Conspiracy Theories

October 9th, 1995, Amtrak's 12-car Sunset Limited train was powering through the Arizona desert with 258 passengers on board when it suddenly separated from the tracks. The horrible derailment left one person dead and dozens of passengers injured and stranded in the desert. But it wasn't an accident. And more than 25 years later, investigators still have no leads. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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

If you find the world bewildering, but also sometimes enjoy being bewildered by it, Search Engine is here for you. Search Engine is an explainer show that tackles mysteries and conspiracies, big and small. On this episode: is host PJ Vogt the victim of an international sushi scam? Search Engine was named one of the top podcasts of the year by Time Magazine, The Economist, and New York Magazine (Vulture). To find more episodes of the show or to submit a mystery of your own, head over to pjvogt.com. 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

One of the most controversial figures of the 2010s, Julian Assange is either a criminal, a hero, or both. Carter dives into Assange’s story, examining what it really takes to bring government secrets out of the shadows. 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

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

Carter examines alternative explanations for the famous alien sighting, including a government experiment gone wrong, a cold war conspiracy, and time travel. 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

Nicknamed “The British Roswell,” it’s one of the most controversial UFO sightings. Carter presents the accounts of US Air Force Officers from December, 1980 – and then examines allegations that the government concealed the truth. 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

By 2012, undercover DEA agents had cracked holes in an underground criminal conspiracy. It was the “Amazon.com of Drugs” – the Silk Road. But to take down its shadowy founder, they’d have to team up with a surprising number of federal agencies – and go to criminal lengths themselves. The audiobook edition of American Kingpin by Nick Bilton is available for Spotify Premium Subscribers in our Audiobook catalog, where you can check it out after listening to this episode. 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

Secret societies have long been the subject of conspiracy theories. But this one was very real, just a few keystrokes away – if you knew where to click. Carter explores the Silk Road — a “shadow Amazon.com” — and its founder, who used it for a secret double-life. The audiobook edition of American Kingpin by Nick Bilton is available for Spotify Premium Subscribers in our Audiobook catalog, where you can check it out after listening to this episode. 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

This week on Conspiracy Theories: Book Club, we are joined by tech journalist and author Taylor Lorenz to discuss the creator economy, social media, and what it means to be extremely online. After the interview, we’re joined by Carter for a wrap up conversation, where we discuss social media’s influence on our own lives. (22:41) The audiobook edition of Extremely Online: The Untold Story of Fame, Influence, and Power on the Internet by Taylor Lorenz is available for Spotify Premium Subscribers in our Audiobook catalog, where you can check it out after listening to this episode. To buy the hard copy, you can visit: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Extremely-Online/Taylor-Lorenz/9781982146863. Thank you so much for tuning in to Conspiracy Theories: Book Club! We hope you enjoyed this special set of episodes. Carter will be back next week with a brand new episode of Conspiracy Theories. *Our interview has been edited for length and clarity. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The state of crypto seems to change every day. Millions of people have made, and lost, money in what some consider a scam and others a golden investment opportunity and the future of currency. In this interview, we have a wide-ranging conversation with Jacob Silverman, investigative journalist and co-author of Easy Money, on the various value propositions of crypto and what it might mean for your digital wallet. The audiobook edition of Easy Money: Cryptocurrency, Casino Capitalism, and the Golden Age of Fraud by Ben McKenzie and Jacob Silverman is available for Spotify Premium Subscribers in our Audiobook catalog, where you can check it out after listening to this episode. To buy the hard copy, you can visit: https://store.abramsbooks.com/products/easy-money. Be sure to join us next week as we explore more conspiracies in our Book Club series. We will be back with new episodes of Conspiracy Theories on January 10th! *Our interview has been edited for length and clarity. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Plenty of conspiracies surround John F. Kennedy’s assassination. In this episode we sit down with Jefferson Morley, investigative journalist, author, and co-founder of JFK Facts to discuss ongoing disclosure efforts, and his mission to separate fact from fiction. In this interview, we explore how clandestine intelligence agencies continue to withhold information, recent revelations regarding the CIA’s knowledge of Lee Harvey Oswald before November 22nd, and the lasting legacy of JFK’s approach to foreign policy. Check out JFK Facts at jfkfacts.substack.com and Jeff’s books on the CIA: The Ghost The Secret Life of CIA Spymaster James Jesus Angleton, Our Man in Mexico: Winston Scott and the Hidden History of the CIA, and Scorpions' Dance: The President, the Spymaster, and Watergate. Be sure to join us for the next two weeks as we explore more conspiracies in our Book Club series. We will be back with new episodes of Conspiracy Theories on January 10th! *Our interview has been edited for length and clarity. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For the next three weeks, we’ll be putting out a special series we’re calling Conspiracy Theories: Book Club. Every week for the past five years you’ve heard Carter tell captivating stories researched and written by our talented team. On Conspiracy Theories: Book Club, you’ll hear our producers interview authors and researchers committed to uncovering the truth behind some of our favorite topics. We’ll be back with brand new Conspiracy Theories episodes on January 10th! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices