Ross and Carrie Try Chiropractic (Part 1): Neck-Cracking Edition

Carrie and Ross offer heartfelt goodbyes and a look ahead. Plus, can you guess how many guests, episodes, and investigations there have been? Cause you better believe Ross counted.

Ross and guest host Darrin Butters, animator extraordinaire, take a walk through chiropractic's history, including many surprising connections to Scientology. Then we find out what happens when Ross visits a third chiropractor and learns the secret KST diagnosis and treatment method. Plus, what are the potential harms of chiropractic, and where should you actually go when your back hurts?We have social media: X! Facebook! You can add our RSS feed here.

Ross and Carrie commune with John Hodgman, author, actor, and host of Maximum Fun's own Judge John Hodgman, about all things Communion: the Whitley Strieber book, the Christopher Walken film, and the old-fashioned wine and wafer. Get in on the great debate over energy vampires vs. psychic vampires, relive childhood fears of aliens and exorcisms, learn more about the range of practices that fall under the banner of hypnosis, and find alternate ways to refer to “my wife”.Behind the scenes Communion video discussed in this conversation.John Hodgman's TED TalkJohn Hodgman's SubstackWe have social media: X! Facebook!

Ross and Carrie journey to the ends of the Earth (the West Side) to get Ross a full set of x-rays from his second chiropractor. They sip alkaline water before the young doctor measures and ranks Ross’ body parts before offering a pre-paid payment plan for… a LOT of visits. Ross tries the wobble chair, the decompression table, the cold laser, an activator gun, and weights strapped to his head… All this for leg pain! Who knew? PLUS! Bob Larson sleep paralysis update.We have social media: X! Facebook!

Ross and Carrie explore one of the most popular alternative medicine modalities in the world: chiropractic. Ross, newly bothered by pain in his back and leg, sees the first of three chiropractors, to find out whether “adjusting” his spine will fix what ails him. Plus, Carrie recalls her years-ago chiropractic treatments for migraines.We have social media: X! Facebook!

Ross and Carrie unpack a barrel of references to cold reading, hypnosis, stage magic, age regression therapy, satanism, possession, and even spoon bending baked into the horror film “Late Night with the Devil”. Will it turn out to be, like Scooby Doo, a story in which the villain was the janitor all along? Or will our James Randi-inspired curmudgeon Carmichael Haig meet his doom at the hands of the supernatural?We have social media: X! Facebook!

Ross and Carrie explore the Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ) test, a “metric for counting autistic traits” created by Dr. Simon Baron-Cohen, aka Cousin Borat. They explore the gender implications of the screener, the debate around self-diagnosis, and the recent absorption of Aspergers into the Autism spectrum. Plus, what happens when Ross and Carrie tell each other their scores at the same moment? Get a glass of water and find out.We have social media: X! Facebook!

Ross and Carrie learn all about their bodies from Steven Schwartz, aka “Dr. Vibe” – a former chiropractor turned bed salesman who can explain basic physics in a way you’ve never heard before. Did you know that your Living Connective Tissue Matrix must be cleansed in order not to contaminate your body with all of your past experiences? Or that such a cleanse is best completed by Doctor Vibe’s patented tech? Hear more about this visionary thinker before your mind ejects you from this sentence. And as Albert Einstein may have said, stay for the didgeridoo.We have social media: X! Facebook!

Ross tells Carrie about his trip to a star party at which TV star and paranormal investigator Ben Hansen, along with MUFON analyst-with-an-astronomy-degree Marc D’Antonio, ponders objects in the sky live with an audience of dozens of UFO enthusiasts. Ross is surprisingly pleased with their earthly explanations, until he and Carrie begin to track inconsistencies across platforms and audiences. If consistency is a bellwether for honesty, ring it. (New saying.)We have social media: X! Facebook! See Ross’s talk on YouTube.

Ross and Carrie live-eat disgusting and delightsome combinations of foods, many suggested by LISTENERS! This week’s themes are pickles, Mountain Dew, and alcohol. Plus, Carrie is still trying to chase down the soda (root beer?) that makes Lemon Oreos taste like marijuana. She fails, but Ross ends up high for the first time ever. It’s Flavor Babies. [Slurp sounds]We have social media: X! Facebook! See Ross’s talk on YouTube.