tracks Of Devonshire CBS · 15 min
  Stories: "The Devil Tracks Of Devonshire" and "The Ironic Anthem."
• The Man Who Financed the Revolution CBS · 14 min
  Stories: "The Man Who Financed The Revolution," "The World's Most Patriotic Family," and "The Man Born Five Centuries Too Soon."
• The Key That Performed A Miracle CBS · 15 min
  Stories: "The Key That Performed A Miracle" and "The Man Traded For A Racehorse."
• Horse Flies That Made History CBS · 15 min
  Stories: "Horse Flies That Made History" and "The Amazing Parallel."
• The Old Fashioned Cure For Rabies CBS · 15 min
  Stories: "The Old Fashioned Cure For Rabies," "The World's Strangest Check," and "The Mausoleum Of Knowledge."
• The Dog Came Back CBS · 15 min
  Stories: "The Dog Came Back" and "The Fatal LaCrosse Game."
• The Human Horse CBS · 15 min
  Stories: "The Human Horse," "The Bottle That Went Around The Horn," and "The City Laid Out As A Trick."
• The Man Who Solved His Own Crime CBS · 15 min
  Stories: "The Man Who Solved His Own Crime" and "The Actor Who Played Death Too Well."
• The Beard Tax CBS · 15 min
  Stories: "The Beard Tax" and "The Race Of Lone Sailors."
• The World's Most Valuable Book CBS · 15 min
  Stories: "The World's Most Valuable Book," "The Poison Eaters," and "The Horse Through Will."
• The Baby Spy CBS · 15 min
  Stories: "The Baby Spy" and "History's Man Of Mystery."
• Cinderella's Slipper CBS · 15 min
  Stories: "Cinderella's Slipper" and "The Cat That Saved A Life."
• The Mystery of the Barbados CBS · 15 min
  Stories: "The Mystery Of The Barbados" and "The Sleeping Tiger."
• The King Who Saw Ghosts CBS · 15 min
  Stories: "The King Who Saw Ghosts" and "The Child Who Went To War."
• The Man Fate Could Not Conquer CBS · 15 min
  Stories: "The Man Who Fate Could Not Conquer," "Black Death," and "Sam Clemens."
• The Man Who Had Green Hair CBS · 15 min
  Stories: "The Man Who Had Green Hair" and "The Amazing Bank Note."
• The Lost Art CBS · 15 min
  Stories: "The Lost Art" and "The Long Arm Of Coincidence."
• For Whom Was Pennsylvania Named? CBS · 15 min
  Stories: "For Whom Was Pennsylvania Named?" "The Champion Of Champions," and "The King Who Is Looking For Trouble."
• Sarah Bernhardt's Coffin CBS · 15 min
  Stories: "Sarah Bernhardt's Coffin" and "Did London Bridge Fall Down?"
• The King Who Could Not Die CBS · 15 min
  Stories: "The King Who Could Not Die" and "The Meeting Of The Geniuses."
• The Bloodless Battle CBS · 15 min
  Stories: "The Bloodless Battle," "The Prodigal Turtle," and "America's Strange Benefactor."
• The First American Dice Shooter CBS · 15 min
  Stories: "The First American Dice Shooter" and "The Immortal Seventeen-Year-Old Genius."
• The Mark of the Hesperus CBS · 15 min
  Stories: "The Wreck Of The Hesperus" and "The Mark Of Death."
• The Woman Who Sold the Winds CBS · 15 min
  Stories: "The Woman Who Sold The Winds," "Epitaphs," and "The Man Who Cleaned Up The Underworld."
• The Smoker's Rebellion CBS · 15 min
  Stories: "The Smoker's Rebellion," "Chicken Soup Springs," and "Fire Fighting In Constantinople."
• The World's Most Expensive Cold Cure CBS · 15 min
  Stories: "The World's Most Expensive Cold Cure," "More Strange Epitaphs," and "The Strange Story Of Generals Grant and Lee."
• The Man Who Fell Five Miles CBS · 15 min
  Stories: "The Man Who Fell Five Miles" and "The Eighteenth Century Al Capone."
• Little Jack Horner Really Lived CBS · 15 min
  Stories: "Little Jack Horner Really Lived" and "The Surprise Witness."
• The Neck Verse CBS · 15 min
  "The Neck Verse" and other strange-but-true stories.
• The Statue of Irony CBS · 15 min
  "The Statue of Irony" and other strange-but-true stories.
• Washington Crosses the Rhine CBS · 15 min
  The famous painting of Washington crossing the Delaware was painted in Germany, and the general is really crossing the Rhine, with the flag painted wrong and a boat full of Germans.
• The Worthless Winner CBS · 15 min
  "The Worthless Winner," a 1934 horse race nobody bet on, and how Sousa came to write "The Stars and Stripes Forever."