For our interview series, Placecloud’s founder talks with Placecloud experts using voice notes sent back and forth via WhatsApp over a period of several days or weeks. These voice notes are then stitched together into a single podcast for your listening pleasure.

In our inaugural interview, George talks to Rafaela Ferraz. Rafaela Ferraz is a writer focused on strange, slightly macabre, and often overlooked chapters of Portuguese history. Her work has appeared in Atlas Obscura, Catapult, The Order of the Good Death, and TalkDeath, among others. She has various fascinating projects on the go, all connected in some way with the Portuguese way of death. And pandemic-pending, she has a co-authored book slated for 2021 on the subject.

In this discussion, George and Rafaela range across self-assembling cathedrals, egoic skyscrapers, the pickling of a serial-killer’s head, professional wailing women, and more. We hear about Rafaela’s education in criminology and forensic medicine, and her turn from science to the world of history and culture. A wonderful window into Rafaela’s delightful mind, her interests and projects.