Parcast Presents: Summer of '69

Today, we take a rapid-fire tour through the psychological factors that make us susceptible to misinformation. And ask: How would a New World Order take advantage? This episode is part of a series from Unexplained Mysteries, a Spotify Original from Parcast.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

How would a New World Order covertly seize control? We don’t have to look far to find precedents. This episode is Part 3 of a miniseries from Unexplained Mysteries, a Spotify Original from Parcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For two centuries, secret societies, elite families and wealthy individuals have worked to consolidate power and wield their influence in and over the U.S. government. Has it become the perfect front for a New World Order? This episode is Part 2 of a miniseries from Unexplained Mysteries, a Spotify Original from Parcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Are secret groups of elites working in the shadows to take over the world? Over the next few weeks, Unexplained Mysteries is exploring the most likely candidates for global dominion. Up first: the Illuminati, and how this private club in Bavaria became a catch-all for totalitarian conspiracies. If you like this episode and want to hear more of history’s greatest unknowns, follow Unexplained Mysteries, a Spotify Original from Parcast.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For decades, family members and sleuths have tried to determine what really happened the night of the fire. As of yet, they have been unsuccessful. But the clues remain, the questions linger, and the case unofficially stays open… This is the final episode of our Sodder Family special. If you enjoyed it, follow Unexplained Mysteries, a Spotify Original from Parcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the aftermath of the fire, a startling number of tips, twists, and witnesses came forward regarding the fate of the Sodder children. Their father, George, followed the clues for decades, driven by a suspicion of the “official” story and a belief that the blaze was no accident. If you enjoy this episode, follow Unexplained Mysteries for more of history’s most puzzling events.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Early Christmas day in 1945, Jennie Sodder woke up to her house on fire. The blaze consumed her home, and five of her young children. Or did it? Strange events, prescient remarks, and a lack of human remains hinted at more nefarious — though no less tragic — outcomes. If you enjoy this episode, follow Unexplained Mysteries for more of history’s most puzzling events.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the final episode of our crossover special, Molly and Carter from Conspiracy Theories investigate what exactly the U.S. government knew ahead of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the hours, days and weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Japan’s forces coordinated a vast takeover of the Pacific. Back at home, Hideki Tojo’s reign as Prime Minister oversaw brutal wartime atrocities. Kate and Richard from Dictators detail the Japanese war effort, the experiments of Unit 731, and the battles that changed the course of the war.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the summer of 1941, as hostilities between the two nations escalated, wartime negotiations officially broke down. Combat was imminent — but where? This is the second part of our crossover special with Conspiracy Theories and Dictators, two Spotify Originals from Parcast, commemorating the 80th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Eighty years ago, the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor by Japanese fighter planes devastated the U.S. and spurred the nation into war. Join us for a special crossover between Dictators and Conspiracy Theories where we’ll analyze the event from all sides, starting with the life of Japanese Prime Minister Hideki Tojo — a career militarist whose devotion to Japan thrust him into power.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In Japan, a yoga teacher named Shoko Asahara claimed he had special DNA, developed the battery-powered “Perfect Salvation System,” and directed his cult, Aum Shinrikyo, to carry out chemical attacks in Tokyo. This is the final episode in the three-part series — if you enjoyed it, search and follow Cults to hear what really happens behind the closed doors of covert societies. New episodes Tuesdays.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hosts Vanessa Richardson and Lanie Hobbs explore the story of Geshe Michael Roach and Christie McNally — the so-called king and queen of Diamond Mountain who used tantric yoga to lure hundreds to their Arizona desert retreat. This episode is a collaboration between Cults and Crimes of Passion, two Spotify Originals from Parcast. Every week, Cults analyzes the minds and movements of notorious cult leaders, and Crimes of Passion follows love stories that turn into crime stories. Search and follow to catch new episodes! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

How do quests for enlightenment get so sinister? In this three-part special from Cults, a Spotify Original from Parcast, we’re looking at three stories of yoga gurus who were loved — then loathed — for their practices. We start in Romania, charting the rise of Gregorian Bivolaru: an allegedly all-powerful mystic who remixed religions for an ever-expanding cache of followers across Europe. But the price of following him was more than devotion… If you like this episode, search and follow Cults to delve into the minds of more notorious cult leaders every Tuesday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Once a promising intelligence officer, Ray Fernandez transformed into a career conman, swindling lonely women out of their savings. When he met Martha Beck in 1947, his Lonely Hearts con became a deadly scheme of spiralling jealousies and stolen fortunes.  For more episodes like this one, follow Serial Killers, a Spotify Original from Parcast.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

If love makes you do something evil, does that make you evil, too? In the late 1970s, Gerald Gallego twisted himself around Charlene’s heart and didn’t let go. The couple, later known as “The Sex Slave Killers,” worked in tandem to kidnap and murder ten women. Was Charlene also a victim? For more episodes like this one, follow Serial Killers, a Spotify Original from Parcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Following a whirlwind romance, Alton Coleman and Debra Brown embarked on a violent rampage that turned the summer of 1984 bloody. For more episodes like this one, follow Serial Killers, a Spotify Original from Parcast.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

They say love is a many-splendored thing. But for Ray and Faye Copeland, it was a thing of violence. The couple’s murderous crimes made them two of the oldest people ever sentenced to death in the United States. For more episodes like this one, follow Serial Killers, a Spotify Original from Parcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As babysitters became horror movie tropes, the real-life terror didn't slow down. In 1981, 15-year-old babysitter Kelly Cook was murdered by a man who called himself "Bill Christensen." To this day, his true identity remains a mystery. For more episodes like this one, follow Unsolved Murders, a Spotify Original from Parcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In 1953, 15-year-old Evelyn Hartley left to babysit a neighbor's child – but she never came home. Following a trail of bloodstains and clothing scraps, police led a fruitless search for her killer. Today, some believe Evelyn might've been the victim of one of the most terrifying serial killers in American history. For more episodes like this one, follow Unsolved Murders, a Spotify Original from Parcast.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices