The Stanford Prison Experiment is one of the most famous psychological studies ever conducted. In 1971, newly tenured psychology professor Richard Zimbardo turned the basement of the Stanford University psychology department into a fake prison where young male volunteers were divided into the roles of Prisoner and Guard . The study was meant to last two weeks. But the brutality of the Guards and the suffering of the Prisoners was so intense that it had to be terminated after only six days. Find ...
Apr 02, 2018•1 hr 32 min
Serial killer Richard Ramirez killed at least 14 people and raped and tortured at least two dozen more, mostly during the Spring and Summer of 1985. He robbed to support his coke habit and and he tortured, raped, and killed to both sexually satisfy himself and to appease Satan. Ramirez was WAY into Satan. He’d actually pray to the Devil for protection before sneaking into some innocent family’s home to brutalize, rape, and kill. And today, if you have the stomach for it, you can learn all about ...
Mar 30, 2018•1 hr 48 min
Toughest topic I’ve tackled so far. Marches going on across the country to ban assault rifles. School walkouts. Gun rights advocates staging their own protests. Celebrities posting all kinds of feel good, emotional quotes. But are we looking at this issue the right away? After my research this past few weeks, I don't think so. Let's stop polarizing this discussion. The current issue runs a lot deeper than getting rid of a gun or class of guns. So let’s go deep, Timesuckers! Prepare to be bombard...
Mar 26, 2018•1 hr 37 min
On Friday, April 25th, 1986, the Soviet city of Pripyat, built to support the local nuclear power plant Chernobyl, had 13,414 apartments, a hospital, a movie theater, an art school, a central park with a giant ferris wheel, and over 50,000 residents. And then, at 1:23AM on Saturday, April 26th, 1986, the number 4 reactor heated up to more than 100 times its usual operating power. Which is very, very bad. After a few explosions and a lot of radiation kicked out to the atmosphere, by April 30th, t...
Mar 19, 2018•1 hr 31 min
The Bielski brothers led the largest Jewish-led rescue operation of Jewish civilians in ALL of World War II. They saved over 1,200 men, women, and children by hiding them in the forests of Western Belo-russia, from 1942-1944. More than 20,000 descendants of the survivors the Bielski’s helped save are alive today because of the ingenuity, heart, and perseverance of these men. They led numerous attacks against the German forces, sabotaging their war and round up efforts, killing their soldiers, an...
Mar 12, 2018•1 hr 41 min
Aleister Crowley was many things: an author, an artist, a poet, a mystic, a student, a mountaineer, a world traveler, and a notorious occultist. He shocked Victorian and post-Victorian England and the Western World at-large with his "Satanic" ways. He was permanently banned from both Italy and France before his death. He believed in magic, real magic, and tried to conjure mythical spirits into our world. He performed bizarre "sex magick" rituals that shocked polite society. He developed the spir...
Mar 09, 2018•1 hr 54 min
What in the shit are we talking about this week? Norse Gods! Turns out they’re still being worshipped today. Who knew? Well, our own Timesuck editor Jesse Dobner for one, who is a practicing Asatruar. Apparently a lot of people in Iceland also knew and quite a few in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark. Even a few Timesuckers. I didn’t. I thought Thor was a comic book character whose Marvel mythology kicked off three really successful movies and made Chris Hemsworth a star and Stan Lee even more money- ...
Mar 05, 2018•1 hr 34 min
Tupac and Biggie - two of the biggest hip hop stars of all time. And neither of them would see the age of 26. Their West Coast/East Coast rap feud helped sell millions of records, helped launch the career of Puff Daddy. It cemented Death Row Records as one of the greatest hip hop labels of all time. I listened to a ton of Tupac growing up. And who hasn’t heard some Biggie? But how much do we really know about either man? Well, after today’s episode, you’ll know a lot. Biggie, biggie, biggie, can...
Feb 26, 2018•1 hr 44 min
Feb. 28th, 2018 will mark the 25th anniversary of the ATF raiding the Branch Davidian Compound in Waco Texas, setting off a 51 day armed standoff between federal agents and militant Christian fanatics. Over 80 people would die, most in the final day of the siege when a fire would burn the compound to the ground, killing nearly all of the men, women, and children still inside. Tanks versus citizens. Armed agents versus armed zealots. Religious freedom versus gun laws and the age of consent. And b...
Feb 19, 2018•1 hr 52 min
When murder investigators entered the rural farm house of loner Ed Gein just outside the tiny town of Plainfield, Wisconsin on November 16th, 1957, they found a scene like nothing any American investigator had ever seen before. A scene of outlandish, unimaginable horror. Body parts stored in bags and boxes. And so much skin. Human skin crafted into the stuff of nightmares. How could all of this horror come from a slight, soft-spoken, middle-aged local loner and farm-hand? Find out today on a mor...
Feb 16, 2018•1 hr 44 min
The Irish Republican Army. Guys and gals who have, since their inception, been viewed as a liberation force by some and a terrorist group by others. They fight for the liberation of Northern Ireland from whom they view as British oppressors. But, as you’ll find out today - their case isn’t so simple. Their cause not obviously just. They’ve been lighting up Northern Ireland and England with bombs and gun fire for damn near 100 years. Why? Does Northern Ireland even need or want liberating? We dig...
Feb 12, 2018•1 hr 44 min
I recently watched the new 4th season of Black Mirror on Netflix, and, if this season has a theme, I’d say it’s the concept of digital immortality. Can human consciousness be transferred into digital form? And, if so, is this digital version of ourselves as alive as the old carbon-based model? I keep thinking about this possibility, because, for the first time in human history, it does seem possible. And I’m not the only person who thinks so. We talk a lot about the past here on Timesuck, and we...
Feb 05, 2018•1 hr 33 min
Before this week I knew very little about Africa’s history. It’s a continent of many nations, nations whose boundaries and governments are near constantly in some state of transition. It’s a beautiful continent rich in wildlife, natural resources, and culture but suffering under perpetual war, famine, and chaos. There are currently 15 African countries experiencing either war or post war tension. Why? Well, turns out the trouble has a lot to do with good ol’ fashioned European imperialism. We kn...
Jan 29, 2018•1 hr 46 min
"I'm your huckleberry." Did the real Doc Holliday actually say that? Or was that some Hollywood dramatization added to Tombstone? Turns out he did tell Johnny Ringo he was a huckleberry when he tried to step in for Wyatt Earp in a showdown. Val Kilmer's performance may have been much more accurate than I ever realized. John Henry Holiday, better known as Doc Holliday, was a Wild Western anomaly. He was a gambler, drunk, a gunslinger, possibly even a thief - BUT - he was also an educated Southern...
Jan 26, 2018•1 hr 46 min
Joseph Stalin. Icon of the 20th century. Personification of Soviet might. Catalyst of the Cold War. Hero to some, monster to many. The Man of Steel who brought the Soviet Union to the world stage and helped end WWII while simultaneously terrorizing his own people (including Chikatilo!) and bringing his fellow communists to their knees. What was previously viewed as a backwards country, quickly rose to a world superpower under his determined, sociopathic drive. The numbers vary wildly, mostly due...
Jan 22, 2018•1 hr 58 min
The Jersey Devil. Is it a kangaroo-like creature with the head of a goat, horse, or dog? Most agree that it has wings, hooves, horns, and a tail. Where does it come from? Many describe a dragon-like creature. Or does it walk on two legs like others have reported? Some say it can fly. Legends say it has killed. It supposedly once survived a cannonball blast. It emits a blood curdling scream. It might be a pterodactyl. It can die and come back. It is almost certainly demonic. It murdered it’s own ...
Jan 15, 2018•1 hr 40 min
Do the Freemasons work hand in hand with the illuminati? Are the Freemasons and the Illuminati one and the same? Is Alex Jones a Freemason? Was Jack the Ripper a Freemason? Did George Washington, definitely a Freemason, build the Washington D.C. monument as a tribute to the Dark Lord Lucifer? Is Alex Jones actually Bill Hicks? Do Jewish Zionists control the Freemason illuminati? Who are the Trilateralists? What is the Bilderberg group? What the fuck do they have to do with the illuminati? Why do...
Jan 08, 2018•1 hr 30 min
Who are the Freemasons? An ancient, Satanic organization who are part of the illuminati and intent of destroying Christianity and ruling the world? A harmless fraternal organization that gives its members a sense of community and encourages them to become the best versions of themselves? What do they do in their secret meetings? How long have they been around? How do you join? Today, in the first of a two part Freemasonry Timesuck, we dig into their origins, rituals, philosophy and even check in...
Jan 05, 2018•1 hr 33 min
John Wayne Gacy aka Pogo the clown aka Patches the clown aka the Devil himself. This outgoing member of his Chicago community, this Democratic Party volunteer, high ranking member of the Jaycees, parade organizer, and successful contractor by day was a living monster by night. He abducted, handcuffed, raped, strangled, tortured, and suffocated at least 33 young men and teen boys in the 1970s. Twenty-eight of them ended up buried beneath his home in the crawlspace. Meet the man/monster who's last...
Jan 01, 2018•1 hr 39 min
Einstein! Theoretical physicist. Nobel Prize winning mathematician. Guy who made his name synonymous with genius. Man who changed the world’s understanding of space and time. Guy who Flat Earthers and Conspiracy nuts think is a fraud. A man who stayed curious and worked on coming to a firmer understanding of the world around him and the universe that contained that world until quite literally the day he died. Also, maybe one of the world’s worst husbands. Also maybe a super shitty dad. His geniu...
Dec 25, 2017•1 hr 48 min
Who was Eleanor Roosevelt? She was the niece of Theodore Roosevelt. The wife of Franklin D. Roosevelt. So much Roosevelt! She was also a bad MF'er. She revolutionized the role of First Lady in American Politics. She didn’t just plan parties for other women of privilege - she gave press conferences with the public and wrote an internationally distributed newspaper column. She served on the United Nations. She stood up for the oppressed in an age when most did not. She was a light in the darkness,...
Dec 18, 2017•1 hr 32 min
What is the Oak Island Mystery? Why have been teams of people been digging hundreds of feet into the ground for over 200 years there? Is there buried pirate treasure? Aztec gold? Secrets of the Knights Templar? Bojangles’ missing leg? His missing eye? What is that island hiding? Anything at all? Will anything be found? Has anything been found? So many questions! Lives have been lost trying to solve that island’s mysteries. And I lost a lot of sleep trying to figure them out myself. So many crazy...
Dec 15, 2017•1 hr 45 min
Griselda Blanco. The Godmother. La Madrina. The Black Widow. The Columbian drug lord who came BEFORE the Medellin Cartel. Before Pablo Escobar. The woman who helped turn 1980s Miami into one of the world's most dangerous cities. Let’s get into some cocaine. Let’s get into some Columbia, New York, and Miami. Let’s go full Griselda in this coked up, machine gun, gangster edition of Timesuck! Timesuck is also brought to you by by the socially conscious on-line fantastic mattress store LEESA! Go to ...
Dec 11, 2017•1 hr 41 min
What the Hell is Pizzagate? It’s a detailed conspiracy theory claiming that a pedophile ring - a Satanic pedophile ring was being run out of a Hillary Clinton-linked Washington D.C. pizzeria called Comet Ping Pong. Seriously. Edgar Maddison Welch believed it to be true enough to fire a rifle into Comet Ping Pong on Dec. 4th, 2016, in attempt to rescue kids he believed were being held captive, molested, and raped in the pizza place’s basement (even though Comet Ping Pong has no basement). Edgar i...
Dec 04, 2017•1 hr 41 min
BTK. Bind. Torture. Kill. The name Wichita Serial Killer Dennis Rader gave to himself in the 1970s in letters he sent to the Wichita press where he would flaunt his crimes and taunt the police. He bound, tortured, and killed various residents of Wichita for nearly two decades and made residents fear him for three, all while raising two kids, being a devoted husband and becoming President of his church. Is it possible to be a good dad and be a cold-blooded sadistic murdered? Find out in this Midw...
Nov 27, 2017•1 hr 41 min
What is Unit 731? It was one of Japan's WWII era medical research centers where doctors performed horrific experiments on prisoners, gruesomely torturing and killing human lab rats in order to improve biological, gas, chemical, and other weapons. Prisoners were infected with the bubonic plague, syphilis, cholera, and other diseases. Prisoners were raped, beaten, frozen, and even trapped in pressurized chambers where they bled out from their pores. “Those who cannot remember the past are condemne...
Nov 24, 2017•1 hr 39 min
Sometime in the late hours of Feb. 1st, 1959, nine Russian college students died tragically in the Northern Ural mountains of the Soviet Union. When their bodies were finally found, a strange crime scene unfolded. The hikers had cut their way out of their tent in the dead of Winter. They didn’t bother putting on their shoes. Violence broke out that left one hiker with a fractured skull, another with a crushed rib cage, another with internal head injuries. They were burned in various places. They...
Nov 20, 2017•1 hr 45 min
Chief Crazy Horse. Pride of the Lakota people. Brilliant military tactician who handed the US Military it’s two greatest losses ever delivered at the hands of the Sioux Nation. Who was this fearless warrior and who were his people? Why did he fight? Why was the process of integration between white European settlers and American Indians so terribly complicated? Why am I saying “American Indian” instead of “Native American”? All of this and so much more in today’s enlightening and entertaining epi...
Nov 13, 2017•1 hr 43 min
The most highly decorated Marine in the history of the Corps, Lewis "Chesty" Puller won five Navy Crosses, a Purple Heart, a Silver Star, the Army Distinguished Service Cross, five Presidential Unit Citations, and more. He fought for the Marines in Haiti. He fought again in Nicaragua. And then again in WWII. And once more in Korea. And then, at nearly 70 years old, he tried to fight in Vietnam! He was a fearless soldier, a courageous and talented leader, a loving father, a devoted husband, and j...
Nov 06, 2017•1 hr 27 min
Who killed five people for sure and possibly many more in central California in late 1968 and 1969 and then taunted the entire Bay Area with letters sent in to the press revealing details of the crimes only the killer and the police would know? Who sent in threats of more violence and strange cyphers that if decoded would allegedly reveal his identity? Someone killed again and again and again, all the while daring the police to discover his identity. And they got away with it. Who is the Zodiac ...
Nov 03, 2017•1 hr 45 min
