Inner Space, Inner Hauntings

In this episode of The Box of Oddities, Jethro and Kat dive deep into the mind-bending story of Michel Siffre, the French researcher who willingly descended into total darkness—twice—to learn what happens when humans are cut off from time itself. With no sunlight, no clocks, and no sense of day or night, Siffre’s body drifted into bizarre 30- to 48-hour “days,” entire memories vanished, and even astronauts later admitted they’d felt the same disorienting effects in space. His experiments reshaped our understanding of circadian rhythms, aging, mental endurance, and the mysterious internal clocks that tick inside us all. Then, the show shifts from inner space to inner hauntings with the chilling tale of the Joy Hotel’s haunted electric player piano in Pittsburg, Kansas. This wasn’t your typical whispered-once urban legend—its eerie late-night melodies were documented in the 1930s by the WPA Folklore Project and confirmed by hotel employees who watched its keys move with no power and no player roll turning. Desk clerks, housekeepers, and even the handyman swore they saw it come alive…sometimes humming along…always cheerful at the worst possible moments. A piano that played only when it wanted to—and stopped the moment someone got too close. It’s isolation, time distortion, ghostly ragtime, and the unsettling reminder that the world gets weirdest when nobody’s watching. If you love psychological mysteries, paranormal folklore, and the beautifully bizarre, this one’s a can’t-miss. human circadian rhythm experiment, Michel Siffre cave study, internal clocks, time perception research, astronauts' sleep cycles, haunted player piano, Pittsburg, Kansas ghost stories, Joy Hotel haunting, WPA folklore ghost accounts, paranormal piano story, Box of Oddities episode This Box Contains The following Ingredients: human circadian rhythm experiment, Michel Siffre cave study, internal clocks, time perception research, astronauts' sleep cycles, haunted player piano, Pittsburg, Kansas ghost stories, Joy Hotel haunting, WPA folklore ghost accounts, paranormal piano story, Box of Oddities episode Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices