The Strange Machine

In 1947, the flying saucer craze was launched when pilot Kenneth Arnold saw something strange in the skies of Washington State. Within a few weeks, Arnold found himself in a terrifying situation involving alien craft, dead Air Force officers, men in black, and paranoia...

Tragically, In 1993, three children were murdered in the town of West Memphis, Arkansas. Understandably, the people of the town felt that something terrible and sinister was going on. Was it possible that a satanic cult was responsible? What happened next was, and this should not come as any surprise at this point, unfortunate...

In the 1980s, a horrifying story started making the news - that daycare centres were actually just fronts being used by satanic cults. But were the allegations true, or was this an unsupported moral panic?

In the 1970s, several people came forward to claim that they had been high-ranking members of a Satanic cabal - the Illuminati. These stories would become wide-spread, and extremely influential. But was there anything to them, or were these just the lies of scammers and con men looking to make a buck and get famous?

In September of 1983, when the world was one mistake away from complete and utter nuclear devastation, a Korean airliner was headed towards Soviet airspace, and towards disaster. But why did it happen? The answer, as you would no doubt expect at this point, is complicated...

In the late 1960s, a Soviet nuclear missile submarine went missing in the Pacific Ocean. The American government wanted those missiles. But how could they possibly grab a massive submarine from the bottom of the ocean without the Soviets finding out? The answer, as you probably would suspect by now, is complicated and a little ridiculous...

You have something extremely valuable that powerful people are trying to gain access to - your mind. On this episode, Nathan and Lee discuss the nature and dangers of social media manipulation, and Lee interviews an expert on disinformation.

Nathan has a quick announcement for everyone...

Satan is showing up in more and more conspiracy theories these days, and so Nathan decided it was time for some old-fashioned Bible study. On this episode, special guest pod person Professor Jon Zeyl drops in for a discussion of three books from the Old Testament, and how maybe things are a bit more confusing and complicated than we think (as always).

How do reality and fiction influence each other? On this episode, Lee and Nathan get philosophical as they discuss the importance of stories and the differences between real life and imagination, then they get irritated and angry while talking about the ways in which scammers try to blur fiction and reality in order to rip off vulnerable people.