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

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, 20192 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, 20192 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, 20192 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, 20192 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, 20192 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, 20192 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

151 - Lost Technologies!

Lost technologies! Greek fire, Damascus steel, the pyramid building abilities of ancient Egypt, India's flying vimanas, Rome's miracle medicine, the Antikythera Mechanism and so much more. We look into various claims of ancient technologies lost to time. Did they exist in the first place? Were they in any way superior to modern equivalents? A lot of historical mysteries explored on a Timesuck that bounces all over the place and was a blast to research and record. Hail Nimrod! Feel the Heat album...

Aug 05, 20192 hr 13 min

150 - Belle Gunness and Her Murder Farm

Hinker du teh hoingy boingy! Uff da! Uff da! Tiddly winks teh dingy thingy. Don't worry - not all of today's show is in Norwegian (and neither is that gibberish). Talking about Norway's infamous export, serial killer Belle Gunness, today on the Suck. It seems as if she had begun to operate a "murder farm" in Laporte Indiana at the dawn of the twentieth century. We'll never know exactly how many people Belle killed, but we do know a lot about her story. Motivated by money, she sacrificed both str...

Jul 29, 20192 hr 21 min

149 - OJ Simpson

OJ Simpson. It's been twenty-five years since his *alleged* murder of Nicole Simpson and Ron Goldman. You've heard about the murders. You've heard about the trial. But how much do you really know about "The Juice"? We dive deep today on the life of OJ and look into his childhood, football playing days, acting career and more to establish just why his trial was so shocking. Feel the Heat album Link : https://bit.ly/2WVJuax Donating $2600 this month: 100+ Abandoned Dogs of Everglades Florida Rescu...

Jul 22, 20192 hr 31 min

148 - Robert "The Butcher Baker" Hansen

Serial killer Robert Hansen abducted and killed at least seventeen women and hunted many of them down in the Alaskan wilderness in the 1970s and 80s around Anchorage. This bakery owner and sport hunter was convicted in 1984 after confessing to killing seventeen women, mostly dancers and prostitutes, during a twelve-year reign of terror. Hansen led a very strange dual life - a happily married, donut-making father of two, while at the same time frequenting Anchorage's strip joints looking for youn...

Jul 15, 20192 hr 9 min

147 - Revolutionary War

Less than a week after the 4th of July, we Suck into the birth of the United States of America. We glance at some of the war's important battles and important figures, but, more importantly, we dig deep into the events leading up to the Revolutionary War. What went down between King George and the Founding Fathers that left colonists feeling like going to war with arguably the most powerful empire in the world was a good idea? How important was George Washington to America's eventual victory? If...

Jul 08, 20192 hr 21 min

146 - The Black Dahlia Murder Mystery

Who killed Elizabeth Short in 1947? We still don't know. Or do we? Today we go over the details of the Black Dahlia murder mystery - to this day the most infamous murder in Los Angeles history. We also go through a long list of suspects and take a close look at the guy I think did it. Will you come to the same conclusion I did? Find out today, on another true crime edition of Timesuck! Feel the Heat preorder Link : https://bit.ly/2WVJuax Come to my standup special taping at Crofoot in Detroit on...

Jul 01, 20192 hr 15 min

145 - Josef Fritzl: Austria's Monster

On April 19th, 2008, forty-two year-old Elisabeth Fritzl helped her seventy-three year-old father Josef carry their nineteen year-old unconscious daughter Kerstin - yes, THEIR daughter, you read that right - out of a small, windowless cellar that Kerstin had literally spent her entire life inside up until this point. That day, Elisabeth felt sunlight on her skin for the first time in twenty-four years. For over two decades, she had been imprisoned and continually raped by her own father. And she...

Jun 24, 20192 hr 23 min

144 - The Texas Killing Fields

Since 1971, well over thirty women have disappeared along a fifty mile-long patch of I-45 between Houston and Galveston. Some refer to this stretch of the Gulf Freeway as a highway to Hell, and to the marshy land around it as "The Texas Fields." Initially, the press only referred to one twenty-five acre patch of land in League City, an abandoned oil field, as the Texas Killing Field after the remains of two women were found in early 1986 on the same day. And both bodies were found near where a t...

Jun 17, 20192 hr 6 min

143 - America's Homeless Epidemic

Really hope you enjoy this one. One of my favorite episodes so far. Such a big topic that touches so many lives. What is the history of homelessness in America? Why are people homeless now? Who is homeless now? What is being done to help the homeless? What COULD be done to help? I touch on mental health issues, substance abuse, economic conditions, good ol' fashioned laziness, and more. I also share a lot of personal homeless encounters and really try to look at this issues from as many sides as...

Jun 10, 20192 hr 15 min

142 - Darwin Awards and Evolution

The Darwin Awards! Meatsacks removing themselves from being able to procreate or from the planet entirely in the most easily avoidable ways. Natural selection at work! We make light of a lot of death today, and also use this topic as an excuse to look into evolution theory and the man who put it on the map - Charles Darwin. Is evolution more than just "a theory"? Can we prove it worked? Did we really evolve from monkeys? Did a guy in Australia really try to kill a tiger with his bare hands after...

Jun 03, 20192 hr 15 min

141 - Albert Fish: NY Killer and SUPER Creep

Albert Fish. The Boogey Man. The Werewolf of Wysteria. The Brooklyn Vampire. The Gray Man. The Moon Maniac. A sexual sadist, sexual masochist, kidnapper, con artist, cannibal, torturer, murderer, and the kinkiest mofo I have ever read about. This tale is equal parts dark and captivating. Fish is the train wreck you can't stop staring at. After his capture in 1934, he would claim to have molested and raped around 400 children. He also admitted to killing three children and was sent to the electri...

May 27, 20192 hr 10 min

140 - The Legend of King Arthur, the Knights of the Round Table, and More

Do you enjoy knights, wizards, and dragons? How about medieval history? Folklore, maybe? Want to learn how England became England? We learned a lot about the beginning of the mythology that has led to our cultural fascination with knights, jousting, sword fighting, dragons, and everything medieval in this Suck. There would be no Game of Thrones without Arthurian legend. No Lord of the Rings as we know it. No Dungeons and Dragons. Also, the biggest Timesucker Updates ever with a lot of poignant p...

May 20, 20192 hr 10 min

139 - The Vietnam War

Today we talk about Vietnam. Do you know how the Vietnam war began? What events really led up to it? You will after this episode. You'll learn about centuries of foreign occupation at the hands of the Chinese and the French, and how colonial oppression led to a willingness to accept communist ideology. Communism may not be fun, but neither is being ruled by the French. We go over battles and the American counterculture's response to the battles. A LOT of info packed into this one. One of America...

May 13, 20192 hr 25 min

138 - The Brutal KGB and Russia's Long History of Secret Police

Back to the USSR! Talking about Mother Russia's long history with BRUTAL various secret police agencies terrorizing its own people today on the Suck. Gonna go over the GULAG forced labor camps, gonna talk about the US vs. USSR Cold War spy game, a brief history of spy and secret police agencies in non-Russian parts of the world, and so much more in a Suck that gets about as dark as a show can in various moments. Be glad you don't live in constant fear of the government throwing you in a brutal p...

May 06, 20192 hr 11 min

137 - Madame Delphine LaLaurie: How Evil Was She?

Did Madame Delphine and her Dr. husband really torture their slaves in the most horrific of ways at the now infamous LaLaurie Mansion at 1140 Royal St in the French Quarter of New Orleans? Or are the stories of firefighters walking into a burning structure in 1834 and finding horribly mutilated bodies just part of New Orleans ghost tour folklore? We do our best historical detective work as we examine the lives of one of the most infamous women to ever live in one of American's most interesting c...

Apr 29, 20192 hr 17 min

136 - The Moon Landing Conspiracy

2019 is the 50th anniversary of the moon landing! Yip, yip, yaw! On July 20th, 1969, Commander Neil Armstrong and lunar module pilot Buzz Aldrin, two American astronauts, landed the Apollo Lunar Module Eagle on the moon. The Eagle has landed! And then, some six hours later, Neil became the first human to take one giant leap for mankind. And then Buzz followed Neil onto the moon's surface less than twenty minutes later. OR... did none of that ever happen? Did the several Apollo missions that foll...

Apr 22, 20192 hr 23 min

135 - Vikings!

Vikings! We take a deep dive today into the history of Scandinavia, focusing in particular on the age of the Vikings! We look into what they wore, how their society was structured, why they became associated with barbaric raping and pillaging, and so much more. Viking culture is fascinating, complex, and honestly - pretty weird. And strange people make for a fun Suck. Hail Nimrod! Donate to our charity of the month! Cameron Owens National Fallen Firefighter’s Foundation Stair Climb http://events...

Apr 15, 20192 hr 11 min
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