A conversation about human nature, the stories we project onto wild places, and the uneasy line between wonder and fear.

Author and essayist Barret Baumgart joins Bill and Anders for a Halloween special that leans into the stranger side of wild nature. His latest book, Yuck: The Birth and Death of the Weird and Wondrous Joshua Tree, explores how this desert icon went from being despised as grotesque and “demonic” to adored as a backdrop for modern desert dreams. In a conversation that ranges from natural history to horror, they dig into what the Joshua Tree reveals about human nature, the stories we project onto wild places, and the uneasy line between wonder and fear.

Barret shares how his book began as a wedding project that turned into an obsession, uncovering forgotten efforts to turn Joshua Trees into paper, wallpaper, and even splints during World War I. The group talks about how the desert resists control, both ecologically and psychologically, and how our fascination with places like Joshua Tree reflects shifting cultural ideas about wilderness, beauty, and use. They also explore the “haunted” side of the Mojave; its abandoned homesteads, UFO lore, and the strange mix of spirituality, military secrecy, and myth that defines the region. Along the way, they swap personal stories of eerie encounters and moments in the backcountry that remind us how wildness can stir both awe and unease.

Questions they wrestle with:

• Why do some landscapes repel us before they draw us in?
• What does it mean when we “love nature to death”?
• How do horror and wilderness tap into the same human need to face the unknown?
• And what keeps pulling us back to places that unsettle us, even when they scare us a little?

Today’s highlights:

• The Weird and Wondrous Joshua Tree – how a desert icon once seen as grotesque and “demonic” became one of America’s most beloved and photographed landscapes
• From Wedding Favor to Wild Obsession – how Barret’s canceled Joshua Tree wedding led to deep research into the tree’s strange history and inspired his book Yuck
• Attempts to Erase the Unruly Tree – stories of failed efforts to turn Joshua Trees into paper, firewood, wallpaper, even splints during World War I, and how the plant resisted every use humans tried to force on it
• Wilderness, Beauty, and Overconsumption – a conversation about how the meaning of wilderness has shifted from something feared to something we consume, and what happens when our love for wild places starts to harm them
• Haunted Desert – the ghost towns, abandoned homesteads, and sense of desolation that give Joshua Tree and the Mojave their uncanny, reflective quality
• Nature as a Haunted House – how fear, mystery, and beauty coexist in the natural world, and why humans are drawn to the unknown even when it unsettles us
• Folklore and the Supernatural – tales of UFOs, the Yucca Man, and Gram Parsons’ desert cremation, and how myth and legend continue to shape the cultural landscape of Joshua Tree
• Fear, Wilderness, and the Unknown – personal stories of eerie encounters in the backcountry that remind us why wild places still hold power to humble and haunt us

🎧 Listen now wherever you get your podcasts, or at thewildidea.com.

Links & Resources:

Connect with Barret

• Website
• Instagram
• Dumpster Fires – Substack

Media

• Yuck: The Birth and Death of the Weird and Wondrous Joshua Tree – Barret Baumgart’s book exploring the strange cultural and ecological history of the Joshua Tree and what it reveals about human nature and the American desert.
• China Lake – Barret’s first book, an investigative look at the secretive military base in California’s Mojave Desert and its connections to environmental and cultural history.
• Desert Oracle – a radio show and publication by Ken Layne that curates stories of desert folklore, cryptids, and the “high weirdness” of the Mojave.

Places & Landmarks

• Joshua Tree National Park (California) – the desert setting at the center of Yuck and much of the conversation, known for its iconic Joshua Trees, vast landscapes, and mix of wilderness, art, and myth.
• Integratron (Landers, California) – a dome-shaped structure built in the 1950s by a UFO enthusiast, now known for sound baths and New Age gatherings.
• Mojave Desert (California) – the larger landscape that encompasses Joshua Tree and nearby military bases, famous for its extreme beauty and mystery.
• Big Sur (California) – coastal wilderness where Barret recalls one of his eeriest backcountry experiences.
• Black Mountains (North Carolina) – a rugged mountain range in the southern Appalachians, home to Bill’s personal story of a frightening backcountry experience.
• Cap Rock (Joshua Tree National Park) – the site tied to the legendary story of musician Gram Parsons’ cremation by friends after his death.

Barret Baumgart is award-winning author of weird, investigative nonfiction whose research and writing is rooted in California’s Mojave Desert, Los Angeles, and the environment. His first book China Lake, about a little-known military base hidden in the Mojave, won the Iowa Prize for Literary Nonfiction, selected by Richard Preston, who called it “an apocalypse of the weird.” His reporting and essays have appeared in The Paris Review, The Gettysburg Review, Iowa Review, Vice, among others, and his Substack, Dumpster Fires. A SoCal native, Baumgart lives and works today in Los Angeles. YUCK is his second book. As Erik Davis says, “YUCK confirms Baumgart’s status as one of the leading chroniclers of the California weird.”

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