12: From Pixar to Peculiars - Lee Unkrich

12: From Pixar to Peculiars - Lee Unkrich

Academy Award-winning filmmaker Lee Unkrich—director of Coco, Toy Story 3, and longtime Pixar creative—joins Joanna Ebenstein for a deeply personal conversation about collecting, mortality, and the unexpected ways art can reshape our relationship with loss. Long before Coco brought Día de Muertos to a vast global audience, Lee was fascinated by cemeteries, ghost stories, and the uncanny. In this interview, he reflects on how childhood fears, a life-long obsession with The Shining, and a passion for collecting taxidermy, anatomical models, and unusual artefacts all became part of a creative practice rooted in curiosity rather than fear. The conversation explores the extraordinary research behind Coco, the responsibility of telling a story grounded in another culture, and how immersing himself in Mexican traditions fundamentally transformed his understanding of death. Lee shares why creating an annual ofrenda has become an essential ritual in his own family, opening up about the recent loss of his beloved dachshund, Waffles, and the comfort that remembrance can bring. Along the way, Joanna and Lee discuss collecting as a form of storytelling, preserving fleeting moments through archives, and the enduring mystery of The Shining. "The Shining isn't just a horror film—it's about what refuses to stay buried."  Warm, thoughtful, and quietly profound, this episode is an invitation to consider how creativity, ritual and remembrance help us carry the dead with us—not as shadows of the past, but as continuing presences in our lives. 📢Listeners! You are invited to share your own offerings: voice notes on death, dying, ritual and the beauty of finitude. Include your first name and location if you want them shared- you might be featured in an upcoming episode. Send your offering via WhatsApp to +44 2921 690468 [https://wa.me/message/GFWDJDKM26K3F1] 🖤 Enjoying Memento Morbid? Explore our collection of apparel and accessories in the Memento Morbid shop: mementomorbidmerch.dashery.com  [http://mementomorbidmerch.dashery.com]  💀 Memento Morbid is produced by Overcoat Media in partnership with Morbid Anatomy. Host: Joanna Ebenstein [https://www.joannaebenstein.com/] Series Producer: Jess Gunasekara Studio Engineer: Fernando Velazco Vargas [https://www.qstudios.online/] Additional Production & Sound Design: Katie Hill Production Coordinator: Janice Jardine Executive Producer: Steven Rajam Artwork: Lauren Seeley [https://www.instagram.com/ahhsweetdeath/?hl=en]  substack.com/@mementomorbid [https://substack.com/@mementomorbid]

11: Tiffany Hopkins – ‘Living Persons Guide to the Dead’

What if mediumship and creativity trace back to the same roots? In this episode of Memento Morbid, Joanna Ebenstein is joined by medium, researcher, educator and author Tiffany Hopkins for a wide-ranging conversation that moves between science, spirituality, and the porous edges of perception. From her academic background in cognitive science, computing, music, and international business, Tiffany traces an unexpected path into spiritualism—one shaped as much by data-driven thinking as by ritual, intuition, and inherited belief. At the heart of the conversation is Lily Dale, New York—the historic centre of Spiritualism—where Tiffany spent eight years living in a community dedicated to communicating with the dead. She describes a place where grief, curiosity, and connection coexist openly; where talking about the dead is as ordinary as ordering coffee; and where belief is less about doctrine than lived, shared experience. Together, Joanna and Tiffany explore the history of Spiritualism, from its 19th-century origins in upstate New York revival culture to its entanglement with abolitionism, women’s rights movements, and questions of voice and authority. They ask what it means to “receive” information—whether from spirit, subconscious, or imagination—and how creative practice might overlap with mediumship in ways we don’t yet fully understand. The episode also becomes experiential: Tiffany guides us through a grounded exercise in attention, sensation, and imaginative connection, offering listeners a way to explore perception without losing the anchor of the body. Across the conversation runs a shared curiosity: how do we live alongside mystery without collapsing it into certainty or scepticism? And what happens when we treat death not as an ending, but as a different kind of relationship? 📢Listeners! You are invited to share your own offerings: voice notes on death, dying, ritual and the beauty of finitude. Include your first name and location if you want them shared- you might be featured in an upcoming episode. Send your offering via WhatsApp to +44 2921 690468 [https://wa.me/message/GFWDJDKM26K3F1] 🖤 Enjoying Memento Morbid? Explore our collection of apparel and accessories in the Memento Morbid shop: mementomorbidmerch.dashery.com  [http://mementomorbidmerch.dashery.com]  💀 Memento Morbid is produced by Overcoat Media in partnership with Morbid Anatomy. Host: Joanna Ebenstein [https://www.joannaebenstein.com/] Series Producer: Jess Gunasekara Studio Engineer: Fernando Velazco Vargas [https://www.qstudios.online/] Additional Production & Sound Design: Katie Hill Production Coordinator: Janice Jardine Executive Producer: Steven Rajam Artwork: Lauren Seeley [https://www.instagram.com/ahhsweetdeath/?hl=en]  substack.com/@mementomorbid [https://substack.com/@mementomorbid]

10: Sparkling Skeletons and Costumed Cats - Paul Koudournaris

What happens when a lifelong fascination with mortality leads you into crypts, catacombs, pet cemeteries, and skull festivals across the world? Photographer, writer, and art historian Paul Koudounaris joins Joanna Ebenstein for a wide-ranging conversation about death, beauty, human remains, and the stories we tell through the dead. Best known for his acclaimed books Empire of Death, Heavenly Bodies, Memento Mori, A Cat’s Tale, and Faithful Unto Death, Paul has spent decades documenting extraordinary death traditions and sacred remains around the globe. Together, Paul and Joanna explore why some people are drawn to mortality from an early age, the role death has played in shaping Paul's creative life, and what it means to spend years in the company of thousands of skeletons. Paul reflects on his journey from art historian to author and photographer, revealing the painstaking process behind some of his most iconic images, including the jeweled skeleton saints of Heavenly Bodies. The conversation journeys from Baroque-era relics and bone churches to pet cemeteries, famous feline heroes, and the surprising story of how Paul's cat Baba became the star of her own bestselling history book. Along the way, Paul shares stories from his travels through Peru and Bolivia, where communities maintain living relationships with ancestral skulls, blurring the boundaries between remembrance, devotion, and daily life. With characteristic humour and warmth, Paul reflects on mortality, creativity, and the profound equality found in death. 📢Listeners! You are invited to share your own offerings: voice notes on death, dying, ritual and the beauty of finitude. Include your first name and location if you want them shared- you might be featured in an upcoming episode. Send your offering via WhatsApp to +44 2921 690468 [https://wa.me/message/GFWDJDKM26K3F1] 🖤 Enjoying Memento Morbid? Explore our collection of apparel and accessories in the Memento Morbid shop: mementomorbidmerch.dashery.com  [http://mementomorbidmerch.dashery.com]  💀 Memento Morbid is produced by Overcoat Media in partnership with Morbid Anatomy. Host: Joanna Ebenstein Series Producer: Jess Gunasekara Studio Engineer: Fernando Velazco Vargas Additional Production and Sound Design: Katie Hill Production Coordinator: Janice Jardine  Executive Producer: Steven Rajam Artwork: Lauren Seeley substack.com/@mementomorbid [https://substack.com/@mementomorbid]

9: ‘Ectoplasm? It looks like cheesecloth’ – Shannon Taggart

What happens when a photographer spends 25 years documenting people who believe they can speak with the dead? Photographer Shannon Taggart joins Joanna Ebenstein for a fascinating conversation about spiritualism, séance culture, spirit photography, and the enduring human desire to remain connected with those who have died. Best known for her acclaimed book Séance, Taggart reflects on how a mysterious message received by a family member at Lily Dale — the world's largest Spiritualist community — first drew her into a lifelong exploration of mediumship and the paranormal. What began as a photographic project soon became an investigation into belief, perception, history, and the limits of what we think we know. Together, Shannon and Joanna explore the forgotten influence of spiritualism on art, science, photography, and social reform movements. They discuss ectoplasm, spirit photography, the strange overlap between séance rooms and stage magic, and why some of the most influential artists and thinkers of the modern era were fascinated by communication with the dead. The conversation also examines the tension between scepticism and belief. Shannon shares some of the most uncanny experiences she has witnessed while documenting séances, reflects on the role of mystery in creative practice, and explains why she remains committed to holding uncertainty rather than seeking definitive answers. Along the way, they consider ancestor relationships, near-death experiences, and why death itself may be what gives life its meaning. 📢Listeners! You are invited to share your own offerings: voice notes on death, dying, ritual and the beauty of finitude. Include your first name and location if you want them shared- you might be featured in an upcoming episode. Send your offering via WhatsApp to +44 2921 690468 [https://wa.me/message/GFWDJDKM26K3F1] 💀 Memento Morbid is produced by Overcoat Media in partnership with Morbid Anatomy. Host: Joanna Ebenstein Series Producer: Jess Gunasekara Studio Engineer: Fernando Velazco Vargas Additional Production and Sound Design: Katie Hill Production Coordinator: Janice Jardine  Executive Producer: Steven Rajam Artwork: Lauren Seeley substack.com/@mementomorbid [https://substack.com/@mementomorbid]

8: Jeffrey Kripal- Mysticism, Sex, and the Impossible

Is Reality Stranger Than We’re Willing to Admit?  Religious scholar and author Jeffrey J. Kripal joins Joanna Ebenstein for an engrossing conversation exploring mysticism, sexuality, death, and the edges of what we call “real.” Kripal reflects on his early years in a Catholic seminary, where fasting, faith, anorexia, and psychoanalysis shaped his understanding of religion as far stranger and more psychologically complex than it first appears. He discusses his argument that mystical traditions often encode forms of queerness and fluidity that resist fixed identity, and suggests that paranormal phenomena—UFOs, abductions, synchronicities—belong to the same instability in reality. He also recounts an unexplainable experience in Calcutta during Kali Puja, which reshaped his intellectual life and thinking about death as an opening onto “larger reality.” Together, Joanna and Jeff explore what it means to take the impossible seriously—not as metaphor, but as part of reality itself. 📢Listeners! You are invited to share your own offerings: voice notes on death, dying, ritual and the beauty of finitude. Include your first name and location if you want them shared- you might be featured in an upcoming episode. Send your offering via WhatsApp to +44 2921 690468. 💀 Memento Morbid is produced by Overcoat Media in partnership with Morbid Anatomy. Host: Joanna Ebenstein Series Producer: Jess Gunasekara Studio Engineer: Fernando Velazco Vargas Additional Production and Sound Design: Katie Hill Executive Producer: Steven Rajam Artwork: Lauren Seeley substack.com/@mementomorbid [https://substack.com/@mementomorbid]