| WEIRD US PREMIERES AUGUST
1ST 10p/9c 
The through-the-looking-glass travel guide into
the
strange side of American history is now a weekly
series!
WEIRD. U.S.
Hosted by Mark Moran and Mark Sceurman
New Weekly Series Premieres Monday, August 1
at 10 pm ET/PT on The History Channel
Take a fun-filled, tongue-in-cheek, fast-paced
journey across the country in search of local
legends and myths to find out if there is any
historical validity to these tall tales in the
new History Channel weekly series WEIRD U.S. The
one-hour world premiere series debuts Monday,
August 1 at 10 pm ET/PT. A sneak preview of WEIRD
U.S. will air on Sunday, July 31 at 11 pm ET/PT.
Based on the best-selling book of the same name,
WEIRD U.S. is a deliciously demented weekly tour
of offbeat American history. Host/authors Mark
Sceurman and Mark Moran scour the country in search
of the bizarre, the unexplained, and the really
strange historical stories that never got into
the history books, because, as they say, “history
is full of weirdos.”
In each episode of WEIRD U.S., follow the two
Marks as they go off the beaten path to expand
their research across the weird American landscape
of Melon Heads, Phantom Clowns, Foulke Monsters,
Prairie Moon Gardens, and Slimy Slim. Some of
the people and places they encounter are disturbing,
others hilarious, but all are very weird.
Hosts Mark Sceurman and Mark Moran are the publishers
of Weird NJ Magazine, which documents New Jersey's
less celebrated history and tourist attractions.
They followed the cult success of their publication
with the best-selling books Weird NJ and Weird
U.S. No matter the "weirdity," the two
Marks are on the case, determined to uncover the
truth—and to sometimes discover that history is
stranger than fiction.
Episodes include:
(Sneak Preview): Strange But True:
July 31 at 11 pm ET/PT: In Morristown, New Jersey,
WEIRD U.S. uncovers the legend of a man who was
hanged, dissected, skinned...and turned into wallets.
In Tennessee, meet the Melungeons, a people who
claim their roots date back prior to the Pilgrims.
Then, Mark and Mark climb into nuclear missile
silos poised outside major U.S. cities. Finally,
take a trip to Florida to visit the strangest
retirement community you've ever seen (aka "Freaktown,
U.S.A".), where the circus side show comes
to town 365 days a year.
(Series Premiere) ROAD TO WEIRDSVILLE:
August 1 at 10 pm ET/PT: Mark and Mark countdown
their five favorite weird vacations and find these
roads are less traveled for good reason. In New
Orleans' oldest cemetery, they stumble upon a
voodoo priestess and other strange doings with
the dead. Next, it's a trip to an Oval Office
doppelganger located in Florida. At Koresh State
Forest in Florida, the hosts visit an abandoned
settlement that was once home to a would-be messiah
who believed the earth was hollow. Mark and Mark
venture into the back alleys of Coney Island and
find that it’s still a perfect vacation spot for
anyone looking for outlandish entertainment. Finally,
what's a vacation without a stop in Vegas and
a visit to the annual Ventriloquist Festival,
where being a dummy is a good thing.
WEIRD MEDICINE: August 8 at
10 pm ET/PT: At the Philadelphia College of Physicians,
the two Marks examine the Mutter Collection, consisting
of specimens including a 300-pound colon, fetal
skeletons and a woman with a horn in her head!
Next, it's off to see the Harriet "Nerve"
display, created in 1888 by anatomist Rufus Weaver,
who decided to extract a woman’s entire nervous
system intact. At Minneapolis's Quackery Hall
of Fame, investigate a period in medical history
when anything and everything was available to
cure your ills. The Marks look at 19th century
health enthusiast –– and enema devotee—Dr. John
Harvey Kellogg. The same guy who basically invented
cold cereal had a life-long obsession with everything
that came out his rear end. Finally, from laughter
clubs to "root workers," it's a look
at some unusual modern practices.
WEIRD WORSHIP: August 15 at
10 pm ET/PT: Mark & Mark set out on a pilgrimage
for spiritual enlightenment–or just a few weird
stories. Deep in the arid flats of the Southern
California desert, our hosts encounter Leonard
Knight, an eccentric but devoted man who has spent
the last twenty years of his life building a mountain
dedicated to Jesus. Next, rising out of an Iowa
cornfield, they spot the world’s largest grotto,
a man-made, cave-like structure that was the life
work of German-born pastor Father Paul Dobberstein.
In the back woods of West Virginia, the two Marks
discover a little known (yet monumental) shrine
to an Eastern tradition unfamiliar to most Westerners--and
solve the riddle of whatever happened to the Hare
Krishnas. In Southern Florida, they’re on the
trail of the Koreshan Unity Movement, which believed
the Earth is hollow. Finally, it’s off to California
to hook up with The Unarius Academy of Science,
a group that believes in interstellar faith and
holds an annual conclave of light where they welcome
their “space brothers” to earth.
REBELS AND TRAITORS: August
22 at 10 pm ET/PT: Learn about some of the lesser-known
homegrown plots to rebel, revolt, and subvert
the rule government. First, it’s off to San Francisco
to meet America’s one and only Emperor-- Joshua
Abraham Norton, who declared himself “Emperor
of the United States of America and Protector
of Mexico” in 1859. Next, the two Marks wade through
cutlasses, treasure, and talking severed heads
at the Pirate Soul pirate museum on the trail
of one of America’s original rebels, the pirate
Blackbeard. Then, it’s a journey from Weehawken,
New Jersey to Blennerhassett Island in the Ohio
River to document Aaron Burr’s aspirations to
take over the U.S. In Florida, our hosts explain
how a really bad traffic jam led to Key West’s
secession in the 1980s.
WEIRD U.S. is produced by KPI for The History
Channel. Executive Producer for The History Channel
is Carl H. Lindahl.
Now reaching more than 88 million
Nielsen subscribers, The History Channel®,
"Where the Past Comes Alive®," brings
history to life in a powerful manner and provides
an inviting place where people experience history
personally and connect their own lives to the
great lives and events of the past. In 2004, The
History Channel earned five News and Documentary
Emmy® Awards and previously received the prestigious
Governor's Award from the Academy of Television
Arts & Sciences for the network's "Save
Our History®" campaign dedicated to historic
preservation and history education. The History
Channel web site is located at www.HistoryChannel.com.
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