The Paranoid Strain

By Fearful Jesuit

The podcast that explains why so many people believe ridiculous conspiracy theories.

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4.6

138138 ratings

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FAQs about The Paranoid Strain:

How many episodes does The Paranoid Strain have?

The podcast currently has 188 episodes available.

The Paranoid Strain episodes:

December 22, 2021 New: Secret Societies I, Part 20 - The Freemasons 6
We've reached the end of the Masons section, which means we're covering the sad story of the masons versus the various fascisms that dominated the pre WWII period. The tale is super-interesting, but isn't quite what the freemasons of today might want you to believe it is. We've still got the Illuminati to cover, but they won't be the next episode, nor the one after that. We're not spoiling the surprise, but the next episode, which you should be hearing in the first week of next year, is the most ambitious thing we've ever done (and a standalone). After that, we've got a...book report. But trust us, you'll like it. After that, we'll wrap up the Illuminati, and then put out this entire, ELEVEN-PLUS-HOUR series as one giant episodes (well, maybe a few episodes, but with no breaks--we're trying to figure out how big a file we can get away with, ACast-wise) . Anyway, the next couple of months of content are going to be as action packed as any in the history of this show. Really, really look forward to hearing what you think of them.
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33min
December 07, 2021 New: Secret Societies I, Part 19 - The Freemasons 5
Here we have perhaps our favorite of this Masons series, covering everything from the supposed coverup of the masonic murder of Mozart (alliteration!) to a Catholic-sponsored expose of Masonic evil that includes a ghostly, piano-playing crocodile. Oh, and we also cover Jack the Ripper. It goes places. Special appearance by Lady Jesuit made possible by special arrangement with her long-suffering patience with her husband's obscure enthusiasms. See you in a couple of weeks to wrap up the Masons.

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45min
November 24, 2021 New: Secret Societies I, Part 18 - The Freemasons 4
Here's where the Masons story runs smack into 'MURICA! From the founding fathers' relationship to the Craft, to the very strange interplay between Mormonism (the most American religion of faiths) and Freemasons, and finally to the sad, yet inspiring story of how Black Freemasons carved their own unique version of the brotherhood out in the face of implacable white opposition, it's amazing the degree to which the nation and the secret society have impacted each other. Just...you know, not the way the conspiracists think they have. Enjoy, and we'll talk to you again soon.
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39min
November 10, 2021 New: Secret Societies I, Part 17 - The Freemasons 3
As you can probably tell by our episode art, this here is the episode where we find out why the Freemasons caused the French Revolution. Or rather, we find out why, just after the revolution, a whole lot of people began to think that. It's the first big, implausible conspiracy that was attached to the masons, and upon which a broader, still more ridiculous conspiracy scaffold would eventually be built.

We're going to go ahead and assume all of you already bought a copy of Professor Dickie's book or audiobook, since it's amazing in both formats. If you didn't, then hurry up and fix that, and we promise not to tell on you.
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31min
October 27, 2021 New: Secret Societies I, Part 16 - The Freemasons 2
In this second part of our dive into the world's most successful secret society, we go deep into the early history of the Freemasons, as well as the pageantry behind their initiation ceremonies. Plus, we BLOW THE LID off of all the most super-secret secrets this secret society protects. Which turns out to be "not much". But that's an interesting story, too. Hope you enjoy it--see you in a couple of weeks.
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34min
October 13, 2021 New: Secret Societies I, Part 15 - The Freemasons 1
So we've finally reached a secret society that surely every listener to this show has already heard of, the Freemasons. To be totally honest here, we approached this topic more out of a sense of duty than out of genuine excitement. It seemed, when we were planning this series out, that the Masons were going to be one of those groups that, yes, has been around for a long time, and yes is nebulously worked into the fever dreams of many conspiracists, but that weren't all that interesting once you started digging around in their genuine history. Boy, were we wrong. And the person who pointed out exactly how wrong we were is one Professor John Dickie, the author of the incredible book The Craft, and a gentleman who was kind enough to share with us his time and expertise in an interview we'll be excerpting throughout the next five-plus episodes. We hope you, like us, are surprised at the fascinating and intricate history of this group, and we can't wait to share with you the rest of what we've learned. Oh, and seriously--buy a copy of Professor Dickie's book or audiobook. You won't regret it.

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34min
September 28, 2021 New: Secret Societies I, Part 14 - The Rosicrucians and Foucault's Pendulum
We're fourteen goddamned episodes into this seemingly never-ending cavalcade of secret society information, and there are, at minimum, seven or eight episodes to go. We'd apologize for how long this series is getting, but we're not going to, because it continues to be just a goldmine of interesting information, and we won't rest until we've shared it all with you. Today, we wrap up the Rosicrucians, and take the opportunity to spoil the plot of perhaps the greatest conspiracy novel ever written. Why tie these two things together? Because they're both centered around conspiracies that were imagined into existence. Confused? Don't be! Just listen. Talk to you in a couple of weeks, when the topic will be...The Freemasons.
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41min
September 15, 2021 New: Secret Societies I, Part 13 - The Rosicrucians 2
More stories of the best darned secret society that didn't technically exist,! We return to the weird and wonderful world of the Rosicrucians this time, with stories of those who tried in vain to join the ephemeral brotherhood, and a number of folks who had to insist to their contemporaries that they weren't part of this group that nobody had ever seen in the first place. And a conspiracy theory involving the Rosies and the Bard. Oh, and we see the return of an old friend. A quick impactful visit, if you will. You'll know it when you hear it. We're busily producing our fantastic shows about the Freemasons right now, and look forward to sharing those with you in the near future. See you in a couple of weeks.
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31min
September 01, 2021 New: Secret Societies I, Part 12 - The Rosicrucians
If you, like Mike Schmidt, believed that our final statement at the end of last episode meant we were done with Secret Societies...well, I guess you had understandable reasons for thinking that. But it's not true. That just ended our weird tale of the sources of Dan Brown's madness. Now, we're back to a more orthodox secret society tale, albeit one that once again embraces a group that isn't quite what it seems. This is the first of three-and-change episodes about these guys. We started out aiming for a short overview, but the deeper we got, the more interesting the story became. We hope you find them as fascinating as we do.
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34min
August 11, 2021 New: Secret Societies I, Part 11 - Priory of Sion and Rennes-le-Chateau
And here we are--about to hear the final revelations of the misleading nonsense, con jobs, and pranks that eventually led to the edifice of bullshit that is The Da Vinci Code. We pick up with the story of Pierre Plantard (that's his gallic profile in the show art), and his bizarre scheme to make himself look like a king, how that misfired when he met Henry Lincoln, and how the whole thing intersects with a failing rural resort. Weird? Yes. Interesting? You betcha. Hope you love it, talk to you soon.
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33min

FAQs about The Paranoid Strain:

How many episodes does The Paranoid Strain have?

The podcast currently has 188 episodes available.

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