54. Havana Affair (feat. the CIA, crickets, and conspiracy theorists)

Havana Syndrome is back in the news. On the one hand, it's clearly a psychogenic illness that's being misdiagnosed as the result of commie death rays. On the other hand, by treating it as an attack by America's enemies, politicians can use it to help further their foreign policy objectives. Which side do you think the media is going to take?

Robert E. Bartholomew is a native New Yorker who teaches history at Botany College in Auckland, New Zealand. His many books include The Martians Have Landed! A History of Media-Driven Panics and Hoaxes and Outbreak! The Encyclopedia of Extraordinary Social Behavior. Most relevant to this episode, he is the co-author of Havana Syndrome: Mass Psychogenic Illness and the Real Story Behind the Embassy Mystery and Hysteria with Robert W. Baloh.

Check out the Havana Syndrome article in Failed State Update newsletter: https://lennyflatley.substack.com/p/havana-affair

My second guest, Robert Skvarla is a conspiracy researcher, Assistant Editor at Diabolique Magazine, and the creator of the website Mondo Americana. Follow him on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/RobertSkvarla

And be sure to check out my story for The Outline, "Paranoid Delusions in the Police State," here: https://theoutline.com/post/995/targeted-individuals-paranoid-delusions-in-the-age-of-surveillance