Conspiracy Theories

In September 1944, as World War II raged overseas, the small town of Mattoon, Illinois felt under attack. Dozens of people reported smelling a sickening sweet odor drift into their bedroom at night. It allegedly smelled like gardenias and left them feeling ill and, in some cases, paralyzed. The town’s leading theory was that a madman was running around town spraying a toxic gas through people’s windows at night.Conspiracy Theories is now on Instagram @theconspiracypod and TikTok @conspiracy.pod! Follow us to keep up with the show and get behind-the-scenes updates from Carter and the team. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

“You have been watched: Failure to comply and you shall suffer: no one can help: no one can protect you: Obey: Obey:” In 1976, anonymous letters started appearing in mailboxes around Circleville, Ohio. Someone was watching the town’s residents. They called themselves the Circleville Writer and claimed to know intimate details about their private lives: secrets they threatened to expose. Investigators tried to find the person responsible, but the letters continued for almost twenty years. Has the culprit finally been identified?Conspiracy Theories is now on Instagram @theconspiracypod and TikTok @conspiracy.pod! Follow us to keep up with the show and get behind-the-scenes updates from Carter and the team. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What happens when a teenager goes missing in the world’s smallest, and supposedly safest, country? Emanuela Orlandi’s sudden disappearance remains the only missing person’s case in Vatican City, yet more than 40 years later we still have no idea what really happened behind the papal state’s walls. After the story, stick around for an exclusive interview with the director of The First Omen, Arkasha Stevenson!This episode is brought to you by Twentieth Century Studios' the First Omen. Experience the most terrifying movie of the year, and what critics are calling “deliciously disturbing” only in theaters April 5th.Conspiracy Theories is now on Instagram @theconspiracypod and TikTok @conspiracy.pod! Follow us to keep up with the show and get behind-the-scenes updates from Carter and the team. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In 1948, an unknown man died on Somerton Beach near Adelaide, Australia. He carried only the clothes on his body, cigarettes, and a hidden cipher. For decades, experts have been trying to identify the Somerton Man, and how he ended up dead on that beach. Over 70 years later we may finally have an answer. Conspiracy Theories is now on Instagram @theconspiracypod and TikTok @conspiracy.pod! Follow us to keep up with the show and get behind-the-scenes updates from Carter and the team. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the winter of 1978, a group of friends caught a college basketball game about an hour north of where they lived. That night, none of the men returned home. What happened to them next is a complicated mystery that still haunts the Sierra Nevada mountains.Conspiracy Theories is now on Instagram @theconspiracypod and TikTok @conspiracy.pod! Follow us to keep up with the show and get behind-the-scenes updates from Carter and the team. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Everyone knows the CIA headquarters holds many secrets... But their most public secret might be the riddle encoded in Kryptos, a giant outdoor sculpture. As of 2024, the code remains uncracked… at least, as far as we know. Conspiracy Theories is now on Instagram @theconspiracypod and TikTok @conspiracy.pod! Follow us to keep up with the show and get behind-the-scenes updates from Carter and the team. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Exploring the activism and hacking expertise of Julian Assange, his early hacking exploits, building WikiLeaks from controversy to recognition, bold revelations and consequences, legal battles and asylum seek, and the rise and fall of a whistleblower.

One week after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, someone began mailing envelopes containing a deadly form of anthrax, reigniting a national panic. The FBI spared no expense on the years-long investigation before naming a suspect and closing the case…but not everyone believes they got the right guy.Conspiracy Theories is now on Instagram @theconspiracypod and TikTok @conspiracy.pod! Follow us to keep up with the show and get behind-the-scenes updates from Carter and the team. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A man identifying himself as Mel Waters called into the nationally syndicated talk show, Coast to Coast AM with Art Bell, claiming a hole on his property was unfathomably deep and had supernatural attributes. To this day, neither the hole nor the real “Mel Waters” have ever been located.Conspiracy Theories is now on Instagram @theconspiracypod and TikTok @conspiracy.pod! Follow us to keep up with the show and get behind-the-scenes updates from Carter and the team. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

How does the Taylor Swift of the swing era just... disappear? That’s the question Carter tries to answer in this episode alongside Dennis Spragg, one of the foremost experts on Glenn Miller’s life and career. Join them as we uncover the mysteries surrounding the celebrated bandleader. Miller’s involvement in the US war effort during WWII (5:02)His infamous flight over the English Channel (10:08)The theories begin (18:25)Dennis and Carter break down the most popular theory (27:45)Final thoughts (30:05)Conspiracy Theories is now on Instagram @theconspiracypod and TikTok @conspiracy.pod! Follow us to keep up with the show and get behind-the-scenes updates from Carter and the team. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices