Scams, Money, & Murder

In 1981, a spiritual leader named Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, known as the "sex guru", moved thousands of followers to an abandoned ranch in rural Oregon and built an entire city from scratch. In the first part of our 3-part series, Katie Ring traces the origins of the Rajneesh movement, the woman who really ran it, and how a town of 75 people was legally taken over and renamed. Follow America's Most...

Ed Kemper was intelligent, articulate, and seemingly self-aware—but beneath that surface was a violent fantasy life that began taking shape early. In Part 1, Vanessa and Dr. Engels trace Kemper’s troubled youth, his first killings, and the psychological warning signs that foreshadowed something far darker. Follow Serial Killers & Murderous Minds for part 2 of this episode: https://pod.link/176...

Boys began disappearing near a remote ranch. Suspicion centered on a charismatic but volatile man. The discoveries that followed horrified the public. Follow Murder: True Crime Stories for Part 2 of this episode: https://pod.link/1745145932 If you’re new here, don’t forget to follow Scams, Money, & Murder to never miss a case! To hear episodes ad-free, subscribe to Crime House+. Join at crimeh...

Jim Jones told his people he loved them. He built a church that preached racial equality and social justice at a time when those words carried weight. Then he moved nearly a thousand followers to a jungle compound in Guyana and called it paradise. On November 18, 1978, 918 people died at Jonestown — including 304 children — in a mass poisoning Jones called a revolutionary act. We trace the full ar...

On August 12, 2013, 25-year-old theater technician Tiffany Daniels left her job at Pensacola State College and never arrived at a friend's home that evening. The next morning, her car was found locked at Fort Pickens — a remote Gulf Coast location known for sweeping beaches and a historic fortification — with her purse, phone, and personal belongings still inside. Authorities initially explored wh...

The government gets a bad rap. But the roads under your feet, the forecast on your phone, and the letter in your mailbox are all government too. Hosted by Professors Greg Jackson and Lindsey Cormack, Government That Doesn't Suck brings together the sharpest thinkers to reveal the real-world impact of American government, one episode at a time. Follow ⁠ Government That Doesn’t Suck ⁠ for a new epis...

In 1976, Soviet cosmonaut Boris Volynov endured a catastrophic solo stint aboard the Salyut 5 space station: contaminated air, a crumbling support system, and a rescue that nearly ended in disaster. The creepypasta "The Devil's Cosmonaut" takes that real mission and asks one quiet question: what if it wasn't just the air? Built on documented failures, classified silence, and the psychological terr...

Richard Ramirez grew up sleeping in graveyards to avoid his violent father. At twelve, he found the role model he'd been looking for: a Green Beret cousin who came home from Vietnam with Polaroids of his victims and a philosophy that holding power over life and death made you a god. In part one of our three-part series, Katie Ring traces the childhood of Richard Ramirez that built the “Night Stalk...

In the fall of 2002, John Muhammad and his teenage accomplice Lee Boyd Malvo killed nearly 20 people across the mid-Atlantic and southern United States, paralyzing the nation with fear. Until a trail of careless mistakes finally led investigators to the pair sleeping in their Chevy Caprice at a Maryland rest stop. Follow Serial Killers & Murderous Minds for more stories like these: https://pod...

For homicide detectives, their chance of solving a murder is cut in half if they don’t get a lead within the first 48 hours. Adapted from the hit A&E true crime series The First 48, Crime House Studios brings you the podcast that drops you inside that critical window: the interrogations, the dead ends, and the breakthroughs that crack a case wide open. Each week, we revisit a landmark investig...

Marshall Applewhite believed — and made others believe — that Earth was about to be wiped clean, and that the only escape was to shed the human body and board a spacecraft trailing the Hale-Bopp comet. In March 1997, 39 members of Heaven's Gate were found dead in a mansion in Rancho Santa Fe, California, dressed in matching black and wearing new Nike sneakers. They had packed bags for the journey....

On the morning of March 24, 1998, 23-year-old Amy Lynn Bradley vanished from a Royal Caribbean cruise ship while it was docked in Curaçao. She had been dancing with her brother the night before and was last seen resting on the cabin balcony at dawn — then she was simply gone. The ship was not locked down before passengers disembarked, potentially allowing critical evidence to walk off the vessel....

Walt Disney didn't just build a theme park. He built a system of total control, and convinced the world to call it magic. Employees aren't staff, they're "cast members." Uniforms are "costumes." Guests who step out of line are escorted by plainclothes security to unmarked holding rooms. Beneath the park, a nine-acre tunnel network houses a command center monitoring over 70,000 functions per second...

A man visits a 9-room haunted house attraction — each room stranger and more personal than the last. The dread escalates almost boringly, then completely overwhelms. No monsters, no jump scares. The horror is in how the house knows you. Slow-burn psychological dread that works as a palette cleanser in the middle of the summer creature run. For more follow Twisted Tales wherever you listen to podca...

On the morning of June 13th, 1980, Candy Montgomery stopped by her friend Betty Gore's house to pick up a swimsuit. When she left, she said Betty was perfectly fine. That night, three neighbors found Betty's body in her utility room, struck with an axe 41 times while her baby cried alone upstairs. The bloody footprint on the floor was too small to belong to a man. And the last person to see Betty...

In the fall of 2002, a series of seemingly random shootings paralyzed the Washington, D.C. area. No one knew where the next bullet would strike—or why. In Part 1, Vanessa and Dr. Engels break down the early attacks, the public terror, and the frantic race to stop an invisible threat. Follow Serial Killers & Murderous Minds for part 2 of this episode: https://pod.link/1769285458 If you’re new h...

A young woman was attacked outside her apartment. Early accounts suggested indifference from witnesses. The tragedy became symbolic far beyond the crime itself. Follow Murder: True Crime Stories for Part 2 of this episode: https://pod.link/1745145932 If you’re new here, don’t forget to follow Scams, Money, & Murder to never miss a case! To hear episodes ad-free, subscribe to Crime House+. Join...

Love Has Won centered on Amy Carlson, who claimed to be a divine being leading followers toward ascension. After her death, authorities discovered her mummified body decorated in lights, exposing severe psychological control within the group. The crimes illustrate how online-age cult dynamics can spiral into neglect, abuse, and fatal delusion. For part 2 of this story, follow Crimes Of wherever yo...

On July 6, 1983 — 43 years to the day this episode drops — 18-year-old model and aspiring actress Tammy Lynn Leppert accepted a ride from a male acquaintance in Cocoa Beach, Florida, and was never seen again. In the weeks before she vanished, Tammy had become increasingly terrified, telling those close to her she had witnessed something she wasn't supposed to see and feared for her life. She had a...

In the summer of 1776, as the Continental Army braced for a British invasion of New York City, a network of loyalist conspirators bribed five of George Washington's own elite bodyguards to murder him. Governor William Tryon orchestrated the scheme from a ship in New York Harbor, funneling money through the city's mayor to a gunsmith recruiter... and nearly pulling it off. For more, follow Conspira...

An arcade cabinet appears in Portland in 1981, tucked between ordinary machines and drawing a strange crowd. Players report migraines, vivid nightmares, and missing time. Then the game disappears, leaving behind only forum posts, half-remembered sightings, and one of the internet’s most persistent gaming legends. Heidi traces the Polybius myth from early message boards to modern retellings, and as...

In June 2002, fourteen-year-old Elizabeth Smart was taken from her bedroom at knifepoint while her nine-year-old sister hid under the covers and watched. Her kidnapper knew exactly which door of the house wasn't wired to the alarm. For months, investigators zeroed in on the wrong man. And a sketch that could have broken the case wide open sat untouched in a filing cabinet. This episode contains de...

In 1880s Austin, Texas, a shadowy killer stalked the city under cover of darkness, leaving behind brutal murders that sparked panic and rumor. In Part 1, Vanessa and Dr. Engels explore the early crimes, the social tensions of the era, and the birth of one of America’s first urban murder mysteries. Follow Serial Killers & Murderous Minds for part 2 of this episode: https://pod.link/1769285458 J...

A violent home invasion stunned Los Angeles. The crime scene revealed staggering brutality. Rumors swirled about who orchestrated it. Follow Murder: True Crime Stories for Part 2 of this episode: https://pod.link/1745145932 Join Crime House+ to binge a special limited series on Murder: True Crime Stories for America’s 250th: The Crimes That Built America. These are the cases that created the FBI,...

The Order of the Solar Temple was an apocalyptic secret society that orchestrated mass murder-suicides across Switzerland, Canada, and France in the 1990s. Leaders convinced members that death was a “transit” to a higher spiritual realm tied to cosmic prophecy. The crimes reveal how esoteric belief systems can escalate into coordinated, ritualized violence. For part 2 of this story, follow Crimes...