Best Aileen and Dan Podcasts (2025)

1
Short Suck #36 - The Shocking Case of Mary Bell 58:42

Play Pause

1d ago58:42

58:42

In the summer of 1968, two young children, both under the age of five, turned up dead in Scotswood, a run down neighborhood of primarily government housing in the industrial English city of Newcastle upon Tyne. Initially, the first boy's death had been ruled an accident. But when the second died... they knew he had been strangled. And the coroner f…

1
460 - Real Life Supervillain Mike DeBardeleben 2:49:06

5d ago2:49:06

2:49:06

Ever heard the name Mike DeBardeleben? I hadn't either until very recently. This guy was something else. A prolific counterfeiter the Secret Service spent many years chasing. Also someone who kidnapped bank exec's wives and successfully held them for ransom. He also kidnapped and sexually assaulted numerous young women. And pulled off armed robberi…

1
F2K Ep. 55 - Saxophonist/Composer James Brandon Lewis 1:16:38

7d ago1:16:38

1:16:38

On today's show, the saxophonist and composer James Brandon Lewis joins us for a spirited conversation. James Brandon Lewis has become a prominent figure in the world of modern creative music, showing himself to be prolific both as a band leader and as a player on a number of others' projects, building a thrilling body of work, and personally, some…

1
459 - The Acid King, the Grateful Dead, and the Birth of the Counterculture Revolution 2:54:59

12d ago2:54:59

2:54:59

Do you recognize the name, Owsley Stanley? If you're not a devoted Dead Head, probably not. But he's the guy who met the Dead when they had just formed, supplied them with LSD, and helped them form their psychedelic, jam band sound. He also supplied LSD to hundreds of thousands, if not millions of others hippies. It was his LSD that would truly fue…

1
Short Suck #35 - Issei Sagawa: The Unrepentant Cannibal 50:32

15d ago50:32

50:32

Issei Sagawa aka the Kobe Cannibal, made a living for most of his life off of the infamy he attained... for murdering and then eating a young Dutch woman in 1981, when Issei was thirty-two years-old. Why didn't he spend the rest of his life in prison? And why did he want to eat her in the first place? For Merch and everything else Bad Magic related…

1
458 - WTFF? The Madness of the Zizian Cult 2:45:59

19d ago2:45:59

2:45:59

Do you believe that all non-vegans should die? In part for their needless murder of senseless people like.... cows? And in part because their predatory, cruel, EVIL behavior is providing a model for a future AI program to treat humans like a mindless food source once it inevitably takes over the world? If so... you'd make a good Zizian! This is a w…

1
457 - Samuel Little: The Choke-and-Stroke Killer 2:25:14

26d ago2:25:14

2:25:14

This week we cover the life and crimes of the most prolific serial killer in US history, Samuel Little. A monster the LAPD once dubbed "The Choke and Stroke Killer." Before he died in 2020 at the age of 80, he confessed to 93 murders. And the FBI have confirmed 62 of those murders and counting. Who was this guy? And how did he keep getting away wit…

1
456 - The Staircase Murders 2:33:09

1M ago2:33:09

2:33:09

Did you ever watch the Staircase docu-series on Netflix? Or the 2022 HBO MAX adaptation? I watched both, and still wanted to learn more about the divisive trial over the murder of Kathleen Peterson. Did her husband Michael kill her? Or was he railroaded by a justice system that held a grudge against him? Or, did Michael kill not only Kathleen, but …

1
Short Suck #34 - The Mysterious Death of Natalie Wood 1:01:03

1M ago1:01:03

1:01:03

In the 1960s, Natalie Wood was one of the world's leading actress, her star shining as bright as Elizabeth Taylor's. She'd been acting since she was a small child, appearing in movies like Miracle on 34th Street. She'd starred opposite James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause, and she'd been linked romantically to Warren Beatty, Michael Caine, Elvis Pre…

1
455 - The Bone Wars 2:16:58

1M ago2:16:58

2:16:58

The Bone Wars, also known as the Great Dinosaur Rush, is what a period of intense fossil hunting in the late 19th century came to be called, thanks primarily to the intense and bitter rivalry between two of America's most prominent early paleontologists, Edward Drinker Cope and Othniel Charles Marsh. These two men, who started out as friends, would…

1
454 - The Light of the World Sex Cult 2:49:39

2M ago2:49:39

2:49:39

Have you ever heard of La Luz Del Mundo? a.k.a., LLDM? a.k.a., The Church of the Living God, Pillar and Support of Truth The Light of the World? Naasón Joaquín García, the leader of this church based in Guadalajara, Mexico (that some estimates claim has up to seven million members worldwide) is currently in prison after being found guilty of three …

1
Short Suck #33 - The Great Race of Mercy 50:47

2M ago50:47

50:47

Remember when a bunch of dogs saved hundreds of human’s lives in Alaska a century ago? In January of 1925, diphtheria, a deadly disease, swept through the village Nome, Alaska… killing multiple children. The town was frozen in for the winter. No roads in or out. No ships able to break through the ice in the sea around it. No planes able to fly thro…

1
453 - The House of Horrors Killer Gary Heidnik 2:17:06

2M ago2:17:06

2:17:06

Ever heard of Gary Heidnik? Pop culture wise, he's made a much bigger impact than most murderers, but few seem to know his story. This literal genius, who was also schizophrenic, joined the army, became a nurse, made hundreds of thousands of dollars in the stock market, crushed whatever college courses he took, formed his own successful church, and…

1
452 - The Life and Works of Dr. Seuss 2:38:40

2M ago2:38:40

2:38:40

You've undoubtably heard of Dr. Seuss. The author of The Cat in the Hat, How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, Green Eggs and Ham, Horton Hears a Who! The Lorax, and so many other classic works of children's literature. But... how much do you know about Ted Geisel? Ted is the man behind the pseudonym, and he lived a very interesting life. And he wasn't …

1
Short Suck #32 - The Identical Deaths of the Identical Marcus Twins 54:31

2M ago54:31

54:31

Would you choose to have an identical twin? Someone who looked so much like you, that even your own mother couldn’t always tell the two of you apart? Someone whom friends and even lovers couldn’t distinguish you from? Someone who experienced the world in a way so similar to your own, that no one else could ever possibly be able to relate to you qui…

1
451 - Panic on the TV! Do Violent Movies Create Violent Children? 2:30:31

2M ago2:30:31

2:30:31

Today we talk about moral panics. Specifically, the "Video Nasty" moral panic that happened in the UK in the early 1980s, and then again in the 1990s, when there was widespread fear that by kids watching horror movies with titles like Cannibal Holocaust, Flesh for Frankenstein, I Spit on Your Grave, and The Last House on the Left, they would litera…

1
450 - Serial Killer Pee Wee Gaskins: Meanest Man in America 2:42:45

3M ago2:42:45

2:42:45

Pee Wee Gaskin's diminutive size of 5'2" tall and 130 pounds soaking wet didn't stop him from brutally killing at least eleven people, and possibly up to 105. The South Carolina serial killer murdered for a lot of reasons: revenge and personal vendettas, fits of rage, but mostly to satisfy a deep-rooted urge to rape, torture, and kill young women. …

1
Short Suck #31 - Why Do We Do That? 47:05

3M ago47:05

47:05

Today we're we’re gonna tackle a bunch of questions you never knew you needed answering, questions like: Why does the middle finger mean “fuck you”? Why do we blow out candles at birthday parties? Why do we cover our mouths when we yawn? And where does the whole making "bunny ears" with your fingers behind someone's head when they're getting their …

1
449 - Russia's Terrifying Cyberwar Against the West 2:58:27

3M ago2:58:27

2:58:27

How much of what you read online has been planted there by Russian propagandists? How many times have you followed a social media account, or reposted information from an account, that's controlled by a Russian Troll Farm? How aware are you of Russia's ongoing (and shockingly successful) attempts to cripple and then topple America from within? This…

1
448 - The Delphi Murders 2:18:19

3M ago2:18:19

2:18:19

On the afternoon of February 13th, 2017, in the sleepy little 3000(ish) person town of Delphi, Indiana, two local junior high girls and best friends, 13-year-old Abigail Joyce Williams and 14-year-old Liberty Rose Lynn German, went missing nearing an abandoned bridge near the edge of town. Their bloody bodies would be found the next day, but their …

1
Short Suck #30 - Sherlock Holmes and Spiritualism 47:14

3M ago47:14

47:14

Today we take a peek at the interesting life of author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the man who invented the world's most famous and influential literary detective, Sherlock Holmes. However, Doyle was never really that interested in the fictional creation that made him famous. He was very interested, though, in spiritualism, and took part in hundreds of…

1
447 - Falun Gong: The Cult Behind The Epoch Times and Shen Yun 3:01:04

3M ago3:01:04

3:01:04

Have you ever been to one of those Shen Yun traveling traditional Chinese dance performances? Have you ever seen one of their blitz marketing campaigns? What about the Epoch Times - is that where you or someone you know get their news? Did you know that both of these companies are directly connect to the Falun Gong, a strange cult that originated i…

1
446 - Who Was The Real Mr. Rogers? 2:15:13

3M ago2:15:13

2:15:13

Today we examine the beloved host of the long-running children's television show, Mr Rogers' Neighborhood. Was Fred McFeely Rogers truly as wholesome as he seemed? Could anyone be that good? Or was it all just an act? When the cameras turned off, did a completely different emerge, and who was that person? Merch and more: www.badmagicproductions.com…

1
Short Suck #29 - Luis Garavito: The World's Most Prolific Serial Killer 1:02:51

4M ago1:02:51

1:02:51

Luis Alfredo Garavito Cubillos was a ruthless, sadistic Colombian rapist and serial killer who became known to the task force searching for him as… The Beast. This sadistic monster would be convicted of sexually torturing and murdering 142 boys. He would confess to 221 murders, and to raping another 200+ children. And after all that, he was nearly …

1
445 - Anders Breivik & the 2011 Neo-Nazi Norway Attacks 2:44:32

4M ago2:44:32

2:44:32

On July 22nd, 2011, Norwegian alt-right gamer Anders Behring Breivik carried out the deadliest attack on Norwegian soil since WW2, when he detonated a car bomb in Oslo and then snuck onto the nearby island of Utoya and opened fire on a large group of teenagers attending a political summer camp. Why did he do this? And how was no one able to stop hi…

1
444 - Nelson Mandela: From Prisoner to President 2:26:22

4M ago2:26:22

2:26:22

How much do you know about Nelson Mandela and South Africa's brutal, racially oppressive system of apartheid? Mandela became the first black president of South Africa in 1994, just four years after serving 27 years in prison for demanding equal rights for the black citizens of the predominantly black nation of South Africa. Mandela would do so much…

1
Short Suck #28 - The Pirate Queen 50:03

4M ago50:03

50:03

Ching Shih, born as Shi Yang, was quite possibly the most powerful pirate of all time. While famous UK pirates like Blackbeard, Black Bart, Calico Jack, Sir Francis Drake, or Captain Kidd get much more name recognition, none of them ever commanded a confederation of pirates up to 80,000 men strong, with around 2,000 ships. Learn some of the history…

1
443 - The Long Island Serial Killer 2:48:34

4M ago2:48:34

2:48:34

On November 20th, 1993, the sexually violated and mutilated corpse of a young woman is found on Long Island, New York. The first of over ten bodies found in the coming decades of young, petite, sex workers, whose murders will later be attributed to "The Long Island Serial Killer." But no suspect will be arrested until July of 2023. Why did it take …

1
442 - Ganas: Intentional Community? Or Cult? 2:44:33

4M ago2:44:33

2:44:33

Ganas is an intentional community founded in 1979 in Tompkinsville, Staten Island that is still active. Is it also a cult? What is an "intentional community" And why was one of the founding members, Jeff Gross, shot and nearly killed (allegedly) by a disgruntled, former member, in 2006? Visit CrimeWaveatSea.com/SCARED to claim your fan code in orde…

1
Short Suck #27 - The History of Castration 45:50

4M ago45:50

45:50

Happy Valentine's Day! Let's talk about love. Kind of. But not really. Not all actually. Let's instead, talk about how and why we humans have castrated each other and ourselves throughout human history. This one's not for the squeamish. But, I also can't remember laughing this often in any other recent episode! For Merch and everything else Bad Mag…

1
441 - Never Surrender! The WW2 Soldier Who Kept Fighting Until 1974 2:42:46

5M ago2:42:46

2:42:46

Have you heard of Hiroo Onoda? The Japanese 2nd Lieutenant was sent to the island of Lubang in The Philippines at the end of 1944. And he kept fighting for Imperial Japan for the next 28+ years, hiding out in the jungle, occasionally running raids on local villagers, shooting and killing random people he thought were enemy combatants, and refusing …

1
440 - The Disappearance of Madeleine McCann 2:29:40

5M ago2:29:40

2:29:40

On the night of May 3rd, 2007, three year-old British girl Madeleine vanished from her bed in her parents villa at a Portuguese vacation resort. What follows will be what The Daily Telegraph will describe as "the most heavily reported missing-person case in modern history." Listen to find out why. Visit CrimeWaveatSea.com/SCARED to claim your fan c…

1
439 - Bill Cosby.... America's Dad? 2:59:55

5M ago2:59:55

2:59:55

Comedian, actor, author, and producer Bill Cosby... affectionately nicknamed as "America's Dad" for his portrayal of Dr. Cliff Huxtable on the hit, iconic sitcom, The Cosby Show, has now been accused by over sixty women of rape, drug-facilitated sexual assault, sexual battery, child sexual abuse, and/or sexual harassment. The assaults allegedly beg…

1
Short Suck #26 - Castaway! Stranded on an Island... 51:56

5M ago51:56

51:56

Can you imagine being stranded for years on a remote uninhabited island with almost nothing but a few simple tools and the clothes on your back? Some people haven't had to imagine this scenario, like Alexander Selkirk, the inspiration for Robinson Crusoe, and Fernão Lopes, who would actually live alone for a total of several decades on the remote A…

1
438 - The Octopus Murders & Conspiracy 2:36:58

5M ago2:36:58

2:36:58

Was aspiring investigative journalist Danny Casolaro murdered in his Sheraton hotel room in Martinsburg, West Virginia on August 10th, 1991 because he was very close to exposing a conspiracy involving CIA, DOJ, and Whitehouse players involved in numerous murderous, illegal arms deals, espionage and more as truth? Are there shadowy power players in …

1
437 - The Yorkshire Ripper 2:29:02

6M ago2:29:02

2:29:02

Peter Sutcliffe, dubbed the Yorkshire Ripper in the press, attacked woman after woman with a hammer and a knife (and sometimes also a screwdriver), primarily in West Yorkshire, England, from 1969 to 1980. Murdering 13 women between 1975 and 1980, he left many other women alive but badly battered and traumatized. The search to find one of England's …

1
Short Suck #25 - Prison Breaks! 58:56

6M ago58:56

58:56

A look at how we humans have chosen to incarcerate those who break the rules and how certain rule breakers have busted out of incarceration over the years. Life rafts, helicopters, sexing up prison employees and more! For Merch and everything else Bad Magic related, head to: https://www.badmagicproductions.com…

1
436 - The History of Sh*t (Literally) 2:43:27

6M ago2:43:27

2:43:27

Do you ever think about where your poo goes once you flush it down the toilet? Or about how not having access to toilets... or the sewer systems beneath them... would dramatically (and negatively) impact your life? Today, we cover the history of how we humans have dealt with our (literal) shit. Another reminder of how life in the present is so, so,…

1
435 - Dolly Parton: WWDD? 2:35:22

6M ago2:35:22

2:35:22

Time for some year end inspiration from the incomparable Dolly Parton! A true living legend. If all you think about when you think of Dolly is big hair, bigger boobs, and some catchy songs, I hope you give this one a listen. She is so much more than that. A truly incredible, inspiring soul who has built an incredible life on a foundation of generos…

1
Short Suck #24 - The Improbable Survival of Phineas Gage 49:59

6M ago49:59

49:59

On September 13th, 1848, a dynamite blast rocketed a 43-inch long, 13-pound iron bar completely through the skull of 25-year-old railway worker Phineas Gage. It landed some eighty feet away, covered in Phineas' blood and brains. And after a few minutes, Phineas got up, started talking, walked over to an oxcart, rode it to the hotel where he was sta…

1
434 - Shelby Hewitt: The 32-Year-Old 7th Grader 1:55:21

6M ago1:55:21

1:55:21

Have you heard about the recent case of Shelby Hewitt? The 32 year-old Massachusetts Social Worker enrolled in two different Boston area public high schools as a sixteen year-old sophomore, and then later enrolled in another Boston area school as a 7th grader, spending nearly a year as a fake teen student before her real identity was uncovered. How…

1
433 - The Vatican Girl Disappearance 2:28:58

6M ago2:28:58

2:28:58

On June 22nd, 1983, 15-year-old Emanuela Orlandi disappeared after attending a music lesson in Rome. Following her disappearance, a mystery surrounding it has deepened for over four decades, involving the KGB trying to assassinate the Pope, an allegation of a satanic sex cults within the Vatican, Catholic prophecies in Portugal, anti-communist revo…

1
Short Suck #23 - The Weird But True Dancing Plague of 1518 52:46

7M ago52:46

52:46

What a tale I have for you today! In 1518, a very peculiar form of madness fell over the people of the city of Strasbourg (modern day France) in the Holy Roman Empire. People started... dancing. A lot of people. As in hundreds. And out in public in full view of anyone who wanted to watch! And many of them only stopped when they died. They literally…

1
432 - Gerald Stano: Florida's Forgotten Monster 2:24:20

7M ago2:24:20

2:24:20

Have you ever heard of serial killer Gerald Stano? For years, he sat on death row in Florida, just a few cells down from Ted Bundy. He's also believed my most sources to have killed more girls and young women than Bundy did. So why is this monster, whose first six months of his life were so brutal he was deemed "unadoptable" by the government agenc…

1
431 - 400+ Dead in the Forest: The Malindi Doomsday Cult 2:38:29

7M ago2:38:29

2:38:29

We take a look at the recent, tragic final act of a doomsday cult in Kenya that left 448 dead and another 613 missing in March of 2023. How did cult leader Paul Mackenzie, pastor of Good News International Ministries, convince his followers to starve their own children and then themselves to death? And how did the Pentecostalism he based his messag…

1
430 - Sigmund Freud: The Sex Crazed Father of Psychoanalysis 2:52:01

7M ago2:52:01

2:52:01

Does not having a penis make you feel inferior due to a bad case of penis envy? Do you or have you ever wanted to have sex with your mother? Or your father? When most people think of Freud they think of his more extreme notions and theories, stuff like his Oedipus and Electra complexes. But he also really helped us understand our unconscious mind a…

1
Short Suck #22 - The Kentler Experiment: That One Time Germany Intentionally Hired Pedos To Be Foster Parents 58:41

7M ago58:41

58:41

Today I'm sharing a wild story that I'm surprised isn't much more known - that one time Germany intentionally hired known pedophiles to be the foster parents of unsuspecting little boys, thinking that these fosters parents would care more for the boys since they were more invested in them.... because they were having sex with them. Yep. This really…

1
429 - Serial Killer Aileen Wuornos: Damsel of Death 2:24:40

7M ago2:24:40

2:24:40

The true story behind the incredible 2003 film, Monster, about sex worker and serial killer, Aileen Wuornos, who killed seven men over the course of one year beginning in November of 1989. Aileen's story is incredibly unique, the exceptionally rare female serial killer who murdered the men who paid her for sex, instead of the other way around. If y…

1
428 - Andrew Higgins: D-Day's Secret War Hero 2:40:31

8M ago2:40:31

2:40:31

Happy Veteran's Day! On D-Day, June 6th, 1944, over 150,000 Allied troops stormed Nazi-defended beaches in northern France in the largest military amphibious assault operation the world had ever seen. D-Day led directly to Allied forces pushing the Nazis back into Germany and winning the war. And D-Day would have never worked without the troop and …

1
Short Suck #21 - The Servant Girl Annihilator aka The Midnight Assassin 53:50

8M ago53:50

53:50

Today I'm sharing the little known Servant Girl Annihilator murders. A series of crimes just as shocking as the crimes of London's Jack the Ripper murders, but occurred three years earlier, in Austin, Texas. Who kept dragging woman after woman from their beds and killing them with an ax? For Merch and everything else Bad Magic related, head to: htt…

Aileen And Dan Podcasts