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!

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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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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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