New Summer Series on The History Channel

New Summer Series on The History Channel

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

LOS ANGELES, July 14 /PRNewswire/ -- 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(R), "Where the Past Comes Alive(R)," 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(R) Awards and previously received the prestigious Governor's Award from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences for the network's "Save Our History(R)" campaign dedicated to historic preservation and history education. The History Channel web site is located at http://www.historychannel.com/.

Source: The History Channel

CONTACT: Jenna Farkas of The History Channel, +1-212-210-9184,
Jenna.Farkas@aetn.com

Web site: http://www.historychannel.com/

NOTE TO EDITORS: For more information and photography please visit us on the web at http://www.historychannelpress.com

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