Podcast Episodes

Introducing: Conspiracy Theories, Cults, and Crimes

From Jonestown to Heaven’s Gate, to the Octopus Murders and the Waco Siege, the world is full of deception, manipulation, and destruction. Listen to …

6 months, 2 weeks ago

The Disturbing World of Mobile Game Ads with 'Panic World' Podcast

Warning: REALLY WEIRD EPISODE. On social media and YouTube, bizarre, shocking, disgusting, creepy, and confusing animated ads for simple mobile games…

6 months, 3 weeks ago

Dear Chelsey and Ask Sarah Marshall

In the spirit of American advice columnists Dear Abby and Ann Landers, I am joined by Sarah Marshall of the podcast You’re Wrong About to give our ow…

6 months, 3 weeks ago

DEAR ABBY AND ANN LANDERS

Ann Landers and Abigail Van Buren, also known as Dear Abby, were newspaper advice columnists answering questions and printing statements from their 1…

7 months ago

Titanic in Real Time with Riley Swedelius-Smith

This is a bonus episode from our subscribers-only podcast Hysteria Home Companion. Our associate producer (and my brother) Riley Swedelius-Smith is …

7 months, 1 week ago

Polybius: The Arcade Conspiracy

This is a bonus episode from our subscribers-only podcast Hysteria Home Companion. I share the history of an 80s urban legend with our producer Miran…

7 months, 2 weeks ago

Not Just a Phase: Goths Through History with Christine Laskowski

Christine Laskowski shares her research into how an ancient barbarian people known as the Goths came to represent everything from edgy Hot Topic fash…

7 months, 3 weeks ago

The Imaginary Gods of ChatGPT with Journalist Miles Klee

Miles Klee is the author of a recent Rolling Stone article titled People Are Losing Loved Ones to AI-Fueled Spiritual Fantasies which tells the stori…

8 months ago

The FBI's White Christian Nation with Lerone A. Martin

Lerone A. Martin is the author of The Gospel of J. Edgar Hoover: How the FBI Aided and Abetted the Rise of White Christian Nationalism . For this epi…

8 months, 1 week ago

Listen Now: American Scandal

Every scandal begins with a lie. But the truth will come out. And then comes the fallout and the outrage.

Scandals have shaped America since its foun…

8 months, 2 weeks ago