On this edition of the INTERVUE, we will take a journey to the Strange and Unexplained by way of our guest today.
Strange and Unexplained is a new podcast about all the things that makes us wonder. Each week, they dive deep into a true story that will fascinated and terrify us: a family who receive letters from a “Watcher” after moving into a new house, a hotel that’s seen so much death that it has to be cursed, UFO encounters and so much more. With more than 10 million downloads
Our guest is no stranger to the world of entertainment. In 1991, she won the Tony for her in The Secret Garden – the 2nd youngest woman to do so. You may have seen her in Losing Isaiah, an episode of Space Cases, The Mentalist and Girls.
And she will be coming to the Union Stage on April 23rd bring the podcast live. My friends let’s welcome Tony Award winning actress and award-winning author Daisy Eagan!
Daisy, welcome to THE INTERVUE
Thank you Dean. Thanks so much for having me. I’m really impressed with that Space Cases reference. That’s really a deep dive.
Well, it was one of my favorite shows back in the day and a few years ago I interviewed Walter Emanuel Jones, Harlan Band from the show many years ago. So, I have to mention it, it was my show back in the day.
Oh, that’s so great. That’s so great.
So, the first question I want to ask you, I heard so many of the episodes of Strange and Unexplained and it’s one now become one of my favorite podcasts to listen to every week.
Oh Good, thank you!
How did you become a true crime fanatic?
Oh, you know, it’s so funny. I grew up watching Unsolved Mysteries and also like weird, spooky things like The Twilight Zone and Tales from the Crypt. I love that one. So I’ve always been into that into that kind of stuff. I will admit that I wasn’t before this podcast but what I’ve learned about myself is that I’m not the type of person who consumes true crime, as it’s like as it’s breaking in the news. I’m more interested in older stories. So a lot of times people will reach out to me and say like, “oh, did you hear such and such got caught?” And I’m like, “I don’t know what you’re talking about” because I haven’t been following that. It’s too it’s too new for me.
But, I have been a fan of older True Crime stuff. And I’ve definitely like paranormal. My friend, Patrick Hines, was starting this podcasting network and came to me and said, “what if we did like an Unsolved Mysteries type podcast?” And I was immediately said “of course!” So I put my own spin on it. And it became a sort of very distinct voice in the world of true crime where comedy but never at the expense of victim. More just sort of looking at why these things happen on a societal level and still be able to being able to have a good sense of humor about it.
And you have really brought some great sense of humor, without taking away the focus of the stories that you tell. And you told more than 40 stories within this podcast….
Now, between you and me, it’s actually closer to 90. We just wrapped up season two. Today (April 11th) is the first day of season three. We’ve actually have over 19 million downloads. So yeah, it’s quite a journey.
And now you’re gonna make me have to jump a question for since you mentioned that reference, because I had listened to the today’s podcast, which is starts its third season. So for those who are listening, you got to tune in to the first two seasons and catch up with the third season. And it was focused on the Bridgewater Triangle “Vortex of Evil”, which I’ve never even heard of before today. I’m more familiar with the Bermuda Triangle. So how did you guys find out about this particular story to start off your third season?
You know, most of our stories at this point come from listener suggestions. I’m pretty sure that that itself was a listener suggestion. We have a spreadsheet of hundreds of listener suggestions at this point. Somebody said, “You should do the Bridgewater Triangle” and I think we all had the same response you did, which was like, “what is that?” And as we started looking into it, we were like, “Oh, wow, this is insane.” And it just so turns out that I live right near there. I am admittedly pretty scared.
Well, that’s all I can say, don’t get lost in that. Well, that is wonderful. Since you mentioned this a moment ago that you have hundreds of suggestions for stories to create in your podcast, how do you determine which ones to feature every week? What’s the criteria?
Well, we go through the topic suggestions or sometimes there’s like a breaking news story that we realized, we need to cover but usually we go through the listener suggestions and read up articles about it, videos about it and see. Basically, our criteria are it needs to be interesting, not over done, and have some sort of social relevance, you know?
And from what I’ve read and listened to over the past few weeks, you definitely had a plethora of stories that I’d never heard of in the news or hasn’t been covered in other podcasts or TV shows, or dramatic reenactments over the years. So, I’m very impressed with what you have put out there.
Thank you. We try to find things that aren’t too overdone. We also cover really, really popular cases. The next two weeks is devoted to JonBenet Ramsey, so that’s obviously a very long okay. I’m glad to hear that not all of it is totally familiar.
Good to know! Now we’re gonna change gears and talk about the live show that’s coming up in our nation’s capital on April 23rd. What can your fans of the podcast and those who are curious expect?
Well, we are covering Alcatraz and more specifically recovering the four men who became famous for escaping successfully, they were the only men who whoever successfully escaped, though many men tried. And it’s a wild story. It’s told through my points of view, which is always a little sideways. And one of one of the consistent pieces of feedback I’ve gotten on this story is, from people who know Alcatraz and feel like they’re experts in Alcatraz.
We are learning things from this episode that they’ve never that they never knew. We do a pretty good deep dive into these entities and where they came from. And we’re very detailed about the escape and how it happens. So there’s that and then there’s a visual component that obviously we can’t really do with the podcast. We have a whole slideshow that that we do that I think really enhances the storytelling. And then there’s a Q & A beforehand for free VIP ticket holders, where you can ask whatever, you want. Nothing is nothing is off topic. It is so much fun. That might be my favorite part of the night, honestly.
I’m so glad to hear it. I can’t wait to see it. Now for future shows, do you tie a local story that we may or may not be familiar with in any of the stops? Or do you already pre planned of what topics you’re going to have for the shows coming in?
So far, it’s pre planned. And that’s mostly because in doing a tour, I honestly don’t really have time to write a whole episode based on the city that we’re going to go to. I’m just thinking about the labor involved in that. So we’re for now we’re bringing, we’re bringing Alcatraz to all the cities, although that might, that might change at some point in there.
Most of us, know you from Broadway and your award-winning role of Mary Lennox in The Secret Garden and you reprised the show at the Shakespeare Theatre Company here in 2016. Do you have any favorite shows nowadays?
I saw Hadestown on tour, and I loved it. I thought it really sort of renewed my faith in in musical theater, and sort of where it can go. Come From Away actually just came through the town where we live and my son is going to be 10. Next month, he had seen it streaming, and he was a huge fan. We took him to see that he just he absolutely loved it. I haven’t seen anything recently, but there are a lot of things I wish I could see.
I was just listening to an interview yesterday with Jodie Comer. She’s in with one person show where she plays a barrister who experiences an assault. And that sounds fascinating. I wish I could see that. I wish I had seen A Strange Loop. I can’t believe that closed.
In fact, I’m actually going to see Les Mis for the very first time in a long time.
Oh, my goodness. Is that on tour and you’re in DC?
Yes, it is. It’s gonna be starting at starting today at the Kennedy Center.
Oh, that’s so much fun. Yeah, that was the first Broadway show. I was in a million, trillion years ago. But I have a very, very, very soft spot in my heart for that show.
Yeah, absolutely. And I read according to your website, that you do inclusive doula services, how did you get into becoming a doula?
You know, after I had my son, and the experience that I had giving birth, and it wasn’t the easiest, I mean, it shouldn’t be easy. But the way that I had been treated when I ended up in the hospital, because I tried to have him at home was very disappointing. And I thought, if I had trouble, and I’m somebody who has health insurance, and a partner and means, I had a midwife because I was gonna have him at home, then I can’t imagine what it’s like for people who don’t have access to all of these things.
I just think that I think that childbirth is, is one of the most important and sacred thing that we do as human beings. I think that the lack of support that birthing people received in this country is embarrassing. I knew that I wanted to reach some capacity help out. And then it took until the pandemic for me to actually take the courses and I haven’t gotten certified. And that’s mostly just because I don’t believe in sort of the commercialism of the birthing industry. I want to, I want to make sure that I’m accessible. I think getting a certification is a way that people raise like us to raise their prices. And there’s no difference between being certified and now being certified. You either take the courses or you don’t.
I was volunteering for an organization that provided doula services to underprivileged birthing people and it’s a privilege to do it, but it’s also it can be very heartbreaking. And it can be very hard. I think if you know anybody in your life who has had a baby, or if you know, anybody who helps other people have babies, tell them you know, respect and acknowledge how, how incredible what they do or what they have done. Because it really is powerful.
Well, my last question to you is, not only you have the strange and unexplained podcasts, but you’re going to start a brand new podcast called Dear Daisy, and you want us to send some secret letters. So what brought you to bring this podcast and like coming soon?
It was initially an idea a friend of mine gave me she was like, “you know, your brain is so strange. You should do a podcast where people send you anonymous secrets. And you just comment.” I thought “Jesus, it would be like posts secrets, your member posts but if they had a podcast is sort of like post secrets to meet your sugar, but with like sarcasm and comedy. And initially, I will be honest, the idea was that people had to send in an actual physical letter. I think that I am somewhat living in the past in the 90s, I would write these 20 Page letters, like friends or boyfriends or my sister, and that’s that art is sort of lost. I was thinking maybe I could, single handedly resurrect it. I think I’m actually going to give the listeners a way to write in electronically, because I think the younger generation specifically is like, “I’m not going to write a letter and then put it in an envelope and put a stamp on it and then put it in a mailbox,” and then weigh the tortures of romantic.
Where can people find you on social media?
WEBSITE: daisyeagan.com
INSTA: @daisyeagan
Tickets are available for Sunday’s show and can be purchased HERE
Stranged and Unexplained Podcast
WEBSITE: daisyeagan.com TWITTER: @snupod
To see if the live show is coming to a city near you, go to
strangeandunexplainedpod.com/live-shows
If you want to write to her Dear Daisy podcast, Send her a secret and she’ll read it. Anonymous letters can be sent to Daisy at:
Daisy Eagan
PO BOX 10221
Cranston, RI 02910
About The Author
