3SchemeQueens

Welcome back to Throwback Thursday, where we’re digging into the 3SchemeQueens archives and revisiting some of our older conspiracy and mystery episodes that included medical discussions.  This week, we’re going back to one of history’s most persistent conspiracy theories: Did Adolf Hitler really die in his Berlin bunker in 1945, or did he somehow escape to Argentina?  Was Hitler even physically capable of pulling off an escape?  By the end of the war, his health was reportedly deteriorating, he had a tremor, significant gastrointestinal problems, and was being given a truly impressive pharmaceutical cocktail by his personal physician. So while we talk submarines, secret Nazi escape routes, alleged sightings in South America, and all the usual conspiracy chaos, we’re also asking: What condition was Hitler actually in during the final months of his life?  What drugs was he taking?  And if he had made it out of Germany, would he have had access to the medications and medical care necessary to survive?

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In 1995, 18-year-old Christa Pike committed the brutal murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, a crime that would put Pike on Tennessee’s death row for three decades.  On September 30, 2026, the state attempted to carry out her sentence using lethal injection.  Two doses of pentobarbital later, Pike was still alive, ultimately leaving the prison in an ambulance rather than a hearse.

But Christa Pike is far from the first condemned prisoner whose execution did not go according to plan.  In this episode, we examine Pike’s case alongside some of the most infamous failed and botched executions in American history, and ask the question of how someone survives a procedure specifically designed to kill them.  We’re talking failed IV access, lethal injection pharmacology, malfunctioning electric chairs, execution protocols, and the uncomfortable physiology behind what happens when an execution goes wrong.

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On November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, and more than 60 years later, the JFK assassination remains one of the most debated mysteries in American history.  In this Throwback Thursday episode, we dive into the assassination of JFK, Lee Harvey Oswald, the Warren Commission, the single-bullet theory, the Zapruder film, and some of the most enduring JFK conspiracy theories.  With our healthcare backgrounds, we're also taking a closer look at the medical and forensic evidence surrounding JFK's death.  What do we know about Kennedy's gunshot wounds?  What happened at Parkland Hospital?  What did the JFK autopsy reveal?  And how have the medical evidence, autopsy photographs, X-rays, bullet trajectories, and chain of evidence contributed to decades of debate about the assassination?

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In 1994, Gloria Ramirez arrived at Riverside General Hospital in California critically ill.  During her treatment, 23 healthcare workers suddenly developed symptoms including dizziness, nausea, difficulty breathing, muscle spasms, and fainting.  Even stranger, some reported unusual odors and mysterious substances associated with Ramirez’s body.  As more people became sick, the emergency department was evacuated and the case quickly became one of the most unusual medical mysteries in modern history.

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Have you ever wondered if madness could be contagious?  We usually think of pathogens and viruses spreading from person to person, but what about a delusion?  This week, we are opening up the vault to bring you a re-release of one of the most mind-bending medical mysteries we've ever covered. We are diving back into the harrowing and truly bizarre case of the Eriksson twins.

Ursula and Sabina Eriksson were identical twins whose sudden, explosive shared psychosis on a busy British motorway left police, medics, and the public completely stunned. It is a textbook, yet terrifying, example of folie à deux, where a severe delusion fractures reality not just for one person, but for two closely bonded individuals.

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In 1518, in the city of Strasbourg, something bizarre began happening.  One woman reportedly started dancing in the street, and within days, dozens of other people had joined her.  Soon, the dancing had spread through the city, with some people reportedly dancing for days on end.  Some collapsed from exhaustion.  Others may have died.  So what was happening to these people?  This week we’re talking about the Dancing Plague of 1518.  We’re digging into what actually happened, what theories have been proposed, and whether modern medicine can help us make sense of an epidemic that left an entire city dancing.

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Located just off the coast of Long Island, New York, Plum Island has been home to a government animal disease research facility for decades.  Officially established to study infectious diseases affecting livestock, the island has also become the center of decades of speculation about biological warfare, government experiments, biological weapons research, and accidental releases of dangerous pathogens.  This week, we're re-releasing one of our first episodes, in which we explore the documented history of Plum Island and examine the conspiracy theories that have made this mysterious island famous.  One of the biggest mysteries surrounding Plum Island is it's alleged connection to Lyme disease.  Lyme disease first emerged as a recognized illness in Lyme, Connecticut, just miles from Plum Island, leading to theories that government researchers may have experimented with Borrelia bacteria and ticks as biological weapons.  Is Plum Island connected to Lyme disease, or is the geographic coincidence simply too tempting to ignore? 

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Picture this: You’re standing on a tiny island in the middle of San Francisco Bay.  The city skyline is just over one mile away.  You can see it.  At night, you can see the lights.  If the wind is right, you can even hear the sounds of people living their normal, free lives across the water.  But between you and them is freezing water, brutal currents, and a prison specifically designed to make sure you never leave.  Welcome to Alcatraz.  From 1934-1962 the former military fortress became the home of some of America’s most notorious criminals, including Al Capone, George “Machine Gun” Kelly, and Whitey Bulger to name a few.  If they were too notorious, too dangerous, or too escape prone for normal prisons, they were sent to Alcatraz.  And honestly, the setup was pretty solid.  You had reinforced cells, armed guards, watchtowers, barbed wire, and almost two miles of San Francisco Bay between you and freedom.  The government was so confident in this arrangement that Alcatraz developed a reputation as being virtually escape-proof.  Officially, no prisoner ever successfully escaped Alcatraz.

But on the morning of June 12, 1962, guards discovered something very inconvenient.  Frank Morris and brothers John and Clarence Anglin were not in their cells.  The men had spent months secretly digging holes through the walls of their cells using homemade tools, hiding the damage behind fake vents, building dummy heads out of soap, concrete dust, paint and actual human hair, constructing a raft out of stolen raincoats, and essentially running a tiny arts-and-crafts program behind the backs of the federal government.  Then they climbed through the walls, got onto the roof, made their way to the shoreline, launched their homemade raft into San Francisco Bay…. and vanished.

The FBI eventually concluded that the men most likely drowned, despite the bodies never being found.  And this is where we put on our little tin foil hats.  Because over the decades, there have been alleged sightings, family stories, mysterious photographs, flowers reportedly sent to the Anglin brothers’ mother, and even a letter allegedly written by one of the escapees claiming that all three men survived.  So either three convicted criminals drowned in one of the coldest, roughest stretches of water in California... or the federal government spent years insisting that nobody could escape Alcatraz after three men successfully escaped Alcatraz.  And that is not even the only weird thing about this island.

Alcatraz has military history, infamous mobsters, bizarre escape attempts, a violent prison uprising literally called the Battle of Alcatraz in which the Marines had to save the day, an Indigenous occupation, and enough alleged paranormal activity that apparently even after the prison closed, some residents still refused to check out.  Get your drinks ready Foil Heads, because today we are going to The Rock.

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You know that feeling when you rewatch a movie you loved as a kid and suddenly realize… wait a minute. This is actually kind of messed up.  What if some of the movies we know and love aren’t actually about what we think they’re about?

What if Sandy didn’t survive the beginning of Grease, and the entire movie is actually her dying fantasy?

What if Ferris Bueller doesn’t actually exist, and he’s just the fearless, charismatic alter ego Cameron created to cope with his miserable life?

And perhaps most devastating of all for Kait and Colleen: What if Harry Potter never received a letter from Hogwarts?

What if an abused, isolated 11 year old boy locked underneath a staircase created an entire fantasy world where he discovered that he wasn’t unwanted or ordinary at all?  He was special.  His parents didn’t abandon him, they died protecting him.  And one day, a giant literally smashed through the door and rescued him from the people who had made his life miserable.

Meanwhile, back in reality, Harry is still in the cupboard under the stairs.

Today we’re diving into some of the wildest movie reinterpretations and fan theories on the internet. Some are surprisingly convincing.  Some solve plot holes that have bothered people for decades.  And some require the kind of mental gymnastics that we deeply respect here at 3SQHQ.  So grab your popcorn, suspend your disbelief, and prepare to never watch your favorite movies the same way again. 

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This week, we’re throwing research out the window and letting TikTok and Instagram take the wheel.  In this chaotic rapid-fire episode, we dive into some of the wildest conspiracy theories currently making the rounds on social media, and judge them based on absolutely nothing but the evidence presented in the videos. Is Stevie Wonder really blind? Did Sony kill Michael Jackson?  Is botox contributing to the future Zombie apocalypse?  Are giants and Himalayan sea salt somehow part of a much bigger story?  We watch, we debate, we ask way too many questions, and then we vote... Could it be true, or is the internet officially unwell?  No fact-checking.  No deep dives.  Just the 3SchemeQueens, questionable evidence, and pure conspiracy chaos.

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