Conspiracy Theories, Cults, & Crimes

On the night of March 5, 1770, British soldiers opened fire on a crowd of colonists on King Street in Boston, killing five men and wounding several others. In this episode of Conspiracy Theories, Cults, and Crimes, Vanessa examines how propagandists like Paul Revere transformed a chaotic street confrontation into a rallying cry that helped ignite the American Revolution. What really happened that night, and how much of what we know was shaped by those with something to gain?

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For centuries, the Freemasons have counted kings, revolutionaries, and founding fathers among their ranks, a secret brotherhood whose rituals, oaths, and hidden hierarchies shaped the modern world. But when whistleblower William Morgan was abducted and murdered in 1826 for exposing their ceremonies, the cracks in the fraternity's noble façade became impossible to ignore. In this episode of Conspiracy Theories, Cults, and Crimes, Vanessa traces Freemasonry from medieval stone guilds to a documented Italian conspiracy that nearly toppled a democracy.

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In Peru's scorching Nazca Valley, ancient inhabitants carved enormous animal figures into the desert floor over a thousand years ago, figures so large they can only be understood from the air. In this episode of Conspiracy Theories, Cults, and Crimes, Vanessa traces the decades-long quest to decode these mysterious formations, from the mathematician who dedicated her life to the desert to the bestselling author who claimed they were built for alien spacecraft.

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In April 2009, four Somali pirates boarded the MV Maersk Alabama in the Indian Ocean, taking Captain Richard Phillips hostage in a lifeboat standoff that gripped the world. In this episode of Conspiracy Theories, Cults, and Crimes, Vanessa examines how a routine cargo run became one of the most dramatic maritime hostage crises in modern American history. Four tense days passed before Navy SEAL snipers ended the standoff, killing three pirates and freeing Phillips.

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In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, indigenous communities across Melanesia developed powerful religious movements in response to the sudden arrival of European colonizers and wartime military forces bearing vast material wealth. Believing this "cargo" was spiritually theirs but deliberately withheld, followers built symbolic airstrips, mimicked military rituals, and wove new beliefs into ancient traditions. In this episode of Conspiracy Theories, Cults, and Crimes, Vanessa explores how these movements were far more than misunderstandings. They were sophisticated acts of cultural resistance in the face of colonial upheaval.

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For over 2,000 years, the Yeren, China's legendary wildman, has haunted the mountains and folklore of rural China, inspiring fear, government bans, and even a state-funded scientific expedition. In this episode of Conspiracy Theories, Cults, and Crimes, Vanessa Richardson is joined by Maci and Nadoly from Ghosteas to trace the creature's origins from ancient poetry to modern eyewitness accounts, and the researcher who spent 50 years hunting for proof. What he found raises a fascinating question: what if the monster was never a monster at all?

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By her early 30s, Griselda Blanco had transformed herself from a poverty-stricken Colombian girl into one of the wealthiest and most feared drug lords in history, architecting a cocaine empire that flooded Miami with violence and money. Her business acumen was matched only by her willingness to order killings, including those of rivals, associates, and even husbands. In this episode of Conspiracy Theories, Cults, and Crimes, Vanessa traces how one woman climbed to the top of a brutal industry and left a trail of bodies in her wake.

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In the Chilean wilderness, German preacher Paul Schaefer ran Colonia Dignidad, a walled commune where 300 followers lived under surveillance, forced labor, and daily abuse for decades. In this episode of Conspiracy Theories, Cults, and Crimes, Vanessa traces how Schaefer's unchecked power grew from small-town evangelist to torturer-for-hire under Pinochet's brutal regime. A single note from a 12-year-old boy finally set his downfall in motion. Contains descriptions of child sexual abuse, torture, forced imprisonment, and murder.

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Crime House’s Murder: True Crime Stories presents a special series for America’s 250th Birthday: The Crimes That Built America. Listen every Monday until July 6th on Murder: True Crime Stories. Join Crime House+ to get all 4 episodes right now ad-free. To subscribe, go to crimehouseplus.com or if you are listening on Apple Podcasts, tap “Try Free” at the top of this show’s page.

250 years ago, a brand-new country declared its independence, and in the centuries since, some of the worst crimes this country has ever seen reshaped America. Four murders. Four turning points. The crime...

In the mid-1800s, a British naturalist named Philip Sclater proposed the existence of a vast sunken continent called Lemuria to explain a gap in the fossil record. What began as a genuine scientific hypothesis was seized upon by occultists, racists, and spiritual movements, mutating over 150 years into a living religion practiced at the foot of a California volcano. In this episode of Conspiracy Theories, Cults, and Crimes, Vanessa Richardson traces how one man's theory about lemur fossils became the foundation for a conspiracy touching Atlantis, Theosophy, Nazism, and the New Age.

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In 1875, a mild-mannered Civil War veteran named Charles Boles began robbing Wells Fargo stagecoaches across Northern California. He was always polite, never harmed passengers, and occasionally left handwritten poems behind. In this episode of Conspiracy Theories, Cults, and Crimes, Vanessa Richardson traces how Boles built a double life as a San Francisco socialite while becoming the West's most wanted highway bandit. After 28 robberies and years of near misses, a single laundry mark would unravel everything. And yet, his ultimate fate remains unsolved to this day.

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In this episode of Conspiracy Theories, Cults, and Crimes, Vanessa traces how Guy and Edna Ballard built the I AM Movement, a Depression-era spiritual empire claiming contact with immortal "Ascended Masters," and turned it into a multi-million-dollar fraud scheme. When federal prosecutors charged them with mail fraud for promising supernatural miracles they could never deliver, the Ballards fought back all the way to the Supreme Court, and won a landmark ruling on religious freedom that still shapes U.S. law today.

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In southeastern Massachusetts, a stretch of land known as the Bridgewater Triangle has been a magnet for paranormal activity for centuries: cryptid sightings, UFO encounters, ghostly apparitions, and evidence of occult rituals. Many trace the darkness back to King Philip's War of 1675-76, one of the deadliest conflicts per capita in American history, which left the land scarred by massacre, displacement, and loss. In this episode of Conspiracy Theories, Cults, and Crimes, Vanessa Richardson explores the history, the hauntings, and whether the Triangle's strange reputation is rooted in something real or something we need to believe. With archaeological sites...

In 2011 and 2012, a small crew of men systematically drained nearly $19 million worth of maple syrup from the world's only strategic reserve, barrel by barrel, night by night, and replaced it with water. Vanessa Richardson of Conspiracy Theories, Cults, and Crimes is joined by Ashley and Ricky from Crime Salad to trace how a government-sanctioned monopoly, a decade-long grudge, and almost no warehouse security made the most audacious commodity theft in Canadian history possible. No guns, no masks. Just forklifts, burner phones, and a black market network stretching from rural Québec to buyers in New England.

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In this episode of Conspiracy Theories, Cults, and Crimes, host Vanessa Richardson traces Breatharianism from its fringe origins to a worldwide movement that has been linked to at least six deaths. Beginning with con man Wiley Brooks in the 1980s and culminating with Australian guru Jasmuheen, whose 21-day fasting plan killed three people in under two years, the episode examines how a pseudoscientific belief system survived scandal, criminal trials, and a failed televised experiment to keep attracting followers. Contains descriptions of death by starvation and neglect, and the physical and emotional abuse of a child.

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In 1954, the CIA orchestrated a covert coup that removed Guatemala's democratically elected president, Jacobo Árbenz, at the behest of Cold War anxieties and the United Fruit Company's political influence. What looked like a communist threat to Washington was, in reality, a land reform program that dared to challenge American corporate power in Central America. In this episode, Vanessa untangles how Conspiracy Theories, Cults, and Crimes intersect in Operation PBSUCCESS, a blueprint for covert intervention whose consequences destabilized the region for decades.

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In 1929, Peter Kürten terrorized the German city of Düsseldorf in a months-long killing spree that claimed at least nine lives, including those of young children. In this episode of Conspiracy Theories, Cults, and Crimes, Vanessa traces how decades of abuse, sadism, and unchecked violence forged one of history's most disturbing serial killers: a man so controlled in his charm that he evaded capture for years. Contains descriptions of murder and extreme violence, sexual abuse including the abuse of children, and animal cruelty.

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In November 1996, a group of teenagers calling themselves the Vampire Clan drove from Kentucky to Eustis, Florida, and beat Richard Wendorf and Ruth Queen to death in their own home. Their leader, 16-year-old Rod Ferrell, believed he was a 500-year-old vampire named Vesago. But beneath the mythology was a deeply traumatized kid who had mastered the art of making lonely people feel chosen. In this episode, Vanessa traces how neglect, abuse, and an obsession with supernatural role-play created the conditions for two senseless murders. Contains descriptions of murder and extreme violence, sexual abuse including the abuse of a child...

In 1892, as tuberculosis ravaged the small town of Exeter, Rhode Island, a grieving family made a desperate decision: they exhumed the body of 19-year-old Mercy Brown, convinced the dead were feeding on the living. What followed became one of the most well-known cases of vampire hysteria in American history, a moment when fear and superstition filled the gaps that medicine could not. In this episode of Conspiracy Theories, Cults, and Crimes, Vanessa Richardson explores the Mercy Brown case, the tuberculosis panic that fueled it, and how grief can turn a community toward the unthinkable. How far will people go...

In May 2001, 24-year-old Chandra Levy vanished from Washington, DC, and all eyes turned to the married Congressman she'd been secretly dating. But while Gary Condit stonewalled investigators and dominated headlines, a man who had already attacked two women in Rock Creek Park may have gone unnoticed for years. The investigation spanned a decade, produced a conviction, and then unraveled entirely on a prosecutorial technicality.

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In May 2001, 24-year-old Chandra Levy, a government intern from Modesto, California, vanished from her Washington, DC apartment without a trace, leaving behind her wallet, half-packed suitcases, and no sign of a struggle. When her parents combed through her phone records, one number appeared more than almost any other: a sitting US Congressman with every reason to keep their relationship hidden. In this episode of Conspiracy Theories, Cults, and Crimes, Vanessa Richardson traces Chandra's life, her ambitions, and the secret affair that put her at the center of one of the early 2000s' biggest political scandals. Was the truth buried...

In November 2022, four University of Idaho students, Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin, were stabbed to death in their off-campus home in Moscow, Idaho. The suspect, Bryan Kohberger, was a PhD criminology student who had been circling their house for months and who pled guilty without ever explaining why. In this episode of Conspiracy Theories, Cults, and Crimes, Vanessa Richardson examines the evidence, the investigation that led to Kohberger's arrest, and the unanswered questions that still surround the case. When a killer offers no motive, what does justice really look like for the families left behind?<...

On August 4th, 1892, Andrew and Abby Borden were found hacked to death in their Fall River, Massachusetts home, and their daughter Lizzie became the prime suspect almost overnight. In an era when wealthy young women were above suspicion, the case exposed a fractured family, a botched investigation, and a media frenzy that convicted Lizzie long before she ever saw a courtroom. In this episode of Conspiracy Theories, Cults, and Crimes, Vanessa Richardson revisits one of America's most infamous unsolved murders, the evidence that pointed toward Lizzie, and the questions that still linger more than 130 years later. Was justice served...

In 1979 and 1980, three young women, Doreen Levesque, Barbara Raposa, and Karen Marsden, were brutally murdered in Fall River, Massachusetts, in killings linked to a small satanic cult led by pimp Carl Drew. Investigators built their case around a web of unreliable witnesses, psychic confessions, and a star witness whose story kept changing. In this episode of Conspiracy Theories, Cults, and Crimes, Vanessa Richardson examines the Fall River cult murders, the fractured investigation, and how satanic panic shaped both the narrative and the courtroom. The trials sent some perpetrators to prison, but left at least one murder officially unsolved, and...

Since 2022, at least thirteen people connected to American scientific and defense research have died or disappeared under circumstances that have drawn scrutiny from the FBI, Congress, and the White House. Some cases have clear explanations — a revenge killing, a system failure, a man lost to grief — but others remain genuinely unsolved, with no confirmed sightings and no answers for the families left behind. Vanessa Richardson examines every name on the list, the skeptics who see pattern-seeking over evidence, and the real human cost when tragedy becomes a conspiracy theory. This episode includes discussion of suicide.

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Dr. Harini Bhat is a clinical pharmacist and storyteller obsessed with the moments in history that still can't be fully explained. Every week she investigates real events that defy easy explanation. Mass hysterias. Vanished civilizations. Medical oddities. Strange signals. Unexplained phenomena that keep repeating across centuries, as if history is trying to tell us something.

Hidden History doesn't dismiss ancient events as myth or superstition. It treats them as open case files, shaped by the limits of knowledge, technology, and record-keeping. Because the unknown isn't a failure of explanation. It's a constant in human experience, one that...

In 1993, David Holthouse was working on a remote cannabis farm in California's Emerald Triangle when two panicked men burst into his cabin claiming three workers had been killed in the fields—torn apart by Bigfoot. Holthouse fled the next morning and spent 25 years trying to forget what he heard. But as an investigative journalist, he couldn't let it go. In this episode of Conspiracy Theories, Cults, and Crimes, Vanessa Richardson follows Holthouse's search for the truth behind the alleged murders. His investigation takes him deep into the Emerald Triangle, a region known as "The Black Hole" for its staggering ra...

In the late 19th century, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn emerged in Britain as a secretive society devoted to ritual magic, mysticism, and hidden knowledge. Drawing in artists, writers, and intellectuals, including figures like Aleister Crowley, the group promised spiritual enlightenment through a structured system of occult teachings. In this episode of Conspiracy Theories, Cults, and Crimes, Vanessa Richardson examines the origins of the Golden Dawn, its belief system, and the influential members who helped shape its legacy. As the order grew, internal rivalries and power struggles began to fracture the group, exposing tensions beneath its secretive...

In the 1960s, residents of Point Pleasant, West Virginia reported sightings of a strange, winged figure with glowing red eyes, a creature that would become known as the Mothman. As encounters spread, so did fear, with witnesses describing eerie experiences and unexplained phenomena surrounding the sightings. In this episode of Conspiracy Theories, Cults, and Crimes, Vanessa Richardson examines the origins of the Mothman legend, the wave of reports that gripped the town, and the theories that attempt to explain what people believed they saw. From misidentified animals to supernatural warnings, the story quickly expanded beyond a local mystery. After...

In 1926, famed evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson vanished from a California beach, sparking a nationwide search and fears that she had been kidnapped or killed. Weeks later, she reappeared with a dramatic story of abduction, claiming she had escaped from her captors in the desert. In this episode of Conspiracy Theories, Cults, and Crimes, Vanessa Richardson examines the disappearance of Aimee Semple McPherson, the investigation into her claims, and the intense public reaction that followed. As authorities began to question her account, conflicting evidence and witness testimony fueled suspicions that the kidnapping may have been staged. The case became a...

In the 1970s, a small, radical group known as the Symbionese Liberation Army emerged in the United States, promoting a mix of revolutionary politics, anti-capitalist ideology, and violent action. The group gained national attention after the kidnapping of heiress Patty Hearst, a crime that quickly escalated into a media spectacle. In this episode of Conspiracy Theories, Cults, and Crimes, Vanessa Richardson examines the origins of the Symbionese Liberation Army, its leadership and belief system, and the events that transformed it from a fringe movement into a national headline. As the group carried out robberies and issued political statements, questions...

In 1932, the infant son of famed aviator Charles Lindbergh was kidnapped from his family’s home in New Jersey, setting off a massive search that captivated the nation. As the investigation unfolded, the case drew unprecedented media attention, intense public scrutiny, and a wave of speculation about who was responsible. In this episode of Conspiracy Theories, Cults, and Crimes, Vanessa Richardson examines the Lindbergh kidnapping, the evidence that led to the arrest of Bruno Richard Hauptmann, and the trial that followed. While authorities presented the case as a straightforward crime, others questioned the handling of the investigation, the reliability of...

In 15th century France, Gilles de Rais rose to prominence as a decorated nobleman and military commander who fought alongside Joan of Arc during the Hundred Years’ War. But after her death, his life took a dark turn, and rumors began to circulate about disturbing activities taking place on his estates. In this episode of Conspiracy Theories, Cults, and Crimes, Vanessa Richardson examines the rise and fall of Gilles de Rais, the investigation that led to his arrest, and the shocking allegations of murder, abuse, and occult practices that emerged during his trial. As testimony mounted, the case revealed a...

In the 20th century, a secret society known as the Priory of Sion claimed to protect a hidden bloodline tied to Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene, a revelation that, if true, would rewrite the foundations of religious history. The group alleged that this lineage had been preserved for centuries and concealed from the public by powerful institutions. In this episode of Conspiracy Theories, Cults, and Crimes, Vanessa Richardson examines the origins of the Priory of Sion, the documents that brought it to global attention, and the man behind its most controversial claims. As the story spread through books and...

In 18th century France, a series of brutal killings terrorized the rural region of Gévaudan, leaving dozens dead and an entire population gripped by fear. Witnesses described a massive, wolf-like creature with strange features, and as the attacks continued, panic spread from isolated villages to the royal court of King Louis XV. In this episode of Conspiracy Theories, Cults, and Crimes, Vanessa Richardson examines the mystery of the Beast of Gévaudan, the widespread manhunt that followed, and the competing theories about what was really behind the killings. From rogue predators to coordinated attacks and folklore shaped by fe...

In the 1980s, “Freeway” Rick Ross rose from the streets of Los Angeles to become one of the most powerful drug traffickers in the United States, building an empire that helped fuel the crack cocaine epidemic. Years later, explosive allegations surfaced claiming that the drug pipeline supplying Ross was connected to CIA backed operations tied to the Nicaraguan Contras. In this episode of Conspiracy Theories, Cults, and Crimes, Vanessa Richardson examines the rise of Freeway Rick Ross, the controversy sparked by journalist Gary Webb’s “Dark Alliance” investigation, and the enduring claims that U.S. intelligence agencies may have played a r...

In 1989, University of Texas student Mark Kilroy traveled to Matamoros, Mexico for a spring break trip that would end in one of the most disturbing cult crimes in modern history. When Kilroy vanished after a night out with friends, authorities uncovered a shocking network tied to drug trafficking, ritual sacrifice, and a violent group known as the Narcosatanists. In this episode of Conspiracy Theories, Cults, and Crimes, Vanessa Richardson examines the cult led by Adolfo Constanzo, the beliefs that fueled its brutality, and the investigation that exposed a chilling intersection of organized crime and ritual murder.

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Gary Webb was an award winning investigative journalist who ignited a national firestorm when he published the “Dark Alliance” series, reporting that a CIA connected drug network had helped fuel the crack cocaine epidemic in Los Angeles. His reporting made him a hero to some and a target to others, as major newspapers challenged his findings and pressure mounted inside his own newsroom. In this episode of Conspiracy Theories, Cults, and Crimes, Vanessa Richardson examines the rise and fall of Gary Webb, the controversy surrounding his investigation, and the events leading up to his death in 2004. Was Webb a jour...

In this episode of Conspiracy Theories, Cults, and Crimes, Vanessa Richardson examines the story of Bob Lazar, the man who claimed he worked on reverse engineered alien spacecraft at a secret site near Area 51. Since coming forward in 1989, Lazar has fueled one of the most persistent UFO conspiracy theories in modern history. Lazar alleged that the U.S. government possessed extraterrestrial technology powered by an unknown element and was attempting to weaponize it. His detailed descriptions of a hidden facility known as S 4 and advanced propulsion systems captivated believers and skeptics alike. Supporters point to his technical knowledge as...

In this special episode Conspiracy Theories, Cults, and Crimes, Christie Wallace and Heather McKinney from Sinisterhood, introduce The Raëlians cult. In the 1970s, a French journalist claimed he was contacted by extraterrestrial beings who revealed that humanity was scientifically created by an advanced alien race. From that encounter, the Raëlian Movement was born, blending UFO belief, sensual freedom, and a futuristic vision of human destiny. In this episode of Conspiracy Theories, Cults, and Crimes, Vanessa Richardson examines the rise of founder Claude Vorilhon, known as Raël, and the group’s teachings about the Elohim, cloning, and etern...