Stranger than Adventure Fiction

At the start of the 2000s, a new class of intrepid bandits rode in on the streets of Tokyo, Paris, Dubai and London. Sophisticated and highly elusive, these modern highwaymen quickly pulled off some of the biggest heists in history. In this episode, we take a look at the mysterious criminal organisation known as ‘The Pink Panthers’.

Throughout the centuries, the legends of the warriors and spies now known as ‘ninja’ have grown strong. Today, many organisations claim heritage and proficiency in the skills associated with these historical people. And the lore surrounding them is quite extensive. But the accuracy of some of these accounts is often brought into question.  In this episode, we travel back in time, to feudal and Imperial Japan, and with the help of new research, try to sort out fact from fiction.  It is an adventurous journey across centuries, and a tale which is indeed stranger than fiction. Show notes: https://cosimogreco.com/staf-show-notes/

As the war in Vietnam raged for all the world to see, its shadowy cousin, known as ‘the secret war’, raged with equal intensity across the border to the west, in the country of Laos.  It was a war where none of the main participants were supposed to be officially there, and therefore fought by spies, mercenaries, and covert special forces units. It was also the stage for one of the strangest battles ever fought. Show notes: https://cosimogreco.com/staf-show-notes/

During the U.S. Civil War, a teenager from Ohio found more trouble than he had bargained for when he joined the Union Army. From that point on, his life would be filled with adventure, as well as fiction. And the former would often be stranger than the latter. This episode is an homage to Ambrose Bierce, a writer who technically didn't write adventure fiction, but whose works drew power from his own intrepid life, and whose stories often contain more thrills than those produced today. Show notes: https://cosimogreco.com/staf-show-notes/

In the years following WWI, the Uttarakhand state of northern British India was the stage for a deadly dance between man and beast. A man-eating leopard with seemingly supernatural powers terrorized the rugged mountain region, while the desperate populace and the flabbergasted local government tried in vain to stop it. In 1925, after almost eight years of terror, a railroad worker with a kind heart and a photographic memory answered the people’s call for aid. In this episode, the very first in our monthly documentary series, we hear the strange tale of two exceptional hunters, and the final hunt which would become the last dance for one of them. Show notes: https://cosimogreco.com/staf-show-notes/

The Stranger than Adventure Fiction Podcast is an in-depth documentary series about adventures which you’ve probably never heard of. Cosimo Greco brings you the real-life tales of intrepid man-hunter-hunters, suicidal nuclear-warhead-toting Special Forces, anarcho-aristocratic samurai-ninjas, drug-smuggling cowboys, and cross-dressing jewel thieves.