Mystery on the Rocks

This week we find the Cold War well and truly underway as one of the Soviet Union's most totemic figures (probably the most) bows out.

In 1953, the Iron Man of Russia - Joseph Stalin - pegged it, precipitating a scramble for power and potentially a pretty big set back for the USSR at a crucial point in the burgeoning Cold War...

We also briefly discuss weird sneezes, Lenin's dick and Sooz considers getting a boob out "for the podcast".

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This week's episode sees us move from the war into the 1950s, to the United States where the Civil Rights Movement is gaining momentum. So much so, that it has some white supremacists pretty worried. And at this point, white supremacists didn't need to be threatened in order to kill people.

In 1951, pioneering Harry and Harriet Moore are murdered at home, becoming the first civil rights activists to be assassinated during the movement by opponents to their cause. The case remains unsolved decades later, despite a few suspects being likely.

And could the attack possibly have links to the case of the Groveland Four two years previously...?

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This week, we recorded on location in Sooz's dressing room as she got ready for a show (hence the echo, sorry guys) to discuss the end of World War II, specifically the devastating bombings of Japanese cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki with nuclear weapons in August 1945.

The death toll was huge and not always immediate. They may have put an end to World War II but the bombings also ushered in a new era of terror, the concept of mutually assured destruction and had a human cost which continues to be felt today...

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Happy Birthday to us! We take a break from the current season as this week's episode is our third birthday special! A hugely self-indulgent stroll down memory lane as we recount the Mystery on the Rocks origins story, recap all of our mysteries so far, briefly discuss the future of the podcast and - naturally - get sidetracked by being silly.

We've done so many episodes now that the completists among you may notice a few misrememberings. We know now that the Somerton Man's last meal was a pasty and not a kebab but we were going on hazy half-rememberings of yesteryear. And can someone please tell us which episode was 'The Buttermilk One' because none of us can remember? Let us know if we got anything wrong and tell us your favourite moments from the show if we missed any out.

And if we didn't miss your favourite out, let us know anyway!

Thank you for the bottom of our hearts for sticking with us and allowing the podcast to continue. Here's to many more!

Sooz, Masud & Chris

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This week we are reaching the end of World War II and quite probably our most immature episode yet as we take a look at some of the conspiracy theories regarding the possibility that Adolf Hitler didn't end his own life in the bunker as Allied forces closed in on him in 1945, but instead survived and escaped via submarine to Argentina...

And is there even a chance that he invented Angostura bitters...?

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For listeners from Eastern Europe, Poland specifically, we apologise sincerely and profusely for our terrible, terrible pronunciations. What dinguses we felt! Right stupidos...

Why so heavy on Polish place names this episode? WELL! This week finds us in the latter days of World War II as a supposed train full of gold and treasures plundered by the Nazis goes missing in the Polish mountains. Is it still out there somewhere? Many have searched for it, including the Polish military for a time, and our minds are blown as we discover the most recent attempt to locate it continued after we started this podcast!

And for an episode about a train full of loot stolen by the Nazis we certainly discuss the practicalities of The Three Little Pigs and the painting of dogs playing poker a bit too much...

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In early 1943, the Allies are planning to invade Sicily - although with each side of the war closely scrutinising the other with a ramped up focus on espionage and stealing secrets the question arises as to how to do so without the enemy knowing.

A supremely audacious plan is concocted to throw Axis powers of the scent, a plan which has to be perfectly calibrated in order for the enemy to fall for it. And so, in nominally netural territory, Operation Mincemeat is put into action thanks to a future spy novelist, a couple of meticulous intelligence men, a submarine and a homeless man.

This is the story of the man who never was...

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Slightly looser episode this week as we get far too distracted by the relationship status of the two main characters in Jurassic Park but when we get to business it's two mysteries for the price of one!

Our series hits the 1940s, which you know full well means World War 2. America's entrance into the conflict lies in the attack on Pearl Harbour so here we delve into two mysteries centered around the attack.

Firstly, could a board game contain a coded message warning of the attack ahead of time and, secondly, is there a ghost plane flying the skies following the attack?

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We might take a little longer than usual to get to the subject of this week's episode because Sooz and Chris were recording in the same room and so more time was spent on the cocktails as Masud instructed them on what to make but when we get there, we uncover something of a mystery within a topic we all thought we knew quite a great deal about.

In 1938, the Nazis targeted Jewish businesses in what has become known as the Night of Broken Glass. Except, that's a bit of a simplification over time - it obviously wasn't just businesses, it was people and this was far from the first example of anti-semitic persecution by the Nazis.

But what we didn't know before we got to this episode was the story of a 17 year old Polish Jew living in Paris at the time by the name of Herschel Grynszpan...

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Our current season hits 1937 an we head to Paris where Russian politician and economist Dimitri Navachine is stabbed to death while walking his dog. Despite the attack taking place in broad daylight, the mystery has never been solved, possibly because so many questions surround Dimitri himself...

Was he exiled in France? Had he just emigrated there? Was he advising the French government off his own left-leaning back or was he infiltrating it as a spy for the Soviet Union?

And who really wanted him dead? Mother Russia or a local fascist terror cell? And could the answer relate to the subject of one of our earliest episodes?

And who remembers the kids' TV show Woof!?

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