Conspiracy Clearinghouse

By Derek DeWittSociety & Culture Science History

Conspiracy Clearinghouse episodes

July 16, 2025Spirits in the Material World: Mediums and Spiritualism
EPISODE 141 | Spirits in the Material World: Mediums and Spiritualism
The late 19th and early 20th were rife with claims of contact with spirits of the departed, and plenty of people made a pretty penny convincing the grieving or the curious that they had the right stuff, the special connection to the Other Side. But it has continued past then, and even today there are those who would prey upon people to make a fast buck, supercharging the woo space in the process.
We’ll look at mediums, magicians, seances, channelers and more, including some of the tricks these con artists use to ply their ignoble trade. And we’ll also examine what’s up with the Ouija board.
Like what we do? Then buy us a beer or three via our page on Buy Me a Coffee. Review us here or on IMDb.
And seriously, subscribe, will ya?
SECTIONS
Spirit (I Believe in You) - The Fox Sisters start it all im 1849, spiritism and spiritualism, the Cottingley Fairies
Watching You Without Me - Cold readings, the Barnum Effect, shotgunning, Forer and Criss Angel, John Edward the Douche, the vanishing negative, turning a negative, the Rainbow Ruse, flattery, warm readings, hot readings, spirit guides, how to avoid being tricked
Home by the Sea - Types of mediums, scammers getting caught (Daniel Dunglas Home, Rosina Mary Showers, Francis Ward Monck, the Davenport Brothers, May and Lizzie Bangs, Derek Acorah, Thomas John)
The Ghost in You - Origins of the Ouija Board in 1890, ideomotor response (IMR), some believe and like, some believe and don't like, Yeats used it to write poetry, Pearl Curran and "Patience Worth" writes book, Emily Grant Hutchings writes a book with Mark Twain's ghost
(Ghost) Riders in the Sky - Rosemary Isabel Brown channels dead composers, James Merrill uses a Ouija to write award-winning poetry, Jane Roberts starts the channeling industry with "Seth"
Music by Fanette Ronjat
More Info
The Fox Sisters (a haunted history)
Spiritualism Exposed: Margaret Fox Kane Confesses Fraud on the Skeptic Report
spiritism (spiritualism) entry in the Skeptic's Dictionary
The Spiritualists' National Union website
Society for Psychical Research website
A Pagan's Lexicon : Animal Spirits
How to find your animal spirit guide on Mooky Chick
John Edward on Villains Wiki
Why do a quarter of people across the world believe humans have psychic abilities?
A MAGICIAN AMONG THE SPIRITS by Harry Houdini, full text
James Randi Educational Foundation website
Kennard Novelty Company website
Written by Pearl Curran…or by Ouija Board?
The book was supposedly written by Mark Twain’s ghost 100 years ago
How to use the Ouija Board
The secret of the Ouija board in The Week
DIY Ouija Board!
Rosemary Brown obituary
'Even the spirits get a say': A Look Into James Merrill's Ouija Poems
The Problem of Seth's Origin: A Case Study of the Trance-Possession Mediumship of Jane Roberts, paper by Paul Cunningham
Follow us on social:
Facebook
Twitter
Bluesky
Other Podcasts by Derek DeWitt
DIGITAL SIGNAGE DONE RIGHT - Winner of a Gold Quill Award, Gold MarCom Award, AVA Digital Award Gold, Silver Davey Award, and Communicator Award of Excellence, and on numerous top 10 podcast lists.
PRAGUE TIMES - A city is more than just a location - it’s a kaleidoscope of history, places, people and trends. This podcast looks at Prague, in the center of Europe, from a number of perspectives, including what it is now, what is has been and where it’s going. It’s Prague THEN, Prague NOW, Prague LATER
55 min
July 02, 2025Rock On: Freemasons (Big 'Uns 7)
EPISODE 140 | Rock On: Freemasons (Big 'Uns 7)
Who are the Freemasons? People sure freak out about the them, even though many don’t even know what they get up to. What the heck do they do at their meetings? Why all the secrets and secret handshakes and code words and the like? Are they weird, scary, evil or just harmless?
Let’s take a look and see.
Like what we do? Then buy us a beer or three via our page on Buy Me a Coffee. Review us here or on IMDb.
And seriously, subscribe, will ya?
SECTIONS
Long Live Rock - Masonic origins, Templars, variations and offshoots
Stone Stone Picnic - The Illuminati, Freemasonry expands
Pounded on a Rock - Are they creepy?, Anti-Masonry and the Morgan Affair
Like a Rolling Stone - The Taxil Hoax of 1885, Jack the Ripper as a Mason
Let's Go Get Stoned - The Affair of the Cards
Stoned Is the Way of the Walk - Propaganda Due (P2), the Vatican Bank Scandal and the Years of Lead
Might As Well Get Stoned - Riding the goat, Satanism, the NWO, secret masters, online sources, famous Masons
Music by Fanette Ronjat
More Info
EPISODE 21 | The Knights Templar (Big 'Uns 2)
EPISODE 18| The Illuminati: Bavarian Brouhaha (Big 'Uns 1)
Episode 10 | Fright Delays: Denver Airport Is the Nexus of Evil
masonicinfo.com Site Map
Freemasons For Dummies Cheat Sheet
Freemasons entry on RationalWIki
Freemasonry Watch webshite
Duncan's Masonic Ritual and Monitor
Secret Teachings of the Masonic Lodge book
New Initiates Guide to Freemasonry - West Lancashire Freemasons
Spooky Rituals of The Freemasons | The Freemasons Explained - video on The Great Courses YouTube channel
The Midnight Masons website
The Heresies of Masonic Ritual on The European Conservative
Elks, Shriners, and Masons: How 'old man' frats got their names and symbols
Performing Emotion: Freemasons and the Theater of Ritual - interview with Pannill Camp on the Hold That Thought podcast
Musicians Who Are Freemasons on Esoteric Freemasons
Follow us on social:
Facebook
Twitter
Bluesky
Other Podcasts by Derek DeWitt
DIGITAL SIGNAGE DONE RIGHT - Winner of a Gold Quill Award, Gold MarCom Award, AVA Digital Award Gold, Silver Davey Award, and Communicator Award of Excellence, and on numerous top 10 podcast lists.
PRAGUE TIMES - A city is more than just a location - it’s a kaleidoscope of history, places, people and trends. This podcast looks at Prague, in the center of Europe, from a number of perspectives, including what it is now, what is has been and where it’s going. It’s Prague THEN, Prague NOW, Prague LATER
52 min
June 18, 2025A Numbers Game: Mathspiracies
EPISODE 139 | A Numbers Game: Mathspiracies
Guest: Gary Arndt, writer and host of the Everything Everywhere Daily podcast
We aren't really very good with numbers, so naturally we've come up with a lot of wacky ideas about them. Gary Arndt talks about numbers of all sorts, like why Pi is stupid, why prime numbers are cool, why the Fibonacci sequence isn't all that, when math leads to murder and much more.
Like what we do? Then buy us a beer or three via our page on Buy Me a Coffee. Review us here or on IMDb.
And seriously, subscribe, will ya?
SECTIONS
02:25 - Numeracy rates, gambling is (usually) a sucker's bet, numerology, the Bible Code, p-hacking, Equidistant Letter Sequencing (ELS)
13:09 - The Hidden Hand of Mathematics, the Ultraviolet Catastrophe and the birth of quantum physics, the Fibonacci sequence and the Golden Ratio
20:05 - Pi, tau, the Cult of Pythagoras, irrational numbers, transcendental numbers, squaring the circle, Alex Jones and math, the real number of the Beast
28:51 - Why people believe conspiracy theories
30:13 - Angel numbers, the "meanings" of numbers
33:43 - Numbers stations
37:25 - Prime numbers, Prime Target TV series, trapdoor functions in cryptography, Al-Khwarizmi, double entry bookkeeping, the idea of zero, zero and null are different
43:20 - Base-10, base-12, base-60, and our timekeeping and calendar systems
Music by Fanette Ronjat
More Info
Everything Everywhere Daily podcast
The Bible Code book review in Notices of the AMS
The Significance of The Number Forty-Two (42) by By Rabbi Dr. Hillel ben David (Greg Killian)
Magic Apologetics: Equidistant Letter Sequencing in the Christian Research Journal
Assassinations Foretold in Moby Dick!
THE UNREASONABLE EFFECTIVENSS OF MATHEMATICS IN THE NATURAL SCIENCES by Eugene Wigner
The Ultraviolet Catastrophe and the Creation of Quantum Mechanics episode of Everything Everywhere Daily
What is the Fibonacci sequence? on LiveScience
Fibonacci Sequence on Math Is Fun
Composing Balanced Images: The Golden Ratio on ProGrade Digital
Everything You Need to Know About Pi episode of Everything Everywhere Daily
Why Tau Should Replace Pi episode of Everything Everywhere Daily
The Cult of Pythagoras episode of Everything Everywhere Daily
Irrational Numbers episode of Everything Everywhere Daily
Squaring the Circle episode of Everything Everywhere Daily
e: Euler’s Number episode of Everything Everywhere Daily
Pi Is Encoded in the Patterns of Life
Alex Jones and 666 video
A Guide to Angel Numbers and What They Mean
Numerology Numbers 1-9: Exploring the single digit numbers in Numerology on Numerology.com
Numbers Stations episode of Everything Everywhere Daily
Number Stations on Priyom.org
Number Station Recordings - Creepy radio broadcasts from unknown origins (video with over 4 hours of recordings)
All About Cryptography episode of Everything Everywhere Daily
Prime Numbers episode of Everything Everywhere Daily
Prime Target TV series on IMDb
Zero, My Hero episode of Everything Everywhere Daily
Zero and NULL values
What is the Base-10 Number System?
Base 12: An Introduction
Babylonian Mathematics and the Base 60 System
Follow us on social:
Facebook
Twitter
Bluesky
Other Podcasts by Derek DeWitt
DIGITAL SIGNAGE DONE RIGHT - Winner of a Gold Quill Award, Gold MarCom Award, AVA Digital Award Gold, Silver Davey Award, and Communicator Award of Excellence, and on numerous top 10 podcast lists.
PRAGUE TIMES - A city is more than just a location - it’s a kaleidoscope of history, places, people and trends. This podcast looks at Prague, in the center of Europe, from a number of perspectives, including what it is now, what is has been and where it’s going. It’s Prague THEN, Prague NOW, Prague LATER
48 min
June 04, 2025Midnight Sun: Arctic Tales
EPISODE 138 | Midnight Sun: Arctic Tales
The Far North is a region of extremes and stark beauty, and it is also trying to kill you if you’re a human. And yet we still live there, around 4 million of us call the Arctic our home, and we still weave stories about it, often quite fanciful ones.
It’s a land of adventure, danger, murder, mishap, giants, ancient aliens, the origin of white people, secret tropical paradises, political talking points and even an overly generous fat guy in a red suit. It all depends on who you talk to.
Like what we do? Then buy us a beer or three via our page on Buy Me a Coffee. Review us here or on IMDb.
And seriously, subscribe, will ya?
SECTIONS
02:43 - Greenland Bound - The Northwest Passage and the Lost Franklin Expedition, The Franklin Conspiracy
13:49 - The Mighty Quinn - A brief history of the United States and Greenland, eyes on Canada
27:57 - För Fäderneslandet - Thule, Ultima Thule, the Thule Society and the Oera Linda Book
35:38 - The Dream Is Always the Same - Hyperborea vs. Atlantis, the White Order of Thule
42:54 - The Road to Utopia - The Alaska Triangle: a conspiracy theory concocted for television
Music by Fanette Ronjat
More Info
Hotlantis: The Lost Continent episode
Tell Me a Story: 3 UFO Tall Tales episode that includes the Dark Pyramid
What Lies Beneath: The Hollow Earth episode
History of the Franklin Expedition on the Government of Canada website
What happened to HMS Erebus and Terror? on the Royal Museums Greenwich website
What We Learned In The Search For Sir John Franklin on Arctic Kingdom
Franklin’s Lost Expedition: Myths, Mystery & Modern Day Relics on Quark Expeditions
Sir John Franklin's last arctic expedition: a medical disaster in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine
The great polar mystery: closing in on the truth in New Scientist
The Franklin Conspiracy: An Astonishing Solution to the Lost Arctic Expedition by Jeffrey Blair Latta
War And Winter In The North Atlantic on the U.S. Naval Institute
Cryolite, a rare mineral, is rekindling tensions between Greenland and Denmark in Le Monde
Early US Interest in Greenland section of Governing the North American Arctic: Sovereignty, Security, and Institutions on Google Books
Claiming Ultima Thule
Thule culture in Britannica
Hammer Of The Gods: The Thule Society And The Birth Of Nazism by David Luhrssen
Ayrian race occultism: Thule Secret Society influence on Nazi ideology video
Nazi Archaeology and the Oera Linda Book
Saved from the Flood - Oera Linda studies website
Ancient Sources about Hyperborea
Hyperborea on RationalWiki
Former Neo-Nazi Explains ‘Esoteric Nazism’
The Alaska Triangle – Disappearing Into Thin Air on Legends in America
What is the Alaska Triangle, where 20,000+ people have disappeared and never been found
The Alaska Triangle on IMDb
Follow us on social:
Facebook
Twitter
Bluesky
Other Podcasts by Derek DeWitt
DIGITAL SIGNAGE DONE RIGHT - Winner of a Gold Quill Award, Gold MarCom Award, AVA Digital Award Gold, Silver Davey Award, and Communicator Award of Excellence, and on numerous top 10 podcast lists.
PRAGUE TIMES - A city is more than just a location - it’s a kaleidoscope of history, places, people and trends. This podcast looks at Prague, in the center of Europe, from a number of perspectives, including what it is now, what is has been and where it’s going. It’s Prague THEN, Prague NOW, Prague LATER
51 min
May 21, 2025Tell Me a Story: 3 UFO Tall Tales
EPISODE 137 | Tell Me a Story: 3 UFO Tall Tales
When a narrative takes off, some folks want to get in on the action, and this is especially true in the world of woo or conspiracy, and really especially true when it comes to UFOs. Here are three tall tales from the UFO space - Whitely Streiber’s abduction writings, Budd Hopkins's Manhattan Alien Abduction and Linda Moulton Howe's incredible, fanciful, tale of a secret black pyramid buried in central Alaska.
Like what we do? Then buy us a beer or three via our page on Buy Me a Coffee. Review us here or on IMDb.
And seriously, subscribe, will ya?
SECTIONS
03:11 - Communion - Whitley Streiber is disappointed in Cat Magic
04:25 - Alien Butt Stuff - Communion becomes a huge hit
10:09 - How to Make Friends and Influence People - MANY other books, a complex mythology, Streiber's Basic Formula
19:01 - The Manhattan Alien Abduction - Linda "Cortile" Napolitano floats out her window and then the story gets really weird, Budd Hopkins investigates
28:07 - They Float, They All Float - The story has holes, Carol Rainey and others think it's a hoax, Linda sues Netflix
33:47 - Pyramid Song - Doug Mutschler sends Linda Moulton Howe an email
38:18 - commercial break 1 - looking for the point zero, fact checking his/her claims, Bruce Pearson sends an email, then more emails, then one about spontaneous remote viewing episodes and the "truth" is revealed
49:30 - commercial break 2 - Hugh Newman, Andrew and Andrew Gough chime in, Jonny Enoch has a theory, others jump on aboard
Music by Fanette Ronjat
More Info
Whitley Strieber on RationalWIki
Whitley Strieber on the Encyclopedia of American Loons
Communion or Concoction?
Primal Hooting chapter from Thomas M. Disch's On SF
Pretentious Whit - a review of another Streiber book on Skeptical Inquirer
The Controversial Story Behind Netflix’s New Docuseries The Manhattan Alien Abduction in Time Magazine
The True Story Behind Netflix’s ‘The Manhattan Alien Abduction’—What Happened To Linda Napolitano? in Forbes
Abducted in front of 23 witnesses and a UN secretary-general: The most famous UFO file is resurrected on Netflix in El Pais
‘The Manhattan Alien Abduction’ controversial true story: Why the star is suing Netflix on Today
The Linda Cortile Case by Greg Sandow
The Alaska Triangle, S02E01 - The Dark Pyramid and Violent Nature
Linda Moulton Howe's website
The Dark Pyramid in Alaska on Alien Hub
Dark Pyramids Under Alaska on The Illuminerdy
They Why Files video The Dark Pyramid of Alaska | Military Cover-up of a Forbidden Collaboration
Linda Moulton Howe on Ancient Pyramid Power and Strange Discoveries in Alaska video on GaiamTV
‘Dark Pyramid’ deep underground in Alaska by Michael Ruark
Alaska's Underground Pyramid: A Case of Faulty Memory? by Jason Colavito
Power Generating Pyramids on Soul Guidance
The Dark Pyramid of Alaska - Fact or Fiction? on Black Hoodie Alchemy
Follow us on social:
Facebook
Twitter
Bluesky
Other Podcasts by Derek DeWitt
DIGITAL SIGNAGE DONE RIGHT - Winner of a Gold Quill Award, Gold MarCom Award, AVA Digital Award Gold, Silver Davey Award, and Communicator Award of Excellence, and on numerous top 10 podcast lists.
PRAGUE TIMES - A city is more than just a location - it’s a kaleidoscope of history, places, people and trends. This podcast looks at Prague, in the center of Europe, from a number of perspectives, including what it is now, what is has been and where it’s going. It’s Prague THEN, Prague NOW, Prague LATER
57 min
May 07, 2025Incel-ation
EPISODE 136 | Incel-ation
Some say there’s a crisis of masculinity, or maybe it’s just that there’s still a lot of misogyny in our culture. Whatever the causes, one thing is clear – there are some young men out there who have difficulty interacting with women while also buying into the narrative that sex and female attention is somehow their right. And every once in a while, one of these guys goes postal, and violence is the result.
This is the sad and sometimes scary world of incels.
Like what we do? Then buy us a beer or three via our page on Buy Me a Coffee. Review us here or on IMDb.
And seriously, subscribe, will ya?
SECTIONS
02:22 - The 2014 Isla Vista attacks
07:22 - Incels make the front page, #NotAllMen, #YesAllWomen, Minassian
11:06 - Incel started as an online space for everyone, toxic masculinity took it over
16:14 - An Incel lexicon: Alphas, Betas and Omegas; Chads, Stacys, Beckys, PUA hate, Lookism, many types of -cels, rating systems, Chadfishing
28:35 - Bluepill, cucks, redpill, soyboys, gymaxxing, blackpill, pinkpill, JBpill, hERoes, suicidal ideation, fakecels, more -pills
39:34 - Sexual violence, femoids, AWALT, what to call all this, more attacks, pathological interpersonal victimhood, NEET, NoFap builds character, online bragging
50:58 - The media doesn't understand the incel world, can it be "cured"?
Music by Fanette Ronjat
More Info
Incels (Involuntary celibates) at the ADL
Incels on ISD Explainers
Our Incel Problem on Vox
Incels: The Worrying Rise of an Online Subculture on Safer Schools
Elliot Rodger’s Online Life Provides a Glimpse at a Hateful Group of “Anti-Pick-up Artists” on Vice
IncelWiki
Incelsite
How ‘Incel’ Got Hijacked on Politico
The woman who founded the 'incel' movement on BBC
What Happens to Men Who Can't Have Sex in Elle
The incel lexicon: Deciphering the emergent cryptolect of a global
misogynistic community - 2021 paper by Kelly Caroline Gothard
Incels: A Guide to Symbols and Terminology
Incels: A short guide for those teaching Year 10 and above
'Looksmaxxing': This incel uses a hammer to make his face 'more attractive' | The Secret World of Incels on CBC
Incel hits himself in face with hammer because he thinks it will improve looks
The Psychological Profile of INCELS by William Costello
Responding to the incel ideology on The Safeguarding Network
Yes, the incel community has a sexism problem, but we can do something about it on The Conversation
How do you deradicalise an incel? in Wired
CMV: The most effective way to fight against incel ideology Reddit post
How Do I Stop Being An Incel? on Paging Dr. NerdLove
Conspiracy Beliefs and Violent Extremist Intentions: The Contingent Effects of Self-efficacy, Self-control and Law-related Morality - paper by Bettina Rottweiler and Paul Gill
Follow us on social:
Facebook
Twitter
Bluesky
Other Podcasts by Derek DeWitt
DIGITAL SIGNAGE DONE RIGHT - Winner of a 2022 Gold Quill Award, 2022 Gold MarCom Award, 2021 AVA Digital Award Gold, 2021 Silver Davey Award, 2020 Communicator Award of Excellence, and on numerous top 10 podcast lists.
PRAGUE TIMES - A city is more than just a location - it’s a kaleidoscope of history, places, people and trends. This podcast looks at Prague, in the center of Europe, from a number of perspectives, including what it is now, what is has been and where it’s going. It’s Prague THEN, Prague NOW, Prague LATER
57 min
April 23, 2025On Shakey Ground: More Shakespeare Authorship
EPISODE 135 | On Shakey Ground: More Shakespeare Authorship
Guest: Scott Jackson, Mary Irene Ryan Executive Artistic Director of Shakespeare at the University of Notre Dame, current president of the Shakespeare Theatre Association (STA), stage actor and director
On the anniversary of Shakespeare's life and death (both), a look at some of the more fringe of fringe theories as to who "really" wrote the plays and sonnets attributed to the "Man from Stratford".
Like what we do? Then buy us a beer or three via our page on Buy Me a Coffee. Review us here or on IMDb.
And seriously, subscribe, will ya?
SECTIONS
02:56 - A recap of the Oxfordian Theory, the film "Anonymous", the Declaration of Reasonable Doubt, people asking questions
11:48 - The Prince Tudor Theory, Parts 1 & 2, most people don't take any of this seriously
20:32 - Shakespeare was Italian - Crollalanza/Scrollalanza/M. Florio, John Florio
25:22 - S. was Sicilian, most plots existed before, S. was Jewish, paintings as proof, S. was both Italian and Jewish, shades of Shylock, the performance approach; S. was Cervantes, S. had a weak chin, S. was Irish (Patrick O'Toole or William Nugent), S. was an Arab (Shaikh Zubayr)
37:06 - S. was a woman (Queen Elizabeth, Mary Queen of Scots, Anne Whateley, Anne Hathaway, Mary Sidney Herbert, Emelia Lanier/Aemilia Bassano), the Dark Lady of the Sonnets, Shakespeare CTs are like fan fiction
44:08 - A committed Stratfordian because it was a single hand
Music by Fanette Ronjat
More Info
Who Wrote Shakespeare? Shakespeare Authorship 101
Behind the Quill: Debating the Shakespeare Authorship
Greene's Jealousy of Shakespeare
8 Shakespeare Conspiracy Theories
Top 18 Reasons Why Edward de Vere (Oxford) Was Shakespeare
Debunking the Oxfordian Claims about Shakespearean Authorship
The Declaration of Reasonable Doubt
“Prince Tudor” Theory Began in 1932…
Southampton and the Tudor Rose Theory
Prince Tudor and the Sonnets
All Is True by Mike A’Dair (Prince Tudor 2)
Professor claims Shakespeare was Italian
Was Shakespeare Italian?
John Florio – The Anglified Italian Who Invented William Shakespeare
Was Shakespeare a Believing Jew?
The Secret Jewish History of William Shakespeare
The secret connection between Cervantes and Shakespeare
Shakespeare and Cervantes: Two geniuses and one death date
Shakespeare’s Irish connections
Shakespeare Was An Irishman
Qadhafi: Shakespeare Was an Arab Named Shaykh Zubayr
Was Shakespeare a Woman?
Unmasking Shakespeare
Was Shakespeare Actually This Jewish Woman?
Amelia Bassano: The True Shakespeare? on Snopes
Fact check: No evidence that Aemilia Bassano wrote all of Shakespeare’s plays
In search of Shakespeare's dark lady
How reading Shakespeare could help stop conflict in the Middle East
Finding Shakespeare on the Skeptoid podcast
The Shakespeare Apocalypse
Follow us on social:
Facebook
Twitter
Bluesky
Other Podcasts by Derek DeWitt
DIGITAL SIGNAGE DONE RIGHT - Winner of a 2022 Gold Quill Award, 2022 Gold MarCom Award, 2021 AVA Digital Award Gold, 2021 Silver Davey Award, 2020 Communicator Award of Excellence, and on numerous top 10 podcast lists.
PRAGUE TIMES - A city is more than just a location - it’s a kaleidoscope of history, places, people and trends. This podcast looks at Prague, in the center of Europe, from a number of perspectives, including what it is now, what is has been and where it’s going. It’s Prague THEN, Prague NOW, Prague LATER
49 min
April 09, 2025Behind the History Mysteries
EPISODE 134 | Behind the History Mysteries
Guest: Neil Laird, Emmy-nominated TV producer (Discovery, BBC, PBS, History, National Geographic), author of the Prime Time novel series
TV has so many of these Secrets of..., Mysteries of... shows, you have to wonder how they keep the stories fresh and compelling. Well, wonder no more, as Emmy-nominated producer Neil Laird takes us behind the camera on some of the many shows he's produced to kick off the start of our sixth year.
Like what we do? Then buy us a beer or three via our page on Buy Me a Coffee. Review us here or on IMDb.
And seriously, subscribe, will ya?
SECTIONS
02:18 - How he got into the biz, how it works,
08:37 - You need a hook, the business is dying, In Search of..., don't ignore the woo crowd
19:07 - What on Earth?, structuring the shows, History's Greatest Mysteries, Errol Morris changes documentaries, reenactments in docs, "JFK" uses documentary techniques for fiction, cinéma vérité vs. direct cinema, Blair Witch
26:27 - How can we trust what we see?, the industry is getting democratized but many people lose their jobs, modern hybrid docuseries with fictional techniques in reenactments (Rise of Empires: Ottoman, etc.), after the hook you live or die on the story you tell, no one wants to watch a textbook
32:43 - Blowing Up History (Unearthed) and using computer reconstructions, video games like Assassin's Creed and Mafia as educational tools, get the audience to trust the journey, conspiracy belief is emotional and personal, the audience responds with fact-checking, don't forget Israel on your maps
38:59 - The future of docuseries, streaming needs less content than network, formats are changing, the How to Become a.... trilogy, a specific point of view instead of objective distance, the Prime Time series and Gay Ancient History
Music by Fanette Ronjat
More Info
Neil Laird on IMDb
Neil Laird on TikTok
Neil Laird website
Follow us on social:
Facebook
Twitter
Bluesky
Other Podcasts by Derek DeWitt
DIGITAL SIGNAGE DONE RIGHT - Winner of a 2022 Gold Quill Award, 2022 Gold MarCom Award, 2021 AVA Digital Award Gold, 2021 Silver Davey Award, 2020 Communicator Award of Excellence, and on numerous top 10 podcast lists.
PRAGUE TIMES - A city is more than just a location - it’s a kaleidoscope of history, places, people and trends. This podcast looks at Prague, in the center of Europe, from a number of perspectives, including what it is now, what is has been and where it’s going. It’s Prague THEN, Prague NOW, Prague LATER
47 min
March 26, 2025Cult Pop Suicide: Japanese Cults
EPISODE 133 | Cult Pop Suicide: Japanese Cults
Japan is a land of many contradictions - very forward-looking but also retrograde. And when it comes to the spiritual side of things, quite a few people seem to fall for various cults, scammers and charlatans. And just offbeat beliefs, like that Jesus' brother died on the cross while He moved to Aomori Prefecture in northern Honshu, where he married and taught and lived until 106.
Like what we do? Then buy us a beer or three via our page on Buy Me a Coffee. Review us here or on IMDb.
And seriously, subscribe, will ya?
SECTIONS
04:52 - Hey Mister Banjo - The Yamagishi Society
07:28 - Hotaru no Hikari (Light of the Fireflies) - Mahikari, the World True Light Civilization Religious Organization
10:34 - Nagaragawa Enka (The Enka of the Nagara River) - Life Space Movement, shakty pat and a mummy
15:44 - Katatsumuri Samba (Snail Samba) - Ho No Hana Sanpōgyō, the Flower of Buddhist Teaching; Hogen Fukunaga and Yogesh Gandhi donate money to the DNC, kick off Chinagate
23:54 - Orokamono (Fool) - Pana-Wave Laboratory, electromagnetic waves, Tama-chan the arctic seal, a police standoff and the end of the world
33:50 - Doctor Head's World Tower - Happy Science, EL Cantare, gods from Venus, Komei No Kai sells water, Happy Science gets political, sets records, gets in beefs and embraces MAGA, pioneers "spiritual vaccines"
43:41 - Lunatic Doll: Ansatsu Keikoku (Assassination Warning) - Aum Shinrikyo has a real bad attitude, the sarin gas attacks of March 20, 1995 plus other crimes before and after
54:26 - Japanese police are unprepared for NRMs, online suicide cults, hikikomori
Music by Fanette Ronjat
More Info
Expo 2025 website
Apples, boogie and shamisen: A Brief look at Japanese Popular Music during the Allied Occupation
Kazuya Kosaka & the Wagon Masters - Hey Mister Banjo
‘Rokabiri’: The Music That Shook Japan on Japan Nakama
Glow of the Fireflies/Hotaru no hikari song
Japanese Enka Music
Nagaragawa Enka song performed by Junko Ishihara
Katatsumuri Samba song by Onyanko Club
Orokamono song by Masahiko Kondo
The World Tower song by Flipper's Guitar
Black Hole song by Mari Hamada
Keeping the Faith: Christ’s Tomb in Aomori and Japanese Religion on Nippon.com
The Grave of Jesus Christ on Travel Japan
The 5 Scariest Japanese Cults on Japan Daily
10 Bizarre Japanese Cults You’ve Probably Never Heard Of on Listverse
Rise of Japanese cults on BBC
Japanese Society and Religion on the Eve of the 21st Century by MAEKAWA Michiko
Whatever happened to Yamagishi? in Japan Times
The Yamagishi Association: successful, moneyless, leaderless network of communes in Japan and elsewhere on Lowimpact.org
Sukyo Mahikari North America website
World Divine Light website
Japanese Cults–Koji Takahashi and the Life Space Movement on Japan Powered
The Corpse And The Cult in Newsweek
Life Space Movement (Shakty Pay Guru Foundation) Raided in Japan on Center for Studies on New Religions
Life Space guru denies suggesting man leave hospital on Japan Times
A battle over mummified body renews worry about Japan cults on DeseretNews
Ho No Hana Sanpogyo on Apologetics Index
1996 United States campaign finance controversy on Wikipedia
New Religious Movement Raided in Japan: Ho No Hana on CESNUR
Honohana foot-cult guru gets 12 years for fraud on Japan Times
Pana Wave Laboratory on World Religions and Spirituality Project
Doomsday cult makes waves in Japan in The Guardian
Probing Pana Wave's nature
The Latest Japanese Cult Panic in Religion in the News
Pana Wave at the Cult Education Institute
A nation's fate is sealed - Guardian article on Tama-chan
Foreigners seek same rights as seal on Japan Times
Pana Wave: Doomsday and Tama-chan the Seal video
Pana Wave pictures
Happy Science website
Japan’s infamous ‘happy’ cult sets sights on the United States
The Happy Science Religious Movement Claims to Hold the Cure for COVID-19
A Japanese Cult That Believes Its Leader Is an Alien From Venus Is Speaking at CPAC
How a fringe religious movement in Japan built a pro-Trump social media empire
Happy Science Is the Laziest Cult Ever on Vice
Why is Japan the ideal country according to the Alt-Right movement
Japan's rising right-wing nationalism video
Consideration of the Status of Conspiracy Theories in Japan Based on Attempts at Regime Destruction Overseas in International Information Network Analysis
QAnon Is Alive and Well in Japan
Aum Shinrikyo: The Japanese cult behind the Tokyo Sarin attack on BBC
Chronology of Aum Shinrikyo's CBW Activities paper
Aum Shinrikyo report at the Ministry of Justice
Revisiting Aum Shinrikyo: New Insights into the Most Extensive Non-State Biological Weapons Program to Date
Aleph official website (in Japanese)
Aum Sect/Shoko Asahara on Cult Education Institute
Religion-Making in Japan’s Courts of Law
Conspiracy Theories and Their Believers in Contemporary Japan
New Religions in Japan
Yearning for spiritual leadership, Japan has spawned a rash of apocalyptic religions and ominously popular sects at the Cult Education Institute
Japanese New Religious Movements: An Introduction by Franz Weiner in the Handbook of East Asian New Religious Movement
Japan’s chilling Internet suicide pacts
Japan suicide websites targeted after 'house of horrors'
Hikikomori, A Japanese Culture-Bound Syndrome of Social Withdrawal? A Proposal for DSM-V
Follow us on social:
Facebook
Twitter
Bluesky
Other Podcasts by Derek DeWitt
DIGITAL SIGNAGE DONE RIGHT - Winner of a 2022 Gold Quill Award, 2022 Gold MarCom Award, 2021 AVA Digital Award Gold, 2021 Silver Davey Award, 2020 Communicator Award of Excellence, and on numerous top 10 podcast lists.
PRAGUE TIMES - A city is more than just a location - it’s a kaleidoscope of history, places, people and trends. This podcast looks at Prague, in the center of Europe, from a number of perspectives, including what it is now, what is has been and where it’s going. It’s Prague THEN, Prague NOW, Prague LATER
58 min
March 12, 2025Keel Hauled: UAP Update
EPISODE 132 | Keel Hauled: UAP Update
Recent revelations, reports, videos and hearings have been leading up to what many UAP folks call Disclosure. Some interesting things have come out, and a whole lot of nonsense as well.
Spoiler: UFOs are real. Apart from that single fact, no one really has any hard evidence for anything else. So, they speculate.
Like what we do? Then buy us a beer or three via our page on Buy Me a Coffee. Review us here or on IMDb.
And seriously, subscribe, will ya?
SECTIONS
03:00 - Bullet Train to Iowa - AATIP, UFO into UAP into UAP, Luis Elizondo, Harry Reid, Robert Bigelow, Christopher Mellon leaks a video in 2017, the DoD confirmed, more videos (Gimbal, Go Fast, FLIR1), the UAP Task Force, triangles, spheres, acorns and metallic blimps
07:28 - UAPTF Report (June 2021), more data needed, AOIMSG, HISCCC hearing (May 2022), more data needed, AARO, NDAs for whistleblowers negated, Disclosure is being slow-walked, more video footage
11:52 - Grey Area - Project Blue Book, Evangelicals, Kenneth Arnold, flying saucers, Roswell & Project Mogul, UFOs as cover story, scammers
15:36 - A Singularity - The UFO ecosystem - Brad Steiger's The Reality Game, 18 theories about UFOs (including the Magic Theatre, the Overlord Theory, John Keel's Ultraterrestrials)
19:31 - The "Extraterrestrial Almanac", Tim Burchett has a press conference, everyone has a theory
22:33 - Bread and Circus - Congressional hearing (July 2023), David Fravor and Ryan Graves, David Grusch makes some amazing claims but offers no evidence, Grusch jumps on board with the interdimensional crowd, Grusch had had some troubles in the past, NASA creates the Director of Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Research (Sept. 2023), hardcore Christians think it's all demons, true believers on both sides
29:55 - The Underwhelming - The Disclosure Project, Dr. Steven Greer, ARVs & the Wilson Memo, To the Stars Academy becomes To the Stars, Inc., Skinwalkers at the Pentagon, Jay Stratton has a book deal thanks to Dan Farah, Luis Elizondo writes Imminent: Inside the Pentagon's Hunt for UFO which has more than a few problems (remote viewing, nosy orbs), the Collins Elite & Legacy Program
38:14 - Personal Prometheus - AARO's report (March 2024), NASA's report (April 2024) - more data needed and stop bothering witnesses, Congressional hearing in November 2024 with Lue Elizondo, Dr. Tim Gallaudet, Michael Gold - more videos, people being threatened, an international arms race to back-engineer UAP tech, some tech in the hands of private companies
42:18 - Michael Shellenberger talks about SAPs, USAPs, TUOs and NHIs; Immaculate Constellation (formed in 2017) describes all sorts of UAPs (like boomerangs, triangles, and irregular/organic), Blue Force technology, verbal dancing
48:03 - Apocalyptical - Lauren Boebert is an idiot, UAP fans were not happy with Disclosure's progress, Grusch had a lot more to say, aliens are really evil transdimensional entities, Greer says they eat human souls while we sleep and also cries a lot
51:15 - Is it all disinfo? Are they all nuts? Are "they" really demons? Wild notions of what "full disclosure" will finally reveal (a real Conspiracy Theory of Everything [CTOE]), it's a vast spiritual war among creatures made of conscious energy
54:43 - Theorem - What we really know:- UAPs (and USOs) are real, some Evangelicals hate all this talk because they really do think they are demons and try to keep it all quiet; other ideas, less and less likely; the New York Post's video "Spooky Hustlers", those first three videos started it all but Brian Dunning examines them in "The UFO Movie They Don't Want You to See"
Music by Fanette Ronjat
More Info
EPISODE 31 | Scammers, Inc.: MJ-12, Bennewitz & Serpo
EPISODE 29 | The Notorious M.I.B.
EPISODE 32 | A View to Vril (Valiant Thor bit around 21:29)
EPISODE 99 | A Bridge Too Far: The Mothman Visits Point Pleasant
EPISODE 23 | Signs, Grudges & Blue Books: Early UFOlogy
EPISODE 35 | A Field Guide to Aliens
EPISODE 74 | Red Alert: UFOs as Threat!
EPISODE 94 | Peek-A-Boo: Project Star Gate
EPISODE 17 | Project Blue Beam: Abandon Hope All Ye Who Research Here
Timeline of Major UFO/UAP Events at New Space Economy
UAP articles and videos on UAP on The Black Vault (147 pages!)
FOIA documents about AATIP
'AATIP' explored: A brief look inside the government's top-secret UFO program on SYFY
Watch the Pentagon's three declassified UFO videos taken by U.S. Navy pilots
Establishment of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force at the DoD
UAP Task Force documents
UAP Task Force report
A PHILOSOPHICAL ANALYSIS OF THE UAPTF’s PRELIMINARY ASSESSMENT ON UFOs By Adrian G. Rudnyk
DoD Announces the Establishment of the Airborne Object Identification and Management Synchronization Group (AOIMSG)
AOIMSG briefing card
More AOIMSG documents
AARO website with many links
The Pentagon got hundreds of new reports of UFOs in 2022, a government report says on NPR
The Roswell Report: Case Closed from US Air Force HQ, published in 1994
Report on Project Mogul: Synopsis of Balloon Research Findings
Other worlds, other universes: Playing the reality game by Brad Steiger
Brad Steiger's 17 Theories Of The UFO Enigma
Extraterrestrial Almanac video
Senators aim to set a mandatory timeline and process for agencies to declassify all UAP records
UFO Disclosure: The Most Significant Law in Human History?
UAP Disclosure Act of 2023
Is US on the Verge of 'Catastrophic' UFO Leak? What We Know in Newsweek
Why the Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP) Disclosure Act of 2023 Falls Far Short of Its Intended Purpose — And What That Means for Transparency
Records Related to Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAPs) at the National Archives
UNIDENTIFIED ANOMALOUS PHENOMENA: IMPLICATIONS ON NATIONAL SECURITY, PUBLIC SAFETY, AND GOVERNMENT TRANSPARENCY report on 2023 Congressional hearing
U.S. recovered non-human 'biologics' from UFO crash sites, former intel official says
Here are the 5 most memorable moments from Congress’ UFO hearing
The UFO Whistleblower’s Extraordinary Congressional Hearing
We are not alone: The UFO whistleblower speaks
UFO whistleblower David Grusch says his health records were leaked
UFO whistleblower David Grusch interview: What’s happened since?
Accidental Truth: UFO Revelations - video of MUFON documentary
NASA appoints new head of UFO research on Space.com
UPDATE: NASA Shares UAP Independent Study Report; Names Director
Eric Davis meeting with Adm. Wilson (the "Wilson Memo")
Dr. Steven Greer website
Executive Summary of the Disclosure Project Briefing Document by Greer
To the Stars (the new website)
To the Stars description (after rebranding)
Skinwalkers at the Pentagon: An Insiders' Account of the Secret Government UFO Program on Amazon
George Knapp statement to Congress
Another UFO Boss to Break Silence in Major Book Deal: “The Process of Disclosure Has Begun”
Imminent: Inside the Pentagon's Hunt for UFO by Luis Elizondo
Review of Imminent at The Sentinel
Summary of themes in Immanent on SuperSummary
Summaries of chapters 6-10 from Imminent
AARO 2024 report
NASA UAP Independent Study Team Report from 2024
NASA UAP webpage
Congress is revisiting UFOs: Here's what's happened since last hearing on extraterrestrials
Burchett press conference
Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena: Exposing the Truth on November 23, 2024 UAP hearing
FULL HEARING: US Congress discusses "Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena" video
Documents about Immaculate Constellation entered into the Congressional record
CD307: Immaculate Constellation at Congressional Dish (plus other links)
Congress heard more testimony about UFOs: Here are the biggest revelations
Alien Technology Is Driving a ‘Multidecade, Secretive Arms Race,’ Former Pentagon Official Claims in Popular Mechanics
What is the Cryptoterrestrial Hypothesis?
ULTRATERRESTRIAL MODELS by H. E. Puthoff, Ph.D. in Journal of Cosmology, Vol. 29, No. 1
Unraveling the Mysteries of the Superspectrum: A Look at John Keel's Vision of Ultraterrestrials
A comprehensive UAP theory of everything from @TomMontalk
Disclosure Warriors Uncover a Vast UFO Coverup Conspiracy: Guerrilla Skeptics on Wikipedia!
Spooky Hustlers: How wacky UFO activists and "crazy" ghost hunters duped Congress into hunting UFOs - video from the New York Post (long but worthwhile)
Brian Dunning's The UFO Movie They Don't Want You to See webpage
The UFO Movie THEY Don't Want You to See - Full Movie on YouTube (analysis on those first 3 UAP videos starts around 54 minutes in)
Follow us on social:
Facebook
Twitter
Bluesky
Other Podcasts by Derek DeWitt
DIGITAL SIGNAGE DONE RIGHT - Winner of a 2022 Gold Quill Award, 2022 Gold MarCom Award, 2021 AVA Digital Award Gold, 2021 Silver Davey Award, 2020 Communicator Award of Excellence, and on numerous top 10 podcast lists.
PRAGUE TIMES - A city is more than just a location - it’s a kaleidoscope of history, places, people and trends. This podcast looks at Prague, in the center of Europe, from a number of perspectives, including what it is now, what is has been and where it’s going. It’s Prague THEN, Prague NOW, Prague LATER
1 hr

About Conspiracy Clearinghouse

From the publisher's feed

A rather skeptical look at conspiracies and mysteries. Each episode will examine conspiracy theories, most of which are not true, a few of which might be a little bit true and even a couple that…