Did Mother Shipton Predict the Internet?

The idea of magic wasn’t strange in ancient Greece. But it has a noticeable overlap with what we’d consider science or religion today – with a dash of superstition thrown in for flavor. Magic, it was believed, could provide protection. It was a source of healing. It was a way ...

John Dee: scientist, or sorceror? Much evidence suggests he inspired Marlowe’s Faustus, Shakespeare’s Prospero, and Ben Johnson’s The Alchemist. He spent much of his life studying alchemy, divination, mathematics, and Hermetic philosophy -- and his library, it's said, housed a ...

Forty years ago, cyanide-laced Tylenol capsules led to the deaths of seven people all around the Chicago area. America was gripped by paranoia and fear. Why was this happening? Who would be next? Police grasped for suspects who might be the so-called “Mad Poisoner.” We’re joined ...  Show more

Listeners, we’re popping back into your feed this week to share a special crossover episode from Serial Killers and Conspiracy Theories. Forty years ago, cyanide-laced Tylenol capsules led to the deaths of seven people all around the Chicago area. America was gripped by paranoia ...  Show more

This is the finale of our Serial Killers and Conspiracy Theories crossover: By 2011, the FBI was ready to reexamine the evidence. A theory emerged: What if the Mad Poisoner was actually the Unabomber? Ted Kaczynski had proven he was a revenge-seeking terrorist, and he had connect ...  Show more

Around 2013 heroin users in the US and other countries suddenly started dying from overdose in previously-unseen numbers. The culprit turned out to be the incredibly potent drug fentanyl and it soon created a massive new wave in the opioid epidemic.See omnystudio.com/listener for ...  Show more