Step into the new year with a round of 20 (not 20) Questions that starts playful, then turns a little darker. Between deep cuts, hot takes, and answers that land harder than expected, they keep circling back to what it means to remember 9/11 and carry that weight into a new chapter. It is funny in places, uncomfortable in others, and more honest than anyone had planned.

From lion mascots to graduation ceremonies, DARE shaped childhoods across America. But behind the nostalgia is a story of failed drug policy, public-relations panic, and police branding aimed at kids. This episode traces how DARE spread, why it endured, and what it was really selling. 

In December 2025, the U.S. government broke tradition by refusing to recognize World AIDS Day; echoing the deadly silence that fueled the early epidemic. This episode traces the history of AIDS stigma, activism, and policy failure, from Reagan to today, and honors the caretakers, communities, and cultural figures who fought to make survival possible. Take a human look at how prejudice reshapes public health and why remembering matters.

Mary Shelley did not crawl out of the fog one night holding Frankenstein; rather she was born into a political and philosophical pressure cooker. Her mother wanted to tear gender roles out by the roots, her father thought government was a rigged scam, and her childhood house was full of banned books, radical houseguests, and casual corpse reanimation talk over dinner. Out of bad husbands, laudanum summers, and a “waking dream” of a creator who refuses to love his creation, she built the monster that became the blueprint for modern sci fi. 

This episode walks into the real laboratory behind Frankenstein and asks who the true monsters are: the Creature, or the brilliant people who made him and walked away.

The Church calls it God’s punishment, the King swears it’s “just wolves,” and the people actually burying half-eaten children keep saying, "No. This is something else." 

In this episode, we dive into three years of throat-ripped corpses and a monster whose body conveniently rotted before anyone important could examine it. Was La Bête du Gévaudan a freak predator, an escaped exotic, or an early black-ops fear experiment?  Keep your back away from open doorways, eyes on the treeline, and come with us into the hills where the Beast may have died… but the project behind it never really did.

Before tarot became a tool for fortune-telling and self-reflection, it was a luxury pastime enjoyed by nobles in Renaissance Italy. In this episode, we trace tarot’s surprising journey from hand-painted trionfi decks in the courts of Milan and Ferrara, to its transformation during the French occult revival, and finally to its modern role as a guide for intuition, psychology, and personal growth. Along the way, we meet poets, mystics, rebels, and artists who reshaped the cards into a mirror for the human experience. This is the story of how a courtly card game became a global language of symbolism and self-discovery, and why The Fool’s journey still resonates with us today.

In 1630s France, a convent erupts in convulsions, visions, and blasphemous ecstasies, accusations that lead to one of history’s most infamous possession trials. This is the story of hysteria and desire colliding with politics and power, where faith becomes performance and a priest becomes a sacrifice.  Join us in the journey of how Mother Superior Jeanne des Anges, Cardinal Richelieu, and a town on edge turned a scandal into a saint-making machine.

Journey back to 1487, a Europe ravaged by plague, famine, and a desperate Catholic Church clinging to power. In this haunting episode, we expose how corruption, papal chaos, and mass paranoia collided to create the perfect storm for witch hunts. One book, the Malleus Maleficarum, turned fear into a weapon, unleashed brutal torture chambers, and set thousands of innocents ablaze. From secret sabbats to twisted trials and the lingering shadows of Satanic Panic today, this is the dark blueprint for how power turns fear into fire.

August 31, 1939: a voice crackles over the airwaves: “This is Gliwice. The station is in Polish hands.”

By dawn, German tanks are rolling across the border. But the so-called attack was a performance, complete with props, corpses, and propaganda. Join us as we uncover the Gleiwitz Incident, the staged spark that set Europe on fire.

Step inside the 42-foot ring and trace the circus from Ancient Rome’s Circus Maximus to Barnum’s “Greatest Show on Earth.” Discover how equestrian tricks, freak shows, and animal acts built a global spectacle — and how cruelty, exploitation, and spectacle shaped its rise and fall. We uncover the stories of performers, animals, and women under the big top, and explore how modern circus art transformed from exploitation into artistry.