pplpod

In this episode of pplpod , we examine the chilling case of the 2010–2017 Toronto serial homicides, where eight men disappeared from the Church and Wellesley LGBTQ village. We profile the perpetrator, Bruce McArthur, a 66-year-old self-employed landscaper and seasonal mall Santa Claus, who eventually became the oldest known serial killer in Canadian history. Join us as we discuss: • The Victims: H...

In this episode of pplpod, we explore the life of Allen Welsh Dulles, the first civilian Director of Central Intelligence and the longest-serving chief in the agency's history. From his aristocratic upbringing and career as a lawyer at Sullivan & Cromwell to his days as an OSS spymaster in Switzerland during World War II, we trace the rise of the man who built the modern American intelligence...

In this episode of pplpod , we examine the tragic history of the Peoples Temple Agricultural Project, known to the world as Jonestown. Founded by Jim Jones to escape U.S. media scrutiny and establish a "socialist paradise" free from racism and capitalism, the remote Guyanese settlement eventually became a prison of isolation and fear,,. We discuss life inside the commune, where residents faced gru...

In this episode of pplpod , we delve into the terrifying crimes of Ivan Milat, Australia’s notorious "Backpacker Murderer". Between 1989 and 1992, Milat preyed on hitchhikers along the Hume Highway, transporting them to the remote Belanglo State Forest where he robbed, incapacitated, and murdered them. We examine the grisly discovery of seven victims—including British backpackers Caroline Clarke a...

In this episode of pplpod, we explore the chilling case of Alexander Pichushkin, a Russian serial killer known to the world as the "Chessboard Killer" and the "Bitsa Park Maniac". Active between 1992 and 2006, Pichushkin turned Moscow's Bitsa Park into a hunting ground, claiming he intended to kill sixty-four people to match the number of squares on a chessboard. We trace Pichushkin's dark origins...

In this episode, we trace the genealogy of the "culture war," a metaphor for political polarization that has moved beyond policy debates into a conflict over values, morality, and lifestyle. We begin by unpacking the term’s 19th-century origins in the German Kulturkampf —a struggle between the state and the Catholic Church—before exploring how it re-emerged to define American politics, from the ur...

On this episode of pplpod, we travel back to January 17, 1950, to break down the "crime of the century"—the Great Brink's Robbery in Boston. We discuss how a crew of eleven men executed what was then the largest robbery in U.S. history, stealing over $2.7 million from the Brink’s building in the North End. Listen in as we explore the years of meticulous planning behind the heist, which included th...

In this episode of pplpod, we examine the chilling case of Gary Ridgway, known as the Green River Killer, who is responsible for more confirmed murders than any other American serial killer. We discuss his early life and how a man described by friends as "friendly but strange" lived a double life as a truck painter and a predator targeting vulnerable women and runaways in the Pacific Northwest,,....

In this episode of pplpod, we investigate the Order of the Solar Temple (OTS), a neo-Templar secret society that shocked the world with a series of mass murders and suicides in the 1990s. Unlike the typical profile of vulnerable cult members, the OTS was composed of affluent, cultured professionals—including mayors, journalists, and business leaders—who sought a return to the spiritual heritage of...

In this episode of pplpod , we explore the complex and tragic history of the Peoples Temple, tracing its evolution from a progressive religious movement in Indiana to a destructive cult in the jungles of Guyana. We examine how founder Jim Jones blended Pentecostal healing practices with Marxist ideology to build a congregation focused on racial equality and "Apostolic Socialism". Episode Highlight...

In this episode of pplpod, we dive into the chaotic true story of the October 1997 Loomis Fargo robbery, which was the second-largest cash heist on U.S. soil at the time. We explore how vault supervisor David Ghantt conspired with his girlfriend Kelly Campbell and her friend, Steve Chambers, to load a company van with $17.3 million in cash before Ghantt fled to Cozumel, Mexico. You’ll hear about t...

In February 2003, the world watched in disbelief as thieves infiltrated the heavily guarded Antwerp Diamond Center, pulling off what was dubbed the "heist of the century". In this episode, we break down how a crew of Italian thieves known as "The School of Turin" bypassed infrared heat detectors, seismic sensors, and a lock with 100 million possible combinations to vanish with over $100 million in...

In this episode of pplpod , we descend into the details of the "largest burglary in English legal history"—the audacious 2015 Hatton Garden safe deposit burglary. We explore how a gang of experienced, elderly thieves worked over the four-day Easter bank holiday weekend to infiltrate an underground vault in London's jewelry district. Tune in to hear how the crew, including ringleader Brian Reader,...

In this episode of pplpod , we descend into the chilling double life of Robert Hansen, a mild-mannered bakery owner in Anchorage, Alaska, who harbored a terrifying secret. Known to his neighbors as a record-holding hunter and well-liked local businessman, Hansen was actually a prolific serial killer who abducted women and flew them into the Alaskan wilderness to hunt them like game,. Join us as we...

In this episode of pplpod, we delve into the disturbing crimes of Charles Ng and his accomplice, Leonard Lake. Between 1983 and 1985, the pair targeted men, women, and infants from a remote cabin in Calaveras County, California, where authorities later uncovered a cinder-block bunker containing a hidden cell,. We explore how the duo was driven by a twisted fantasy Lake called "Operation Miranda"—i...

In this episode of pplpod, we examine the chilling case of Gary Ridgway, known as the Green River Killer, who is responsible for more confirmed murders than any other American serial killer. We discuss his early life and how a man described by friends as "friendly but strange" lived a double life as a truck painter and a predator targeting vulnerable women and runaways in the Pacific Northwest,,....

In this episode of pplpod, we examine the chilling case of Nannie Doss, an American serial killer known to the press as the "Black Widow," the "Lonely Hearts Killer," and most infamously, the "Giggling Granny". Between 1927 and 1954, Doss was responsible for the deaths of 11 people, a list of victims that included four of her husbands, her mother, her sister, and two of her grandsons. Join us as w...

In this episode of pplpod , we unearth the gruesome story of Belle Gunness, a Norwegian-American immigrant who became one of history's most prolific female serial killers. Known as "Hell's Belle," Gunness is suspected of killing as many as forty people between 1884 and 1908, driven primarily by monetary gain. We trace her path from Selbu, Norway, to the United States, where she initiated a pattern...

In this episode of pplpod, we examine the chilling case of Jane Toppan, a Massachusetts nurse whose friendly demeanor earned her the nickname "Jolly Jane," masking her reality as one of America's most prolific serial killers,. Born Honora Kelley to an abusive father known as "Kelley the Crack," she was abandoned to an asylum as a child before becoming an indentured servant and eventually entering...

To the community in Sacramento, she was a respectable matron in vintage clothing who ran a charitable boarding house for the elderly and mentally disabled. But when police began digging in her garden in 1988, they uncovered the dark truth about the "Death House Landlady". In this episode of pplpod, we explore the life and crimes of Dorothea Puente, a serial killer and fraudster who poisoned her te...

In this episode of pplpod, we enter the ring with Juana Barraza, a professional wrestler known as "La Dama del Silencio" (The Lady of Silence) who lived a dark double life as one of Mexico’s most notorious serial killers. Known to the public as "La Mataviejitas" ("The Old Lady Killer"), Barraza was convicted of murdering 16 elderly women, though authorities suspect she may be responsible for betwe...

In this episode of pplpod , we delve into the dark history of the Moors murders, a series of child killings that terrorized Manchester, England, between July 1963 and October 1965. We profile the perpetrators, Ian Brady and Myra Hindley, a couple described by their trial judge as "two sadistic killers of the utmost depravity". Join us as we cover: • The Partnership: How Brady, a man fascinated by...

In this episode of pplpod, we investigate the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS), a sect that split from the mainstream LDS Church to continue practicing polygamy after the 1890 Manifesto. We examine the group's isolation in the Short Creek Community and their adherence to the "One Man Rule" doctrine, which dictates that God works through a single prophet with absolu...

In this episode of pplpod, we investigate the terrifying trajectory of Shoko Asahara, the visually impaired yoga instructor who transformed a meditation circle into the deadly doomsday cult known as Aum Shinrikyo. Born Chizuo Matsumoto, Asahara rose from a poverty-stricken childhood where he bullied classmates to becoming a self-proclaimed "enlightened" guru who recruited graduates from Japan’s el...

In this episode of pplpod , we dive into the terrifying history of Aum Shinrikyo , the Japanese doomsday cult responsible for the deadly 1995 Tokyo subway sarin attack. We explore how a movement that began as a yoga school in the 1980s evolved into a designated terrorist organization capable of manufacturing chemical weapons and murdering its own members. Join us as we discuss: • The Guru: How fou...