RAS #358 – The Mightiest Man

On Ron’s Amazing Stories this time we have a 1960’s science fiction story called The Mightiest Man. We also debut three brand new listeners stories called D.C. Angels, The Grim Reaper, and A Letter To Santa. Throw in a couple emails, a preview to next week’s podcast, and a Christmas edition of Growing-up.

Featured Story – The Mightiest Man
Our main story this week comes from the 1960’s pulp magazines. It is a story about a man who was willing to make any deal just to stay alive. In the end, did he make the right choice with the alien conquerors? You will have to listen to find out.

Ron’s Amazing Stories is produced and hosted by Ronald Hood:
Email: ronsamazingstories@gmail.com
Blog Page: https://ronsamazingstories.blog/
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Twitter: https://twitter.com/RASpodcast

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True Or False With Christmas

I thought that this time on the blog we would play a game of True or False. We do this from time, however, normally the topic is a person, place or even a thing. This time we play our game with Christmas. Do you know your facts? Take a moment and see.

Q1 – The word Mistletoe actually means “Dung On A Stick”?

Answer: While not the exact translation this is true! Most people think of mistletoe as being romantic, but it isn’t, not really. The name derives from mistletan, which means a twig of mistle; the seeds of the plant are propagated through the excrement of birds, notably the mistle thrush. If you now take account that the old Germanic word ‘mist’ means dung, mistletoe’s name translates as Dung plant.

Q2 – The modern image of a fat, red-suited Santa Claus was invented by the Coca-Cola Company.

Answer: Not true although one would think it was. In 1931 Coca-Cola commissioned the artist Haddon Sundblom to create images of Santa Claus drinking from a bottle of Coke. Sundblom depictions of Santa became very, very popular, but it’s not the modern image of Santa. By the early twentieth century, Santa was already commonly being depicted as a fat, jolly, red-suited, long-bearded old man. For instance, a greeting card drawn by Louis Prang in 1885 shows a Santa essentially identical to the one we know today.

Q3 – The bones of the original Santa Claus (St. Nicholas) are preserved in a church in Italy.

Answer: This is true! St. Nicholas was a fourth-century bishop who lived in Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey). Upon his death, his bones were preserved in the town of Myra, but in 1087 these bones were stolen and moved to the town of Bari in Italy. They remain there to this day, located in the church of San Nicola.

Do you like this? You can find more of these true and false blogs at Ron’s Amazing Stories – The Blog. Just click-here to see the entire catalog of articles.

This Week’s Podcast:

On the podcast this week we have three more stories sent in by you, two special science fiction tales from those 50’s pulp magazines, and a Christmas story from Tom. One of the stories sent in by Lizzie is on my top list of most scary ever! You can listen to this podcast on Thursday at Ron’s Amazing Stories, download it from iTunes, stream it on Stitcher Radio or on the mobile version of Spotify. Do you prefer the radio? We are heard every Sunday Night at 8:00 PM (PST) on AMFM247.COM. Check your local listing or find the station closest to you at this link.

RAS #357 – Of Angels And Ghosts

On Ron’s Amazing Stories this time we have got angel stories, ghost stories, and a goblin tale. Add to the mix a new edition of Johnny Is It True, which features famous historical ghosts. Tom Williams tells us about Growing-Up and Parents and we have a brand new mini-mystery. So, please press that play button and enjoy the show.

Featured Story – The Ghost Who Was Afraid of Being Bagged

Our featured story is a short story written by Lal Behari Dey. It is called The Ghost Who Was Afraid of Being Bagged and is read by Dale Grothmann. It was probably written sometime between 1872 and 1888 while Lalbehari was a professor at a college in India. It comes from a book he wrote called Folk-Tales of Bengal.

The News – December 2018

Pandora Cometh

Coming soon to Ron’s Amazing Stories is a brand new way to listen. You will be able to tune us in on Pandora. Right now they are beta testing a few a podcasts to get the system right. Once that is done they will open the gates and we will part of their family. My thanks to Pandora for giving us this opportunity to grow the show.

We Want Your Stories

I am looking for your stories. In fact, I am in need of your Christmas stories. I want scary, strange or unusual tales, and they don’t even have to be true. That’s right, original fiction is just fine. You tell it and I will use it! To get me your stories go to the main website and click on the banner called “Story Submissions”. Fill out the form with your story or set up a time to chat. Whatever you do please tell your tale we want to hear it.

The Horror Express Cometh

Jason and I are working on a Christmas Spirits podcast and I plan to air it before the end of the year. I hope to use some of your scary Christmas tales for that show. If you don’t know what the Horror Express is you can hear the entire collection right here!

This Week’s Podcast

On the podcast this week we are chock full of stories! You will hear about a ghost who is afraid of a bag, a slate full of Angel Encounters and a brand new Johnny is it True – Ghost edition. You can listen to this podcast on Thursday at Ron’s Amazing Stories, download it from iTunes, stream it on Stitcher Radio or on the mobile version of Spotify. Do you prefer the radio? We are heard every Sunday Night at 8:00 PM (PST) on AMFM247.COM. Check your local listing or find the station closest to you at this link.

RAS #356 – Anything You Can Do Too

On Ron’s Amazing Stories we have reached the incredible 24-minute conclusion to the novel Anything You Can Do read by Mark Nelson. Mark joins us on the podcast to help recap and share his thoughts on the book. Later, Tom Williams is back with a story he simply calls, Those Tom Sawyer Days.

Mark’s Links: Website, Audible productions, LibriVox Productions

Featured Story is Anything You Can Do – This is a classic science fiction story written by Randall Garrett, and published in 1963. An alien crash lands on Earth, and for ten years terrorizes the planet. Earth’s only hope is Bart Stanton, a medically-engineered superman, designed for the sole purpose of confronting the Nipe. In this episode, we reveal all of the book’s secrets and Bart faces the Nipe in the final chapter!

Program Note: If You missed any of the previous chapters you can find them here.