In 1212, thousands of children set out across Europe believing God would part the Mediterranean and lead them peacefully to Jerusalem. (Spoiler alert: God didn't.) Their impossible journey became one of the strangest and most hotly debated events of the Middle Ages, blurring the line between history, myth, religious fervor, and mass delusion. It's also wildly entertaining.
Aug 14
59 min
When Utah realtor and children's author Kouri Richins reported her husband dead after what appeared to be a tragic medical emergency, investigators eventually uncovered allegations of a massive amount of secret debt, an affair, financial deception, a fatal dose of fentanyl and more. This week we look into the investigation and trial of one of America's most shocking recent murder cases—and explore how the person you trust most can sometimes be the one you should fear most.
Aug 10
2 hr 14 min
From the troubled life of James Huberty to the horrifying events inside a San Ysidro McDonald's on July 18th, 1984, we explore how one of America's first modern mass shootings - still the deadliest mass shooting on California soil and the deadliest one in US history at the time - forever changed America's understanding of public violence.
Aug 3
2 hr 37 min
In 1978, a fanatical doomsday cult disappeared into the Arkansas Ozarks believing the end of the world was arriving fast... which it did (for them), after they were arrested for the brutal murder of a three-year-old girl. More than twenty years later, six-year-old Haley Zega survived three days lost in that same wilderness, later claiming she was guided to safety by an "imaginary friend." How do these two seemingly unrelated stories relate to one another? Listen and find out!
Jul 27
2 hr 49 min
How did a nation built on local farms and family businesses become dependent on a handful of massive corporations for most of its (now mostly processed) food? In this week's Short Suck, we investigate the surprising evolution of the American food industry over the past century, from mom-and-pop markets to mega-distributors, exploring how convenience, consolidation, and ultra-processed foods quietly transformed what ends up on all of our plates.
Jul 24
1 hr 7 min
A quiet Ohio suburb is shattered when a 17-year-old girl, Mackenzie Shirilla, drives nearly 100 miles per hour into a brick wall, killing her boyfriend and a close friend while somehow surviving herself. Was it a tragic accident, a medical emergency, or a carefully calculated act of murder? This week, we examine the evidence, the trial, the toxic relationship at the center of it all, and the questions that continue to divide people over the case.
Jul 20
2 hr 21 min
For years, Fort Hood has been plagued by an unsettling string of murders, disappearances, suspicious deaths, and allegations of institutional failure that have left grieving families searching for answers. This week, we dive into the history of one of America's largest military installations, explore the cases that brought it under national scrutiny, and examine the competing theories—from leadership failures and violent crime to cartel rumors and even whispers of something more sinister. What's been going on at Fort Hood... and why?
Jul 13
2 hr 31 min
For over a decade, Finland, Denmark, Norway, Iceland, and Sweden have consistently ranked among the happiest nations on Earth—but why? We dig into the research behind the World Happiness Report, separate fact from political myth, and explore whether strong social safety nets, low governmental corruption, public trust, and the Nordic model of government really do create happier lives. Along the way, we also examine the decades of propaganda, misconceptions, and ideological battles that have shaped how many Americans think about Scandinavia—and ask what lessons, if any, the United States should take from the world's happiest people. Fuck yeah, bro.
Jul 10
1 hr 5 min
In Key West, Florida during the Great Depression, an obsessed German radiology technician, Carl Tanzler, became convinced that a dying young woman named Elena de Hoyos was his supernatural soulmate. After her death, his delusion led him to commit one of the most bizarre and disturbing acts of grave robbery in American history. We explore the strange intersection of obsession, tuberculosis, embalming, mental illness, and necrophilia in yet another dark, weird, and fascinating episode.
Jul 6
2 hr 58 min
For at least sixteen months in the 1920s, Earle Nelson terrorized North America, murdering at least twenty-two women while drifting from city to city under false identities. Known as the Gorilla Man and the Dark Strangler, Nelson was a deeply disturbed sexual predator whose life was marked by childhood tragedy, mental illness, brain injury, prison sentences, and multiple escapes from psychiatric institutions. This is an especially wild one.
Jun 29
2 hr 26 min
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