EPISODE 126 | Cognitive Biases and the Brain: Thanks, Evolution! (Because Reasons 11) The first of two episodes looking at cognitive biases - this one at how memory works and how we prevent input overload by filtering out information. Hopefully, this will give us some insight into why people think they way they do. The primary source material for t…

EPISODE 125 | Last Flight: More Airliner Weirdness While it's totally normal that things break, sometimes there is also some kind of secret or mystery around something as monumental as an airplane crash or disappearance. And so lots of "theories" get spun, some by those who have lost someone dear to them, others by those who seek to profit from the…

EPISODE 124 | One of Our Aircraft Is Missing A look at a few outstanding cases of plane crashes and disappearances, commercial flights that have gone awry, and some of the weirdness surrounding those mishaps. And, of course, the ones we’ll look at have had conspiracy theories spun about them. This episode is dedicated to my godson, Vova (or Rusty, …

EPISODE 123 | A Heritage of Nonsense: More JKF Stories Guest: Fred Litwin, author of A Heritage of Nonsense: Jim Garrison's Tales of Mystery and Imagination The JFK assassination truly is the gift that keeps on giving, as this third book on the topic by Fred Litwin demonstrates. People who became suspects after just a two-minute phone call, a comed…

EPISODE 122 | How to Be a Communist One of the many words tossed about these days as a snarl term is “communist”, but do the people using this sobriquet know what that really means? It certainly doesn’t mean every leftwing philosophy or ideology. In fact, Communism is a very specific set of applications of very certain ideas, and, like it or not, h…

EPISODE 121 | Coup Coup G'joob: Civic Disturbances in the U.S. 1900 - Present This is a continuation of our previous episode about coup attempts, rebellions and civic unrest in the United States prior to the 20th century. This time, we jump into the 20th century and bring us right up to the present day. After hearing all this, you decide if things …

EPISODE 120 | OOPArts Doompa-Dee-Doo Sometimes people find something… interesting, maybe even mysterious. What is that? they ask. And then they or someone else makes a logical leap and says oh, wow, here is the missing link I’ve been looking for that proves all my theories that until now have been ridiculed or ignored. And not even scientists are i…

Episode 119 | False-Flag-A-Go-Go (WIW 14) The false flag trick started with naval warfare, but has also been used to initiate wars and to sabotage political opponents. And the conspirasphere uses the idea of the false flag, both in general and specific terms, quite often to justify certain narratives. In that regard, the two most influential are th…

EPISODE 118 | Public Enemy Antifa Much has been made about Antifa. Is it a concept, socio-political stance, or an organized group? Do they oppose oppression by any means necessary, or are they simply hooligans who want to break things? Or, as Trump and others in the Maga mirror world have suggested, are they the quasi-military arm of some insidious…

EPISODE 117 | Stay Awake – The Wokeness Issue In a classic example of the weird mirror world days we are currently moving through, a term used by Black people to mean one thing has been turned by opportunists into something totally different. So, let's look at the origin of the term "woke", how it's been used, African-American Vernacular English (A…

EPISODE 116 | High(er) Strangeness w/Eric Bickernicks Guest: Eric Bickernicks, writer, author of High Strangeness and Higher Strangeness What does a guy who's made novelty songs, short comedy videos, an indie film for $32k, kettle corn aplenty, and a novel about art theft do next? If he's Eric Bickernicks, he writes two books about UFOs, hoaxes, al…

EPISODE 115 | Cuckoo Coups in the U.S. Alarmist rhetoric has been used multiple times in America’s past with the express intent of fomenting a rebellion or even a coup. The game is to create a sense of urgency in the hopes that enough people will commit to extreme actions, so you can get what you want (which is power). According to Wikipedia, there…

EPISODE 114 | All Your Base Are Belong to Us – U.S. Military Installations The United States spends more on their military than the next nine countries combined. With around 450 bases (or maybe 500 or maybe 750 or maybe 800 or even more) operating more than 111,000 installations in 80 or more countries, there’s a lot to keep track of. In fact, no o…

EPISODE 113 | Power Is Power: The Vulnerable Electrical Grid Guest: Chris Underwood, author of the The Cold Winter series Our digital age needs electricity more than anything else. But what would happen is part of the power grid went down during one of the worst winter storms in history? That's the premise of Chris Underwood's thriller series The C…

EPISODE 112 | GESARA & the Red Caesar What do proposed economic reforms, the idea of a post-constitutional American dictator and Christian Nationalism have in common? Donald Trump, for starters - at least for some people. Scammers and grifters of all stripes find common ground with would-be authoritarians in a weird confluence of conspiracy narrati…

EPISODE 111 | Us vs. Them: Antisemitism Goes to School Guest: Scott Shay, president of Chai Mitzvah and author of Conspiracy U Hamas forces swept into Israel on October 7, 2023, committing atrocities and taking hostages. Literally the next day, American student groups were blaming Israel. Protests on campuses began to multiply and today the situati…

EPISODE 110 | How to Be a Fascist People use the term "Fascist" a lot these days, but do they really know what that means? Fascism is a very specific combination of ideas and goals that occurred within very clear historical and philosophical contexts. This is a look at where Fascism came from, Mussolini's rise to power, and variations and offshoots…

EPISODE 109 | What's in a Name? The Shakespeare Authorship Debate Guest: Scott Jackson, Mary Irene Ryan Executive Artistic Director of Shakespeare at the University of Notre Dame, current vice president of the Shakespeare Theatre Association (STA) and incoming president, actor, director and Shakespeare scholar William Shakespeare wrote at least 36 …

EPISODE 108 | Swiftboating Redux: Taylor Swift Derangement Syndrome She's the most successful pop star today, yet some people seem to suffer brain meltdowns when thinking about Taylor Swift. Call it TDSD, Taylor Swift Derangement Syndrome, and it takes hold especially in MAGAmaniacs, Trumpeteers, Trad Chads and broflakes. Tracing the conspirasphere…

EPISODE 107 | Traces of Reality: Abstract Art and the CIA (World Is Weird 13) Guest: Mandy Theis, founder and director of the School of Atelier Arts, academic director and professor at the Florence Academy of Art Maybe you've walked into a museum or gallery and seen a big white, blank canvas, or a huge circle, and thought, "So, this is art, eh?". B…

EPISODE 106 | Suffer the Children – Pizzagate, Wayfair & the Seeds of QAnon "Without a clear indication of the author's intent, it is difficult or impossible to tell the difference between an expression of sincere extremism and a parody of extremism." In the world of the internet, this is known as Poe’s Law, and it’s especially applicable to the we…

EPISODE 105 | Capitol Assets: Weird DC (Travelogue 4) Guest: Fayge Horesh, co-creator, writer and host of the D Listers of History podcast, and licensed tour guide Washington D.C. is an interesting place and, like many cities, has some oddities. We take a look at some of the things around town that might not be obvious at first glance, like (not-so…

EPISODE 104 | Fatal Attraction: Magnet Woo While we use magnets all the time, most of us don’t know some of the subtleties of magnetic fields and the electromagnetic force. This lack of knowledge is the perfect opening for scam artists to sell unsuspecting folks all kinds of sham cures for illnesses and injuries, opening up a wide world of woo and …

EPISODE 103 | Down in Bermuda, It’s Easy to Believe – The Devil’s Triangle Back in the 70s, the Bermuda Triangle was all over the place but today, not so much. Whatever happened with that? Did it go away? Was it debunked? Or did the woosphere simply get bored and move on to juicer subjects? A bit of both. Plus, the are lots of other supposed intere…

EPISODE 102 | Conspiracy Thinking in the Middle East (Because Reasons 10) Guest: Adel Aali, creator and host of the podcasts History Behind News and Unravelling the Middle East Conspiracy theories seem to thrive in the Middle East, but why? Adel Aali takes a look at some of the more common CTs, as well as where they come from and why that region mi…

EPISODE 101 | Panic! at the Disco - The Jan. 6 Event (World Is Weird 12) On January 6, 2021 at 12:53 EST, a mass of people overwhelmed police on the west side of the US Capitol Building in Washington DC. At 2:11, a window was broken, and they entered the building. What followed was a bizarre scene, with some happy to just wander around, while other…

EPISODE 100 | Conspirasphere Rising - A Talk w/Derek Arnold (Because Reasons 9) Guest: Derek Arnold, Senior Instructor at Villanova University, where he teaches a course on The Rhetoric of Conspiracy Theories The modern conspirasphere sort of starts with the assassination of JFK, and events in the two decades that follow help shape a growing trend …

EPISODE 99 | A Bridge Too Far: The Mothman Visits Point Pleasant The strange events of 1966-1967 in and around Point Pleasant, West Virginia gave rise to one of America's most enduring legends - the Mothman. It made the headlines and also the careers of Gray Barker and John Keel. But it was more than just a large winged creature. There were visits …

EPISODE 98 | Smoke & Mirrors: Unintentional Dangers and Slow Thinking (Because Reasons 8) Guest: Kent Weishaus, licensed clinical social worker, author of Stop Breaking Down: The Secret to Avoiding Overwhelm and Crack-Up Why are there so many adherents to conspiracy theories these days? What are the mechanisms that encourage people to latch onto a …

EPISODE 97 | Üst akıl – Totally Turkey Turkey is a place with a complex history and a diverse population, which can lead to a sense of uncertainty and instability. Conspiracy theories that offer simple explanations for complex events and interactions, seem to take hold easily there, especially lately. This can make it difficult for people to distin…

EPISODE 96 | Inside Out: Neuroscience & Memory (Because Reasons 7) Guest: Dr. Gary Simonds, neurosurgeon, professor and author of Death's Pale Flag What happens when a lauded neurosurgeon starts thinking about ghosts and the scientific approach to the paranormal? You get a novel like Death's Pale Flag. This is the fictional work by Gary R. Simonds,…

EPSIODE 95 | Bodyguard of Lies: The Ghost Army & Wartime Deception (World Is Weird 11) More than 100 million soldiers took part in WWII, but not all of them were fighting with guns. There was obviously a lot of administration and infrastructure to deal with, there were codebreakers and spies, and there were even some who engaged in secret deception…

EPISODE 94 | Peek-A-Boo: Project Star Gate The US military heard the Soviets were working on creating psychic spies, so they started their own program, which would, after many name changes, get dubbed Project Star Gate. This would attract cranks and flim-flammers of all kinds over its 25 year run, resulting in not much useful intel but inspiring so…

EPISODE 93 | From Sea to Sea: More Canada Mysteries & Histories Guest: Nile Séguin, comedian, actor, writer, French-Canadian Canada, northern neighbor to the United States, a sovereign nation that’s only party sovereign, second largest country in the world by size but 37th by population. It’s a place filled with fairly reasonable people, lots of tr…

EPISODE 92 | Octopus's Garden: Dan Casolaro, INSLAW & Death (WIW 10) A number of unusual deaths, law enforcement software, mob families, casinos, drug running, arms dealing, and a possible nationwide, possible international, conspiracy known as the Octopus – this wild and complicated tale reads like a whole series of thriller novels and is further …

EPSIODE 91 | Tartaria Sauce : The Great Tartarian Empire and 15-Minute Cities One day, I wondered if there were any conspiracy theories about architecture, which is something I am quite keen on, so I fired up the laptop and did a Google search, and sure enough, there is. One. One that’s weird and funny and just a little bit sad. While researching t…

EPISODE 90 | Oh, Canada! The Great White North, the Just Society - Canada is a cold place filled with reasonable people. For the most part. But not even they are immune to the pull of the conspirasphere, and have hatched some wacky ideas all their own. This episode is by request of a Canadian fan of the podcast. So enjoy! Like what we do? Then buy …

EPISODE 89 | JBS BS: The John Birch Society History is full of those who became tyrants or aspired to become one. Even in a country like the United States in the fairly enlightened 20th century, there were those who thought that, well, actually, their vision of how things should be was the best one, and that they should probably just be in charge. …

EPISODE 88 | Weird AI Yankovic (Not-So-Scary AI Futures) Guest: Josh Bachynski, AI consultant AI is here and it's here to stay. And despite all the hand wringing and doom-and-gloom predictions, the AI-powered future actually looks pretty bright. AI is already being used in a number of applications, and more are on the way. Josh Bachynski and I talk…

EPISODE 87 | CSI: Conspiracy - Three Cold Cases (World Is Weird 9) True crime is a popular genre, mainly because people love mysteries. Here are three cases from the conspiracy world that fit the bill, from three different decades and three different countries, where the weird and the unexplained meet head on. We’ll look at the Lead Masks Case from…

EPISODE 86 | The Skynet Matrix: AI Goes Rogue Guest: Josh Bachynski, AI thought leader and programmer AI seems to be everywhere, and plenty of folks have freaked out about it over the years. AI expert Josh Bachynski talks about doomsday scenarios, their likelihood and what's probably coming in the near future. Like what we do? Then buy us a beer or…

EPSIODE 85 | Project Pegasus - Mars and Beyond! The United States has secret bases on Mars, which they may or may not share with aliens. This base is there, but also not there, because it might only exist in the future, accessible using time travel technology, or maybe in a bubble universe. People, such as a young Barack Obama, are sent to this bas…

EPISODE 84 | Sound Advice: A440 vs. A432 Guest: Andrew Currie, Owner & Lead Sound Engineer of Mechanizer Studios Today, most musicians use 440Hz as the reference pitch for orchestras, but they use to use all sorts of different ones, especially 432Hz. Wow, that’s interesting, I guess. But even something as seemingly innocuous as international musica…

EPISODE 83 | Play Ball! Sportspiracies Guest: Mark Fitzhenry, EFL teacher in Prague, co-founder of the Imperfectionists improv group Sport seems to almost lend itself to rumor, innuendo and conspiracy thinking with accusations of wrongdoing, curses that plague a team for years and even the occasional crossover of the geopolitical and athletic world…

EPISODE 82 | Reptiles of the Mind - The Reptilian Conspiracy (Big 'Uns 7) The conspirasphere thrives on the idea that things are not what they seem to be on the surface. And for some, the very people around us are not what they seem. Why, they might not even be human, at all. Some of the supposed “people” you see are actually shapeshifting aliens, …

EPISODE 81 | The Logos Prophecy Guest: Martin Treanor, author of The Logos Prophecy (Fall of Ancients 1) What if all the conspiracy theories were true? That's what writer Martin Treanor used as the starting point for an ambitious trilogy of novels that starts in the present day (with a conspiracy theorist and a science guy), then travels back 13,00…

EPISODE 80 | Fair Dinkum - 4 Mysteries from Down Under Australia - a land with a checkered past where everything, it seems, wants to kill you (even the magpies). It's the land of the Dreamtime, and vegemite, and Zooper Dooper ice blocks, and shopping trolleys dumped in car parks. It's also a land of mystery and the unexplained. Sometimes. Like what…

EPISODE 79 | Film Flam - JFK & Stone Guest: Fred Litwin, author of Oliver Stone's Film-Flam: The Demagogue of Dealey Plaza Former JFK conspiracy theorist turned JFK conspiracy debunker Fred Litwin has written a new book, this time taking aim at Oliver Stone's 1991 film "JFK" and his 2021 four-part TV series defending that movie, JFK: Destiny Betray…

EPISODE 78 | Khazar Love Triangle An obscure 10th century confederation of Turkic-speaking peoples between the Caspian and Black Seas gets transformed through the power of imagination into anything and everything. The Khazars become symbols for a number of claims, including being the origin of the Cossacks (or at least some of them), the real Jews,…

EPISODE 77 | Monster Mash - Werewolf? There Wolf! Tales of shapeshifters go back many moons in human history, and wolves seem to be especially in the spotlight. When people get accused of this, they often find themselves in serious trouble. And once in a blue moon, someone claims that they are actually a werewolf. This is often a mental disorder kn…