The Paranoid Strain

The Paranoid Strain? They still do episodes of that show? Will wonders never cease.Sorry we're late. I promise, we weren't being neglectful. We just got caught up in a combination of holiday obligations, ongoing research, and a mountain of work for an upcoming project so ridiculously grandiose, we can't believe it ourselves (and it was our idea). That's coming soon. How soon? Who knows. But for now, enjoy the last part of our coverage of the satanic panic proper--this time, focusing on the story of a deputy sheriff with a very active imagination, who essentially imagined himself into a satanic plot that came from his own fertile mind. As you would expect, nothing good came of this. We're back on schedule, so we'll see you with some real-world post-satanic panic followup in a couple of weeks. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our de facto holiday episode is here, not that there's anything notably Christmassy about it. Or even Hannukah-y. We continue to lift up the rocks of the Satanic Panic and watch the horrible worms and bugs squirm in the disinfecting light of the truth. This time, we turn our attention to the way the media fanned the flames of the panic, convincing people across North America that Satan was coming for their kids. We also do a deep dive into one of the most heart-warmingly silly anti-rock and roll Christian documentaries every created. It's a lot of fun. As the episode intro notes, we're taking one episode cycle off to work on a huge, ambitious project, so don't expect to hear from us again until mid-January. As always, we thank you for sticking with us for another year. Here's to many more, Strainiacs. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We're waist-deep in Satanic Panic, with no end in sight. Our story continues with details of the McMartin preschool trial, the highest-profile, most emblematic event of the whole sad, deluded era. Our expert interviewees walk us through the gory details...you know, normally when people use that expression, they don't mean it. Unfortunately, in this case, the details are pretty awful, and we don't want to mince words: this episode includes catalogues of truly nauseating accusations. The only relief, if you can call it that, is that apparently none of those horrible things ever happened. Also, there's a puppet with a penis. Really, we're sorry. See you in a couple of weeks Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You asked for it, you got it. The 80s Satanic Panic--especially related to supposedly abusive daycares, was a direct antecedent to the Qanon child abuse/sacrifice mania. So we dive into the whole icky story. Joining us is interviewee Debbie Nathan, pioneering skeptical journalist who was among the first to call bullshit on the whole nightmare, which boiled down to well-meaning parents and officials inadvertently planting horrific memories in the minds of impressionable little kids, who then further elaborated these false memories into disgusting tales that led to prosecutions and imprisonment of innocent people. While also completely freaking out every parent in the country. It's a rough ride. Buckle up. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Last stop before our full, multi-part discussion of the Satanic Panic of the 80s and early 90s. This stop is back in the depths of antisemitism, the miasma from which so many conspiracies arise. Learn how the unsolved murder of a 12-year-old boy in 12th century England was transformed into an unkillable, slanderous rumor tying Jews to ritual murder, blood-letting, and cannibalism. We wish we could tell you the subject matter gets lighter from here, but that would be a lie. Buckle up, Strainiacs. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Out with the old, in with the new. In this case, no more Birchers of fluoride--we've moved on to other Q-related topics. This time, we're taking a long windup to get to the Satanic Panic period of the 80s and early 90s in the US and Canada, which is the direct antecedent of the Q "democrats harvesting adrenochrome from abused sex trafficked youngsters" meme that has so obsessed lunatics in recent times. But on the way there, we need to consider how human sacrifice--and even moreso, the idea of others committing human sacrifice, has influenced conspiracy-minded plots over the past couple thousand years. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today, we're gonna get to the bottom of the fluoride conspiracy. Where does it come from? Who believes it? And how did we start dunking our teeth in the stuff in the first place? Hopefully, we'll get through everything we have to say without anything weird going on. Like, it's an mp3 file, right? It's not like anyone can just hijack it and take over. What a weird thing to worry about, Jesuit. You're getting paranoid... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We're finishing up our Bircher talk here, with our discussion of the group's great crusades to keep people from having more rights, because apparently expanding civil, women's, or gay rights played right into the commies' hands. Plus, they really, really wanted to get rid of Chief Justice Earl Warren. Did they? Kinda. I mean, he retired. So Victory! Plus, you'll learn who this John Birch guy is, and why it's not called The Robert Welch Society. Next week--well, we don't wanna spoil it. But you're not gonna want to miss it. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We find ourselves falling deeper into the history of the John Birch Society, Robert Welch's baby, and the anti-communist organization that seemed so fringey in the mid-20th century, yet seems so clearly a prologue to Qanon today. Learn how the group formed, how it misjudged the communist menace, and how Welch's unique personal history shaped its worldview. See you in a couple of weeks with more exciting adventures in red-baiting! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As the title suggests, this is the moment where we hand off the story from contemporary Russia to the USA's number one Cold Warrior, a former candy magnate who founded the most successful and influential anti-Communist movement in our nation's history. The John Birch Society is truly the forerunner of today's unhinged right-wing conspiracy culture--the proto-Qanon, if you will. So let's examine what they were all about, starting with the man who founded and led the society for a quarter-century, Robert Welch Jr. See you with more in a couple of weeks. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our second full part on the topic of Putin's Russia, we cover more of that fun-loving gaggle of nationalist extremist conspiracy theorists who run that place these days, and with the help of our intrepid guide, Professor Yablokov, we learn how they do that conspiracy and repression voodoo that they do...so well. Also, we explore a series of interlocking theories that post-Soviet nationalists dreamed up about US plans to destroy the USSR during the Cold War. They're ridiculous. Not more ridiculous than the actual CIA plots to make Castro's beard fall out or whatever, but still--ridiculous. See you soon. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Having finished our dissection of Fed conspiracies, we now move on to consider how the other great world power of the 20th Century ended up becoming a dysfunctional autocracy overwhelmed by conspiracies. We learn what makes Russian conspiracy culture unique (and uniquely damaging), so that we can better understand Q and our own homegrown crazy. Of course, part of the Q crazy also overlaps with the Russian crazy, so obviously, this whole thing is gonna take a while to dig through. Hope you enjoy. Drop us a line at [email protected] or join us on Facebook. See you in a couple of weeks. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The last gasp of our Fed-related shows, this covers the truly goofy shit--sordid plots to sink huge ships to keep people who don't oppose the Fed from...opposing the Fed. Angels shacking up with human women to spawn giants who found the Federal Reserve. Plus, some sensible discussion of problems (and potential solutions) for how the Fed works, complements of Mr. Greeley. Next time: RUSSIA, COMRADES! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode 3! We hope you like hearing Federal reserve conspiracy theories debunked, because boy, that's what you're getting this time. Thrill to the history of monetary policy. Experience the chills of arguing with bitcoin enthusiasts on Twitter! Seriously, though, our interviewee is great, and we think this is a really rare opportunity to learn some super-interesting stuff about the way the most complex and hidden parts of our economic system works. We hope you agree. Next time, a bunch of Really Crazy Shit. See you soon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Second episode! Which means the introduction to this series literally took up an entire episode. Does that mean we're getting better or worse? Hard to say. This time, we're taking on the conspiracist view of what actually transpired on Jekyll Island back in 1910. Was it a conspiracy? Yes! Did mainstream historians already know that? Yes. What does it have to do with Qanon? We're more than happy to show you. Hope you enjoy it--see you next time. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We're back, bay-bee! For the next umpty-bajillion episodes, we're going to take a new angle to look at Qanon. Why, when we've already done Qanon several times? Because we believe the Qanon conspiracy is...in a sense "eating" other conspiracy theories. Because we think it's metastasizing into the one uber-conspiracy theory that rules our current moment in time. But more than that, we want to know how it got here, by tracing the historical and cultural threads that fed into the Q morass. And most of all, we want to see what real problems Qanon conspiracies are obscuring. It's gonna be a helluva ride. Buckle up. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We did it! We reached the end of the marathon. In this one, we chat through the Zapruder film, and its cultural impact. But the most important thing about this episode is it marks the end of the new-content dry spell. We're putting out a brand new episode next time, and we can't wait to share it with you. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

PENULTIMATE! It does not, as a young Jesuit believed, mean "better than ultimate". It means "the one before the last one." Which is what we have here. Some more discussions of the impact of JFK conspiracizing prior to the final wrap-up. We've finished the first episode of Year 5--like, totally finished, can't wait for you to hear it. Soon, my Strainiacs. In the meantime, enjoy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This time, we focus not on Oliver Stone, but rather the real guy whom his movie portrayed as a fearless, untouchable campaigner for the truth--former New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison. Our analysis of the man's career and crusade to prove a JFK conspiracy is rather less sympathetic. Enjoy the episode, and we'll see you with the next part in a week. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Part 4, which includes the end of our Stone/Costner courtroom takedown, as well as a discussion of a bunch of other conspiracies that somehow Stone managed not to regurgitate in that scene. Year 5 coming in a matter of weeks. Can't wait for you to hear it. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Third part of JFK inbound. This one features one of the highlights of our cross-country conspiracy trek of 2017, an interview with Stephen Fagin of the 6th Floor Museum in Dallas, which we insist you visit if you find yourself in that town. We then get to the important business of taking Oliver Stone down a peg or two. Still working hard on new shows. Still very excited about what we'll be sharing with you once they're ready. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Part 2, better late than never. This episode covers Lee Harvey Oswald's desperate attempt to make his life matter in some way by murdering a President in broad daylight. We cover Oswald's crime, attempted escape, capture, interrogation, and murder by another loon. Then, it's an overview of the Warren Commission, and the subsequent official investigations over the years. See you soon with part 3. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lo, we have entered the time prophesied--the time between episode arcs...the time...of the ARCHIVE! Seriously, though, we're once again breaking down one of our old, big, long shows into bite-sized chunks, to give you something to listen to while you wait for us to kick into year 5 of the show. Those new episodes will be here before you know it. In the meantime, enjoy this first chunk, of one of our favorite episodes of all time. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We reach the end, with the last stretch of Masons and all of the Illuminati. In case you've been waiting days for the new stuff, and want to jump right to it, it's the last approximately 45 minutes. Wrapup, full versions of each of the Paranoid Strain Orchestra's custom-made soundtrack songs for this series, and the delightful easter egg outtakes of Ms. Dana Unicorn. See you in seven weeks or so, with Year 5. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Covering plenty of ground, with details on both the Rosicrucians and the Masons. Final episode tomorrow! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is probably my favorite part, since it has the whole story of the Priory of Sion and all of that nonsense. Includes most of episode 7 through most of 13. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The complete Secret Societies series. Collecting episodes 1-6, plus a little bit of 7. Three more parts coming over the next three days. Enjoy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You're not gonna believe this--but this is actually the final episode of the secret societies series. I know. Which means that next week, as promised, and almost a year to the day from when we started this thing, we will be putting out the full episode in as few segments as we can, one per day, starting Monday of next week. What we think is that it's gonna be about four sections of three hours each. So...clear your calendars. In the meantime, we go deep on conspiracy theorists' whacked out ideas about the Illuminati and their influence, with a special emphasis on the world of hip-hop. Enjoy, and see you next week. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Off-schedule, but on-topic, we bring you the first of two Illuminati episodes to wrap up this epic series. This one's the story of the actual, real-life 18th-century group whose brief but influential existence led them, through a bizarre series of twists and turns, to become the "big bad" of all conspiracy thinking. The final boss, if you will. The Kaiser Soze hiding behind the Masons' Verbal Kint (spoilers, we guess). We have a new interviewee, Terry Melanson, the man who wrote the most comprehensive book on the structure of the Illuminati in recent years (at least in English), as well as some returning guests. Hope you like it. Back as soon as we can with the final chapter. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Comin' in HOT! We just got Dana Unicorn's lines a day or so ago, and yet here we are, presenting a complete, piping-fresh episode right out of the oven. We'd say it's like your grandmother used to make, but we think it's unlikely that your grandmother used to be a conspiracy theory podcaster. We're doing a one-off--a book report show covering one of the most legendary conspiracy novels ever written, Illuminatus! by two guys named Bob. Hope you like it. Back with the final Illuminati-focused episodes of the Secret Societies series as quickly as we can. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Just a quick check-in. Dana is briefly out of commission (but 100% ok and on the mend), so we're stopping by briefly to let you know what to expect out of the next year or so of your favorite conspiracy theory podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to “Disc 2” of what, as far as we know, is the first ever two-and-a-half-hour podcast episode that is actually a full-on rock opera. Please note there’s a first “disc”--be sure you download that one, and listen to it first. Otherwise, it’s probably confusing.We’ve been working hard on this thing for months now, and are incredibly proud to share it with you. Thanks to Hellfingers, we have both front and back cover album art, as well as simulated record sleeve with lyrics, (front) (back). Easier to read, but far less visually impressive lyrics here. We’ve got credits there, and in the show itself, but we just want to make sure everybody knows who did this remarkable thing:Daniel Arizona: The prime mover behind this whole idea, and the truly superlative songwriter who wrote the lion’s share of 50 great tunes.Moisty: A blinding flash of musical talent and taste, it’s an honor to be in a band with him.Turd Ferguson: The main reason this album sounds as wonderful as it does, a great musician and perhaps an even better producer.Lucifer Jones: A skilled and perfectionist drummer whose drive for excellence makes all of us do better.Squonkus: Truly, this man and his saxophones are our secret weaponsQH “FJ” Guy: He’s got a weird speaking voice, but I’m glad we let him play the keys.It is one of the great pleasures of my life to call these men my bandmates and friends. Also on the honor roll: Dana Unicorn, the reason people put up with the sound of my voice. The Chads, long may they reign; Mike Schmidt, the 40 Year Old Boy, and my favorite podcaster; The Big D, Some Guy, and I.RI. E, our excellent spoken voice cast; Frenchie St. Vino, Chad number 2, and I.RI.E, our beloved guest singers. Guerilla Studios and Myles Boisen, a fantastic place and person to record with. And once again, with feeling, Hellfingers, whose art is such a defining part of this show.Thanks everyone for listening. See you in (about) three weeks. We need a little time to recover. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to “Disc 1” of what, as far as we know, is the first ever two-and-a-half-hour podcast episode that is actually a full-on rock opera. Please note there’s a second “disc”--be sure you download that one, too.We’ve been working hard on this thing for months now and are incredibly proud to share it with you. Thanks to Hellfingers, we have both front and back cover album art, as well as simulated record sleeve with lyrics, (front) (back). Easier to read, but far less visually impressive lyrics here. We’ve got credits there, and in the show itself, but we just want to make sure everybody knows who did this remarkable thing:Daniel Arizona: The prime mover behind this whole idea, and the truly superlative songwriter who wrote the lion’s share of 50 great tunes.Moisty: A blinding flash of musical talent and taste, it’s an honor to be in a band with him.Turd Ferguson: The whole reason this album sounds as wonderful as it does, a great musician and perhaps an even better producer.Lucifer Jones: A skilled and perfectionist drummer whose drive for excellence makes all of us do better.Squonkus: Truly, this man and his saxophones are our secret weaponsQH “FJ” Guy: He’s got a weird speaking voice, but I’m glad we let him play the keys.It is one of the great pleasures of my life to call these men my bandmates and friends. Also on the honor roll: Dana Unicorn, the reason people put up with the sound of my voice. The Chads, long may they reign; Mike Schmidt, the 40 Year Old Boy, and my favorite podcaster; The Big D, Some Guy, and I.RI. E, our excellent spoken voice cast; Frenchie St. Vino, Chad number 2, and I.RI.E, our beloved guest singers. Guerilla Studios and Myles Boisen, a fantastic place and person to record with. And once again, with feeling, Hellfingers, whose art is such a defining part of this show.Thanks everyone for listening. See you in (about) three weeks. We need a little time to recover. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Just a quick teaser for our release on 1/6. Can't wait for you to hear it. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We've reached the end of the Masons section, which means we're covering the sad story of the masons versus the various fascisms that dominated the pre WWII period. The tale is super-interesting, but isn't quite what the freemasons of today might want you to believe it is. We've still got the Illuminati to cover, but they won't be the next episode, nor the one after that. We're not spoiling the surprise, but the next episode, which you should be hearing in the first week of next year, is the most ambitious thing we've ever done (and a standalone). After that, we've got a...book report. But trust us, you'll like it. After that, we'll wrap up the Illuminati, and then put out this entire, ELEVEN-PLUS-HOUR series as one giant episodes (well, maybe a few episodes, but with no breaks--we're trying to figure out how big a file we can get away with, ACast-wise) . Anyway, the next couple of months of content are going to be as action packed as any in the history of this show. Really, really look forward to hearing what you think of them. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Here we have perhaps our favorite of this Masons series, covering everything from the supposed coverup of the masonic murder of Mozart (alliteration!) to a Catholic-sponsored expose of Masonic evil that includes a ghostly, piano-playing crocodile. Oh, and we also cover Jack the Ripper. It goes places. Special appearance by Lady Jesuit made possible by special arrangement with her long-suffering patience with her husband's obscure enthusiasms. See you in a couple of weeks to wrap up the Masons. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Here's where the Masons story runs smack into 'MURICA! From the founding fathers' relationship to the Craft, to the very strange interplay between Mormonism (the most American religion of faiths) and Freemasons, and finally to the sad, yet inspiring story of how Black Freemasons carved their own unique version of the brotherhood out in the face of implacable white opposition, it's amazing the degree to which the nation and the secret society have impacted each other. Just...you know, not the way the conspiracists think they have. Enjoy, and we'll talk to you again soon. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As you can probably tell by our episode art, this here is the episode where we find out why the Freemasons caused the French Revolution. Or rather, we find out why, just after the revolution, a whole lot of people began to think that. It's the first big, implausible conspiracy that was attached to the masons, and upon which a broader, still more ridiculous conspiracy scaffold would eventually be built. We're going to go ahead and assume all of you already bought a copy of Professor Dickie's book or audiobook, since it's amazing in both formats. If you didn't, then hurry up and fix that, and we promise not to tell on you. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this second part of our dive into the world's most successful secret society, we go deep into the early history of the Freemasons, as well as the pageantry behind their initiation ceremonies. Plus, we BLOW THE LID off of all the most super-secret secrets this secret society protects. Which turns out to be "not much". But that's an interesting story, too. Hope you enjoy it--see you in a couple of weeks. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

So we've finally reached a secret society that surely every listener to this show has already heard of, the Freemasons. To be totally honest here, we approached this topic more out of a sense of duty than out of genuine excitement. It seemed, when we were planning this series out, that the Masons were going to be one of those groups that, yes, has been around for a long time, and yes is nebulously worked into the fever dreams of many conspiracists, but that weren't all that interesting once you started digging around in their genuine history. Boy, were we wrong. And the person who pointed out exactly how wrong we were is one Professor John Dickie, the author of the incredible book The Craft, and a gentleman who was kind enough to share with us his time and expertise in an interview we'll be excerpting throughout the next five-plus episodes. We hope you, like us, are surprised at the fascinating and intricate history of this group, and we can't wait to share with you the rest of what we've learned. Oh, and seriously--buy a copy of Professor Dickie's book or audiobook. You won't regret it. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We're fourteen goddamned episodes into this seemingly never-ending cavalcade of secret society information, and there are, at minimum, seven or eight episodes to go. We'd apologize for how long this series is getting, but we're not going to, because it continues to be just a goldmine of interesting information, and we won't rest until we've shared it all with you. Today, we wrap up the Rosicrucians, and take the opportunity to spoil the plot of perhaps the greatest conspiracy novel ever written. Why tie these two things together? Because they're both centered around conspiracies that were imagined into existence. Confused? Don't be! Just listen. Talk to you in a couple of weeks, when the topic will be...The Freemasons. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

More stories of the best darned secret society that didn't technically exist,! We return to the weird and wonderful world of the Rosicrucians this time, with stories of those who tried in vain to join the ephemeral brotherhood, and a number of folks who had to insist to their contemporaries that they weren't part of this group that nobody had ever seen in the first place. And a conspiracy theory involving the Rosies and the Bard. Oh, and we see the return of an old friend. A quick impactful visit, if you will. You'll know it when you hear it. We're busily producing our fantastic shows about the Freemasons right now, and look forward to sharing those with you in the near future. See you in a couple of weeks. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you, like Mike Schmidt, believed that our final statement at the end of last episode meant we were done with Secret Societies...well, I guess you had understandable reasons for thinking that. But it's not true. That just ended our weird tale of the sources of Dan Brown's madness. Now, we're back to a more orthodox secret society tale, albeit one that once again embraces a group that isn't quite what it seems. This is the first of three-and-change episodes about these guys. We started out aiming for a short overview, but the deeper we got, the more interesting the story became. We hope you find them as fascinating as we do. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

And here we are--about to hear the final revelations of the misleading nonsense, con jobs, and pranks that eventually led to the edifice of bullshit that is The Da Vinci Code. We pick up with the story of Pierre Plantard (that's his gallic profile in the show art), and his bizarre scheme to make himself look like a king, how that misfired when he met Henry Lincoln, and how the whole thing intersects with a failing rural resort. Weird? Yes. Interesting? You betcha. Hope you love it, talk to you soon. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Another fortnight, another episode about silly men and their silly book. Once again, we're discussing the work of Messrs. Lincoln, Baigent,and Leigh, who apparently never met a historical counterfactual they didn't immediately embrace. This time, we get neck-deep in the many, completely unrelated story threads that they rip out of context and stitch together into an unholy pantomime of historical scholarship. This is part three of our mini-series on the origins of Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code. We'll see you back here next time for the frankly astonishing conclusion, where we actually get to the bottom of all of this nonsense. Talk at you then. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode 9 of the Secret Societies series, but also the second episode in our sub-series about the strange origins of the conspiracy theories that ended up powering Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code. Now, though, we actually move past that book to turn our attention to the primary source for Brown's ludicrous historical and religious claims--an apparently non-fiction book published to significant hoopla in the early '80s and titled Holy Blood, Holy Grail. Can this book possibly be dumber than Brown's nonsense? You'll have to listen to find out. But also, yes it can. Very much so. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

YAY! We've reached Jesuit's favorite part of this series--a sort of 4-part sub-series of inter-connected conspiracy theories that build on each other to trace a tale that we think is honestly one of the most interesting subjects we've ever covered. So we understand you might be surprised to learn that this tale starts with the Da Vinci Code, an extremely silly, yet thoroughly self-serious book from the 2000s that spawned a series of virtually unwatchable movies. But trust us--this one's going places. Also, enjoy the return of the LIGHTNING ROUND! Enjoy, and we'll see you in a couple of weeks. By the way--if you haven't, check out the Paranoid Son, a sister podcast of ours, and which covers many similar topics from a different perspective. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I know that most of you woke up this morning and had that same thought you do every time you open your eyes. "How am I going to face the day without a podcast about a medieval French heresy, its violent persecution by the Church, and its eventual passage into legend and conspiracy?" Well, today is the day you've been waiting for. We're gettin' all Cathar up in this bitch, and it's gonna get toasty. By which I mean that the Cathars mostly got burned to death on pyres by their theological enemies. But that's pretty awful, so let's focus on how interesting the history is! Plus, we'll cover all of the misapprehensions and nonsense that conspiracy theorists have attached to the Cathars since they were stamped out. Next time: The ridiculous Da Vinci code gets the lightning round treatment. See you in two weeks. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Yes, many of you, including notably the 40 Year Old Boy, Mike Schmidt, noticed that I made a typo in the numbering of the show last time. Regardless, we're back on track now, delivering the properly numbered 6th episode of our Secret Societies series, which bridges the gap between the Templars and the Cathars. On paper, the Knights of the Temple don't have much to do with the heretical Good Men, but they both ran afoul of the Catholic Church, which led to their demises. And not coincidentally, they're both the locus of historical conspiracy theories. We'll be spending more time with the Cathars next time, as well. We hope you enjoy this episode as much as we enjoyed creating it. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

And so we...nearly(?) come to the end of our coverage of the Knights Templar. I mean, there's a little bit that carries over to the next episode, but hardly any. And by the way, we know this one ends at kind of a weird point, at the end of a news clip. That's just the way the episode divided up--normally, we try to provide solid end-points for these things, but sometimes breaking into half-hour chunks is a tough business. But remember--once we're done with this monster, we're gonna put the whole thing out as one pristine chunk of seven-plus-hour audio. By the way, check out our sister show The Paranormal Son, on the That's Not Canon podcast network. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.