Humans Being Awful

A man checks into a Kansas City hotel under a fake name. Two days later, he’s found tortured and dying — inside a room locked from the outside. No weapon. No suspect. No answers. This is the case of  Room 1046  — one of the strangest unsolved murders in U.S. history. Fake names. Mysterious phone calls. Letters sent after the victim was already dead. And nearly 90 years later, no one knows who kill...

You’re broke. Rent’s due. Your DMs light up with someone offering to flip your $500 into $5,000. All they need is access to your bank account. It doesn’t feel like a scam. It looks normal — even popular. People post about it on TikTok and Instagram like it’s just another side hustle. But the check bounces. The scammer vanishes. And now your account is frozen, flagged, or gone. This episode looks a...

A string of drownings. A theory about a hidden serial killer. And a Reddit thread that went too far. In this episode of  Humans Being Awful , we dive into the truth behind the Smiley Face Killer — the urban legend that just won’t die. From retired detectives and smiley face graffiti to Reddit sleuths suspecting strangers of murder, this is what happens when content, tragedy, and conspiracy collide...

Is it a business… or a belief system? MLMs promise freedom, empowerment, and sisterhood. But what happens when that dream turns into control, guilt, and silence? In this episode of  Humans Being Awful , we break down how multi-level marketing companies use cult-style tactics — from shame to toxic positivity — to keep people trapped inside a system designed to scam them. You’ll hear survivor testim...

What if your hotel room wasn’t private? What if someone was watching — and no one stopped them? This episode tells the true crime story of the “voyeur motel,” and what happened when it finally came to light. But we also look beyond that one case — into the hidden camera economy, the spy tech supply chain, the legal gray zones, and the normalization of being watched. From hotel ceilings to Airbnb b...

Humans Being Awful is a podcast about true crime, cults, scams, internet mysteries, strange history, and the darker corners of human behavior. Every week, I bring you stories about real people doing awful things — and the mess they leave behind. New episodes weekly. Follow on Spotify, Youtube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. Credits:"Music by Alexander Nakarada / https://www.creatorch...