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Paranormal Women, pt 3: From Blue Beam to Blood Libel
Episode 21
What did last year's drone mystery have to do with an antisemitic myth that won't die? Medievalist and conspiracy scholar Elise Wang connects the dot…
1 year ago
Paranormal Women, pt 2: The Abduction of Betty and Barney Hill
Episode 20
Before alien abduction became pop culture cliché, there was Betty and Barney Hill. Why did this couple's 1961 roadtrip define the abduction narrative…
1 year ago
Paranormal Women, pt 1: From Saucers to Starseeds
Episode 19
UFOs aren't a basement boys' club anymore. From Pentagon disclosures to TikTok starseeds and alien romance novels, belief in extraterrestrials is get…
1 year ago
Ladies Stay Safe, pt. 5: The Super Bowl Trafficking Myth I Helped Spread
Season 2 Episode 7
Why does the Super Bowl sex trafficking myth persist, despite repeated debunking? In the miniseries finale, Cristen unravels this sex trafficking myt…
1 year, 4 months ago
Ladies Stay Safe, pt. 4: Satanic Daycare Panic
Season 2 Episode 6
Why were daycare centers the prime targets of the 1980s Satanic Panic, and how did it blow up into America's longest and most expensive criminal tria…
1 year, 5 months ago
Ladies Stay Safe, pt. 3: Anita Bryant, Bathrooms and Backlash
Season 2 Episode 5
In the 1970s, America’s moral panic machine found its perfect scapegoat: gay and lesbian teachers. Also bathrooms. Historian Gillian Frank unravels t…
1 year, 5 months ago
Ladies Stay Safe, pt. 2: The Groomer Rumor Mill
Season 2 Episode 4
How did human trafficking conspiracy theories give rise to a politicized pedo panic targeting teachers, trans kids and drag queens? Researchers Danie…
1 year, 5 months ago
Ladies Stay Safe, pt. 1: Sex Traffickers in Parking Lots
Season 2 Episode 3
Why are suburban white women so afraid of getting snatched out of parking lots and sex trafficked? Journalist Caitlin Dewey unravels the tangled thre…
1 year, 6 months ago
Emotional literacy for misinformation?
Season 2 Episode 2
Ever heard of emotional literacy? In this mini episode (a breadcrumb? red thread?), climate misinformation expert and content creator Abbie Richards …
1 year, 6 months ago
Escaped Nuns from Evil Convents
Season 2 Episode 1
In the late summer of 1834, a torch-wielding mob burned down a Boston convent for reasons that sound a lot like . . . Pizzagate. Fueled by rumors of …
1 year, 6 months ago