

Timesuck with Dan Cummins
Dan Cummins
Jump down new rabbit holes with Timesuck, the weekly podcast that takes you on a fascinating and bizarre journey through history’s darkest corners, most shocking conspiracies, and wildest true stories. Hosted by acclaimed standup comedian and storyteller Dan Cummins, each episode blends dark humor with deep research to uncover hidden truths about infamous historical figures, unsolved mysteries, notorious serial killers, and more. If you crave the weird, the wild, and the unexpected, Timesuck is your next obsession!
And check out the Short Sucks, a new series of 40-60 minute episodes two Fridays a month. These bite-sized stories are perfect for when you want a quick dose of Timesuck (or need more addictive content to consume while you’re waiting for your next Timesuck!)
And check out the Short Sucks, a new series of 40-60 minute episodes two Fridays a month. These bite-sized stories are perfect for when you want a quick dose of Timesuck (or need more addictive content to consume while you’re waiting for your next Timesuck!)
Episodes
Mentioned books

May 16, 2022 • 3h 7min
296 - The Holocaust 1 of 2: Build Up and Atrocities
As early as 1933, Hitler and the Nazis - the National Socialist German Worker’s Party - began passing a series of discriminatory laws against Jews— inch by inch, chipping away at their freedoms. They took away their property. Their ability to practice certain jobs or exist in public places. They took away their ability to own pets or walk around without a badge identifying them as Jews.And they did all this while the world watched. While everyone hoped that maybe they’d finally just stop with all their mindless hate. But instead, they just kept pushing it further, and further, and further. Soon, the Nazi’s began deporting Jews. Sending them out of Germany and to various labor camps. Then, the plan changed from one of deportation to genocide, and concentration camps were constructed to efficiently kill massive amounts of people. The majority of people deported to these new death camps were transported in cattle wagons. These wagons - traveling along train tracks - didn’t have water, food, a toilet, or ventilation. Sometimes there weren’t enough cars for a major transport, so victims waited at a switching yard, often with standing room only, for several days. Stewing in their own filth, fear, confusion and hunger. Sometimes, when the train made it to the concentration camp, and the transport doors were opened, everyone inside was already dead. Today we explore and explain the holocaust. How it happened and why, in a very dark, genocidal edition of Timesuck. Bad Magic Productions Monthly Patreon Donation: The Bad Magic Charity for May is the HALO Dental Network. Founded by Dr. Brady Smith, HALO Dental Network is a coalition of dental professionals who donate their services to the dental underserved. Services include dental implants, veneers, fillings and crowns. If you want to learn more, please visit halodentalnetwork.orgNot only can you donate, you can also nominate someone you know who is in need. Thanks to those who helped us donate $14,300 this month! TICKETS FOR HOT WET BAD MAGIC SUMMER CAMP! Go to www.badmagicmerch.comWatch the Suck on YouTube: https://youtu.be/8QeveQXLd3QMerch: https://www.badmagicmerch.comDiscord! https://discord.gg/tqzH89vWant 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 happens to be our most current page :)For all merch related questions/problems: store@badmagicproductions.com (copy and paste)Please rate and subscribe on iTunes and elsewhere and follow the suck on social media!! @timesuckpodcast on IG and http://www.facebook.com/timesuckpodcastWanna become a Space Lizard? Click here: https://www.patreon.com/timesuckpodcastSign 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.

May 9, 2022 • 2h 54min
295 - The Dating Game Killer
Rodney Alcala - the Dating Game Killer. Not as well known, but just as vicious as any other killer we've ever covered here. Between 1968 and 1979, Rodney brutally raped, tortured, and killed at least nine girls and women - possibly over a hundred. His victims would literally be sexually tortured to death by the man they generally just thought wanted to take artsy pictures of them. Instead, he'd beat them, bite them, rape them, and strangle them until they were unconscious, and then bring them back for round after round of more sexual torture. And in the middle of his sadistic spree, he appeared on the popular TV show The Dating Game... and beat two other bachelors to win the episode's prize - a date with a single woman. She chose him. And almost immediately regretted it. The strange true crime tale of Rodney Alcala today, on Timesuck. Bad Magic Productions Monthly Patreon Donation: The Bad Magic Charity for May is the HALO Dental Network. Founded by Dr. Brady Smith, HALO Dental Network is a coalition of dental professionals who donate their services to the dental underserved. Services include dental implants, veneers, fillings and crowns. If you want to learn more, please visit halodentalnetwork.orgNot only can donate, you can also nominate someone you know who is in need.TICKETS FOR HOT WET BAD MAGIC SUMMER CAMP! Go to www.badmagicmerch.comWatch the Suck on YouTube: https://youtu.be/8cMxCYeMLxoMerch: https://www.badmagicmerch.comDiscord! https://discord.gg/tqzH89vWant 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 happens to be our most current page :)For all merch related questions/problems: store@badmagicproductions.com (copy and paste)Please rate and subscribe on iTunes and elsewhere and follow the suck on social media!! @timesuckpodcast on IG and http://www.facebook.com/timesuckpodcastWanna become a Space Lizard? Click here: https://www.patreon.com/timesuckpodcastSign 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.

May 2, 2022 • 2h 52min
294 - Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Putin. Who is the former KGB officer who has led Russia since 2000? Is he a friend of a foe of the West? Was he legitimately elected to office? Legitimately re-elected? Does he have any valid reason to be in Ukraine right now? What does he really want to accomplish in Ukraine? Today we dig into the story of Russia's leader, who is maybe one of the greatest propagandists the world has ever known. Can we actually trust anything that comes out of his mouth? Are his troops actually "de-nazifying" Ukraine? Or is that whole narrative just more of Putin's lies? Bad Magic Productions Monthly Patreon Donation: The Bad Magic Charity for May is the HALO Dental Network. Founded by Dr. Brady Smith, HALO Dental Network is a coalition of dental professionals who donate their services to the dental underserved. Services include dental implants, veneers, fillings and crowns. If you want to learn more, please visit halodentalnetwork.orgNot only can donate, you can also nominate someone you know who is in need.TICKETS FOR HOT WET BAD MAGIC SUMMER CAMP! Go to www.badmagicmerch.comWatch the Suck on YouTube: https://youtu.be/XgOCz0WnC1EMerch: https://www.badmagicmerch.comDiscord! https://discord.gg/tqzH89vWant 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 happens to be our most current page :)For all merch related questions/problems: store@badmagicproductions.com (copy and paste)Please rate and subscribe on iTunes and elsewhere and follow the suck on social media!! @timesuckpodcast on IG and http://www.facebook.com/timesuckpodcastWanna become a Space Lizard? Click here: https://www.patreon.com/timesuckpodcastSign 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.

Apr 25, 2022 • 2h 2min
293 - Jeffrey Epstein Suicide Conspiracies: Part 2 of 2
After laying out so much of what we know about Epstein last week, this week we get more speculative and we examine multiple conspiracies regarding Epstein's death. Did he not, in fact, die - and he's alive and well somewhere today? Did the Clintons have him killed? Did Trump have him killed? Did someone else he may have been blackmailing or the FBI have him killed? We also look into the origins of the Clinton Body Count conspiracy, and more. Hail Nimrod!Bad Magic Productions Monthly Patreon Donation: This month our donation will be going to Lifting Hands International whose mission statement is “We provide aid to refugees both at home and abroad. No politics. Simply humanitarian.” If you are looking for a way to help those in crisis in Ukraine, please visit liftinghandsinternational.org and look for the Urgent Ukraine Banner at the top. We were able to donate $14,000 and also able to donate $1550 to our new scholarship fund! Thank you for allowing us to do this, Space Lizards!TICKETS FOR HOT WET BAD MAGIC SUMMER CAMP! Go to www.badmagicmerch.comWatch the Suck on YouTube: https://youtu.be/uXZNVA-yYOUMerch: https://www.badmagicmerch.comDiscord! https://discord.gg/tqzH89vWant 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 happens to be our most current page :)For all merch related questions/problems: store@badmagicproductions.com (copy and paste)Please rate and subscribe on iTunes and elsewhere and follow the suck on social media!! @timesuckpodcast on IG and http://www.facebook.com/timesuckpodcastWanna become a Space Lizard? Click here: https://www.patreon.com/timesuckpodcastSign 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.

Apr 18, 2022 • 2h 48min
292 - Jeffrey Epstein Suicide Conspiracies: Part 1 of 2
We know that Jeffrey Epstein was born on January 20th, 1953 in Brooklyn, New York City. We also know he died on August 10th, 2019 (or late the evening of the 9th) in the Metropolitan Correctional Center in lower Manhattan. But what do we know about the sixty-six years in-between? We don't know as much as Epstein as we do many of our previous biographical subjects - he was a pretty mysterious guy - but we do know quite a bit. We know he managed the multi-billion dollar fortune of Lex Wexner, founder and CEO of L Brands - a retail conglomerate that owns Bath and Body Works, Abercrombie & Fitch, Victoria's Secret, and more. We know he flew around Bill Clinton, Donald Trump, Prince Andrew, and many other celebrities and politicians on a plane dubbed the Lolita Express, and they hung out with many people of note at his private island in the US Virgin Islands, an island dubbed "pedophile island." He sexually assaulted women and girls there, at his massive Manhattan private residence, at his giant New Mexico ranch compound, in his Palm Beach Florida mansion, and elsewhere. In this first of a two-part episode, we examine his life as best we can, so we can best understand the conspiracies that sprung up in the wake of his very suspicious death. Who else was assaulting women and girls along with Epstein? How connected to the US government was this guy? We look into these questions and so much more today. Bad Magic Productions Monthly Patreon Donation: This month our donation will be going to Lifting Hands International whose mission statement is “We provide aid to refugees both at home and abroad. No politics. Simply humanitarian.” If you are looking for a way to help those in crisis in Ukraine, please visit liftinghandsinternational.org and look for the Urgent Ukraine Banner at the top. We were able to donate $14,000 and also able to donate $1550 to our new scholarship fund! Thank you for allowing us to do this, Space Lizards!TICKETS FOR HOT WET BAD MAGIC SUMMER CAMP! Go to www.badmagicmerch.comWatch the Suck on YouTube: https://youtu.be/7CyMtlxSWeoMerch: https://www.badmagicmerch.comDiscord! https://discord.gg/tqzH89vWant 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 happens to be our most current page :)For all merch related questions/problems: store@badmagicproductions.com (copy and paste)Please rate and subscribe on iTunes and elsewhere and follow the suck on social media!! @timesuckpodcast on IG and http://www.facebook.com/timesuckpodcastWanna become a Space Lizard? Click here: https://www.patreon.com/timesuckpodcastSign 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.

Apr 11, 2022 • 2h 31min
291 - The CIA, Smuggling Drugs, and Fighting Communism: The Story of Air America
Fascinating stuff today! I knew almost nothing about Air America - the CIA's secret airline - before this week's research. Today, we go over the history of Air America, and also look at how Air America fit into the CIA's battle for ideological control of southeast Asia. We look at the Cold War battle that wasn't limited to just Korea and Vietnam. Significant fighting also took place in Laos and elsewhere as the US waged secret wars against communist forces backed by the Soviets or the Chinese, or both. The Cold War was an international battle for ideological supremacy - communism versus democracy - and so much of the fighting was done in Asia. And the CIA was so heavily involved. As was Air American. Hope you find all of this as interesting as I do. Hail Nimrod! Bad Magic Productions Monthly Patreon Donation: This month our donation will be going to Lifting Hands International whose mission statement is “We provide aid to refugees both at home and abroad. No politics. Simply humanitarian.” If you are looking for a way to help those in crisis in Ukraine, please visit liftinghandsinternational.org and look for the Urgent Ukraine Banner at the top. Our donation amount is TBD as we also recorded this one in advance!TICKETS FOR HOT WET BAD MAGIC SUMMER CAMP! Go to www.badmagicmerch.comWatch the Suck on YouTube: https://youtu.be/AkVnLYZAKwMMerch: https://www.badmagicmerch.comDiscord! https://discord.gg/tqzH89vWant 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 happens to be our most current page :)For all merch related questions/problems: store@badmagicproductions.com (copy and paste)Please rate and subscribe on iTunes and elsewhere and follow the suck on social media!! @timesuckpodcast on IG and http://www.facebook.com/timesuckpodcastWanna become a Space Lizard? Click here: https://www.patreon.com/timesuckpodcastSign 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.

Apr 4, 2022 • 2h 38min
290 - Amish Killer Edward Gingerich
Long before he brutally murdered his wife Katie - crushing her head and disemboweling her on March 18th, 1993 - Ed was really struggling with his mental health. He'd been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia a year earlier. He'd been really sick long before that. He's been battling powerful hallucinations and delusions for over a year. He'd been tormented by visions of things like a giant rabbit. He was convinced the devil was using his wife to keep him from salvation. He thought he could read messages from god by studying his spit. Despite all this, instead of getting proper treatment, he was encouraged to not take his antipsychotic medication. He was told his ills could be prayed away. He was told he was cured by a quack chiropractor who thought he could ease Ed's troubled mind by pulling on his toes and making him drink blackstrap molasses. Seriously. Today's episode is a fascinating, ridiculous, darkly funny at times, so sad in others, cautionary tale to remind us all to take our mental health very seriously. Bad Magic Productions Monthly Patreon Donation: This month our donation will be going to Lifting Hands International whose mission statement is “We provide aid to refugees both at home and abroad. No politics. Simply humanitarian.” If you are looking for a way to help those in crisis in Ukraine, please visit liftinghandsinternational.org and look for the Urgent Ukraine Banner at the top. Our donation amount is TBD as we recorded this one in advance!TICKETS FOR HOT WET BAD MAGIC SUMMER CAMP! Go to www.badmagicmerch.comWatch the Suck on YouTube: https://youtu.be/9OLHJJzbdxgMerch: https://www.badmagicmerch.comDiscord! https://discord.gg/tqzH89vWant 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 happens to be our most current page :)For all merch related questions/problems: store@badmagicproductions.com (copy and paste)Please rate and subscribe on iTunes and elsewhere and follow the suck on social media!! @timesuckpodcast on IG and http://www.facebook.com/timesuckpodcastWanna become a Space Lizard? Click here: https://www.patreon.com/timesuckpodcastSign 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.

Mar 28, 2022 • 2h 32min
289 - Robert Yates: Serial Killing "Family Man"
Robert Lee Yates often described himself as a "family man." And he was a family man. He was a married father of five. Married to the mother of his children for over twenty years. He was also a decorated veteran who served in the military for over twenty years as well, most of that span in active duty service as a helicopter pilot of the army. He was, for many, the last person you would suspect to be a sexually motivated serial killer. But that's who he also was. Yates killed at least a dozen women in 1997 and 1998, most of them in Spokane, Washington, not far from the campus of Gonzaga University, where I was a student at that time. While I was studying and partying, less than a mile away, women were getting picked up, paid for sex, and then shot in the head by a wolf in sheep's clothing. Who is Robert Lee Yates, and why did he do what he did? We try and find out in this week's true crime edition of Timesuck. The Bad Magic Charity of the month is New Orleans Community Fridges will be this months recipient of the Bad Magic Donation! We donated $13,900 to them and $1,500 to our new scholarship fund. Such a cool charity, providing free food and drink to those who are food insecure. Visit nolacommunityfridges.org for more info!TICKETS FOR HOT WET BAD MAGIC SUMMER CAMP! Go to www.badmagicmerch.comWatch the Suck on YouTube: https://youtu.be/-aDMb4rvMWsMerch: https://www.badmagicmerch.comDiscord! https://discord.gg/tqzH89vWant 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 happens to be our most current page :)For all merch related questions/problems: store@badmagicproductions.com (copy and paste)Please rate and subscribe on iTunes and elsewhere and follow the suck on social media!! @timesuckpodcast on IG and http://www.facebook.com/timesuckpodcastWanna become a Space Lizard? Click here: https://www.patreon.com/timesuckpodcastSign 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.

Mar 21, 2022 • 2h 59min
288 - Doctor Death: Jack Kevorkian and the Right to Die Debate
Death! How comfortable are you thinking about it? Talking about? What rights should be afforded to you when it's your time to "meet your maker?" Jack Kevorkian thought you, under certain conditions, should be able to have a physician help you peacefully release yourself from a life of unbearable, incurable pain. Do you agree? Or do you think everyone needs to soldier on, no matter what they're suffering from, until the bitter end? There are a lot of people on each side of the right to die debate. We explore both sides, and also look into the history of how we humans have faced death, in addition to the history of Dr. Death - Jack Kevorkian. No one did more in the 20th century to get America thinking and talking about death. Should living in the land of the free include having the freedom to terminate your time on Earth in a way of your choosing that could include having your doctor give you one last, very final injection? I learned a lot this week. Hope you do to! The Bad Magic Charity of the month is New Orleans Community Fridges will be this months recipient of the Bad Magic Donation! We donated $13,900 to them and $1,500 to our new scholarship fund. Such a cool charity, providing free food and drink to those who are food insecure. Visit nolacommunityfridges.org for more info!TICKETS FOR HOT WET BAD MAGIC SUMMER CAMP! Go to www.badmagicmerch.comWatch the Suck on YouTube: https://youtu.be/NRpfn-i3-oUMerch: https://www.badmagicmerch.comDiscord! https://discord.gg/tqzH89vWant 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 happens to be our most current page :)For all merch related questions/problems: store@badmagicproductions.com (copy and paste)Please rate and subscribe on iTunes and elsewhere and follow the suck on social media!! @timesuckpodcast on IG and http://www.facebook.com/timesuckpodcastWanna become a Space Lizard? Click here: https://www.patreon.com/timesuckpodcastSign 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.

Mar 14, 2022 • 2h 41min
287 - Raëlism: UFO Sex Cult?
Did you know that Jesus was half-alien? And so was Buddha? And Muhammed, Joseph Smith, Moses, Abraham, and many other proclaimed prophets throughout history. There are 40 in total, and a failed French pop musician and wannabe race car driver, Claude Vorilhon, claims to be the final and most important one. He's "Raël," which he says means "messenger of the Elohim." And who are the Elohim, in Claude's mind? A race of highly evolved aliens who created humanity 25,000 years ago. And they're coming back soon to either obliterate us, or raise our consciousness substantially and teach us how to use incredibly advanced technology, such as a machine that can clone anyone in a super cool sci-fi way that allows you to live forever. Claude and his Raëlians have a lot of interesting beliefs! And they're very, VERY into sexual freedom. Raëlianism seems to be more about sex than it is about aliens. And it is also part of a very interesting modern branch of theology known as UFO religion. I gotta weird one for you this week - hope you enjoy it! The Bad Magic Charity of the month is New Orleans Community Fridges will be this months recipient of the Bad Magic Donation! We donated $13,900 to them and $1,500 to our new scholarship fund. Such a cool charity, providing free food and drink to those who are food insecure. Visit nolacommunityfridges.org for more info!TICKETS FOR HOT WET BAD MAGIC SUMMER CAMP go LIVE March 15th at Noon PST. When they're gone, they're gone! Limited capacity. www.badmagicmerch.comWatch the Suck on YouTube: https://youtu.be/etG6SxJzTGQ Merch: https://www.badmagicmerch.comDiscord! https://discord.gg/tqzH89vWant 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 happens to be our most current page :)For all merch related questions/problems: store@badmagicproductions.com (copy and paste)Please rate and subscribe on iTunes and elsewhere and follow the suck on social media!! @timesuckpodcast on IG and http://www.facebook.com/timesuckpodcastWanna become a Space Lizard? Click here: https://www.patreon.com/timesuckpodcastSign 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.