Today I'm sharing a wild story that I'm surprised isn't much more known - that one time Germany intentionally hired known pedophiles to be the foster parents of unsuspecting little boys, thinking that these fosters parents would care more for the boys since they were more invested in them.... because they were having sex with them. Yep. This really happened. Recently. It began in the 1970s, and continued throughout the 1990s. How???

The true story behind the incredible 2003 film, Monster, about sex worker and serial killer, Aileen Wuornos, who killed seven men over the course of one year beginning in November of 1989. Aileen's story is incredibly unique, the exceptionally rare female serial killer who murdered the men who paid her for sex, instead of the other way around.

Happy Veteran's Day! On D-Day, June 6th, 1944, over 150,000 Allied troops stormed Nazi-defended beaches in northern France in the largest military amphibious assault operation the world had ever seen. D-Day led directly to Allied forces pushing the Nazis back into Germany and winning the war. And D-Day would have never worked without the troop and supply transport boats designed by a colorful boat builder in New Orleans named Andrew Higgins.

Today I'm sharing the little known Servant Girl Annihilator murders. A series of crimes just as shocking as the crimes of London's Jack the Ripper murders, but occurred three years earlier, in Austin, Texas. Who kept dragging woman after woman from their beds and killing them with an ax?

Back in the 1950s, America was very afraid of Soviet spies and communist sympathizers infiltrating the government and destroying the United States from within. And there were actual spies sharing secrets with the Soviets. But concern soon gave way to paranoia, and a political witch-hunt began, with a self-serving senator from Wisconsin leading a very misguided and ultimately anti-American and embarrassing Red Scare that destroyed the lives of many.

In the early 1980s, Suzan and Michael Carson were very worried about witches. They thought there witches all over America, even the President, Ronald Regan, was a witch. And sometimes, in order to defend themselves from the dark magic of witches, they had to kill them. They had to! It was self-defense. This is what they and there defense attorney would actually claim, in court, when they were finally caught and charged with multiple murders.

Today I’ll be sharing the strange and spooky story of Olivia Mabel. It's a story presented as a true story, centered around the unsettling concept of a “tulpa.” A thought form and sentient being willed into existence by, essentially, the power of one's imagination. Is that possible? And if not, aren't characters akin to tulpas created all the time by the power of vivid, immersive, fictional worldbuilding?

In 1975, two young boys in Tuam were exploring the grounds of one of Ireland's abandoned Mother and Baby Homes when they lifted up a loose concrete slab and found several tiny human skulls hidden underneath. Over three decades later, this discovery would lead to the uncovering of another massive and shocking Catholic scandal, centered around some of the worst crimes committed against young women and their babies in modern world history.

I highly doubt you have ever been conned by anyone to the degree Robert Hendy-Freegard conned his victims. This 21 year-old pub bartender, waiting to go on trial for planning to kidnap his ex-girlfriend, decided to start lying to some of his customers one day. And when they believed his lies, he lied some more. And he just kept lying. For years. And he convinced three people to drop out of university, give him all of their money, and follow him for up to a decade all around England, hiding...

Magdalena Solís was a Mexican cult leader and the extremely rare sexually motivated female serial killer. She was recruited to help a couple of grifters keep running a cult-based scam out of a cave in the mountains of rural Mexico in 1963 by pretending to be an Aztec goddess, and then started to believe she really was that goddess, took over the cult, and so much blood and debauchery followed.

Carl Panzram is one of the most interesting serial killers we've ever covered. He was incredibly self-aware. He knew he was bad. He didn't pretend, following his final arrest, that he hadn't done any of the horrible things he did. He only wished he could've done more horrible things.

In an episode about the most infamous series of murders in the history of the state of South Australia, somehow the murders are the least interesting part of the story. The characters in this tale, collectively, are some of the most dysfunctional we've ever covered. No one is even remotely normal, healthy, or well-adjusted in an episode that comes across like an advertisement for why you should never, ever, ever visit the suburbs north of Adelaide.

On the evening of October 30th, 1938, the CBS Radio Network broadcasted Orson Welles's live adaptation of the 1897 HG Wells classic, groundbreaking sci-fi novel, The War of the Worlds, all across America. And thousands and thousands of people literally thought the US was currently being invaded by killer aliens from Mars...

Who are the Yakuza? How similar are they to the Mafia? What's up with all the tattoos they have? And why are so many of them missing one of their pinkie fingers? Digging into Japanese organized crime today. I learned a lot and hope you do, too!

In honor of the 420 episode, I decided to smoke a nice strong joint for this one while recording. And the topic pairs perfectly with weed: a philosophical discussion on the nature of life. Why are we here and what is the point of life?

On March 31st, 1922, on a cold, snowy, and quiet night in Germany, at a small unassuming farm roughly an hour’s drive north of Munich, six gruesome axe murders were committed after various people in the home had been hearing strange noises coming from the attic for months. Who was in the attic? Who killed the entire Gruber family?

Do you remember when seventeen-year-old Amy Fisher shot the wife of her thirty-five-year-old lover, Joey Buttafuoco, in the face in May of 1992? At the time, I was too young to really give this story any attention, but what a wild story it is! Today, we get a little tabloid-esque, but also share the history of the cringey term "Lolita" and discuss the recent history of "age of consent" laws in this cautionary tale.

When did we meatsacks start torturing one another? How did we do it? How have torture methods changed over the years, and what are some of the worst torture methods of all time? Where does the "music" of Yoko Ono fit into all this? Covering so much strange information today.

This one is a doozy! John Edward Robinson may be the most intelligent serial killer I've ever come across. This guy fooled so, so many people with over 40 years of brazen crimes. Doctors, psychiatrists, detectives, and so, so many victims. In addition to being a serial killer, this BDSM-obsessed dirtbag, scammed hundreds if not thousands of people for four decades.

Have you ever heard of "clinical vampirism," more commonly known today as Renfield's Syndrome? One review of psychiatric literature claims that over 50,000 people addicted to drinking blood have appeared in case studies from 1892 to 2010. But does that mean that any of them are actually, at least medically speaking, vampires?

An in-depth look at the Founding Father behind the hit musical Hamilton. How did Alexander contribute to the founding of the United States? And how did he end up dying in a duel with fellow politician Aaron Burr?

Back in 2011, Wales would be shocked to learn that for the previous 14 years, an actual cause for Satanic Panic had existed in the quaint little town of Kidwelly. A cult based on the occult teachings of Aleister Crowley had hidden in plain sight, and their occult rituals too often involved having sex with children....

On August 30th, 2023, Ruby Franke, a recently very popular Youtuber and "momfluencer" was arrested, along with her therapist, boss, and mentor, Jodi Hildebrandt, and charged with six counts of aggravated child abuse. Both are now in prison. What happened to the woman who over two million people used to look to for parenting advice?

Did you know that in that in 1850, Hong Xiuquan, a man who interpreted literal fever demons as religious visions from God informing him that he was Jesus's little brother and that he needed to overthrow the Qing Dynasty and take over all of China, almost did just that? He raised an army that fought imperial China for over decade and waged a war that left between 20 and 70 million people dead.