Cats become creatures of warfare, pigeons are given a mission, insects are turned into spy bugs... Throughout history all manner of animals have been trained up as wartime allies and agents. But have governments gone too far? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
CERN’s Large Hadron Collider is helping scientists make breakthrough discoveries about the nature of our universe. But some researchers think the machine has the power to destroy our world... or open a portal to another. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Untraceable poisons. Soviet espionage. Modern codebreaking. Any, none, or all of these things may have something to do with why nobody can identify the Somerton Man. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
A man was found dead on a beach in Australia in 1948 with his clothing tags cut out and 18 teeth missing. Who was he? How did he die? A cryptic note in his pocket has kept the mystery alive for over 70 years. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
In the 1800s, a movement spread across Great Britain that convinced thousands of Englishmen they were part of an ancient Jewish tribe. It was based on a legend about an evangelizer, Joseph of Arimathea. Another ancient legend — this time about Prince Menelik and the stolen Ark of the Covenant — places the lost tribes in Ethiopia. More recently, claims by the Lemba people of South Africa spurred one researcher, known as the British Indiana Jones, even deeper into the mystery. Learn more about you...
The fate of the ten tribes of Israel has been a mystery for thousands of years. Some legends say they are trapped in a mythical land. One mysterious traveler in the 9th century CE claimed differently. All we know for sure is that the members of the ten tribes suffered invasion and exile before seemingly disappearing from history. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
In November 2018, equipment from the largest utility provider in America sparked a fire that killed 86 people and destroyed thousands of homes. The devastation was unprecedented, but the Camp Fire is far from the only disaster caused by Pacific Gas & Electric. Are their political donations protecting them from stricter regulation? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
In March 2011, the worst nuclear meltdown since Chernobyl took place in northern Japan. The incident was triggered by a natural disaster, but it was decisions made by the facility’s operators that led to such catastrophic damage. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
An emergency plan to cut costs in Flint, Michigan resulted in a contaminated water supply for the city’s residents. The water looked, tasted, and smelled foul – because it was tainted with toxic chemicals, harmful bacteria and lead from old pipes. But government officials repeatedly dismissed the community’s concerns. So today, we’re tracing what officials knew about the burgeoning crisis, and when — and how they’re paying for their negligence now. This is the second episode in our four-part ser...
The Love Canal was supposed to be a suburban idyll. Instead, it became a dumping ground for chemical waste. After the land changed hands in the 1950s — from the Hooker Electrochemical Company to the Niagara Falls Board of Education — a school and 900 homes were built atop the toxic landfill. Decades later, residents are still battling adverse health outcomes and government negligence. This is the first episode in our four-part series, “They Knew,” covering four times corporations and government ...
After the Civil War, multiple caches of Confederate gold were discovered around the country. Were they buried by the Knights of the Golden Circle? Was the pro-slavery organization behind multiple assassination attempts on Abraham Lincoln’s life? And did Lincoln’s eventual assassin, John Wilkes Booth, take orders from the KGC? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
In 1854, as tensions between the American North and South were brewing, a physician named George Bickley called his closest friends to a secret meeting. His agenda: form a fraternity that would aid Southern states and protect the institution of slavery. Their first plot: invade Mexico. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
After a dozen major campaigns and thousands of planted bugs and wiretaps, COINTELPRO was finally exposed to the public. But the job of untangling its impact would take decades. Was J. Edgar Hoover’s belief that Communists instigated the civil rights movement true? And how far did the FBI go to sabotage the leaders of the movement? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
A secret intelligence project led by the FBI used illegal methods to spy on organizations and people from the mid-1950s to the early 1970s. It claimed to be acting in the name of U.S. security — but was it really? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Finding Beale’s treasure would be the thrill — and payout — of a lifetime. Without the key to the ciphers, it doesn’t seem likely. But there could be other reasons the riches are never recovered… Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
In 1818, a member of a hunting party in the American West spotted a glimmer on a hillside — gold. Two hundred years later, treasure hunters are still trying to locate the dug-up riches. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
A new wave of extraterrestrial discourse began in June 2021 after the release of the U.S. government’s UFO report. But was the report just a smokescreen? Today we investigate secretive programs, bizarre encounters, and suspicious dealings propping up conspiracy theories that the government still knows more than it’s letting on. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Ever since “flying saucer” entered the lexicon, the U.S. government’s public stance on UFO sightings was to doubt and debunk. But all that changed in 2017, with an explosive report on UFO intelligence. And again in June 2021, when the government acknowledged — for the first time in history — that some UFOs are truly inexplicable… and maybe even threatening. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
In the final episode of our crossover special, we examine the theories suggesting the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor wasn’t a surprise to the U.S. government at all. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
In the hours, days and weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Japan’s forces coordinated a vast takeover of the Pacific. Back at home, Hideki Tojo’s reign as Prime Minister oversaw brutal wartime atrocities. Kate and Richard from Dictators detail the Japanese war effort, the experiments of Unit 731, and the battles that changed the course of the war. Join us Wednesday for the finale of our Pearl Harbor special. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
In the summer of 1941, as hostilities between the two nations escalated, wartime negotiations officially broke down. Combat was imminent — but where? This is the second part of our crossover special with Dictators, another Spotify Original from Parcast, commemorating the 80th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Eighty years ago, the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor by Japanese fighter planes devastated the U.S. and spurred the nation into war. Join us for a special crossover between Dictators and Conspiracy Theories where we’ll analyze the event from all sides, starting with the life of Japanese Prime Minister Hideki Tojo — a career militarist whose devotion to Japan thrust him into power. We’ll be back Wednesday with a Conspiracy Theories episode exploring how tensions between the U.S. and Japan reache...
There are so many unresolved mysteries surrounding the iconic monument, like whether it’s really a sphinx, and if it could be a relic from the lost city of Atlantis. We look at a stone beard, a story from Plato, and patterns of erosion to investigate. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The Great Pyramids of Giza are some of the largest, most foreboding structures on the planet, but the mystery of how they were built still plagues historians today. Some Egyptologists think aliens provided advanced technology, while engineers see evidence they were ancient nuclear power plants. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Today, the health risks associated with smoking cigarettes aren’t a secret. But since the mid-1900s, researchers have pointed out the harmful effects of these cancer sticks. How much of this did the tobacco companies know – and when? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
In the 20th century, the mass production of cigarettes fueled a global addiction — but Big Tobacco had a problem. Cancer rates were skyrocketing, and smoking-related illnesses became the leading cause of preventable death in America. This is the story of how an industry in peril conspired to survive — by keeping generations of smokers in their grip. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The deaths of the Dyatlov Nine didn’t just seem bizarre — they seemed violent. What could explain the brutal injuries, missing tongue, radioactive clothing, and burnt trees? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
In winter 1959, a group of experienced mountaineers went missing in a remote part of Siberia. When their bodies were eventually found, their injuries — and radioactive clothing — confounded investigators. The incident became one of Russia’s most enduring mysteries. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
When President Woodrow Wilson suffered a paralyzing stroke in 1919, First Lady Edith Wilson stepped in to maintain order in the White House. With the power she held, some have speculated that she was America’s first female president. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Around the 9th century C.E., a new pope rose to power. For years, the congregation was certain Pope John filled the role perfectly... until he went into labor during an Easter processional. Had a woman ascended to the papacy in secret? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
