Conspiracy Theories

In 1964 an attack by North Vietnamese forces on U.S. naval destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin helped catalyze a war that would claim millions of lives. There was just one problem: the attack never happened. Parcasters, we have exciting news! Our first book hits bookshelves July 12th. Don’t miss this chilling summer read that takes you deep into the darkest sides of human nature. Learn more and grab your copy at www.parcast.com/cults! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When the Navy needed to catch Nazi spies during WWII, they turned to an unlikely source of help: the mafia. How deep did their alliance go? And where else did the rumored entanglements between the mafia and the U.S. government allegedly take them? Parcasters, we have exciting news! Our first book hits bookshelves July 12th. Don’t miss this chilling summer read that takes you deep into the darkest sides of human nature. Learn more and grab your copy at www.parcast.com/cults! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When mafiosos rose to power in 20th century America, they were untouchable criminals with an unbreakable code. Their origins in Sicily left them with a taste for extreme loyalty, secrecy, and violence. And even before notorious gangster “Lucky” Luciano remade them into an organized criminal empire, they were raking in millions. Parcasters, we have exciting news! Our first book hits bookshelves July 12th. Don’t miss this chilling summer read that takes you deep into the darkest sides of human nature. Learn more and grab your copy at www.parcast.com/cults! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In 1669, the French government imprisoned a man whose identity they went to great lengths to keep hidden. The conditions of his lifelong incarceration — hide his face, keep him quiet — inspired rumors that he was the secret twin brother of King Louis XIV, or an unlucky valet who knew dangerous information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the summer of 1951, a French town became ground zero for a mysterious illness that caused hallucinations, convulsions, and in some cases, death. For decades, the most popular explanation was ergot poisoning via contaminated bread. Another theory emerged in 2009: the CIA’s mind-control experiments had gone international. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The death of the Director in 1972 put an end to a reign that spanned 48 years, and left America to live in his outsized shadow. What happened to Hoover’s secret files? How is the modern FBI still shaped by his legacy? And what have we discovered about the true nature of his surveillance projects? This is the final episode in our six-part series from Conspiracy Theories and Dictators. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

While antiwar and Civil Rights movements charged forward, Hoover unleashed the FBI upon his enemies and adversaries. By the end of the 1960s, he was proclaiming that America’s greatest domestic threat was the Black Panther Party — and he was determined to smear, discredit, even destroy anyone even remotely associated with them. This is the fifth episode of our six-part series from Conspiracy Theories and Dictators. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the 1960s, the Director’s adversaries included the Kennedy brothers and leaders of the Civil Rights Movement, which he believed to be part of a larger communist conspiracy. He would do everything in his power to undermine them all. When JFK was assassinated — two weeks after Lee Harvey Oswald emerged onto the FBI’s radar — Hoover strangled the investigation to protect the Bureau’s reputation. This is episode four in our six-part crossover special from Conspiracy Theories and Dictators. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A new president in the White House meant a new opportunity for a power play. Unfortunately for Hoover, Truman already thought the Bureau was becoming a secret police force. So he checked their power, and created a separate foreign intelligence agency — what will become the CIA. Meanwhile, Hoover was still bent on rooting out communist infiltrators and Soviet spies. Soon enough, he began handing intel over to Congressional committees like HUAC... and to his new friend and ally: a rising senator named Joseph McCarthy. This is the third episode in our six-part crossover special from Conspiracy Theories and Dictators. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

By the 1930s, Hoover was America's top cop. He went after bank robbers and bandits in his War on Crime, never losing sight of his real nemesis: communism. Every maneuver went toward Hoover’s carefully crafted narrative of the FBI. As their prestige grew, so did their power. But while Hoover had FDR’s ear, he also faced the ire of embittered political rivals. This is episode two of our six-part crossover special from Conspiracy Theories and Dictators. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

J. Edgar Hoover was eager and ruthless. The young intelligence officer believed wholeheartedly in the communist conspiracy, and he’d do anything to protect his country. Raids, deportations, mass arrests. He targeted everyone from Russian anarchists to American labor unions in his frenzy to curb the communist threat. No matter what the law said. This is the first episode in our six-part crossover special from Conspiracy Theories and Dictators. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A legendary colt became the pride of Ireland after dominating the 1981 Epsom Derby. Two years later, he was taken from his stable, ransomed for millions… and never seen again. The theories around his disappearance tie together revenge, a Libyan dictator, and the IRA. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After winning the 94th Kentucky Derby, the champion racehorse failed his drug test. It was unprecedented news that stunned the racing world and led to the Derby’s first-ever disqualification. But for owner Peter Fuller, the drug scandal didn’t add up. Was his horse, Dancer’s Image, sabotaged? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Nitrous Mafia have been a fixture at Grateful Dead shows and other jam band concerts since the ‘90s. They deal nitrous oxide to fans who want a taste of euphoria, but critics claim the cutthroat racket is taking shows’ atmospheres from mellow... to menacing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the 1960s a counterculture revolution was upending traditional norms of life, and the Grateful Dead were providing the soundtrack... and the drugs. LSD was having a revolution of its own, and the Dead were rubbing elbows with its biggest proponents. They headlined Ken Kesey’s acid tests and put acid guru Owsley Stanley to work as their audio engineer. Of course, this put them right in the crosshairs of the FBI. But while the feds had a file on the band, did they also have a deal together? Some say the disastrous Altamont Music Festival has all the markings of sabotage... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The FBI’s investigation led them to some of Boston’s most notorious criminals, but for ten years, promising leads continued to fizzle out. Was the mafia ever really involved? Or was the heist of the century actually an inside job? In 2000, a world-famous art detective entered the scene. Could he finally achieve what the FBI could not? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In March 1990 two men pretending to be police officers stole 13 pieces of art worth over $200 million from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. Then they vanished. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After the Rosenbergs’ death sentence is announced, protests erupt around the world. Famous figures, including Einstein and the Pope, weigh in. But Julius and Ethel’s conviction would never be overturned. They would die by electric chair in 1953. The questions and controversies around their trial — one of the most sensational in history — would remain: Why was the death penalty ever on the table for a conspiracy charge? And how did Ethel’s fate come to rest on her own brother’s false testimony? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

How did an ordinary couple from New York become Communist spies during the height of the Cold War? And how much of the case against them... was actually true? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In 2019, a report from a public inquiry identified the main cause of the devastating Grenfell Tower fire. But it left one question unanswered: Who was ultimately to blame? Some have suggested charging the landlords with corporate manslaughter. Others point the finger at shady contractors. And still others are looking at a larger pattern — that stems from the British government. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After a deadly residential fire in London broke out on the 4th floor of a concrete highrise, 71 people died. Survivors and loved ones were left asking: How did the fire spread so quickly — when it never should have spread beyond the 4th floor at all? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ever since his death in 1973, Bruce Lee’s fans have wondered how the 32-year-old martial artist could’ve died so suddenly. Some believe his death was supernatural – the result of a family curse. Others look to an operation the actor underwent shortly before his demise. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In 2010, Randy and Evi Quaid alleged they’d been targeted by a shadowy cabal bent on ruining their reputations. The same group, they claimed, may have been responsible for the downfalls and deaths of stars like Heath Ledger and Michael Jackson. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In 1999, an FDA food investigator found traces of mercury in America’s favorite sweetener. But when she presented her findings, she was told to stop her research. The incident rang alarm bells — was the FDA covering up threats to public health? More recently, the agency’s sources of funding and their role in the Opioid Crisis have drawn suspicion and criticism. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Long before the days of expiration dates and ingredient labels, the drug and food industries were an unregulated Wild West plagued by false advertising, fake cure-alls, and manufacturers that would do anything to cut costs. The public health scandals weren’t far behind. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Cats become creatures of warfare, pigeons are given a mission, insects are turned into spy bugs... Throughout history all manner of animals have been trained up as wartime allies and agents. But have governments gone too far? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

CERN’s Large Hadron Collider is helping scientists make breakthrough discoveries about the nature of our universe. But some researchers think the machine has the power to destroy our world... or open a portal to another. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Untraceable poisons. Soviet espionage. Modern codebreaking. Any, none, or all of these things may have something to do with why nobody can identify the Somerton Man. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A man was found dead on a beach in Australia in 1948 with his clothing tags cut out and 18 teeth missing. Who was he? How did he die? A cryptic note in his pocket has kept the mystery alive for over 70 years. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the 1800s, a movement spread across Great Britain that convinced thousands of Englishmen they were part of an ancient Jewish tribe. It was based on a legend about an evangelizer, Joseph of Arimathea. Another ancient legend — this time about Prince Menelik and the stolen Ark of the Covenant — places the lost tribes in Ethiopia. More recently, claims by the Lemba people of South Africa spurred one researcher, known as the British Indiana Jones, even deeper into the mystery. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The fate of the ten tribes of Israel has been a mystery for thousands of years. Some legends say they are trapped in a mythical land. One mysterious traveler in the 9th century CE claimed differently. All we know for sure is that the members of the ten tribes suffered invasion and exile before seemingly disappearing from history. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In November 2018, equipment from the largest utility provider in America sparked a fire that killed 86 people and destroyed thousands of homes. The devastation was unprecedented, but the Camp Fire is far from the only disaster caused by Pacific Gas & Electric. Are their political donations protecting them from stricter regulation? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In March 2011, the worst nuclear meltdown since Chernobyl took place in northern Japan. The incident was triggered by a natural disaster, but it was decisions made by the facility’s operators that led to such catastrophic damage. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

An emergency plan to cut costs in Flint, Michigan resulted in a contaminated water supply for the city’s residents. The water looked, tasted, and smelled foul – because it was tainted with toxic chemicals, harmful bacteria and lead from old pipes. But government officials repeatedly dismissed the community’s concerns. So today, we’re tracing what officials knew about the burgeoning crisis, and when — and how they’re paying for their negligence now. This is the second episode in our four-part series, “They Knew,” covering four times corporations and government officials knew their actions could cause harm, and forged ahead anyway. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Love Canal was supposed to be a suburban idyll. Instead, it became a dumping ground for chemical waste. After the land changed hands in the 1950s — from the Hooker Electrochemical Company to the Niagara Falls Board of Education — a school and 900 homes were built atop the toxic landfill. Decades later, residents are still battling adverse health outcomes and government negligence. This is the first episode in our four-part series, “They Knew,” covering four times corporations and government officials knew their actions could cause harm, and forged ahead anyway. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After the Civil War, multiple caches of Confederate gold were discovered around the country. Were they buried by the Knights of the Golden Circle? Was the pro-slavery organization behind multiple assassination attempts on Abraham Lincoln’s life? And did Lincoln’s eventual assassin, John Wilkes Booth, take orders from the KGC? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In 1854, as tensions between the American North and South were brewing, a physician named George Bickley called his closest friends to a secret meeting. His agenda: form a fraternity that would aid Southern states and protect the institution of slavery. Their first plot: invade Mexico. 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

Finding Beale’s treasure would be the thrill — and payout — of a lifetime. Without the key to the ciphers, it doesn’t seem likely. But there could be other reasons the riches are never recovered… Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In 1818, a member of a hunting party in the American West spotted a glimmer on a hillside — gold. Two hundred years later, treasure hunters are still trying to locate the dug-up riches. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A new wave of extraterrestrial discourse began in June 2021 after the release of the U.S. government’s UFO report. But was the report just a smokescreen? Today we investigate secretive programs, bizarre encounters, and suspicious dealings propping up conspiracy theories that the government still knows more than it’s letting on. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ever since “flying saucer” entered the lexicon, the U.S. government’s public stance on UFO sightings was to doubt and debunk. But all that changed in 2017, with an explosive report on UFO intelligence. And again in June 2021, when the government acknowledged — for the first time in history — that some UFOs are truly inexplicable… and maybe even threatening. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the final episode of our crossover special, we examine the theories suggesting the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor wasn’t a surprise to the U.S. government at all. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the hours, days and weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Japan’s forces coordinated a vast takeover of the Pacific. Back at home, Hideki Tojo’s reign as Prime Minister oversaw brutal wartime atrocities. Kate and Richard from Dictators detail the Japanese war effort, the experiments of Unit 731, and the battles that changed the course of the war. Join us Wednesday for the finale of our Pearl Harbor special. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the summer of 1941, as hostilities between the two nations escalated, wartime negotiations officially broke down. Combat was imminent — but where? This is the second part of our crossover special with Dictators, another Spotify Original from Parcast, commemorating the 80th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Eighty years ago, the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor by Japanese fighter planes devastated the U.S. and spurred the nation into war. Join us for a special crossover between Dictators and Conspiracy Theories where we’ll analyze the event from all sides, starting with the life of Japanese Prime Minister Hideki Tojo — a career militarist whose devotion to Japan thrust him into power. We’ll be back Wednesday with a Conspiracy Theories episode exploring how tensions between the U.S. and Japan reached a fever pitch as WWII broke out. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

There are so many unresolved mysteries surrounding the iconic monument, like whether it’s really a sphinx, and if it could be a relic from the lost city of Atlantis. We look at a stone beard, a story from Plato, and patterns of erosion to investigate. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Great Pyramids of Giza are some of the largest, most foreboding structures on the planet, but the mystery of how they were built still plagues historians today. Some Egyptologists think aliens provided advanced technology, while engineers see evidence they were ancient nuclear power plants. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today, the health risks associated with smoking cigarettes aren’t a secret. But since the mid-1900s, researchers have pointed out the harmful effects of these cancer sticks. How much of this did the tobacco companies know – and when? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices