The Alarmist

Who’s to blame for the sinking of SS Princess Alice? This week, The Alarmist (Rebecca Delgado Smith) welcomes fellow podcaster Adrien Behn to discuss the gruesomely tragic sinking of the SS Princess Alice in the Thames River. Does the ability to swim even matter if you’re swimming in raw sewage? Could an overcrowded passenger ship be to blame? Or was this a case of being in the wrong place at the...

New Guest Expert! On this week’s Aftermath, Rebecca speaks with historian and author Erich R. Ebel about the lasting legacy of the Donner Party expedition and its tragic fate. Having written a historical fiction account of the members of the Donner Party, Erich touches on the crucial choices made by the Donner-Reed party which ultimately led them down a notoriously doomed path. Afterward, Patreon...

Who’s to blame for the ill fated Donner Party Expedition? This week, The Alarmist (Rebecca Delgado Smith) is revisiting another oldie but goodie to see if we still got it right. Revisit Clayton Early’s very first episode, back in the days before Fact Checkers, Guest Experts and Big Slaps and see who ended up in the Alarmist Jail. But that’s not all! This time around we have a Guest Expert to weigh...

New Guest Expert! On this week’s Aftermath, Rebecca revisits the Kendall Jenner Pepsi Commercial debacle with marketing expert Shailendra Jain. A professor of Marketing & International Business at the University of Washington’s Foster School of Business, Professor Jain masterfully walks us through the complexities of in-house generated brand content, the role of advertising agencies and a tren...

Who’s to blame for the Kendall Jenner Pepsi Commercial? This week, The Alarmist (Rebecca Delgado Smith) welcomes podcaster Sequoia Holmes to discuss the infamously disastrous 2017 Pepsi commercial starring Kendall Jenner. They’re joined by Fact Checker Chris Smith and Producer Clayton Early. With America in political turmoil and social injustice at the forefront of our minds, why did Pepsi feel th...

New Guest Expert! On this week’s Aftermath, Rebecca speaks with pilot and aviation expert Captain Scott Miller about the ongoing recovery and investigation of Malaysia Airlines Flight #370. With years of experience as a flight instructor and pilot for a major US airline, Scott walks through flight protocol with masterful precision and lends new insight to the dynamics at play with this fateful fli...

Who’s to blame for Malaysia Airlines Flight #370? This week, The Alarmist (Rebecca Delgado Smith) welcomes back friend of the Alarmy Anastasia Kousakis to discuss the baffling and sobering case of Malaysia Airlines Flight #370. With so much scrutiny on airplane safety and security, what could have caused such a tragic accident that remains steeped in mystery to this day? Was improper protocol to b...

New Guest Expert! On this week’s Aftermath, Rebecca speaks with monster aficionado Josh Woods about all things werewolf. Author of O Monstrous World! and host of the podcast The Monster Professor, Josh has some wonderful insight on werewolf theory and what they’ve come to represent in modern society. Afterward, Patreon subscribers can hear the post interview breakdown with Producer Clayton Early a...

Who’s to blame for the origins of Werewolf Folklore? This week, The Alarmist (Rebecca Delgado Smith) speaks with writer/producer Tracy Sayre about the storied origins of werewolves and whether or not they actually exist. If it’s all just a tall tale, why were they invented in the first place? Does early farming have something to do with it? Maybe the unknown side effects of lead poisoning had peop...

In May of 1980 near Anaheim California, Dorothy Jane Scott disappeared and would never be seen alive again. Leaving us to wonder decades later, what really happened to Dorothy Jane Scott?   Generation Why is a podcast that covers notable true crime cases like this one, and so many more. Every week, hosts Aaron and Justin sit down to discuss a new case covering every angle and theory, walking...

New Guest Expert! On this week’s Aftermath, it’s a Christmas miracle! Rebecca speaks with THE Director of Photography on National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. The one and only Thomas Ackerman. An accomplished cinematographer and Professor in the department of film at UNCSA, Tom shares anecdotes from the set and shares incredible firsthand knowledge of the tone and experience film director John Hu...

Who’s to blame for the National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation? This week, The Alarmist (Rebecca Delgado Smith) welcomes podcaster Bridger Winegar to discuss the Griswold family's disastrous holiday gathering gone wrong in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. Tensions tend to run high around the holidays, but did Clark’s unrealistic expectations make things worse? Could a lack of boundaries have s...

From Wondery, and hosted by Laura Beil - The new season of Dr. Death, BAD MAGIC is a story of miraculous cures, magic and murder. When a charismatic young doctor announces revolutionary treatments for cancer and HIV, patients from around the world turn to him for their last chance. As medical experts praise Serhat Gumrukcu’s genius, the company he co-founded rockets in value to over half a billion...

New Mailbag! Like we said last week, we’ve been slacking on the mail and it’s about time we check in with The Alarmy. And good thing we did, this Mailbag is chock-full of amazing new episode suggestions and insightful anecdotes from previous episodes. Join The Alarmist (Rebecca Delgado Smith) as she reads your mail with Producer Clayton Early and Fact Checker Chris Smith. Oh, and you’ll get to hea...

Who’s to blame for the mysterious case of "The Toxic Lady?” This week, The Alarmist (Rebecca Delgado Smith) speaks with director Thales Corrêa about the baffling case of the “Toxic Lady” and the mysterious circumstances surrounding her sudden death in 1994. With so much speculation circling this bizarre incident, is it really surprising that aliens made up on the board? Or perhaps it was simply so...

New Mailbag! About time?! You’ve got that right. It’s been awhile since we last checked the mail and The Alarmy has a lot to say. We have tales from an Alarmy member who took a sizable detour to visit Biosphere 2, new insights and a pretty promising pitch to improve the Daylight Savings experience for all and plenty of fascinating suggestions for future episodes. Tune in with The Alarmist (Rebecca...

Who’s to blame for the Joan Crawford & Bette Davis Feud? This week, The Alarmist (Rebecca Delgado Smith) welcomes actor Emily Pendergast to discuss the infamous feud between the larger than life Hollywood leading ladies Joan Crawford and Bette Davis. Was the feud as fierce as it sounded or was it invented by the studios and exaggerated by the Hollywood tabloids? Were Joan and Bette merely embr...

New Guest Expert! On this week’s Aftermath, Rebecca speaks with true crime writer Joe Turner about the hauntingly bizarre story of Daniel LePlante and the rare phenomenon and crime now known as phrogging. Joe shares firsthand accounts from survivors of Daniel LePlante’s crimes and reflects on the environment that created a “perfect storm” which allowed Daniel to carry out his actions. Afterward, P...

Who’s to blame for the Boy Living in the Walls? This week, The Alarmist (Rebecca Delgado Smith) welcomes friend and comedian Leah Rudick to discuss a terrifying case of Phrogging by Daniel LePlante which led to a series of crimes and gruesome murders in the late 1980’s. Not familiar with Phrogging? Consider this your PSA! Could a lack of awareness about this type of crime be to blame? Is labeling...

New Guest Expert! Happy Thanksgiving Alarmy! On this week’s Aftermath, Rebecca revisits the Thanksgiving Day Disaster with Senior writer for Stanford Magazine, Sam Scott. A Bay Area native himself, Scott was just as shocked as we were to find out about this terrible tragedy and its surprising lack of coverage. He also reminds us that the absence of future disasters of this nature might have more t...

Who’s to blame for the Thanksgiving Day Disaster?  This week, The Alarmist (Rebecca Delgado Smith) welcomes Headgum podcast network founder Amir Blumenfeld to discuss the tragic circumstances around the Thanksgiving Day Disaster at Recreation Park in San Francisco circa 1900. They’re joined by Fact Checker Chris Smith and Producer Clayton Early. Did a laissez faire mentality of the time contr...

New Guest Expert! On this week’s Aftermath, Rebecca speaks with Kevin Mattson about the rise of MTV and the corporatization of the music industry in 1980’s America. A Professor of History at Ohio University, Kevin reminds us of the underground production and distribution of music at the time and what was lost between the artist and listener relationship with the introduction of MTV. Afterward, Pat...

Did video kill the radio star? Who’s to blame? This week, The Alarmist (Rebecca Delgado Smith) welcomes co-host of the In Retrospect podcast Susie Banikarim to help decide once and for all whether the video in fact killed the radio star? What do we even mean when we say that? Is the radio star really dead? Or are they thriving? Obviously, MTV will be part of the conversation, but what about the ri...

New Guest Expert! On this week’s Aftermath, Rebecca revisits the epic reign of Genghis Khan with historian Dr. Nicholas Morton. Author of The Mongol Storm: Making and Breaking Empires in the Medieval Near East , Nic emphasizes the unprecedented scale of Khan’s empire and explains why the idea of not expanding was never even an option. Afterward, Patreon subscribers can listen to the post-interview...

Who’s to blame for the Reign of Genghis Khan? This week, The Alarmist (Rebecca Delgado Smith) welcomes comedian and actor Dusty Warren to discuss the brutal and bloody reign of Genghis Khan through his expansion of the Mongolian Empire; the largest empire in world history. Was Khan driven by an irrational thirst for revenge? Did the earth's climate have something to do with it? Perhaps his obsessi...