Conspiracy Theories

In 1945, residents were left wondering who was responsible for the gruesome murder of 74-year-old farmhand Charles Walton. The small village in Warwickshire County, England, believed heavily in superstitions. When Scotland Yard began its investigation, it too had to wonder if Walton's death was tied to witchcraft. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In January 2015, Tom Brady and the New England Patriots became the center of another cheating scandal. It was alleged that the footballs used in the AFC Championship Game against the Indianapolis Colts had been underinflated. After a thorough, four-month investigation, Ted Wells released a 243-page report on his findings. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

They had won three Super Bowls in four seasons. Their hunky quarterback and their no-nonsense coach seemed to have the league all figured out. But some believe the New England Patriots were spying on other teams. Was the NFL aware, and if so, would it do anything to stop it? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Over 100 instances of "Havana Syndrome" have been documented worldwide. Many people have dismissed it as simply Mass Psychogenic Illness. Others believe it's the work of sonic weapons. But there's a real possibility that it's an electromagnetic attack using microwave radiation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A mysterious ailment emerged in 2016 that affected American diplomats stationed in Havana, Cuba. Victims reported vertigo, headaches, vision problems, and hearing loss. Some experts believed Cuba was behind the attacks. But then cases expanded to more than 130 countries across the globe. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

She was told to find the future King Charles VII, get him crowned, and liberate France from the English. Or so we've been told. But many think Joan of Arc didn't live the life history tells us. Was she actually part of the French royal family? Did she belong to a witch cult that opposed the Catholic Church? Was she even really burned at the stake? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As a teenager, she had divine visions. She was thrust into the spotlight when she became a military leader and French national icon. But are all the things written about Joan of Arc actually true? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After World War II, the U.S. government hoped to use LSD as a “truth serum” against its enemies. The CIA called it Operation Midnight Climax. But once it was apparent what the drug’s true effects were, it turned into a party for agents — all on the taxpayer’s dime. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A century ago, a secret society conspired to strip the power from Hawaii’s queen, and force the independent kingdom to become a U.S. territory. Today, we’re looking back on how a cabal of businessmen — backed by the U.S. government — toppled a monarchy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Have popes throughout centuries signed off on secret intelligence programs designed to spy on revolutionaries, curb the influence of Modernism, and help the Catholic Church regain international power? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the early 1970s, when he was still an Archbishop, Albino Luciani caught wind of a shady banking scheme involving Italian banker Roberto Calvi and the Vatican. Years later – and just 33 days into his reign as Pope John Paul I – he was found dead. Did stepping into the Vatican’s affairs cost him his life? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The fate of the lost colonists has been debated for hundreds of years. Did they abandon their settlement of their own free will, or did they fall victim to sabotage and murder? Some historians are asking a different question altogether: What if the colony was never “lost” at all? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It’s a mystery that’s endured for centuries: When the English first began colonizing America, they established a small settlement off the coast of present-day North Carolina. Within three years, it was gone, leaving few clues behind. What really happened to 100+ inhabitants of Roanoke Island? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After a dozen major campaigns and thousands of planted bugs and wiretaps, COINTELPRO was finally exposed to the public. But the job of untangling its impact would take decades. Was J. Edgar Hoover’s belief that Communists instigated the civil rights movement true? And how far did the FBI go to sabotage the leaders of the movement? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A secret intelligence project led by the FBI used illegal methods to spy on organizations and people from the mid-1950s to the early 1970s. It claimed to be acting in the name of U.S. security — but was it really? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Wrath, rivalry, or coverup? Despite over 2200 people dying in the Johnstown flood, no one has ever been held legally responsible for the neglected dam that caused it. Survivors were left to wonder: Was this an act of God, designed to punish them? Did a business rivalry between iron and steel magnates lead to this destruction? And did the dam’s owners know they were liable… and tried to cover it up? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After years of neglect, the decaying South Fork dam gave way in May 1889 — flooding a town of steelworkers, and killing thousands. In the aftermath, the surviving townspeople looked to the dam’s wealthy owners for answers. But they’d already fled. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

An IRS agent uncovers a trail of embezzlement in an American soccer official’s transactions, the FBI investigates bribery allegations surrounding the World Cup bidding process, and a massive, international corruption scandal explodes in the heart of the world’s most beloved sport. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When Qatar won the bid to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup, it made sports history — becoming the first Middle Eastern nation to ever host the competition. But it was never the obvious choice, and speculation started almost immediately. How did they manage to clinch the win? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

If NASA could hide an alliance with a government espionage office, what else could it be hiding? Today we examine the alleged evidence of a secret spacewalk, a martian city, and a remarkable sound from deep space. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

High-risk missions. International competition. And the keys to the cosmos. When you think of clandestine organizations, NASA might not top the list — and yet it has all the elements to be more shadowy than the dark side of the moon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It’s a buzzy word meant to invoke a sense of immersion within a virtual world — where boundaries are obliterated, and possibilities are limitless. But what will the Metaverse actually feel like? From the holographic visions of tech companies, to the hardware required to make it happen, to the revolutionary potential of mind uploading and mixed reality, will a fully cyber society make life easier — or end life as we know it? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

They’re modern marvels, all around us — artificial products we can eat (lab-grown meat), transplant (bioprinted organs), and even inject into our bodies (synthetic vaccines). But not everyone’s convinced they’re miracles. Top of mind for critics? Are they safe, are they sustainable — and what does expanding the frontier of artificiality mean for our future? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Automation promises to make our lives radically more efficient, with the power to change everything from how countries develop weapons of warfare, to how patients are diagnosed, to how people who violate laws are sentenced. But experts are theorizing these changes won’t always be for the better. And at the heart of the conversation is a deceptively simple question: What will we lose when the algorithms become too convenient for our own good? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

From brain implants and bionic limbs to gene editing and immortality — today’s technology has the potential to lead us down a path we couldn’t conceive of centuries, or even decades, ago. Question is: How far do we want it to take us — and will our destination be worth the cost to get there? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the 1960s and ‘70s, farmers across America were waking up to find that their cows had been slaughtered. Because the cattle were found missing eyes, ears, tongues, and sex organs, some thought it was part of a satanic ritual. Others believed that the animals were test subjects for an alien race. But the truth may have been on the farms all along. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For decades across America’s heartland, cattle ranchers have found healthy livestock dead, with their body parts removed, sexual organs missing, and blood drained. When the FBI investigated, they could not offer a plausible explanation Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the years following the unveiling of King Tut’s burial chamber, tragedy seemed to follow those involved with the excavation. Many believe these injuries and deaths were merely a series of cryptic coincidences, while others claim they proved the Pharaoh's Curse was real — and powerful enough to sink the Titanic. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon set out for Egypt’s Valley of the Kings, they hoped to uncover secret tombs, lost in the sand. In 1922, their expedition succeeded — making history with a life-changing discovery. Then the untimely deaths began, and a rumor spread of a dark curse, unleashed by the trespassers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

From an early age, Brian Jones showed a creative edge and an interest in self-destruction. His rebellious spirit derailed him out of school and into the world of music. In 1962, he would help form the Rolling Stones. By 1969, Jones was out of the band, and soon after, dead. Officially, it was ruled an accidental drowning. But tensions with the law, with his band, and in his business dealings prompted theorists to suggest otherwise. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

By 2011, the FBI was ready to reexamine the evidence. A theory emerged: What if the Mad Poisoner was actually the Unabomber? Ted Kaczynski had proven he was a revenge-seeking terrorist, and he had connections to Chicago. Perhaps he traded homemade bombs for poisoned pills. Or maybe the deadly concoctions came straight from the Johnson & Johnson facility itself. In the absence of clear answers, only theories remain… and rumors that someone is still out there, replacing Halloween treats with fatal tricks. This is a crossover special with Serial Killers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

If Roger Arnold wasn’t behind the murders, who was? Police turn their focus to a new suspect: a disgruntled accountant named James Lewis. But the more police dig into Lewis’s life, the more questions they have. The road to truth is paved with extortion, false identities, and revenge. This is a crossover special with Serial Killers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Forty years ago, cyanide-laced Tylenol capsules led to the deaths of seven people all around the Chicago area. America was gripped by paranoia and fear. Why was this happening? Who would be next? Police grasped for suspects who might be the so-called “Mad Poisoner.” This is a crossover special with Serial Killers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When the papers referring to MJ-12 were released to the public, the news was a bombshell. But scrutiny wasn’t far behind. Accusations of forgery and fraud began to surface, and eventually, all that was left to examine was motive. Why would someone go to extraordinary lengths to reveal a secret cabal that potentially never even existed? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Decades ago, a top-secret group of scientists, military officials and researchers reported on extraterrestrial activity to the president. When a documentary filmmaker caught wind of the operation, he followed a trail of breadcrumbs that led him to a trove of government secrets. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For 11 days in December 1926, a famed writer — the “Queen of Crime” herself — vanished. Agatha Christie was used to concocting fictional mysteries. Now, she was at the center of one in real life. But was this a stress-induced reprieve from unending responsibilities? Or a masterfully coordinated jab at her cheating husband? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Famed novelist. Accomplished outdoorsman. Intrepid spy? Today we examine the evidence suggesting one of the greatest writers of the 20th century was also involved in espionage — whether as a Soviet asset, or a double agent for the U.S., it all depends on who you ask. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Over 16 episodes, listeners tuned in to hear Superman and his allies battle against the Clan of the Fiery Cross — a thinly veiled reference to the KKK. To strike a blow against the real Klan, producers of the show incorporated intel provided by a man on the inside: Stetson Kennedy. Today, we examine whether their plan worked to hamstring the hate group’s recruitment efforts... and investigate the claim that Kennedy’s accounts were all based on a lie. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the early 1940s, journalist Stetson Kennedy tried to undermine the KKK’s recruiting power by exposing their darkest secrets — through a children’s radio show. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

From a royal to a humanitarian to a victim, Princess Diana significantly impacted the world during her short time here. Her recent portrayals in TV and film prove that although her passing happened twenty-five years ago, her story still lives on. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As the world mourns, speculation runs wild. How could this have happened? Who was to blame? British paparazzi, who hounded the vehicle into its passengers’ final moments, are an easy target. But rumors arise that lay the fault at the feet of the royal family — a possibility that Diana herself had predicted. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Twenty-five years ago, the British monarchy was forever changed upon the death of the “People’s Princess.” Today, we’re revisiting her story, looking back on a moment that impacted not only the royal family, but the world. We jump back to the 1980s, when Diana Spencer is ushered into a fairy tale. But from the beginning, it eats away at her — until she’s left simultaneously isolated and dangerously exposed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As a child, Philip Taylor Kramer looked to the stars to map his future. After a quick detour as a rock star, Kramer graduated with a degree in aerospace engineering and worked on a top secret project for the DoD. The sky seemed to be the limit. Then he disappeared. When his body was found four years later, authorities suspected suicide. Other theories suggest he knew too much... and had become a target. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

By October of 1968, the search for the USS Scorpion was over. Discovered at the bottom of the Atlantic, theories as to how it sank began to emerge. Was it the result of a Soviet standoff? A machinery malfunction? Or something far more alien? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It was commissioned in 1960 to monitor Soviet submarines. Fast, agile, and heavily armed — the USS Scorpion was a nuclear sub built to be stealthy, but not to actually vanish. In May of 1968, it did. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Who will strike it rich next? The gold mine that made Jacob Waltz a wealthy man has apparently never been found again. But maybe there are still those who know exactly where the gold came from, who’s protecting it, and what it’ll cost to discover it again... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A trove of gold is rumored to be hidden in Arizona’s Superstition Mountains. Legend has it, a German immigrant named Jacob Waltz found the cache in the late 1800s and later revealed its location in a deathbed confession. But no one’s been able to find it since... and for good reason. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Was Marlowe’s death truly a tragic accident? Unsatisfied with that explanation, some believe his death was ordered by a scorned wife seeking revenge. Others think his connections with a secret society sealed his fate. And most mysteriously of all, there’s the theory that Marlowe faked his death, and for the rest of his life wrote under a pen name: William Shakespeare. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A brilliant playwright fell out of favor with Queen Elizabeth I. Then he was murdered. Officially, his killer acted in self-defense. But for centuries, scholars have wondered if there was more to the story. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

There are a few different theories about how our moon was formed. One of them proposes it didn’t form naturally — it was designed. And what’s more, it may even be harboring alien life inside. NASA’s Apollo space program might’ve uncovered the evidence. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices