Talking Heads Series

Some of our deadliest talking heads tell stories about ghosts, witches, villains, scandal and mayhem. Come on, we dare you.

Culture & Identity | Anniversaries
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Thom Mathews and Beverly Randolph: Return of the Living Dead
Thom Mathews
October 16, 2010
00:24:38
Actors Thom Mathews and Beverly Randolph share anecdotes from the set of Return of the Living Dead and answer questions from the audience at Rock and Shock 2010 in Worcester, MA.
Horror Novelists
Jack Ketchum
October 16, 2010
00:24:26
Horror novelists Jack Ketchum, Dustin LaValley, and Joe Knetter discuss their upcoming works and their favorite horror movie quotes, and then answer questions from the audience at Rock and Shock 2010 in Worcester, MA.
Rob Zombie's "Halloween" Cast Members
Rob Zombie's "Halloween" Cast Members
Dee Wallace
October 16, 2010
00:47:33
Actresses Dee Wallace, Kristina Klebe, Danielle Harris, Scout Taylor, and Eileen Deitz discuss filming Rob Zombie's Halloween movies, why they won't scream on command, and who their movie star idols are, at Rock and Shock 2010 in Worcester, MA.
Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan: The Fall
Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan: The Fall
Guillermo del Toro
September 23, 2010
00:57:57
Director Guillermo del Toro and author Chuck Hogan discuss The Fall, the second installment in the Strain Trilogy. The pair are interviewed by the Brattle Theatre's creative director, Ned Hinkle. The vampiric virus unleashed in The Strain has taken over New York City.
UEN SciFi Friday Podcast: Metropolis
UEN SciFi Friday Podcast: Metropolis
Jeremy Nielsen
July 8, 2010
00:10:41
Jeremy Nielsen, Film and Video Department Director at Spy Hop Productions, discusses the classic science fiction film Metropolis, and how he uses technical aspects of film making to teach math and science.
Seth Grahame-Smith: Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter
Seth Grahame-Smith: Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter
Seth Grahame-Smith
March 17, 2010
00:39:04
Seth Grahame-Smith discusses his book, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. While Abraham Lincoln is widely lauded for reuniting the North with the South and abolishing slavery from our country, no one has ever known about his valiant fight against the forces of the undead.
Audio-only
UEN SciFi Friday Podcast: The Screaming Skull
Renee Galliher
October 23, 2009
00:14:18
Psychology professor Renee Galliher of Utah State University discusses the characters in the film “The Screaming Skull.” UEN SciFi Friday offers a weekly science fiction feature film from the heyday of SciFi - the 1920's to 1970's.
The Moral Side of Murder / The Case for Cannibalism
Michael Sandel
September 13, 2009
00:54:56
Lecture One: "The Moral Side of Murder" If you had to choose between killing one person or five, what would you do? What's the right thing to do?
Remembering the Witch Trials in 19th Century America
Remembering the Witch Trials in 19th Century America
Gretchen A. Adams
October 31, 2008
00:52:03
Gretchen A. Adams discusses how the Salem witch trials have provided subject matter for a wide array of dramatists, poets, scholars, fiction writers, and amateur detectives.
Russell Shorto: Descartes' Bones
Russell Shorto: Descartes' Bones
Russell Shorto
October 21, 2008
00:50:34
Russell Shorto, author of Decartes' Bones: A Skeletal History of the Conflict Between Faith and Reason, discusses the new intellectual detective story. It examines how the skull of the 17th century French thinker became separated from the rest of his remains and where it is today.
The Man Who Wrote Frankenstein
The Man Who Wrote Frankenstein
John Lauritsen
June 17, 2008
00:53:29
John Lauritsen makes the case that Frankenstein was not written by Mary Shelley, but by a great poet who deliberately concealed his authorship.
And the Dead Shall Rise
And the Dead Shall Rise
Steve Oney
February 17, 2008
00:40:26
Steve Oney talks about the conspiracy of silence that surrounded the Leo Frank lynching. Oney is author of And The Dead Shall Rise, the definitive book on the Leo Frank case.
Salem Witch Judge: Samuel Sewall's Life and Repentance
Salem Witch Judge: Samuel Sewall's Life and Repentance
Eve LaPlante
October 18, 2007
00:41:13
Eve LaPlante discusses how, after years of internal struggle, Salem's condemning judge, Samuel Sewall, emerged as America's most surprising moral hero.
True Crimes in New England: Lizzie Borden
True Crimes in New England: Lizzie Borden
Karen Elizabeth Chaney
October 31, 2006
00:42:07
Author Karen Elizabeth Chaney examines the investigation and murder trial of Lizzie Borden, and describes Lizzie's quiet life after her acquittal.
True Crimes in New England: The Boston Strangler
True Crimes in New England: The Boston Strangler
Alan Rogers
October 18, 2006
00:57:26
Alan Rogers sheds light on one of Boston's most terrifying crime sprees, one that remains unsolved to this day. Between June 14, 1962 and January 4, 1964, Boston was terrorized by a serial killer who murdered 13 women.
Over My Dead Body
Over My Dead Body
Marie Galbraith
September 29, 2006
01:37:28
A panel discusses the fate of Mattatuck Museum's skeleton, Larry, and tries to resolve issues surrounding what happens to our bodies after we die, and who decides what is okay. Where is the line between respect for the human body after death, and the use of human remains for display and education?
Boston's Waterfront Mobs and the American Revolution
Russell Bourne
September 13, 2006
00:54:17
Russell Bourne lectures on the topics presented in his book Cradle of Violence: How Boston's Waterfront Mobs Ignited the American Revolution. Bourne discusses the role of waterfront "mobs" in the Boston Massacre, the Boston Tea Party and other pre-Revolutionary events.
Audio-only
Alicia Goranson: Supervillainz
Alicia Goranson
May 18, 2006
00:38:13
Alicia Goranson reads from her new novel Supervillainz, about a pair of transgender friends chased through a network of genderqueers by the ambitions of a family of superheroes. Bit and Devon witness the death of a superhero, a man inside an exoskeleton.
Twins and Ghosts: The Icarus Girl
Helen Oyeyemi
April 25, 2006
00:39:05
Helen Oyeyemi and others present her breakthrough novel, The Icarus Girl. Jess Harrison is eight years old.
Anita Diamant: The Last Days of Dogtown
Anita Diamant: The Last Days of Dogtown
Anita Diamant
November 15, 2005
00:53:28
Anita Diamant discusses The Last Days of Dogtown, which is based loosely on published accounts of an abandoned rural backwater near the Massachusetts coastline and reimagines the stories of a small group of eccentrics and misfits, reputedly the last residents of the ghost town.
Scam, Scandal, Murder and Mayhem in Colonial Boston
D. Brenton Simons
October 31, 2005
00:43:06
In this lecture, writer D. Brenton Simons discusses his book Witches, Rakes, And Rogues: True Stories of Scam, Scandal, Murder, And Mayhem in Boston, 1630-1775 , in which he paints a darker picture of Colonial Boston than was previously imagined.
Prelude to the Boston Massacre
Prelude to the Boston Massacre
Hiller Zobel
April 6, 2005
00:35:01
Hiller Zobel, author of Prelude to the Boston Massacre: The Trial of Ebenezer Richardson and Christopher Seider and widely considered the definitive expert on the Boston Massacre and trial, explores the death of Christopher Seider, who was hailed as a martyr to the Patriot cause, and the tria
Storm Warriors: Shipwrecks and Survivors in Boston Harbor
Storm Warriors: Shipwrecks and Survivors in Boston Harbor
Ed McCabe
May 21, 2003
00:49:13
Ed McCabe and Lory Newmyer of the Hull Lifesaving Museum share the stories of the Storm Warriors of the US Life Saving Service.
Scandal on the Stage: Banned Theater in Boston
John D. Anderson
May 1, 2003
01:11:31
This program includes vignettes of censored plays in Boston, beginning with the Puritan censorship of Morton's Maypole and climaxing with the 1929 banning of Eugene O'Neill's Freudian theatrical experiment, Strange Interlude.
In Search of Our Ancestors: What Mummies Tell Us
In Search of Our Ancestors: What Mummies Tell Us
Heather Pringle
February 1, 2002
01:04:42
They're not just characters in horror films or objects in museum displays, mummies and the information they carry about ourselves are found all over the world.
NOVA: The Perfect Corpse Series
NOVA: The Perfect Corpse Series
4 Lectures
Lectures curated around NOVA: The Perfect Corpse, which follows forensic scientists and local police authorities investigating two mysterious murder cases.