Mystery on the Rocks

January 1972, a plane crashes over what was then Czechoslovakia. Some believe it was shot down by Czechoslovakian defences mistakenly believing it to be an enemy aircraft, whereas some believe it was a briefcase bomb on board planted by Croatian nationalists.

So what's the truth?

Join us as we also dredge up the existence of Liam Lynch's 2003 microhit United States of Whatever and find ourselves in yet another surprise sequel to an episode from Mystery on the Rocks past...

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In 1970, prominent Italian journalist Mauro de Mauro vanishes without trace in Siciliy, his remains never discovered to this day.

So what happened?

Could it have something to do with the story he was about to break at the leftwing newspaper he was working at? Or was it to do with his shady fascist past during the era of Mussolini? Was it the Mafia? Or could it have something to do with a mysterious, unsolved plane crash eight years previously?

We take a look at all the options while drinking a delicious praline-based cocktail and eating bar snacks...

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This week's episode takes a quick squint at the conspiracy theories that suggest mankind's greatest feat of space exploration never happened. There are many who believe the moon landings were 100% fake, but what do we think?

We're sure you can guess...

Along the way we also touch on the Flat Earth theory and one of the more outlandish conspiracy theories we heard about the pandemic.

Remember, you can now watch extended Mystery on the Rocks episodes over at our Patreon - patreon.com/mysteryontherocks.

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In 1968 Francoist Spain, one of the leading members of the antifascist Basque separatist cell ETA sets in motion a chain of events that reach right up to the present day, including the assassinations of a Francoist police torturer and Franco's own chosen successor, a bitter fight throughout the 1980s with another terrorist group and maybe even the return of democracy to Spain in the late 70s.

With, somehow, added chat about taxidermy...

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In 1965, civil rights activist Viola Liuzzo was fatally shot during a car chase when she was pursued by four members of the KKK after she had been shuttling civil rights protestors back to the airport.

Except, this is in a Southern State, so justice isn't easily forthcoming.

And even the architect of the murder itself isn't all he seems...

Lots of surprises in this one, not least how we manage to end up talking about The Phantom Menace...

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The daddy of all conspiracy theories...

In November 1963, president of the United States John F Kennedy is shot dead in Dallas, Texas. Lee Harvey Oswald is quickly named as the assassin, firing from the Texas Book Depository, but this version of events has failed to satisfy everyone. The presence of some homeless men with "nice shoes", a man with an umbrella despite clement weather and a incongruously dressed "Baboushka Lady" in the vicinity are just some ingredients which have perpetuated quite probably the most famous conspiracy theory of all time.

So what do we think...?

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This week we find ourselves well and truly in the 1960s with the world the closest to nuclear war as it had come by this point... We take a quick look at why and what happened, get the year in which Dr Strangelove was released wrong and somehow become a Red Dwarf fan-cast along the way as well as finding ourselves performing a rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody.

It's a weird one, even by our standards...

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At the height of the Cold War, the Soviet Union supposedly sent up doomed manned spaceflights before Yuri Gagarin was recognised officially as the first man in space. While the Soviet Union never formally acknowledged the existence of these lost cosmonauts, and neither has Russia since the end of the Cold War, some recordings made by two Italian brothers apparently intercepted transmissions from these doomed missions and have given credence to the story.

But is it true?

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Due to life/scheduling reasons, this week's episode isn't our regular programming. Instead of a mystery, this is a compilation of a tiny percentage of the extra just-chatting bonus stuff we put out on Patreon.

So join us in the members' lounge of the Mystery on the Rocks bar as we discuss the recent (when we recorded) Oscars hoo-ha, weird dreams, diarrhoea, the bombshell that Chris was a nerd at school, snail depression, forgotten kids' TV shows, and 9/11 conspiracy theories.

For more, sign up to our Patreon where there are regular bonus episodes, exclusive outtakes, special video content and even some merch!

www.patreon.com/mysteryontherocks

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Our current season continues into the 1950s as we take a look at the suicide of Lester C Hunt, a Democratic Senator for Wyoming. Several factors could have led to his ultimate decision to take his own life, including a personal scandal and recent diagnosis of ill health.

Or was it increased pressure from certain politicians whom he had rubbed up the wrong way? Or a combination of all three?

Due to a combination of life and scheduling reasons, next week's episode will be a frivolous cut of some of our bonus content before normal service is resumed the following week...

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