The What If? Podcast

This week, we recount the legend of a video game, allegedly created by the government, that controlled minds, caused seizures, and maybe even killed people. We know - it’s gonna get weird. But when do we not, eh? Hold onto your butts, gang. We’re talking 80’s Atari games, barfing from Berzerk, the Mile High Mystery Conference, and a whole lot more - this week, on The What If? Podcast. Hot Topics:...

Do people live, die, and then live again? We’re talking reincarnation on this episode of The What If? Podcast. We tell stories of children who claim to have past lives, American women who believe they were previously Irish citizens, and professors who spent their careers interviewing people who thought they were a person once before. Get down as we leave the planet, and try to come back again, on...

Weird stuff is happening in Australia dudes. We're talking about the disappearance of  Frederick Valentich, an Australian pilot who was probably abducted by a UFO, and the Kaz II, a yacht whose whole crew disappeared without a trace. Ghost Yachts! 

In August of 2016, a family of five left their home in a rush, leaving behind their credit cards, identification, and cell phones. They claimed they were being stalked by someone who wanted to rob and kill them. Over the next six days, the family experienced a series of misadventures, including car theft and multiple hospitalizations,  before returning home and resuming their normal lives.  On tod...

Today, we're sharing four stories of humans who defy medical explanation. Tarrare  ate live cats, snakes, lizards and puppies, and swallowed an eel whole without chewing. Wim Hof  climbed Mount Everest wearing only goggles and a pair of shorts. Oliver Sacks spent years studying and treating people suffering from Encephalitis Lethargica . An obese gentleman went 382 days without eating . Yep, it ge...

We're talking about mysterious sounds, including the hum, sky trumpets, the bloop, and the world's loneliest whale. We also debut a new way to open the show, plan a podcast field trip, and pitch a new kids show.  Support us on Patreon and get an extra episode every week.   Support the show by getting a poster, hoodie, t-shirt, hat, or coffee mug at our online store . Visit The What If? Podcast onl...

So guys, turns out they do. Hold onto your butts. No seriously, hold onto your butts, 'cause they comin' for that cow bum. Cattle mutilations are a strange phenomenon that's been happening since the 1970's, where mostly cows, but animals of all kinds, end up with missing body parts, organs, and blood. We know. It's weird. But that's what you're here for, eh? Spencer tells us what heifers are throu...

On today's episode, we're talking about the third man factor. Some people, when faced with life-threatening situations, sense the presence of another person. This presence offers words of encouragement, support, and guidance, and has led some people to overcome seemingly impossible odds.  We share stories of Ernest Shackleton's Antarctic expedition, Ron DiFrancesco's escape from the World Trade Ce...

We're talking about space junk and the Kessler Effect , which suggests that space debris might create more space debris through a series of collisions. Don Kessler, for whom the Kessler effect is named, suggested that there might eventually be enough space debris to prevent us from launching new objects into orbit.  We also wonder if Keanue Reeves might be the greatest action hero of our generatio...

Contacting 2109 - ?  Sims is here and we're talking about Ken Webster's book The Vertical Plane . In 1984, Ken Webster came into contact with a man named Lukas from the 1500s, and an extremely cryptic, possibly from the future, possibly extraterrestrial group called 2109. They used the word processor on a  BBC Micro computer to communicate with each other across space and time.  We also discuss ti...

It's that time of the year where we play the What In The F&%K Was That? Wikipedia game. Spencer asks some questions about unusual topics and Ryan tries to think of the word "Omakase".  Hot Topics: Your Podcast Sucks I'd Rather Set My Ears On Fire, Middle School Linkedin, Jesus Nut, ManhattanHenge, Products Inspired By The Simpsons, Bird People, Bigfoot Traps, and much more.  Support us on Patreon...

We're talking about the recent news that the U.S. government ran a secret, black budget program to research unidentified aerial phenomenon from 2007–2012. The Advanced Aviation Threat Identification Program was headed by Luis Elizondo, who is now working with Tom DeLonge's company, To The Stars.  Hot Topics: The Nimitz Incident, Pee Wee Herman, We Have Been Hoodwinked Maybe Bamboozled, Dr. Tight S...

We're talking about hacking. Ryan runs down the history of hacking, starting with model trains and long distance calling. Spencer talks about Gary McKinnon and how he stole pictures of UFOs from NASA. We also play the What In The F%$K Was That!? Wikipedia game.  Hot Topics: Gary McKinnon, Phone Phreaking, Gef The Talking Mongoose, Dog Spinning,  What In The F%$K Was That!?, We Have Been Bamboozled...

Area 51 has inspired more speculation and conspiracy theories than probably any other place on Earth. Today, we're trying to figure out what's really going on in there, and how many aliens live inside. Ryan runs through some of the history of the site, including the development of the U-2 and A-12 spy planes. Spencer takes a look at the story of Bob Lazar, who allegedly reverse engineered alien sp...

Spencer and Ryan are talking about pyramids. Egyptian pyramids, Sudanese pyramids, Chinese pyramids, even underground pyramids. Who made 'em? What's in 'em? How many aliens were involved? As usual, many questions are asked, and few are answered.   Hot Topics: Does Ivory Come From Elephants, The Great White Ninja, Brick-Pyramid-Sh*t-House, Cholula Pyramid Storage Tank, The Kingdom of Kush, Sparklin...

We're back from our world travels and we're talking about Antarctica. It's real strange down there dudes. Antarctica is larger than the continental United States, it's never been warmer than 58 degrees, there aren't any time zones, and there's just one native insect species. Oh, and it's full of UFOs and Bigfoots.  Hot Topics: Antarctica, Operation Highjump, Rodney Marks, whale tanks, seal sounds,...

We're back with part two of our series on secret societies, and things are definitely getting weirder. Dude parties in the woods (Bohemian Grove), dude parties in private buildings (the Freemasons), and frankly just too many dudes behind closed doors. Are they deciding our fates? Rigging the world for riches and destruction? Find out this week on another wild and weird episode of The What If? Podc...

To listen to this week's episode, you have to know the secret handshake, the secret codeword, and engage in your first Stone Cutters initiation - that's right - we're talking secret societies today on The What If? Podcast. Strange rituals and the histories of the nefarious and secretive groups of people that supposedly run the world. In part one of our two-part series on secret societies, we actua...

On today's episode, we're talking to Randall Nickerson, director of the upcoming feature-length documentary, Ariel Phenomenon. The film tells the story of 60+ elementary school students who, in 1994 in Ruwa Zimbabwe, saw a UFO land near their school. Two beings climbed out of the craft, and students who made eye contact with the beings received messages about the future of our planet.  Randall has...

Part two of our series on the myths, legends, and stories that influenced Netflix's hit show Stranger Things . MK Ultra is referenced in Stranger Things season 1, and it is implied that Eleven’s superpowers are the result of MK Ultra experiments on her mother, Terry Ives. MK Ultra was a very real CIA program that ran from 1953–1973. The program involved more than 150 human experiments involving ps...

Part one of a special two-part series on the myths, legends, and true(?) stories that inspired Stranger Things . We're focusing on The Montauk Project, an alleged secret government program that carried out human experiments in an underground base on Long Island, NY between 1971 and 1983. Get ready for stories of time travel, dimensional portals, psychic spying, and interdimensional bigfoot, and ho...

It's our 50th episode! Today, we're talking structures on the moon, the spaceship moon hypothesis, and weird obelisks on Mars. Ryan runs through some of the better-known moon structures and Spencer describes how the moon is probably a hollow egg full of lizards.  Hot Topics: Moon Structures, Moon Bases, Ancient Aliens, It's Full Of Lizards, That's Not How Science Works, Space Spiders, Tower Cube,...

These days, the concept of time travel is ubiquitous, but it hasn’t always been. The first reference to a time machine wasn’t until 1895 when H.G. Wells published The Time Machine . Spencer runs through a brief history of time travel, Ryan thinks aliens are us from the future, and we try and solve some paradoxes. Hot Topics: Time Travel, Time’s Arrow, A Poem About My Favorite Taco, An Existential...

We're wrapping up our three-part series on mysterious disappearances and missing people. Adrian Gorder's in the house for a deep dive into the case of the Death Valley Germans. On October 21, 1996 a park ranger in Death Valley National Park found an abandoned mini van, 2.5 miles from the nearest road. The van belonged to a German family vacationing in California who had apparently vanished without...

Y'all couldn't get enough of the disappearance stories brought to light by David Paulides and his Missing 411 work. So friends, today, we dive back into the vast web of strange tales surrounding people who go missing under mysterious circumstances. We tell more previously unheard stories on our podcast, from Paulides' books and his newest movie, and discuss what in the world we (and he) think is h...