Conspiracy Theories

In 1947 the U.S. military seized an unidentified object that had crashed in the New Mexico desert. Ever since, the area has been a hotspot for conspiracy theories and supernatural speculation. Join us for a four-part crossover with Unexplained Mysteries as we celebrate the 75th anniversary of one of the biggest UFO events in history, and investigate just how much of the story is still under wraps....

A Nazi scientist. An unleashed disease. A legendary monster. Can they all be traced back to Plum Island? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When the U.S. needed a place to study rare animal diseases during the Cold War, it established a research center on an island off the New England coast. Then the disasters began to strike. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Is free energy already available to us? Some believe the technology exists today. If so, who is suppressing it and how far will they go to keep it under wraps?  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 at www.parcast.com/cults! Learn more about your ad ch...

Across centuries, inventors have theorized machines that could produce endless power at little cost. The technology would be revolutionary, if it existed. What if it already does?  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 at www.parcast.com/cults! Learn m...

After the explosion of Flight 103, investigators followed a trail of clues to two suspects, both Libyan men believed to be carrying out orders from Muammar Gaddafi. But some theorists suspect Libya wasn’t behind the bombing at all.  Countdown to the CULTS book release! Parcast’s first book hits shelves July 12th. It’s an unflinching exploration of shame, secrecy, power, exploitation, and destructi...

Days before Christmas 1988, scorched metal rained from the sky over the Scottish town of Lockerbie. Its source: Pan Am flight 103, headed from London to New York. The explosion killed 270 people and was declared a terrorist attack by investigators. The only question: Who was responsible?  Countdown to the CULTS book release! Parcast’s first book hits shelves July 12th. It’s an unflinching explorat...

When historians began dissecting the intelligence that spurred U.S. destroyers to retaliate in the Gulf of Tonkin, they came up short. In fact, there seemed to be first hand accounts that proved the opposite: there weren’t any enemy ships that night. So why did the Navy ever believe there were? And did President Johnson know the truth?  Parcasters, we have exciting news! Our first book hits booksh...

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...

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...

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 Ju...

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 ab...

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 Theor...

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. T...

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 in...

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 cro...

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 s...

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 cross...

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/adc...

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