Stuff They Don't Want You To Know

You might have heard this one before -- for years, various fringe researchers and commentators have argued that the government or some other shadowy entity is purposefully changing the gender of amphibians (specifically, frogs) throughout the United States. So what's the truth behind the headline? Join Ben, Matt and Noel as they separate the hilarious fiction from the disturbing facts of the case....

The Islamic Republic of Iran, located in western Asia, has historically been the seat of several massively influential empires. Today, it's home to over 81 million people and some of the world's most lucrative petroleum supplies. Currently tensions between Iran and the West are ratcheting up at an unprecedented rate, and both sides portray the other as unrepentent antagonists hellbent on destructi...

Despite diligent, time-consuming efforts by institutions across the planet, human beings have yet to find any universally-accepted proof of extraterrestial life. For many, this is a simple function of the math involved -- the universe is just too large for us to plausibly meet creatures from another planet. But according to several fringe researchers, we're just looking in the wrong place. We shou...

When Louis XIV expanded his father's old hunting pavilion he created one of the greatest achievements in French 17th century art -- a massive, opulent compound that became the seat of high society and French government. In the modern day, the Palace of Versailles remains an enormously popular tourist attraction and, according to some, a hotspot for for paranormal activity, including ghosts and tim...

In the third segment of this recurring series, Ben, Matt and Noel return to the grisly world of true crime, killers who not only committed multiple murders but were never caught and, in some cases, may well be alive and free today. Several of these murderers may be people you've never heard of, while others may be infamous. One thing's for sure, however: Many of these cases remain open and unsolve...

On May 9th, 2017, then-FBI Director James Comey was fired. His most well-known recent investigations involved the Clinton campaign's email scandal and the allegations of Russian election interference in 2017. In the aftermath of the dismissal, he wrote "Higher Loyalty", a book depicting events and experiences that he believed the public needed to know. So what exactly did he reveal? Is this a man...

In Stuff They Don't Want You To Know's inaugural podcast, Ben and Matt explored the strange career of Edward Bernays, the then-obscure Father of Public Relations responsible for selling the American public on everything from bacon as breakfast to corporate-driven wars in South and Central America. All for some greater good packaged as 'democracy'. Today, many institutions, governments and organiza...

Love it or hate it, Facebook is one of the biggest success stories of the past century. Billions of people have profiles, and for many users it's the only source of online news or social interaction. And Facebook collects as much information as possible on each of these users, ostensibly to better target advertising campaigns. So what happens when someone starts using this vast collection of data...

From imaginary friends to tulpas, the idea that that the human mind can create life through focused thought alone is as old as recorded civilization. But what does science have to say about imaginary friends? Are they pure hallucinations, part of a healthy psychological process, or something else? Join the gang as they delve into the fact and fiction surrounding the strange idea of a living though...

Nowadays it seems like a few times a year we’ll hear about a food scandal -- contaminated meat, perhaps, or recalled yogurt. We’ll also inevitably hear something like “studies show coffee is good, or bad, for you.” When you add up all these complaints, studies and articles it becomes alarmingly easy to think the world is going to hell in a handbasket. Or, rather, breadbasket. So what's the truth o...

For decades one the world's largest auto manufacturers lied to governments and the public, polluting the planet and evading the same environmental standards they themselves publicly championed. Of course, this is unfortunately a common occurrence in the murky world of corporate power, but here's one big difference: Volkswagen actually got caught. So what happened? Who perpetrated this vast, real-l...

On July 18th, 1969, campaign strategist Mary Jo Kopechne and Senator Ted Kennedy were involved in a single-car accident while departing a reunion held at Chappaquiddick island. Only one of them made it it out of the car alive. In the hours, days, weeks, years and decades since, numerous people have tried and failed to come up with conclusive answers about the sequence of events leading to Kopechne...

Have you ever written in to Stuff They Don't Want You To Know? If so, you might be in today's episode. Ben, Matt and Noel often point out that you, the listener, are the most important part of the show, and in this episode they're putting their money where their collective mouth -- er, microphone -- is. Join the gang as they respond to some of the most fascinating, insightful emails, suggestions,...

Today Benjamin Franklin is known as one of the founding fathers of the US, and there’s no doubt that he played a tremendously influential role in the creation of the country. But Franklin, known then and now as a bit of an eccentric. But what about his darker side? Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com They don't want you to read our book.: https://static.macmill...

50 years ago today, the American Civil Rights icon Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee. His legacy lives on in recorded speeches, memorials across the country, photographs by legendary photojournalist Ernest C. Withers and more. Withers remains a hero in his hometown of Memphis, and his career is inextricably intertwined with the Civil Rights era. However, there may be m...

In the first part of this two-episode series, the guys interviewed tech expert Jonathan Strickland on the mechanics of bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. In this episode, Jonathan returns to field some of the weirdest, funniest and most disturbing conspiracy theories orbiting the world of digital currency. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com They don't want you to r...

You've heard of bitcoin before. It's the entirely digital, decentralized currency that supporters tout as the next step in financial evolution -- and critics call a massive scam. But what exactly are cryptocurrencies? How do they work, and why do some people believe they're as much a tool for conspiracy and crime as a tool for trade? In part 1 of this series, the gang invites returning guest Jonat...

Recently employees at the US Embassy in Cuba reported a strange and disquietening phenomenon. They complained of vertigo, nausea, hearing loss and more accompanied by a strange hum and whine that followed them into their homes. The State Department refused to comment on the cause of these symptoms even as they shipped employees back home to the States. However, some anonymous government officials...

One person's cult is another person's inarguable truth, and over millenia many spiritual or cultural belief systems have been called cults. Typically organizations called cults have a few commonal traits, one of the chief of which is isolation. So can cults continue to exist in the digital age, where the average smartphone user is only a few clicks away from learning almost anything they desire? W...

Nowadays, most people in the West associate exorcism with horror movies instead of real-life terror. However, people around the world still feel that they have been possessed, and experts from various faiths across the planet still conduct exorcisms in the modern day. Join the guys as they delve into the story of the Catholic organization founded to fight possession: The International Association...

We’ve heard the legends of vampires for thousands of years, and while the vast majority of modern humans relegate the stories to the domain of myth and folklore, more and more experts are wondering if technology will allow us to create something very much like the monsters of myth. Could transfusing blood from the young rejuvenate the bodies of the old? What ethical consequences could we encounter...

For decades Saudi Arabia has been at the heart of numerous controversies, from the policies of its strict theocratic, gender-segregated government to its influence over the oil market and continual involvement with religious extremist groups. Recently, the young Mohammad bin Salman became Crown Prince. Over the past few months since his ascension, Salman has spearheaded numerous reforms, routed ma...

Recently, the New York Times broke a story that baffled most ordinary readers -- until about 2012, the Pentagon had run a multi-million dollar, secretive program to collect numerous reports of unexplained aerial phenomena and unidentified flying objects. So what did the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program actually find? Join the guys as they interview returning guest and filmmaker Jer...

For decades people knew that sexual abuse occurred in Tinseltown. It was an open, dirty secret just behind the curtain of the most popular films, tv and stage shows in the country. And the victims of abuse rarely spoke out -- when they did, they risked the ruination of their careers (or worse). In 2017 this began to change. World famous producer Harvey Weinstein was outed as a serial sexual and ph...

Sure, we worked way too hard for that pun in the title, but it's a serious question: CERN, or the European Organization for Nuclear Research is one of the world's largest, most prominent centres for scientific research. The experts at CERN use the world's largest and most complex scientific instruments to study the fundamental building blocks of matter, and over the years it's become the subject o...