Conspiracy Clearinghouse

EPISODE 166 | Sassy Squatches: Chupacabra, Bigfoot & Yeti Some of the most famous cryptids are the bloodsucking Chupacabra (which is of fairly recent invention) and the always popular Bigfoot and their higher latitude cousins, the Abominable Snowman. Is there any truth at all to stories of these creatures, or is it all misunderstandings, misapprehensions, misidentifications, and tomfoolery? Th...

EPISODE 165 | MAHA Mia: The Misconceptions of RFK Jr Guest: Evan Nadler, pediatric surgeon and researcher, pioneer in childhood obesity The conspirasphere has been weaponized so much that actual conspiracy theorists now hold important and influential positions in the US government. Perhaps the most egregious example of this is Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as the Secretary of Health and Human Services. Wh...

EPISODE 164 | Walk Like a Panther: The Palantir 22-Point Manifesto A company many have heard mentioned but don’t know much about caused a stir in the interwebs when its CEO dropped a 22-point manifesto of sorts. Many felt the whole thing smacked of some sort of comic book supervillain’s shopping list, while others nodded their heads at the sage wisdom of the post of X (formerly Twitter). Palantir...

EPISODE 163 | Vanishing Point: Missing Scientists & the Erosion of Certainty Someone recently wrote that, these days, a conspiracy theory is sort of a political position. It sure does seem that way sometimes, and new conspiracy theories continue to evolve in this disinfo-rich soil we’ve scattered about the internet like so much incontinence. Plus, those in power seem to have figure out that th...

EPISODE 162 | In Pursuit of D.B. Cooper One of the great unsolved cases in FBI history is the tale of D.B. Cooper, who hijacked a commercial jet and then jumped out the door with a parachute and a bag full of cash. The story has been written about, films have been made, numerous “Mysteries of…” shows have had episodes about it, and there even a few songs that reference the famous gentleman thief o...

EPISODE 161 | Vroom Broom: Witches & Witch Hunts Hundreds, perhaps thousands, or women were burned alive in Salem, MA, at the end of the 17th century. Their crime? Being witches. That’s what many of us think, anyway. But just how much truth is there in all that? And what, exactly, is a witch? Are there any still around today?  This episode comes in time for this year’s Walpurgis Night, which h...

EPISODE 160 | A Real Collusion Two political parties hardly seems sufficient for a nation of 342 million, and yet that's exactly the situation in the United States. How did that come to be, and why does it persist? Author Stu Strumwasser explores those ideas with his new novel A Real Collusion as well as in this conversation.  Review us here or on  IMDb. And seriously, subscribe, will ya? Like, ju...

EPISODE 159 | Maritime Mysteries It’s time to shiver yer timbers and batten down the hatches as we dive into a bucketful of mysteries at sea that have been hard to fathom in the past - the Flannan Isles Lighthouse, the Mary Celeste, and the Flying Dutchman.  Review us here or on  IMDb. And seriously, subscribe, will ya? Like, just do it.  SECTIONS 01:20 - The Flannan Isles Lighthouse - Three men v...

EPISODE 158 | Nasty NASA: The Challenger and Other Spacespiracies At 11:38 am  on January 28, 1986, the Space Shuttle Challenger lifted off from Florida’s Cape Canaveral on its 10th mission and 73 seconds later exploded, killing everyone on board. This was seen live on television by millions of people because a civilian teacher was one of the crew.  At first, it was thought an external fuel tank h...

EPISODE 157 | Bohemian Books: Gigas, Voynich & Soyga Some very old books have an air of mystery and intrigue about them. Partly, that’s because they are literally hundreds of years old, and partly because of the weird things they contain.  Today, we’ll take a look at three, all of which have a connection to the Czech Republic and Prague: the biggest book in the world, the Codex Gigas (also kno...

EPISODE 156 | The Shape of Water: Loch Ness and Other Lake Monsters People have been talking about a supposed water creature in the Scottish Highlands for at least 93 years, possible much longer. Everyone has heard of the Loch Ness Monster, and Nessie is one of the OGs of the cryptid world. But there are plenty of other, similar reports from around the world as well, like Ogopogo, Manipogo, Cressi...

EPISODE 155 | Mummy Mia: King Tut's Tomb Guest: Neil Laird, Emmy-nominated  TV producer  (Discovery, BBC, PBS, History, National Geographic), author of the  Prime Time  novel series Since its discovery in 1922, the tomb of King Tut has captivated people, with research simply leading to more questions? How did he die? Was he murdered? Was he really born in Arizona and later moved to Babylonia? And...

EPISODE 154 | Forgotten Languages (FL): The Most Interesting Site on the Web? While researching a previous episode about internet rabbit holes, I came across one that was some big, so complicated, that the entry soon grew into its very own episode. It's called Forgotten Languages, and at first it seems like it's all about ancient languages. But these turn out to be ciphers which, when decoded, rev...

EPISODE 153 | Broken Arrows and Other Nuclear Boo-Boos (World Is Weird 16) One reason conspiracy theories flourish is that sometimes there really are secrets kept back from the public, only revealed later. Take Broken Arrows - accidents involving nuclear weapons, near-misses that could have become incredibly serious but, fortunately, didn’t.  Like what we do? Then buy us a beer or three via our pa...

EPISODE 152 | Internet Rabbit Holes (1) Once in a while, someone comes across a website that creeps them out, or confuses them so much they start to ask others about it and, before you know it, an internet rabbit hole has formed.  Today, we’ll take a look at a few of these internet mysteries that sure got tongues wagging and finger flying over keyboards. Though almost always, the answer that’s fou...

EPISODE 151 | Global Warming Is Real Guest: Thomas Schueneman, environmental journalist, founder of the PlanetWatch Group, TDS Environmental Media and GlobalWarmingisReal.com A chat about some of the more pervasive and commonplace climate change skepticism claims and just some general kvetching about where we are in this conversation these days.  Like what we do? Then buy us a beer or three via ou...

EPISODE 150 | Operation Gemstone & the Gemstone File Very often sheer naked greed is hidden behind a glossy finish of virtue, something we can plainly see in the stories of two Gemstones from the conspiracy world – G. Gordon Liddy’s whacked out Operation Gemstone plans to help Richard Nixon get reelected, and the outlandish and complicated Gemstone File, which might be the very first mega-cons...

EPISODE 149 | Russian Dolls: Rasputin and Blavatsky Russians are practical, artistic and deeply mystical. And they tend to fall under the sway of strong personalities. Like two people from the past - Rasputin, the so-called Mad Monk, and Helena Blavatsky, founded of Theosophy, which itself is the very root of the modern New Age movement. Like what we do? Then buy us a beer or three via our page on...

EPISODE 148 | The Visitors: 3I/ATLAS & Friends Something is happening right now that maybe we should all pay at least a little bit of attention to. It’s time to break out the nice dishes and give the place a good dusting, because we have company folks. We have a visitor.  Probably a comet. But maybe not, according to some. Maybe it's an alien spaceship with bad intent. And it’s coming to get u...

EPISODE 147 | Man Out of Time: The Comte St. Germain He composed and played music, spoke several languages, was versed in alchemy and the early sciences, and hung around with the likes of Mozart and Casanova, yet no one even knew his real name. Voltaire called him the “Wonderman”, though that may have been sarcasm, but most came to know him as the Comte, or Count, St. Germain. One of his many wild...

EPISODE 146 | The Bicameral World of the Zizians One striking thing about the many stories that have appeared about the Zizians and the crimes they are accused of committing, is that each one starts at a different place. Some start with the attack on a Vallejo landlord that resulted in his being run through with a samurai sword and then work backwards and then forwards. Others begin their tale wit...

EPISODE 145 | Trumpspiracies: What a Tangled Web Ever since Donald Trump first decided to run for the highest office in the United States, he has promoted an astonishing number of conspiracy theories. It’s almost as if a New York real estate baron famous for lying to clients, not paying his bills and exploiting loopholes for his own benefit had learned, somewhere along the way, that “truth” is a s...

EPISODE 144 | Unwell and Unregulated: The Militia Movement The United States has always had a certain comfort level with violence, or at least the idea of it. Throughout its history, groups of armed citizens will threaten to use, or actually use, force to get their point across, either to effect change or to prevent that from happening. But in the 1990s, something changed, and groups formed around...

EPISODE 143 | Paranoia Is Forever: Disney Conspiracies Walt Disney’s goal was to make the “Happiest Place on Earth”, and to delight and inspire both children and adults through the ages. Many would say he succeeded beyond even his own wildest expectations. Others might say that Disney is, and always has been, a place of evil. And when you get as big as Disney has, you are naturally going to attrac...

EPISODE 142 | Project 2025: The First 180 Days (World Is Weird 15) Donald Trump said he didn’t really know much about Project 2025 except that they sure liked him. And yet, of 313 specific Project 2025 initiatives, he’s already enacted 108 of them, and another 63 are actively in the works as of this recording. Quite a coincidence, wouldn’t you say? Project 2025 put a lot of importance of a sort of...