Timesuck with Dan Cummins - podcast cover

Timesuck with Dan Cummins

Jump down new rabbit holes with Timesuck, the weekly podcast that takes you on a fascinating and bizarre journey through history’s darkest corners, most shocking conspiracies, and wildest true stories. Hosted by acclaimed standup comedian and storyteller Dan Cummins, each episode blends dark humor with deep research to uncover hidden truths about infamous historical figures, unsolved mysteries, notorious serial killers, and more. If you crave the weird, the wild, and the unexpected, Timesuck is your next obsession! And check out the Short Sucks, a new series of 40-60 minute episodes two Fridays a month. These bite-sized stories are perfect for when you want a quick dose of Timesuck (or need more addictive content to consume while you’re waiting for your next Timesuck!)

Episodes

181 - Oklahoma City Bombing

On April 19, 1995, at 9:02 AM, a Ryder moving truck parked at a drop-off zone situated under the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building's day-care center exploded in downtown Oklahoma City. The blast killed 168 people, injured more than 500 others, and destroyed one-third of the giant government building. Until the September 11, 2001 attacks over six years later, the Oklahoma City bombing would be the deadliest terrorist attack in the history of the United States. And it remains the deadliest inciden...

Mar 02, 20203 hr 33 min

180 - Dr. Death: Harold Shipman

Harold Frederick Shipman AKA Dr. Death. Quite possibly the world's most prolific serial killer. From 1975 to 1998, he killed at least 215 people. The real number may be much, much higher. Harold Shipman was a British medical doctor who used the trust his patients placed in him to overdose them with morphine. Most of his victims were elderly. Most also were not terminally ill. He just decided, for reasons only known to him, that it was time for them to go. Head with me to England this week for a ...

Feb 24, 20202 hr 10 min

179 - Ruby Ridge

The 1992 Ruby Ridge armed standoff between the Weaver family and the federal government. Three people died and the American modern militia movement was born. Did the government use excessive force in dealing with Randy Weaver, who refused to show up to court and face weapons charges? Or did Randy Weaver's own consistently paranoid and terrible decisions bring the wrath of Big Brother to his door? This one got me fired up! I heard way too much about this incident growing up in Idaho, and after do...

Feb 17, 20203 hr 34 min

178 - Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge Genocide

Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge Genocide. An insane, Cambodian tragedy that was oh, so avoidable. Saloth Sar, aka Pol Pot, was a man with a dream. A horrible, delusional, misguided dream. He wanted to turn Cambodia away from being a constitutional monarchy and into being a Mao-influenced, agrarian, communist society where basically everyone was either a soldier, a rice farmer, or dead. He wasn't very smart, he was ruthless, and he was in charge. And a couple million people died. Find out how the ter...

Feb 10, 20202 hr 27 min

177 - The Brothers Grimm

The Brothers Grimm! German folklorists Jacob and Wilhem Grimm collected a lot of strange, old, primarily Germanic tales back in the mid-19th century. Tales like Cinderella, Snow White, Hansel and Gretel and so many more. More than 200 stories that inspired countless future authors and artists. Stories that companies like Disney cleaned up and turned into highly profitable family-friendly movies. But the original stories, NOT that family friendly. Not by today's standards. Turns out we meatsacks ...

Feb 03, 20202 hr 19 min

176 - Serial Killer Joseph Duncan

Joseph Duncan. What a terrible, terrible dude. This was one of the hardest episodes we've done yet. I knew it would be dark, but, I didn't know it would be THIS dark. The worst of Duncan's crimes happened just a few miles from the Suck Dungeon. In mid-May of 2005, Duncan brutally murdered three family members just outside of Couer d'Alene Idaho. He also kidnapped two more and did unspeakable things to them. And he sits on death row today for these and other terrible crimes. If the true crime epi...

Jan 27, 20202 hr 26 min

175 - Declassified Military Documents

Operation Iceworm. Operation Gladio. Operation Paperclip, Sea Spray, Acoustic Kitty, and more. What has the US government kept secret over the years, and why? How does information become classified? Declassified? What sensitive information has been leaked over the years and by whom? We dig into a lot of secrets today that are no longer so secret which can really make a person feel a little paranoid wondering, WHAT ARE THEY HIDING FROM US, NOW!?! Check out Lynze and I's new horror podcast Scared ...

Jan 20, 20202 hr 21 min

174 - Bizarre Mental Disorders

Boanthropy. Capgras Delusion. Alien Hand Syndrome. Clinical Lycanthropy. We go over a variety of rare and unusual mental disorders today and also give an overview of how we meatsacks deal with mental health and how many of us are dealing with more common mental disorders. I also give some insight into my own unusual thoughts and try to illustrate how, in some way or another, we are all "crazy." Hail Nimrod! Check out Lynze and I's new horror podcast Scared to Death. Listen on Spotify, Stitcher, ...

Jan 13, 20202 hr 20 min

173 - The 1977 Girl Scout Murders

On the morning of June 13th, 1977, at Camp Scott, in Mayes County, Oklahoma, the dead bodies of three young girl scouts, ages 8, 9, and 10, are discovered by a camp counselor. The girls had been raped and murdered hours earlier in the middle of the night. Who could've committed such a disgusting crime? Find out on a true crime, murder mystery edition of Timesuck. Check out Lynze and I's new horror podcast Scared to Death. Listen on Spotify, Stitcher, iTunes, Youtube, and more! Here's the iTunes ...

Jan 06, 20202 hr 13 min

172 - Colonel Robert L. Howard/2019 Year End Review

Happy New Year! 2020 is almost here and we do a little a summary of what went on with Timesuck in 2019. It was the best of years. Hail Nimrod! Also, for a little inspiration, we cover the life and heroic times of Colonel Robert L. Howard - one of the most highly decorated US Special Forces officers in United States military history. His bravery in battle in Vietnam reads like the script for an over-the-top Rambo-type Hollywood film. His courage under fire is so inspiring. Let his life fire you u...

Dec 30, 20192 hr 10 min

171 - The Warsaw Ghetto - A Tale of Nazi Resistance

Ummm.... more Nazis this week. Not EXACTLY a normal holiday choice, but what's normal on Timesuck? Today we look at the Warsaw Ghetto - the largest concentration of European Jews was in Poland, and more Polish Jews lived in Warsaw than in any other city - forced to live in a "ghetto," a walled off city-within-a-city. And the Warsaw ghetto residents were treated horribly. They were shot, starved, and forced to live in squalor. They were taken by train to death camps. And they also fought back in ...

Dec 23, 20192 hr 21 min

170 - Nazi Search for the Holy Grail

The Nazi’s Search for the Holy Grail. We look at this today and also into so, so many other strange beliefs held by Heinrich Himmler, Hitler, and other occult-minded Nazis. Today we’re going real wackadoodle, talking about ice giants, the hollow earth, the lost island of Atlantis, and so much more. We’re looking into the origins of the myth of Aryan supremacy and Himmler’s quest for anything that might have given the Nazis the ability to conquer the world. Check out Lynze and I's new horror podc...

Dec 16, 20192 hr 21 min

169 - Stan Lee! And the History of Comics

Stan Lee! The man, the myth, the legend! The man who co-created 200 different comic book characters. The co-creator of Spiderman, Thor, the Hulk, the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, and so many other popular characters. The man who is still the face of the Marvel empire after his death. We go over this incredible creator's legendary life today and also go over the history of the comic book in this KA-BOOM! ZAP! POW! graphic novel edition of Timesuck! Check out Lynze and I's new horror podcast Scared ...

Dec 09, 20192 hr 23 min

168 - Killdozer

Killdozer. The story of one man, Marvin Heemeyer, who modified a Komatsu D355A bulldozer into a demolition weapon, and then go on a two plus hour rampage in the small town of Granby, Colorado in 2004. Why did he do this? Well, in a way it's very complicated. And in another way it's very simple. I do my best to make sense of it all and explain it to you in today's small town mayhem edition of Timesuck. Check out Lynze and I's new horror podcast Scared to Death. Listen on Spotify, Stitcher, iTunes...

Dec 02, 20193 hr 51 min

167 - The Son of Sam: Serial Killer David Berkowitz

David Berkowitz. The Son of Sam. One of America's most infamous serial killers. The man who terrorized the already terrible New York City in the mid-1970s. Berkowitz would kill six, injure nine others, and terrify millions. Why did he do it? Because demonic dogs told him to? Because he was mad that his birth mother abandoned him? Because of his romantic failures with women? It's a fascinating true crime tale, and we examine it thoroughly today, on Timesuck. Happy Thanksgiving and Hail Nimrod! Ch...

Nov 25, 20192 hr 25 min

166 - The Happy Face Killer: Keith Hunter Jesperson

The Happy Face Killer. Wow. What a dirtbag! What an especially hate-able dude, even for a serial killer. Keith Hunter Jesperson raped and strangled at least eight women in the early 90s. His crimes were hard to link together because of the spread out location of the bodies - women's remained dumped off the side of various roads as he traveled around the United States, working as a long-haul trucker. Keith wrote to the press during his murders and signed his letters with a smiley face, why he was...

Nov 18, 20192 hr 17 min

165 - Simo Hayha: White Death

Happy Veteran's Day to all our American men and women armed forces members. Much respect to armed forces members world wide. Going international today to talk about one of the most decorated war heroes in the history of Finland, and the sniper with the highest number of confirmed kills in military history: Simo Hayha. Nicknamed "White Death" by the Russian Red Army, Simo is estimated to have personally taken out over 800 enemy soldiers in just 100 days of fighting during Finland's Winter War of ...

Nov 11, 20192 hr 25 min

164 - The Manhattan Project

The Manhattan Project! The United States gathered all the best minds it could find to develop atomic weapons before the Germans or Japan beat them to the nuclear WW2 punch. And then, after Germany and Italy had already been defeated, America dropped atomic weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Was this action morally justified? And how did the United States keep a giant weapons project a secret for as long as they did? Find out all this and more in today's Timesuck! Check out Lynze and I's new horr...

Nov 04, 20192 hr 27 min

163 - The Church of Satan

The Church of Satan! How many babies do they sacrifice? Do the babies have to be Christian? How many virgins are presented to dudes wearing robes or devil horns or goat masks at their orgies? Do any of these questions actually pertain to real Satanism? Today we look mostly at LaVayen Satanism - the most common and well known branch of Satanic worship - and we look at its founder, Anton LaVey. Will your preconceived notions of what Satanism is supposed to be actually match the truth? You'll find ...

Oct 28, 20193 hr 47 min

162 - The Greek Gods!

The Greek Gods! Didn't expect this to be the craziest suck we've ever done going in, but maybe it was. The Greek Gods were unbelievably insane. These very human-like gods were flawed and complicated. They hurt those who they no longer favored. They actively helped those who they did favor, or those who could be useful when it came to their own godly and often diabolical schemes. They tricked and manipulated humans to serve their often selfish agendas. They fought with each other. Imprisoned each...

Oct 21, 20193 hr 43 min

161 - The Source Family Cult

In the late 1960s, James Baker transitioned from the spiritually-minded owner of a vegetarian restaurant on Los Angele's Sunset Strip to Father Yod - the leader of a cult based on the belief that he was, pretty much, god-in-the-flesh. The cult was also based in a lifestyle of sex, drugs, and rock n'roll. And also vegetarianism. Bust mostly sex and rock n'roll. Roughly 150 counter-culture flower children lived together, first in LA, and then in Hawaii, giving themself super cult-y, crystally name...

Oct 14, 20192 hr 27 min

160 - Time Travel!

Time travel! Today on Timesuck we suck time itself! Will we ever be able to go back and kill Hitler? Or go to the future and visit a world of teleportation and sex robots? Is time travel scientifically possible? What does the science community currently understand about it? Is there any validity to the claims of many who already believe they've traveled through time? (Or at least claim to believe that.) We go all over the place in a fun, light-hearted, and informative romp through the space time...

Oct 07, 20193 hr 30 min

159 - Josephine Baker: Spy, Sex Symbol, Superstar

Josephine Baker. What a meatsack!! Such an incredible person. The modern world's first internationally famous black, female celebrity. She lived a lot of life. She was born into extreme poverty in St Louis. She overcame incredible odds to become a touring performing as a young teenager, working her way into the Philadelphia theater scene, then making it big on Broadway. Then she made it France and became a HUGE star. She broke racial barriers, became a spy and war hero for France, became famous ...

Sep 30, 20193 hr 30 min

158 - The Mysterious Death of JonBenet Ramsey

JonBenet Ramsey. It's been over twenty years since the six-year-old was found murdered in her Boulder, Colorado home and ever since, investigators and the general public alike have been wondering who killed her? Was it an intruder? Some deranged pedophile? Someone wanting money from her rich parents? Or was it a family member? Did her nine-year-old brother kill her? Did her father? Her mother? Some combination of the three? And - why has the public been SO fascinated with her death for so long? ...

Sep 23, 20192 hr 25 min

157 - Mormonism: The Good, The Bad, and The FLDS

Mormonism. BIG topic today! Oh my HECK! We talk today about the history of Mormonism - a religion born in America. We'll go over the life of its founder Joseph Smith and investigate his claims of revelations. We'll look into the beliefs of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. We go over the church's polygamist past and also examine how polygamy continues in fundamentalist derivatives of Mormonism, such as the FLDS, lead by imprisoned pedophile, Warren Jeffs. We get interesting and co...

Sep 16, 20193 hr 39 min

156 - The Confession Killers: Henry Lee Lucas and Ottis Toole

Henry Lee Lucas and Ottis Toole committed at least four murders, or maybe five. They were, collectively, convicted of seventeen. But they definitely didn't kill some of the people they were convicted of killing. They would confess to over 600. And they for sure didn't kill all of them. But they may have killed others they never confessed too. They were definitely murderers and they were definitely liars and they seemed to enjoy lying more than murdering. And unlike most criminals, they loved to ...

Sep 09, 20192 hr 13 min

155 - Leonardo da Vinci

The only thing Leonardo da Vinci wasn't good at was raising his kids. And only because he didn't have any. He seemed to master just about everything else. He may have known more than any other human had ever known up until the time of his life, the late 15th and early 16th centuries. He may have been the smartest human being to ever walk the Earth, including anyone who was born before or after him. He was an incredible painter, engineer, scientist, inventor, sculptor, military strategist, and mo...

Sep 02, 20192 hr 17 min

154 - The Outlaw Jesse James and the James-Younger Gang

Jesse James! Perhaps the most notorious outlaw in wild west history. Yip, yip, yaw! But do you know why he was so infamous? Do you understand the social climate that helped create him? Do you know what dirty deeds he committed to become so infamous? Today, we learn a lot about how the chaos of the Civil War created a lot of outlaws, and a number of the most ruthless of these men ended up in the James-Younger gang - easily the most "successful" wild west gang there was, if you count robbing one t...

Aug 26, 20192 hr 11 min

153 - The Ninth Circle Cult & Jeffrey Epstein: An Exploration Into Pedophile Rings

The Ninth Circle Cult! Is there actually a group of "global elites" hunting children in private European forests, raping and sacrificing children to Satan? Is the Pope the leader? That's what some people on the web think. In addition to exploring Ninth Circle lore we'll also look into the Catholic Church's history of pedophilia and also into the recent Jeffrey Epstein case. Do child sex rings exist? We go all over the place to explore the history of the public's fascination with sex rings and lo...

Aug 19, 20193 hr 30 min

152 - The Anti-Vaccination Movement

Infectious disease. The number one murderer of humankind. By far! Nasty little viruses and other pathogens have killed more people than any other single cause of death each and every year prior to the advent of arguably the greatest invention ever - the vaccine. Vaccines have prevented millions and millions of deaths. So why are more and more people choosing NOT to vaccinate? And what are the repercussions of this decision for us all? The history of infectious disease, vaccinations, and the anti...

Aug 12, 20192 hr 17 min