In August of 2022, Ash and Michelle talked about the grooming of Vili Fualaau by his sixth grade teacher Mary Kay Letourneau.

Michelle told Ash about the extremely inappropriate emotional and physical relationship between 34 year old elementary school teacher Mary Kay Letourneau and her 12 year old student, Vili Fualaau. They eventually got married and had children, but Mary Kay obviously always held the power. In this episode we'd like to highlight that women can absolutely be predators as well.

TW: Sexual abuse of children.

"A sexual wellness company gains fame and followers for its practice of 'orgasmic meditation' - until members come forward with disturbing allegations." - Netflix

TW: Sexual assault. Again. Ughhhh.

• If you'd like to support my escape to Indonesia, check out the GOFUNDME :)
• Follow us on Instagram, where Ash is actually starting to post again!
• We'd love to see you in our Discord, come hang out!
• Audio editing by Malissa Coulson.
• Research assistance by Fallon Morey.

WE'RE DOING LOTS OF TIME TRAVELING LATELY! HERE'S A FUN EASTER SPECIAL FROM TWO YEARS AGO FOR EVERYONE'S BIBLICAL PLEASURE!

Happy Good Friday! That works as a special holiday greeting to our friends who celebrate and also just a nice greeting for everyone else haha!In the Christmas episode, Ash first told her version of the story of the birth of Jesus and Christmas, and then Kristal and Ryan schooled her on what she got wrong (hint: there were three wise men, not twelve). In our Easter episode we're doing the exact same thing, Ash gets about 20% of the story right and Kristal tells the rest!


Find Kristal on her Linktree, check her out on TheGram, and find more info about and tickets to for her live stand-up shows here!

• If you'd like to support my escape to Indonesia, check out the GOFUNDME :)
• Follow us on Instagram, where Ash is actually starting to post again!
• We'd love to see you in our Discord, come hang out!
• Research and storytelling by Kristal Adams.
• Audio editing by Dallas Hernandez.

Join our Patreon to access early releases, ad-free episodes, and tons of bonus content, including all 25 episodes of Ash Learns the Bible!

Back in February 2023, Ash was joined by hosts of Live, Laugh, Larceny, Amanda and Trevin to discuss the 2011 tsunami in Japan. It was the second most destructive tsunami of the 21st century... leaving 18,000 people dead or missing. It also caused the infamous disaster at the Fukushima power plant.

March 11, 2026 marked the 15th anniversary of that devastating tragedy and the 2026 HBO documentary Fukushima: A Nuclear Nightmare chronicled those events incredibly well. 10/10 highly recommend!

Listen to Amanda and Trevin on Live, Laugh, Larceny here:

• Listen on Apple https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/live-laugh-larceny/id1559664170
• Listen on Spotify:
• https://open.spotify.com/show/07BHoPqsPlOt4z8du7aX3O?si=6IaCIO18SkaX_x16ZcuNOA

Follow Live, Laugh, Larceny on:

• Instagram: www.instagram.com/livelaughlarcenypodcast
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/livelaughlarcenypodcast
• Tiktok: www.tiktok.com/@livelaughlarceny

• If you'd like to support my escape to Indonesia, check out the GOFUNDME :)
• Follow us on Instagram, where Ash is actually starting to post again!
• We'd love to see you in our Discord, come hang out!
• Audio editing by Malissa Coulson.
• Research assistance by Celi Riojas.

Join our Patreon to access the Dancing Plague playlist and for maps of various locations that similar occurences happened in that region and time!

You can also get early releases, ad-free episodes, and tons of bonus content, including all 25 episodes of Ash Learns the Bible!



In the summer of 1518, something deeply unsettling took over the streets of Strasbourg, Alsace, in the Holy Roman Empire. It wasn’t a music festival, a flash mob, or a medieval TikTok trend. It was a full-blown, weeks-long dancing epidemic that left hundreds of people physically unable to stop moving… until many of them literally danced themselves to death.

The outbreak started when a woman known as Frau Troffea and her daughter Fräulein Emma Götz began to dance fervently and uncontrollably in a street in Strasbourg. This spiraled into mass hysteria (or something even stranger), as more and more people joined in, day after day, under the brutal summer heat. No food, no rest, no relief. Just nonstop dancing, collapsing bodies, and a city completely unable to explain what the hell was happening.

In this episode, Kristen tells Ash about one of history’s weirdest and most haunting phenomena: the Dancing Plague of 1518. Was it mass psychogenic illness? Religious panic? Poisoned bread? Or something darker lurking beneath the surface? Because serioulsy, how do you explain a situation where your body just… won’t stop dancing?

• If you'd like to support my escape to Indonesia, check out the GOFUNDME :)
• Follow us on Instagram, where Ash is actually starting to post again!
• We'd love to see you in our Discord, come hang out!
• Audio editing by Gaytrice Perdue.

In the final installment of our three-part investigative series, Ash and Kristen put the stories of Sally Horner, Jan Broberg, and the infamous novel Lolita side by side.

At first glance, these cases seem unrelated... a forgotten 1948 kidnapping, a shocking 1970s true crime case, and one of the most controversial novels ever written. But when you line them up, a disturbing pattern begins to emerge.

Authority.
Grooming.
Isolation.
Movement.
Social camouflage.
Narrative control.
Public misunderstanding.

In this episode, Ash breaks down the blueprint of coercive control that connects all three stories and explores how predators manipulate not just their victims, but the people and systems around them.

Because once you see the pattern… you can’t unsee it. And the more you recognize it, the harder it becomes for these stories to repeat themselves unnoticed.

TW: For everything mentioned above... this is an upsetting topic that I found very difficult to research, make sure to take care of yourselves 🫶

• Make sure to listen to TSFU Ep. 187 - KIDNAPPED: Sally Horner & The Real Story Behind Lolita (Part I) and TSFU Ep. 187 - KIDNAPPED: Jan Broberg & Abducted in Plain Sight - Part II (Re-Release) first!
• Here's the psychological warfare IG post that I referenced in the intro!! This woman explains what I mentioned in much greater and more understandable detail! 😅🫶

STUFF TO CHEER YOU UP:

1. Ash's list of "Comfort Shows" (and where to watch them for freeeee)
2. Ash learned a dance and actually filmed it... aka Ash dancing alone in …her yard aka "How Ash Likes to Party" 
3. Behind the scenes of Ash struggling to make a simple dance video ft. her SPARKLY BOOTS!

PODS TO KEEP YOU INFORMED:

1. It Could Happen Here- It Could Happen Here started as an exploration of the possibility of a new civil war. Now a daily show, it's evolved into a chronicle of collapse as it happens, and an exploration of how we might build a better future.
2. Higher Learning with Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay - Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay dissect the biggest topics in Black culture, politics, and sports. Two times per week, they will wade into the most important and timely conversations, frequently inviting guests on the podcast and occasionally debating each other.
3. Pod Save the World - A weekly podcast that breaks down international news and foreign policy developments, but doesn’t feel like homework.
4. This F*cking Guy - Erin Ryan and Alyssa Mastromonaco, co-hosts of the podcast Hysteria, do a deep dive into the lives of some of the worst b*tches in the game - and let you know everything there is to know about their horrible, corrupt, and dishonest pasts.
5. Behind the Bastards - There’s a reason the History Channel has produced hundreds of documentaries about Hitler but only a few about Dwight D. Eisenhower. Bad guys (and gals) are eternally fascinating. Behind the Bastards dives in past the Cliffs Notes of the worst humans in history and exposes the bizarre realities of their lives. Listeners will learn about the young adult novels that helped Hitler form his monstrous ideology, the founder of Blackwater’s insane quest to build his own Air Force, the bizarre lives of the sons and daughters of dictators and Saddam Hussein’s side career as a trashy romance novelist.
6. Gaslit Nation - Gaslit Nation provides a deep dive on the news, skipping outrage to deliver analysis, history, context, and sharp insight on global affairs. Hosted by journalist and filmmaker Andrea Chalupa, an expert on authoritarian states who warned America about Russia and election hacking before the 2016 election.
7. The Daily Show: Ears Edition - Jon Stewart and The Daily Show News Team cover today's biggest headlines. The “Ears Edition” of The Daily Show features full episodes, extended content, exclusive interviews, and more.

• Join our Patreon for early releases, ad-free episodes, and tons of bonus content, including all 25 episodes of Ash Learns the Bible!
• If you'd like to support my escape to Indonesia, check out the GOFUNDME :)
• Follow us on Instagram, where Ash is actually starting to post again!
• We'd love to see you in our Discord, come hang out!
• Audio editing by Malissa Coulson.

PART III AVAILABLE NOW, AD-FREE, ON PATREON!

This week we’re revisiting one of the wildest and most disturbing cases we’ve ever covered: the abductions of Jan Broberg. This re-release is part two of our three-part investigative series exploring the disturbing patterns shared between the stories of Sally Horner, Jan Broberg, and the character known as "Lolita" or "Dolly" in the infamous novel Lolita.

Make sure to check out last week's episode first, TSFU Ep. 187 - KIDNAPPED: Sally Horner & The Real Story Behind Lolita (Part I), where Ash told the story of Sally Horner, the real child whose 1948 kidnapping would later echo inside Nabokov’s controversial novel. In the final installment of this series, we’ll put all three stories side by side and expose the shared blueprint of authority, grooming, isolation, social camouflage, narrative control, and public misunderstanding that links them.

Originally released in 2022, this episode dives into the case made famous by Netflix’s documentary Abducted in Plain Sight. Ash told Cam about how trusted family friend Robert Berchtold groomed not just Jan, but her entire family... before abducting her at ages 12 and 14.The deeper you look, the more unbelievable it gets: secret affairs with both of Jan’s parents, manipulation of an entire community, and a predator who managed to convince nearly everyone around him that he should be trusted. Berchtold had been abusing young girls since he was a child himself, and the adults around him repeatedly enabled it.

TW: For everything mentioned above... this is an upsetting topic that I found very difficult to research, make sure to take care of yourselves 🫶


STUFF TO CHEER YOU UP:

1. Ash's list of "Comfort Shows" (and where to watch them for freeeee)
2. Ash learned a dance and actually filmed it... aka Ash dancing alone in …her yard aka "How Ash Likes to Party" 
3. Behind the scenes of Ash struggling to make a simple dance video ft. her SPARKLY BOOTS!

PODS TO KEEP YOU INFORMED:

1. It Could Happen Here- It Could Happen Here started as an exploration of the possibility of a new civil war. Now a daily show, it's evolved into a chronicle of collapse as it happens, and an exploration of how we might build a better future.
2. Higher Learning with Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay - Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay dissect the biggest topics in Black culture, politics, and sports. Two times per week, they will wade into the most important and timely conversations, frequently inviting guests on the podcast and occasionally debating each other.
3. Pod Save the World - A weekly podcast that breaks down international news and foreign policy developments, but doesn’t feel like homework.
4. This F*cking Guy - Erin Ryan and Alyssa Mastromonaco, co-hosts of the podcast Hysteria, do a deep dive into the lives of some of the worst b*tches in the game - and let you know everything there is to know about their horrible, corrupt, and dishonest pasts.
5. Behind the Bastards - There’s a reason the History Channel has produced hundreds of documentaries about Hitler but only a few about Dwight D. Eisenhower. Bad guys (and gals) are eternally fascinating. Behind the Bastards dives in past the Cliffs Notes of the worst humans in history and exposes the bizarre realities of their lives. Listeners will learn about the young adult novels that helped Hitler form his monstrous ideology, the founder of Blackwater’s insane quest to build his own Air Force, the bizarre lives of the sons and daughters of dictators and Saddam Hussein’s side career as a trashy romance novelist.
6. Gaslit Nation - Gaslit Nation provides a deep dive on the news, skipping outrage to deliver analysis, history, context, and sharp insight on global affairs. Hosted by journalist and filmmaker Andrea Chalupa, an expert on authoritarian states who warned America about Russia and election hacking before the 2016 election.
7. The Daily Show: Ears Edition - Jon Stewart and The Daily Show News Team cover today's biggest headlines. The “Ears Edition” of The Daily Show features full episodes, extended content, exclusive interviews, and more.

• Join our Patreon for early releases, ad-free episodes, and tons of bonus content, including all 25 episodes of Ash Learns the Bible!
• If you'd like to support my escape to Indonesia, check out the GOFUNDME :)
• Follow us on Instagram, where Ash is actually starting to post again!
• We'd love to see you in our Discord, come hang out!
• Audio editing by Lorenzo Alexander and Matt Miller.

PART II AVAILABLE NOW, AD-FREE, ON PATREON!

Ash and Kristen begin a three-part investigative series on the abduction of 11-year-old Sally Horner, the real child whose 1948 kidnapping would later echo inside one of the most controversial novels ever written, Lolita.

In Part I, Ash breaks down how a convicted sex offender posing as an FBI agent groomed and kidnapped Sally, launching a 21-month ordeal built on authority, manipulation, and fear.

Next week, we revisit the grooming and abduction of Jan Broberg. And in the finale, we put all three stories side by side- exposing the shared blueprint of coercive control, isolation, social camouflage, and narrative manipulation that connects them.

Because these aren’t just separate cases. They’re the same pattern... repeated.

TW: For everything mentioned above... this is an upsetting topic that I found very difficult to research, make sure to take care of yourselves 🫶


STUFF TO CHEER YOU UP:

1. Ash's list of "Comfort Shows" (and where to watch them for freeeee)
2. Ash learned a dance and actually filmed it... aka Ash dancing alone in …her yard aka "How Ash Likes to Party" 
3. Behind the scenes of Ash struggling to make a simple dance video ft. her SPARKLY BOOTS!

PODS TO KEEP YOU INFORMED:

1. It Could Happen Here- It Could Happen Here started as an exploration of the possibility of a new civil war. Now a daily show, it's evolved into a chronicle of collapse as it happens, and an exploration of how we might build a better future.
2. Higher Learning with Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay - Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay dissect the biggest topics in Black culture, politics, and sports. Two times per week, they will wade into the most important and timely conversations, frequently inviting guests on the podcast and occasionally debating each other.
3. Pod Save the World - A weekly podcast that breaks down international news and foreign policy developments, but doesn’t feel like homework.
4. This F*cking Guy - Erin Ryan and Alyssa Mastromonaco, co-hosts of the podcast Hysteria, do a deep dive into the lives of some of the worst b*tches in the game - and let you know everything there is to know about their horrible, corrupt, and dishonest pasts.
5. Behind the Bastards - There’s a reason the History Channel has produced hundreds of documentaries about Hitler but only a few about Dwight D. Eisenhower. Bad guys (and gals) are eternally fascinating. Behind the Bastards dives in past the Cliffs Notes of the worst humans in history and exposes the bizarre realities of their lives. Listeners will learn about the young adult novels that helped Hitler form his monstrous ideology, the founder of Blackwater’s insane quest to build his own Air Force, the bizarre lives of the sons and daughters of dictators and Saddam Hussein’s side career as a trashy romance novelist.
6. Gaslit Nation - Gaslit Nation provides a deep dive on the news, skipping outrage to deliver analysis, history, context, and sharp insight on global affairs. Hosted by journalist and filmmaker Andrea Chalupa, an expert on authoritarian states who warned America about Russia and election hacking before the 2016 election.
7. The Daily Show: Ears Edition - Jon Stewart and The Daily Show News Team cover today's biggest headlines. The “Ears Edition” of The Daily Show features full episodes, extended content, exclusive interviews, and more.

• Join our Patreon for early releases, ad-free episodes, and tons of bonus content, including all 25 episodes of Ash Learns the Bible!
• If you'd like to support my escape to Indonesia, check out the GOFUNDME :)
• Follow us on Instagram, where Ash is actually starting to post again!
• We'd love to see you in our Discord, come hang out!
• Audio editing by Gaytrice Perdue.

Ash and Kristen continue their dive into the wildly controversial world of Graham Hancock and his hotly debated speculations!

In part two, the gals dig into Hancock’s Ancient Apocalypse era- breaking down his theory that a catastrophic comet wiped out an advanced civilization at the end of the last Ice Age, whose survivors may have spread knowledge of agriculture, astronomy, and architecture across the world. They explore mysterious Indonesian mountaintop ruins, buried structures, global mythology connections, archaeological pushback, debate-stage drama, and Hancock’s ventures into altered consciousness, psychedelics, and the eternal question: suppressed truth, misunderstood evidence… or just a really fascinating speculative rabbit hole?


STUFF TO CHEER YOU UP:

1. Ash's list of "Comfort Shows" (and where to watch them for freeeee)
2. Ash learned a dance and actually filmed it... aka Ash dancing alone in …her yard aka "How Ash Likes to Party" 
3. Behind the scenes of Ash struggling to make a simple dance video ft. her SPARKLY BOOTS!

PODS TO KEEP YOU INFORMED:

1. It Could Happen Here- It Could Happen Here started as an exploration of the possibility of a new civil war. Now a daily show, it's evolved into a chronicle of collapse as it happens, and an exploration of how we might build a better future.
2. Higher Learning with Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay - Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay dissect the biggest topics in Black culture, politics, and sports. Two times per week, they will wade into the most important and timely conversations, frequently inviting guests on the podcast and occasionally debating each other.
3. Pod Save the World - A weekly podcast that breaks down international news and foreign policy developments, but doesn’t feel like homework.
4. This F*cking Guy - Erin Ryan and Alyssa Mastromonaco, co-hosts of the podcast Hysteria, do a deep dive into the lives of some of the worst b*tches in the game - and let you know everything there is to know about their horrible, corrupt, and dishonest pasts.
5. Behind the Bastards - There’s a reason the History Channel has produced hundreds of documentaries about Hitler but only a few about Dwight D. Eisenhower. Bad guys (and gals) are eternally fascinating. Behind the Bastards dives in past the Cliffs Notes of the worst humans in history and exposes the bizarre realities of their lives. Listeners will learn about the young adult novels that helped Hitler form his monstrous ideology, the founder of Blackwater’s insane quest to build his own Air Force, the bizarre lives of the sons and daughters of dictators and Saddam Hussein’s side career as a trashy romance novelist.
6. Gaslit Nation - Gaslit Nation provides a deep dive on the news, skipping outrage to deliver analysis, history, context, and sharp insight on global affairs. Hosted by journalist and filmmaker Andrea Chalupa, an expert on authoritarian states who warned America about Russia and election hacking before the 2016 election.
7. The Daily Show: Ears Edition - Jon Stewart and The Daily Show News Team cover today's biggest headlines. The “Ears Edition” of The Daily Show features full episodes, extended content, exclusive interviews, and more.

• Join our Patreon for early releases, ad-free episodes, and tons of bonus content, including all 25 episodes of Ash Learns the Bible!
• If you'd like to support my escape to Indonesia, check out the GOFUNDME :)
• Follow us on Instagram, where Ash is actually starting to post again!
• We'd love to see you in our Discord, come hang out!
• Audio editing by Tina Lukic.

PART II ALREADY OUT ON PATREON! IT'S AD-FREE, AND THERE'S A TON OF OTHER GREAT PATREON PERKS, JOIN US THERE!

Ash and Kristen begin their dive into the wildly controversial world of Graham Hancock and his hotly debated speculations. Along the way, they take approximately 700 Wikipedia detours through Gnosticism, Catharism, esoteric secret-knowledge clubs, and so much conspiracy-adjacent archaeology, religious relic lore, and Ice Age brain-melt timelines that Ash has to stop Kristen every 2-3 minutes to define something. So naturally, we had to make this a two-parter!

In part one, the gals talk about Hancock's journey from respected journalist to alternative archaeologist who digs into controversial theories about lost ancient civilizations and literally everything else throughout time and space. They dig into his greatest hits: the Ark of the Covenant, the Knights Templar, pyramids/Sphinx “they’re older than you think” chaos, the Face on Mars, and that whole “is this an ancient warning or just Virgin Mary on toast?” dilemma.


STUFF TO CHEER YOU UP:

1. Ash's list of "Comfort Shows" (and where to watch them for freeeee)
2. Ash learned a dance and actually filmed it... aka Ash dancing alone in …her yard aka "How Ash Likes to Party" 
3. Behind the scenes of Ash struggling to make a simple dance video ft. her SPARKLY BOOTS!

PODS TO KEEP YOU INFORMED:

1. It Could Happen Here- It Could Happen Here started as an exploration of the possibility of a new civil war. Now a daily show, it's evolved into a chronicle of collapse as it happens, and an exploration of how we might build a better future.
2. Higher Learning with Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay - Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay dissect the biggest topics in Black culture, politics, and sports. Two times per week, they will wade into the most important and timely conversations, frequently inviting guests on the podcast and occasionally debating each other.
3. Pod Save the World - A weekly podcast that breaks down international news and foreign policy developments, but doesn’t feel like homework.
4. This F*cking Guy - Erin Ryan and Alyssa Mastromonaco, co-hosts of the podcast Hysteria, do a deep dive into the lives of some of the worst b*tches in the game - and let you know everything there is to know about their horrible, corrupt, and dishonest pasts.
5. Behind the Bastards - There’s a reason the History Channel has produced hundreds of documentaries about Hitler but only a few about Dwight D. Eisenhower. Bad guys (and gals) are eternally fascinating. Behind the Bastards dives in past the Cliffs Notes of the worst humans in history and exposes the bizarre realities of their lives. Listeners will learn about the young adult novels that helped Hitler form his monstrous ideology, the founder of Blackwater’s insane quest to build his own Air Force, the bizarre lives of the sons and daughters of dictators and Saddam Hussein’s side career as a trashy romance novelist.
6. Gaslit Nation - Gaslit Nation provides a deep dive on the news, skipping outrage to deliver analysis, history, context, and sharp insight on global affairs. Hosted by journalist and filmmaker Andrea Chalupa, an expert on authoritarian states who warned America about Russia and election hacking before the 2016 election.
7. The Daily Show: Ears Edition - Jon Stewart and The Daily Show News Team cover today's biggest headlines. The “Ears Edition” of The Daily Show features full episodes, extended content, exclusive interviews, and more.

• If you'd like to support my escape to Indonesia, check out the GOFUNDME :)
• Follow us on Instagram, where Ash is actually starting to post again!
• We'd love to see you in our Discord, come hang out!
• Audio editing by Gaytrice Perdue.