Very Special Episodes is a new podcast hosted by Dana Schwartz, Zaron Burnett, and Jason English. Follow us down a different rabbit hole every Wednesday.

In 2011, after many delays, one of the most anticipated musicals in theater history finally opened on Broadway. The show was Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark. The powerhouse creative team included an up-and-coming playwright, a MacArthur Genius, and Bono. But its downfall would be long and treacherous. Here's the story of what went wrong — and why we're still pushing for a revival.

Go follow Very Special Episodes! Drop in on the night someone poisoned the cast and crew of James Cameron's Titanic; unravel a 130-year-old mystery surrounding the Pledge of Allegiance; go inside the illicit black market moon rock trade. And more!

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CREDITS
Hosted by Dana Schwartz, Zaron Burnett, and Jason English
Written by Joe Kinosian
Produced by Josh Fisher
Editing and Sound Design by Chris Childs
Additional Editing by Emily Marinoff
Mixing and Mastering by Baheed Frazier
Story Editors are Josh Fisher and Marisa Brown
Research and Fact-Checking by Austin Thompson and Joe Kinosian
Original Music by Elise McCoy
Show Logo by Lucy Quintanilla
Executive Producer is Jason English

If you're enjoying the show, leave us a rating and review on your favorite podcast platforms. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The biggest Nancy Drew mystery isn’t hidden in the plots of the books. It’s right there on the cover. If “Carolyn Keene” is a pseudonym, who really wrote the series? For 50 years, two women laid claim to that title. And in 1980, with help from an amateur detective, the truth came out in court.

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Very Special Episodes is a new podcast where we tell one incredible story each week. Follow us down a different rabbit hole every Wednesday.

Hosted by Dana Schwartz, Zaron Burnett, Jason English
Written by Zaron Burnett
Producer, Editor, and Sound Designer is Josh Fisher
Additional Editing and Sound Design by Jonathan Washington
Mixing and Mastering by Baheed Frazier
Story Editor is Marisa Brown
Research and Fact-Checking by Jocelyn Sears, Austin Thompson, Marisa Brown, and Zaron Burnett
Original Music by Elise McCoy
Show Logo by Lucy Quintanilla
Executive Producer is Jason English

Special thanks to Elizabeth Dutton, Katie Mattie, and Josh Fisher for their elite voiceover work. And to Geoffrey Lapin and Melanie Rehak for sharing their stories. Go check out Melanie's book!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

With help from "Leap Day Lady" Raenell Dawn, Dana Schwartz makes the case for making Leap Day a national holiday. 

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Very Special Episodes is a new podcast where we tell one incredible story each week. We're back with a full episode next Wednesday.

Hosted by Dana Schwartz, Zaron Burnett, Jason English
Written by Dave Roos
Produced by Josh Fisher
Editing and Sound Design by Josh Thane
Research and Fact-Checking by Austin Thompson and Dave Roos
Original Music by Elise McCoy
Show Logo by Lucy Quintanilla
Executive Producer is Jason English

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In today's Episode, Dana, Zaron and Jason tackle a 130-year-old mystery. Although American schoolchildren still recite The Pledge every morning in nearly every classroom, we still aren't sure who actually wrote it. And all these years later, the long-accepted story is showing some cracks.

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Very Special Episodes is a new podcast where we tell one incredible story each week. Follow us down a different rabbit hole every Wednesday.

Hosted by Dana Schwartz, Zaron Burnett, Jason English
Written by Dave Roos
Produced by Josh Fisher
Editing and Sound Design by Jonathan Washington
Mixing and Mastering by Baheed Frazier
Story Editor is Aaron Edwards
Research and Fact-Checking by Austin Thompson and Dave Roos
Original Music by Elise McCoy
Show Logo by Lucy Quintanilla
Executive Producer is Jason English

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

After a middle-aged manual laborer goes back to school to turn his life around, he’s reborn as a college football standout. But as midlife crises go, this one is going to hurt.

(Portions of today's episode were recorded on Radio Row in Las Vegas before Super Bowl 58.) 

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Very Special Episodes is a new podcast where we tell one incredible story each week. Follow us down a different rabbit hole every Wednesday.

Hosted by Dana Schwartz, Zaron Burnett, Jason English
Written by Jake Rossen
Produced, Edited and Sound Designed by Josh Fisher
Additional Editing by Jonathan Washington
Mixing and Mastering by Baheed Frazier
Original Music by Elise McCoy
Show Logo by Lucy Quintanilla
Executive Producer is Jason English

Special thanks to Aaron Kaufman and Kurt Garin!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When a teenage astronomy fan is gifted a piece of the moon by NASA, he’s inadvertently pulled into the seedy underground moonrock trade. But don’t worry. With help from H. Ross Perot, NASA secret agents are on the case.

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Very Special Episodes is a new podcast where we tell one incredible story every week. Stranger-than-fiction tales about normal people in extraordinary situations. Stories that make you say, “this should be a movie!” Follow Zaron, Dana, and Jason down a different rabbit hole every Wednesday.

Hosted by Dana Schwartz, Zaron Burnett, Jason English
Written by Jake Rossen
Produced, Edited and Sound Designed by Josh Fisher
Additional Editing by John Washington
Mixing and Mastering by Baheed Frazier
Original Music by Elise McCoy
Story Editing by Marisa Brown
Research and Fact-Checking by Marisa Brown, Austin Thompson, and Jake Rossen
Show Logo by Lucy Quintanilla
Executive Producer is Jason English

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the last day of filming in Nova Scotia, someone poisoned the cast and crew of James Cameron’s Titanic with PCP. Bedlam ensued on a tight-knit set. Everyone became a suspect. Almost three decades later, we unravel a ‘90s Hollywood mystery.

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Very Special Episodes is a new podcast where we tell one incredible story every week. Stranger-than-fiction tales about normal people in extraordinary situations. Stories that make you say, “this should be a movie!” Follow us down a different rabbit hole every Wednesday.

Hosted by Dana Schwartz, Zaron Burnett, Jason English
Written by Katie Mattie
Produced, Edited and Sound Designed by Josh Fisher
Additional Editing by John Washington
Mixing and Mastering by Baheed Frazier
Original Music by Elise McCoy
Research and Fact-Checking by Marisa Brown, Austin Thompson, and Katie Mattie
Show Logo by Lucy Quintanilla
Executive Producer is Jason English

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to Very Special Episodes, an anthology of outrageous stories pulled from history and pop culture. Each immersive tale feels like a movie. Very Special Episodes will have you telling your friends and co-workers, "I just heard the craziest story on a podcast." 

Follow Dana Schwartz, Zaron Burnett and Jason English down a different rabbit hole every Wednesday.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.