What is the Cadaver Synod?

What happens when church politics go full horror movie?

In this jaw-dropping episode of Rainy Day Rabbit Holes, hosts Shea and Jody unearth one of the most bizarre trials in history—the Cadaver Synod of 897 CE, when the Catholic Church literally put a dead pope on trial.

You'll learn:

• Why Pope Formosus was exhumed, dressed in papal robes, and propped up in court
• How medieval church power struggles spiraled into corpse mutilation and chaos
• What role Charlemagne’s crumbling empire played in this grotesque drama
• How public backlash, earthquakes, and papal revenge shaped the aftermath

Part of our “Silly Summer Season,” this episode trades the misty PNW for medieval Rome, where ecclesiastical drama meets dark comedy. It’s Mean Girls meets The Exorcist, and somehow, it’s all real.

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🔍 Keywords: Cadaver Synod, Pope Formosus, Stephen VI, weird Catholic history, medieval trials, corpse on trial, Vatican scandals, exhumed pope, bizarre history podcast, funny history stories