Conspiracy theories are more in the zeitgeist now than ever – in 2024, it’s #WhereIsKate, Taylor Swift as a government psyop, and endless election year conspiracies.
But our society’s past is littered with myths and moral panics passed down through the ages and these podcasts show that even the wildest tales reveals a lot about what we believe and why.
Whether it’s Barack Obama’s birthplace (on no!), the 2020 election (rigged!), the moon landings (faked!), or vaccines (suddenly dangerous!), there’s always been a reason behind society’s obsessions.
These podcasts open the window into why conspiracy theories are so seductive, from harmless everyday myths to full-blown nationwide moral panics. Plus, you might pick up some tips to combat the madness.
Conspiracy, She Wrote
Women have always found a way to band together and in 2024, we’ve seen women taking up more space than ever…even in conspiracy theories – Taylor Swift’s Super Bowl psyop, the spring of #WhereIsKate and now Kamala’s coup summer. That’s why Cristen Conger of Unladylike is investigating women’s overlooked roles in conspiracy culture as architects, evangelizers, and symbols through an intersectional feminist lens.
Starting at the very beginning when the fascist foremothers of modern conspiracism were “just asking questions” about deep state plots and secret societies a century ago, Cristen peels back the layers of detective collectives within women’s spaces, interests, and entertainment. It’s a masterclass on the power of women hiding in plain sight in our cultural conversations.
American Hysteria
American Hysteria explores how fantastical thinking has shaped our culture – moral panics, urban legends, hoaxes, crazes, fringe beliefs, and national misunderstandings. Host Chelsey Weber-Smith tells the strangest stories from American history, examining the forces that create the reality we share (and sometimes, the reality we don’t).
The tales are fascinating and sometimes bizarre, and the show allows us to consider what the subject might have been feeling before exploring the who-what-why of it all. Chelsey even has a knack for voice acting, which feels like yet another level of deeper engagement with the topics.
Cover Up: The Conspiracy Tapes
We’ve all heard of the Illuminati – a secret society with dark rituals that apparently every celebrity is a part of. But where did it all start? Cover up explores the work of the one man that brought it to life, John Todd. As his followers grew, so did his web of secrets—until it all unraveled, and he vanished.
Cover Up: The Conspiracy Tapes exposes the twisted story of how one man’s myths influenced some of the most notorious events in recent history.
My Momma Told Me
My Momma Told Me is a show about the “most exciting, groundbreaking, and sometimes problematic” conspiracy theories in the Black community. The podcast has dug into popular and obscure conspiracies, urban legends, and superstitions about the NBA being rigged, white people being alien to planet Earth, Khloé Kardashian being the biological daughter of O.J. Simpson, and more.
Its equal parts laugh out loud funny and important study of well researched, good-faith, perspective-rich conversations where hosts and comedians Langston Kerman and David Gborie always strive to tell the full story.
Behind the Bastards
Behind the Bastards goes beyond the Cliffs Notes of the worst humans in history and exposes the bizarre realities of their lives. While not every ‘bastard’ has a conspiracy tied to them, the show explores how power, fear and opportunity have fueled misinformation throughout history.
Particularly the multi-part installments on Alex Jones, Mike Adams, Andrew Wakefield & the Anti-Vaccine Movement, the Sackler Family, and Charles Koch
Headlong: Surviving Y2K
The hysteria over the Y2K bug might be a punchline today, but for a generation, it was anything but a joke. Headlong takes you back to the turn of the millennium, meeting the computer coders, conspiracy theorists, survivalists, and true believers who faced their own version of the apocalypse.
If you lived through it, you will love this podcast. If you weren’t, you will be amazed at the mania. Whether you were there or not, you will find many parallels to recent history.
