On the morning of February 28, 1993, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms arrived with close to 100 agents to serve a warrant for illegal firearms in what they called Operation Trojan Horse. What followed was one of the worst firefights in law enforcement history, as agents of the ATF faced off with a heavily armed group known as the Branch Davidians. Two hours later, four ATF agents and six Branch Davidians would lay dead. The FBI soon assumed control of the confrontation, engaging...

On February 28th, 1993, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms attempted to serve a warrant on a religious group at their compound outside of Waco, Texas. Known as the Branch Davidians, the group was an offshoot of the Seventh Day Adventists who had left the organization and banded together under the leadership of a Bulgarian immigrant named Victor Houteff in 1930. Through a series of intrigues and internal battles, control of the group landed with Vernon Howell, the young man who would...

In December of 2019, medical officials began noticing several mysterious cases of pneumonia in residents of Wuhan, China. As they began to investigate, patterns started to emerge. On January 11th, 2020, China reported its first death associated with a novel coronavirus. By January 30th, just one month after the disease was first reported in China, the World Health Organization declared a public health emergency. The virus continued to spread quickly, ferociously infecting countries like...

At the age of 10, Dr. Micono had a nightmare that she clung to the Colossus of Rhodes while the island was shaken by a terrifying earthquake. The images and feelings from this dream would go on to influence her for the rest of her life. Most of us can remember at least one dream or nightmare that haunts us. As we continue to wrestle with the effects of the pandemic, many of us have been experiencing unusually intense and profound dreams. What is the nature of dreaming? Do our dreams and...

On October 30th, 1938, a young actor by the name of Orson Welles, in collaboration with a number of other radio actors, presented a dramatization of H.G. Wells’ famous novel, War of the Worlds. According to legend, many people, believing that the show was a genuine news broadcast, began to panic. As the story of the mass panic grew, it developed into a much larger and darker narrative. What is the nature of mass hysteria? What can trigger our sense of self-preservation so deeply that we turn...

On December 14, 2012, 20-year-old Adam Lanza shot and killed Nancy Lanza, Rachel D’Avino, Dawn Hochsprung, Anne Marie Murphy, Lauren Rousseau, Mary Sherlach, Victoria Leigh Soto, Charlotte Bacon, Daniel Barden, Olivia Engel, Josephine Gay, Dylan Hockley, Madeleine Hsu, Catherine Hubbard, Chase Kowalski, Jesse Lewis, Ana Marquez-Greene, James Mattioli, Grace McDonnell, Emilie Parker, Jack Pinto, Noah Pozner, Caroline Previdi, Jessica Rekos, Avielle Richman, Benjamin Wheeler, and Allison Wyatt...

After the fall of Saddam Hussein’s brutal dictatorship in Iraq, American forces requisitioned a number of prisons he had once used to house prisoners suspected of terrorism against American soldiers. A series of leaked photographs of American soldiers and prisoners would bring US forces into the world spotlight for their own human rights abuses. How responsible are soldiers for their actions in the chaos of war? Can our environment explain extreme acts of brutality? Join us this week as Drs....

While there will always be a legitimate form, an official version, or an orthodoxy, sometimes it seems the “unofficial,” the “illegitimate,” or the “unorthodox,” can be just as powerful, and representative of an even more potent truth. The case of Santa Muerte, the Mexican folk-saint of death, is one such enigmatic example. She is a creation of the street people, the lower class, the poor and the suffering, in one of the largest cities in the world. She often attracts the worst: drug dealers,...

In the violent history of serial killers, one name seems to stand out among the others. Ed Gein, known as a shut-in by the townsfolk of Plainfield, Wisconsin, was found to have murdered a local woman named Bernice Worden. What followed were some of the most gruesome and shocking discoveries in American serial killer history, as a collection of body parts, some used to make a “woman suit,” were found by local police. The nature of Ed Gein’s crimes would go on to inspire other horrific...

In 1973 psychologist Dr. Cornelia Wilber was suddenly thrust into the spotlight for groundbreaking work she had done with Shirley Mason, known to the world as Sybil Dorsett. This work, published in a book by Flora Schreiber, documented the years of treatment Dr. Wilber had done with Mason for Multiple Personality Disorder, known today as Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID). This event brought the concept of multiple personalities into popular culture and kicked off an intense debate in...

On the evening of May 30th, 2014, three adolescent friends, Anissa Weier, Morgan Geyser, and Payton Leutner whose friends called, “Bella,” all spent the night playing games and celebrating Morgan’s 12th birthday. The next morning, Anissa and Morgan tried to stab Bella to death in a nearby forest to appease a dark figure known only as Slender Man. What is the nature of insanity? How is the magical thinking of children often influenced by mass media? How did a random creation by a 29-year-old...

Between 1692 and 1693, Puritans in the British colony in Salem, Massachusetts, became hysterical believing that they were under attack by people in league with the devil practicing the sinister magic of witchcraft. What began with the strange physical ailments of three young girls quickly grew into a panic amongst the settlers. What kind of irrational fear would condemn 19 people, overwhelmingly women, to be hanged, and one man crushed to death, without the slightest bit of empirical evidence?

Where is the line between a strange belief and a true delusion? This week, Drs. Micono and Morelos use the Unabomber's "manifesto" to begin a discussion on his motives toward violence and the forces that, according to him, will eventually lead to our own destruction. Follow them on an exploration of one of the most fascinating cases of true crime in recent history.

September is National Suicide Prevention Month so Drs. Micono and Morelos wanted to take a few minutes to discuss this important topic. Please take care of yourselves out there!

In 1996 the FBI, in conjunction with other law enforcement agencies, caught one of the most elusive and terrifyingly effective domestic terrorists in history. It was then that America got its first look at Theodore Kaczynski, otherwise known as the Unabomber. With an IQ well above genius level and a chance at a brilliant career, Kaczynski chose instead a life of virtual isolation where he toiled at writing his own philosophy and building implements of destruction. Was this a case of a...

Millions of people throughout history and across cultures have described the sensation of leaving their material body behind. Is the out of body experience a profound characterization of disembodied consciousness, or the result of our brain responding to ordinary stimuli? This week, Drs. Micono and Morelos use the famous experience of Ernest Hemmingway, described in his most famous book, as a starting point to discuss examples of OBEs, or out of body experiences.

Prisons have become an ubiquitous part of our collective culture, with the United States, for better or worse, being a leader in the number of people we incarcerate. What is the nature of the relationship between the captured and the captors? Can there be a spirit of cooperation between corrections officers and the incarcerated, or is it always bound to be tortured? This week, Drs. Micono and Morelos use the infamous Stanford Prison Experiment to start a conversation about American prisons...

On June 7, 1998, a 49 year-old African-American man was brutally killed in one of the most horrific hate crimes the country has ever seen. His death brought to the surface racial and cultural tensions that had been simmering just under the nation’s collective consciousness. What makes people intolerant of people from different, ethnic, racial, or cultural backgrounds? Why do we tend to focus on what makes of different instead of what binds us together? This week Drs. Micono and Morelos use...

They went into the jungle looking for paradise. They found hell. What draws people into cults? What is it about our psychology that yearns for something a cult promises to fulfill? This week, Drs. Micono and Morelos use the Jonestown massacre as a starting point to look at why people fall into cults, and why so many cults eventually turn dark.

On the night of September 19, 1961, while driving home from a brief holiday, Betty and Barney Hill claimed to be abducted by beings from another planet. As pieces of their story emerged, what became even more clear is our collective fascination with the idea that we are not alone in our vast universe. Millions of people believe in the existence of extraterrestrial beings, with fewer claiming to have witnessed UFOs, and fewer still claiming to have been abducted. What is the psychological...

On April 19, 1989, 28-year-old Tricia Meili, was brutally beaten, raped, and left for dead in Central Park. Five boys, each between the ages of 14 and 16, were quickly identified as suspects. Initially coerced into confessions, each boy later recanted and proclaimed his innocence. In 2002, an individual confessed to this crime, with his DNA matching that found at the crime scene. What followed sparked a national conversation on race, police methodology, and the rights of the accused. When...

In 2016 my father and I travelled to Mexico to see the impressive pyramids of Teotihuacan. An intriguing invitation from an old friend and fellow scholar led to something much darker and yet somehow perfectly representative of the contradictions that dance together to create one of world's most spectacular, and terrifying, cities. This episode is a narrative of our trip to Mexico City and our encounter with Santa Muerte, the Mexican folk saint of death. Along the way we'll eat tacos, drink...

On June 14th, 2015, the body of 48 year-old Dee Dee Blancard was found in her home just outside of Springfield, Missouri. She had been stabbed repeatedly in the back as she slept. Police originally suspected that her murder was linked to the abduction of her disabled daughter, Gypsy Rose. As the case unraveled, a lifetime of deceit on the part of Gypsy Rose and her mother, Dee Dee, was uncovered. Drs. Jessica Micono and David Morelos discuss child medical abuse, otherwise known as Munchausen...

Millions of people suffer from physical illnesses that they cannot explain. There are often no clear answers on what causes these illnesses, leaving many people desperate for any kind of relief. Using recent stories from the lives of some of these people, Drs. Micono and Morelos discuss the link between the mind and the body and the stigma that continues to surround mental health.

On April 3, 2014, serial killer Tommy Lynn Sells was executed for the murder of 13-year-old Kaylene Harris. It is believed, however, that Sells was responsible for up to as many as 70 murders across the country. What is the nature of psychopathy? Why do these people walk among us? Drs. Jessica Micono and David Morelos use the case of Tommy Lynn Sells to begin a discussion on the psychopaths that both fascinate and frighten us.