Live ONLINE event (no cover charge)! Join the alchemical actors (who moonlight as the live performance ensemble the Phenomenal Animals) for our original adaptation of Lovecraft's Dunwich Horror featuring radio play antics and live commentary from some of our performers. Follow the link for more information.

https://fringepvd.org/the-dunwich-horror-click-to-play.html

The text of the Emerald Tablet can fit on the back of a t-shirt but through the ages experimenters across Europe and the Middle East have puzzled over this spare collection of lines in search of the secret to transmutation. What is the key to the philosopher's gold and how does it relate to the mystery of the soul's incarnation on earth?

Beginning in the 1970s, satanists and occultists of various stripes were accused of abusing children and performing blood sacrifices. In the 1990s, these accusations blended with claims by conspiracy theorists of a vast government effort to manipulate the public. We analyze Cathy O'Brien's account of her time as a CIA sex slave. Why is this story consistently rejected by her fellow conspiracy theorists? Is it possible to read her book as a critique of masculine power and government corruption? In this episode, we say yes. Yes, it is.

Was John Todd really an occultist? The evidence suggests that he was. Why, then, did he invent so many lies about wiccans, druids, and other occultists whose circles he traveled in when we converted to become a fundamentalist preacher? In this episode, we interrogate Todd's theory that H. P. Lovecraft wrote about actual occult practices, compare Todd's career to the "Satan Seller" Mike Warnke, and follow Todd to the mental health facility where he lived out the end of his days.

Throughout his life, John Todd moved back and forth between playing the role of a neopagan occultist and a fundamentalist Christian. He argued that he was a "born witch" and leading member of the Illuminati before discovering Christ. He said that the Illuminati worked to actively propagate satanic and occult belief among the American populace through rock music, popular television and movies, and Charles Manson. Why does the Illuminati want to take our guns and what happens in 1980 when they bring about the rise of the anti-Christ? We'll find out in the first of our two-part series on Todd's Illuminati Witch Cult conspiracy theory.

In the second installment of our campfire series, we share stories and topics suggested by listeners as well as two occult book reviews. Join us for Icelandic werewolves, a furby sacrifice, a nightmare hag, transgender occultism, mechanical birds, and more.

In the last of our special series on plagues and religion, Rob discusses the ten plagues of Egypt. What hidden meanings exist in the story of the plagues and the way the narrative is structured? Is there any scientific basis for the way the plague narrative unfolds? And why did God harden Pharaoh's heart?

The Protocols of the Elders of Zion is one of the most dangerous books of the twentieth century. It inspired pogroms in Russia, Nazis in Germany, and anti-Semitism across the Western world. The Protocols fed a variety of conspiracy theories pulling together religious, occult, and illuminati themes. In this episode, we explore the influence of the Protocols from the last days of the Romanovs to George Soros.

Julian of Norwich lived through the black death, ensuing riots, the Western Schism, and the persecution of a variety of heretical movements by the medieval Church. During a near-death experience, Julian had a mystical vision in which she discovered that God is not wrathful but loving and that sin is both necessary and an illusion.