108 - Lizzie Borden Took an Axe...

Breaking an unbreakable code to save, at the very least, millions and millions of lives. To possibly stop Hitler from taking over the world. That was the unimaginably stressful task assigned to a select group of codebreakers during WW2. And, the codebreaking all-stars were initially primarily composed of a group of POLISH mathematicians - I know, right? JK. And then later, British, French, and Americans helped them. They were all racing against the clock to deconstruct the most powerful encoding machine of their day - the Enigma machine. The Enigma machine allowed its operator to type in a message and then scramble it into a code that many deemed totally unbreakable. But Allied codebreakers, lead by genius Alan Turning, did break it. Over and over again. And every time they did, the Nazis created a new, advanced model. Back and forth it went for years. The Nazis used Enigma Machines for ALL their most important military communications: ambushes, bombing raids, U-boat attacks in the North Atlantic on Allied supply lines, and more. And if the codebreakers hadn't kept beating the Enigma, the war would've claimed an estimated 14 to 21 million additional lives. And Hitler might have won. THIS is our epic tale for today. Hail Nimrod! In honor of Veteran’s Day, November 11th, we are making a Bad Magic Productions donation of $10,000 to https://veteransfoodpantry.org/. Thank you Space Lizards! Allen and Linda Erickson founded the NW Montana Veterans Pantry & Stand Down over twenty years ago to serve the veteran community in the Flathead Valley and North West region of Montana. They have since expanded their operations to include a variety of other veteran services. To find out more, visit: https://veteransfoodpantry.org/ Also, through November 23rd, we are accepting Giving Tree applications to help give numerous Cult of the Curious families a holiday Bojangles would be proud of. If you have children, and due to financial hardships, are worried there will no gifts to open this holiday season, we want to help! Please - copy and paste the following email: givingtree@badmagicproductions.com you can remain anonymous if you wish. Watch the Suck on YouTube: https://youtu.be/4Sxi48qqMbo Merch - https://badmagicmerch.com/ Discord! https://discord.gg/tqzH89v Want to join the Cult of the Curious private Facebook Group? Go directly to Facebook and search for "Cult of the Curious" in order to locate whatever current page hasn't been put in FB Jail :) For all merch related questions: https://badmagicmerch.com/pages/contact Please rate and subscribe on iTunes and elsewhere and follow the suck on social media!! @timesuckpodcast on IG and http://www.facebook.com/timesuckpodcast Wanna become a Space Lizard? We're over 9500 strong! Click here: https://www.patreon.com/timesuckpodcast Sign up through Patreon and for $5 a month you get to listen to the Secret Suck, which will drop Thursdays at Noon, PST. You'll also get 20% off of all regular Timesuck merch PLUS access to exclusive Space Lizard merch. You get to vote on two Monday topics each month via the app. And you get the download link for my new comedy album, Feel the Heat. Check the Patreon posts to find out how to download the new album and take advantage of other benefits. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

9 Marras 20202h 13min

Knock, knock, Meatsacks. Who's there? John Haigh. The Acid Bath Murderer. Between 1944 and 1949, John “the Acid Bath Murderer” Haigh killed between six and nine people. Several of them were his friends. And that fact didn’t cause him to hesitate shooting them, or beating them to death. The gruesome way he disposed of his victim’s bodies after he killed them shocked 1940s England and led to his nickname. After his murders, Haigh would dump victims' bodies into a tub of sulfuric acid and transform their remains into a human sludge he would then proceed to literally dump down the drain... or toss out in the yard. Another detail of his crimes that disturbed the Londoners reading about his crimes in the tabloids was an alleged post-kill vampiric ritual he may have engaged in. After his arrest, Haigh claimed to have drunk the blood of his victims immediately after murdering them. Why did he do it? It was all for money. Living in expensive hotels, driving fancy cars, and eating gourmet meals was more important to him than letting those around them continue to keep breathing. Excited to hop across the pond today for a bloody, bangers-and-mash, “maybe don’t eat while you’re listening to this one”, British true crime edition of Timesuck. Now through November 23rd, we are accepting Giving Tree applications to help give numerous Cult of the Curious families a holiday Bojangles would be proud of. If you have children, and due to financial hardships, are worried there will no gifts to open this holiday season, we want to help! Please - copy and paste the following email: givingtree@badmagicproductions.com you can remain anonymous if you wish. Watch the Suck on YouTube: https://youtu.be/QzY8G8nLwYIMerch - https://badmagicmerch.com/ Discord! https://discord.gg/tqzH89v Want to join the Cult of the Curious private Facebook Group? Go directly to Facebook and search for "Cult of the Curious" in order to locate whatever current page hasn't been put in FB Jail :) For all merch related questions: https://badmagicmerch.com/pages/contact Please rate and subscribe on iTunes and elsewhere and follow the suck on social media!! @timesuckpodcast on IG and http://www.facebook.com/timesuckpodcast Wanna become a Space Lizard? We're over 9500 strong! Click here: https://www.patreon.com/timesuckpodcast Sign up through Patreon and for $5 a month you get to listen to the Secret Suck, which will drop Thursdays at Noon, PST. You'll also get 20% off of all regular Timesuck merch PLUS access to exclusive Space Lizard merch. You get to vote on two Monday topics each month via the app. And you get the download link for my new comedy album, Feel the Heat. Check the Patreon posts to find out how to download the new album and take advantage of other benefits. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

2 Marras 20202h 7min

Cult! Cult! Cult! The NXIVM Sex Cult! Founded by Keith Raniere in 1998 - at its height, NXIVM counted thousands of members, including celebrities, heirs and heiresses who all paid thousands, and sometimes MILLIONS of dollars to attend a never-ending series of classes at various NVIXM training centers. Lying at the intersection of a multi-level marketing scheme, a self-help group, and occasionally a summer camp, NXIVM was FOR SURE a cult. People started publicly worrying about how dangerous this cult might be all the way back in 2003. But it wouldn’t be until 2017, when the New York Times published an article about how some of its members were being literally BRANDED like cattle as a part of an initiation into a secret sex cult within NXIVM, that the group’s true and terrible practices would be brought into the light and exposed. Today, we’ll meet some people - seemingly ordinary people - that so desperately wanted someone to lead them to enlightenment that they allowed themselves to be slowly manipulated into paying to participate in weirder and weirder “exercises” until they finally agreed to be sex slaves. How did Keith pull this off? How did he manage to keep NXIVM going for almost twenty years? How do NXIVM and other multi-level marketing schemes keep manipulating people into taking their money? What psychological processes lead to people getting into and then staying in an MLM, or cult, or both? Find out today on a very different kind of episode. We donated $7200 to Girls in the Know. In a world that's hard on women, the mission of Girls in the Know is to empower girls to embrace a strong sense of self. To find out more, visit: www.girlsintheknow.org Watch the Suck on YouTube: https://youtu.be/UQzQPoiyFHEMerch - https://badmagicmerch.com/ Discord! https://discord.gg/tqzH89v Want to join the Cult of the Curious private Facebook Group? Go directly to Facebook and search for "Cult of the Curious" in order to locate whatever current page hasn't been put in FB Jail :) For all merch related questions: https://badmagicmerch.com/pages/contact Please rate and subscribe on iTunes and elsewhere and follow the suck on social media!! @timesuckpodcast on IG and http://www.facebook.com/timesuckpodcast Wanna become a Space Lizard? We're over 9500 strong! Click here: https://www.patreon.com/timesuckpodcast Sign up through Patreon and for $5 a month you get to listen to the Secret Suck, which will drop Thursdays at Noon, PST. You'll also get 20% off of all regular Timesuck merch PLUS access to exclusive Space Lizard merch. You get to vote on two Monday topics each month via the app. And you get the download link for my new comedy album, Feel the Heat. Check the Patreon posts to find out how to download the new album and take advantage of other benefits. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

26 Loka 20202h 22min

For roughly fifteen years, an unassuming Russian woman named Tamara Samsonova may have secretly murdered between ten and perhaps as many as fourteen people. When she was finally arrested in 2015, she was sixty-eight years old and just weeks removed from her final, gruesome murder. Her age and the way she dismembered her victims’ bodies led to her “Granny Ripper” nickname. She was also given the name “Babushka Yaga” due to rumors of cannibalism, her interest in the occult, and the fact that her overall look led many to label her a real-life Baba Yaga. When Samsonova’s story broke in the press, the Russian tabloids went buck wild and started claiming that Babusha Yaga ate her victims. That she killed in order to complete dark occult rituals. The current belief in the occult is very, very strong in Russia. Faith healers, witches, sorcerers - YES, SORCERERS - very much in demand in Russia today. More so than actual medical doctors. And today, we explore all of this and more on another crazy, Russian edition of Timesuck. We donated $7200 to Girls in the Know. In a world that's hard on women, the mission of Girls in the Know is to empower girls to embrace a strong sense of self. To find out more, visit: www.girlsintheknow.org Watch the Suck on YouTube: https://youtu.be/VaVqT97nC-AMerch - https://badmagicmerch.com/ Discord! https://discord.gg/tqzH89v Want to join the Cult of the Curious private Facebook Group? Go directly to Facebook and search for "Cult of the Curious" in order to locate whatever current page hasn't been put in FB Jail :) For all merch related questions: https://badmagicmerch.com/pages/contact Please rate and subscribe on iTunes and elsewhere and follow the suck on social media!! @timesuckpodcast on IG and http://www.facebook.com/timesuckpodcast Wanna become a Space Lizard? We're over 9500 strong! Click here: https://www.patreon.com/timesuckpodcast Sign up through Patreon and for $5 a month you get to listen to the Secret Suck, which will drop Thursdays at Noon, PST. You'll also get 20% off of all regular Timesuck merch PLUS access to exclusive Space Lizard merch. You get to vote on two Monday topics each month via the app. And you get the download link for my new comedy album, Feel the Heat. Check the Patreon posts to find out how to download the new album and take advantage of other benefits. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

19 Loka 20202h 12min

I bet you’ve heard of Flat Earthers. But have you heard of… Hollow Earthers?? Variations of Hollow Earth Theory propose that our planet Earth is either entirely hollow or contains a substantial interior space. Maybe several spaces. Multiple worlds within worlds. Notably suggested by Edmond Halley in the late 17th century, the notion has been disproved time and time again by, basically, the entire scientific community. But that hasn’t stopped people from continuing to believe in it. Today, we’ll take a look at the mythological origins of the Hollow Earth theory, including many religions’ beliefs that there’s some sort of physically reachable underworld. Then we’ll head to the 16th and 17th centuries when some early scientists - just beginning to explore and understand the cosmos - theorized about the possibility of a Hollow Earth. We’ll touch on some works of subterranean fiction that captivated audiences and fueled hollow earth belief, and we’ll get to know several explorers who were determined to journey to the center of the hollow earth. We’ll even meet a man who started a cult based in part on some very interesting hollow earth beliefs. If the earth IS hollow - what’s inside!?! Cryptids? UFOs? Nazis? Do the inner earth inhabitants ever come to the surface and say hello? So many insane possibilities to go over on today’s wackadoodle-packed, science fiction interpreted-as-truth based, snake and mole people edition… of Timesuck.We donated $7200 to Girls in the Know. In a world that's hard on women, the mission of Girls in the Know is to empower girls to embrace a strong sense of self. To find out more, visit: www.girlsintheknow.org Watch the Suck on YouTube: https://youtu.be/cxaAvJiNN2wMerch - https://badmagicmerch.com/ Discord! https://discord.gg/tqzH89v Want to join the Cult of the Curious private Facebook Group? Go directly to Facebook and search for "Cult of the Curious" in order to locate whatever current page hasn't been put in FB Jail :) For all merch related questions: https://badmagicmerch.com/pages/contact Please rate and subscribe on iTunes and elsewhere and follow the suck on social media!! @timesuckpodcast on IG and http://www.facebook.com/timesuckpodcast Wanna become a Space Lizard? We're over 9500 strong! Click here: https://www.patreon.com/timesuckpodcast Sign up through Patreon and for $5 a month you get to listen to the Secret Suck, which will drop Thursdays at Noon, PST. You'll also get 20% off of all regular Timesuck merch PLUS access to exclusive Space Lizard merch. You get to vote on two Monday topics each month via the app. And you get the download link for my new comedy album, Feel the Heat. Check the Patreon posts to find out how to download the new album and take advantage of other benefits. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

12 Loka 20201h 57min

The Boston Strangler! The residents of Boston, in late 1962 through the summer of 1964, were terrified of a man the newspapers dubbed “the Boston Strangler.” A sadistic serial rapist and murderer who was somehow seemingly tricking one area women after another into letting him into their homes where he’d then proceed to strangle and rape them. Police in five different jurisdictions scrambled to question every known pervert, petty criminal, and person with a history of mental illness and violence who could maybe be connected to the heinous crimes of the Strangler in some way. And then the police found Albert DeSalvo… a man brought in on seemingly unrelated charges, who confessed to everything! The Boston Strangler was behind bars. Case closed! …or maybe not. Irregularities in the crimes, gaps in DeSalvo’s story, and the pressure on authorities to solve the case have led some to believe that DeSalvo was responsible for maybe one or two of the Strangler’s murders, but not for the rest. And he was never charged with ANY of the murders. Actually, no one was EVER officially charged with the Boston Strangler murders. So who really was the Boston Strangler? Today we’ll dig into the life of the man who would confess to being the Strangler - a man who for sure committed other disgusting violent crimes - Albert DeSalvo. And we’ll follow the Boston Police Department's hunt for this psycho as they form what was colloquially known as the “Strangler Bureau.” All of this and more on another true crime, “bet you’re gonna lock your doors now if you weren’t already,” edition of Timesuck. Which candidate(s) do you align with?: https://www.isidewith.com/ Watch the Suck on YouTube: https://youtu.be/ErAAU9bLs2Q Merch - https://badmagicmerch.com/ Discord! https://discord.gg/tqzH89v Want to join the Cult of the Curious private Facebook Group? Go directly to Facebook and search for "Cult of the Curious" in order to locate whatever current page hasn't been put in FB Jail :) For all merch related questions: https://badmagicmerch.com/pages/contact Please rate and subscribe on iTunes and elsewhere and follow the suck on social media!! @timesuckpodcast on IG and http://www.facebook.com/timesuckpodcast Wanna become a Space Lizard? We're over 9500 strong! Click here: https://www.patreon.com/timesuckpodcast Sign up through Patreon and for $5 a month you get to listen to the Secret Suck, which will drop Thursdays at Noon, PST. You'll also get 20% off of all regular Timesuck merch PLUS access to exclusive Space Lizard merch. You get to vote on two Monday topics each month via the app. And you get the download link for my new comedy album, Feel the Heat. Check the Patreon posts to find out how to download the new album and take advantage of other benefits. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

5 Loka 20202h 1min

The Immanuel David Cult! Not much has been written about Immanuel David compared to more notable cult leaders like Jim Jones or David Koresh - but he was just as delusional and, in his own way, just as destructive. Immanuel David was born in the late 1930s to seemingly normal parents - he had what was likely a great childhood - and then, not long after converting to Mormonism, he decided that he was the REAL prophet that should lead his new religion. After the LDS church excommunicated him, Immanuel David created his own church… and went off to live on a communal compound where a group of people, including his wife Rachel and their seven children, would worship him - not as God's prophet anymore - but as God in the flesh. In true cult leader fashion, he gave his followers biblical names and tricked them into giving him money while they all waited for the US government and the LDS faith to collapse, and for Immanuel to rise up out of the ashes and lead a new church. And then David's rein as cult leader came to end in 1978 in a very dramatic and horrifying way. This week we’ll also examine into some of the fringier aspects of Mormonism’s theological history, as some of these elements lead to the construction of David's cult. And we'll give a brief overview of a few other FLDS cults, on today's messianic edition of Timesuck.ProCon Election Comparison: https://2020election.procon.org/view.source-summary-chart.phpDonated $7000 to the SBP. Founded in 2006 by a couple in St. Bernard Parish, its model is focused on streamlining the recovery process, which includes quickly rebuilding homes and restoring local businesses, and supporting policies that aid long-term recovery. Go to https://sbpusa.org/ to donate, volunteer, or find out more. Watch the Suck on YouTube: https://youtu.be/pf-en6av-2Q Merch - https://badmagicmerch.com/ Discord! https://discord.gg/tqzH89v Want to join the Cult of the Curious private Facebook Group? Go directly to Facebook and search for "Cult of the Curious" in order to locate whatever current page hasn't been put in FB Jail :) For all merch related questions: https://badmagicmerch.com/pages/contact Please rate and subscribe on iTunes and elsewhere and follow the suck on social media!! @timesuckpodcast on IG and http://www.facebook.com/timesuckpodcast Wanna become a Space Lizard? We're over 9500 strong! Click here: https://www.patreon.com/timesuckpodcast Sign up through Patreon and for $5 a month you get to listen to the Secret Suck, which will drop Thursdays at Noon, PST. You'll also get 20% off of all regular Timesuck merch PLUS access to exclusive Space Lizard merch. You get to vote on two Monday topics each month via the app. And you get the download link for my new comedy album, Feel the Heat. Check the Patreon posts to find out how to download the new album and take advantage of other benefits. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

28 Syys 20202h 10min

Alexander III, king of the ancient state of Macedon aka Macedonia - one of history’s greatest military commanders. And he was even more than that. He was also a scholar, a lover of literature and the arts, a deeply religious man. Undefeated in battle, he unleashed his army on countries great and small to forge an empire that stretched over three continents, from Greece to India and as far south as Egypt. He did all this in a little more than a decade after taking power at the age of twenty, until his untimely death at thirty-two. Alexander the Great was so great at destroying his opponents, his military tactics and strategies are still studied in military academies today.... over twenty-three centuries later. In a culture that valued war over all else, Alexander prevailed by being the best at conquering. He did whatever was necessary to win - and sometimes things that maybe weren’t so necessary. Entire cities were sometimes destroyed, priceless artifacts obliterated, all according to Alexander’s mercurial will. What made Alexander so great? We attempt to answer that question and more in today’s ancient and bloody and interesting as Hell edition of Timesuck. Donated $7000 to the SBP. Founded in 2006 by a couple in St. Bernard Parish, its model is focused on streamlining the recovery process, which includes quickly rebuilding homes and restoring local businesses, and supporting policies that aid long-term recovery. Go to https://sbpusa.org/ to donate, volunteer, or find out more. Watch the Suck on YouTube: https://youtu.be/XrizDgKqhTc Merch - https://badmagicmerch.com/ Discord! https://discord.gg/tqzH89v Want to join the Cult of the Curious private Facebook Group? Go directly to Facebook and search for "Cult of the Curious" in order to locate whatever current page hasn't been put in FB Jail :) For all merch related questions: https://badmagicmerch.com/pages/contact Please rate and subscribe on iTunes and elsewhere and follow the suck on social media!! @timesuckpodcast on IG and http://www.facebook.com/timesuckpodcast Wanna become a Space Lizard? We're over 9500 strong! Click here: https://www.patreon.com/timesuckpodcast Sign up through Patreon and for $5 a month you get to listen to the Secret Suck, which will drop Thursdays at Noon, PST. You'll also get 20% off of all regular Timesuck merch PLUS access to exclusive Space Lizard merch. You get to vote on two Monday topics each month via the app. And you get the download link for my new comedy album, Feel the Heat. Check the Patreon posts to find out how to download the new album and take advantage of other benefits Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

21 Syys 20202h 29min