Conspiracy Theories

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 fo...

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 yo...

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. Vi...

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 on...

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/adchoice...

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 whe...

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...

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/adchoice...

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