{"_":"Bailey Sarian, known for her massive success with “Murder, Mystery & Makeup,” has taken her true crime expertise to new heights with her podcast Dark History, where she proves history doesn’t have to be boring. This award-winning series, delves into the untold stories of history—from psycho dictators to shocking corporate scandals—that were never covered in school. With its gripping drama, Dark History consistently tops the charts in the history category, solidifying Bailey as a powerhouse in both the true crime and history spaces.\n","$":{"audioboom:html":"1"}}
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Hi friends, happy Wednesday! Over the years, many of you have commented that you like to put Dark History on and just let it play in the background. Well... I heard ya. So instead of you having to shuffle through a mish mash of episodes... I did the hard work for you and created a special themed playlist, if you will. Welcome to... Dark Conspiracies! A compilation episode made up of my handpicked, mystifying favorites from over the years. I'm talking everything from the truth behind your grandma...
Hi, friends! Happy Wednesday! Listen... I know shopping for the holidays can be a total drag. You never know what to get that testy aunt who hates literally everything or the "woo woo friend" who won't shut up about their crystals. Don't worry, I got you covered. I would never leave you hanging, so I dug through my favorite stories from Season 4 to bring you the 2025 Dark History Gift Guide. Throw those boring stocking stuffers and gift cards in the fireplace. Because I got everything from baby ...
Hi, friends! Happy Wednesday! Welcome to the fourth... and maybe final... Joanie Awards. Tear. But don't be sad that it might be over... be happy because it all happened. After a season jam packed with horny nuns, rogue presidents, cursed statues, disastrous love lives (ancient AND modern), Britney impressions and some evil, shedding mittens… we’re closing things out with a bang. In this special Dark History finale... me, Joan, and Paul roll out the red carpet to honor the best , the messiest , ...
Hi, friends! Happy Wednesday! What if I told you that one of the most influential... and mysterious cult leaders in American history is someone most people have never heard of? And that Jim Jones himself, yes Jonestown Jim Jones, got many of his ideas from same guy? Today, we’re diving into the wild and complicated story of Father Divine—the charismatic leader behind the Peace Mission Movement, a man who inspired millions, shaped pieces of the civil rights era, built entire communities from the ...
Hi, friends! Happy Wednesday! You’ve seen The Wizard of Oz... the ruby slippers, the Yellow Brick Road, the flying monkeys… But you've also heard rumblings of some dark rumors, haven't you? Well, behind all that glitter and Technicolor magic was a nightmare of toxic makeup, real fires, starvation diets, terror in Munchkinland and a studio system that nearly killed a teenage Judy Garland. In today’s episode of Dark History, let's follow the (bloodsoaked?) yellow brick road backstage to uncover th...
Hi friends. Happy Wednesday. Today’s episode is personal. It’s painful. And it’s important. We’re talking about the Armenian Genocide... a chapter of history that millions experienced, yet many still deny or have never been taught. I’ve always known I wanted to cover this story because of my family history. But every time I tried, it never felt like the right moment. The truth is… there is no “right moment.” The right thing is to remember , to learn, and to honor those who lived through it... an...
Explore the dark history of exorcisms, beginning with ancient beliefs about demonic possession. The episode recounts the chilling 17th-century Loudun possessions, where a convent of nuns exhibited bizarre behaviors, leading to public exorcisms and the dramatic trial of an accused priest. It then shifts to the 20th century, revealing the real-life case that inspired "The Exorcist" and examining the profound societal impact and subsequent "Exorcist Effect" caused by the film. Finally, the discussion covers modern exorcisms and the emergence of "influencer priests" in the digital age.
Hi friends, happy Wednesday! No tricks. Just treats here this spooky season. Over the years, many of you have commented that you like to put Dark History on and just let it play in the background. So, instead of you having to shuffle through a mish mash of episodes... I did the hard work for you and created a special themed playlist, if you will. Welcome to... Tales from the Dark History Crypt. A compilation episode made up of my handpicked freaky favorites from over the years. I'm talking every...
Hi friends, happy Wednesday! I learned about a place in Alaska where more than 20,000 people have vanished — planes, hikers, politicians — and almost none have ever been found. And I had to do an episode on it. It’s called the Alaska Triangle and it's a remote stretch of wilderness bigger than California and notorious for swallowing people, aircraft, and evidence whole. No wreckage. No signals. Just… POOF... gone. Today, we uncover the chilling stories behind those icey disappearances — from a m...
Hi friends, happy Wednesday! So the other night I was deep into my usual bedtime routine of doomscrolling, and I stumbled across this headline that said: “DID YOU KNOW: The Last Witch Trial Was in 1944.” And I was like… I’m sorry, what? 1944? Like while the rest of the world was fighting Nazis, someone was in a courtroom yelling, “She’s a WITCH”? Be for real. That sent me down one of the craziest rabbit holes yet. And I quickly realized… wow. Everything I thought I knew about witch trials… Chang...
Hi friends, happy Wednesday! So the other day, I was googling jelly beans. Don’t ask why, I was in a mood. But I ended up falling down a rabbit hole, and suddenly… I was reading about Ronald Reagan. Apparently, Reagan was *obsessed* with jelly beans. I guess he started eating them as a way to quit smoking. He swapped cigarettes for jelly beans. Inspired. But once he was hooked, he never looked back. There were jelly beans on Air Force One. Jelly beans in the Oval Office. Jelly beans sent to spac...
Hi friends, happy Wednesday! The other day I was craving a big fat bowl of Honey Smacks cereal with whole milk. When I was a kid, that was luxury to me. But I hadn’t had them in forever so I didn’t even know if they were still around. You know me - I googled “HONEY SMACKS… DISCONTINUED??” Good news, they’re around. Bad news… I found out about Kellogg’s, the company that makes them, has been in some hot water lately. We all know inflation sucks and it’s affecting *everything*, especially food pri...
Hi friends, happy Wednesday! Listen… I know it’s not *officially* Fall yet, okay? But we all know Fall means Halloween, and Halloween is my favorite holiday. So I wanted to get started celebrating a little early this year. I did a soft launch on my decorations. Put out a few pumpkins and spider webs. The crows in my backyard approved. And I decided this weekend, I was going to see a scary movie. I found out the last Conjuring movie was coming out and I was so excited. This one is all about Ed an...
Hi friends, happy Wednesday! Did you guys ever see those ads for the Rejuvenique face mask? It was this electric face mask that looked like it was straight out of Friday the 13th. The guy on the infomercials was like “imagine what doing 8 situps a second could do for your abs! Well, Rejuvenique is doing exactly that… but with your face!” Well, apparently, years later, the FDA issued a warning about this miracle device. Turns out, the Rejuvenique face mask was actually causing their skin to sag a...
Hi friends, happy Wednesday! I always wanted to date Robbie Sinclair from Dinosaurs. Anyone else? [CRICKETS] So whenever I drive by a Sinclair gas station, you know, the one with the dinosaur logo? I always think of him. His spiky hair. That letterman jacket. I don’t care that he was a foam puppet. I was eight and I knew what I wanted. And what I wanted… was Robbie. I was so distracted by my thoughts of Robbie that I never realized Sinclair Oil had a dark secret. And the whole time it was hiding...
Hi friends, happy Wednesday! I don’t know if this is happening to any of you out there, but suddenly, everyone I know is having a baby. Which means I’m looking at one baby registry after another. Honestly I don’t mind, I love buying baby stuff. It’s so little and cute. But lately, I’ve noticed that the stuff people have on their registry is *next level.* Now, everyone gets wipe warmers… so the wipes that touch the baby’s butt aren’t cold. There’s toy subscriptions for infants, so your baby’s men...
Hi friends, happy Wednesday! One of my friends is having a baby, so we’ve been talking about baby stuff a lot. And of course… my stupid phone is listening. So now my TikTok feed is filled with all these freaking baby videos. Usually I just scroll past it, but the other day… one of them caught my eye. It was a viral video all about how this girl got pregnant because she took Mucinex. You know, the medicine for chest congestion? I know… so random. I thought this was a fake video but as I did more ...
Hi friends, happy Wednesday! The other day I woke up starving — like, hangry . So I wandered into the kitchen and stood there, just… staring. Eggs? Too much work. Pancakes? Ehhh Toast? Meh. I mean why is choosing breakfast this complicated? It’s supposed to be “the most important meal of the day,” right? At least that’s what we’ve all been told. But who decided that? Who made the rules on what we should eat first thing in the morning? So I started digging — and what I found is, breakfast has nev...
Hi friends, happy Wednesday! You know, lately I’ve noticed something strange. It feels like every celebrity these days is... jacked. Like, not just in “good shape.” I’m talking veins popping out of places I didn’t even know veins existed. I mean, back in the day, you had, what? 2 or 3 action stars. But now? Even the comedians are huge. Like, why is Jim from the Office looking like he’s training for the Olympics?? All this got me thinking… When did we get so obsessed with muscles? Because I don’t...
Hi friends, happy Wednesday! So you guys know I love dictators. And you ended up *LOVING* the Caesar episode… So it made me wonder what other, *older* dictators were out there who I assumed were boring but actually had these scandalous lives. And that’s when I found out about a certain emperor we’re gonna talk about today. Not only did he mass murder an entire group of people, but he *personally* killed just about everyone who got close to him. And you might think okay, typical bloodthirsty tyra...
Hi friends, happy Wednesday! For some reason, female nudity feels *way* more common than male nudity. In pop culture at least, we’re way more used to seeing women being naked and sexualized. Think how many times you see titties on tv. And then think about how everyone loses their minds when there’s a penis on HBO or White Lotus. It’s rare! Back in the 1950s, it was only men who had bachelor parties. Bachelorette parties? Not a thing. In those days, women would have bridal showers. And men got to...
Hi friends, happy Wednesday! Do you guys remember earthquake drills? I grew up in California… So earthquake drills were just part of my life growing up. It seemed like we did earthquake drills nonstop. And despite that, I can never seem to remember what to do during an earthquake. Like, do I go to a doorway? Do I hide under a desk? Do I stop, drop, and roll? Oh right, that’s for fires. Some earthquakes are so big they have literally changed the size and rotation of the earth. The whole thing ter...
Hi friends, happy Wednesday! Do you guys remember that movie “Where the Heart Is?” It’s all about this girl who secretly moves into the store without anyone noticing, then she gives birth in the mattress department… and again, no one notices… It stars Natalie Portman, it’s great. When I was a kid and I saw this movie, it was 100% believable to me. I mean when I think of Walmart, I think of this ridiculously *HUGE* store with everything you could possibly need. I’m talking late night tampon runs,...
Hi friends, happy Wednesday! As a country, America has always had a complicated relationship with dairy. One month we hate it, the next month, some weird cottage cheese recipe goes viral, and we’re all over it again. But here's something I thought was a little strange. You never hear about dairy farmers or the dairy industry going bankrupt. It made me wonder why. Turns out… the dairy industry is in bed with the government. Why? Because the government desperately needs them not to fail. And that’...
Hi friends, happy Wednesday! You know, after living in Los Angeles for a few years, I’ve learned a lot. Like, for example, if you tell people you live in LA, the first thing they ask about is celebrities. Who have I seen? What were they like? Am I friends with Kris Jenner? It’s always the same question. LA is huge and a lot of people don’t realize it has a *crazy* history. Hollywood and celebrity culture is just one small part of it. We’ve covered some LA history here on Dark History a couple of...
Hi friends, happy Wednesday! The other day I was watching Monster In Law - remember that movie? It starred J Lo, her character falls in love with this dream guy, they get engaged, and everything is perfect until… she meets her mother-in-law. The mother in law is played by Jane Fonda by the way, she’s so good in it. And the whole movie is essentially about how this mother in law makes her future daughter in law’s life hell, so she can break up the marriage. I caught this movie on TV, around mothe...
Hi friends, happy Wednesday! I love Wendy Williams. She’s an icon, she’s a legend, and “she is the moment.” From 2008 to 2021 Wendy hosted over 2,000 episodes of her show, got an Emmy nomination for best host, and honestly gave us some of the best memes and clips of all time. Then, in 2021, Wendy kind of… Vanished. No one really said what was going on. Just that she was dealing with “health problems.” Turns out, Wendy was put under something called… a“conservatorship.” Now this was allegedly to ...
Hi friends, happy Wednesday! Julius Caesar...military genius, fashion icon, drama queen, and oh yeah—murdered by 60 of his coworkers. We've all heard the name before. Maybe you think of togas, Caesar salads (not from him btw), or that phrase "Beware the Ides of March." Whatever that means. But Caesar’s real story? Lemme tell you... way messier than what they told us in school. From pirate kidnappings to public sex scandals, and flexing on his enemies to literally dumping a bucket of #2 on a sena...
Hi friends, happy Wednesday! There are some things from history class that just stick in my brain. Mostly… the murders. I’m sure this isn’t surprising to anyone. Like JFK getting shot in his car. Or… Julius Caesar getting stabbed in the back. And, for some reason I always remembered that Abraham Lincoln was shot in a theater. I always thought, “wow, way to ruin everyone's night at the theater.” But that's really all I knew. But after some searching… I was SHOCKED to learn the real story. I appre...
Hi friends, happy Wednesday! You know what I love more than anything? A good prank. A perfectly timed jumpscare that makes someone pee their pants a little bit? I live for it. But I went back and I was looking at some famous pranks throughout history… And I realized, a lot of pranks go *too* far. Either because the pranker gets carried away, or because there’s a completely unexpected reaction from the prankee. And sometimes the pranks go so sideways, they cause freak accidents that no one sees c...
