Podcasts · History · True Crime
Conspiracy Theories, Cults, & Crimes
Crime House
145 episodes
Conspiracy Theories, Cults, and Crimes explores true stories of belief taken too far: murderous cults, criminal cover-ups, mass manipulation, and the conspiracies that still won't die. Hosted by Vanessa Richardson, three weekly episodes dig into cases like Jonestown, Heaven's Gate, CIA mind control experiments, and presidential assassinations. This is true crime at the intersection of faith, fear and manipulation.Conspiracy Theories, Cults, and Crimes is a Crime House Original, powered by PAVE Studios. Follow us on YouTube or listen wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe to @crimehousestudios on YouTube and follow us @crimehouse on Instagram.
Episodes page 2 of 3
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Deadly Destinations: Death on the High Seas
Three separate journeys onto the water ended in death, disappearance, and unanswered questions. NBA champion Bison Dele vanished from his own sailboat in the South Pacific in 2002; cruise passenger Merrian Carver…
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CRIME: The FBI's War on Black America: COINTELPRO
Between 1956 and 1971, the FBI ran a secret program called COINTELPRO, short for Counter Intelligence Program. Its targets included civil rights leaders, Black liberation groups, anti-war activists, and feminist…
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CULT: Warren Jeffs & the FLDS
The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, better known as the FLDS, was a polygamist offshoot of mainstream Mormonism that operated for decades along the Utah-Arizona border. By the early 2000s,…
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CONSPIRACY THEORY: The Happiest Place You Can't Leave: The Disney Machine
Walt Disney didn't just build a theme park. He built a system of total control, and convinced the world to call it magic. Employees aren't staff, they're "cast members." Uniforms are "costumes." Guests who step out of…
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Deadly Destinations: Paradise Lost
Three tropical destinations, three true crimes: in Aruba, 35-year-old Robyn Gardner vanishes from a beach with a travel companion who later tries to collect her life insurance... and is never charged. On Thailand's Koh…
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CRIME: The Mysterious Death of Marilyn Monroe
On the morning of August 5, 1962, Marilyn Monroe was found dead in the bedroom of her Los Angeles home. She was 36 years old. The Los Angeles County Coroner ruled her death a probable suicide from an overdose of…
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CULT: Skull & Bones
Behind a windowless brownstone on the Yale campus known only as "the Tomb," fifteen students are tapped each year to enter one of the most powerful and secretive brotherhoods in American history. Its alumni have…
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CONSPIRACY THEORY: The Secret Plot to Kill George Washington
In the summer of 1776, as the Continental Army braced for a British invasion of New York City, a network of loyalist conspirators bribed five of George Washington's own elite bodyguards to murder him. Governor William…
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CRIME: The Boston Massacre
On the night of March 5, 1770, British soldiers opened fire on a crowd of colonists on King Street in Boston, killing five men and wounding several others. In this episode of Conspiracy Theories, Cults, and Crimes,…
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CULT: The Freemasons
For centuries, the Freemasons have counted kings, revolutionaries, and founding fathers among their ranks, a secret brotherhood whose rituals, oaths, and hidden hierarchies shaped the modern world. But when…
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CONSPIRACY THEORY: Who Drew the Nazca Lines?
In Peru's scorching Nazca Valley, ancient inhabitants carved enormous animal figures into the desert floor over a thousand years ago, figures so large they can only be understood from the air. In this episode of…
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CRIME: Captain Phillips & the Maersk Alabama
In April 2009, four Somali pirates boarded the MV Maersk Alabama in the Indian Ocean, taking Captain Richard Phillips hostage in a lifeboat standoff that gripped the world. In this episode of Conspiracy Theories,…
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CULT: Pacific Cargo Cults
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, indigenous communities across Melanesia developed powerful religious movements in response to the sudden arrival of European colonizers and wartime military forces bearing…
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CONSPIRACY THEORY: China's Bigfoot featuring Maci and Nadoly from GHOSTEAS
For over 2,000 years, the Yeren, China's legendary wildman, has haunted the mountains and folklore of rural China, inspiring fear, government bans, and even a state-funded scientific expedition. In this episode of…
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CRIME: Griselda Blanco the Cocaine Godmother
By her early 30s, Griselda Blanco had transformed herself from a poverty-stricken Colombian girl into one of the wealthiest and most feared drug lords in history, architecting a cocaine empire that flooded Miami with…
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CULTS: Colonia Dignidad
In the Chilean wilderness, German preacher Paul Schaefer ran Colonia Dignidad, a walled commune where 300 followers lived under surveillance, forced labor, and daily abuse for decades. In this episode of Conspiracy…
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CONSPIRACY THEORY: Lemuria the Lost Continent
In the mid-1800s, a British naturalist named Philip Sclater proposed the existence of a vast sunken continent called Lemuria to explain a gap in the fossil record. What began as a genuine scientific hypothesis was…
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CRIME: Black Bart the Outlaw Poet
In 1875, a mild-mannered Civil War veteran named Charles Boles began robbing Wells Fargo stagecoaches across Northern California. He was always polite, never harmed passengers, and occasionally left handwritten poems…
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CULT: The I AM Movement
In this episode of Conspiracy Theories, Cults, and Crimes, Vanessa traces how Guy and Edna Ballard built the I AM Movement, a Depression-era spiritual empire claiming contact with immortal "Ascended Masters," and…
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CONSPIRACY THEORY: The Bridgewater Triangle
In southeastern Massachusetts, a stretch of land known as the Bridgewater Triangle has been a magnet for paranormal activity for centuries: cryptid sightings, UFO encounters, ghostly apparitions, and evidence of occult…
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CRIME: The Great Maple Syrup Heist featuring Ashley & Ricky from Crime Salad
In 2011 and 2012, a small crew of men systematically drained nearly $19 million worth of maple syrup from the world's only strategic reserve, barrel by barrel, night by night, and replaced it with water. Vanessa…
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CULT: The Breatharians
In this episode of Conspiracy Theories, Cults, and Crimes, host Vanessa Richardson traces Breatharianism from its fringe origins to a worldwide movement that has been linked to at least six deaths. Beginning with con…
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CONSPIRACY THEORY: The Banana Wars
In 1954, the CIA orchestrated a covert coup that removed Guatemala's democratically elected president, Jacobo Árbenz, at the behest of Cold War anxieties and the United Fruit Company's political influence. What looked…
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CRIME: The Vampire of Düsseldorf
In 1929, Peter Kürten terrorized the German city of Düsseldorf in a months-long killing spree that claimed at least nine lives, including those of young children. In this episode of Conspiracy Theories, Cults, and…
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CULT: Rod Ferrell & the Vampire Clan Murders
In November 1996, a group of teenagers calling themselves the Vampire Clan drove from Kentucky to Eustis, Florida, and beat Richard Wendorf and Ruth Queen to death in their own home. Their leader, 16-year-old Rod…
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CONSPIRACY THEORY: Mercy Brown & the Vampire Panic featuring Dr. Harini Bhat
In 1892, as tuberculosis ravaged the small town of Exeter, Rhode Island, a grieving family made a desperate decision: they exhumed the body of 19-year-old Mercy Brown, convinced the dead were feeding on the living.…
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CRIME: Chandra Levy, Pt. 2
In May 2001, 24-year-old Chandra Levy vanished from Washington, DC, and all eyes turned to the married Congressman she'd been secretly dating. But while Gary Condit stonewalled investigators and dominated headlines, a…
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CRIME: Chandra Levy, Pt. 1
In May 2001, 24-year-old Chandra Levy, a government intern from Modesto, California, vanished from her Washington, DC apartment without a trace, leaving behind her wallet, half-packed suitcases, and no sign of a…
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CRIME: Idaho Murders
In November 2022, four University of Idaho students, Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin, were stabbed to death in their off-campus home in Moscow, Idaho. The suspect, Bryan Kohberger, was…
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CRIME: Lizzie Borden
On August 4th, 1892, Andrew and Abby Borden were found hacked to death in their Fall River, Massachusetts home, and their daughter Lizzie became the prime suspect almost overnight. In an era when wealthy young women…
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CULT: The Fall River Cult Murders
In 1979 and 1980, three young women, Doreen Levesque, Barbara Raposa, and Karen Marsden, were brutally murdered in Fall River, Massachusetts, in killings linked to a small satanic cult led by pimp Carl Drew.…
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CONSPIRACY THEORY: The Missing Scientists
Since 2022, at least thirteen people connected to American scientific and defense research have died or disappeared under circumstances that have drawn scrutiny from the FBI, Congress, and the White House. Some cases…
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CRIME: The Bigfoot Murders
In 1993, David Holthouse was working on a remote cannabis farm in California's Emerald Triangle when two panicked men burst into his cabin claiming three workers had been killed in the fields—torn apart by Bigfoot.…
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CULT: The Golden Dawn
In the late 19th century, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn emerged in Britain as a secretive society devoted to ritual magic, mysticism, and hidden knowledge. Drawing in artists, writers, and intellectuals,…
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CONSPIRACY THEORY: The Mothman
In the 1960s, residents of Point Pleasant, West Virginia reported sightings of a strange, winged figure with glowing red eyes, a creature that would become known as the Mothman. As encounters spread, so did fear, with…
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CRIME: Aimee Semple McPherson
In 1926, famed evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson vanished from a California beach, sparking a nationwide search and fears that she had been kidnapped or killed. Weeks later, she reappeared with a dramatic story of…
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CULT: Patty Hearst & the SLA
In the 1970s, a small, radical group known as the Symbionese Liberation Army emerged in the United States, promoting a mix of revolutionary politics, anti-capitalist ideology, and violent action. The group gained…
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CONSPIRACY THEORY: The Lindbergh Baby Kidnapping
In 1932, the infant son of famed aviator Charles Lindbergh was kidnapped from his family’s home in New Jersey, setting off a massive search that captivated the nation. As the investigation unfolded, the case drew…
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CRIME: The Saint Who Became a Monster, Gilles de Rais
In 15th century France, Gilles de Rais rose to prominence as a decorated nobleman and military commander who fought alongside Joan of Arc during the Hundred Years’ War. But after her death, his life took a dark turn,…
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CONSPIRACY THEORY: The Priory of Sion
In the 20th century, a secret society known as the Priory of Sion claimed to protect a hidden bloodline tied to Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene, a revelation that, if true, would rewrite the foundations of religious…
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CONSPIRACY THEORY: The Beast of Gévaudan
In 18th century France, a series of brutal killings terrorized the rural region of Gévaudan, leaving dozens dead and an entire population gripped by fear. Witnesses described a massive, wolf-like creature with strange…
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CRIME: Freeway Rick Ross
In the 1980s, “Freeway” Rick Ross rose from the streets of Los Angeles to become one of the most powerful drug traffickers in the United States, building an empire that helped fuel the crack cocaine epidemic. Years…
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CULT: Mark Kilroy & the Narcosatanists
In 1989, University of Texas student Mark Kilroy traveled to Matamoros, Mexico for a spring break trip that would end in one of the most disturbing cult crimes in modern history. When Kilroy vanished after a night out…
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CONSPIRACY THEORY: Gary Webb, the Reporter who Knew Too Much
Gary Webb was an award winning investigative journalist who ignited a national firestorm when he published the “Dark Alliance” series, reporting that a CIA connected drug network had helped fuel the crack cocaine…
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CRIME: The Murder of Bob Lazar, Alien Engineer
In this episode of Conspiracy Theories, Cults, and Crimes, Vanessa Richardson examines the story of Bob Lazar, the man who claimed he worked on reverse engineered alien spacecraft at a secret site near Area 51. Since…
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CULTS: The Raëlians with Christie Wallace and Heather McKinney from Sinisterhood
In this special episode Conspiracy Theories, Cults, and Crimes, Christie Wallace and Heather McKinney from Sinisterhood, introduce The Raëlians cult. In the 1970s, a French journalist claimed he was contacted by…
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CONSPIRACY THEORIES: Area 51
In this episode of Conspiracy Theories, Cults, and Crimes, Vanessa Richardson investigates Area 51, the secretive military base in the Nevada desert that has become ground zero for UFO sightings, alien rumors, and…
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CONSPIRACY THEORIES: The Rosenberg Plot Pt. 2
75 years after the Rosenberg trial gripped the nation, its legacy still sparks debate about justice, fear, and political power. In Part 2 of this two-part special, Conspiracy Theories, Cults, and Crimes turns to the…
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CONSPIRACY THEORIES: The Rosenberg Plot Pt. 1
At the height of Cold War paranoia, one American couple stood accused of betraying their country in a case that would divide a nation. Marking the 75th anniversary of the Rosenberg trial, Part 1 of this two-part…
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The Boggs-Begich Disappearance: Lost in Alaska
In this episode of Conspiracy Theories, Cults, & Crimes, Vanessa Richardson examines the 1972 disappearance of House Majority Leader Hale Boggs and Alaska Congressman Nick Begich, whose small plane vanished over the…
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