On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we talk about the life of an understated comic genius, John Candy. For two decades Candy was in some of the best comedies that Hollywood had to offer. But it all started with the famous comedy troupe Second City and his involvement with Emmy winning comedy show, SCTV. In his early years, he befriended and worked with comedians like Dan Aykroyd and Rick Moranis, and eventually became close friends the film legend John Hughes. From Stripes to Uncle Buck and from Home Alone to Planes Trains and Automobiles, this everyman of comedy dominated the scene.     Visit Our Sources: https://www.biography.com/actors/john-candy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Candy https://www.secondcity.com/people/other/john-candy/ https://variety.com/2023/film/news/john-candy-documentary-amazon-colin-hanks-ryan-reynolds-1235517899/ https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/610983/john-candy-actor-facts https://www.cinemablend.com/movies/25-fun-facts-about-john-candy-and-the-comedians-legendary-career https://facts.net/celebrity/18-mind-blowing-facts-about-john-candy/ https://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-celebrities/actors/john-candy-net-worth/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtayB-vIyfY

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we talk about one of the largest cults in Japan—the Happy Science Cult. Yes, that’s really their name. They were founded by Ryuho Okawa who was the key rival to the Aum Shinriko cult (who tried to kill Okawa with poison gas in his car). The Happies believe that Okawa is the embodiment of the god El Cantare who was born on Venus millions of years ago. Their leader channels people like Jesus, Buddha, Socrates, Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, and even Michael Jackson to write books for him. They produce tons of horrible anime, try to influence elections, and of course take all the money they can. Why does Okawa’s son claim he is a fraud? How many books have they written? Why are they called Happy Science? Listen, laugh, learn.   Visit Our Sources: https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Happy_Science https://www.vice.com/en/article/jmvan4/my-afternoon-with-a-failed-japanese-cult https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happy_Science https://theworld.org/stories/2022-11-30/japan-s-infamous-happy-cult-sets-sights-united-states https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20230302-japan-happy-science-cult-leader-okawa-dies-media https://www.asianews.it/news-en/Death-of-the-founder-of-Happy-Science,-a-controversial-Japanese-religious-sect-57887.html https://gamerant.com/japanese-cult-happy-science-anime/

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we explore one of the worst regimes in the West: the dictatorship of Papa Doc Duvalier. François Duvalier came to be the sadistic president for life of the island of Haiti, running the island through a regime of terror, voodoo, and secret police for 14 years. He had a murder squad called the Tontons Macoutes, named after a Haitian boogey man who would eat children for breakfast. He killed tens of thousands of Haitians during his dark reign, claimed to have killed President Kennedy through voodoo, once had every black dog in the country killed, and kept the head of an enemy on ice in a special closet, so he could talk to it. If you like them bloody and crazy, it doesn’t get much better than Papa Doc. Visit Our Sources: https://www.nytimes.com/1971/04/23/archives/papa-doc-a-ruthless-dictator-kept-the-haitians-in-illiteracy-and.html https://www.historyanswers.co.uk/people-politics/papa-doc-duvalier-the-voodoo-president-who-killed-kennedy/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois_Duvalier https://www.doctorsecrets.com/papa-doc-duvalier-haiti-s-voodoo-doctor https://medium.com/lessons-from-history/papa-doc-the-voodoo-tyrant-of-haiti-654a41a68474 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_occupation_of_Haiti

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we talk about the career of the one and only Conan O’Brien. Conan went from utterly unknown to become one of the all-time greats of late night television. He had a major feud with Jay Leno (who screwed him out of his dream job), but nothing could dampen his impact on American comedy. From amazing remotes to unbelievable characters (I’m looking at you, Masturbating Bear), his late night shows were among the best. We talk about his crazy pranks he pulled at Harvard, his podcast, and even his classic moments with Norm McDonald.   Visit Our Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conan_O%27Brien https://www.biography.com/movies-tv/conan-obrien https://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/conan-obrien/bio/3030386650/ https://histlit.fas.harvard.edu/people/people/alumni/conan-obrien https://www.universallifechurchministers.org/celebrities/conan-obrien https://www.ranker.com/list/facts-about-conan-obrien/jacob-shelton https://www.cracked.com/article_37683_60-conan-obrien-trivia-tidbits-on-his-60th-birthday.html https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpIEyn9G6_8&t=371s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKmadR4Ye54&t=1s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-MJy7w69EU

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we say a hearty “Live from New York…It’s Saturday Night.” That’s right. We talk all things Saturday Night Live. This American television institution has been responsible for discovering some of the most important comic voices over the past five decades. It has been a bastion for counter culture, political satire, musical discovery, and dicks in boxes. It was created by Lorne Michaels who has succeeded in keeping the show somehow relevant, fresh, funny, and on the air all these years. Whether you like old school SNL like the Blues Brothers or dig Michael Che and Colin Jost, we’ve got you covered. Visit Our Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturday_Night_Live https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/saturday-night-live-debuts https://snl.jt.org/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorne_Michaels https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/features/harry-shearer-interview-simpsons-spinal-tap-b2456903.html https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/69730/facts-about-saturday-night-live https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEKul4088ug https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Saturday_Night_Live_cast_members https://ew.com/music/sinead-oconnor-pope-photo-snl/

On this episode of The Sofa King Podcast, we talk about the ultimate case of forbidden love—the story of Mary Kay Letourneau. Letourneau was made (in)famous in the late 1990s when she had a love affair with a student of hers named Vili Fualaau. Why would this propel her to the heights of tabloid fame? Because she was 35, and he was only 13. She gave birth their first daughter while still awaiting trail for child rape, and she broke the rules of her parole and got pregnant by him again almost the instant she got out of prison. So, how long did she serve time? How long did they stay together? How did marijuana cause them to get a divorce? Listen, laugh, learn. Visit Our Sources: https://www.biography.com/crime/mary-kay-letourneau https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Kay_Letourneau https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/mary-kay-letourneau-may-december-true-story-1234918355/ https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/07/obituaries/mary-kay-letourneau-dead.html https://www.crimelibrary.org/criminal_mind/psychology/marykay_letourneau/1.html https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RezOEn0daNU https://www.intouchweekly.com/posts/mary-kay-letourneau-vili-fualaaus-interview-inspired-film/ https://facts.net/celebrity/39-facts-about-mary-kay-letourneau/  

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we look at the amazing underground city of Derinkuyu. This tomb of a city is in modern day Turkey and dates back thousands of years. Nobody is sure when they started building it, but at its peak, it held a sustainable population of 20,000 people. It held its own food stores, animal farms, churches, wine makers, you name it. It had giant stone doors that no attacker could budge, and it was used over the centuries by multiple cultures and religious groups. In fact, it wasn’t fully abandoned until the early 1920s and rediscovered by accident in the 1960s. If you like the cities of the dwarves and underground catacombs, this one is for you.   Visit Our Sources: https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20220810-derinkuyu-turkeys-underground-city-of-20000-people https://sometimes-interesting.com/derinkuyu-the-underground-cities-of-cappadocia/ https://tomorrow.city/a/elengubu-derinkuyu-underground-city-thousands-of-people https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/derinkuyu-turkey-underground-city-strange-maps https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derinkuyu_underground_city

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we talk about the many lives of Sacha Baron Cohen. He won awards as Ali G and took over the world as Borat, all through his unique style of comedy. Sacha Baron Cohen develops humor that plays off the prejudice, politeness, and ignorance of people. He takes shots at celebrities, politicians, racists, and an anti-Semites in the most scathing way possible. He even took down Rudy Giuliani in a now infamous scene with his fake daughter. If you don’t know his work, what the hell’s wrong with you?!? He’s a master of comedy, and we spit all his facts for you on this episode.   Visit Our Sources: https://www.biography.com/actors/sacha-baron-cohen https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacha_Baron_Cohen https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/sacha-baron-cohen https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Baron-Cohen https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/553524/facts-about-sacha-baron-cohen https://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-celebrities/richest-comedians/sacha-baron-cohen-net-worth/ https://www.adl.org/resources/news/sacha-baron-cohens-keynote-address-adls-2019-never-now-summit-anti-semitism-and-hate https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-news/sacha-baron-cohen-the-man-behind-the-mustache-249539/#ixzz3qN0WPVcv

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we take a look an activist group called MOVE, and how they were eventually assaulted, murdered, and bombed by Philadelphia police via helicopter in the 80s. MOVE started out as a strange group that people considered one part Black Panthers and one part green-loving hippies. They fought for social justice and justice for all living beings, black, white, animal, you name it. But they were loud, and they swore through megaphones, and they had weapons. Some say they were an innocent activist group who was persecuted by the police. Others say they were a dangerous cult, and that the Philly police pulled a Waco on them. Give it a listen, learn the facts of the MOVE bombing, and judge for yourself!   Visit Our Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MOVE_(Philadelphia_organization) https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/2019/8/8/20747198/philadelphia-bombing-1985-move https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1985_MOVE_bombing https://collaborativehistory.gse.upenn.edu/stories/move-osage-avenue https://www.newyorker.com/news/essay/saying-her-name https://commons.lib.jmu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1054&context=jmurj https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X03ErYGB4Kk https://leavingmove2021.blogspot.com/

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we talk the red planet, Mars. There is a lot to unpack here. I mean, yes, it is super cool that errors in interpreting early photos led us all to think Mars was covered in canals and highways. This lead to fiction such as The War of the Worlds. But more than that, Mars has always been an important symbol to humanity. For early humanity, it was a mystery—a star that was a red and had a funky orbit. For modern humanity, it is a curiosity, one which we spend billions of dollars on, sending probes and satellite cameras to help unlock its secrets. So, what is the atmosphere and surface of mars like? Can we make it livable? Why should we want to? What is Elon Musk’s big plan for red neighbor? Listen, laugh, learn!   Get yo’ ass to our sources: https://mars.nasa.gov/allaboutmars/mystique/history/early/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Mars_observation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martian_canals https://www.space.com/47-mars-the-red-planet-fourth-planet-from-the-sun.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars https://news.usc.edu/173755/mars-human-history-culture-usc-experts-2020-launch/ https://mars.nasa.gov/mer/ https://www.spacex.com/human-spaceflight/mars/ https://www.space.com/spacex-starship-ready-mars-humanity-ready https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=921VbEMAwwY&t=1s https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cydonia_(Mars)#%22Face_on_Mars%22

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we talk about one of the most unique visionaries in all of Hollywood, Tim Burton. It’s hard to even start with his biggest hit since there are so many—Batman, Beetlejuice, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure. His movies aren’t just financial blockbusters, they are cult favorites, adored by millions. His visual style, animation, and soundtracks are just as iconic as some of his characters. Come along as we take a look inside the mind of a maestro.     Visit our Sources: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000318/bio/ https://www.biography.com/movies-tv/tim-burton https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Burton https://www.ranker.com/list/fascinating-facts-about-tim-burton/collin-flatt https://vocal.media/geeks/25-facts-about-tim-burton-and-some-of-his-movies https://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-celebrities/directors/tim-burton-net-worth/ https://chrislacy1990.medium.com/revisiting-princes-batman-1989-retrospective-tribute-ed09e692be02#:~:text=While%20assembling%20a%20rough%20cut,convinced%20Burton%20to%20contact%20Prince.

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we talk about the ultimate brain baller, Archimedes. He was born in 287 BC, but he was a genius the likes of which the world has seldom known. The cool stuff was his machines. He created giant claws that could scoop attacking ships out of the sea, advanced catapults, ballista that could throw whole trees, and allegedly a heat ray that set ships on fire, as well as the world’s first analog computer. But his real genius was in mathematics. He is said to be one of the all-time greats, a thousand years or more ahead of his time. The inventions and discoveries of Archimedes make him one of the smartest humans in the history of the species.   Visit Our Sources: http://archimedespalimpsest.org/about/history/archimedes.php https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archimedes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0v86Yk14rf8 https://lemelson.mit.edu/resources/archimedes-archimedes https://www.ancient-origins.net/history-famous-people/archimedes-ancient-greek-genius-ahead-his-time-003690 https://explorable.com/archimedes-war-machines https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antikythera_mechanism  

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we go back in time to a story of murder, voodoo, torture, and sex. This is the story of Annie Palmer, the White Witch of Rose Hall. The year is 1820, and an 18 year old Annie marries the wealthy owner of Rose Hall. However, he is abusive to her, and she learned dark voodoo from her nanny, so he’s killed with a mix of poison and dark magic. From there she goes off the rails, killing more hubbies, having sex with slaves, torturing people, and being a medieval-style crazy woman bent by dark magic and power. But, why do some skeptics say none of the story is true? What parts can history prove? Did she really kill slave babies just to use their bones in ritual? Who is the sorcerer Takoo, and how does he help in her undoing? Listen, laugh, learn. Visit Our Sources: https://medium.com/@karennordhus/annie-palmer-the-white-witch-of-rose-hall-81b434be4a2e https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Witch_of_Rose_Hall https://www.thepalmsjamaica.com/annie-palmer-white-witch-rose-hall/ https://www.gonomad.com/1103-annie-palmer-the-white-witch-of-jamaica https://jamaicatravelandculture.com/destinations/st_james/rose-hall/annie-palmer.htm https://theculturetrip.com/caribbean/jamaica/articles/who-is-the-white-witch-of-rose-hall https://www.ancient-origins.net/unexplained-phenomena/annie-palmer-white-witch-rose-hall-008837 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fJtU-_5osQ&t=636s

On this bonus episode of everyone’s favorite sitcom, the guys celebrate shark week. Brent turns his pool into salt water, so he can buy a great white shark. Brad builds a shark cage to use in Brent’s pool, but cheap steel from Kerplunkistan puts his life in danger. Dave makes a killing when he buys out all the U.S. steel in town and replaces it with cheap steel from Kerplunkistan. Special Guest Star: The King of Flavor! If you can’t find this classic episode, you can always tune in at https://www.patreon.com/sofakingpodcast  

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we talk about the GOAT of late night television, Johnny Carson. At his height, he had the power to literally ask a comedian to stick around after a commercial break and make them overnight starts. David Letterman, Robin Williams, Rodney Dangerfield, Joan Rivers, and endless others claim that this single nod is what made their career. He single handedly changed late night programming into the format we recognize tonight. Carson was a brilliant comedian and show runner, though he did have some problems with liquor women. If you love classic comedy, give this one a listen!   Visit Our Sources: https://www.biography.com/movies-tv/johnny-carson https://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-celebrities/richest-comedians/johnny-carson-net-worth/ https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/johnny-carson-foundation/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Carson https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_Do_You_Trust%3F https://www.purevolume.com/entertainment/secrets-from-the-johnny-carson-show/ https://factsverse.com/dark-secrets-about-johnny-carson-we-ignored-for-too-long/ https://www.neatorama.com/2017/02/22/14-Facts-You-May-Not-Know-About-Johnny-Carson/ https://www.factinate.com/people/johnny-carson

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast we talk about one of the strangest True Crime cases we’ve ever seen—the Phantom of Heilbronn. Also called “The Woman Without a Face,” this master criminal left DNA evidence at over 6 murders and 40 crime scenes spread over three countries. From the gang-style murder of an elite drug cop to DNA left on a toy gun at a small robbery, The Phantom was unstoppable. Her crimes led to a multinational manhunt. Why didn’t people already arrested for her crimes come forward with her identity? What was unique about the police officer's murder? Why did they think she used Heroin? What was the ultimate truth about this criminal mastermind who ran rampant across Europe? Listen, laugh, learn.   Visit Our Sources: https://www.iso.org/news/2016/07/Ref2094.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantom_of_Heilbronn https://haubrichnoir.medium.com/tanzen-in-the-dark-the-phantom-of-heilbronn-1f4778e4ecdf https://www.iflscience.com/serial-killer-the-phantom-of-heilbronn-was-hunted-for-16-years-the-problem-she-didnt-exist-58551 https://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1888126,00.html https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2008/nov/09/germany-serial-killer https://killzoneblog.com/2020/06/the-woman-without-a-face.html

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we talk about the Order of Odd Fellows. This fraternity slash secret society included Charlie Chaplin, Wyatt Earp, Ulysses S Grant, Charles Lindberg, and Franklin D Roosevelt. It was once larger than the Masons. Their goal was to expand friendship, love, and truth to all of humanities. They even acted as a form of insurance for each other before such a concept actually existed, but they had a funny way of doing things. For instance, starting in the 2000s, people all across America discovered dozens of skeletons hidden in abandoned Odd Fellow Lodges, and it turned out that this was a group that protected itself with odd rituals and cryptic codes.   Visit Our Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independent_Order_of_Odd_Fellows https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/633931/independent-order-odd-fellows-secret-society-skeletons https://odd-fellows.org/ https://www.reddit.com/r/ioof/comments/6hyyx4/my_great_great_grandfather_was_a_odd_fellow_left/ https://occult-world.com/odd-fellows/ https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-apr-01-mn-45210-story.html https://socialwelfare.library.vcu.edu/eras/grand-united-order-of-odd-fellows-in-america/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odd_Fellows https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edith_Howard_Cook

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we talk about the godfather of propaganda, Edward Bernays. Bernays was Sigmund Freud’s nephew, and stewing in that pot of mental manipulation made him a master of the craft. He started as a small-time editor and ended up toppling communist regimes alongside the CIA, getting women to smoke cigarettes, and making bacon a health food. He actually discussed a shadow government that ruled the world by mass manipulation of the populace, way back in the 1920s. He was a member of this shadow government, and even the Nazis learned their craft from him.   Visit Our Sources: https://theconversation.com/the-manipulation-of-the-american-mind-edward-bernays-and-the-birth-of-public-relations-44393 https://www.edology.com/blog/marketing/4-lessons-from-behavioural-science/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Bernays https://www.apa.org/monitor/2009/12/consumer https://growth.me/books/propaganda/ https://www.npr.org/2011/02/10/133636541/the-business-of-color-company-sets-fashion-trends  

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we talk about the one and only Batman. That’s right, crime fighters! Batman has been a hallmark of American popular culture since he debuted in 1939. He’s gone from a murderer to a campy clown to a brooding teen and back again. His origin story is tragic, and his heroism is arguably a psychotic obsession, but something about the Dark Knight has captured our imagination. If you want to hear about how this gothic hero came to be, or you want to listen us debate which actor played the best Batman, download this one ASAP.   Visit Our Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batman https://www.superherostuff.com/biographies/batman_biography.html https://www.hendrix.edu/news/news.aspx?id=61460 https://screencrush.com/psychologist-diagnoses-the-batman/ https://comicvine.gamespot.com/profile/vipersixteen/blog/batman-is-not-crazy/156779/ https://www.ranker.com/list/batman-in-arkham-asylum-fan-theory/jonathan-kantor  

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we talk about John Ashley. He was the head of the Ashley Gang and was said to rob 40 banks while becoming the head of Florida rum-running during prohibition. He got one of his eyes shot out by a member of his own gang, became the first pirate to attack American ships since it was a British colony, and had a feud with a one-legged sheriff who vowed to take Ashley's eye! His lover and wife, Laura Upthegrave, was just as devious as he was. Bonnie and Clyde got all the attention, but they couldn’t hold a candle to these two!   Visit Our Sources: Expedition Unknown https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Ashley_(bandit) https://indianrivermagazine.com/the-ashley-gang-what-really-happened/ https://www.crimemuseum.org/crime-library/robberies/john-ashley/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laura_Upthegrove https://indianrivermagazine.com/defiant-to-the-end/ https://www.flsheriffs.org/blog/entry/sheriff-bob-baker    

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we dive back in to the treasure trove of Artificial Intelligence with a talk on the state of A.I. (part 2). This time around, we talk about some of the newer events unfolding with AI. We cover the music being generated by AI, which uses the exact voice of actual singers. That’s going to be a legal mess, as will digital actors doing things they may not approve of. We also talk about the rights not just of humans but of AI itself—if it gets advanced enough, shouldn’t it have legal rights like any other sentient being? We cover that, the open letter to pause AI written by Future of Life Institute (and signed by Elon Musk, Seven Wozniak, and other tech badasses), and much much more!   Visit Our Sources: https://futureoflife.org/open-letter/pause-giant-ai-experiments/

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we explore the skies of the land down under and talk about the Westall '66 Encounter. Also called Melbourne 350, this is a strange UFO sighting. Why is it strange? Well because there were 350 witnesses including 5 local pilots from a flight club who were chasing it in the sky. It is also strange because all the reports sent to the government or the media seemed to have vanished, and there were straight up Men in Black on the scene within 30 minutes threatening students and teachers alike. President Johnson from the US even sent someone to investigate. After more than 50 years, most people who were witnesses are still reluctant to talk about what happened over Westall back in 1966. If you want to know what’s out there, give this one a listen!   Visit Our Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westall_UFO https://www.onlymelbourne.com.au/ufo-westall-april-6-1966 https://www.9news.com.au/national/westall-ufo-could-pilots-could-hold-answers-to-mysterious-objects-in-melbourne-sky/bcc6fb1f-6ea7-418d-abdf-24c92bf46b2e https://www.bridgemanimages.com/en-US/noartistknown/photograph-of-the-supposed-westall-ufo-encounter/nomedium/asset/3520531 https://www.heraldsun.com.au/web-stories/free/herald-sun/melbournes-westall-ufo-sighting-continues-to-fascinate?nk=b3204de6f74eba4240d185ee56cf5706-1688062656 https://www.roswellufomuseum.com/post/the-melbourne-350 https://www.foxnews.com/science/audio-reveals-creepy-details-of-ufo-mystery https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9631507/Westall-incident-April-6-1966-Melbourne-teacher-gagged-200-saw-UFO.html

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we talk about one of the greatest authors and popular culture figures of all time, Kurt Vonnegut. With the release of his 1969 book Slaughterhouse Five, Vonnegut became an overnight sensation. He was something we lack today—a celebrity author who was witty enough to dominate late night and literary enough to be studied by scholars. One of the key moments of his life was being captured the Battle of the Bulge in WWII and then surviving the firebombing of Dresden. His life, his pain, his humor, and his madness, all play out in his wildly original novels, and hopefully we do him some justice with this little episode of ours. We might even laugh inappropriately as he would have wanted. So it goes ***     Visit Our Sources: https://www.biography.com/writer/kurt-vonnegut https://www.vonnegutlibrary.org/biography/ https://www.famousauthors.org/kurt-vonnegut https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurt_Vonnegut https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/kurt-vonnegut-slaughterhouse-five https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?cc=mqr;c=mqr;c=mqrarchive;idno=act2080.0049.111;rgn=main;view=text;xc=1;g=mqrg https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/88215/13-humanizing-facts-about-kurt-vonnegut https://bookanalysis.com/kurt-vonnegut/facts/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Dresden_in_World_War_II https://scrapsfromtheloft.com/books/interview-with-joseph-heller-and-kurt-vonnegut-1992-by-carole-mallory/#:~:text=We%20were%20both%20sort%20of,didn't%20meet%20you%20then.

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we talk about the Mad Gasser of Mattoon. A few weeks after D-Day in Mattoon, Illinois, some families smelled a sweet gas that either paralyzed them or left then nauseous with swollen mouths and faces. Within a couple days, there were even sightings of a tall thin man with a long coat and tight cap prowling the neighborhoods. Once it hit the newspapers, dozens of people were similarly “attacked.” Some were mundane, some downright bizarre. But the townsfolk formed armed vigilante groups, people were scared, and even the FBI got involved. So what was happening here? Was it simply a case of Mass Hysteria? Was there a chemical leak at the plant? Was it a Nazi attack or a covert U.S. test for a new weapons? Listen, laugh, learn.   Visit Our Sources: https://allthatsinteresting.com/mad-gasser-of-mattoon https://cdn.centerforinquiry.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/29/2002/07/22164741/p50.pdf https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mad_Gasser_of_Mattoon https://www.americanhauntingsink.com/madgasser https://www.library.illinois.edu/hpnl/blog/the-mad-gasser-of-mattoon/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_psychogenic_illness https://the-line-up.com/mad-gasser https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_tetrachloride https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trichloroethylene

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we look at the life, twists, and scares of Alfred Hitchcock. Considered the greatest director of all time by many film rankings, this legend spawned entire genres of film. He was a true auteur, overseeing every bit of the production. Hitchcock was an interesting man filled with unique horrors and a wicked sense of humor. If you like the macabre in film, check this one out, and dial H for Hitchcock! Visit Our Sources: https://www.biography.com/movies-tv/alfred-hitchcock https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Hitchcock https://collider.com/best-alfred-hitchcock-movies-ranked/ https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/537233/facts-about-alfred-hitchcock https://www.history.com/news/9-things-you-may-not-know-about-alfred-hitchcock

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we talk about the creator of The Twilight Zone, Rod Serling. Serling was a visionary who changed the very medium of television. He survived some of the worst warfare in the Pacific theater in WWII, and when he returned home, he was a changed man. He wrote of justice and dreamed of worlds without war, racism, and the worst that humanity had to offer. But it was the 1960s, so the only way to do it was to hide it all in the guise of science fiction and horror. This brilliant, singular mind brought some of the greatest moments of scripted television to life and narrated it all like a cigarette smoking Man in Black baller while he did so.   Visit Our Sources: https://www.biography.com/writer/rod-serling https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Twilight_Zone_(1959_TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rod_Serling https://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/rod-serling-about-rod-serling/702/ https://rodserling.com/rod-serling/ https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/59288/8-bizarre-facts-about-rod-serling-and-twilight-zone https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/rod-serling-5465.php https://www.metv.com/lists/15-fascinating-facts-about-rod-serling Animated Video: https://aeon.co/videos/rod-serling-on-how-imagination-turns-science-fiction-into-fact

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we shine a light on the Mole People of Las Vegas. No, they aren’t some hybrid cryptid, but they are thousands of people who live in the 400 miles of drainage tunnels underneath Sin City. In 2007, a book called Beneath the Neon was written about these people. In the years since, there has been explosion in population thanks to Covid and inflation. Drugs are rampant there, as are murders, and death by drowning, but most of the residents love the freedom and family they find in this unique society. Listen, laugh, learn. Visit Our Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mole_people https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beneath_the_Neon https://www.nzz.ch/english/the-misery-of-the-homeless-in-las-vegas-living-in-tunnels-ld.1708954 https://www.thetravel.com/20-secrets-about-the-people-living-under-the-las-vegas-strip/ https://www.8newsnow.com/news/local-news/primal-life-escape-from-las-vegas-tunnels-starts-with-volunteer-visits/ https://www.businessinsider.com/homeless-people-are-living-in-storm-tunnels-underneath-las-vegas-2019-9 https://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/las-vegas-strip-home-homeless/story?id=8652139 Nightline Story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kE7i-7sd3yg https://www.ladbible.com/news/adult-entertainment-jenni-lee-mole-person-las-vegas-046958-20230129

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we talk about The Walled City of Kowloon. Also known as the City of Darkness, Kowloon was part of Hong Kong, but it went unregulated by either the British or the Chinese. With no laws or regulations, the Triad gangs took over in short order, and everything from construction to factories were done for maximum efficiency, not government guidelines. It had the densest population on Earth, 30 times more dense than the city right now! So, how did the Triads take over in the 1950s? Why didn’t the Brits or the Chinese claim it? What finally brought this crazy city’s demolition? How does this connect to Dave's favorite sci-fi author? Listen, laugh, learn. Visit Our Sources: Walled City Map https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kowloon_Walled_City https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/kowloon-walled-city https://www.thecollector.com/kowloon-walled-city-lawlessness-and-claustrophobia/ https://www.businessinsider.com/kowloon-walled-city-photos-2015-2#despite-a-reduced-crime-rate-neither-the-british-nor-the-chinese-found-the-city-tolerable-in-1987-the-two-governments-agreed-to-tear-down-the-city-26 https://www.archdaily.com/800698/heres-what-western-accounts-of-the-kowloon-walled-city-dont-tell-you https://unbelievable-facts.com/2018/02/facts-about-kowloon-walled-city.html

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we talk about the dark side of the classic toy from the 1960s, Sea Monkeys. This is a tale of brine shrimp, a conman who hit the big time, millions of comic books, the Aryan Nations, false identities, and weapons deals. It all hinges around a man named Harold Von Braunhut. He dominated popular culture with Sea Monkeys, X-ray Specs, and other toys marketed directly to children. But when he developed Kiyoga Agent M5 Spring Whip, things went dark when he pledged his earnings to the Aryan Nations. So how did he help get a top white supremacist free from sedition charges? How did this Nazi get Sea Monkeys to live longer? What exactly were in those Sea Monkey pouches? Listen, laugh, learn. Visit Our Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_von_Braunhut https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-oct-01-tm-29473-story.html https://www.theawl.com/2011/06/the-shocking-true-tale-of-the-mad-genius-who-invented-sea-monkeys/ https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/17/magazine/the-battle-over-the-sea-monkey-fortune.html https://www.cnet.com/culture/sea-monkeys-documentary-explores-creators-dark-side/ https://pennylaneismyrealname.com/film/just-add-water/

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we talk about one of the worst atrocities of World War II: The Rape of Nanking. Nanking was formerly the capital city of China, and as Japan invaded parts of the country before they officially entered WWII, destruction of Biblical proportion fell upon the city. Chinese leader Chiang Kai-shek ordered the military to withdraw to fight later on, and the Japanese went nuts. They burned most of the city, killed hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians, and raped pretty much every woman there. The tales are horrible, and I’m not sure how we’ll keep this one funny, but listen, laugh, learn.   Visit Our Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanjing_Massacre https://www.historyplace.com/worldhistory/genocide/nanking.htm https://www.brookings.edu/opinions/thoughts-on-the-nanjing-massacre/ https://www.newsweek.com/exposing-rape-nanking-170890

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we take a look at the State of Artificial Intelligence. We’ve covered this topic before (way back in time), but so much has happened in the past year, and the growth is so stupendous, we thought it was worth revisiting. So, if you want to hear us talk about ChatGPT, Bard, Midjourney, and other commercial AI developments, give this one a listen. We also rap about the exponential curve of technological progress and get into a little bit of AI philosophy.   https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-09-03/only-humans-not-ai-machines-can-get-a-u-s-patent-judge-rules#xj4y7vzkg https://futureoflife.org/open-letter/pause-giant-ai-experiments/ https://futureoflife.org/cause-area/artificial-intelligence/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roko%27s_basilisk https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/chatgpt-causing-layoffs-which-jobs-danger-due-radhakrishnan#:~:text=According%20to%20the%20report%2C%20jobs,journalists%2C%20are%20also%20at%20risk. https://openai.com/research/gpts-are-gpts https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.10130

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we travel back in time and look at one of the most powerful females of the ancient world, Hatshepsut. She was one of only handful of women to break with Egyptian law and fully become Pharaoh. And while she did conquer neighboring invaders early in her life, Egypt was a place of exploration, art, and construction under her reign. There is a camp that argues she was a manipulative, evil woman who wrested power with the help of her lover, but most historians today believe her reign was peaceful, she was loved by her people, and her power play was to keep her family in power against political rivals. Listen, laugh, learn.   Visit Our Sources: https://www.history.com/topics/ancient-egypt/hatshepsut https://www.britannica.com/biography/Hatshepsut https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-queen-who-would-be-king-130328511/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hatshepsut https://www.metmuseum.org/art/metpublications/Hatshepsut_From_Queen_to_Pharaoh https://blackhistorystudies.com/resources/resources/15-facts-on-queen-pharaoh-hatshepsut/ https://www.thecollector.com/hatshepsut-egyptian-queen-king/

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we talk about the most powerful company you’ve never heard of, Blackrock. Blackrock is an investment firm that was created by Larry Fink, the guy who brought you the housing collapse. After a computer lost his bank $100 million dollars due to an error, he created Aladdin, an AI model that the entire financial market now relies on. With its algorithm, Blackrock manages more money than the GDP of America. Some say it is why nobody can buy a house anymore, and it was involved in everything from Covid rescues to bank bailouts. It seems to own a percentage of just about every major corporation you can think of and is in bed with every government in the world. If there is an Illuminati, this just might be it.   Visit Our Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BlackRock https://www.investigate-europe.eu/en/2018/blackrock-the-company-that-owns-the-world/ https://corporateaccountability.org/blog/blackrock-for-2022-corporate-hall-of-shame/#:~:text=BlackRock%20is%20a%20top%20shareholder,aspect%20of%20our%20daily%20lives. https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/3-top-blackrock-holdings-you-can-and-should-buy-now https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWBRldjVzuM https://medium.com/@Fancy_twogap/what-you-may-not-know-the-software-that-is-more-powerful-than-windows-or-even-us-goverment-8f2e08822673 https://citywire.com/pro-buyer/news/blackrock-reacts-to-the-conspiracy-theorists/a2389549 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Fink https://listverse.com/2022/04/20/10-facts-about-the-secret-company-that-runs-the-world/ https://slate.com/business/2021/06/blackrock-invitation-houses-investment-firms-real-estate.html

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we look at some true crime from back in 1992: the case of the Springfield Three. The Springfield Three refer to three women who went missing on June 7th, the nigh of the high school graduation. After Suzie Streeter and Stacy McCall spent the night partying, they went home to mother Sherrill Levitt’s house to call it a night. When friends called on them the next morning to go to a water park, they were gone. Everything was in place, no signs of theft or struggle. But why was the porch lamp broken? What happened to the family dog? How could a grave-robbing motorcycle gang have been involved? What about the serial killer who lived across the street? Listen, laugh, learn. Visit Our Sources https://www.springfieldmo.gov/2498/Three-Missing-Women https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/vicap/missing-persons/the-springfield-three---springfield-missouri https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Springfield_Three https://thecrimewire.com/true-crime/Vanished-The-Springfield-Three https://www.ky3.com/2022/06/06/springfield-three-cold-sase-30-years-since-disappearance-suzie-streeter-sherill-levitt-stacy-mccall/ https://thesuitcasedetective.medium.com/true-crime-the-springfield-three-b018ba8db7de https://www.nbcnews.com/dateline/30-years-later-family-still-seeking-answers-disappearance-three-springfield-n1296285  

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we talk about one of the most mysterious disasters of the modern world—The Tunguska Event. Early one morning in the summer of 1908, a massive explosion ripped through the heart of Russia. It was estimated to be around 15 megatons of explosive force that destroyed the land for miles. The common theory is that it was a hard metal asteroid that hit, but the theory loses steam since there is no crater to suggest impact. This leads to massive expeditions into the wilds of Siberia and theories that range from comet tails to subatomic blackholes and even a super weapon developed ty Nicola Tesla!   Visit Our Sources: https://www.britannica.com/event/Tunguska-event https://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2008/30jun_tunguska https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunguska_event https://earthsky.org/space/what-is-the-tunguska-explosion/ https://astronomy.com/news/2020/10/tunguska-explosion-in-1908-caused-by-asteroid-grazing-earth https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-tunguska-mystery-100-years-later/ https://www.newscientist.com/letter/mg17623644-800-tesla-and-tunguska/ https://www.teslasociety.com/tunguska.htm https://foreignpolicy.com/2013/02/15/crazy-conspiracy-theories-are-already-taking-root-after-russias-meteor/ https://www.nature.com/articles/245088a0

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we talk about one of the greatest to ever grip a microphone, Jerry Seinfeld. Seinfeld is the comedian’s comedian. He started doing small gigs right out of college and never looked back. He was obsessed with comedy since the age of 8 and became sort of a meta-comic who has learned to dissect comedy and get to its essence. Of course, he blew the lid off of television with his sitcom Seinfeld, but his writing, professionalism, and even Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee make him stand out as the greatest of a generation. Visit Our Sources: https://www.biography.com/actors/jerry-seinfeld https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jerry-Seinfeld https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Seinfeld https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/66049/25-yada-yada-yada-facts-about-seinfeld https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/tv/g42575155/14-seinfeld-fun-facts-you-havent-heard-before/ https://writingcooperative.com/jerry-seinfelds-best-writing-advice-347e75ea1508 https://www.thethings.com/jerry-seinfeld-controversy-underaged-girlfriend-wife-shoshana/ https://www.thethings.com/times-jerry-seinfeld-became-unlikeable-with-fans-hate-lady-gaga-larry-king/#jerry-seinfeld-39-s-thoughts-on-diversity-got-him-into-hot-water https://www.insider.com/seinfeld-fun-facts-2018-10#the-rye-episode-was-based-on-a-real-event-1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itWxXyCfW5s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKY6BGcx37k  

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we talk about the terrorist attack on Paris in 2015. On the night of November 13th, a coordinated assault raged across the city. There were a host of suicide bombers at a soccer match, and there was a car doing some nasty drive-by shootings at restaurants. The worst, however, was an assault inside of an Eagles of Death Metal concert that killed around 90 people. So, who planned this horrible attack? What did they want? What did this have to do with a magazine called Charlie Hebdo? What happened to the terrorists? Listen, laugh, learn.   Visit Our Sources: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34818994 https://www.britannica.com/event/Paris-attacks-of-2015 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/November_2015_Paris_attacks https://www.dni.gov/nctc/timeline.html https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4724780/ https://www.cnn.com/2015/12/08/europe/2015-paris-terror-attacks-fast-facts/index.html Paris attacks give rise to conspiracy theories | Paris Attacks News | Al Jazeera https://observers.france24.com/en/20151116-conspiracy-theories-paris-attacks-fake-videos-debunked https://www.vox.com/2015/1/9/18089104/charlie-hebdo-attack https://allthatsinteresting.com/controversial-charlie-hebdo-covers

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we tell the unique tale of Koko the gorilla. Koko was born in captivity in San Francisco and became world famous for her use of sign language. She was said to have the vocabulary of a five year old child, and she showed complex emotions, memories, and even a sense of humor through her use of language. She even taught another gorilla sign language, and the two of them made up their own signs. Koko was depressed after her mate died, and they brought in none other Robin Williams to cheer her up; they became fast friends. So, what do the haters say about Koko’s language? What intelligence tests did she pass? What did she name her pet cats and the bird she hated? Listen, laugh, learn.   Visit Our Sources: https://www.koko.org/about/gorilla-koko/ https://daily.jstor.org/the-legacy-of-koko-the-gorilla/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koko_(gorilla) https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/gorillas-koko-sign-language-culture-animals https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/robin-williams-best-friend-gorilla/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirror_test https://apnews.com/article/fact-check-koko-gorilla-last-words-631101544696

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we talk about the Guru of Popular Music, Rick Rubin. This music producer took on mythological status by launching Def Jam records out of his dorm room in New York and pioneering hip hop alongside Russel Simmons. But his story doesn’t end there. Over the past 40 years, he has won endless Grammy awards in the genres of hard rock, rap, and country. Every strange (but amazing crossover) from Jonny Cash covering “Hurt” to Run DMC teaming up with Aerosmith were all thanks to Rubin. He may look like a hippie guru who only wants you to get in touch with your inner self—but that’s only because that’s exactly what he is. Visit our Sources: https://www.openculture.com/2021/12/rick-rubin-the-invisibility-of-hip-hops-greatest-producer.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Rubin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Rubin_production_discography https://www.cbsnews.com/video/rick-rubin-60-minutes-video-2023-01-15/ https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/rick-rubin-my-life-in-21-songs-26024/

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we talk about the worst music festival ever: Woodstock 99. This was supposed to be the return to peace and love, but it turned out to be a cash grab of a festival filled with sexual assault, mob violence, and riots. It was hosted on an old, polluted air force base where the temperatures reached 100 degrees on the hot tarmac; there was no water; there were no hotels; and the vibe was violent and hostile the entire time. So who planed this train wreck? What happened when people saw crimes occur? Why did it end being a swamp of muddy ground and backed up sewage? Listen, laugh, learn.   Visit Our Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodstock_%2799 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superfund https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/19-worst-things-about-woodstock-99-176052/ https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/documentaries/trainwreck-woodstock-99-true-story/ https://www.esquire.com/uk/culture/a40769147/woodstock-99-true-story/

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we talk about the queen of Appalachia, Dolly Parton. She is a legend of country music with a fifty year career. From “Jolene” to “I Will Always Love You,” she has written and recorded some of the most important country songs ever. But that wasn’t enough. She starred in smash movies like 9 to 5 in the 1980s, created the mega-hit theme park Dollywood, is a massive philanthropist, and is so open minded about other races and the LGBTQ+ community that she still gets threats from the KKK. If you want to hear about one of the most uplifting human beings on the planet, this is the one for you. Visit Our Sources: https://www.biography.com/musicians/dolly-parton https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolly_Parton https://www.countrymusichalloffame.org/hall-of-fame/dolly-parton https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/61219/10-things-you-didnt-know-about-dolly-parton https://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-celebrities/singers/dolly-parton-net-worth/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dollywood https://www.dollywood.com/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wc3S5LAlPhg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46LL7vtfBhE https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/56324/12-fun-facts-about-dollywood

On this Classic episode of The Sofa King Podcast, we climb the Mount Everest of podcast topics to look for the tales and truths behind the Yeti. The Yeti, the Abominable Snowman, the Mi-Go, the Yeren; these are all apparently the same creature: a humanoid beast with feet like a man (smaller than a “Bigfoot”) who has been seen in the Himalayan mountains for centuries. Their gods and mythology tie back to this creature, and sightings and folk lore amount local Sherpas are vibrant and updated. So why should anyone care about a mythological beast called a Yeti? Well, for one thing, a lot of pretty high rolling explorers saw them, claimed to saw them, or brought back evidence of them. Sir Edmund Hillary went on multiple expeditions to find this creature and even brought back evidence. Over the past hundred years, public calls have gone out to find proof. From oil millionaire Tom Slick to a British newspaper and even Oxford University, they all sent people or paid for evidence surrounding this. The Chinese government even has an official department that is dedicated to looking for the Wild Man of China. So, with all of this research and folklore, what has been found? Well, a lot of tracks that either come from bears or can’t be identified. DNA that often matches mountain creatures but sometimes comes back as a mystery. Sometimes, it even came back as prehistoric bears from the Pleistocene era. What is the difference between a Bigfoot and a Yeti? Why is a Yeti considered to be more dangerous? Why did the actor Jimmy Stewart help smuggle a Yeti hand out of Tibet and into London? Listen, laugh, learn.   Jimmy Steward, Relic Hunter: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/saga-of-the-yeti-hand

On this Classic episode of The Sofa King Podcast, we talk about the self-improvement mogul, Tony Robbins. He’s the six foot seven inch motivational speaker who is worth $480 million dollars and holds seminars that cost between two and eight thousand dollars. Tony Robbins was born Anthony J. Mahavoric on February 29, 1960. His father left them, and his mother was abusive to point of chasing him around the house with a kitchen knife, so at age 17, he set out on his own and was such an amazing salesperson that he was in his own apartment and living a better life than he did with his mom in a matter of months. Robbins was an amazingly driven teen, becoming a sports writer by sheer force of will and quickly becoming a top salesperson for another motivational speaker. By the time he was an adult, he had studied psychology and hypnotism (never formally educated), and he started his own motivational industry. His companies are now worth over $5 billion, and he was the king of the late night infomercial during the 1990s. So what makes Tony Robbins worthy of discussion? We set out on our research to talk about this guy who we all thought was the ultimate scam artist, taking the savings of retirees and scamming them with bad real estate investments. But that doesn’t seem to be the case at all. We honestly ruled him to be a passionate and compassionate man, driven by helping the lives of others more than driven by his wealth (though it astounding). How did the documentary called I Am Not Your Guru change our minds? How do you know he didn’t hypnotize us? How did he get Oprah Winfrey to walk across hot coals? What does he do to get a woman to break up with her boyfriend in front of 2500 people? Listen, laugh, learn. Oprah Walks on Hot Coals with Tony Robbins: http://www.oprah.com/own-oprahs-next-chapter/oprah-walks-on-fire-video Bizarre video of Tony and DJ Khaleed: http://www.complex.com/music/dj-khaled-tony-robbins-interview-2016-cover-story 

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we talk about The Man with No Name—Clint Eastwood. Eastwood is the ultimate Hollywood star. He started with the smash hit TV show Rawhide, went on to define The Spaghetti Western, and made some of the best films in the history of cinema. He did action, he did comedy, he did drama. He acted, and he won Oscar after Oscar as a director. Get the behind the scenes on America’s favorite tough man and give this one a listen.   Visit Our Sources: https://www.biography.com/actor/clint-eastwood https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clint_Eastwood https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/80551/15-facts-about-clint-eastwood-make-your-day https://www.factinate.com/people/42-sharp-shooting-facts-clint-eastwood/ https://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-celebrities/actors/clint-eastwood-net-worth/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=933hKyKNPFQ

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we take a look at one of the more bizarre stories in video games—The Tale of Tetris. It is a story of mass piracy, Soviet Secrecy, and murder! Everyone knows this brick stacking game, and most of us have been addicted to it at some point or another. But the story of its spread and development is wild. It was created by Alexey Pajitnov for a group run by the Soviet Union. A colleague named Vladimir Pokhilko first recognized its addictive quality and was brought in. After most of the world was playing it (illegally), Pajitnoz and Pokhilko used its success to move to the US and work on new software, but Pohkilko and his family died to hammer assaults and knife attacks. Maybe a murder-suicide, maybe a Russian mafia hit job? You decide. Listen, laugh, learn.   Visit Our Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetris https://murderpedia.org/male.P/p/pokhilko-vladimir.htm https://www.dailydot.com/parsec/tetris-game-facts/ https://decider.com/2022/12/05/the-tetris-murders-discovery-plus-review/ https://www.livescience.com/56473-7-weird-facts-about-tetris.html https://tetris.fandom.com/wiki/Tetris_Wiki https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Pokhilko https://www.forbes.com/sites/risasarachan/2022/12/05/the-tetris-murders-docuseries-explores-mysterious-death-of-tetris-co-developer-and-his-family/?sh=616d76657301 https://nypost.com/2022/12/05/was-the-tetris-co-creator-the-victim-of-a-russian-mob-hit/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetris_effect

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we head down under and talk about the baddest Bushranger of them all, Ben Hall. Ben Hall was an epic outlaw of the outback. After his wife left him, he took up with a bad crowd of criminals and soon became the leader of one of the most notorious gangs of the Australian Old West. In just a handful of years, they racked up over 100 robberies. Even better, they did crimes to mock the police and make the citizens like them. At one point, the put an entire town on lock down, put the cops in their own cell, and had a three day all-expense paid dance party in the saloon. His death was as grand as his life, and if you like cowboy times or Aussies, this is the one for you! Visit Our Sources: https://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/stories/ben-hall-australian-bushranger https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/hall-ben-1507 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Hall_(bushranger) https://aguidetoaustralianbushranging.com/2017/11/08/the-mourning-of-may-5th-the-death-of-ben-hall/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bushranger https://kids.kiddle.co/Ben_Hall

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we look at the towering career of the one and only Shaquille O’Neill. The man is a legend on the court. He was a four-time champion, multiple MVP, won an Olympic Gold metal, and had plenty of beefs with other sports personalities. He was dominant on the Lakers but won championships on other teams as well. But let’s not forget the fun stuff, like is video game Shaq-Fu, his rap albums, his role as a genie named Kazaam, and his reality shows. This man is a sports and pop-culture legend and worthy of an hour of the three of us rambling. Visit Our Sources: https://www.biography.com/athlete/shaquille-oneal https://www.britannica.com/biography/Shaquille-ONeal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaquille_O%27Neal https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/574854/shaq-facts-shaquille-oneal https://www.discoverwalks.com/blog/united-states/top-10-facts-about-shaquille-oneal/ https://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-athletes/nba/shaquille-oneal-net-worth/

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we remember, remember the 5th of November and talk about the Gunpowder Plot of Guy Fawkes. If you’re from the UK, this is probably a story you are familiar with. In America, we really only heard about it from the movie and comic book V for Vendetta. Either way, it is a wild story about a soldier (and terrorist?) who tried to blow up Parliament with 36 barrels of gunpowder, assassinate the king, and put someone else on the throne. The tale ends in torture and death of the conspirators, but to this day, a feast and bonfire still exist in many parts of the UK to celebrate this odd occasion.   Visit Our Sources: https://archive.pinupmagazine.org/articles/article-guy-fawkes-mask-v-for-vendetta https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Fawkes https://www.britannica.com/biography/Guy-Fawkes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Fawkes_Night https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/633067/guy-fawkes-night-facts https://potw.org/archive/potw405.html

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we talk about an American tragedy—the fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory. The date was March 25, 1911, and a sweatshop in the garment district of New York caught fire. At first, it was thought to be a cigarette in a scrap bin, but the tangle of boxes, oiled down floor, and lack of fire equipment turned it into disaster. The fire escape buckled from the crush of people, the elevator stopped working because so many burning bodies were on top of the car, and the fire fighters couldn’t get to their hoses because they were piled with corpses who jumped from ten stories above. What fate befell the factory owners? How did they make things even worse for the fire, and what corruption did they do before the fire? Listen, laugh, learn.   Visit Our Sources: https://www.history.com/topics/early-20th-century-us/triangle-shirtwaist-fire https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triangle_Shirtwaist_Factory_fire https://trianglefire.ilr.cornell.edu/ https://www.osha.gov/aboutosha/40-years/trianglefactoryfire https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/uncovering-the-history-of-the-triangle-shirtwaist-fire-124701842/ https://www.britannica.com/event/Triangle-shirtwaist-factory-fire https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MP5qn1fNfek https://www.famous-trials.com/trianglefire/964-home

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we talk about the films, crash, and rebound of Mel Gibson. Gibson’s career was pure gold in the 80s and 90s. He was the star of two mega-franchises, Mad Max and Lethal Weapon. He was able to do drama, action, romance, and comedy, and he even started winning Oscars for directing such films and Braveheart and the Passion of the Christ. But he hit a hard snag when anti-Semitic rants and alleged abuse of his ex-girlfriend surfaced. Somehow, he avoided getting cancelled and went to win even more awards with films like Hacksaw Ridge. He is a mainstay of Hollywood, and even after saying the worst things imaginable, his career still thrives.   Visit Our Sources: https://www.biography.com/actor/mel-gibson https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mel_Gibson https://variety.com/2020/film/news/mel-gibson-controversies-career-1234696080/ https://superstarsbio.com/bios/mel-gibson/ https://www.factinate.com/people/33-wacky-facts-mel-gibson/ https://www.10-facts-about.com/mel-gibson/id/485 https://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-celebrities/actors/mel-gibson-net-worth/ https://movieweb.com/mel-gibson-confident-lethal-weapon-5-will-shoot-early-2023/ https://www.dexerto.com/tv-movies/lethal-weapon-5-release-date-trailer-cast-plot-more-2008081/

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we talk about bats. Yes, they get a bad rap since a few species are vampires and drink the blood of horses and cattle. But they are an amazing creature, as helpful to human society as bees are, and aren’t really a threat. In fact, they weren’t considered evil or a menace until Bram Stoker used them in Dracula, where they were permanently married to Halloween and all things dark. These crazy critters use sonar to hunt, live in sophisticated colonies, pollinate, regulate pests, and silently help human society in many ways. They are a tourist attraction in Austin, and their poop is worth its weight in gold! Visit Our Sources: https://www.si.edu/spotlight/bats/batfacts https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/facts/bats https://www.doi.gov/blog/13-facts-about-bats https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bat https://www.nature.org/en-us/about-us/where-we-work/united-states/arizona/stories-in-arizona/top-10-bat-facts/ https://www.nwf.org/garden-for-wildlife/cover/build-a-bat-house https://www.vicksburgpost.com/2019/12/13/for-what-it-is-guano-is-far-more-valuable-than-you-would-think/ https://www.austincityguide.com/listings/congress-bridge-bats

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we talk about a unique group called the Bajau people. They are a group of sea nomads who have genetically evolved to be the perfect sea-goers. Their bodies have adapted to hold their breath insane amounts of time and regulate oxygen in ways no other human can. Some have held their breath for as long as 13 minutes and have dived as deep as 200 feet with no ill effects. They live on boats and coral reefs, call no nation their home, and some spend 60% of their day underwater. Their ancient legends about “The wave that eats people” let them survive the great Tsunami with no casualties. If you want to hear about the real-life Waterworld, give this one a listen. Visit our Sources: https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-43823885 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sama-Bajau https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/bajau-sea-nomads-free-diving-spleen-science https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/04/bajau-sea-nomads-diving-evolution-spleen/558359/ https://isemph.org/Sea-Nomads#:~:text=The%20Bajau%20are%20a%20seafaring,day%20hunting%20underwater%20for%20fish. https://authentic-indonesia.com/blog/8-unique-facts-of-the-bajau-indonesia-sea-gypsies-tribe/ (88) Bajau - the real waterworld people - YouTube (88) Meet the ocean nomads of the South Pacific | 60 Minutes Australia - YouTube https://www.cbsnews.com/news/sea-gypsies-saw-signs-in-the-waves/  

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we talk about the Godfather of Soul, Mister James Brown! James Brown is arguably the most influential artist on the birth of soul, funk, and hip hop. Everyone from Justin Timberlake to Public Enemy to Kanye West say they would not be in music if not for James. He was born in the backwoods on a turpentine plantation and then after both his parents abandoned him, he moved in to his aunt’s brothel. He fell into jail, but upon his release he was obsessed with making history as an artist, and he did so. He defined several generations of black music, single-handedly averted a riot in Boston the day MLK was assassinated, and has the most sampled drum beat in all of hip-hop history. If you want to get down with your bad self, this is the one for you.     Visit Our Sources: Documentary: Mr. Dynamite: The Rise of James Brown https://www.biography.com/musician/james-brown https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Brown https://www.notablebiographies.com/Br-Ca/Brown-James.html https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/culture/article/james-brown-facts https://www.thetalko.com/soul-brother-number-1-10-facts-trivia-james-brown/

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we discuss the myth, facts, science and searches for Noah’s Ark. This ancient myth tells of the global flood and Noah creating a boat that could carry all of life for 40 days and drop it safely ashore when the flood died down. Cool story, bro, but do you even science? We start this one talking about the hard physics and facts of what would go into making and maintaining such a craft, and then we go into the many, many expeditions to find it. For hundreds of years, humans have tried to find this ancient craft, and some of their stories are wild.   Visit Our Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Searches_for_Noah%27s_Ark https://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/article/100428-noahs-ark-found-in-turkey-science-religion-culture https://www.jpost.com/archaeology/has-the-location-of-noahs-ark-finally-been-proven-using-3d-scans-680890 https://ncse.ngo/impossible-voyage-noahs-ark https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wL9eo9QaJb4

On this episode of Sofa King Podcast, we talk about the life and laughs of Will Ferrell. This juggernaut has made some of the greatest comedies of all times and helped to launch the careers of many other comedians. He started as a Groundling and soon moved to Saturday Night Live; it was a time when ratings were at their all-time low, and Lorne Michaels himself thinks Will Ferrell was the only thing that brought it back to life. He left it to make movies like Anchorman, Old School, Elf, and Talladega Nights. But he also co-founded Funny or Die through which he produced things like Between Two Ferns and Drunk History. His life has taught us one key lesson: stay classy, Sofa King Podcast!   Visit Our Sources: https://www.biography.com/actor/will-ferrell https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0002071/bio https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_Ferrell https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/john-william-ferrell-3179.php https://wealthygorilla.com/will-ferrell-net-worth/ https://www.factinate.com/people/43-facts-will-ferrell/ https://www.ranker.com/list/will-ferrell-facts/coy-jandreau https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elf_(film)

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we talk about one of the most sensationalized murders of the 1920s, the Hall-Mills murder. In September of 1922, Dude Passerby and his girlfriend stumbled upon the bodies of Edward Hall and Eleanor Mills. Hall was the local pastor, and Mills was in the church choir. But the details got crazy. First, the entire congregation knew of the affair. Second, Hall was married to an older heiress of the Johnson & Johnson company and thought to be a gold digger. One of Hearst’s newspapers whipped the nation into a frenzy over this murder, and the trial was one of legend. There was the Pig Woman who testified from her hospital bed. There were steamy love letters read to the crowd. But who did authorities think did the murder? Why did some people think it was the KKK? What made police rethink the case forty years later? Listen, laugh, learn.   Visit Our Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hall%E2%80%93Mills_murder_case https://www.northjersey.com/story/entertainment/books/2022/09/14/hall-mills-murders-case-location-nj-100-years/66060247007/ Audio Clip: https://www.nbfpl.org/local-history/hall-mills-murder-radio-broadcast https://www.nytimes.com/1964/02/02/archives/was-the-murderer-in-the-jury-box-the-minister-and-the-choir-singer.html https://www.grunge.com/853673/the-tragic-details-of-the-hall-mills-murders/ https://www.communitynews.org/princetoninfo/artsandentertainment/off-the-presses-blood-and-ink/article_e5c245ae-4f0c-11ed-addf-73e1c5335d3b.html

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we talk about the infamous Fyre Festival. This aborted music festival was supposed to happen on Pablo Escobar’s private island and headlined by Blink 182 and celebrity chefs. It ended up being a disaster where guests lived in rained-out FEMA tents and ate slices of wilted cheese on wheat bread. There was no power, no water, no Wi-Fi, no food, no toilets. Quite simply, there was no festival; hundreds found out too late and were stranded there. So, what crime did the organizer, Billy McFarland, end up facing? How was this caused by the social ills of media influencers? How did 18 trucks of Evian water lead to a blowjob scandal? How as Ja Rule involved? Listen, laugh, learn.   Visit Our Sources: https://www.billboard.com/pro/fyre-festival-founder-billy-mcfarland-out-prison-new-venture/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fyre_Festival https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnises https://www.businessinsider.com/fyre-festival-expectations-vs-reality-2017-4 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_McFarland_(fraudster) https://www.thedailybeast.com/fyre-festival-fraudster-billy-mcfarland-busted-by-prison-guards?via=twitter_page https://www.aetv.com/real-crime/billy-mcfarland-now Netflix: FYRE: The Greatest Party That Never Happened

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we talk beer. The history of beer is no less than the history of human civilization. Archaeologists and historians can track most major human innovations back to the need to make better beer. Its history is thousands of years old, and people think everything from the wheel to money and agriculture all come from a desire for people to have this fizzy goodness. It fed the Egyptians, pleased the Babylonians, and helped fuel the industrial revolution. If you want to have a cold one, or just hear us talk about it, give this one a listen.   Visit Our Sources: https://www.history.com/news/who-invented-beer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_beer https://www.salon.com/2017/04/26/heres-a-timeline-that-explains-how-beer-went-from-brilliant-mistake-to-hipsterific_partner/ https://www.ranker.com/list/how-beer-changed-history/steve-wright https://www.thrillist.com/drink/nation/beer-facts-beer-facts-to-make-you-sound-smarter-at-parties https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2018/01/craft-beer-industry/550850/ https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/food/2018/10/17/beer-consumption-these-americas-26-top-selling-beers/38104743/

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we get our nerd on and talk about Magic: The Gathering. Magic was the brainchild of Richard Garfield, and he published it through the little known gaming company called Wizards of the Coast. His concept was a card game that was cheap to make and was infinitely expandable. So, unlike other games, you didn’t just buy one copy and call it a day, but collected it and always had a thirst for more. In the past 30 years, this indie game has become a juggernaut with millions of players and billions in revenue. It may be the most fun game on the market, so if you want to learn how it works, hear about its history, or just listen to us nerd out for a bit, this is the one for you!   Visit Our Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic:_The_Gathering https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/the-twenty-five-year-journey-of-magic-the-gathering https://www.thegamer.com/magic-gathering-history-facts/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiverse_(Magic:_The_Gathering) https://www.vice.com/en/article/z3b4n9/magic-the-gathering-professional-earnings https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_jvMTCSHoY

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we travel back in time to the end of World War Two and the Nuremberg Trials. These trials were a worldwide sensation at the end of the war. Their goal was complex: to bring justice to the world by trying the worst of the Nazi leaders. The top architects of the Third Reich had all killed themselves, but that left millions of Nazis to deal with. This trial created the notion of crimes against humanity and even had to invent the word Genocide to deal with the true scope of Nazi horror. How did one Nazi get poison smuggled to their cell? Why did Allied leaders like Stalin get a pass for their own war crimes? What became known as the “Nuremberg Defense” used by most Nazis? Listen, laugh, learn.   Visit Our Sources: https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/nuremberg-trials https://allthatsinteresting.com/nuremberg-trials https://nuremberg.law.harvard.edu/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuremberg_trials https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/brief-overview-of-defendants-and-verdicts-at-nuremberg-trials https://www.history.com/news/10-things-you-may-not-know-about-the-nuremberg-trials https://www.roberthjackson.org/speech-and-writing/the-influence-of-the-nuremberg-trial-on-international-criminal-law/ https://www.theguardian.com/world/2005/feb/08/usa.secondworldwar

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we look at one of the most famous bank robbers in American history, John Dillinger. Responsible for a dozen bank robberies in just one year of his crime spree, he became the ultimate dark celebrity of his day. Though he broke out of many prisons, murdered people, and spent nearly a decade in jail, he was a cult figure of an early American pop-culture. He ran with the likes of Baby Face Nelson and came up with some very creative ways to rob banks and sell newspapers. He was dubbed Public Enemy Number One by the FBI before dying in a shootout with them. If you like tales of gangsters and true crime, give this one a listen.   Visit Our Sources: https://www.history.com/topics/crime/john-dillinger https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Dillinger https://www.fbi.gov/history/famous-cases/john-dillinger https://www.crimemuseum.org/crime-library/robberies/john-dillinger/ https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/dillinger-john-dillinger-timeline/ https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/dillinger-gunned-down

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we talk about the ultimate music factory--Motown! This enterprise was like nothing else in the history of modern music. It released hundreds of top-ten hits and helped discover and cultivate acts like Smokey Robinson, Marvin Gaye, Diana Ross, Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, Rick James, and Lionel Ritchie. The head of the show was Berry Gordy Junior, the grandson of a plantation owner and slave, turned music mogul. Gordy hunted and honed musical acts, and his Motown music is often said to have been instrumental in the civil rights movement. If you want to hear it from the grapevine (I'm trying, here...), then give this a listen. Visit Our Sources: Film: Hitsville The History of Motown https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motown https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berry_Gordy http://content.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1870975,00.html https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/the-motown-story-how-berry-gordy-jr-created-the-legendary-label-178066/ https://www.masterclass.com/articles/motown-guide Motown Facts  

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we talk about the legend that is Sean Connery. He was of course the first James Bond, a roll that rocketed him to global fame. For many, he’s the only Bond that ever mattered, eventually causing Bond’s creator Ian Fleming to even alter his books to be more like Connery. He was a legit badass, with famous fist fights between street gangs and gun toting American mobsters. Sean Connery’s ex-wife made claims of abuse, and though he said some unfortunate things about women in the press, he still denied the allegations. From Zardoz to Time Bandits and from Untouchables to Indiana Jones, this one has it all.   Visit Our Sources: https://www.biography.com/actor/sean-connery https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sean_Connery https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/sir-thomas-sean-connery-2823.php https://sea.mashable.com/culture/13042/5-least-unknown-facts-about-sean-connery-the-legendary-actor-who-played-james-bond https://www.factinate.com/people/42-suave-facts-sean-connery/ https://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-celebrities/actors/sean-connery-net-worth/

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we travel back in time and look at the Pony Express. The Pony Express ran for only a year and a half, but was such an epic adventure that it still lives on as part of the mythology of the Old West. In 1860, several business men developed a system of riders going nonstop with mail, only pausing to eat and swap for a fresh horse. It was a dangerous job, especially since it took place in the middle of the Paiute War! Before the express, it took almost a month for mail to go from East Coast to West. With the Pony Express, it took only ten. So, how much did it cost? How dangerous was it? What famous Western figures were part of it? Why was it important when Lincoln became president? Listen, laugh, learn.   Visit Our Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pony_Express https://www.history.com/news/10-things-you-may-not-know-about-the-pony-express https://www.nps.gov/poex/learn/historyculture/index.htm https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/537885/facts-about-pony-express https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/pony-express-debuts https://www.ponyexpress.org/copy-of-quick-facts  

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we talk about the infamous disappearance of Tara Calico. This true crime tale is over thirty years old, and it has some strange twists and turns. On September 20, 1988, she went on her daily bike ride and never came home. Chillingly, she told her mom that if she wasn’t back home by noon, she should come looking for her. Witnesses said a truck was stalking her, and signs of a scuffle and broken Walkman were found. Then? Nothing. Months later, a polaroid was found in Florida that showed what could have been Tara bound and gagged in the back of a van. So, what did the FBI say about the picture? Who confessed in 2013 on their deathbed, and how could it implicate the sheriff overseeing the original case? What did the psychic stripper say? Listen, laugh, learn.   Visit Our Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disappearance_of_Tara_Calico https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/kidnap/tara-leigh-calico https://allthatsinteresting.com/tara-calico https://unsolvedmysteries.fandom.com/wiki/Tara_Calico Will Tara Calico Ever Be Found? | The Missing - YouTube  

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we talk about one of the greatest athletes in all of recent history, Bo Jackson. Bo dominated sports and popular culture in the 1980s. He was the only athlete in history to be the MVP on both professional football and professional baseball. He broke record after record in the MBA and NFL, and when younger he was even up for the Olympic track and field team. He was made extra famous from the “Bo Knows” ad campaign from Nike. Bo wasn’t named Bo, but earned it as part of his nickname “The Wild Boar” due to untamed spirit. You might not know sports, but you’ll be blown away once you listen in and get to know Bo.   Visit Our Sources: https://www.biography.com/athlete/bo-jackson https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bo_Jackson http://www.espn.com/classic/jackson_bo.html https://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-athletes/richest-baseball/bo-jackson-net-worth/ How Good Was Bo Jackson Actually? - YouTube Pro-Stars - Opening Theme (2nd Version) - YouTube

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we travel back in time to look at one of the most badass lawmen of all time, Bass Reeves. You may not have ever heard of Bass Reeves. And that may be because he was black. Reeves was a deputy marshal and arrested over 3000 fugitives (the highest amount ever) in the most dangerous territory in the US. He was born a slave, fought in the Civil War on both sides, got in 14 gunfights with bandits, and is thought by some to be the genesis of everything from The Lone Ranger to Django. If you want to hear some true red dead podcasting, give this one a listen.   Visit Our Sources: Bass Reeves: The Lone Ranger - YouTube Drunk History https://www.history.com/news/bass-reeves-real-lone-ranger-a-black-man https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bass_Reeves https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/bass-reeves-the-real-life-django-a-legendary-african-american-marshal/ https://www.legendsofamerica.com/we-bassreeves/ https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=RE020 https://www.tvguide.com/news/heres-everything-to-know-about-1883-the-bass-reeves-story-including-cast-release-date-and-more/ https://www.theringer.com/tv/2019/11/26/20984150/watchmen-bass-reeves-will-reeves-episode-6-lone-ranger https://www.tota.world/article/3372/

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we talk about the wild life, tragic death, and amazing comedy of Chris Farley. If you lived through the 90s, you couldn’t escape his presence. He was a break-out star on Saturday Night Live, and he was in some of the top comedies of his day (I’m looking at you Tommy Boy). He rolled with the likes of Adam Sandler, David Spade, and Chris Rock, and he partied. He partied a bit too hard. He was checked in to rehab a dozen times in two years, and his antics were legendary. He was lined up to star in some pretty serious acting roles and headline some crazy projects before his death from an overdose at 33. If you want to live in a van down by the river, give this one a listen!     Visit Our Sources: https://www.biography.com/actor/chris-farley https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000394/bio https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Farley https://nypost.com/2022/02/25/bob-odenkirk-knew-chris-farley-would-die-years-before-it-happened/ https://www.buzznicked.com/chris-farley-facts/ https://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-celebrities/richest-comedians/chris-farley-net-worth/ https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/why-adam-sandler-chris-farley-fired-from-snl/  

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we take a look at the global Sand Mafia. Sand seems like a strange thing for organized crime to mess with, but it has become a global, dangerous phenomenon. With 50 billion tons of sand consumed globally, third world countries are selling off their sand through a mysterious system of third party corporations. Though sand is legal, the way it is mined is not. So, how dangerous is the Sand Mafia? Where do they operate? How much political pull do they have? How many people have they killed? What countries import the most illegal sand? Why is this so devastating to the environment? Listen, laugh, learn.   Visit Our Sources: Vice Documentary More Deadly Than Being a Soldier in a War Zone: Environmental Activists Killed for Defending Planet Have Doubled in 15 Years (newsweek.com) Nat Geo Video Forbes Video https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/environment/a39880899/earth-is-running-out-of-sand/ https://theworld.org/stories/2015-04-03/worlds-deadly-war-over-sand-7-things-you-need-know https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-01-11/illegal-sand-trade-india-mafia-murders-vince-beiser/11779570 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sand_theft https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2017/feb/28/sand-mafias-killing-each-other-build-cities https://www.nationalgeographic.org/projects/out-of-eden-walk/articles/2019-06-sand-mafia/

Daves not here man .... This episode of the Sofa King Podcast is a discussion of the brutal regime of the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. Born Josef Vissarionovich Djugashvili in December of 1878, he changed his name to Koba (a sort of Russian Robin Hood) and eventually settled on the new name of Stalin which meant “Man of Steel.” He was born to ordinary parents, but had a series of health complications as a child and a strange relationship with his mother, who wanted him to become a priest. If you’ve listened to our other podcasts about cult leaders, serial killers, and madmen, this childhood is the perfect recipe! Eventually, he went to the seminary study religion, but he ended up stopping. Some say he quit, others that he was expelled for lack of tuition, and some that he was booted for starting to join the early days of the Russian Revolution. Either way, he became an influential member of the early revolution, and he started leading guerrilla attacks and even famously robbed a bank to help fund the cause. Once Lenin, Trotsky and Stalin headed the revolution that brought down the Russian Empire and started the Soviet Union, Stalin’s true colors started to show. He slowly consolidated a power-base of loyal people around him in government, so that when Lenin died, he was able to take power over the newly-formed nation. From here, he started his history of purges and death to his own people. He eliminated all political resistance via firing squads, gulags, and forced deportation, and he ruled the USSR with an iron grasp. He restructured the nation to be an industrial powerhouse instead of a farming-based economy, a decision which caused the greatest man-made famine in the history of humanity (thought to have killed between 7-10 million Ukrainians, Russians, and Soviets). How did so many Soviets starve to death while the country still made a profit selling foodstuffs to other nations? How many Soviets was Stalin responsible for killing? Was his death caused by natural causes, or was it an assassination? Was he a hero or one of the worst villains in history? Listen, laugh, learn.

Daves not here man .... When he is we will be back =) On this episode of The Sofa King Podcast, we throw on our protective tinfoil headgear and step into a Faraday cage to talk about the famous Phoenix Lights. First witnessed on Thursday, March 13, 1997, the Phoenix Lights have been a topic of discussion among friends, colleagues, and strangers alike. Seen above the night skies of Arizona, the two events were witnessed and recorded by a number of people and while some settled for the delayed government explanation of just being flares dropped from an A-10 Warthog aircraft, others have maintained the argument that flares don’t move across and over great distances without falling from the sky and leaving a trail of smoke above them. But if they weren’t flares, what were they? And why did they show up again in later years? Join us as we take a closer look to figure out if they were secret experimental government aircraft, natural swamp gasses above the desert, Power Rangers come to save us, or perhaps actual extraterrestrial UFOs from another race and place still unknown to humankind. Share this:

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we talk about the little-known secret of “closed towns,” most notably Russia’s City 40. City 40 was the old code name for what is now known as Ozersk. This is the birthplace of the Soviet Nuclear weapons program after the end WWII, and to this day, nobody is allowed into the city except its citizens. There are an estimated 100,000 people living in City 40 today, and it is the hub of Russian nuclear technology. A documentary called City 40 (directed by Samira Goetschel) was filmed by a crew who were illegally smuggled into the city by residents who wanted their story to be told. This is one of the major sources of information about Ozersk since the Russian military still keeps the place on lock down for reasons of state security. So what goes on in City 40? Well, originally, it was the home of the Mayak Nuclear Facility, a place built by forced prison labor. This plant produced the majority of the nuclear material for early Soviet Bombs, and now it refines nuclear materials from submarines and military purposes and repurposes them for medical and space exploration. As one would expect, this factory has not been without its environmental problems. For one thing, they dumped their nuclear waste in nearby lakes. A lot of it. I mean, like, tons of it. The lakes are considered by some to be the worst ecological region on the planet. This is a major problem for obvious reasons, but also because one of the lakes was drained, and the sand from the lake bed caused a nuclear dust storm! City 40 was also home to what was known as the Kyshtym disaster in September 29, 1957, when an underground container of liquid radioactive waste exploded. This created a 100 km long radioactive cloud. 23 Villages had to be destroyed and 10,000 evacuated. This explosion is pretty obscure to history, but it is said to have exposed over 500,000 people to five times more nuclear radiation than Chernobyl did in 1986. So, how does a city of 100,000 people remain closed to the public in today’s age? When are people allowed to leave, and who is allowed to come in? Why would people stay in a city that is filled with radiation and has one of the highest cancer rates on earth? How are the citizens of City 40 treated by the government? How many spies are in this town? What happened to the people in the documentary after it released? Listen, laugh, learn.   Follow up to the City 40 Documentary: https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/jul/20/graveyard-earth-inside-city-40-ozersk-russia-deadly-secret-nuclear

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we turn to some True Crime and discuss the case of Leopold and Loeb. Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb killed 14-year-old Bobby Frank on May 21, 1924. Why? Well, that one gets complicated. Both Leopold and Loeb were prodigies, child geniuses. They had each graduated from Ivy League colleges by age 17 or 18. Leopold thought that he was a Nietzschean superman and that typical laws and morality were below him. Loeb, apparently, was just down for whatever and loved the thrill of a crime. So they planned a perfect crime just to prove they could get away with it. Which they didn’t. So, how did they get caught? What was the plan? What happened to Frank’s body, and what evidence was found? Which one of them was shanked by a straight razor in prison? Listen, laugh, learn.   Visit Our Sources: https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/leopold-and-loeb-gain-national-attention https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopold_and_Loeb https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/leopold-and-loebs-criminal-minds-996498/ https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/monkeytrial-leopold-and-loeb-trial/ https://famous-trials.com/leopoldandloeb https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2018/07/26/reopening-the-case-files-of-leopold-and-loeb/  

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we talk about the Supervolcano under Yellowstone National Park. The Yellowstone Supervolcano is one of the few in the world, and if it ever erupts, it will be a world-ending, cataclysmic event. America will pretty much be a wasteland (and a good chunk of Canada…sorry neighbors to the north). If there is a super eruption, it will last for months, send magma nearly 70 miles into the sky, and bury a significant portion of the U.S. in over ten feet of burning ash. So, what is NASA’s plan to cool it down? When did it erupt last, and when do the pattern suggest it is due again? Why do some geologists think it will never happen again? Listen, laugh, learn.   Visit Our Sources: https://www.vox.com/2014/9/5/6108169/yellowstone-supervolcano-eruption https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellowstone_Caldera https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellowstone_National_Park https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/2014GC005469 https://www.nps.gov/yell/learn/nature/volcano.htm https://yellowstonebearworld.com/interesting-facts-about-yellowstone-super-volcano https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/five-things-know-about-yellowstone-supervolcano-180965345/ https://www.doi.gov/blog/7-things-you-didnt-know-about-yellowstone-national-park https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSdN8Rppnbs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caldera https://www.softschools.com/facts/us_geography/yellowstone_supervolcano_facts/2368/  

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we talk about one of the most intelligent animals on planet earth, the Orca. People call them killer whales, which is pretty wrong on both parts. One, they aren’t whales. Second, they aren’t really killers—at least not of humans. Sure, the ones held captive will kill after they are driven mad, but in the wild, they treat humans playfully. They form one of the most sophisticated animal cultures on earth, have a robust language, and teach their young. They can kill a great white, shut down half their brain when they sleep, and get in snowball fights with fishermen. And don’t forget Tilly, the captive Sea World Orca made famous by the movie Blackfin that killed three people!   Visit Our Sources: https://www.discoverwildlife.com/animal-facts/marine-animals/facts-about-orcas/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orca https://us.whales.org/whales-dolphins/facts-about-orcas/ https://www.thedailybeast.com/watch-orca-whales-kill-a-great-white-shark-in-this-stunning-shark-week-footage https://us.whales.org/our-4-goals/end-captivity/orca-captivity/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tilikum_(orca) https://nypost.com/2022/04/04/trainer-warns-of-more-seaworld-killer-whale-attacks-on-humans/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orca_attack  

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we look at the one of the best comedic minds of our generation, Mike Judge. Judge blew up with his smash TV show Beavis and Butthead. It was an anthem to Generation X and a huge hit on MTV, spawning movies, and forcing people to do bad impressions of the main characters for years. He created King of the Hill which was a ratings hit, and he directed live action cult films such as Office Space and Idiocracy. Mike Judge has suffered controversy and success over the years, and has left us with everything from red Swingline staplers to President Camacho. Give this one a listen!   Visit Our Sources: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0431918/bio https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/mike-judge-6996.php https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Judge https://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-businessmen/producers/mike-judge-net-worth/ https://www.ranker.com/list/mike-judge-facts/erik-barnes https://www.cracked.com/article_32961_mike-judge-15-know-you-know-facts.html https://qz.com/work/1575833/how-the-red-stapler-in-office-space-changed-swingline/ https://beavisandbutthead.fandom.com/wiki/Fire_Controversy https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/mike-judge-beavis-butthead-comic-con-1235184504/

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we talk about a strange case of True Crime known as the Chowchilla Bus Kidnapping. In 1976, three men (Frederick Woods, James Schoenfeld, and Richard Schoenfeld) did the unthinkable. As bus driver Ed Ray was driving 26 children back from a pool outing, the kidnappers boarded their school bus and held them at gunpoint. Then, the children and Ray were forced to endure an 11 hour claustrophobic bus ride and were dumped into a buried moving truck for 16 hours. Everyone from the media to the FBI swarmed the town. So, what did it take for them to escape? Were any of them harmed? How did all the victims end up in a prison? Why weren’t the kidnappers ever able to ask for their ransom demand? Listen, laugh, learn.   Visit Our Sources: https://www.cityofchowchilla.org/300/1976-Bus-Kidnapping https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/chowchilla-bus-kidnapping-frederick-woods-rare-photos-from-one-of-the-largest-kidnappings-in-u-s-history/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1976_Chowchilla_kidnapping https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/02/us/chowchilla-bus-kidnapping-victim-trauma/index.html https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/22570738/chowchilla-school-bus-kidnapping https://www.ranker.com/list/chowchilla-bus-kidnapping-facts/jodi-smith https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/29/us/chowchilla-kidnapping-parole.html

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we turn our eyes to the heavens and talk about Solar Flares. These nasty little critters blast off of the sun in eleven year cycles and can wreak havoc with high tech equipment. In the past, people didn’t care much about this phenomenon. For one, they didn’t have telescopes to see them, and even once they did, they just didn’t matter. But now, living in a world of satellites, GPS, cell phones and radio waves, these bursts of electromagnetic energy could really do some damage to our tech and even society at large. What was the biggest solar flare ever detected? Do people on earth die due to the Solar Flares? How much money did a Solar Flare cost Elon Musk when his Starlink satellite program got slammed by a flare? What is the real danger of them, and do you need to become a prepper? Listen, laugh, learn?   Visit Our Sources: https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/phenomena/solar-flares-radio-blackouts https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_flare https://www.livemint.com/news/world/solar-storm-to-strike-earth-tomorrow-expect-mobile-gps-satellite-disruptions-11658224464966.html https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/What_are_solar_flares https://www.space.com/solar-flares-effects-classification-formation https://www.spaceanswers.com/solar-system/five-amazing-facts-about-solar-flares/ https://www.space.com/12584-worst-solar-storms-sun-flares-history.html Deaths Per Year Article https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_cycle

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we look at MTV. This little upstart cable channel first aired in 1981with very little content but a big dream. It fulfilled those dreams and then some. There would be no 1980s culture without MTV. The music, the fashion, the videos, all of it was first seen here. It low-key launched the careers of people like Adam Sandler, Ben Stiller, Spike Jonez, and John Stewart. It gave us Madonna’s sexy lace, Prince’s swagger, hair metal, music news, and Beavis and Butthead. This one will be a walk down memory lane and an exploration of one of the greatest cultural juggernauts of the past forty years.   Visit Our Sources: https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/mtv-launches https://www.mtvpress.com/networks/mtv-history https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MTV https://theconversation.com/40-years-of-mtv-the-channel-that-shaped-popular-culture-as-we-know-it-165365 https://www.everything80spodcast.com/the-history-of-mtv/ https://watchmojo.com/video/id/9782 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_Concert_Hall Videos before MTV The Very First Two Hours of MTV.

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we talk about the king of the chase scene, Burt Reynolds. Reynolds gave us classic movies such as Smokey and the Bandit, Cannonball Run, and Hooper and became an icon and sex symbol for decades. From the disturbing Deliverance to the porn-heavy Boogie Nights, he ended having a wide range as an actor. He fell off the scene for a while and had a resurgence and Oscar nomination in the late 90s. What director did he hate working with? What did Marlon Brando say about Burt Reynolds? Why did he turn down the role of James Bond when Sean Connery quit the franchise? Listen, laugh, learn.   Visit Our Sources: https://www.biography.com/actor/burt-reynolds https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burt_Reynolds https://burtreynolds.com/ https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/burt-reynolds-dead-deliverance-boogie-nights-star-was-82-831093/ https://dos.myflorida.com/cultural/programs/florida-artists-hall-of-fame/burt-reynolds/ https://fanbuzz.com/racing/people/burt-reynolds-net-worth/ https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/68855/10-surprising-facts-about-burt-reynolds https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smokey_and_the_Bandit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cannonball_Run#Original_race  

On this episode of The Sofa King Podcast, we talk about one of the greatest actors of all time, Christopher Lee. This legend played Dracula and was in little known film series such as James Bond, Lord of the Rings, and Star Wars. What’s more impressive is that in WWII he became a spy, a Nazi hunter, and a member of the infamous SOE—The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare. After he mastered spy craft and acting, he also mastered thrash metal music, becoming the oldest musician to ever break the Billboard Top Twenty with his song “Jingle Hell.” You know his face and his rolls, but you don’t know Christopher Lee and his crazy back story.   Visit Our Sources: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/jun/11/christopher-lee https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/christopher-lee-3395.php https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Lee https://gizmodo.com/22-incredible-facts-about-the-life-and-career-of-sir-ch-1710917366 https://military-history.fandom.com/wiki/Christopher_Lee

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we talk about the rise and fall of the Berlin Wall. This wall was both a symbolic and physical barrier between Soviet and Western ideals for over 30 years. After WWII, Germany was divided into four parts, each run by a different nation. Berlin was divided as well, and it served as the most important border-crossing and battle ground for the Cold War. After thousands of citizens fled the Soviet-let East, they built The Berlin Wall which divided the city in two. Hundreds were killed as guards had orders to shoot to kill, but eventually, the wall came down. What accidental press conference helped destroy the wall? Who was Harald Jager, and what part did he play? What does a mine field, archery, and fake planes have to do with one family’s escape? Listen, laugh, learn.   Visit Our Sources: History Channel’s Take https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/what-was-the-berlin-wall-and-how-did-it-fall https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_of_the_Berlin_Wall https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_Wall https://www.thoughtco.com/the-berlin-wall-28-year-history-1779495 https://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/short-history/berlinwall https://time.com/5720386/berlin-wall-fall/

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we look at the wonderful world of ants. Experts suggest that there are up to ten quadrillion ants alive on the planet, roughly 25% of all life on earth. They are highly organized, intelligent, social, and…creepy. They talk to each other via sound and pheromones. Ants grow crops, they go to war, and they even farm aphids to milk them for honeydew. Their size, scale, venom, and strength is wildly divergent. Their nests and colonies are so complex that they baffle architects, so they are sure to baffle the three of us. If you want to hear if Brent thinks they are machines, give this one a listen!   Visit Our Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ant https://www.natgeokids.com/uk/discover/animals/insects/ant-facts/ https://www.toptenreviews.com/the-worlds-most-dangerous-ants https://canyouactually.com/researchers-poured-10-tons-of-cement-into-this-ant-metropolis-then-dug-it-up/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eusociality Aphids and Honeydew Ant Colony in Cement Aluminum Ant Colony Casts

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we talk about Satan. It only made logical sense for our 666th episode to talk about Lucifer, the Prince of Lies. So where do his origins begin? As with most Christian beliefs, he starts pre-Christianity as a series of malevolent gods and human adversaries who merge to one supernatural baddie. He is never physically described in the Bible, and he is not even said to be the actual snake that tempts Adam and Eve. The modern idea of a giant red, horned beast with a tale comes from centuries of Christian evolution, not much of which is canonical. But he remains one of the most important beings in human mythology, a figure of evil and deceit, bent to topple god and destroy all that’s good. And he’s not even running for president…   Visit Our Sources: https://www.history.com/topics/folklore/history-of-the-devil https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satan https://www.livescience.com/56341-where-did-satan-come-from.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/books/chap1/deathof.htm https://www.businessinsider.com/how-much-is-your-soul-worth-2013-9 https://allthatsinteresting.com/moloch https://owlcation.com/humanities/The-Crossroads-a-liminal-setting-for-occult-and-supernatural-activities https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/003463739208900402?journalCode=raeb

This is one of the largest public government retractions and alleged cover-ups that exist in the realm of conspiracy theory. The actual facts are that a press release came out from the US Air Force on July 8, 1947, claiming a “flying saucer” crashed thirty miles outside of Roswell. Then, on July 9, the Air Force changed their story and infamously said it was a weather balloon. The story pretty much died down from there until 1978 when UFOlogist and author, Stanton Fieldman, reopened the case and gave it national attention. So what really happened on the sheep ranch outside of Roswell? Was it as the first witness William “Mac” Brazel claimed with his simple description of a debris field? Was it what the later alleged witnesses claimed—wild stories of metal with memory, substances that couldn’t be broken or burned, and a mysterious light-weight I-Beam that had purple unidentified glyphs scrawled on it? Why did the Air force change their story? What is Project Mogul, and why might the Air Force have made up a story of alien craft just to cover up this real-world project? And what about the supposed mangled alien bodies pulled from the wreckage or the threatening Men In Black? Well, I guess you’ll just have to listen to find out.

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we look at the truly gonzo life of the one and only Hunter S Thompson. Thompson was a journalist who became famous for his crazed drug-fueled antics and anti-authority stance. Born in Louisville, Kentucky to a middle class family, his father died while he was a teenager, and his mother was left very poor and became an alcoholic. During this time, Thompson started writing, and he had such a skill for it, he was allowed to join an elite writing group normally left for the wealthy. He also fell in with a bad crowd and started experimenting with drugs and started committing crimes ranging from shoplifting to vandalism to robbery. The robbery landed him in jail, and the judge said he could go to prison or join the military. Thompson decided on the Air Force. He career there was short, and he was discharged in two years for lack of discipline and subordinating other airmen. Once out, he began his career as a journalist, working as a copy boy for Time Magazine. Eventually, he started to get stories to cover, and he landed a big one in 1965 when The Nation hired him to do a story on the Hell’s Angels. Hunter S. Thompson ended up spending a year on the road with the motorcycle club, documenting their lifestyle in his unique literary style. The resulting book was a smash hit, and it gave him enough money to buy his compound called Owl Creek and opened up the door to an impressive (if not unorthodox) career as a journalist. His next big piece was an article called “The Kentucky Derby Is Decadent and Depraved," which was where the term Gonzo Journalism got coined. The story was less about the race and more about Thompson’s personal time spent at the race. It led to his next huge success, which was when Sports Illustrated sent him to cover the Mint 400 race in Las Vegas. This lead to his masterpiece, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Hunter S Thompson covered everything from Richard Nixon to his own race to be sheriff of Aspen, Colorado. He even got stranded in Vietnam during the evacuation of Saigon! His stories are wild and varied and pretty hard to believe. What happened when he went to Zaire to cover the Foreman/Ali fight? What was his political platform when he ran for office? What did a typical day of drug use look like for him? Why did he kill himself at the end, and what strange things happened at his funeral? Listen, laugh, learn. Kentucky Derby Article: http://grantland.com/features/looking-back-hunter-s-thompson-classic-story-kentucky-derby/

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we talk about Sputnik. Sputnik was the first man-made satellite to ever orbit the earth, and it started the Space Race and made the Cold War grow even hotter. It was designed by the Soviet Union using a system of interlocking governmental agencies. Sputnik was far ahead of its time, and it freaked America (and the rest of the world) out. The response was the formation of NASA and DARPA and the race to the moon. Why was public reaction positive, even for most Americans? How did a dog turn the tide on the Soviet win? What impact did it have on the world? Listen, laugh, learn.   Visit Our Sources: https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/sputnik-launched https://history.state.gov/milestones/1953-1960/sputnik https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sputnik_1 https://www.eisenhowerlibrary.gov/research/online-documents/sputnik-and-space-race https://www.space.com/17563-sputnik.html https://history.nasa.gov/sputnik-timeline.html Cool Sputnik Video

On this episode of The Sofa King Podcast, we talk about the Grandfather of Glam, David Bowie. He was hands down one of the most important artists of his life time, experimenting with every new style of music and instrument out there. He was one of the main influencers on the androgyny of the 1980s, and his most famous persona, Ziggy Stardust, was a creature that made fun of itself. He was an often obsessed artists who would create a bizarre musical character and inhabit it on and off stage (even hiding his urine from wizards at one point. Honestly.). Listen to this one as we talk about one of the greatest singer songwriters of all time.   Visit Our Sources: https://www.biography.com/musician/david-bowie https://www.davidbowie.com/about https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Bowie https://stacker.com/stories/13641/david-bowie-life-story-you-may-not-know https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/522704/15-fascinating-facts-about-david-bowie https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thin_White_Duke#Controversy Bowie and Crosby Video Ferrel and Reilly Video Cool Bowie Video

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we look at the sinking of The Kursk. The Kursk was a Russian nuclear sub and was declared “unsinkable.” However, a constantly declining military budget let their navy start to fall apart. On Aug 12, 2000, during a massive fleet-wide training exercise, the ship fell silent. Well, not exactly silent since seismographs on the other side of the world reported two explosions, one equaling a 4.2 on the Richter Scale. What followed was an epic failure in the Russian Navy’s response, the government’s inactivity, and Vladimir Putin’s callous nature. Everyone on The Kursk died, and their corpses were only discovered by foreign divers since the Russians couldn’t do it themselves. This is a sad story of a government and bureaucracy that left its sailors to die.   Visit Our Sources: https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/navy-ships/a23494010/kursk-submarine-disaster/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kursk_submarine_disaster https://www.rferl.org/a/the-kursk-catastrophe-a-lesson-for-putin-is-fading-from-russian-attention-20-years-later/30778500.html https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/the-coronavirus-and-the-kursk-submarine-disaster https://abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=82260&page=1 https://abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=82720&page=1 Overview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RL_UdWCPlw Raising The Kursk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQJ6IMREvz8

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we talk about one of the most famous structures on planet earth—The Great Sphinx of Giza. The Sphinx is old. It is really old, but nobody knows exactly how ancient it is. Popular beliefs put it at 4500 years old, built by the Pharaoh Khafre. Others say it was built by that pharaoh’s father, Khufu. Yet others claim it was discovered by Khufu and is centuries older than either of them. This monument has been subject to vandalism, erosion, and centuries buried under the sand. Was there any truth to Edgar Cayce’s predictions about hidden Atlantean artifacts? What is the water erosion theory, and how does that potentially change the age of the Sphinx? How far is it from the nearest Pizza Hut? Listen, laugh, learn?   Visit Our Sources: https://www.history.com/topics/ancient-egypt/the-sphinx https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Sphinx_of_Giza https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sphinx_water_erosion_hypothesis https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/uncovering-secrets-of-the-sphinx-5053442/ https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/egypt-great-sphinx-closed-eyes-really

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we talk about one or the boldest cult leaders to ever live—James Strang. He proclaimed himself the King of Beaver Island in Lake Michigan, and from there, he ran an empire of lumber theft, polygamy, and even piracy across The Great Lakes. He wrote diaries in a made up language (that took a century to decode), forged documents and holy artifacts to help take power within the Mormon Church, and even became a member of the House of Representatives. Oh, and there was that one time he hid his second wife by dressing her as a boy and saying she was his cousin. If you like cults, this one has it all!   Visit Our Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Strang https://leelanau.com/remembering-king-strang-of-beaver-island/ https://www.michiganradio.org/arts-culture/2020-07-24/new-book-documents-the-life-of-james-jesse-strang-self-professed-mormon-monarch-of-beaver-island https://mynorth.com/2009/03/beaver-islands-king/ https://www.ranker.com/list/james-strang-mormon-king-of-beaver-island/genevieve-carlton https://www.wpr.org/most-audacious-con-man-youve-never-heard https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voree_plates#Script_used_on_the_plates

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we talk about one of the loudest voices of Generation X, Henry Rollins. He was the front man for the epic punk band Black Flag and later the front man for the Rollins Band. He was in icon of the 80s and 90s, known for his temper, tattoos, and timbre. Henry Rollins sang against the establishment and fought against what was corrupt in society; he fought against his fans at concerts, too, leading to a reputation as a hot head. He became equally famous for his spoken word and lectures as his music, and he helped voice the rage and frustration of his generation with an eloquence that few possessed.   Visit Our Sources: https://bigthink.com/people/henryrollins/ https://www.notablebiographies.com/newsmakers2/2007-Pu-Z/Rollins-Henry.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Rollins https://blabbermouth.net/news/henry-rollins-has-never-regretted-his-decision-to-stop-making-music https://www.grammy.com/artists/henry-rollins/6739 https://www.comedydynamics.com/catalog/henry-rollins-keep-talking-pal/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rM7oxuOLIiw  

Daves not here man ... Classic This episode peels back the lid on the very popular conspiracy theory involving the use of fluoride in municipal drinking water. The common conspiracy theories get pretty crazy and talk about Communist plots and argue that Nazis used sodium fluoride to keep prisoners of war and concentration camp victims docile. We talk about those theories and whether they have been debunked or not, but we also look at more credible historical and scientific facts. One fact is that fluoride is a byproduct of enriching uranium and making aluminum, and it is a highly corrosive and toxic substance in concentration. Evidence obviously indicates that in very, very small amounts it helps prevent tooth decay. But in moderate to large amounts, it is a poison. (So much so that just after 9/11 the NSA expressed concern about terrorists hijacking unprotected fluoride trucks and using them to poison entire towns). How much is too much fluoride? How much is in the water you drink? How can you filter it out of your water, and what bottled water can you buy to avoid it? Is it even a big deal? Good questions. We answer those and cover everything from calcified pineal glands to mind control on this one, while we did deep into the concerns about fluoride. Most Western nations refuse to use it in their water supply for fear of over-saturation, and even the EPA in the US has recently lowered the levels it allows in drinking water due to nationwide cases of dental fluorosis. Do we only drink it because nobody has a means to dispose of this potentially toxic chemical? Do the health benefits outweigh the risks? Does it even really help our teeth when we drink it? We cover all this ground and much more. This one will make you want to wear a tinfoil hat and also realize that fluoride is a byproduct of your tin foil hat!

Daves not here man..... On this episode of The Sofa King Podcast, we look at a guy who may be the worst Brit to ever live, Jimmy Savile. Jimmy Savile was a media personality and radio host (think Ryan Seacrest or Dick Clark in the States). He had a hit-maker radio and tv show that every musician wanted to be on. He also had a BBC television series that made the dream of ill children come true. He was knighted by the Queen of England and the Pope. That all sounds pretty awesome, right? Well, he was also a serial rapist, pedophile, and necropheliac. A year after he died in 2011, over 500 victims came forward to discuss their trauma. They ranged from 5 to 75 years old at the time of the crime. Most of them were physically or mentally ill at the time of the abuse. There were dozens of rapes. Oh, and most people think none of this ever came to light because of a cover up that may have gone as high up as the Prime Minister or the Royal family, both of whom he was close to. So how did a crappy meta-celebrity become such a monster and mega rapist? It was his “charity work.” He would hold fund raisers and give money—millions of pounds—to hospitals, children’s schools, and mental hospitals. This would ingratiate Jimmy Savile with the board of directors and give him access to the hospital at all hours as a major donor. Then, he would rape, fondle, and abuse patients, relatives of patients, and everyone he could get his hands on. He’d feel up people hours after major surgery and rape people who were too mentally ill to know any better. He’d also sneak into the morgue and give oral sex to dead bodies (something called gamaroosh…see, you learn something new every day) and pose them in sexual acts to take photos with them. And steal their glass eyes. And then, he’d brag about it to the hospital staff. How this sicko got away with such a range of heinous crimes for 50 years is hard to imagine, unless, of course, it was being covered up for him. So, was Jimmy Savile part of an international sex trafficking scheme as many people allege? Was he a lone shooter? Was he just the luckiest rapist in the UK, or did he go out of his way to hide the truth? Why did the BBC bury the story of Jimmy Savile’s sexual assault after he died? How many times were the police tipped off over the years? Who was Clair McAlpine, and how did her suicide almost bring him down in the 1970s? Listen, laugh, learn as we talk about someone who couldn’t have died soon enough. Sex Timeline: https://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/jun/26/jimmy-savile-sexual-abuse-timeline  

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we look at the achievements, impacts, and allegations against the original Hip-Hop mogul, Russell Simmons. A young Simmons fell in love the new art form of rap and immediately took charge of the genre’s future. He signed Kurtis Blow from his dorm room on to a label that didn’t exist, and he hustled every DJ in New York until he got him a record deal. From there, he created Def Jam records and was architect to the success of acts such as Run-DMC, The Beastie Boys, Public Enemy, and LL Cool J. He produced movies, reinvented stand up, created a fashion line, and put poetry slams on the map. In 2018, he stepped down from all of his corporate ties due to multiple sexual assault claims. Even under that dark shadow, Simmons stands out as a cultural titan that every rap mogul since has imitated.   Visit Our Sources: https://www.biography.com/musician/russell-simmons https://www.thehistorymakers.org/biography/russell-simmons-40 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell_Simmons https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/russell-simmons-sexual-assault-allegations-a-timeline-202515/ https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/13/arts/music/russell-simmons-rape.html https://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-celebrities/richest-rappers/russell-simmons-net-worth/

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we talk about phobias. Everyone is afraid of something, but that doesn’t make it a phobia. A phobia is technically a form of anxiety disorder that lasts more than 6 months. These can be common and reasonable things like snakes or spiders, or truly bizarre things like a fear of belly buttons or a fear of long words. What causes Phobias to exist? How many people suffer from Phobias? Is there a genetic component? How do we cure them? What are the most ridiculous Phobias we came across? Listen, laugh, learn.   Visit Our Sources: https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/phobias https://www.webmd.com/anxiety-panic/specific-phobias https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phobia https://www.verywellmind.com/list-of-phobias-2795453 https://www.realbuzz.com/articles-interests/health/article/top-10-most-bizarre-phobias/ https://www.therecoveryvillage.com/mental-health/phobias/related/weird-phobias/ https://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-05-01/ten-of-the-most-common-phobias/6439210  

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we talk about the best looking man in a bow tie, Pee-Wee Herman. Pee-Wee is played by the comedic actor Paul Reubens, and though he seems like an inevitable and overnight success, he worked on his comedy and this character for well over a decade before he blew up in Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure. He went to Cal Arts to study acting (alongside The Hasselhoff, I might add), and ended up working with the improve troupe The Groundlings. There, he slowly developed Pee-Wee with help from Phil Hartman. His stage show exploded in popularity after it was picked up by HBO, and then it was on to a film and a hit Saturday morning kid’s show. So, why did Paul Reubens quit the show? What happened when he was caught in a porno theater? How did he help start the career of Lawrence Fishburn and Tim Burton? What’s he up to now, and can we expect more Pee-Wee? Listen, laugh, learn. Visit Our Sources: https://hollywoodmask.com/actors/paul-reubens-wife-gay-personal-life.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pee-wee_Herman https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Reubens https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Paul_Reubens https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/pee-wee-hermans-dark-reboot-paul-reubens-is-ready-stage-a-comeback-1273962/ https://nypost.com/2021/11/16/pee-wee-hermans-comeback-paul-reubens-viral-ask-lands-gig/ https://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-celebrities/richest-comedians/paul-reubens-net-worth/

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we hit you with some cryptozoology and talk about the Beast of Exmoor. This creature has been spotted thousands of times since the 1970s. It gained popularity in 1983 when a farmer lost almost 100 sheep in the course of three months. It got so bad that the British Royal Marines were deployed in “Operation Beastie” to try and kill or find forensic evidence. The descriptions are remarkably similar and seem to be some sort of a great cat that looks to be roughly seven feet long. It is lean and powerful and can easily jump over six foot fences. So what is this creature? An unknown great cat? It could be a freed pet, but it’s been there too long for such a creature’s lifespan. So what do the experts say? What are the sightings like? How are prey killed? Listen, laugh, learn. Visit Our Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beast_of_Exmoor https://new-cryptozoology.fandom.com/wiki/Beast_of_Exmoor https://www.thebestofexmoor.co.uk/blog/beast-of-exmoor/ https://www.countryliving.com/uk/wildlife/countryside/a38691826/beast-of-exmoor-big-cat-spotted/ https://www.devonlive.com/news/devon-news/five-times-beast-exmoor-spotted-1854988 https://occult-world.com/beast-of-exmoor/ Monsterquest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMfFdEl65mA

On this episode of The Sofa King Podcast, we look at the man single handedly responsible for the popularity of Area 51 and gray aliens, Bob Lazar. In 1989, he gave a sensational interview to reporter George Knapp. In it, he talked about his time in an facility called S4 and his work figuring out how alien space craft worked. There were 9 flying saucers there, and they used Element 115 to distort space-time and fly using gravity. It became a worldwide phenomenon that impacted everything from X-Files to Independence Day and even the classic video game X-Com. In 2018, film maker Jeremy Corbell tracked down Bob Lazar to interview him all over again for his hit documentary. If you’re into grays and UFOs or still just believe The Truth is Out There, you don’t want to miss this one.   Visit Our Sources: https://www.vice.com/en/article/j5zvj7/ufo-technician-bob-lazar-speaks https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Lazar https://www.nevadacurrent.com/2021/06/01/ufos-the-pentagon-and-the-enigma-of-bob-lazar/ https://science.howstuffworks.com/space/aliens-ufos/bob-lazar.htm https://intechbearing.com/blogs/news/getting-closer-to-element-115 https://www.vice.com/en/article/evjwkw/bob-lazar-says-the-fbi-raided-him-to-seize-area-51s-alien-fuel-the-truth-is-weirder https://tubitv.com/movies/610453/bob-lazar-area-51-flying-saucers

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we try our hand at the Guinness Book of World Records. This childhood favorite started back in 1955 when there was no such thing as the internet, and encyclopedias only covered serious topics. It was launched by Sir Hugh Beaver who worked at Guinness, and he hired the McWhorter brothers to write it. One of them was assassinated by the IRA, but the show must go on. The Guinness Book of World Records became a sensation (and became a world record holder itself for most books sold). Their museums opened worldwide, the book was translated into languages all around the world, and television shows spawned everywhere. How did they change their business model to stay in business? What does it take to become a Guinness record holder? Who holds the most records? Listen, laugh, learn.   Visit Our Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guinness_World_Records https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-guinness-book-of-records-debuts https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/records/showcase https://www.business-standard.com/about/what-is-guinness-book-of-records https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/records/how-to-set-or-break-a-world-record https://www.gobankingrates.com/money/side-gigs/guinness-world-record/ https://www.scoopwhoop.com/news/weirdest-guinness-world-records-that-actually-exist/ https://www.quora.com/Is-there-a-world-record-for-number-of-concussions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ross_McWhirter#Assassination https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashrita_Furman https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/Images/GWR-Evidence-Guide-2018_tcm25-486431.pdf https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/records/hall-of-fame/

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we look at one of the worst environmental catastrophes of the modern era, the Bhopal Disaster. The Indian city of Bhopal was home to a Union Carbide Corporation chemical company. They made pesticides using a very lethal substance called MIC gas. On December 2nd, 1984, 40 tons of this deadly concoction burst into the air over the city of a million people. It killed between 3,000 and 15,000 people and has led to massive long-term health issues for the victims and their children. Of course the corporation ducks its head and tries to blame someone else, as does the Indian Government. If you want to hear about a heartbreaking tale of corporate laziness leading to what one court considered mass homicide, this is the one for you!   Visit Our Sources: https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2019/dec/08/bhopals-tragedy-has-not-stopped-the-urban-disaster-still-claiming-lives-35-years-on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhopal_disaster https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2014/12/bhopal-the-worlds-worst-industrial-disaster-30-years-later/100864/ https://ehjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1476-069X-4-6 https://www.bhopal.org/continuing-disaster/the-bhopal-gas-disaster/union-carbides-disaster/

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we bring you the best radio broadcast ever—The War of the Worlds. On October 30th, 1938, the legendary Orson Welles created a radio show for CBS based on the novel, The War of the Worlds. The show was unique, using cutting-edge sound design and special audio effects more than any other broadcast. Coupled with good acting, and a lack of commercial interruptions (like a real news broadcast), it freaked out the nation. Some accounts say that people panicked, stormed government buildings, and loaded up their shotguns ready for a Martian invasion. Others state that it wasn’t that bad, but the newspaper industry blew it out of proportion. So, what happened that night? Why did Welles and his cast get locked in a room in the studio for hours after? Why did cops storm the studio? What did Welles say about it the next day, and what was Hitler’s reaction? Listen, laugh, learn.   Visit Our Sources: https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/welles-scares-nation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_War_of_the_Worlds_(1938_radio_drama) https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/infamous-war-worlds-radio-broadcast-was-magnificent-fluke-180955180/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mercury_Theatre_on_the_Air https://www.space.com/war-of-the-worlds-radio-broadcast-deepfake-podcast https://home.csulb.edu/~plowentr/warworlds.htm https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crPGFZiFjfs https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2013/10/30/241797346/75-years-ago-war-of-the-worlds-started-a-panic-or-did-it

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we look into the largest police scandal in LAPD history. It was called the Rampart Scandal, named after a police station in a bad part of LA. In the mid-90s, when gang violence was at its worst, the police developed CRASH units, designed to arrest gang members by any means necessary. This lead to the Rampart CRASH team becoming the epitome of corruption. They shot people and lied about it, robbed a bank, planted evidence, stole cocaine from the evidence locker, and sold drugs. They were tied directly to the criminal enterprise that was Death Row records when it was run by Suge Knight. Oh, and they very well might have killed Biggie Smalls. This is a wild tale of corruption, greed, and cops who were no different than the gangsters they were charged to capture.   Visit Our Sources: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/lapd/scandal/cron.html https://scholarship.law.duke.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2161&context=faculty_scholarship https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2020-01-21/ghost-rampart-lapd-gang-scandal https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2001/05/21/bad-cops https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/lapd/later/streets.html https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/lapd/later/reports.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rafael_P%C3%A9rez_(police_officer) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_Resources_Against_Street_Hoodlums https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rampart_scandal https://vimeo.com/428307871 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVBZ3YF800c https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LAPD_Rampart_Division

On this episode of The Sofa King Podcast, we look at the animal that even makes Indian Jones’ skin crawl—snakes. Found through all of human mythology, this slithery mother can represent medicine and healing or Satan and destruction. It is an animal so radically different than humans, that it might as well be an alien. It has senses we can’t imagine, is a ruthless killer, and is a primal fear in much of the human population. So, what are the most deadly snakes? Where are they found? What exactly is snake wine, and where (and why) do you drink it? What country has the most snake deaths, and why is antivenom one of the craziest medicines to produce? Listen, laugh, learn.   Visit Our Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snake https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/adder https://www.livescience.com/deadliest-snakes.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snakes_in_mythology https://www.history.com/news/snake-symbol-history-mythology  

This episode of The Sofa King Podcast is Part One of our discussion on the life, politics, policies, and death of the amazing John Fitzgerald Kennedy. JFK was one of the most beloved president of the United States, and his administration was often considered to be the “Golden Age” of America that many people called Camelot. Kennedy was the son of a wealthy business man who had alleged ties to the mob and illegal alcohol-running during prohibition. His legitimate businesses, however, set the Kennedy family up for a life of prosperity and prestige. JFJ, also known as Jack, was a sickly child and had chronic back problems through his life. He also was a screw-up at school, more interested in pranks and flirting than his formal education. All that changed, however, when he was at Harvard, and he wrote a book called Why England Slept which explored why Great Britain was unprepared for the Nazis. He used his family’s connections to let him join the Navy (something he couldn’t have done because of his back condition), and he became a war hero, saving members of his crew in pretty amazing ways in the battle of the Pacific on his boat PT-109. After the war, he married Jackie Bouvier and served time in both the House of Representatives and the Senate before finally becoming president in 1960. While president, he did pretty amazing things, helping the poor, creating the Peace Corps, and even writing the Civil Rights Act. However, he also tried to have Fidel Castro overturned by the CIA’s failed Bay of Pigs invasion, heated up the cold war, and dealt with the Cuban Missile Crisis. Aside from his policies and the crazy era of his presidency, Jack was also known for having affairs with women. From white house employees to Marilyn Monroe and even Judith Campbell Exner (who was the mistress of Sam Giancana, the mob boss for The Chicago Outfit), he slept around. So, if you want to know about JFK, his affairs, his decision, why he was a war hero, and who he upset over the years (and possibly pushed to assassinate him), give this one a listen. Stay tuned for part two, where we talk about his assassination and the theories surrounding it. Thanks to our special guest Doctor Randal Beeman.

On this episode of The Sofa King Podcast, we explore one of the bloodiest chapters in the history of New England, the Salem Witch Trials. The Salem Witch Trials are a complex phenomenon that coupled puritanical fanaticism with fear of not only the devil, but life in the new world. The laws that led to the persecution of witches in New England date back to 1484, when Pope Innocent VIII wrote a papal bull called Summis Desiderantes Affectibus (Latin for “Desiring with supreme ardor”). This proclamation said that witches were real and were servants of the devil, and from there, witch-hunting mania was born. A few years later, The Malleus Maleficarum (aka “The Hammer of Witches”) was written by the Catholic clergyman Heinrich Kramer (and possibly a partner, the Dominican Friar Jacob Sprenger). Sprenger and Kramer were both given power by the pope to hunt and kill anyone they deemed a witch. While this sounds like the stuff of really cool video games, it more like rampant sexism and murdering women who didn’t adhere to norms of society. This backdrop of persecution for witches (especially female ones) is what the people living in Salem Village grew up in, back in 1692. At this time, 9-year-old Elizabeth Parris and 11-year-old Abigail Williams (the daughter and niece of Salem Village’s minister, Samuel Parris) started having “fits,” which included violent screaming outbursts and physical contortions of the body. Paranoia spread very rapidly, and eventually, three people were arrested as witches—a slave, an old person, and a homeless beggar. The slave, Tituba, confessed to being a witch and signing “the black man’s book,” and the witch paranoia spread. So, how many people were eventually arrested for witches? How many were killed? What methods did they use to kill them? What made the witch mania stop? Why did it get so bad in Salem Village? What brought the Salem Witch Trials to a close, and how did it involve two key literary figures and a political scandal? Listen, laugh, learn.

On this episode of The Sofa King Podcast, we discuss the wild career of the most famous pirate in history, Edward Teach, aka Blackbeard. Teach was thought to have been born in Britain but moved to Jamaica as a child. From there, he became a privateer (a pirate who worked for England) through Queen Anne’s War. After that, he used his naval skills to become one of the wildest pirates ever to set foot in the Caribbean. Teach was recruited after the war by a pirate named Captain Benjamin Hornigold, and in a very short time, he was promoted to run his own ship in this pirate fleet. Blackbeard earned his stripes and his nickname under Hornigold, and when the senior pirate retired from the life, Blackbeard was left in charge of the ships. He ran his new fleet based on fear of his growing reputation—he even lit his hair on fire before battle to look more fearsome. From there, Blackbeard went on to capture and recruit several ships, adding to his flotilla’s strength. One man, Stede Bonnet (The Gentleman Pirate) was convinced to join instead of run his plantations. Together, they accomplished one of the great feats of pirate history and took a full frigate and flagship from France. They renamed it Queen Anne’s Revenge, armed with 250 men including ex-slaves, and loaded 40 cannons on it. From that ship, Blackbeard ran a two year terror campaign, capturing over 30 ships and being a general scourge of civilized society. Unlike the typical stereotype of a pirate only being in remote waters, Blackbeard spent much of his time sacking the east coast the United States. He once famously held an entire town captive for a prolonged period of time until he could get the mayor to give his fleet medicine he needed (to cure an STD?). The story of Blackbeard is a story of allies turned enemy, cunning piracy, amazing naval tactics, and stunning victories. He died in battle, and the details of his death prove he was the badass that his reputation said he was. Listen, laugh, learn.

Mind Control, influence, and propaganda are the focus of this episode of the Sofa King Podcast. We talk about how governments and corporations try to make us loyal to their product/country using techniques that date back well before World War II. Derren Brown, the British mentalist and psychological manipulator is a prime example that we talk about. And of course, what Sofa King episode would be complete without a conspiracy? This episode’s is the CIA program from the 1950s-1970s known as MK Ultra. What was MK Ultra, and how did the maniuplate us? Tune in and find out. Some of our key topics this episode are mind control, propaganda, advertising, MK Ultra, the CIA, Derren Brown, mentalism, the propaganda/public relations master Edward Bernays, and the documentary film maker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy and her work documenting the Taliban.

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we look at one of the worst prison events in recent history, the Attica Prison Rebellion. Attica Prison, in upstate New York, was infamous for its cruel staff and correctional officers. Prisoners were given one roll of toilet paper per month, inadequate food, and were even beaten and tortured by guards. Racism was rampant, and after a fight in one yard, prisoners had said enough. They rushed some guards and took control of parts of the prison. After a well-organized negotiation and hostage situation, Governor Rockefeller ordered troops to fire, killing prisoners and hostages indiscriminately. This story has ties ranging from the black panthers to John Lennon to Richard Nixon. It’s a wild, tragic ride.   Visit Our Sources: https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/graphics/2021/09/08/attica-prison-riot-50-years-later/5509972001/ https://www.zinnedproject.org/materials/attica-prison-uprising/ https://allthatsinteresting.com/attica-prison-riot https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/riot-at-attica-prison https://www.npr.org/2021/10/27/1049295683/attica-prison-documentary-stanley-nelson https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attica_Prison_riot What really happened during the Attica Prison Rebellion - Orisanmi Burton - YouTube

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we talk about the real gangster of West Coast hip hop, Suge Knight. Though his nickname comes from his sweet childhood nick name of “Sugar Bear,” he turned into a real monster. He started by managing a few rappers and then created Death Row Records which had some of the biggest names in West Side rap. He famously fueled the East/West rap war and was behind the wheel when Tupac was shot. What are the theories surrounding his involvement? What was RAMPART, and how was he involved with corrupt LAPD officers? Did he kill Biggie Smalls? Why did he run over two men in 2017, and how long is his prison sentence based on that killing? Listen, laugh, learn.     Visit Our Sources: https://www.biography.com/musician/suge-knight https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suge_Knight https://www.npr.org/2022/02/09/1079761477/snoop-dogg-now-owns-death-row-records https://wealthygorilla.com/suge-knight-net-worth/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rampart_scandal#Rampart_ties_to_Death_Row_Records Who Actually Killed Tupac Shakur - YouTube  

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we look at the ultimate form of sports entertainment—Roman Gladiators. Everyone pictures these brave, bloodthirsty men performing for the crowd and emperor, but there is a lot more to their tale. For one, a lot of them were slaves or prisoners of war. Another thing is, they became crazy popular, becoming the celebrities of their era. There is still graffiti in places about girls in love with gladiators! There were no gladiators without the crowds, and we talk about the scope of gladiatorial games as well as how politicians used them in corrupt ways to sway the politics of the empire!   Visit Our Sources: https://www.historyextra.com/period/roman/who-were-roman-gladiators-famous-spartacus-crixus/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gladiator https://www.history.com/news/10-things-you-may-not-know-about-roman-gladiators https://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/gladiators/gladiators.html https://www.discovermagazine.com/the-sciences/5-fast-and-furious-facts-about-the-lives-of-gladiators https://www.bbc.com/news/education-29723384#:~:text=Roman%20gladiators%20had%20a%20diet,University%20of%20Bern%20in%20Switzerland. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Roman_gladiator_types

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we talk about one of the all-time greats of comedy, Dave Chappelle. He is most famous for his super-successful sketch comedy show, Chappelle’s Show. He is even more famous for walking away from the show in the middle of season three while $50 million dollars were on the table! He uses comedy as a scalpel and cuts deep, often being controversial, sometimes being offensive. With five Emmy’s, three Grammy’s, and a Marc Twain award under his belt, this small town family-man keeps innovating and shocking the world.   Visit Our Sources: https://www.biography.com/performer/dave-chappelle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Chappelle https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/73863/15-fun-facts-about-chappelles-show https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwyeYmXjD1A https://www.looper.com/266269/the-real-reason-dave-chappelle-quit-his-sketch-show/ Dave Chappelle says fan boycott of his show worked, agrees to terms with Comedy Central - mlive.com

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we look at one of the worst ecological disasters of all time, the wreck of the Exxon Valdez. In March of 1989, the massive ship struck Bligh Reef in Alaska, and over 11 Million gallons of crude oil dumped into the once-pristine Prince William Sound. Hundreds of bald eagles and seals, thousands of otters, and hundreds of thousands of sea birds died as a result. The cleanup crews developed illnesses due to the chemicals used to scrub the beaches. The ship’s captain, Joe Hazelwood was accused of being drunk at the time of the crash, but as more evidence came out, Exxon seemed to be the real villain here. Go green with this one as you listen, laugh, and learn.   Visit Our Sources: https://www.history.com/topics/1980s/exxon-valdez-oil-spill https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exxon_Valdez_oil_spill DAARP Page https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2014/03/remembering-the-exxon-valdez-oil-spill/100703/ https://www.livescience.com/44314-exxon-valdez-spill-anniversary-facts.html https://usa.oceana.org/exxon-valdez-oil-spill-facts/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Hazelwood

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we look at Jodi Arias, and the murder of Travis Alexander. If you dig true crime, you probably already know this story since it was a media sensation. This couple had a very strange and tumultuous relationship, ranging from wild phone sex to conversions to Mormonism. Jodi Arias was so intense that Travis’ friends even called an intervention about it to try to get them to break up. Eventually, they did break up, but the phone sex (and real sex) kept happening alongside slashed tires and hacks to Facebook accounts. It all eventually leads to a stolen handgun, mystery gas cans, and a murder most foul.   Visit Our Sources: https://www.biography.com/crime-figure/jodi-arias https://murderpedia.org/female.A/a/arias-jodi.htm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Travis_Alexander https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Lj4MO1ZfhU https://www.the-sun.com/news/4456994/jodi-arias-travis-alexander-murder-case-new-show-details/ https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/jodi-arias-lifetime-cellmate-secrets https://www.investigationdiscovery.com/crimefeed/crime-history/5-essential-things-to-know-about-the-jodi-arias-case

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we hit you with a crazy recipe—take one part cryptid and one part UFO encounter, bake in the Kentucky summer, and you get the Hopkinsville Goblins. The case of the Hopkinsville Goblins is one of the most important in all of UFOlogy because it establishes the details that a great many UFO cases follow for years after. It is, in fact, the genesis of the term “little green men,” even though the Goblins weren’t thought to be green. So, what exactly happened in Hopkinsville that is still studied to this day? Back in August of 1955, two families were staying in a small, homemade house in the woods of Kentucky. There were a total of 11 of them (5 adults, 4 children, and 2 carnies) at the house when things went sideways. One member of the house went outside to draw some water from the pump and saw what he called a flying saucer that showed every color in the rainbow. He told everyone this, and they dismissed it as a shooting star. (A highway patrol officer reported similar lights in the sky a few hours later, unbeknownst to each other). About an hour after, everyone heard noises outside and went to investigate. Since the dog was freaking out, they took their guns and saw the Goblins. They were allegedly about 2 or 3 feet tall with large glowing eyes. They had atrophied legs but buffed upper bodies, and they walked with a strange gait that looked as if they were underwater (and some witnesses said they were floating off the ground). The two men fired at the first Goblin, hit it dead center, and reported a sound like a bullet striking metal. The Goblin fell back and retreated into the woods, and this was the start of a four hour campaign of fear and bullets. The Goblins started to claw at the roof and pop up into windows and scratch at the door. The families fired over 100 rounds at them and eventually packed it up headed into town to get the police. The cops had heard tell of the fire fight, so they weren’t taking any chances. A total of 16 officers from three police and military unit went to investigate. They confirmed in all 16 of their reports that the house was damaged as if something was trying to get in. The police also heard strange things in the trees and saw the weird lights. Eventually, the cops left, and about 45 minutes later, the Goblins were back to terrorize some more. The families left for the night, and it all hit the media. The next day, they gave their one and only interview to a local radio host, and they described the creatures. This is an odd case because it predates UFO hysteria, and the witnesses stood nothing to gain. They hated the attention it brought them and after later investigations were conducted, their story turned out to be one of the most consistent in UFO/Cryptid lore. So, what were these Goblins? Were they a great horned owl as many suggested? Was it a circus monkey painted silver (yes, that’s a theory). Were they all tripping balls on some chemical or drug? What connections do these creatures potentially have to the Mothman? Listen, laugh, learn.   Visit our Sources: https://themothman.fandom.com/wiki/Kelly%E2%80%93Hopkinsville_encounter https://cryptidz.fandom.com/wiki/Hopkinsville_Goblins https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Kelly%E2%80%93Hopkinsville_encounter https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelly%E2%80%93Hopkinsville_encounter https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00336/full http://www.kellyky.com/

In this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we look back in time and talk about the little-known but awesome Christmas mutiny at West Point Military Academy known as the Eggnog Riots. On Christmas Eve back in 1826, roughly 90 students at this military school got loaded on spiked eggnog and caused problems. Major problems. They tore up buildings, threatened lives, shot guns at people, and even hit people with logs! What lead to this gross dereliction of military decorum? You might say whiskey (and you’d be right), but there were other ingredients as well. To begin with, West Point was a ramshackle school that let anyone in, and after a bad couple of wars, Congress funded it to become the bastion of officer training it is today. The man who did this was Sylvanus Thayer. Aside from being considered the father of West Point (and sounding very much like someone who would battle Harry Potter), he was also a harsh disciplinarian. He created draconic rules that included a zero tolerance no-alcohol and tobacco policy, and he whipped the cadets into shape by giving them virtually no freedoms. They couldn’t leave campus; they couldn’t cook food. And did I mention that they couldn’t drink? So, the year of his liquor ban, the cadets decided to have a wee party, and they paid a sentinel to look the other way while they crept across the Hudson River and bought some whiskey. Five gallons or so. On Xmas eve, they started drinking their heavily spiked Eggnog, and the Eggnog Riots were born. Much of the mayhem involves a military history instructor who kept creeping in on the parties to break them up. He arrested Jefferson Davis (yes, the guy who went on to become the president of the Confederacy), and we talk about Davis’ drunken youth quite a bit. After a lot of whiskey-fueled dickery, the professor finally started to break up the party in earnest, and the cadets decided to arm themselves with blades and pistols and kill him for ruining their fun (like you do). And the Eggnog Riots were off and running. What happened next in the Eggnog Riot was a night of madness. They hit another officer with a  log and left him unconscious in a stair well; they ran around brandishing swords and pistols. They smashed windows, tore about the dorm, and readied themselves for war against the Army soldiers they thought were coming. So, how did the participants in the Eggnog Riots try to kill the professor and what went wrong in the attempt? What kept Jefferson Davis from getting court-martialed? How many students ended up getting arrested? Why did they tear down the dorm that hosted the party, and how was the new dorm designed so this would never happened again? Listen, laugh, learn. Good Article on It: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/egg-nog-its-all-fun-and-games-until-someone-starts-a-holiday-riot-180949281/#dShz66KYUWk6APy1.99

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we explore the eternal life of mummies. Everyone can picture the linen wrapped Egyptian kings, and most people know about curses and have nightmares of them coming back to life. However, it was more than kings. Middle class and poor Egyptians were mummified as were millions of pets. However, Egypt doesn’t have the only mummies. They are a global phenomenon, from the mummies of Guanajuato to the Ice Man and bog mummies. Why did they think there was a curse in the tomb of King Tut? What was the process for Egyptians? How did Buddhists self-mummify while they were still alive? If you’re curious about these perfectly preserved people, give this one a listen.   Visit Our Sources: https://www.history.com/topics/folklore/history-of-the-mummy https://www.si.edu/spotlight/ancient-egypt/mummies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mummy https://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/mummies https://www.livescience.com/mummification.html https://www.factretriever.com/mummy-facts https://littlethings.com/lifestyle/mummies-facts https://www.history.com/news/is-the-curse-of-king-tut-real https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curse_of_the_pharaohs#Deaths_popularly_attributed_to_Tutankhamun's_curse

On this episode of The Sofa King Podcast, we talk about the child abduction and murder that changed everything—the case of Adam Walsh. Adam Walsh went missing in 1981 in a Sears store while he was playing Atari 2600 games in the toy department. Sixteen days later, his head was found in a drainage ditch by two wandering fishermen. This case is very interesting for many reasons. First, it was confessed to by Ottis Toole, but he confessed and recanted over and over. Some people then thought it was done by Jeffery Dahmer. Then, the police screwed up in a major way, so the case was unsolved for decades. However, a light came from all this darkness. That light was Adam Walsh’s father, John Walsh. John went on a crusade to change laws and bust criminals. This lead him through the halls of congress and onto a 24 season run of America’s Most Wanted, catching over 1000 criminals and changing the game.   Visit Our Sources: https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/adam-walsh-is-abducted https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Adam_Walsh https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Walsh_(television_host) https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/40-years-later-adam-walshs-abduction-and-murder-not-forgotten-in-south-florida/2508053/ https://www.news4jax.com/news/local/2021/07/27/adam-walsh-murder-changed-florida-and-the-us/ https://nypost.com/2021/09/04/woman-believes-adam-walshs-killer-kidnapped-her/ https://time.com/4437205/adam-walsh-murder/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/America%27s_Most_Wanted

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we travel back in time and talk about the one and only Cleopatra. She was the queen of Egypt, but she wasn’t just there because she inherited it. In fact, she had to continuously earn her throne by killing members of her own family and constantly going to war with Rome. She famously seduced Julius Caesar and had his children. She was in Rome when he was assassinated, but she made it back to Egypt. When Mark Antony took control in Rome, she hooked up with him as well, having an epic romance of war, betrayal, suicide, and poison. Game of Thrones got nothing on the story of Cleopatra!   Visit Our Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleopatra https://www.history.com/topics/ancient-history/cleopatra https://www.history.com/news/10-little-known-facts-about-cleopatra https://www.ancienthistorylists.com/egypt-history/facts-cleopatra-vii/ https://medium.com/exploring-history/ten-interesting-facts-about-cleopatra-most-people-dont-know-9e6e4efce94b

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we cover the Tuskegee Airmen. This was the first ever all black air squadron, and they battled not just Nazis and the Axis, but good old American racism. Nobody in the army wanted black pilots, but the NAACP and Eleanor Roosevelt convinced people otherwise. They started to train at Tuskegee University and became a highly decorated part of World War II. What battles did they fight just for the chance to go to war and die? What was the Freeman Field Mutiny, and how might it have gotten Tuskegee Airmen shot by their own men? How does the UFO hunting Project Blue Book tie in? Listen, laugh, learn.   Visit Our Sources: https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/tuskegee-airmen https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuskegee_Airmen https://www.tuskegee.edu/support-tu/tuskegee-airmen https://www.military.com/history/the-tuskegee-airmen.html https://www.afhistory.af.mil/FAQs/Fact-Sheets/Article/458979/tuskegee-airmen/ https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/643566/tuskegee-airmen-facts https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freeman_Field_mutiny#The_protest_at_Freeman_Field

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we look at the life, loves, ups, and higher ups of Madonna. Her impact on 1980s culture can’t be overstated. Her videos, sound, and fashion made the entire Gen X imitate and want her. She has always been a master of branding and self-promotion. When being a sex symbol was getting old, Madonna would piss off the Catholic church, and when that got old, she’d drop a book full of lesbian sex pictures to draw the spotlight back on her. She’s had a crazy love life, is one of the bestselling female artists of all times, and manages to constantly be the queen of controversy. Come for the music, stay for the S&M phot shoots!   Visit Our Sources: https://www.biography.com/musician/madonna https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madonna https://www.forbes.com/profile/madonna/?sh=1c2bde1c27ac https://www.thesun.co.uk/tvandshowbiz/7000438/inside-madonnas-relationships-from-toyboy-lovers-to-rock-legends/ https://www.datingcelebs.com/who-is-madonna-dating/ https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/651771/madonna-music-facts https://www.biography.com/news/madonna-like-a-virgin-vmas-1984 https://theindustryobserver.thebrag.com/when-madonna-leaked-a-fake-version-of-her-album-to-thwart-pirates/

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we talk about the madness and genius of Vincent van Gogh. Surely, you know him as one of the most important artists in all of human history. Because he was. But his life was filled with love, friendship, disaster, prostitutes, depression, art, and absinthe. His father was a priest, and his mother a painter, and he himself tried to become a minister before turning to art (and prostitutes). He didn’t touch a canvas until he was 30 years old, and his demons haunted him firmly enough that he tried to kill himself several times and spent a year in an insane asylum at St. Remy, where van Gogh painted some of his most important works. His story is an amazing, uplifting, tragic tale of family, art, and suicide. Visit Our Sources https://www.biography.com/artist/vincent-van-gogh https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincent_van_Gogh https://www.biography.com/news/vincent-van-gogh-biography-facts https://www.sothebys.com/en/articles/21-facts-about-vincent-van-gogh  

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we talk about one of the biggest forces in popular culture history, Dennis Rodman. Of course he was a basketball player and part of both the infamous Bad Boys of the Detroit Pistons as well as the game changing comeback of Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls. But this unique man is so much more than that. He is a troubled man, battling depression and a sense of loneliness and insecurity which drove him to greatness. He was a friend to the LGBTQ community and AIDS support in the 1990s when that was rare. He broke social conventions, married himself in a wedding dress, dated Madonna, ignored his children, and somehow became friends with North Korea’s Kim Jung Un. His is a life you will want to hear about!   Visit Our Sources: 30 For 30, ESPN: Rodman, Better or Worse https://www.biography.com/athlete/dennis-rodman https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/reliable-source/wp/2018/06/12/a-brief-guide-to-dennis-rodmans-long-weird-history-with-north-korea/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Rodman https://wealthygorilla.com/dennis-rodman-net-worth/ http://www.mindofmodernity.com/14-unique-facts-that-you-probably-didnt-know-about-dennis-rodman/ https://tvovermind.com/dennis-rodman/

In this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we give you some true crime and talk about the Dating Game Killer. Rodney James Alcala was a serial rapist and killer. Some people think he is the second most prolific killer in American history, even though he was only convicted for five counts. He posed as a photographer and would lure young women into his van and take naked photos of them. Many were never seen again until the photos were released by police desperate to close cold cases. He was a bachelor on the Dating Game in 1978 and actually won the contest! What ended up happening with the girl who picked him as the perfect bachelor? How many people do police think he may have killed? What happened when he literally questioned himself on the witness stand? How is he connected to Sammy David Jr and Dean Martin? Listen, laugh, learn.   Visit Our Sources: Dating Game Video Here https://murderpedia.org/male.A/a/alcala-rodney.htm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodney_Alcala https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/rodney-alcala-the-dating-game-killer-dead-1201827/ https://the-line-up.com/rodney-alcala-the-dating-game-killer-victims  

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we talk about a very unique rock star and UFO hunter, Tom DeLonge. DeLonge founded Blink 182 when he was 16 years old and after a few years, they were a massive band. While they toured in vans early on, he started to read books on UFOs, and his true life obsession was born. Cut to a couple decades later, and DeLonge is the founder of the To The Stars Academy of Arts and Sciences. This is a group of ex spies from the CIA, physicists, parapsychologists, and even engineers from Skunk Works. They collect videos and physical evidence of UFOs and even got the Pentagon to officially acknowledged that some of the craziest UFO footage of all time was real. We talk a lot about some of the UFOs from episode 446, Modern UFOs. Go back and revisit that one to really focus in how intense this former frontman’s endeavors have become.   Visit Our Sources: https://home.tothestarsacademy.com/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_DeLonge https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_the_Stars_(company) https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/music/a37532754/tom-delonge-interview-2021/ https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/inside-tom-delonges-ufo-obsession-blink-182-turmoil-50572/ https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/tom-delonge-ufo-video-pentagon-release-blink-182-994370/ https://www.history.com/shows/unidentified-inside-americas-ufo-investigation/cast/tom-delonge https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqHn4vSSuro

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we look at the rise and fall and rise again of the one and only Martha Stewart. Right when she was bigger than Oprah (worth $1.2 billion), the SEC busted her for insider trading and sent her to jail for almost a year. But the story of her constant drive to build up her brand, image, and companies, she bounced right back. This is the story of a middle class girl who turned a teenage modeling career into one of the most savvy media companies in the world. Plus, she’s friends with Snoop Dogg! How did she and Snoop meet? What happened that took her to jail? Who wins in the Superfight between her and Oprah that we play at the end of the episode? Listen, laugh, and learn.   Visit Our Sources: Snoop on Martha Stewart Living for the first time. Ghost Spoof. Titanic Spoof. https://www.biography.com/business-figure/martha-stewart https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martha_Stewart https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/21/entertainment/martha-stewart-anthony-hopkins-hannibal-lecter-intl-scli-gbr/index.html https://www.prevention.com/beauty/a38830927/martha-stewart-cbd-muscle-cream/ https://www.marthastewart.com/274830/the-martha-timeline https://www.insider.com/facts-martha-stewart-2018-7 https://www.inc.com/larry-kim/20-bizarre-facts-you-never-knew-about-martha-stewart.html https://www.investopedia.com/articles/professionals/071415/how-martha-stewart-built-media-empire https://www.insider.com/timeline-martha-stewart-snoop-dogg-friendship-2021-2

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we back in time to World War Two and talk about the horror and honor that defined the London Blitz. In September of 1940, Hitler had lost the Battle of Britain, which was battle for air superiority over England. As a result, he decided to use bombing as a terror tactic to break Britain’s will before he invaded their country. However, it didn’t quite go as he planned. The Brits proved to be amazingly resilient, surviving some of the worst war conditions in the world. Tons of bombs were dropped every night, and entire neighborhoods vanished to explosives and fires. But the Brits carried on. Through the Blitz, they hid the Underground tubes, planted victory gardens, shagged each other, and got ready for another day of war. If you like the war, Britain, history with a side of bad jokes, give this one a listen.   Visit Our Sources: https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-blitz-begins https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blitz https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/the-blitz-around-britain https://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/research/online-exhibitions/history-of-the-battle-of-britain/the-blitz-the-hardest-night/ https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/03/virus-and-blitz/608965/ https://www.historyextra.com/period/second-world-war/the-blitz-what-happened-how-many-died-blitz-meaning/ https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/the-evacuated-children-of-the-second-world-war

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we talk about Quentin Tarantino. He is considered one of the most influential directors of his generation and has won Oscars and Emmys for his work. He typically shows hyper-violent scenes and directs movies filled with very unique dialogue. Once a small independent film maker, Quentin Tarantino is now one of the most sought after directors in the world. But there are many reports of bad behavior, a violent streak, sexism, and mistreatment toward women on his sets. He’s a controversial figure who has publicly backed sexual predators, but his art is some of the best in the world of cinema. You won’t want to miss this one.   Visit Our Sources: https://www.biography.com/filmmaker/quentin-tarantino https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quentin_Tarantino https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/73134/20-facts-about-your-favorite-quentin-tarantino-movies https://kottke.org/22/01/the-vega-brothers-from-quentin-tarantino https://www.cinemablend.com/movies/quentin-tarantino-has-responded-to-that-pulp-fiction-lawsuit https://www.thedailybeast.com/quentin-tarantinos-history-of-disturbing-behavior-toward-his-actresses https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/quentin-tarantino-mom-money-1234994873/

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we hop over The Pond and talk about one of the most famous organized crime families in London. This is Ronnie and Reginald Kray. The Kray Brothers were a hyper-violent duo who ran a criminal underground known as The Firm. Their business focused on protection, money laundering, and night clubs. They ran things differently than many criminal organizations and thrived on the spotlight, fame, celebrity status, and a penchant for incredible violence. They were both bisexual and open about it at a time where it was illegal and would get you killed. So, what celebrities did they hang out with? How did a gay sex scandal make them untouchable? Which one of them was a paranoid schizophrenic? What violent line did they cross that finally brought them down? Listen, laugh, learn.   Visit our Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kray_twins#Ronnie https://www.eastlondonadvertiser.co.uk/news/kray-family-fury-over-gay-jibe-for-helgeland-s-hollywood-3474074 https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/article/kray-twins-legend-tom-hardy https://thekraytwins.fandom.com/wiki/Ronnie_Kray https://thekraytwins.fandom.com/wiki/Reggie_Kray https://www.buzzfeed.com/sam_cleal/secrets-of-the-krays-things-i-learned https://www.mylondon.news/news/east-london-news/kray-twins-east-london-still-20649537 https://www.historyhit.com/facts-about-the-kray-twins/

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we talk about one hell of a drug, Cocaine! It releases more dopamine than any other natural drug into the human brain—way more than even sex. Cocaine made German scientists stick needles in their own eyes, and killed John Belushi, Chris Farley, Mitch Hedberg, and River Phoenix! We talk about its past, its ties with Coca-Cola, when it was purified, and what methods the cartels use to smuggle it into America. If you want a little booger sugar, give this one a listen…   Visit Our Sources: https://www.justice.gov/archive/ndic/pubs3/3951/3951p.pdf https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIA_involvement_in_Contra_cocaine_trafficking https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocaine https://list25.com/25-facts-about-cocaine-that-you-probably-didnt-know/ https://www.samhsa.gov/data/sites/default/files/report_2361/ShortReport-2361.html https://www.kickassfacts.com/cocaine-facts/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coca-Cola#Use_of_stimulants_in_formula http://defamer.gawker.com/remember-when-tim-allen-almost-got-a-life-sentence-for-1682644188 https://darwinawards.com/darwin/darwin1993-04.html

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we drop some science and talk about one of the most important feats of agriculture in all of human history—Corn. You may be asking, why Corn? Many people argue that it is disastrous for the environment and for agriculture in the US. For another thing, it is one of the most subsidized crops by the US government; the government pays the biggest corn growers millions of dollars a year to grow (or not grow this crop). It has a crazy history and was domesticated some 9000 years ago by ancient peoples in Mexico. It was the descendent of a plant called teosinte. It was used by the Mayans and Native Americans, and now it is used to feed animals, make plastics, create fuel, sweeten your Mt. Dew and just about everything else you can think of. From threats of eco disaster to potentially corrupt government payoffs, Corn is more interesting than you might think.   Visit Our Sources: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/rethinking-corny-history-maize-180971038/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/time-to-rethink-corn/ https://farmtogether.com/learn/blog/a-brief-history-of-corn https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maize https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBuYUb_mFXA https://www.thebalance.com/farm-subsidies-4173885 https://grist.org/food/our-crazy-farm-subsidies-explained/ https://www.farmprogress.com/vegetables/13-ways-corn-used-our-everyday-lives https://www.freshcityfarms.com/blogs/9-facts-you-might-not-know-about-corn https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC212689/ http://www.teachinghistory100.org/objects/about_the_object/maize_god  

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we cover long-time listener request. This is the death of Natalie Wood. Hers is a story of stardom, sexual scandal, a controlling mother, and quite possible murder. She was found drowned off Catalina Island, after a night of drinking and arguing with her husband Robert Wagner about her friend Christopher Walken. The case was ruled as accidental, but in 2011, it became active again. Natalie Wood was one of the biggest stars of her day, winning three academy awards before the age of 25. She was a childhood star in Miracle on 34th Street, and was in everything from Rebel Without A Cause to Westside Story. So what went down the night Natalie Wood died? What made the LAPD open this case after decades? What does Christopher Walken say happened? Why was Natalie Woods so afraid of the water? Why won’t her husband cooperate with the police in the current investigation? Listen, laugh, learn.   Visit Our Sources: https://www.biography.com/actor/natalie-wood https://allthatsinteresting.com/natalie-wood-death https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-11-30/40-years-later-the-mystery-over-natalie-woods-death-endures https://nypost.com/2021/11/04/natalie-woods-sister-says-robert-wagner-killed-the-actress/ http://sandhillsexpress.com/cbs_entertai/natalie-wood-death-investigator-calls-new-witnesses-very-credible-cbsidcd019ffa/ https://www.factinate.com/people/facts-natalie-wood/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0fm42MGMGc

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we talk about one of the largest heists in US history and the inspiration for the movie Goodfellas. It was called the Lufthansa Heist, named after the airline they stole from. This story is a tale of vintage mobsters, theft, powergrabs, and murders. So many murders. Jimmy Burke, the leader of the crew, went a bit psychotic after the FBI started to investigate. He took care of loose ends as only the mob knows how. So, if you want to learn if Joe Pesci, Robert DeNiro, and Ray Liotta accurately portrayed these unhinged mobsters, then listen, laugh, and learn. Visit Our Sources: https://www.biography.com/news/real-goodfellas-lufthansa-heist-henry-hill https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lufthansa_heist https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/lufthansa-heist-jfk-airport-goodfellas-henry-hill https://www.aetv.com/real-crime/lufthansa-heist-murders-mafia-mobsters https://www.businessinsider.com/what-happened-during-the-lufthansa-heist-of-1978-2014-1 https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/goodfellas-did-the-real-henry-hill-make-any-money-from-the-movie.html/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Burke_(gangster)

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we feel the blues as we talk about the life, death, music, and drugs of the one and only Stevie Ray Vaughan. Stevie is considered one of the greatest guitarists of all time. And that is because he is. His style of playing and singing are as big and unique as his hats. Though he died at the age of 35, everyone from Eric Clapton to David Bowie and The Rolling Stones considered him one of the best musicians alive. If you’ve never done a YouTube dive on his live footage, you owe it to yourself to watch him shred and sweat and sing…and then listen, laugh, and learn. Visit Our Sources: https://www.biography.com/musician/stevie-ray-vaughan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stevie_Ray_Vaughan https://srvofficial.com/ http://rockandrollgarage.com/what-eric-clapton-said-about-stevie-ray-vaughan-after-his-tragic-death/ https://spectrumlocalnews.com/tx/austin/news/2015/04/10/15-facts-about-stevie-ray-vaughan Life Without You Live: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQ4REYdCkTw Albert King and SRV In Session: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-apz26BfHYU

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we look at living cult, the New Zealand community of Gloriavale. It was founded by Neville Cooper. He learned his preaching craft in America, choosing the speaking-in-tongues, faith-healing variety. When he brought it back to New Zealand, he was a hit. He started a small agriculture community tied to his church. He survived a plane crash, renaming himself Hopeful Christian, and the rest is history. And by history, I mean a cult. You know the drill, nobody can leave, brainwashing, sexual abuse, all the money goes the founder, dairy cows, crazy names, stupid outfits. The works. Visit Our Sources: https://www.ted.com/talks/lilia_tarawa_i_grew_up_in_a_cult_it_was_heaven_and_hell/transcript?language=en https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gloriavale_Christian_Community https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/91034991/reid-going-undercover-in-gloriavale-still-haunts-me https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/aug/30/my-life-in-a-religious-cult-the-most-dangerous-place-in-the-world-is-the-womb-of-an-ungodly-woman https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/300241979/gloriavale-the-daily-life-the-dark-side-and-uncertain-future-explained https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7089287/Former-Gloriavale-member-tells-desperate-quest-free-wife-children-cult.html https://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/anna-murray-why-going-back-to-gloriavale-was-a-bad-idea/EW2KDNN7JRHSIEPD3DQQ2OY3RE/ https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/6298385/gloriavale-religious-cult-leader-dead-cancer-new-zealand/

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we all say “wooooo” and talk about the legend that is Ric Flair. If you don’t know Ric Flair, you owe it to yourself to discover him. He is considered by most wrestlers, promoters, and sports writers to be the greatest of all time. He had the skills in the ring, the crazy persona, and the charisma to win the crowd. Flair started in the old days of dozens of wrestling organizations and was able to stay at the top of his game all the way to Vince McMahon’s consolidation of the WWE. Ric Flair fought for decades and won belt after belt after belt. So, who did he really feud with backstage? How did a plane crash help him discover his wrestling persona? Where did the woooooo come from? Where did the line blur between his character and himself? Listen, laugh, learn. Visit Our Sources: Nature Boy: 30 For 30, ESPN. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ric_Flair https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/ric-flair-10009.php https://www.sportskeeda.com/wwe/ric-flair-net-worth-salary https://www.natureboyricflair.com/10-things-you-need-to-know-about-ric-flair/ I Quit Match: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xyakky  

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we talk about the king of the jungle. And by jungle, I mean petting zoo. That’s right, goats. No, we don’t mean Michael Jordan, the Greatest Of All Time. We mean goats. Billy goats, pygmy goats, mountain goats. You might wonder what is so exciting about goats. Do you want to know who doesn’t wonder that? Satan! That’s right, from Satan’s ultimate symbol to Pan, the horny Greek god, these domesticated devils have been part of human civilization for 10,000 years. So, what is a Goat Tower? Which American President had goats for pets? How can goats be used to fight climate change disasters? The simple goat may just surprise you! Visit Our Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goat#Mythology_and_folklore https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/61542/15-amazing-things-you-probably-didnt-know-about-goats https://backyardgoats.iamcountryside.com/kids-corner/10-amazing-benefits-of-owning-a-goat/ https://www.livescience.com/52540-goat-facts.html https://factslegend.org/20-crazy-goat-facts/

On this episode of The Sofa King Podcast, we talk about a wicked case of human test subjects known as the Holmesburg Prison Experiments. This small prison in Philadelphia became home to a very unethical doctor named Albert Kligman. He was brought there to investigate a break-out of athletes foot among the inmates, but what he saw was “acres of skin.” The hundreds of humans were the ultimate petri dish for Kligman, and he began to experiment. The shocking thing is that he had the support of the University of Pennsylvania, the prison system, the courts, and companies like Dow and Johnson and Johnson. What did he test? He started by testing shampoos and soaps on prisoner skin. He ended up dosing them with dioxin, wrecking them with radiation, and nuking them in microwave ovens. What brought this to a stop? What is Kligman’s reputation like now? Did any prisoners get justice? Listen, laugh, learn.   Visit Our Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holmesburg_Prison https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/black-prison-inmates-experiments https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Kligman https://www.med.upenn.edu/evpdeancommunications/2021-08-20-283.html

On this episode, we explore the Branch Davidians, their leader, David Koresh, and the deadly siege at Waco, Texas. This was one of the biggest conspiracies of the 1990s, and the story is full of bizarre and exciting twists. The Davidians started in the 1930s and grew to be an apocalyptic cult that preached that the world’s government was run by the devil and that the Davidians would all die as soldiers against the devil’s government soldiers in a storm of fire. They got most of that right, as it turns out. When Koresh took over in 1983, the power struggle involved an attempt to exhume a corpse and resurrect it. You read that right… After a box of hand grenades was discovered by a delivery driver, a 51 day siege of the compound known as Mt. Carmel started. First the ATF attempted to arrest Koresh and serve a search warrant, but it ended in a deadly gunfight. We discuss this and the details of the 51 day siege, looking closely at what the Davidians did wrong and what the FBI did wrong. The siege culminated in a prolonged gunfight, a day-long assault of tear gas, and the compound burning to the ground with an estimated 80 Davidians (over 20 children) still inside. Who started the fire? Was it the cult members or the FBI? What lies did the FBI tell congress and Janet Reno (there were plenty). Where did President Clinton and Hillary Clinton come in? Did Delta Force secretly kill all the people on the compound? This story is a strange one, and the debate gets rather heated this time around. You won’t want to miss it. Thanks to listener Stephen Thunderdome for the topic suggestion of cults and cult leaders!

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we look at Aum Shinrikyo, the Japanese “Death Cult” lead by the mysterious (and crazy) Shoko Asahara. Aum made international headlines in 1995 when they attacked the Tokyo subway system with Sarin gas killing 13 people and wounding thousands, but this bizarre cult did (and planned) a lot more than that. Their leader, Asahara, was born mostly blind to a poor family with seven kids. Once he graduated high school, he was unable to get admitted to a college and started to study Chinese herbalism and medicine as well as acupuncture, yoga, meditation, and various religions. He started his group innocently enough as a studio for yoga, but as he recruited some of the best minds from top Japanese universities, things took a dark turn. His religious teachings started to focus on the Bible’s Revelations and even the predictions of the end of the world by Nostradamus. He became obsessed with the US and thought they would start WWIII and nuke the world. Well, we still might to be fair, but he said it would happen in 1997. Best of all, by 1992, he declared himself the new Jesus, the rightful Japanese Emperor, and the Lamb of God. Logically, this meant he needed to form groups of special soldiers who would overturn the Japanese social orders with mass killings to let him take the throne. And we thought American cult leaders had all the crazy! So, tune in to hear about how they pulled off the Sarin attacks and a previous attack in Matsumoto. After the Subway attack, Aum went on a killing spree, trying to assassinate government officials and even attempting to detonate a Cyanide canister in a busier Tokyo Subway just a few weeks later. We discuss how they manufactured their WMDs, various murders their cult performed, and even a plan to spread poisonous gas to all of Tokyo by deploying it with a Soviet made Mil MI-17 helicopter they bought from some of their 30,000 Russian cult members. But above all that, what makes them the cult to end all cults? Anime! That’s right, theu produced anime and comic books to recruit people, and the footage (as well as a sweet dance video) can still be found on YouTube. They are totally worth watching, and this episode it totally worth listening to.  

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we look at the life, business practices, and empire of Sam Walton. He was a business genius and co-founder of Wal-Mart (along with his brother Bud). Sam Walton learned how to build where nobody else was building and then slowly crush the competition. He was so savvy that all the big retailers were completely unaware of his existence until it was too late. This mega merchant changed the entire nature of retail and the face of America through his “Wal-Mart Effect.” So, was he the inventor the bad things that Wal-Mart is usually accused of? Why did he learn to fly his own plane? How rich are his children? Why did he sign a 99 year lease for his first Wal-Mart store? Listen, laugh, learn.   Visit Our Sources: https://www.biography.com/business-figure/sam-walton https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/197560 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Walton https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walton_family https://www.investopedia.com/terms/j/jim-walton.asp https://www.forbes.com/sites/blakemorgan/2021/06/14/who-wins-the-battle-of-walmart-vs-amazon/?sh=4702c2fd5ba7 https://www.ranker.com/list/facts-about-waltons-richest-family/cheryl-adams-richkoff

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we talk about the hits and misses of The Red Hot Chili Peppers. This iconic band has changed styles and band members more than any in recent history. This is due to constant drug addiction and in-fighting. And boy, do I mean drug addiction. The lead singer, Anthony Kiedis, has been in and out of rehab several times and been fired from the band twice. Another member named Hillel Slovak died of an overdose. But, how long did it take Red Hot Chili Peppers to find true success? When did Kiedis propose to Blondie? Did he really lose his virginity to his father’s 18 year old girlfriend? Listen, laugh, learn.   Visit Our Sources: https://rockmusicrevival.com/2019/05/20/the-most-insane-stories-about-anthony-kiedis/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Hot_Chili_Peppers https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/red-hot-chili-peppers-new-album-frusciante-tour-1241119/ https://rwrant.co.za/red-hot-chili-peppers-facts/ https://www.upi.com/Archives/1990/04/03/Singer-Anthony-Kiedis-convicted-of-sexual-battery-indecent-exposure/2421639115200/

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we look at the biggest espionage case of the Cold War, which lead to the infamous killing of the Rosenbergs. Julius Rosenberg and Ethel Rosenberg were killed by electric chair in Sing Sing Prison on June 19 1953. They were both public and passionate communists. Julius allegedly had a handler from the Soviet union and helped recruit a spy ring of engineers. He was even able to get a few people from the Manhattan Project to become spies. Eventually, the couple got arrested and both were sentenced to death. However, several shifting testimonies and declassified documents came out over the following decades. It turns out the case wasn’t as cut and dry as it seemed, and Ethel in particular may have been wrongfully killed. So, who adopted their boys? What are their sons fighting to get the US government to do? What relative of theirs admitted to lying at the Rosenberg trial to save his own wife in court? Listen, laugh, learn.   Visit Our Sources https://www.fbi.gov/history/famous-cases/atom-spy-caserosenbergs https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/rosenbergs-executed https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julius_and_Ethel_Rosenberg https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jun/19/rosenbergs-executed-for-spying-1953-can-sons-reveal-truth https://www.atomicarchive.com/resources/biographies/rosenbergs.html 60 Minutes, October 16, 2016

On this episode of The Sofa King Podcast, we shine a light on one of the biggest scandals of the 90s and explore Tonya Harding and the infamous knee-capping incident. If you don’t know this story, it’s pretty crazy. It involves hit men attacking ice skaters, abusive mothers, abusive husbands, sex tapes, Reebok endorsements, and women giving interviews with birds on their shoulders. Tonya Harding was an ice skating prodigy who basically had a group of hit men and her ex-husband try to break the knee of her biggest competition for the Olympics. Her name was Nancy Kerrigan, and she was struck with a retractable baton on the way to competition in Detroit. This led to one of the biggest media explosions of all time. Harding’s level of involvement has always been in question, and Kerrigan went on to win at the Olympics but the tale is a wild one. Visit Our Sources: https://www.biography.com/athlete/tonya-harding https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonya_Harding https://www.biography.com/athlete/nancy-kerrigan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nancy_Kerrigan https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/i-tonya-what-you-need-to-know-about-tonya-harding-and-nancy-kerrigan-120857/ https://www.historyvshollywood.com/reelfaces/i-tonya/ https://ftw.usatoday.com/lists/psg-attack-aminata-diallo-tonya-harding-explained

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we do some true crime and talk about William Bonin. He was called the Freeway Killer, and he was a true monster. His childhood ticked all the boxes of a future madman, and his time in Vietnam didn’t help any. Eventually, he became a serial rapist of under-aged boys, and then he devolved to murder. He had a sick cabal of other murderers he’d hang out with. Bonin also had a legit murder van. So, how did his one act of kindness lead to his downfall? How many did he kill in total? What his method of murder? What did he eat for a last meal? Warning—this is a pretty rough one. Listen, laugh, and learn.   Visit Our Sources: https://www.cdcr.ca.gov/capital-punishment/inmates-executed-1978-to-present/william-george-bonin/ https://allthatsinteresting.com/william-bonin https://murderpedia.org/male.B/b1/bonin-william.htm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Bonin https://www.thoughtco.com/serial-killer-william-bonin-973136

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we talk about Nike. It is known around the world as the juggernaut of athletics. In fact, within a decade of opening, they controlled the majority of the sports equipment market. They were founded by a home-town coach and his student in Oregon. But they exploded into one of the most important corporations of a generation. Phil Knight and Bill Bowerman ran Nike. They helped create Michael Jordan, invented sneaker culture, and made us all want to “just do it.” They also cashed in on child labor, ran sweat shops, and help destroy the environment. If you want to hear the history and dark side of Nike, give this one a listen.   Visit Our Sources: https://interestingengineering.com/the-extraordinary-history-of-nike https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nike,_Inc. https://thesolesupplier.co.uk/news/why-is-nike-called-nike/ https://www.thestreet.com/lifestyle/history-of-nike-15057083 https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/73277/14-things-you-might-not-know-about-nike https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nike_sweatshops https://www.newidea.com.au/nike-sweatshops-the-truth-about-the-nike-factory-scandal https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/31500/sneakerheads-brief-history-sneaker-collecting

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we look at the Amish. This uniquely American religious sect is most common in Pennsylvania but found throughout the Midwest. They famously avoid all technology, including electricity and the cell phone, but even down to running faucets for their baths. One thing they are famous for is a rite of passage called a Rumspringa. It allows teens to experience the world and get their freak on, partying, drinking, and doing things the church forbids. Once that is done, they get baptized in the local Amish church and leave the heathen world behind. From barn raising to the Ordnung laws and the truth of the Amish Mafia, this one has it all!   Visit Our Sources https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amish https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plain_people https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5455572 https://www.history101.com/amish-facts/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m64X1hMCJoE https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2019/03/13/more-us-catholics-are-considering-leaving-church-over-sex-abuse-crisis-poll-says/ https://www.npr.org/2014/08/24/342474911/a-growing-backlash-against-amish-exploitation-in-pennsylvania https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URprZKBJa9g Meet the Amish 1 of 4 - First experience on an aeroplane - YouTube

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we talk about the one and only Snoop Dogg. This is a true rags to riches story. He was born as Calvin Broadus to a poor single mom in Long Beach. Through an amazing talent as a freestyle rapper and a lifelong career, he has grown to be a media mogul worth over $150 Million. However, his life as a rapper almost ended as soon as it started since he was arrested for a gang murder just after recording his first album with Dr. Dre. He was acquitted and went to create some of the all-time greatest lyrics in all of rap. With a smooth and unique voice and style, Snoop Dogg ended up befriending Martha Stewart, hosting the Olympics, creating a line of weed, and turning Colonel Sanders Vegan. His story is as unique as his rap style, and by the end of this you’ll know what’s his mutha fu*king name!   Visit Our Sources: https://www.biography.com/musician/snoop-dogg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snoop_Dogg https://wealthygorilla.com/snoop-dogg-net-worth/ https://www.phactual.com/15-bizarre-facts-about-snoop-dogg/ https://www.factinate.com/people/30-facts-about-snoop-dogg/ https://thebeet.com/snoop-dogg-beyond-meat-tailgate/ https://plantbasednews.org/lifestyle/snoop-doggs-raves-vegan-kfc/ https://www.huffpost.com/entry/snoop-dogg-weed-line_n_56433db1e4b06037734701bf

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we fill you in on one of the most badass special forces units in the world, the Gurkha. These soldiers come from Nepal and have been involved in every war around the world since they formed in 1814. They are a strange mix of mercenaries and soldiers loyal to the British crown. We will tell you some of their tales of epic battle from both world wars, train robberies, and fights with the Taliban. This small group of warriors are considered the best of the best from their days battling the East India Company, to their time in the modern middle east.   Visit Our Sources: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-10782099 https://www.gwt.org.uk/about-the-gurkhas/gurkhas/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gurkha https://www.nam.ac.uk/explore/gurkhas https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-06-06/bravest-of-the-brave-who-are-the-fierce-gurkhas/9839746 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2kxdSIq8Es https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5CmGy5I_GU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2y63RtDDYQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8pIJglsYUE

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we look at the cult known as The Church of the First Born of the Lamb of God and its insane leader, Ervil LeBaron. LeBaron was called the Mormon Manson after a crazy trail of murder, sex, suicide, and corruption. This group is like many cults with a charismatic leader who has sex with lots and lots of members. In this case, though, the members were sister-wives. And in this case, there was murder. So much murder! LeBaron killed his brother to take control of the cult, tried to kill his other brother, burned a town to the ground, killed his own daughter, and even murdered himself if such a thing is possible. This story is crazy, and the amount of twists, death, and turns rivals any cult we can think of.   Visit Our Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ervil_LeBaron https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_the_First_Born_of_the_Lamb_of_God https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-38526255 https://www.oxygen.com/crime-news/who-is-ervil-lebaron-and-how-is-his-family-connected-to-mexico-cartel-massacre https://www.nytimes.com/1981/08/17/obituaries/ervil-lebaron-utah-polygamist-is-found-dead-in-his-prison-cell.html https://www.vice.com/en/article/gyz9y7/what-we-know-about-the-mormon-family-massacred-in-mexico https://www.vice.com/en/article/nn4knz/the-mexican-mormon-war-full-length

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we talk about a true crime case. This is the story of Bernard Goetz, the Subway Vigilante. On December 22, 1984, Goetz was surrounded by four young men on a subway train who started asking him for five dollars. He thought he was being mugged, pulled out a revolver and shot all four of them. The aftermath saw him hailed as a hero and a villain, a vigilante and a racist. It is a complicated case all bound up with race, violence, gun control, and a New York city crime spree. If you like true crime, you’re gonna like this one.   Visit Our Sources: https://www.biography.com/crime-figure/bernhard-goetz https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/subway-vigilante-turns-himself-in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1984_New_York_City_Subway_shooting https://www.famous-trials.com/goetz https://www.distractify.com/p/bernhard-goetz-now https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbViU73txB0

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we talk about the most insane and alien creature that lives the planet Earth—the octopus. The amazing animals of Order Octopoda are smarter than a dog, and they have three hearts and 9 brains! That’s right, they have a main brain and then a different brain for each of their 8 arms. They use tools, create weapons out of other animals’ body parts, spew ink, and can become invisible at will. An octopus can remember faces, and they even hold grudges against some of their scientists and zoo keepers. They are unlike any other animal on earth, and some scientists even suggest they are aliens who landed on earth millions of years ago. Give this one a listen to find out why!   Visit Our Sources: https://biogeoplanet.com/why-do-octopuses-have-9-brains-8-arms-3-hearts-and-blue-blood-surprising-facts/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octopus https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/octopuses-keep-surprising-us-here-are-eight-examples-how.html https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abRPaXgJGQg https://aquarium.org/exhibits/giant-pacific-octopus/ https://www.livescience.com/55478-octopus-facts.html https://www.livescience.com/41924-smart-octopus-facts.html https://biogeoplanet.com/how-smart-are-octopuses/ https://cordis.europa.eu/article/id/123479-trending-science-do-octopuses-come-from-outer-space

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we talk about an international terrorist conspiracy known as Operation Condor. This horrible operation was set up by eight South and Central American countries. It was responsible for the death, detention, assassination, murder, and disappearance of tens of thousands of people across multiple borders. People were even assassinated in Washington, D.C. And, of course, the CIA was involved. The whole thing was part of a strategy used by dictators such as Augusto Pinochet to keep power and destroy leftist thought. How much did the US know? How much was it involved? Which country had it worst? What was the Dirty War? How were most of the bodies disposed of? Listen, laugh, learn.   Visit Our Sources: https://medium.com/exploring-history/operation-condor-u-s-and-latin-americas-dirty-war-d59a7cfff77c https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Condor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dirty_War https://www.theguardian.com/news/2020/sep/03/operation-condor-the-illegal-state-network-that-terrorised-south-america http://www.cels.org.ar/especiales/plancondor/en/#una-asociacion-ilicita-para-reprimir-opositores http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/chile/operation-condor.htm  

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we talk about the life, creations, and comic books of the one and only Stan Lee. He was born Stanley Martin Lieber and shortened his name to save it in case he ever wanted to quit comics and write a real novel. Thankfully, this never happened. Stan Lee created (or co-created) some of the greatest comic characters of all time. More than that, however, he made them humans. Reading an early Marvel comic was like becoming part of a large family, and this was all thanks to the style and marketing genius of Lee. His story takes him from a depression-era street-kid to a US Army propaganda film maker alongside Dr. Seuss, to the face of one of the greatest fictional universes ever created. Give this one a listen and then shout out a hearty, “Excelsior!” Visit Our Sources: https://www.biography.com/media-figure/stan-lee https://www.forbes.com/sites/robsalkowitz/2021/01/21/new-stan-lee-bio-true-believer-shatters-the-myths-surrounding-the-marvel-icon/?sh=466a963b3361 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stan_Lee https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/71299/10-amazing-fantastic-incredible-facts-about-comic-book-writer-stan-lee https://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-celebrities/authors/stan-lee-net-worth/ Marvel Characters and Comics That Stan Lee Created (insider.com)  

This episode of the Sofa King Podcast explores the grisly killing spree of the most famous Soviet serial killer, Andrei Chikatilo, aka “The Butcher of Rostov.” Between 1978 and 1990, he was thought to have killed a total of 56 people throughout the USSR, and he was responsible for one wrongful execution and several suicides. This was an especially interesting case because the investigation was hampered by the Soviet government who publicly claimed there was no such thing as a Russian serial killer and that this was a sickness only the decadent West could catch. Andrei Chikatilo fits many of the key ingredients of serial killers—he had a major illness as a child, an oppressive mother, sexual dysfunction, high intelligence, and of course a cold cunning. He grew up in Stalin’s Ukraine during the massive food shortages and famines that his regime caused, and Chikatilo also lived with the shame of a father who was captured by the Germans during WWI (it was a major taboo for them). The worst part was that his childhood hydrocephalic condition caused him to wet his bed well into his later years and kept him from being able to get an erection. The sexual frustration and humiliation of his childhood years twisted him into a monster and killer. So who were his targest? He mostly liked underage girls, but he would take anyone. He wasn’t that picky. All of his targets met the same horrible end. He would stab them at least 20 times, using the knife as a surrogate penis. He would tie them up, stuff leaves and dirt in their mouths, and ejaculate on them as their death struggle sexually excited him. He would also cut off body parts and even bite off nipples. Yes, he was really crazy and horrible. So, how did he eventually get caught if the government didn’t publicly admit he existed? What lead to him being called the “Forest Strip Killer?” How did he father children if he could never get an erection? Why would Andrei Chikatilo gouge out the eyes of his victims? What body parts would he nibble on? Listen, laugh, learn.

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we travel back in time and look at the Aztec people. They were the largest empire in the history of Mesoamerica. They were famous for being amazing warriors, and they were equally famous for their religious sacrifice. You see, they thought the sun would only keep burning if it was fed blood, so sometimes they scarified 80,000 humans a year! This culture dominated their region in only fifty short years, and their advances in agriculture, art, and trade have never been rivaled. So what brought them down? How fast was their fall? Who was Montezuma, and did he really swear to get revenge? This one gets good and bloody! Listen, laugh, learn.   Visit our Sources: https://www.ushistory.org/civ/11d.asp https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2018/04/unearthing-the-secrets-of-the-aztecs/ https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/aztec-civilization/ https://www.history.com/topics/ancient-americas/aztecs https://www.chimuadventures.com/blog/2016/09/aztecs-interesting-facts/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aztecs

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we discuss the fiery crash of the Hindenburg. Its last moments were made famous by the grainy black and white footage and the scream, “Oh the humanity!” The ship was very interesting before that, however. It was built in Germany and was almost immediately commandeered for Nazi propaganda. It was even named after the guy who made Hitler the chancellor. After it flew around Germany to pump up the father land, it became a luxurious way for the elite to cross the Atlantic. It made ten flights to New Jersey in its first year and was ready to do more when disaster struck. It exploded on landing. Some say it was sabotage and even have a suspect. Others think it was because, you know, it was a giant cotton sack filled with explosive death gasses. We’ll let you be the judge.   Visit Our Sources: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/80th-anniversary-hindenburg-disaster-mysteries-remain-180963107/ https://www.livescience.com/58959-hindenburg-crash.html https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/609624/hindenburg-disaster-facts https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LZ_129_Hindenburg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindenburg_disaster https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgWHbpMVQ1U https://www.airships.net/hindenburg/interiors/ Oh The Humanity: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJ2qP4wd4LE

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we ask a simple question. What do female genital mutilation and corn flakes have in common? The answer is Kellogg’s. The beloved breakfast giant is known for cereal and pop tarts, but the brothers who laid the foundation of the company are worth looking at. Many people have heard of W.K. Kellogg, the founder of the corporation. However, not as many have heard of his somewhat sadistic brother J.H Kellogg. He thought masturbation was the cause of most health problems and used everything from tying kids down to scarring female genitals with acid as a cure. And then he invented corn flakes. How did all of this come together, and what exactly was the Battle Creek Sanitarium? Listen, laugh, learn.   Visit Our Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_Keith_Kellogg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Harvey_Kellogg https://www.philanthropyroundtable.org/almanac/people/hall-of-fame/detail/w.-k.-kellogg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kellogg%27s https://blog.truffleshuffle.co.uk/2015/07/10-things-you-probably-didnt-know-about%E2%80%A6kelloggs/ https://www.forbes.com/companies/kellogg/?sh=5d16aa986de2 https://plain.recipes/recipe/127195/nuttose https://chestofbooks.com/food/recipes/Dishes/Nuttose-Recipes.html http://www.fourpoundsflour.com/history-dish-mondays-protose/  

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we talk about the death of Karen Silkwood. Silkwood worked at the Kerr-McGhee fuel plant in Oklahoma. She made plutonium pellets for nuclear fuel, and she discovered safely issues with workers being irradiated. The weird thing is, she started to get positive hits for alpha radiation she wasn’t exposed to. It even followed her home making it into her bologna in the fridge! After a union meeting, while on the way to a rendezvous with a New York Times reporter, Silkwood died. She was found dead in a car crash with a stomach full of Quaaludes. Was she a sex crazed drug addict as the corporation wants people to believe? Was she murdered to silence her as many reporters believed? Why does one reporter think her assassination tied to a plutoniuum pipeline that fed the CIA, MIA, and the Mossad? How did her bologna become radioactive? So many questions…   Visit Our Sources: https://time.com/3574931/karen-silkwood/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karen_Silkwood https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/karen-silkwood-dies-in-mysterious-one-car-crash https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/reaction/interact/silkwood.html https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1981/4/13/conspiracy-pbibt-is-a-bizarre-story/ https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/karen-silkwood-the-case-of-the-activists-death-52287/

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we peel back the covers of the king of pornography (and free speech), Larry Flynt. He was famous for, well, a lot of things. One of them was the Hustler brand magazine, casino, and sex shop. But he was equally famous for having several outlandish fights with the U.S. Supreme Court. There was also the time he was shot and paralyzed by a racist serial killer outside of a court house. His magazine crossed many lines, from depicting rapes as sexual fantasies to overt racism and anti-Semitism. However, he is said to have won one of the biggest victories that secured American free speech, and was an early advocate of gay marriage. His stunts are legendary, from sending copies of every issue of his smut mag to every member of Congress all the way to publishing nude photos of Jackie Onassis Kennedy. Larry Flynt, love him or hate him, helped to define our times.   Visit Our Sources: https://www.vice.com/en/article/qkbzjx/larry-flynt-profile-2016 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Flynt https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/larry-flynts-wild-life-porn-424687/ https://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-businessmen/ceos/larry-flynt-net-worth/ https://www.mtsu.edu/first-amendment/article/1436/larry-flynt https://www.wearethemighty.com/lists/5-surprising-facts-about-army-and-navy-veteran-larry-flynt/

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we talk about the art, fame, life, and death of Bob Ross. He is known for his paintings of happy little trees and Peapod the pet pocket squirrel, but this guy led a very interesting life. From a sergeant in the army to an international media icon, Ross saw a lot in his life. His shows are still watched world-round, even though they are decades old. But of course they’re watched! His hypnotic whisper and smooth painting techniques cured depression and made people feel good about their lives. But life wasn’t all happy clouds. His wife died of cancer, and he had business partners (one of whom was a retired CIA agent) who allegedly took advantage of him and stole his name on his death bed. If you love art and afros, give this one a listen.   Visit Our Sources: Netflix Documentary: Bob Ross: Happy Accidents, Betrayal, and Greed https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/102372.Bob_Ross https://www.biography.com/artist/bob-ross https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Ross biography.com/news/bob-ross-biography-facts https://allthatsinteresting.com/bob-ross-biography https://www.npr.org/2016/08/29/490923502/the-real-bob-ross-meet-the-meticulous-artist-behind-those-happy-trees  

This episode takes a look at the ghastly life of Ed Gein, the Plainfield Butcher. Gein was the inspiration for Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho as well as the serial killer Buffalo Bill in The Silence of the Lambs and Leatherface from Texas Chainsaw Massacre. How can one man be the genesis all of these horrific film characters? Give us a listen to find out. Gein was born at the turn of the century to a wildly religious zealot of a mother and an alcoholic father who worked tanning animal skins when he wasn’t drunk (spoiler alert, the skin tanning comes in useful later in Gein’s life…). As Gein grew up, he came to idolize his domineering mother and lived with her, never having gone on so much as one a date, until her death when he was 39 years old. Gein’s mother died shortly after she had a stroke thought to be induced by the death of Gein’s older brother Harold (who died under rather mysterious circumstances). Once alone, Gein earned the reputation as “Weird Eddy” the guy who lived alone in an empty farmhouse. He drifted through town doing odd jobs and even babysitting for people, until in 1957, when he was arrested for the murder of Bernice Warden, the clerk at the general store. She was shot on the first day of hunting season, and when police investigated Gein’s home, they discovered a trove of horrors. Since his mother’s death, Gein had killed several people, robbed dozens of graves, and had a house of trophies. Horrible, horrible trophies. Warden’s body was hanging in a shed, being cut apart like a deer. What the police found in the house itself was even more mind blowing. Noses in a box, masks made from human faces, a “Woman suit” made from the skin of several women, a belt made of nipple, female genetalia tucked in pairs of man-sized panties, you name it. How many people did Gein kill? How many graves did he rob? Why did he do it? What other trophies did he keep? We try to get to the bottom of it in this episode, and you can get the bonus feature of Dave and Brent freaking out on air while Brad shows them pictures of some of Gein’s trophies—pictures they consciously decided not to Google while they were doing their research.

Whats up Holmes? Another Classic while we try not to die. See you soon. This episode of the Sofa King Podcast examines the horrible history of H.H. Holmes, the Beast of Chicago. This man is considered the first true serial killer in American history, killing people all over the country in the late 1800’s (estimates are as high as 200 victims). Born Herman Webster Mudgett, Holmes was a smart child who had a penchant for operating on animals and had a bad run in with a human skeleton and a group of bullies. He graduated high school at 16 years of age and went to University of Michigan Medical School where he earned his medical doctorate. Oh, and while he was at U of M, he also figured out a way to claim life insurance policies on the school’s cadavers and disfigure and operate on them in secret. Holmes was a conman who made the equivalent of hundreds of thousands of dollars on insurance schemes, often getting money paid out for his own murder victims. What makes Holmes truly unique, however, is his Murder Castle. After buying a pharmacy in Chicago (after presumably killing off the previous owners who go mysteriously “missing”), he build a massive three story hotel in Chicago in time for the World’s Fair. It is such a big building that locals called it “The Castle.” While he ran his pharmacy from the ground floor and let guests stay on the second, the third story and the basement were where he was allowed to kill in horrible ways. The Castle was infamous for doors that led to nowhere, dead end stair cases, soundproof rooms, chutes to deposit bodies into the basement, ether pumped through gas pipes to various rooms, an acid pit and several kilns to dispose of bodies in the basement, and even a bank vault he would use to slowly kill people through asphyxiation. Though he preferred blond women and children, Holmes killed them all, often selling their skeletons and organs to medical schools! How did he get brought down by a horse? Who was Benjamin Pietzel, and why did Holmes have to kill three of his children? Why was he buried ten feet deep and encased in concrete after he was hanged for his crimes? Listen, laugh, learn.

Still Fucking sick! But not as sick as this Episode. Check out another Sofa King classic. On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we look at the conspiracy theory of the Lost Cosmonauts. (Finally, a conspiracy about space that isn’t the moon landing hoax or lizard people!) Our official history says that on April 12, 1961, Yuri Gagarin was the first human being to ever leave the planet earth and orbit the earth. However, there are theories that this was not the truth—Gagarin was not the first person in space. In fact, the argument goes, there were several others who made it to space first, but they didn’t succeed in making it back! So, no, the theory is not that the Lost Cosmonauts are actually lost. Indeed, they are all dead or living lies to cover up Soviet failures early in the space program. Remember that the Cold War hinged upon the Space Race, and losses in the form of cosmonaut deaths would equal defeat in this war. America lost astronauts in the Apollo 1 explosion, so why couldn’t the Soviets as well? In fact, many people think they did lose people, and plenty of them. There is the case of Vladimir Ilyushin, the golden boy of the Soviet Union and the best test pilot alive at the time. Allegedly, he launched a week before Gagarin did, but he had difficulty landing and ended up being held by the Chinese for over a year, and his failure was covered up. There are also the creepy and fascinating recordings of the Judica-Cordiglia brothers in Italy. They allegedly started to hear the broadcasts of various Soviet craft in space, and then they started recording them. The records start small, build with some SOS calls from space, and end with a desperate woman who seems to burn to death re-entering the atmosphere. Is there something to this, or are the brothers just pulling a prank? Some of the Lost Cosmonauts turn out to be an art project, and lots of others seemed to have died in training but covered up. Who was Ivan Ivanovich, and why was his craft met with anger in the small Soviet Village where it crashed? Did the USSR try to launch a last minute moon shot to beat the US to the punch? Who was Valentin Bonderinko, and why did his horrible death by fire get covered up by the soviets? How many Lost Cosmonauts are there? Listen, laugh, learn.   Audio of the supposed Lost Cosmonauts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Sgc1I9sjfc

As always we appreciate you all being so patient when life gets in the way. Please have a listen to an oldie but goodie while we get well. Thank you  This Sofa King Podcast takes a look at the phenomenon of alien implants. As we’ve discussed in earlier episodes, a percentage of the population believes they have been abducted by extraterrestrial beings. Of these people, another statistical subset claims to have implants placed in their bodies. At their craziest, they believe the implants alter people’s behavior and give psychic powers. We don’t talk about that because, well, give me a break. However, we do look at some of the most famous and more credible examples of alien implants and the doctors who deal with them. We start with a look at the earliest case of implanted technology, allegedly from a woman in 1938 who claims devices were implanted behind her ears to control her with sound (this was discussed by Ufologist John Robinson in 1957). Since then, the cases have obviously grown. Perhaps the most famous is the case of Betty Andreason—she claims to have gone through what is now thought of as the textbook abduction by gray aliens back in 1967. Her story was explored heavily by the most legitimate UFO investigator, J. Allen Hynek in 1977. From there, we look at the famous case of Whitley Strieber (author of Communion) and his claims that an MRI shows abnormal things in his temporal lobe and that things were placed in his ear by a Man (and a Woman) in Black. What did he discover after a biopsy? Good question. Give us a listen. Finally, we talk about Doctor Roger Leir, a surgeon who has allegedly removed 16 alien implants from various patients. One of them proved to stump the teams at Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico Tech, and US San Diego’s metallurgical teams. What did they all say the implant was made of? Is Leir a quack, or is there some merit to his beliefs? What do the Sofa Kings think about the implants at the end of the day? And lastly, does Dave have an implant in his ankle? Listen, laugh, learn.

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we release our inner Trekkies about the creator of Star Trek, Gene Roddenberry. His story is a wild one! His show is filled with a future that explores the possibility of a utopian earth with no war, hunger, trouble, or strife. But his own life was far from that. In World War II, he learned to fly and volunteered to join 394th Bomb Squadron, flying the B-17 Flying Fortress. In his time in the Air Force and after as a commercial pilot, he survived three deadly crashes. After the final crash, he decided he wanted to be a writer and moved to LA, where he became a cop to pay the bills. After an endless Hollywood hustle of failed pilots and scripts nobody wanted, he dreamed up Star Trek. It was a futuristic look a vessel of exploration, helmed by a diverse crew. It included the first African American woman on prime time television and even featured a Russian crew member in the height of the cold war. But all was not utopia on the set either. There was Gene Roddenberry’s love triangle with cast members. Then, there was the way the writers all quit, claiming he store their ideas and constant battles with the studio. He created the world’s most fan-loved sci-fi universe, but it was not without a lot of conflict, romance, and heart break.   Visit Our Sources: https://theoatmeal.com/comics/plane https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene_Roddenberry#Early_life_and_career https://www.startrek.com/database_article/roddenberry https://variety.com/2021/film/news/star-trek-gene-roddenberry-biopic-1235044949/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan_Am_Flight_121 https://www.inc.com/kevin-daum/21-gene-roddenberry-quotes-that-inspire-a-great-future.html https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aW8tKl_HOeo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aW8tKl_HOeo https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/the-enduring-lessons-of-star-trek  

On this 600th episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we cover one of the greatest musical acts of all times, The Beatles. I feel like anything I type in these show notes is pointless. This episode is about the Beatles. You probably love them. You might not. Either way, you know who they are, and you recognize a dozen of their songs, even if you think you don’t. We cover how they formed, their greatest album, and our own stance on Beatle Mania. You might not really know the history of this epic band, and you might not know the ups and downs. But don’t worry! We got you, so give this one a listen!   Visit Our Sources: https://www.liveabout.com/before-they-were-beatles-747843 https://www.biography.com/news/how-the-beatles-formed https://www.historic-newspapers.com/blog/beatles-timeline/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beatles https://www.beatlesbible.com/history/ https://www.thoughtco.com/the-beatles-profile-1779500 http://www.beatlesfaq.com/2019/04/how-many-records-have-beatles-sold.html https://www.biography.com/news/michael-jackson-paul-mccartney-beatles-music-catalog https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sgt._Pepper%27s_Lonely_Hearts_Club_Band

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we explore the mystery of the world’s most mysterious book, the Voynich Manuscript. It was named after rare book seller named William Voynich. He bought the book during a bulk book sale from an ancient college in Rome. It was meant to go to the Vatican, but he scooped it up. He spent seven years trying to decipher the unknown language and strange drawings, but he did without success. After his death, it made it to Yale University, and it has become one of the most studied books of all time. The language is completely unknown, but modern linguistics say it is a real language. The book has been dated using multiple methods and claims to be from 1420. But who wrote it? And for what purpose? It could an encyclopedia from a dead culture, the ravings of a mad monk, or even the encrypted writings of an alchemist trying to avoid persecution. Either way, it is a beautiful book and a wonderful mystery.   Follow our Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voynich_manuscript https://beinecke.library.yale.edu/collections/highlights/voynich-manuscript https://arstechnica.com/science/2017/09/the-mysterious-voynich-manuscript-has-finally-been-decoded/ Full Text of Manuscript: https://archive.org/details/TheVoynichManuscript/page/n147/mode/2up https://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/has-yale-s-mysterious-voynich-manuscript-finally-been-deciphered https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NS4CbBJQ84

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we look at one of the most bizarre missing person cases in Australian history. The Tromp family went missing rather suddenly on August 29th, 2016. This family of five left their passports, drivers licenses, credit cards, and cell phones behind. The children were all in their 20s, so it’s hard to figure out why they went along with this trip. One by one, the kids peeled off from the main group. First their son left. Then the daughters split off. One stole a car (like you do), and the other was found catatonic in the back of a pickup truck. Then the parents had their own series of madness as they headed further north by themselves. How did the son get home? What lead from the mom trying to book a hotel room to being hospitalized? What caused this strange behavior (it could be anything from farm chemicals to an attempt to flee from the mob)? How does Pokémon Go tie into all of this? Do we really think the Tromp family was targeted by an Australian government beam weapon? Listen, laugh, learn.   Visit our Sources: https://www.buzzfeed.com/ryanbergara/this-is-the-story-behind-the-disappearance-of-the https://www.mamamia.com.au/tromp-family/ https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-37293494 https://www.ranker.com/list/why-did-the-tromp-family-leave/jacob-shelton https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/true-stories/riana-tromp-speaks-about-bizarre-roadtrip-in-first-interview/news-story/459be05ad66da097415bf3e865ea9b4c https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/australia/83885962/tromp-siblings-even-if-we-told-you-the-whole-story-its-still-inexplicable

Another Classic while we try to quit sniffling and coughing.... We dig in to the conspiracy theories surrounding the Illuminati and their new world order. From the Bilderberg Group to the Freemasons, and from Bohemian Grove to space alien reptoids, we look at all the common ideas spread on the Internet about the Illuminati. We even look at the theories of the “Hop-Hop Illuminati” that supposedly rules rap music. Adult Content. NSFW.

Brads got the Rona .. Daves coughing .. my nose is running. We never should have kissed. Lesson learned and this is definitely how Christmas came to be. Fight me. On this very merry episode of The Sofa King Podcast, we discuss Christmas. But it wouldn’t be us if we didn’t dig back the layers and come to some strange and ugly truths about the holiday that is associated with the birth of Jesus Christ. You may think this topic is a no brainer (a recent Pew Poll showed that 65% of Americans believe the Christmas story to be true), but be prepared to learn some odd truths about this beloved holiday. For one thing, the origins of the holiday and how it is celebrated date back to ancient pagan rites and were only adopted by the Catholic Church as a way to lure pagans to church membership. That’s right: gingerbread cookies, the Yule Log, a Christmas ham, Christmas trees, all of it tie back to Germanic and Norse pagans and were part of a celebration of fertility and reverence for the dead. Also, we look at Santa Claus, the truth of the real man named Saint Nicholas of Parara, how his bones were stolen by sailors and moved to start the Cult of Nicholas in the 11th century, and how Siberian shamen tripping on amanita muscaria mushrooms may be the birth of the red-suited reindeer part of the myth. You may have also heard about Krampus, Zwarte Pete, and the ancient feast of Saturnalia, but we talk about some crazy facts that you might not believe. Lastly, we discuss the birth of Jesus and the Nativity itself (something that Pope Benedict XVI largely even denounced when he was the head of the church a few years ago). So, be prepared to get your Christmas bubble burst and learn how you are actually a pagan, how Santa was an anti-Semite, and how gingerbread cookies are a way to symbolically eat human flesh to venerate the dead.

Remember when we were on the radio and had weird local commercials. Well... Brad has the Rona this week so Classics is what we have got for you. Enjoy and if Brad lives we will be back next week. Listeners requested that we discuss the mysteries surrounding Nome, Alaska, so that’s what we do for this episode of the Sofa King Podcast. This small town of 3,800 people is believed to be a hub of missing people, UFO sightings, and alien abductions. An abduction horror film called The Fourth Kind is set on Nome and plays with the truth of the missing people of the small town. How much of the alleged mysteries of Nome are true and how much are fiction? We dig deep to find some truth. Yes, there is an abnormal percentage of missing people, so we explore the reasons for the disappearances. We also look at the misinformation about Nome that came from Universal pictures due to a viral public relations campaign (including fake news releases) as well as what the FBI’s official report on the missing people says. The Sofa Kings also discuss a supposed Black Pyramid patrolled by men in black just outside of the city, a missing Inuit village called Angikuni, and the alien abduction phenomenon in general.

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we look at the music, clothes, and philosophy of the Punk Rock Movement. This one is hard to define. The bands, locations, sounds, and styles all differ radically. However, somehow, a range of different bands are labelled punk. They all rebel against the establishment, and most of them wear black, but there are as many differences as similarities between those who are considered Punk Rock. This is a way of life and fashion as much as a musical style, and you may be surprised by the bands we’ll talk about and label as punk. If you love Anarchy (in the UK or elsewhere), and wish you could have gone to CBGB in Dave’s Musical Time Machine, this one is for you. Visit Our Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punk_rock https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/readers-poll-the-best-punk-rock-bands-of-all-time-15225/ https://www.liveabout.com/history-of-punk-rock-2803345 https://www.liveabout.com/timeline-of-punk-music-history-2803347 https://www.liveabout.com/punks-most-influential-albums-2803358 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CBGB https://pitchfork.com/features/from-our-partners/9943-rip-it-to-shreds-a-history-of-punk-and-style/ https://www.simandan.com/punk-music-history/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3L7xIJ3aDo

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we go to the land down under. We talk about some Aussie True Crime and hit you with the Moorhouse Murders. They were named after the street where the murderers lived. In an unassuming house, David and Catherine Birnie raped and murdered several women on a horrible crime spree. Their back stories are all you’d expect for a couple of serial killers, and their bizarre codependent love, sex, rape, torture, murder groove is grotesque and bizarre. This one has it all, including injecting medicine in a penis, so you know, there’s that if you’re into it. And if you've read this far, let’s face it. You are.   Visit Our Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_and_Catherine_Birnie https://www.news.com.au/national/crime/david-and-catherine-birnie-the-macabre-and-sadistic-moorhouse-murderers/news-story/d1937accb6dfdbb6cc89074e7eb7c241 https://murderpedia.org/male.B/b/birnie-david.htm https://the-line-up.com/moorhouse-murders

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we explore the philosophies, techniques, and science around Wim Hof. Called the Iceman by the press, Hof has set 18 extreme world records. For one, he spent nearly two hours submerged in ice without his core body temperature dropping. The climbed Mt. Everest in just a pair of jogging shorts, and he ran a marathon in the desert with no water. And the craziest thing is, Wim Hof claims he can teach these abilities to anyone. He has a method called the Wim Hof Method, and he travels the world teaching it. His goal? To change all of medicine through a Netflix documentary. We’ll tell you all about him and the details of the WHM that he teaches on this episode. You don’t want to miss his interaction with Jim Carrey!   Visit Our Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wim_Hof https://destinationdeluxe.com/wim-hof-method-iceman-breathwork/ https://www.discovermagazine.com/health/can-breathing-like-wim-hof-make-us-superhuman https://www.thextraordinary.org/wim-hof https://www.wimhofmethod.com/ https://whateveryourdose.com/the-wim-hof-method-what-is-it-and-does-it-really-work/ https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/wim-hof-says-he-holds-the-key-to-a-healthy-life-but-will-anyone-listen-196647/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soHwRkIkTHA

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we talk about all things Tattoo. We know a lot of our listeners have ink done, and some even have Sofa King Tattoos! We talk about what tattoos we have or want to have. Next, we play a game to see if Brad and Brent can tell fake celebrity tattoos from real ones! So, in this episode, we look at the vast history of tattoos in human beings (it goes way back, ya’ll!). We also take a look at different cultures and how they view this body art. From ways to identify prisoners to symbols of wealth and prestige, tattoos are used for all sorts of reasons. Some parts of the world see them as a lower class art form, and others have seen it as holy magic. From British Kings to ancient mummies, everybody needs a good bit of ink done, so listen in and see how wide spread this practice has always been.   Visit Our Sources: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/tattoos-144038580/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_tattooing https://time.com/4645964/tattoo-history/ https://www.tattoodo.com/articles/14-facts-about-tattoos-4329 https://www.insider.com/best-worst-celebrity-tattoos-all-time-2020-6 https://www.newzealand.com/us/feature/ta-moko-maori-tattoo/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0vh0epbYNQ  

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we talk about the founders, history, and reputation of bad boys of motorcycles, Harley Davidson. It was started by William S. Harley and Arthur Davidson (and his brothers) in 1903. They wanted to make bicycles that did the work for you. Within a decade, they were one of the leaders of motorcycle manufacturing in the world. Their bikes helped the US battle Poncho Villa, served in WWI, and were sold to all allies in WWII. The whole macho counter-culture vibe of riding a hog belongs to their own marketing. In fact, 5% of their net worth comes from selling their logo, not their bikes! So if you want some history on the inventors, a look at the Harley Davidson corporation (and their hits and misses), or just want to feel like you’re in a badass 1% bike club, give this one a listen.   Visit Our Sources https://www.biography.com/business-figure/william-s-harley https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harley-Davidson https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_S._Harley https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Davidson_(motorcycling) https://www.motorcyclecruiser.com/history-harley-davidson/ https://moneyinc.com/20-things-didnt-know-harley-davidson/ https://www.hotcars.com/20-cool-facts-about-harley-davidson-most-americans-dont-know/

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we take a crack at some true crime and explore the $100 million Antwerp Diamond Heist of 2003. This is some Die Hard and Ocean’s 11 type stuff right here. A career thief (and possibly mafia royalty) named Leonardo Notarbartolo was at the heart of it. He played the face man with team of people known only as The Monster, The Genius, The King of Keys, and Speedy. They dreamed up an impossible scheme to rob one of the richest diamond vaults in the world and somehow bypass a vault that was two stories underground and had ten layers of security measures in place. So, how did they get into the vault under Antwerp? What simple and crazy hacks did they use? Who are the diamond police? Who was the mysterious Buyer who set it all up, and was he a fiction or part of the scheme? Where did hair spray come into play, and how did a man and two weasels bust the case wide open with the help of a salami sandwich? Listen, laugh, learn.   Visit Our Sources: https://www.wired.com/2009/03/ff-diamonds-2/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antwerp_diamond_heist https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45el4Qlaj-E

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we look at the legendary life of America’s Greatest Sniper, Chris Kyle. His story perfectly encapsulates all that was wrong with the War in Iraq. He did four tours there, earned a reputation as the “Devil of Ramadi,” and came home pretty jacked up. He was depressed, had PTSD, and multiple physical injuries. But he recovered, published his autobiography American Sniper, and it became a best seller. Kyle used his new fame to form a company that would help veterans adjust to life back home, but one such veteran murdered him and his friend. This is a tale of heroism, wounded warriors, and truth about the impacts of modern warfare. You don’t want to miss it!   Visit Our Sources https://theintercept.com/2016/05/25/american-sniper-chris-kyle-distorted-his-military-record-documents-show/ https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/day-chris-kyle-died-text-777380/ https://owlcation.com/humanities/Chris-Kyle-The-Legendary-American-Sniper https://www.biography.com/military-figure/chris-kyle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Kyle https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IiVDtNjORbY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSwxmn4FzFA https://www.military.com/special-operations/two-chris-kyle-stories-you-wont-see-in-american-sniper.html

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we talk about a topic near and dear to Brent’s heart—Bees. We all know he thinks bees are robots, but why? It may be because of a crazy “Waggle Dance” they perform to communicate where food is. This dance has been repeated by actual robots to talk to bee colonies, by the way. From queens to drones to soldiers, bees are fascinating. They have a strange social life and an even stranger sex life. Bees are also vanishing in America due to Colony Collapse Disorder. Give this one a listen if you want to hear us drop some science about the most unique and important species in your backyard.   Visit Our Sources: https://www.nwf.org/Educational-Resources/Wildlife-Guide/Invertebrates/Bees https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bee https://www.wwf.org.uk/learn/fascinating-facts/bees https://www.newscientist.com/definition/bees/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colony_collapse_disorder https://www.newscientist.com/question/bees-make-honey/ https://www.thoughtco.com/how-honey-bees-communicate-1968098 http://berlinbiorobotics.blog/projects/robobee/

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we do some deadly spelunking and talk about the Catacombs of Paris. Under the city of lights, there are over 200 miles of tunnels, many of them filled with the corpses of over 6 million long-dead Parisians. How it came to be is a strange story filled with cemetery collapses, Roman mines, and secret concerts held by kings. So, hundredds of tunnels and mines were dug under ancient Paris. These tunnels led to collapses of buildings, and with cemeteries full to bursting on the surface, sometimes dead bodies would be swept away or into basements as the ground shifted. Eventually, the city decided to move the bodies out of every cemetery in Paris and put them down in these old mine shafts. Now called the crypts of catacombs of Paris, they are lined with millions of bones and skulls, many of them crafted into architectural wall art. They played a role in WWII and the revolution, and they are even a spot for hipster night life and hauntings. So, if you like things that go “le bump” in the night, this one is for you!   Visit Our Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catacombs_of_Paris https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/paris-catacombs-180950160/ https://thetourguy.com/travel-blog/france/paris/catacombs/most-bone-chilling-paris-catacombs-legends-and-stories/ https://bigthink.com/strange-maps/paris-catacombs https://www.thetravel.com/creepy-facts-didnt-know-paris-catacombs/

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we look at one of the most prolific, profitable, and innovative directors of modern cinema, James Cameron. Cameron went from a kid who dropped out of school to the creator of the first two movies to ever break the billion dollar threshold. If you are science fiction fan, you probably love some of his work. Among his best are Terminator and Terminator 2 along with Aliens. These cult classics built his reputation and gave him some box office clout with studios, but he became next-level with Titanic. It took years to film and went millions of dollars over budget. The film became the joke of the town in Hollywood, and everyone waited for its release as if watching a train about to wreck. But it was a hit. And then guess what? He did it all over again with Avatar. He’s a brilliant inventor and philanthropist, and he just churns out hit after hit. All eyes are watching for his Avatar sequels, and if you haven’t indulged in the history of James Cameron films, what are you waiting for?!?   Visit our Sources: https://www.biography.com/filmmaker/james-cameron https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Cameron https://www.theringer.com/movies/2021/6/30/22555687/terminator-2-judgement-day-t2-oral-history https://www.nme.com/news/film/james-cameron-terminator-2-john-connor-ecstasy-2985015 https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/35-things-you-probably-didnt-know-about-james-cameron

On this episode of The Sofa King Podcast, we look at the story of Jonestown, the city that housed the People’s Temple, where over 900 people died famously from poisoned Kool Aid in November of 1978. According to its founder, the Reverend Jim Jones, it was to be a Socialist paradise, a commune in the country of Guyana, and an escape from the evils of Capitalism and a corrupt American government. When you look at the young religious life of Jim Jones, this dream commune sounds like an actual possibility. Because when Jones first started his Temple in the early 1960’s, he was a champion for integration of African Americans into American society. He held multiple governmental positions, was a friend to civil rights, and was a religious leader on the national stage. From Governor Jerry Brown (his first term way back when…) to First Lady Carter, Jim Jones advised them all. However, somewhere in his time as the leader of his Temple, he started preaching about the nuclear apocalypse and called himself the reincarnation of multiple religious figures. (This may have been inevitable since his own mother thought she was the giving birth the messiah when she was pregnant with Jones…) So how did a white leader of the black community become a murderous, drug-using cult leader? What crimes forced him to move his group to Guyana in the first place? How was the amazing Congressman Leo Ryan involved in bringing down Jonestown before he was gunned down on an airfield? What do conspiracy theorists say about the connection to the CIA? This is one of the craziest cult stories we’ve covered. And yes, I know, it was technically grape Flavor Aid, not Kool Aid…

Dave is visiting family this week so we are gonna throw some "Classics" your way. Thank you for your patience. On this episode of The Sofa King Podcast, we examine largest food corporation on the planet—Nestle. With over 400 factories spread through 194 countries, this company employs well over 300,000 people. Why do you want to learn about this corporation? Because they are regularly considered one of the worst corporations on earth and have been banned by over twenty countries since the 1970s for their corporate practices. So, what does Nestle do that is so wrong? Let’s start with slavery. From the Ivory Coast to Ghana and Indonesia, Nestle buys from suppliers who are said to support slavery and forced labor. The cocoa farms they source from are thought to have between 10,000 and 15,000 slaves who were bought from their parents and work for no money in a foreign country with no chance for freedom. There is also a long list of misdoings involving their sales of infant formula in the third world. They engage in marketing practices that oppose the World Health Organization’s guidelines and are blamed for the deaths of thousands of children due to dehydration, disease, and malnutrition. Then there’s the water. They drain aquifers around the world, often forcing people in poor areas to buy their own water back at a massive price hike. From deforestation to union busting, from assassination of labor leaders to poisoned dog food, this goliath of the corporate world is alleged to have done it all. If you want to know what products they own, how they operate, or why the CEO apparently thinks water is not a basic human right, tune in to this one.

On this Sofa King Podcast, we look at the history of the mysterious Easter Island, it’s massive stone statues, and the people who lived and died on the remote island. The island got its Western name from the fact that it was “discovered” by the Dutch on Easter Sunday (not very original, I know…), but many people call it Rapa Nui after Tahitian sailors gave it the name in the 1800’s. This island is 1600 miles from the Marquesa Islands and over 2000 from any other body of land, so the fact that it was settled back in Castle Times is a pretty amazing feat. The date range of when it was first settled by the natives is a topic of much debate, as are most dates and facts about this enigmatic island. Archaeologists disagree on about every fact you can imagine since the nature of the island and it’s dark history has all but erased every marker typically used to date the passing of time. What was so dark about the island’s history? Well, for one, it was plagued by the typical ills that came from the European influence on indigenous peoples—diseases, missionaires, and slavery wiping out the culture and the peoples. But before the Europeans had a chance to do this, they did it to themselves. They natives of Rapa Nui stripped the island bare of trees by building boats, houses, and moving the famous statues. This led to the loss of top soil, massive erosion, and a starvation and isolation unlike anywhere else on earth. And of course, what discussion of Easter Island is complete without a look at the Moai—the stone megaliths that are all over the landscape. With almost 900 of these ominous figures watching the ocean and the land, the place is filled with wonder. These statues are feats of engineering, masonry, and artistry, and theories of how they were build range from the simple to the complex and, of course, to theories of ancient aliens. Why did the natives spend so much of their time and resources devoted to these statutes? What was discovered when the bodies of the statue heads were unearthed? How did they move the statutes, and what makes the native folklore say they walked themselves into place? What exactly is the Birdman religion, and how was it celebrated by the hardcore people living on this bleak island? Listen, laugh, learn.

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we look at the life of one of the most influential music producers of all time, Phil Spector. He’s a murderer too, so if you’re into true crime, you can double dip on this one. Spector started his music career early with a #1 hit while he was still a teen ager back in 1958. By the age of 21, he was a millionaire and the producer of multiple chart topping hits. His big addition to the music industry was something called the Wall of Sound. It was a complex recording technique that counteracted the bad technology of 1960s AM Radio and juke boxes. It changed the entire music industry, and everyone from The Beach Boys to Bruce Springsteen used it. He produced Ike and Tina Turner as well as John Lennon and the Beatles. However, he was spiraling toward madness through it all. He pulled guns on musicians, got in a near death car crash and suffered head trauma, threatened girlfriends, and hid in his mansion. Eventually, he shot and killed Lana Clarkson in 2003 and was convicted of her murder. So, who all did he pull guns on? Why did Paul McCartney hate him? Where was he when he died of Covid-19? Listen, laugh, learn.   Visit Our Sources: https://www.biography.com/musician/phil-spector https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Spector https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/phil-spector-dead-obit-67459/ https://www.clashmusic.com/features/10-things-you-never-knew-about-phil-spector https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUJb9wxBWw4

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we grab ourselves a bucket and talk about Kentucky Fried Chicken. There is, of course, no KFC without Colonel Sanders, so that seems like a good start. The story of this massive restaurant chain is also the story of Harlan Sanders, given the honorary title of a Kentucky Colonel by two governors in his life time. He’s delivered babys, served in the US Army in Cuba, and once shot a man in a fight over a marketing billboard. Colonel Sanders started the restaurant game late in life and somehow transformed a gas station where he served fried chicken to the second largest fast food empire in the world. He was one of the pioneers of franchising, letting people use his recipe of 11 herbs and spices in exchange for a nickel per chicken sold. How did the chain get so big? How much did he sell his shares of the company for? Why did he and Kentucky Fried Chicken sue each other? Did a reporter uncover the secret original recipe? Listen, laugh, learn.     Visit Our Sources: https://www.biography.com/business-figure/colonel-harland-sanders https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kentucky_Colonel#Notable_Kentucky_colonels https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonel_(U.S._honorary_title) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KFC KFC recipe revealed? Tribune shown family scrapbook with 11 herbs and spices - Chicago Tribune KFC recipe challenge: Tribune kitchen puts the 11 herbs and spices to the test - Chicago Tribune https://www.history.com/news/8-facts-real-colonel-sanders-kfc https://www.thebalancesmb.com/colonel-sanders-bio-kentucky-fried-chicken-story-1350966 https://www.mashed.com/99890/untold-truth-kfc/ https://www.kentuckyfriedcruelty.com/index.php https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jul/30/kfc-admits-a-third-of-its-chickens-suffer-painful-inflammation https://global.kfc.com/press-releases/kfc-announces-new-global-chicken-welfare-guidelines

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we talk about the mother of all battles in WWII, the Battle of the Bulge. This was an offensive that lasted for six horrible weeks in the winter of 1944 and 1945. The allies had already launched D-Day and were trying to make their way to Berlin. Part of the plan was to send troops to Luxembourg and Belgium, but Hitler thought he saw a way to exploit this, cut off all allied armies, and force a surrender. The Battle of the Bulge became the costliest in all of WWII for the Americans. It is a story of men who had no equipment, no food, no fuel, and no winter clothing even though they were in near arctic conditions. But it was rough on both sides. All armies were exhausted and frozen, and the Nazis even had to rely on horses to move equipment. This battle has it all, from the noble actions of the 101st airborne, to the first desegregated black troops, to Nazis in disguise being forced to answer American trivia. You don’t want to miss it!   Visit Our Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Bulge https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-the-bulge https://www.army.mil/botb/ https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/what-you-need-to-know-about-the-battle-of-the-bulge https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/8580915/ww2-pictures-battle-bulge-horror-band-brothers/ https://www.historyhit.com/facts-about-battle-bulge/ https://www.historynet.com/battle-of-the-bulge https://www.history.com/news/8-things-you-may-not-know-about-the-battle-of-the-bulge

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we talk about the Queen of Rock and Roll, Tina Turner. She was born to very poor sharecroppers in 1939 and went through an abusive marriage and bankruptcy, but somehow, she survived it all. In fact, she emerged as one of the queens of the 1980s, earning hit after hit and Grammy after Grammy. Indeed, she produced some of the most iconic videos and songs of the 1980s. It all started when she met Ike Turner and joined his band. He was addicted to coke and bipolar, so the relationship was never all that great, but he helped coach her vocals, and they met success together. With their hit “Proud Mary” they became national names. After an abusive marriage and tumultuous divorce, however, Tina struggled to regain popularity. But when she did, there was no stopping her. So, what lead Tina Turner to try to commit suicide? How many Grammys did she win? Why did she change her name to Tina Turner? What made her quit the music business? Where is she now? Listen, laugh, learn.   Visit Our Sources: https://www.biography.com/musician/tina-turner https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tina_Turner https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/art-books-music/a35938829/where-is-tina-turner-now/ https://www.rollingstone.com/feature/tina-turner-queen-of-rock-roll-190581/ https://www.eightieskids.com/10-things-you-probably-didnt-know-about-tina-turner/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKpISNtgJMs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzQnPz6TpGc https://www.smoothradio.com/artists/tina-turner/age-real-name-husband-children/

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we go back in time and look at an interesting story from World War II. The Great Escape was immortalized in a 1963 Steve McQueen movie, but it is based on a real story where hundreds of allied airmen all pitched in to help some escape. The scene was Stalag Luft III, a Nazi POW camp for air force officers from all allied nations. It was a fairly relaxed camp compared to what many think of when a German war camp comes to mind. In 1943, RAF Squadron Leader Roger Bushell was transferred to Stalag Luft III after several escape attempts at other prisons. While there, he organized an audacious plan to set hundreds of prisoners free by digging not one, but three massive tunnels out of the complex at the same time. The ingenious nature of the prisoners, what items they stole or repurposed, the allies they found throughout Germany: all of it is pretty astounding. So, why were only 76 of the 200 able to get out of the prison that fateful night? What was the German response, and how many were rounded back up? What stopped all of them from being killed despite Hitler’s direct orders? How many fully escaped, and why did the Great Escape lead to war crimes trials years later? Listen, laugh, and learn.   Visit Our Sources: https://www.history.co.uk/article/the-true-story-of-the-great-escape https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stalag_Luft_III https://www.history.com/news/remembering-the-great-escape-70-years-ago https://s.telegraph.co.uk/graphics/projects/great-escape/index.html https://www.historyextra.com/period/second-world-war/five-myths-of-the-ww2-great-escape/  

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we give some respect to one of the greatest comedians to ever live—Rodney Dangerfield. He was a comedy staple in the 70s and 80s, appearing on The Tonight Show over 70 times after he squashed a beef with Johnny Carson. Keep in mind that doing that show even one time as a comedian could make your career. He then turned a small role in Caddyshack into a career-defining moment alongside Bill Murray and Chevy Chase, and he went on to star in Easy Money and Back to School along with other film classics. His persona of Rodney Dangerfield was fictitious. His legal name was Jack Roy (though he was born Jacob Cohen), and the Dangerfield name was taken from a comedy bit he saw as a young man. But the “No Respect” gimmick was what made him famous. He overheard it from a gangster, and he retooled all of his comedy to revolve around that one concept. It wasn’t a hard concept for him since his childhood was one of abuse and abandonment. In the end, he became a comedy legend who opened one of the most successful comedy clubs ever and was even a pioneer in the early days of the internet. So, give Rodney and SK some respect, and give this one a listen!     Visit Our Sources: https://www.biography.com/performer/rodney-dangerfield https://www.biography.com/news/rodney-dangerfield-i-dont-get-no-respect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodney_Dangerfield http://www.rodney.com/ https://screenrant.com/rodney-dangerfield-best-roles-movies/ http://jackbenny.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=596

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we put on our tinfoil hats and explore the conspiracy theory of MK Ultra. It turns out it wasn’t a conspiracy theory, so much as a conspiracy fact. MK Ultra was the CIA’s illegal attempt at behavior modification and mind control which officially ran from 1953 until 1973. Some say it is still running under a different name, but the official party line is that it was disbanded in the paranoid wake of the Watergate tapes. The fact that MK Ultra existed is incontrovertible and involved three senate hearings, a freedom of information act release that included 20,000 pages of documents about the CIA’s secret funding, and multiple reports filed by senate subcommittees and even the office of veteran’s affairs. So what did MK Ultra involve? The CIA funded experiments on various ways to control minds, alter perceptions, and get inside of people’s heads. They did this at 87 American universities, often without the knowledge of the subjects or the scientists (who didn’t know their funding was coming from the CIA). MK Ultra used LSD as a way to break people down, often dosing American citizens with the drug without their consent or knowledge through projects such as the accurately named Project Midnight Climax which used prostitutes to deliver the drugs in San Francisco. MK Ultra used a doctor named Donald Cameron who was president of the World Psychiatric Health Organization to work on a technique called Psychic Driving. What did it involve? Induced paralysis and then an audio loop that played thousands of times to try and break a patient’s personality down and replace it. Oh, and the patients were coming to him for things like post mortem depression and anxiety and had no idea this was being done to them! Find out about Subproject 54, which was a Naval Research project involving amnesia, and the case of Frank Olson. Olson (a biochemist employed by the CIA) was thought to have committed suicide in 1953, but an autopsy in 1994 that he was murdered with a blow to the head after being dosed with LSD. All of this is true, provable with congressional documents, and completely nuts. Of course, it gets crazier when the tin foil does come out, and a woman named Cathleen Ann O'Brien reveals details about an alleged MK Ultra subproject called Project Monarch. It involves George Bush, holograms, and lizard people. Oh, and it also involves Shia LaBeouf, Roseanne Barr, and Michael Jackson. No. I’m not kidding...

Another Sofa King Classic as we anticipate Daves return... We dig in to the conspiracy theories surrounding the Illuminati and their new world order. From the Bilderberg Group to the Freemasons, and from Bohemian Grove to space alien reptoids, we look at all the common ideas spread on the Internet about the Illuminati. We even look at the theories of the “Hop-Hop Illuminati” that supposedly rules rap music. Adult Content. NSFW.

Dave should be back Wednesday and we will back to business as usually. It is hilarious to hear how much the show has changed since Episode 26. Check out this classic episode and thank you for being cool as fuck. This episode is all about mythical, mystical, and cryptozoological creatures. We cover a wide range from purely mythical and fictional creatures down to things that people think may exist in the real world. The Sofa Kings discuss crypto creatures and even talk about ghosts for a minute or two. Brad tests Dave and Brent’s nerd knowledge by asking about monsters found in popular fantasy games and classic mythology, and Brent astounds us with a discussion of monsters that come from Japan—and they are wild! Some of our specific topics include the Loch Ness Monster, the Chupacabra, the Moth Man, the Scape Ore Swam Lizard Man of South Carolina, vampires, and the mysterious “Bloop” from deep in the ocean that many people fear to be the sleeping Cthulhu. Adult Content. NSFW.

  Dave is gone for 8 days so here is a Sofa King Classic from the archives Quotable moments from radioactive grandmas to Cesium queefs... you wont want to miss this one. On this episode, we discuss the accident at the Chernobyl power plant as only the Sofa King Podcast can. The Chernobyl power plant in Pripyat, Ukraine suffered a ten day nuclear fire starting on April 26, 1986. This was one of only two Level 7 nuclear disasters in the history of nuclear power, and the causes, reaction, and effects are pretty staggering. Though the numbers vary greatly, upwards of 350,000 people were evacuated, 500,000 “volunteers” were called on to help, and somewhere around 75,000 cases of cancer are still with us due to this nuclear meltdown. What caused it? According to most reports, it was human error, arrogance, and design flaws working in perfect concert. We cover the causes and the basics of how a nuclear reactor works in order to fully explore this horrible accident. Most of the blame can be put on one of the foremen (a man so radioactive that he gave his own son Leukemia!), but there is a complex web of control and Soviet era Party politics involved as well. We also look at the Nobel Prize winning book Voices from Chernobyl by Svetlana Alexievich which covers a dozens of interviews of survivors of this meltdown. Then we talk about everything from the chances of the reactor’s protective sarcophagus cracking and making an even worse disaster in the future, hostile radioactive wolves which roam the Exclusion Zone even today, and what the Soviet Union did right and wrong in trying to stop the disaster. Their policy tended to be telling lies to the free world about how good things were and sending hundreds of thousands of volunteers into radioactive danger with no equipment or medicine to help them. However, with little else to do, we wonder if this was the action of an evil communist state or actually true heroism by a nation desperately trying to stop the meltdown from making most of Europe a nuclear grave yard.

On this bonus episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we cover a real world conspiracy theory that turns out to be true: Project Azorian. What was Project Azorian? Well, it was a little plan concocted by the CIA. In 1968, a Soviet nuclear sub sank, and the Russian didn’t know where it was. The US Navy narrowed it down to a few miles, however, so they plan was on to fully retrieve this vessel from the ocean floor. It took years to pull off, and the cover story involved the amazing Howard Hughes. His companies and his bizarre secrecy in all things made him the perfect person to build the Hughes Glomar Explorer, the ship sent out to do the actual spying. But wait! This one is only for the patrons! To learn more and to become a $1 dollar patron, so you can access over 150 bonus episodes, go to http://www.patreon.com/sofakingpodcast So, what exactly was Howard Hughes’ role? Who was Clementine, and what was her job in pulling up the sub? Did the Soviets ever learn what was going on? How was it a success and a failure? What did they do with the dead Russian sailors they raised to the surface? What do conspiracy theorists claim was really happening here? Listen, laugh, learn. Visit Our Sources: https://www.thevintagenews.com/2018/04/25/project-azorian/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Azorian https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/during-cold-war-ci-secretly-plucked-soviet-submarine-ocean-floor-using-giant-claw-180972154/

On this episode of The Sofa King Podcast, we do the whole biography thing on the grandfather of an American dynasty, Mr. Prescott Bush. Prescott Bush is the father of President George H.W. Bush and the grandfather of President George W Bush. He was a businessman, politician, power broker, Skull and Bones Man, and possible Nazi collaborator. If there happens to be an Illuminati run by a race of power-hoarding lizard people, Prescott Bush is a member. Born in 1895, Prescott lived through the highest heights of American wealth and the lowest lows of the American depression. He followed in the footsteps of his own father and entered Yale and became a member of the notorious Skull and Bones. Indeed, rumor has it that he and people in his class broke into a graveyard and stole the skull of Geronimo, which sits in the bowels of the Bones house to this day. After that, he spent time in World War two and got into intelligence work. From there, he came back to the states and started his life as a business mogul and politician. Working in Intelligence, big business, and the government pretty much set the path that all Bushes would follow in future generations. Once World War Two was starting, Prescott Bush was one of the founding members of an international bank that was owned by and helped launder money for one Fritz Thyssen. Thyssen was a Nazi. I mean a super Nazi. I mean, the main financier for the rise of Nazi power, the architect of the Nazi war machine through his steel and coal plants, the main backer of Adolf Hitler, and even the guy responsible for creating the poison gas used in concentration camps. All evidence suggests that Prescott Bush knew all of this and kept dealing with him through the war. Oh, and then there was the time Grandpa Bush tried to overthrow the American presidency with a rebel army backed by the wealthiest families in the country. Well, he never got prosecuted for either of these attempts to control the world, but the jokes on us. He pretty much ruled the world anyway when his descendants starting running the United States intelligence apparatus and became president a couple of times.

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we climb to the top of the podcasting world and talk about Mt. Everest. This peak is the highest on earth, and to many people, reaching its summit is the height of human performance. Named after a British surveyor (who didn’t even want it named after him), it has become a strange, deadly tourist attraction. What was once the ultimate spiritual challenge is now a booming business and a mountain littered in human corpses, trash, and excrement. Back when people like George Mallory, Edmund Hillary, and Tenzing Norgay made the first attempts to reach the summit, all eyes were on them. However, in the modern day, hundreds of people climb it, and there are deaths every single year. The problem with the deaths is that the bodies don’t deteriorate due to the weather, and it is nearly impossible to get a dead body down. Some bodies have actually become landmarks for guides leading tourist climbers up the passes. So, who is Green Boots, and what does he signify? What shut down the mountain in 2015? How many have made up to the top of Mt. Everest? How many have died? How much does it cost for a modern climber to make the ascent? Listen, laugh, learn.   Visit Our Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Everest https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Boots https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20151008-the-graveyard-in-the-clouds-everests-200-dead-bodies https://www.aworldtotravel.com/mount-everest-facts/ https://www.tripsavvy.com/little-known-facts-about-mt-everest-4136176 https://www.themanual.com/outdoors/climbing-mount-everest-cost/

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we talk about the one man legend, Andre the Giant. In wrestling, he was one of the greatest of all time. In film, he knocked it out of the park in The Princess Bride (and secretly starred as Dagoth the demon with Arnold Schwarzenegger and the epic Bigfoot in the Six Million Dollar Man). He was a kind hearted, loving giant coming in at seven foot four inches and well over 500 pounds. He could also drink! Story after story from his WWF colleagues confirm that he could drink well over 100 beers in single sittings and needed to have six full bottle of wine before a match. He battled it out in an epic feud with Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania III, and his gigantism condition (known as Acromegaly) took its toll on his back and knees. It also made it impossible to live daily life and do things such as ride in a car, take an airplane, or buy clothes. Andre the Giant's personality was as large as his frame, so whether you like 80s nostalgia, classic wrestling, or…well…giants, this episode is the one for you! Visit Our Sources: https://www.biography.com/athlete/andre-the-giant https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andr%C3%A9_the_Giant https://www.thisdrinkinglife.com/andre-the-giant/ https://prowrestlingstories.com/pro-wrestling-stories/andre-the-giant/ https://www.foxsports.com/wwe/gallery/best-andre-the-giant-drinking-stories-072516 https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/501418/10-larger-life-facts-about-andre-giant

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we talk about one of the biggest war crimes in modern history, the Armenian Genocide. Through a systematic effort, the Ottoman Empire ruled by the Young Turks killed upwards of 1.5 million Armenian Christians through murder, forced marches, hunger, and disease. This was during World War One, and the empire thought Armenia (part of their empire) was going to side with Russia while everyone else sided with Germany. The state rounded up the men first and killed them village by village. The Turks then sent the women on death marches into the Syrian desert that lasted weeks or months. They were raped, beaten, and often had to watch their family and children be murdered. Tens of thousands were forced to live with new men (some willingly, sometimes the murderer of their family) and turn to Islam and have children. Those were the lucky ones, if such a thing can said to exist. So what brought this Armenian Genocide on? How many survived? Who were members of a Butcher Brigade? When did the US Government finally recognize this genocide? Listen, laugh, learn.   Visit Our Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armenian_Genocide https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/the-armenian-genocide-1915-16-overview https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/ref/timestopics/topics_armeniangenocide.html https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-i/armenian-genocide https://www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/video/introducing-armenian-genocide http://www.genocide-museum.am/eng/armenian_genocide.php https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/04/24/statement-by-president-joe-biden-on-armenian-remembrance-day/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Nemesis

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we hit you with some def tracks and rap about the Beastie Boys. The core trio of Mike D, MCA, and Ad-Rock were a key ingredient to any party in the 80s. Then, they had a misstep with Paul’s Boutique and rebounded with a series of records that defined the sound track of the 90s. While they came to detest some of their earliest work (and their image as party bros), they evolved into some of the most talented musicians and hip hop artists of a generation. From License to Ill to Check Your Head and Ill Communication, their albums were a mix of styles, influences, samples, and instrumentals the likes of which nobody has done before or sense. In fact, some of their music almost sounds cliché since so many people stole their innovative style afterwards. Sadly, Adam Yauch (aka MCA) died in 2012, and the band agreed to never perform again. But they remain as popular as ever with a recent book release and a documentary directed by Spike Jonze. Their story is one of highs and lows. Through it, you see a group of best friends evolve into the musicians the world asked them to be. Don’t be a sucka MC. Give this one a listen.   Visit Our Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beastie_Boys Beastie Boys Story: Apple TV

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we take a look at the pharmaceutical company Bayer. What could be interesting about a company that is world famous for its aspirin? A lot, actually. This small German company didn’t invent aspirin, but it perfected and patented it, just as it did heroin (which it originally old as a child’s cough syrup!). They started to really stand up and be evil in WWI when they made the first chemical weapons for the German side, and they perfected their Evil in WWII. They supported the work of Doctor Mengele, used slave labor from concentration campus to build their factories, bought train loads of Jews to experiment on, and produced the Zyklon B gas used at the camps to murder millions of Jews. They were broken up after the war because, you know, evil, but they were back with record speed. From drugs that caused HIV to swindling the government and buying Monsanto, this pharma giant just keeps on doing wrong.     Visit Our Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayer https://www.toptenz.net/10-dirty-secrets-probably-didnt-know-bayer.php https://www.i-lawsuit.com/the-dark-history-of-bayer-drugs/ https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2019-09-19/bayer-s-monsanto-purchase-looks-worse-with-each-roundup-verdict https://truthout.org/articles/bayer-and-monsanto-a-merger-of-two-evils/

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we hit you with some straight science and talk about the life, discoveries, and madness of Sir Isaac Newton. Everyone has heard the name, and most people know the legend of an apple falling on his head to make him conceive of gravity. This is kind of mostly true, and it is just one amazing mental feat belonging to one of the greatest human minds to ever live. He was an expert in mathematics, optics, and physics. While in his 20’s, he was given the most important post in all of academia (The Lucasian Chair), and he created the laws of motion and wrote his famous Principia. This intellectual gangster was knighted, became a member of parliament, personally hunted down money counterfeiters for the queen, and tried to crack a hidden code in the bible. He predicted when the world would end, ate lots of mercury while trying to figure out alchemy, and got in lots of science beefs with other members of the scientific revolution. I never thought Isaac Newton would be off the rails, but he is. Give this one a listen. Visit Our Sources: https://www.biography.com/scientist/isaac-newton https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Newton https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/newton/ https://www.history.com/news/9-things-you-may-not-know-about-isaac-newton https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/23631/10-things-you-didnt-know-about-isaac-newton https://www.factretriever.com/isaac-newton-facts

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we look at one of the greatest scientists to ever live, Marie Curie. She battled with crazy sexism, anti-Semitism, and an endless bout of cancer and tumors due to her radioactive research. But through it all, she was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, the first person to ever win two, and a hero in World War One. She discovered radiation and in fact came up with that very term. She was a powerful woman who changed the entire world with her intellect and persistence. She was born to a prominent family of educators in Warsaw, but her family was poor due to political allegiance against the Russians. She taught herself science and physics on lab equipment her father snuck home, and she had to learn in the “Floating University” that was an underground gangster school for women and political dissidents not allowed to study. And somehow, through all of that, she bested most of the scientific minds in Europe, became world famous, and started the Radium Institute, which churned out four more Nobel Prizes. How did she die? Cancer from radiation of course, but it was a hell of a ride to get there.   Visit Our Sources: https://www.biography.com/scientist/marie-curie https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Curie https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/1911/marie-curie/facts/ https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/madame-curies-passion-74183598/ https://www.biography.com/news/marie-curie-biography-facts

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we take a dip in the waters of folklore and talk about fairies. To most Americans, they are a ridiculous notion, but 44% of Brits think they’ve seen fairies, and over half of those in Iceland believe in their existence. We talk about a famous set of photos in the UK called the Cottingley Fairies. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (the creator of Sherlock Holmes) used the pictures to wage a war between spiritualism and science. Fairies are of course thought to be woodland beings, creatures of pure nature. Some are household fairies, though, and not all of them are a few inches tall. They are said to cause mischief to those who see or disturb them, and there are even correlations between fairy encounters and alien abductions. So why do people still believe in them? What types of religions are currently based on Fairies? What’s up the protestors trying to stop a freeway being built in Iceland because it will disturb the elves? Listen, laugh, and learn.   Visit Our Sources: http://hoaxes.org/photo_database/image/the_cottingley_fairies/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cottingley_Fairies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faerie_faith vice.com/en/article/9k8n9p/women-believe-fairies-real-study https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/10/why-so-many-icelanders-still-believe-in-invisible-elves/280783/ https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/icelanders-protest-road-would-disturb-fairies-180949359/#:~:text=In%20Iceland%2C%20fairies%20are%20a%20big%20deal.&text=Though%20J%C3%B3nsd%C3%B3ttir's%20belief%20in%20elves,in%20the%20existence%20of%20elves. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feri_Tradition

Another Sofa King Classic to hold you over until we get back in the studio. Thank-you for your patience. Episode 17, The Moon Landing Hoax. This week, we explore the evidence that consipiracy theorists use to “prove” that the moon landing is a hoax. From photographic evidence to the Van Allen Radiation belt, we take apart each element of the moon landing and try to come to a conclusion about it. Was it real? Was it faked? If you want to hear the final conclusion of Brent and Brad, give the episode a listen. Listen and find out! Adult Content. NSFW.

We will return to our normal schedule just as soon as possible. In the mean time dig back in our catalog for some oldies but goodies… you know you skipped “Oprah” and “Pizza” because WTF??? But we might just surprise you... To hold you over Brent and Brad test out their acting chops in this Patreon shout out comedy skits titled “Fight Night" 1 & 2.

Daves not here man..... So this week we go back to a throw back with the Denver international airport conspiracy. Thank you for your patience and we will return to our amazingness next week. Opened in 1995, this airport ran more than twice the original budget and included five buildings which were completely buried underground due to supposed “construction complications.” These buildings start a wild set of conspiracy theories about the airport being a hub and an end-of-the world bunker for members of the New World Order (including the Queen of England, who supposedly bought property near the airport). On top of the theoretical bunker, the airport is filled with strange symbols, signs of the Freemasons, and a Masonic time capsule set to open in 2094. The truly strange thing about this airport, however, is the art work. From a seven ton statue of Anubis—the Egyptian god of death—to the 30 foot tall emaciated Blue Mustang horse statue with glowing red eyes known as Blucifer, the statues in this place are baffling. (Blucifer is even responsible for its creator Luis Jimenez’s death when it’s head fell and crushed his legs during construction.) However, the most bizarre part is the strange murals painted by artist Leo Tanguma, murals which depict burning cities, dead children, weeping mothers holding deceased babies, and a giant Nazi-esque soldier spearing the dove of peace with a saber. Not stuff you want to see before boarding a plane! So, give this one a listen if you want to hear about strange art, symbols of death, and Masonic conspiracies. Special thanks to listener Paul Byerly for suggesting the topic.  

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we bask in the glow that is Nicholas Cage. He comes from film royalty and is the nephew of director Francis Ford Copula, but once he started getting his own film roles, he changed his name to distance himself from the family. Even so, his rise to stardom was pretty meteoric. Once at the top, he started spending money like a lunatic, acting like a lunatic, and starring in some of the best/worst movies ever made (I’m looking at you, Wicker Man). He started in Fast Times at Ridgemont High and within a few years was being directed by some of the best movie makers in Hollywood. He won an Academy Award for best actor in Leaving Las Vegas and helmed the massive franchise, National Treasure. But he’s always seemed a little...unhinged. His acting method is very intense (considered over acting to many), and he has done some epic things in the past to prepare for a role. We cover his crazy spending sprees, his real estate purchases, and the wild stuff he’s bought over the years. We cover the good films, the bad films, and the ugly films. We talk about his failed Superman movie, and we speculate about him becoming Meta-Cage, the self-aware version of himself that the world needs and deserves in these strange times.   Visit Our Sources: https://www.biography.com/actor/nicolas-cage https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolas_Cage https://www.eightieskids.com/fascinating-facts-you-didnt-know-about-nicolas-cage/ https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/530681/9-bizarre-facts-about-nicolas-cage https://newsfeed.time.com/2014/01/06/50-nicolas-cage-facts-for-the-50th-birthday-of-this-national-treasure/ https://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-celebrities/actors/nicolas-cage-net-worth/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superman_in_film#Superman_Lives

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we talk about one of the strangest serial killers ever. Marcel Petiot was a medical doctor in occupied Paris during World War Two. He somehow convinced people that he was part of a resistance underground and could help smuggle people out of France and away from the Nazis. Instead, he took their money, injected them with cyanide, and burned their bodies in his basement. Oh, and that’s all after he got a medical degree in just a couple of months, became mayor of a town, embezzled from the city he ran, and then killed a couple people though the police couldn’t prove it was him. He ticked all the bad boxes as a serial killer child, and when drafted into World War One, he did everything he could to get out of service. He was a lifelong thief and grifter, being regularly arrested from childhood on. This is a crazy story. It ranges from blowing up his foot with a grenade (on purpose) to killing three pimps. And when a super top secret US spy ring called The Pond was revealed in 2001, there were actually files in it that said he may have been a spy working for the U.S. government while he was busy killing between 60-150 people. You know, that old story.   Visit Our Sources: https://murderpedia.org/male.P/p/petiot-marcel.htm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcel_Petiot https://cvltnation.com/dr-satan-the-unbelievable-story-of-serial-killer-dr-marcel-petiot/ https://historydaily.org/marcel-petiot-facts-stories-trivia https://www.grunge.com/86647/messed-up-things-happened-world-war-ii/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrpVXGf2MA8 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pond_(intelligence_organization)

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we look to the heavens and talk about the Sun. It is the primary source of energy for our solar system, and its scale and power are enough to give you anxiety if you really dig into the facts. It has been worshiped as a god in most ancient civilizations, until science started to understand its incredible power. While it gives us heat, light, and solar power, it is also dangerous. We talk about something called a Carrington-Level solar event and how it could end civilization as we know it. It was first observed scientifically by the ancient Babylonians and the Chinese, but Europe got into the game with some Greek scientists as well as Copernicus and Galileo. One of the most terrifying things was a solar storm watched by solar astronomer Richard Carrington in 1859. He saw a storm and soon thereafter, telegraph lines started to burn out and catch fire, and the sky glowed green from Hawaii to Mexico. This event would be catastrophic if it happened now. What would it do to our electrical grid? How would it affect GPS, satellites, and cell phones? Why do some experts think it would be the utter collapse of society, and how likely is it to happen again? Listen, laugh, learn.   Visit our sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun https://theplanets.org/the-sun/ https://www.space.com/58-the-sun-formation-facts-and-characteristics.html https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/solar-system/sun/overview/ https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/solar-activity/en/#:~:text=Solar%20flares%20are%20a%20sudden,areas%20are%20called%20magnetic%20fields. https://www.forbes.com/sites/startswithabang/2020/01/31/this-multi-trillion-dollar-disaster-is-coming-and-solar-astronomy-is-our-prime-defense/?sh=4a6b81807613 https://www.earthmagazine.org/article/dangers-solar-storms-which-gives-power-can-also-take-it-away https://www.earthmagazine.org/article/dangers-solar-storms-which-gives-power-can-also-take-it-away https://sunlightinstitute.org/sanitizing-with-sunlight-the-best-disinfectant-know/ Star Comparison: https://videos.space.com/m/V2QrEObL/how-big-can-stars-get-awesome-visualization-shows-scale?list=9wzCTV4g

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we explore the life and lies of one of the strangest men to ever come out of Hollywood, Steven Seagal. Seagal made a huge splash in the realm of action films in with his debut movie Above the Law in 1988. He had a string of films after that because he had spent years as a fight advisor and doing security in the film industry, so he kind of knew what he was doing. But part of that was a myth he created around himself. The myth of Seagal claims he worked for the CIA, had the Gambino crime family put a hit on his head, and went to war with the Yakuza. We know that he worked on everything from James Bond films to protecting 80s star Kelly LeBrock. We also know that he did indeed study various martial arts in Japan and opened several dojos around America before his film career starts. After that, things a bit…confused. For example, he was a cop or something? He claims he worked in a sheriff’s department training them, so they made him a deputy on a TV show (and that he had police training in California, though nobody seems to be able to prove this). He claims he trained and was maybe an operative for the CIA (though, of course, nobody can prove this). He claims to be close personal friends with Vladimir Putin (though the Russian state denies this). He did have a buttload of lawsuits filed against him for sexual harassment and rape. He did get plenty of complaints about how he treated cast members (most notably women and stunt men) on the set. But most of the cases get settled out of court and just…go away. So where does the person versus the character of Steven Seagal start and end? You’ll have to listen to find out.   Visit Our Sources https://www.biography.com/actor/steven-seagal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Seagal https://www.thethings.com/20-facts-about-steven-segal-that-fans-choose-to-ignore/ https://people.com/movies/charlize-theron-says-overweight-steven-seagal-can-barely-fight-hes-not-very-nice-to-women/ https://www.thrillist.com/gear/steven-seagal-facts-trivia-history-biography-martial-arts-sheriff

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we travel back in time and talk about one of the most famous of the Founding Fathers: Thomas Jefferson. To some historians, Jefferson was the most important member of the revolution. He drafted the constitution on his own, and his writings inspired troops and helped forge a government. He rose in rank from a lawyer to Secretary of State and then from Vice President to the 3rd President of the United States. But, he was a man of his times. He owned over 600 slaves, and most historians say he raped his 14 year old slave Sally Hemmings and forced her to father 6 slave children with him. Jefferson was born to wealth on his father’s plantation. He had an amazing education and was truly a renaissance man, dabbling in everything from music to architecture and even paleontology and of course politics. He became a lawyer and politician just as the Revolutionary war broke out, and he became the writer and mouthpiece for the Congressional Congress. He fought for religious freedoms, built the University of Virginia, and did many amazing things. He also almost made the newly formed America go nearly bankrupt, said the worst things about blacks you can imagine, and let’s not forget the raping the slaves thing. He’s an interesting man from an interesting time, so if you’re into history (and bad jokes) give this one a listen.     Visit Our Sources https://www.biography.com/us-president/thomas-jefferson https://www.monticello.org/thomas-jefferson/brief-biography-of-jefferson/ https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-dark-side-of-thomas-jefferson-35976004/ https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/10-facts-about-thomas-jefferson-for-his-birthday#:~:text=He%20was%20born%20on%20April,face%20on%20the%20modern%20nickel. https://www.phillymag.com/news/2014/04/11/10-facts-thomas-jefferson-slavery-at-jeffersons-monticello-national-constitution-center/ https://allthatsinteresting.com/thomas-jefferson-dark-side

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we bring you a strange brew of True Crime and talk about the Barefoot Bandit. If you aren’t from the Pacific Northwest, you may not have heard about this kid, but it’s quite a ride! The Bandit, named Colton Harris Moore, was a teenager who went on an international crime spree. His crimes? Breaks-ins to survive out in the woods, mostly. But then there were a few dozen cars. Oh, and the airplanes that he taught himself how to fly and to steal. Oh, and a crazy boat chase in the Bahamas! The Barefoot Bandit came from a very rough, broken home, and he started to live out in the woods as young as the age of 7. He started to break into vacation homes to survive, something that carried on through his teens. This guy was a genius, evading police endless times by escaping in the woods like a sasquatch ninja. He started on Camano Island in Washington, and eventually was being chased by cops, feds, and an army of organized bounty hunters. What led the Barefoot Bandit to his final stolen airplane destination of the Bahamas? How did the locals treat him there? How did he learn to fly? Why didn’t he wear shoes? What’s up with the guy named Harley Davidson Irownwing? Listen, laugh, learn?     Visit Our Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colton_Harris_Moore https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/barefoot-bandits-dreams-crushed-when-feds-force-stop-to-his-flight-school-fundraiser/ https://mynorthwest.com/1381710/colton-harris-moore-barefoot-bandit/? https://www.heraldnet.com/news/colton-harris-moore-asks-judge-to-shorten-supervised-release/ https://www.heraldnet.com/news/judge-says-no-to-ending-sentence-early-for-barefoot-bandit/ https://rapidcityjournal.com/news/sheriff-notorious-barefoot-bandit-struck-spearfish-airport/article_62d4ba92-7e1c-11df-ab0e-001cc4c002e0.html Documentary: Fly Colt Fly

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we look at the man who most historians call the worst tyrant of all time, Mao Tse-tung. Was he worse than Hitler? Yes. Was he worse than Stalin or Kim Jung Il or Saddam Hussein? Way worse. How? Well, his horrible Great Leap Forward killed upwards of 60 million Chinese due to starvation, overwork, disease, or flat out murder. He forced parents to bury their own children and purged entire classes of people, all to make China a world power. He was born the son of a farmer and excelled in school, but he was forced to quit and work on the farm. When he was old enough, he left and went to school in another town where he was exposed to new communist teachings. He rose through the ranks of the Chinese Communist Party due to his diligence. Eventually, the leader of China died, and the new chairman, Chiang Kai-shek, was against Mao’s party. There was a brutal war where Mao led a guerilla squad of 200,000 men against him, but it was squashed and led to something called The Long Walk. Eventually, thanks to an allegiance during World War II, Mao rose to real power, eventually becoming the top man in the China. Once in power, he started the Great Leap Forward, which lead to the worse man made famine in the history of the earth and destroyed China’s economy. This made him unpopular, but he led the Cultural Revolution, which basically turned him into a god king. Oh, and as god king, he got really freaky with sex. Really freaky. Underage girls, modified beds, banging his own guards, venereal diseases, you name it. What was the deal with his 14 year old mistress? How did Stalin scientifically evaluate Mao’s poop, and what did it do politically? How did he get Soviet premiere Khrushchev to wear children’s water wings and have a meeting in a pool? What was the result of only brushing his teeth by swishing tea around in his mouth? Listen, laugh, learn.   Visit Our Sources: https://www.biography.com/political-figure/mao-tse-tung https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/china-mao/ http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/1999/china.50/inside.china/profiles/mao.tsetung/ https://www.heritage.org/asia/commentary/the-legacy-mao-zedong-mass-murder http://factsanddetails.com/china/cat2/sub6/item71.html https://listverse.com/2017/03/01/10-filthy-facts-about-the-private-life-of-chairman-mao-tse-tung/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_2FZ-V_4zs

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we look at the king of alien abduction, Whitley Strieber. Strieber was the author of Communion and several other books about his famous abduction experiences, implants, and encounters with Men in Black. It is his writing that has given us the narrative of a typical abduction, what a gray alien is, and even set the stage of X-Files back in the 1990s. But is it on the level, or was it all a hustle to sell books? Though he had strange encounters even as a child (something typical for abductees), his big experience was when he was taken by “The Visitors” in 1985. A bunch of small, strong aliens (different than the grays), dragged him roughly from his house and jabbed a needle in the back of his skull and did medical experiments. He thought it was a dream, but bruises and a swollen ear in the morning said otherwise. Through the years, he went through hypno therapy to recall all the horrible events that happened every time The Visitors paid a call to him. Eventually, he came to be able to defeat his fear the paralysis and converse with these beings. All the while, he had strange encounters with Men In Black, a bizarre conversation that existed outside of time with Master of The Key, and became the poster child for all things alien. Or, of course, none of it happened at all, and he is gaming the world. Either way, it is a wild story, so give it a listen and decide if he’s an alien abductee or an artist of the con.     Visit Our Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitley_Strieber https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communion_(book) huffpost.com/entry/communion-author-whitley-strieber_n_943681 https://allthatsinteresting.com/alien-abductions/3 https://gen.medium.com/he-was-supposed-to-be-the-next-stephen-king-then-the-aliens-came-afd7195e0b49 https://realitysandwich.com/strange_case_whitley_strieber_1/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0HfikqH1-8

One last classic episode release before we get back to business. Thank you for being patient. If you want to learn more about the mysterious Chupacabra, listen to this episode of the Sofa King Podcast. In this episode, we delve back into the realm of cryptozoology and discuss the possibility and reality of this allegedly elusive creature. First getting international media attention in 1995 with the discovery of 8 dead sheep in Puerto Rico (which were not eaten but apparently had their blood drained), the Chupacabra literally means “goat sucker.” Within the first year, 200 alleged incidents were reported in Puerto Rico alone. So many animals were found dead that the national guard was called in to search the area looking for the mysterious killer. Since then, the Chupacabra has apparently morphed. Experts claim there are two types, a reptilian type (typically seen in Latin America and the Caribbean) and a canid type (typically seen in the United States). We examine the likelihood of an unknown creature existing in the jungles down south (it’s pretty high, actually…) and then turn our attention to the American version since there is a lot of photographic evidence and video footage. We even explore a pretty awesome video from Texas in which a pretty awesome couple captures a live Chupacabra. And of course, we can’t cover something as controversial in conspiracy theory circles as this without touching a little bit on UFOs and wacky theories of genetic animal hybrids created by beaming new DNA into an organism with electricity. Oh, and there’s also the case of voodoo queen Marie Laveau and the New Orleans Grunch (it involves a Devil Baby and testicles, so you don’t want to miss that). So what’s the bottom line? Is the Chupacabra real, a hoax, a case of mistaken identity? Listen, laugh, learn.

As per listener request, this week’s Sofa King Podcast covers the life and inventions of Nikola Tesla. Born in Croatia in 1856, he was the archetype of the mad scientist. We start the episode with a look at his feud and relationship Thomas Edison. At the heart of this rivalry was a race to provide New York city with electricity. Edison backed DC current, and Tesla wanted the innovative AC current we used today, even though the technology didn’t exist at the time. From George Westinghouse to JP Morgan, Tesla had support from the biggest financiers of his time and created the power plant at Niagara Falls that still provides power to much of New York. However, Tesla is also known for much more ambitious and crazy inventions. He beat the guy who supposedly invented the radio by inventing it first and did the same with X-rays. He built the famous Tesla Coils, the first remote control robot, a frequency oscillator that could supposedly destroy a building and split the earth in two. From weather control to free wireless energy (out of his Wardenclyffe Tower), and from a permanent aurora borealis to making the earth a giant battery, Tesla thought big and built bigger. And yes, we even discuss his famous death ray. So, if you want to know why so many conspiracy theories tie to Tesla and his inventions, give this one a listen.

Due to scheduling issues we bring you a Sofa King Classic that most of you may not have heard. Man have we changed. Check it out. We explore the “Missing 411,” the name given to mysterious and creepy disappearances in national parks and national forests in the US and Canada. In this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we rap about the research, data, and findings of author and investigator David Paulides. Paulides (whom we simply call palates for most of the episode) was approached by Park Rangers from the National Park Service and told that rangers in every park have seen strange disappearances that have creepy similarities and pushed him to investigate. He did. In fact, he researched for over 7,000 hours and wrote five books, meticulously cataloging the official missing-person and police reports of all these cases, and the findings do show some strange data patterns. What is so strange about these disappearances? Well, the people who go missing, often take off their clothing and shoes, even in freezing cold weather. Also, they are found (dead or alive) within areas where search crews looked several times, defying typical search patterns. Often, they are children, as young as 2 years old, who are somehow found miles away or several thousand feet higher in elevation (something impossible for a child that young to pull off). There are other creepy elements as well—they go missing in the middle of large groups, they say creepy things seconds before disappearing, and often bloodhounds and cadaver dogs refuse to search for them or find no trail at all, even though people know exactly where the trail started. We look at several specific cases that show the above, and we do our best to debunk them. With some it is quite easy, with others, not so much. So, is Paulides simply reading data points that are pure coincidence and exaggerating them? Is there something truly mysterious happening? Can it all be explained through human nature? What is the link to Bigfoot, and why does it piss Brad off so much? Listen, laugh, learn.

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we talk about the life, drugs, music, and drugs (so many drugs) of Billie Holiday. She is considered one of the all-time greats of American music and jazz, but she had a troubled past. Billie worked in brothels as a child and was repeatedly raped and sold through early sex trafficking by the same madam her mother worked for. Through all this, her love of music and dedication to the craft got her off the streets and into singing. At 16, she was singing in clubs in New York, and by 18 she was working for Benny Goodman. However, along the way she became addicted to drugs, big time. Meanwhile, a horrible man named Harry Anslinger was in charge of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics. He was a racist and thought blacks, jazz, and drugs were ruining America. When he couldn’t literally bring down all of jazz music (which he tried to do), he put all his efforts on bringing down Billie Holiday. She battled his agents and her own demons through her tumultuous life. Give this one a listen for all the corrupt-Fed, heroin-fueled details! Visit Our Sources: https://www.biography.com/musician/billie-holiday https://www.biography.com/news/billie-holiday-facts https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billie_Holiday https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/01/drug-war-the-hunting-of-billie-holiday-114298 https://www.rockhall.com/inductees/billie-holiday https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/62880/5-things-you-might-not-know-about-billie-holiday

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we talk about the Warrior Monks of Shao Lin. Yes, there is a real Shao Lin Temple, and yes it still exists. 400 monks are allowed to train there, and supposedly 100 are warrior monks, dedicated not just to studying Buddha but also perfection of Kung Fu. In this episode we talk about the history of the Shao Lin Temple. It was destroyed and rebuilt several times, and often the Warrior Monks saved emperors and defended villages. There is a lot of mythology and mysticism surrounding this place, and it all seems to have a grounding in the truth of history. We examine several documentaries about modern day Shao Lin Kung Fu taught at the temple and look at the truths and secrets of this holy order.   Visit Our Sources: https://www.learnreligions.com/warrior-monks-of-shaolin-4123247 https://blackbeltmag.com/15-popular-beliefs-about-training-at-shaolin-temple https://www.thoughtco.com/history-of-the-shaolin-monks-195814 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaolin_Kung_Fu https://www.tripsavvy.com/brief-history-shaolin-temple-1495708 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaolin_Monastery https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDR31_nh70Q&t=1357s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHUewEWi9SE&t=281s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zbow21FKJS4 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chan_Buddhism#Bodhidharma

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we look at the most important point of arrival to the United States for more than 60 years, Ellis Island. This small (mostly manmade) island near New York City is famous for admitting ancestors of roughly 40% of all Americans. It was where the mass influx of Irish came during the potato famine, where Jews escaped prosecution, and the Italian Mob became a New York City Import. What happened there, and why did some call it the Island of Tears? Ellis Island started as, believe it or not, an island. Eventually, the Dutch bought it catch shellfish, and eventually it became known as Gibbet Island, named after the wooden posts where dead pirates were hung to death and displayed for incoming ships to see. Nice one. Eventually, a man named Samuel Ellis bought it, and after another immigration center closed in 1890, Ellis Island became the go to destination for incoming immigrants from the East. It served as both a processing center for paperwork, a health and legal screening center, and a detainment center for those not free to enter the united states. So, is it true that the workers there messed up everyone’s names and renamed entire families? How many people died on the island due to medical reasons (it might surprise you!)? How did the admission process differ between rich and poor? Who was kept out by default? Was Ellis Island a Golden Doorway or an Island of Tears? Listen, laugh, learn.   Visit Our Sources: https://www.history.com/topics/immigration/ellis-island https://time.com/5752116/ellis-island-immigration-detention-center/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellis_Island https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/goldman-immigration-and-deportation-ellis-island/ https://www.history.com/news/9-things-you-may-not-know-about-ellis-island

Born in Chicago, Eliot Ness was a smart, officious child. He dressed well and always did his homework—so much so, that his nickname in high school was Elegant Mess. His brother in law was a fed, and he inspired the young Eliot to become a federal investigator as well. Shortly after college, he joined the Treasury Department. He ultimately landed a job in the Prohibition Bureau battling mobsters and bootleggers. Once the president decided to stop Al Capone in Chicago, The US District attorney hired Eliot Ness on the spot. Many federal agents were corrupt or downright evil (such as Kinky Thompson), so they needed someone with integrity. Ness read the files of every agent and assembled his super team of The Untouchables. They resisted bribes and took the war to Capone, eventually forcing him to import liquor instead of make his own. While their lives were threatened regularly, they stayed the course and brought Capone down. After that, Ness moved to Ohio and cleaned up the 10th largest city in America, Cleveland. It had the worst traffic deaths, most drunk driving, most corrupt police force, most corrupt city officials, and a big mob problem. He turned all that around, though once the city was clean and safe, the populace seemed to turn on him for his efforts. What did he do that made the residents so mad? What was up the Torso Murders, and how did Ness deal with this serial killer? What happened to him later in life? What happened the one time he and Capone actually met face to face? Listen, laugh, learn.     Visit Our Sources: https://www.biography.com/law-figure/eliot-ness https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eliot_Ness https://www.atf.gov/our-history/eliot-ness https://www.clevelandpolicemuseum.org/collections/eliot-ness/ https://strandmag.com/10-additional-surprising-facts-about-eliot-ness/ https://www.alcoholproblemsandsolutions.org/corruption-during-prohibition-of-alcohol/ https://www.alcoholproblemsandsolutions.org/prohibition-bureau-bureau-of-prohibition/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleveland_Torso_Murderer

On this episode of the World Famous Sofa King Podcast, we travel back time and look at the first emperor of unified China, Qin Shi Huan. His legacy is one of power, unification, reformation, and madness in the quest for eternal life. He was the one who started construction of the Great Wall of China and fought a massive series of wars to unify the 7 warring states to serve him as emperor. He drank mercury, burned books, killed just about everyone, and left behind the amazing army of terra cotta soldiers. Everything about this guy is controversial, even his birth. One account is that the was the son of a kidnapped prince and a wealthy consort. Another is that he was the son of this consort and a powerful merchant named Lu Buwei who just used the prince to give his unborn son power. Either way, Lu Buwei put this prince in power as king and then after his death, ruled the kingdom until (his son) the prince was old enough to take power. And take power, he did. Qin Shi Huan ruled over a period known as Warring States Period of China. Every single kingdom was conquered by this young king, and he even survived multiple assassination attempts (Fidel Castro’s got nothing on this kid). He completely remade China, killing all previous nobles, murdering scholars who didn’t agree with him. He also build roads, crated a canal that still serves to this day, and unified their language and coinage and culture. But, Qin Shi Huan went a little bit crazy at the end. He became obsessed with living forever, and he demanded scholars and sorcerers bring him potions. They were often made of mercury, which didn’t help things. By the time this amazing man died, he build an army of 8000 terra cotta soldiers to help him conquer heaven just as he did the earth!   Visit Our Sources https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qin_Shi_Huang https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terracotta_Army https://www.thoughtco.com/qin-shi-huang-first-emperor-china-195679 https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/2000-year-old-texts-reveal-first-emperor-chinas-quest-eternal-life-180967671/ https://www.livescience.com/22454-ancient-chinese-tomb-terracotta-warriors.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lingqu

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we explore some true crime and look at the life and murders of Lonnie David Franklin JR, aka, The Grim Sleeper. This serial killer was considered the longest operating killer west of the Mississippi River, and it took decades to catch him. He preyed on prostitutes in South Central Los Angeles, and he was only caught due to a piece of pizza and a crazy DNA match that didn’t even connect to him. Nobody really knows much about The Grim Sleeper’s youth, except that he was born in South Central LA in 1952. He spent some time in the army, but he was dishonorably discharged for gang raping a woman in Germany where he was stationed. Back in the states, he lived a typical blue collar life. He was married with two kids, worked in sanitation and even for the LAPD for a bit (not as a cop...). But in the meantime, a string of murders originally assigned to the Southside Slayer were mounting in the worst parts of South Central. Hookers were being found shot in the chest, but there were so many dead prostitutes there that the police thought it was several people doing the killing. And it was. So, how many serial killers used the same hunting grounds as the Grim Sleeper? How did he get his nickname? How did the local LA Weekly newspaper help bring him down? How did a DNA link to his son get him arrested? What does this have to do with a pizza party? How did he kill his victims, and what grisly mementos did the cops find when they raided his house? Listen, laugh, learn.   Visit Our Sources: https://murderpedia.org/male.F/f/franklin-lonnie.htm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grim_Sleeper https://criminalminds.fandom.com/wiki/Lonnie_David_Franklin https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/grim-sleeper-serial-killer-everything-you-need-to-know-252246/ https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/30/us/grim-sleeper-dies-death-row/index.html https://www.ranker.com/list/grim-sleeper-scary-facts/amandasedlakhevener  

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King podcast, we look at the life, power, assassination, and conspiracy theories surrounding Robert Kennedy. Bobby Kennedy was of course John F Kennedy’s younger brother. He was raised in the Kennedy shark tank by their father Joe Kennedy, and he had no real choice but to be a political powerhouse. He was behind his brother’s election as president, came up with the solution to the Cuban Missile Crisis, and was a political powerhouse that most people underestimate. But he also made enemies, one who took his life. Bobby was a quiet child in a family that had no use for quiet children. His father was so powerful and ambitious that young Bobby soon became invisible to him. He also became his mother’s favorite, adopting many of her traits and interests. He served in WWII and when he got out started a career in politics. From early on, he was behind the scenes in many senate committees and worked to get his brother John elected first to lower positions and ultimately to the presidency. Though JFK originally didn’t want him for the job, their father convinced him to hire Bobby Kennedy as the Attorney General, and there he waged a war on organized crime, poverty, and injustice that America had never seen before. He worked with Martin Luther King, helped support Cesar Chavez, and took down many a mob boss. After his brother’s death, he finally ran for president himself, only to be shot after winning the California Primary. How was he involved in trying to assassinate Fidel Castro? Who shot him and why? What conspiracy theories exist surrounding his death? Was there a second gunman? Was it the CIA, and did they wipe the main assassin’s memory? Who was the woman in the polka dot dress? Listen, laugh, learn.   Visit Our Sources: https://www.biography.com/political-figure/robert-kennedy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_F._Kennedy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Robert_F._Kennedy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Senate_Select_Committee_on_Improper_Activities_in_Labor_and_Management https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_F._Kennedy_assassination_conspiracy_theories https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-kennedy-conspiracy-20180527-story.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sirhan_Sirhan#Motives  

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we travel back in time and look at the history of the Underground Railroad. Some people estimate that this unofficial network of abolitionists helped 100,000 slaves escape to Canada. Key figures such as Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Frederick Douglas, and John Brown helped this movement grow and served as a beacon of hope for millions of American black slaves. The Underground Railroad was of course neither underground nor a railroad, but it did use railroad terminology to help code what they were talking about. In fact, everything from the roles people played to the religious songs that slaves would sing on the plantation served a purpose. Some songs would give directions North and others warnings to nearby slaves on the run, all in the guise of religious music. Pretty ingenious. There was no central leader or even a formal group that was the Underground Railroad. Instead, it was just a whole lot of like-minded individuals who wanted human lives to matter and parents a chance to see their children grow in safety and freedom. Some of the stories of these people are pretty amazing, ballsy, and inspirational, so you want to give this one a listen.   Visit Our Sources: https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/underground-railroad https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underground_Railroad https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/sojourner-truth https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Songs_of_the_Underground_Railroad https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Anti-Slavery_Standard#Editors https://www.history.com/news/underground-railroad-mexico-escaped-slaves

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we take a look at the largest volcanic eruption in the modern history of the United States, the eruption of Mount St. Helens. This volcano started grumbling and causing a superstring of earthquakes in March of 1980, but on May 18, the volcano erupted. Two hundred and thirty square miles of forest were destroyed instantly as the equivalent of 1500 Hiroshima level nuclear bombs went off. Even though it was being watch closely by volcanologists, photographers, and the world, it’s violent explosion surprised almost everyone. Luckily a scientist who died in the eruption convinced the government to keep people away; this action is thought to have saved as many as a thousand lives. The destruction was inconceivable, but it may be in forms you weren’t expecting. For example, much of it was a tsunami like flow of water as called a Lahar that turned 46 billion gallons of glacial melt into several rivers of cement. The ash plume circled the globe and erased all geological features. People in the Pacific Northwest remember this very vividly. After all, Mount St. Helens was completely transformed by the explosion, and dozens died in this cataclysm.   Visit Our Sources: https://www.usgs.gov/volcanoes/mount-st-helens/1980-cataclysmic-eruption?qt-science_support_page_related_con=2#qt-science_support_page_related_con https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/18/us/mount-st-helens-facts-eruption-trnd/index.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980_eruption_of_Mount_St._Helens https://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/103/ https://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/hazard/stratoguide/helenfact.html https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/624139/mount-st-helens-facts https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYla6q3is6w

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we hit you with a little urban guerrilla true crime and look at the kidnapping, crimes, and domestic terrorism or Patty Hearst. Patricia Hearst is the granddaughter of William Randolph Hearst. In 1974, she was kidnapped from her apartment in Berkeley by a group called the Symbionese Liberation Army. While she was with them, she helped them rob a couple banks, shot up a sporting goods store, and made homemade bombs. Was she abused, drugged, and raped to become a victim-participant, or did she willingly join forces? Patty Hearst was born to a very wealthy family, obviously, but she was nowhere near granddaddy rich. She lived a normal life and eventually went to college at UC Berkeley to study art history. Meanwhile, a man named Donald DeFreeze was starting a terrorist group called the SLA. Their goal was to fight for the poor in America. Or something. After a few months, Hearst released recordings of herself saying she had joined the cause and shortly after that, she was seen on video footage in a bank robbery. The SLA killed some people, robbed some stuff, and demanded hundreds of millions of dollars to feed all the poor in American. Hearst’s dad managed to get two million, and the food delivery was a disaster. Eventually, this one got crazy. There was a Waco style shoot out between the feds and the SLA while their house burned. There was a nationwide manhunt by the FBI to find Hearst, and then when she was arrested, the trial was a circus. Was this a wild case of Stockholm Syndrome, or was it just a rich girl sowing her wild oats? Listen, laugh, learn.   Visit Our Sources: https://www.biography.com/crime-figure/patty-hearst https://www.fbi.gov/history/famous-cases/patty-hearst https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patty_Hearst https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/patty-hearst-kidnapped https://www.npr.org/2016/08/03/488373982/whose-side-was-she-on-american-heiress-revisits-patty-hearst-s-kidnapping https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symbionese_Liberation_Army https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/guerrilla-patricia-campbell-hearst/ Bank Robbery Video: https://youtu.be/xDPyT-6lh8E https://youtu.be/N17n8yleZKY

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we look at one of the all-time fascinating medical cases, the story of Joseph Merrick--The Elephant Man. Due to a hardcore medical condition, Merrick was deformed beyond recognition as a human being, with a massive head, huge protrusions all over his body, and even skin lesions that smelled. Add a dash of Victorian superstitions, and you have a man who was destined for misery at every turn. None of us are likely to have heard of him if it wasn’t for a world famous play and then a movie called The Elephant Man, but his story is one of sorrow, perseverance, and a surprisingly happy ending. The narrative in those fictions has some truth to it, but the real story varies quite a bit. What we know about him is that he wasn’t born like this. As a young child, he started to get deformities that only increased up till the day he died. His family eventually kicked him out, and even the work he could do got taken away once he was too deformed to perform skilled labor. By then, he was destined for the freak show. For a while, he made some money at this, but as tastes changed, they ran him out of town. If not for the friendship of Doctor Frederick Treves, his life would have ended with him on the street. But instead, he died with good medical care, surrounded by those who came to love him. So, what was the actual condition that caused this? What happened to him in his freak show days? How did he make it back to London after being abandoned in Europe? How did he die? What happened when he met Princess Alexandra? Listen, laugh, learn.   Visit Our Sources: https://www.biography.com/news/elephant-man-joseph-merrick-biography https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Merrick https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-leicestershire-48149855 https://www.verywellhealth.com/the-elephant-mans-bones-reveal-mystery-2860454 https://www.history.com/news/elephant-man-joseph-merrick-grave-discovery https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CejyfdIaCQ0

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we visit the dark king of techno, Trent Reznor. Many people don’t know him by name since he is the front man for Nine Inch Nails, but in a way, he IS Nine Inch Nails. The other band members come and go, but his writing, his producing, his ideas and lyrics are what the band really is. He is considered by many in the music industry to be one of the most influential artists alive. He has won Grammys and Oscars, and he has done sound tracks to some of the most popular movies of the past decade, all while taking shots at the hypocrisy and ignorance of typical American Culture. Trent Reznor was a talented child, and by high school was a master of the piano and could play just about every other instrument out there. He started college as a computer engineer, but he dropped out to try to make it with music. He got a job as a janitor at a music studio, and he was allowed to play around in the booth when they weren’t booked. Here, he taught himself to be a producer and how to layer, mix, and do all his music is famous for. He recorded all the songs on his first album, Pretty Hate Machine, and it was an instant success, even leading to a bidding war for who would release it. His next album was even bigger, and a very young age, Oliver Stone hired him to do the soundtrack for Natural Born Killers. He worked with David Lynch next and even got into video games. As his albums kept coming out, he kept creating controversy. He found Marylyn Manson. He lost Marylyn Manson. He became an addict. He became best friends with David Bowie. He got clean. He got married and created a new band with his wife. He bought the house where Sharon Tate was killed by the Manson family. He made a music studio in a funeral home in New Orleans. Through all of it, Trent Reznor became one of the best producers in the industry, mostly due to a chronic case of not caring what anyone else thought of him (and the ability to realize what his own brand was and to keep refining it). Give this one a listen, and then go binge on some NIN!   Visit Our Sources: https://www.allmusic.com/artist/trent-reznor-mn0000017580/biography nin.com https://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-celebrities/rock-stars/trent-reznor-net-worth/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trent_Reznor https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUCKYter60A https://www.npr.org/2013/09/04/218961237/trent-reznor-im-not-the-same-person-i-was-20-years-ago https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nine_Inch_Nails http://antiquiet.com/misc/lists/2013/07/former-ex-members-of-nine-inch-nails-where-are-they-now-nin-2013/ https://uproxx.com/indie/trent-reznor-nine-inch-nails-members-inducted-rock-and-roll-hall-of-fame/ https://exclaim.ca/music/article/five_noteworthy_facts_you_might_not_know_about_trent_reznor

On this episode of the World Famous Sofa King Podcast, we talk about a strange bit of true crime, the case of Dr. Quincy Fortier. He was a fertility expert for four decades, and he’s known to have impregnated at least 26 women with his own sperm. Aside from dozens of unwitting children across the nation, he also molested his own children, even impregnating one with his own sperm! This monster died before any strong legal action could be brought his way, but he impacted so many lives He started as a Norman Rockwell type Americana doctor. He took interest in medicine watching the cows give birth back home on the farm, got into medicine, and then served as a field surgeon in World War Two, making it all the way to the rank of Colonel. Once back in the states, he opened his own women’s hospital, and that’s where the dirty deeds were done. One by one, he would impregnate women with his own sperm, instead of random sperm from donors. In some cases, he was supposed to use the husband’s sperm but used his own instead, and in the case of his own daughter, he impregnated her during a medical examination. His evils came to light in the film Baby God, which follows a woman named Wendy Babst. She bought herself a home DNA kit as a retirement present when she stepped down from being a police detective. What she learned changed her world, and the film maker Hannah Olson followed her investigation and journey. Listen, laugh, learn Visit Our Sources: HBOmax: Documentary, Baby God https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/12/01/hbo-fertility-doctor-fortier-babygod-documentary/ https://www.oxygen.com/true-crime-buzz/dr-quincy-fortier-of-baby-god-also-accused-of-molesting-his-kids https://www.womenshealthmag.com/life/a34814705/baby-god-hbo-dr-quincy-fortier-nevada-law/ https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/dec/01/baby-god-dna-testing-fertility-fraud-quincy-fortier-nevada https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/name/quincy-fortier-obituary?pid=142068964

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we get our Golden Girls on and talk about the life of the one and only Betty White. While most of you known her from her role as Rose on that smash hit show, some may know her from her life in game shows or any of the endless rolls and Emmys afterward. She is the oldest person to host Saturday Night Live (was 88 at the time), and she was pioneer for both women and black actors in Hollywood. She started off wanting to be a forest ranger. Why? She loves animals and the outdoors. But turns out, back in the day, women couldn’t be rangers. So, she set her sights on acting and entertainment. After a bit of a dis, some movie execs told her she didn’t have the looks for film, so she started in Radio. She took off, landing lots of local jobs in LA, then a local TV show in LA, and then finally a national show on NBC called Life With Elizabeth. In her role as head of the show, she pissed off the south by insisting a black actor stay in the show, even though it may be what got the show cancelled. Good for her. She spent years doing game shows, most notably the Password and Matchgame. She in fact met her one true love, Allen Ludden the host of Password and married him. From there, she did numerous shows and guest spots, finally making it to Mama’s Family, a sitcom that was successful enough to make them want to cast her on Golden Girls. She was a breakout hit in that show, earning an Emmy for best actress in the first season and getting nominated every other season of the show (The first time that has happened). So, who was she supposed to play on Golden Girls originally? How old is she now? How did social media land her on SNL? How old was she when she finally became a forest ranger? Listen, laugh, learn. Visit Our Sources: https://www.biography.com/actor/betty-white https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betty_White https://www.pbs.org/wnet/pioneers-of-television/pioneering-people/betty-white/ https://people.com/tv/betty-white-preps-for-99th-birthday-and-says-a-sense-of-humor-keeps-her-forever-young/ https://apnews.com/article/mary-tyler-moore-sandra-bullock-betty-white-fecd6ed6db7f9f82c5fcc4d587084d68 https://www.insider.com/betty-white-facts-career-2019-1

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we do a somewhat unique show and do a deep dive on the Netflix documentary called The Social Dilemma. What exactly is the dilemma? Well, for one it’s privacy and the way that apps like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and all the rest use our data and manipulate us. Worse, however, is the ability to the platforms to isolate us in ocean of our own making, where our own politics, fears, prejudices, and hopes are the only thing we see. These apps distort our world view to the point where there is no more truth, just bias and a divide that keeps putting a wedge between us more and more. We talk about the three main goal of the apps—engagement, growth, and advertising. The algorithms used by these companies are far more sophisticated that we could dream, and even the creators no longer have control of what their AIs do or how they do it. More to the point, the social media apps are leading us to a dystopia where we all hate each other and only see one narrow world view. If you’ve wondered why politics have moved from divisive to destructive, this episode talks about why that is. So, what tricks to the social media apps use to get your attention and hold it? What can be done to stop them? What effect has this had on teenage mental health? What is the real commodity that is being sold by the likes of Facebook and Google? What can you do to stop yourself from being used? Listen, laugh, learn. Visit Our Sources: Netflix Documentary, The Social Dilemma

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we talk one of the all-time legends of the music industry, the one and only Quincy Jones. He wasn’t just a music prodigy, he understood the business in a way nobody else ever has. He worked with some of the greatest of all time, from Frank Sinatra and Ray Charles to Dizzy Gillespie and Elvis Presley. He created the sound of Michael Jackson’s three biggest albums, and has won a whopping 28 Grammy awards. He created The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Mad TV, and worked on film with greats like Steven Spielberg. But he started with humble beginnings in Chicago. After his mother went insane, his father moved to Seattle, and he started to learn music. At 14, he met a young Ray Charles, and they broke into the music world together. He got into a prestigious music school and then transferred to another one, but ultimately left, so he could tour with legendary Lionel Hampton’s big band. From there, he met and worked with bigger and bigger stars until he was hired by Mercury records to create his own albums and produce others. Then, the film and tv started. He got his foot in the door doing scores for films, and has now done over 50 films. He produced the class film The Wiz and then did so again with The Color Purple. He created “We are the World,” the Montreux Jazz Festival, got Miles Davis to come out of retirement, and spends a lot of time and money helping the world in general. So even though, you may not know the accomplishments of this amazing man, you’ve certainly listened to them without even knowing it. Give this episode a download, and you’ll learn the secrets of the man behind everyone else’s success.   Visit our Sources: https://www.famousfix.com/topic/quincy-jones/dating https://www.biography.com/musician/quincy-jones https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quincy_Jones https://www.quincyjones.com/ https://www.vulture.com/2018/02/quincy-jones-in-conversation.html https://www.cnn.com/2014/06/12/showbiz/quincy-jones-fast-facts/index.html#:~:text=Jones%20has%2080%20Grammy%20Award,television%20shows%2C%20documentaries%20and%20shorts. pbs.org/black-culture/explore/renaissance-man-quincy-jones/ https://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-businessmen/producers/quincy-jones-net-worth/#:~:text=Quincy%20Jones%20Net%20Worth%3A%20Quincy,net%20worth%20of%20%24500%20million. https://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/quincy-jones-claims-he-used-to-date-ivanka-trump/

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we look back at a little known group from World War Two called the Night Witches. Known as the 588th Night Bomber Regimen, this all female group of Soviet pilots were such a terror to the Nazis that any German who could shoot one down would instantly receive their prestigious Iron Cross medal. Over the course of the war, they flew around 30,000 missions. They were the most decorated unit in the entire Soviet air force. Their story is a very interesting one. At first, women couldn’t serve in the Soviet air force, but a woman named Major Marina Raskova (The Russian Amelia Earhart) convinced Stalin to let it happen. He signed in three women regiments, including the 588th. Ironically, the biggest difficulty they faced was also the biggest part of their legacy and infamy. They flew the worst planes. They were given old plywood biplanes meant for crop dusting. They had no armor, no radio, no parachute, no light. However, they were so old and slow, that they flew under the stall out speed for all German aircraft. Also, they were too small and light to be picked up on radar. Once over a target, they’d cut their engines and drift until over their target and drop their bombs. This is what made the Nazis call them the Night Witches. All they’d hear on the ground was the whoosh of what they said was a witches' broom and the cackle of the pilot's laughter before the explosions started. So, how many of these women were there? How many died in combat? How many missions would they fly in one night? Why does one historian think they are crazy? Why didn’t the Soviets include them in the victory parade at the end of the war? Listen, laugh, learn.     Visit Our Sources: https://www.history.com/news/meet-the-night-witches-the-daring-female-pilots-who-bombed-nazis-by-night https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_Witches https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2019/03/01/fierce-feared-female-wwii-pilots-known-night-witches/ https://www.wrightmuseum.org/2020/10/01/the-soviet-night-witches/ https://allthatsinteresting.com/night-witches-ww2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A88qXWtP6Sc https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irina_Sebrova

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we look at the one and only kings of rock, the immortal Run-DMC. Composed of DJ Run (Joseph Simmons), DMC (Darryl McDaniels), Jam Master Jay (Jason Mizzel), this trio set the world of Hip Hop on fire and managed to take it from streets and dance clubs to the entire world. Without Run-DMC, Russel Simmons, and their unique take on style and marketing, the rap world would be an entirely different place. The three of them met each other as teens in Hollis, Queens, New York. When Run was only 17, he worked with the legendary Kurtis Blow thanks to his promoter/producer brother Russel Simmons. Eventually, Run, DMC, and JMJ wanted to record together, but it took them some convincing to get Russel on board. He changed their name to Run-DMC, insisted they keep a street looking style, and the rest was rap history. They started release hit after hit, becoming the first rap albums to make national attention and even get played on MTV. They had a lucrative deal with Adidas since that was their signature style. They were part of the recording and touring stable of Def Jam records along with LL Cool J, the Beastie Boys, and the Fat Boys. They starred in movies, rejuvenated the career of Aerosmith, and merged rock and rap in ways nobody had done sense. So why did they break up? What made Run change his stage name? What helped cure DMC of his years long depression? Why did they team up with the unlikely Aerosmith? Why was Jam Master Jay Murdered? Did it have to do with a 50 Cent beef or a massive drug deal? Listen, laugh, learn.   Visit our Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Run-DMC https://www.rundmc.com/ https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/run-d-m-c/ http://www.oldschoolhiphop.com/artists/emcees/rundmc.htm https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/the-juice/6296910/how-run-dmc-changed-rap-game-in-1984 https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=102675250 https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2019/02/aerosmith-run-dmc-and-story-behind-walk-way/582220/ https://www.npr.org/2020/08/17/903335189/two-men-charged-in-cold-case-murder-of-jam-master-jay https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jam_Master_Jay https://www.songfacts.com/facts/run-dmc  

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we go back in time and look at two of the most famous train robbers and desperadoes from Cowboy Days, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. These two are linked through all of U.S. history, but they were really part of a much larger game called The Wild Bunch (and weren’t even that good of friends). The Wild Bunch led the most successful career of train robbery in the American West, and some scholars say they were only brought down by the hiring of the Pinkerton Detective Agency. Butch Cassidy was born Robert Parker, but took his name from a mentor he met, who probably taught him how to steal and sell cattle and how to shoot a gun. Cassidy frowned upon violence, ironically, and boasted to have never killed a man. The other famous member of the gang was The Sundance Kid, aka Alonzo Longabaugh. Both of these men did various crimes from petty to preposterous and eventually joined forces in the Wild Bunch. They were joined by a cast of characters with amazing names: “Elzy Lay", The "Tall Texan", Kid Curry, News Carver, Deaf Charley Hanks, and Flat-Nose Curry. Men and women were part of the Wild Bunch. They gained fame across the nation for their gonzo train robberies and a little bit of a Robin Hood complex. So, what forced the surviving members to head south of the border? How did these wild characters die as the gang shrank? Did Butch and Sundance really go down in a blaze of glory in Bolivia? How much were their heists worth? What year did the oldest member of the Wild Bunch finally die? Listen, laugh, learn.   Visit our Sources: https://www.biography.com/crime-figure/butch-cassidy https://www.biography.com/crime-figure/sundance-kid https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butch_Cassidy https://www.history.com/news/6-things-you-might-not-know-about-butch-cassidy https://www.history.com/news/butch-cassidy-sundance-kid-robberies-death https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sundance_Kid https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butch_Cassidy%27s_Wild_Bunch https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/78459/8-fascinating-facts-about-butch-cassidy

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we talk about one of the strongest cases of UFO sightings, the Ariel School Encounter in Zimbabwe. What makes this one such a good case? For one, it was in a rural area, and it had over 60 witnesses. They were in such a remote location, they were not subjected to bias from mass media and popular culture, and they came from different ethnicities and religious backgrounds. What did they see? Well, common story is that several glowing silver orbs in the sky were flashing red lights. They lowered, and then two beings came out and bounced from the earth as if they were humans walking on the moon. They were riffs on a Gray Alien, almond eyes, short, thin bodies, but these had long flowing black hair. Once they were near the children, they looked at them with “evil eyes” and apparently sent a message to their brains. We are destroying the planet, and we need to stop. An African Ufologist named Cindy Hind was there the next day to investigate and reached out to a man named John E Mack. Mack was a psychiatrist from the Harvard Medical school and Pulitzer Prize winning author. It doesn’t get better than that for a UFO investigation with repute. He and his partner interviewed the children, filmed it, and sort of became UFO rock stars. So how did Mack’s academic colleagues greet this new line of UFO work? Why was he in Africa in the first place? Why were there no teachers out there? Could this have been mass hysteria, and why does one investigator think not? What is up with Randal Nickerson and his documentary using the original footage shot by Dominique Callimanopulos? How did Mack Die? Where are the students now? Listen, laugh, learn.   Visit Our Sources: https://www.afrikaiswoke.com/ufo-incident-in-zimbabwe-ariel-school/ https://mg.co.za/article/2014-09-04-remembering-zimbabwes-great-alien-invasion/ https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2013/05/americans-alien-abduction-science?verso=true https://new-cryptozoology.fandom.com/wiki/Ariel_School_Aliens https://www.news24.com/witness/archive/The-day-the-aliens-landed-20150430 https://www.bostonherald.com/2009/05/31/film-takes-closer-look-at-african-ufo-sighting/ https://mysticsciences.com/2018/03/04/the-mass-ufo-encounter-of-ariel-school/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3588562/ https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/77o49s/i_am_randall_nickerson_director_of_doc_on_ariel/ https://youtu.be/c5L6r6AazkU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5L6r6AazkU&list=PLhsvo3kvN2K7YAOyBAlWaikpzV1s-3Ypc&index=25  

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we talk about one of the most revealing figures of World War Two, Anne Frank. Born to a Jewish family in 1929, her story perfectly captures the plight and flight of Jews as they tried to avoid the pure evil of the Third Reich. Though her father fought for Germany in WWI, they had to go in hiding to save themselves. During their two year stay in what came to be called the Secret Annex, Anne kept her world famous diary. It shows the mind of a very bright young woman, and it captures the fear, dread, and hope that people felt during World War Two. Who all was in the Annex with Anne Frank? What types of things did she put in the diary? What things did her father not allow to be published? What type of friction was there as Anne fell in love with Peter Van Pels, leaving her older sister out of the loop? What happened to Anne and the others? Who survived and who died? Listen, laugh, learn.   Visit Our Sources: https://www.biography.com/activist/anne-frank https://www.annefrank.org/en/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Frank https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/anne-frank-1

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we explore the meteoric rise, scandal, and fame of the one and only Hulk Hogan. Born Terry Bollea, this six foot seven inch monster became synonymous with wrestling for several decades. It is said that nobody ever sold as many tickets to a wrestling match as Hulk Hogan. Starting in humble beginnings, Bollea was a big guy who bragged about becoming a wrestler—so much so that on day one of his training, they broke his leg on purpose and sent him home. But this didn’t stop him. For the better part of a decade, he traveled to different wrestling territories. Eventually, he ended up in New York working for Vince McMahon Sr., and this is where he got the name Hulk Hogan and started to get real fame. However, he was fired for his work in Rocky III and went elsewhere. Eventually, the WWF was bought by Vince Jr, and he instantly hired Hogan as the most popular wrestler in America. Together, they broke all the rules and lit wrestling on fire. They conquered every territory and told amazing stories in the ring. So, what happened between him and Macho Man involving his wife? Why did Hulk Hogan get fired from the WWE, even when he was on top of the world? What happened with the sex tape of him? What’s the story with him and the Andre The Giant body slam? Who tried to pay the Iron Sheik $100,000 to break Hogan’s leg? Listen, laugh, learn. Visit our Sources: The Stone Cold Steve Austin Show: SAS Classic, Hulk Hogan https://www.biography.com/personality/hulk-hogan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hulk_Hogan https://playersbio.com/hulk-hogan/ https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/hulk-hogan-1654.php https://prowrestling.fandom.com/wiki/Hulk_Hogan https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/hulk-hogan-gets-115m-verdict-876768 https://www.factinate.com/people/24-smashing-facts-hulk-hogan/ https://www.thethings.com/things-no-one-knows-about-hulk-hogan/    

I will just leave this right here. Merry Christmas.

This holiday season has hit us with some unexpected time restraints as we are visiting and spending quality time with our families.  We hope all of you are healthy and doing well in this joyous season.  Please excuse our absence as we will be back next week on our normal schedule, well as normal as we three can be. On this very merry episode of The Sofa King Podcast, we discuss Christmas. But it wouldn’t be us if we didn’t dig back the layers and come to some strange and ugly truths about the holiday that is associated with the birth of Jesus Christ. You may think this topic is a no brainer (a recent Pew Poll showed that 65% of Americans believe the Christmas story to be true), but be prepared to learn some odd truths about this beloved holiday. For one thing, the origins of the holiday and how it is celebrated date back to ancient pagan rites and were only adopted by the Catholic Church as a way to lure pagans to church membership. That’s right: gingerbread cookies, the Yule Log, a Christmas ham, Christmas trees, all of it tie back to Germanic and Norse pagans and were part of a celebration of fertility and reverence for the dead. Also, we look at Santa Claus, the truth of the real man named Saint Nicholas of Parara, how his bones were stolen by sailors and moved to start the Cult of Nicholas in the 11th century, and how Siberian shamen tripping on amanita muscaria mushrooms may be the birth of the red-suited reindeer part of the myth. You may have also heard about Krampus, Zwarte Pete, and the ancient feast of Saturnalia, but we talk about some crazy facts that you might not believe. Lastly, we discuss the birth of Jesus and the Nativity itself (something that Pope Benedict XVI largely even denounced when he was the head of the church a few years ago). So, be prepared to get your Christmas bubble burst and learn how you are actually a pagan, how Santa was an anti-Semite, and how gingerbread cookies are a way to symbolically eat human flesh to venerate the dead.

This holiday season has hit us with some unexpected time restraints as we are visiting and spending quality time with our families. We hope all of you are healthy and doing well in this joyous season. Please excuse our absence as we will be back next week on our normal schedule, well as normal as we three can be. Hello and welcome to Brewing The 99 where we talk about all facets of the Magic: the Gathering’s Commander format. This episode we are giving you some ideas on how to play webmander, online live commander games.  We will also be answering a no stupid questions question asked by one of patrons.  And we bring you another week of hot picks.  Lastly, we break down our successes and failures collecting for Commander, so you can learn from our mistakes, and start your collection off right.  We hope you stick around for the show and we also hope you take something away from it as well. Follow us on Twitter! @Brewingthe99 Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brewingthe99/ Follow us on Instagram: @brewingthe99 Email us: brewingthe99@gmail.com Visit our website: http://www.brewingthe99.com We are a member of the Podbelly Podcast Network (https://instagram.com/podbelly/).  Check out our show and other great podcasts on the network by going to http://www.podbelly.com Commander/EDH Official Rules, Ban list, FAQ, and more: https://mtgcommander.net

This holiday season has hit us with some unexpected time restraints as we are visiting and spending quality time with our families. We hope all of you are healthy and doing well in this joyous season. Please excuse our absence as we will be back next week on our normal schedule, well as normal as we three can be. The old man lingered in the liminal place that presaged sleep, that space where reality had variable density and fluctuating tactile strength. Moments of clarity, of skies with a blue so sharp they caused him to ache, were interspersed with vagaries, memories, haunting scars and echoes of the psyche in which he was intruding. This episode of Mindframe is a Prelude of the whole story. It introduces you to some of the major characters as seen through the eyes of a very interesting “Old Man” who doesn’t have the best grip on reality. He travels from place to place and time to time, checking in on people who he knows. It may be trippy and seem innocent, but the key themes (such as WorldGov and the World Navy) and the most important characters are introduced in this dream like fugue state episode. Go along for the ride on this episode. And remember. The Lariat is closing…

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we talk about a true-crime story. It is a case that feels like the plot of the next Grand Theft Auto game. The first character is a Ukrainian mobster named Tarzan who owns a strip club called Porky’s (named after the classic 80’s movie) and who used to be an enforcer for the Gambino crime family. Additionally, the second character is an elite car and power boat salesman/thief/grifter from Miami who starts to sell black market military equipment from Russia after the fall of the Soviet Union. The third character? A member of the Cali Drug Cartel named, who is considered violent even among cartel members. What do they have in common? Well, for one, the rapper Vanilla Ice. Next, they love to make money and do illegal things. Additionally, they are pretty awesome. They try everything from selling Russian military helicopters to impersonating Pablo Escobar to trying to buy a Soviet era submarine to sell 40 tons of cocaine per trip. The characters are unbelievable. The story even more so! Visit Our Sources: https://www.wsj.com/articles/operation-odessa-review-soviets-subs-and-lots-of-cocaine-1522358096 https://www.thedailybeast.com/strippers-cocaine-and-murder-the-crazy-true-story-of-two-crooks-pursuit-of-a-soviet-submarine https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tiller-russell-operation-odessa-chasing-down-ludwig-fainberg-juan-almeida-nelson-yester-operation-odessa/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_Fainberg https://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/operation-odessa-how-a-russian-mobster-tried-to-sell-a-russian-sub-to-coke-smugglers-10218893 Film: Operation Odessa.

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we talk about the murder of Brian Wells, also known as the Pizza Bomber. This is a strange one. It involves an innocent pizza delivery man who is held at gunpoint as he delivers his pizza. A bomb is strapped around his neck, and he’s given directions to go on a scavenger hunt to keep the bomb from boing off. One stop on the scavenger hunt? A little bank robbery using a shotgun made to look like a walking cane. Here, the cops catch Brian Wells, and the bomb goes off and kills him. But as the backstory unfolds, this turns into a tale of hardened life-time criminals, murders, a potential female serial killer, and bodies stored in freezers. Oh, and Brian Wells may have been in on it all along! Want to know more? Give this one a listen! Visit Our Sources: https://allthatsinteresting.com/brian-wells-evil-genius-marjorie-diehl-armstrong https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Brian_Wells https://pizzabomber.com/faces-from-the-case/ https://www.mcall.com/news/police/mc-pa-collar-bomb-death-04042017-20170404-story.html https://www.goerie.com/news/20180828/brian-wells-participant-and-victim https://www.goerie.com/news/20180828/15-years-later-where-are-pizza-bomber-characters-now https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63tQ7yGmsmI

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we look at the life and imagination of Ian Fleming. Fleming was of course, the creator of the iconic James Bond and author of a dozen Bond books, but he was also a key figure in British Intelligence during WWII. In fact, many people say his depiction of Bond is one of the most accurate depictions of what a spy was like during the war. His own exploits involve trying to steal an Enigma Machine, training one of the most important commando-spy units in Great Britain, and even helping draft the key elements of the CIA in Washington, D.C. He was a drinker, a womanizer, an adulterer, and a spy, and the world was made better for him. He was born to a very wealthy family. His grandfather was the founder of a bank, and the family had deep pockets and strong political connections. His father died in the trenches in WWI, and he grew up a smart and inquisitive child (though not one who cared for school work). Eventually, he was sent to a boarding school in Austria where he could train to join the Foreign Office. He applied for work there, but he failed to land a job. So, his mom got him a post as a reporter, and he traveled extensively, even coming close to an interview with Joseph Stalin. When the war started, his mother got him hired as the assistant of Admiral Godfrey, head of Naval Intelligence. From there, Ian Fleming had a sterling career. He wrote a thing called the Trout Memo, came up with plans to steal an Enigma Machine, trained the 30th Commando and worked with the SOE. His men were the epitome of British Intelligence officers, trusted by the Navy, and responsible for securing plans for things like the V-2 Rocket and the Messerschmitt Me 163 fighters. He was also close with Wild Bill Donovan, who was the chief liaison between British and American Intelligence during the war. In fact, the two of them wrote the blueprints for what would become the CIA. After the war, he went back to being a journalist, but was bored to tears by it. His job allowed him three months of vacation every year, and he built a house in Jamaica, called Golden Eye, which is where he would stay. Eventually, one of his long time girlfriends/affairs, was left by her husband (she and Ian were having an affair while also having affairs on each other…). They married, and before the marriage, he was challenged to write Casino Royale, the first Bond story. So how was this book received? What did his friends think, and why did the publisher decide to print it? Where did he get the name James Bond from? What spies and events were his novels based on? How much did he smoke and drink each day? How many affairs did he have? How did the movie deals come to be, and why is JFK key for the success of James Bond? Listen, laugh, learn.   Visit Our Sources: https://www.cia.gov/news-information/featured-story-archive/2018-featured-story-archive/ian-fleming-the-man-behind-the-most-famous-spy.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Fleming https://www.ianfleming.com/ian-fleming/ https://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/09/travel/09Jamaica.html https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/nov/11/extraordinary-letters-between-ian-fleming-and-wife-to-be-sold https://www.famousauthors.org/ian-fleming https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cIcFSDa79Y https://blog.bookstellyouwhy.com/bid/290676/book-collector-s-tidbits-ian-fleming-and-james-bond

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we cover the true crime roller coaster that was the trial of Amanda Knox. She and her boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito were arrested for the murder of Meredith Kercher. This case it had it all. Promiscuous college students, rough Italian cops, bar hopping, Americans, Brits, and an international cast of characters. The case gets crazy as they two get convicted, released, and then arrested and convicted again due to crazy loopholes in Italian law. Amanda Knox was born in Seattle and was a normal child and a good college student. Since childhood, she had a love of Italy, and she got a chance to study abroad while she was getting a degree in linguistics. She moved to Perugia, Italy, to finish her studies. Perugia is a small town known for its colleges (and college students) as well as some pretty crazy murder cases. Amanda Knox was not the only wild murder in town. There was a case there of an Italian Prime minister allegedly murdering a journalist and another case of a band of Satanic Masonic serial killers! In Perugia, Amanda found a flat with several roommates. One was Kercher. Knox got a job at a local bar and eventually started a relationship with Sollecito. She stayed the night at his place, and on the morning of November 1st 2007, Knox found Kercher’s door locked but there was blood, and she wasn’t answering her phone. The cops came, and according to Knox were immediately hostile toward her. Plus, they were postal police, which apparently is a thing in Italy, and had no real business putting together a murder case. Either way, the trial was wild. They got convicted, even though they had leads on a better suspect. Then, the case was overturned, and they were acquitted. Once Knox was back in Seattle, however, the Italian court called the case back on, and she was being tried all over again in a horrible Italian justice yoyo. So, how did the case ultimately end up? Who did they finally claim the murderer was? What happened to him? How much time did Knox spend in prison? Why did she get in a twitter war over the US presidential election? What motivated her to try to help the founder of the sex cult NXIVM to get out of jail? Listen, laugh, learn.     Visit Our Sources: https://www.biography.com/crime-figure/amanda-knox https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amanda_Knox https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Meredith_Kercher https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/21/us/amanda-knox-wedding-prison-uniform-trnd/index.html https://nypost.com/2020/11/04/amanda-knox-says-next-4-years-cant-be-as-bad-as-her-study-abroad/ https://nypost.com/2020/12/06/man-who-killed-amanda-knoxs-roommate-freed/ https://filmdaily.co/obsessions/true-crime/amanda-knox-tweets/

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we travel back in time and look at the king of all swashbucklers, Sir Henry Morgan. Morgan was a privateer (paid by the crown, so not a dirty pirate) who single handedly changed the face of the Caribbean and the war between England and Spain. In the 1600s, he was known for his cunning tactics (such as using the nuns and priests as a human shield), and he’d fight on land or at sea. He was one of the leaders of Jamaica, beloved by the people of England, and the scourge of the Spanish fleet. Yes, he helped England, but often at the end of a cutlass, with his men torturing their captives, taking slaves, and burning entire towns to the ground. Nothing could stop him. Born to a humble farmer, Henry Morgan longed for adventure. Two of his uncles served in the British Navy, and he wanted to as well. At a young age, he worked his way to the Caribbean and Jamaica, though nobody is exactly sure how he got there. It was very expensive and dangerous to make the voyage, and many versions of this tale exist. What is known is that within a short time, he was not just serving in the navy, but was given his own ship and a group of fellow privateers and buccaneers. Their mandate was to cause as much trouble for Spain as possible. They sank ships and sacked towns as long as England and Spain were at war. Which was always. As he grew in wealth, stature, and infamy, so did his navy. He was eventually named an Admiral and started to sack major towns along the Spanish Main. Some of his exploits made more money than the entire export of Jamaica. Others didn’t make much. But his amazing mind for tactics and his ruthlessness on the battle field and in the cities he sacked made him a legend. He was so feared by the Spanish, entire armies would sometimes abandon their posts if he was coming. He was so beloved by England than even when he broke the law and illegally attacked a city, he was knighted and made Lieutenant Governor of Jamaica. This is like Pirates of the Caribbean but rated R and on steroids. And yes, the Captain Morgan rum guy was based on this awesome buccaneer. Listen, laugh, learn. Visit Our Sources: https://www.thoughtco.com/captain-morgan-greatest-of-the-privateers-2136378 http://www.thewayofthepirates.com/famous-buccaneers/henry-morgan/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Morgan https://www.historynet.com/henry-morgan-the-pirate-who-invaded-panama-in-1671.htm https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofWales/Sir-Henry-Morgan/ https://pirates.fandom.com/wiki/Henry_Morgan http://www.thewayofthepirates.com/types-of-pirates/buccaneers/

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we look into one of the most famous cases of a haunting to come out of the UK, the Enfield Poltergeist. This is the story of a single mother living in government housing trying to support four kids when some very strange things started to happen in their house. One night in 1977, she went upstairs because her kids were freaking out, and she saw the chest of drawers move several times amidst knocking inside the walls. What came next was a series of hauntings that ran for 18 months--or a series of hoaxes if you think the daughters were up to no good! So on the night of August 31, 1977, Peggy Hodgson saw the chest of drawers move and ran next door with all of her kids. The neighbor went to investigate the now empty house and heard bizarre knocking in the walls follow him around. He went back home and called the cops. They investigated, and the officer saw a chair move on its own. She tried to find out how but could see no logical explanation. Since nobody was in danger and there was no crime, the cops left. The family called the local reporters, and that’s where the investigations started. Graham Morris of the Daily Mirror investigated with an eye for skepticism and was convinced something strange was happening in the house. So too were members of the Society for Psychical Research, Maurice Grosse and Guy Lyon Playfair. These three investigators as well as a BBC reporter experienced thousands of unexplained phenomenon, and they even caught the girls faking it a few times. Their ultimate conclusions, however, was that something very strange was happening in this house. What is the story of the girl named Janet levitating in her bedroom? What made grown men think that the gruff voice coming out of the girl’s throat was genuinely not her own? What facts about previous home owner did the children seem to know? What was strange enough to make natural skeptics still believe, even when they saw a few instances of fraud? Listen, laugh, learn.   Visit Our Sources: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/may/01/the-enfield-poltergeist-a-skeptic-speaks https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/4GjC93L35KcswfsR13Gvj8F/what-it-s-like-to-meet-a-poltergeist https://people.com/movies/inside-the-real-story-that-inspired-the-conjuring-2/ https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/6023279/enfield-poltergeist/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enfield_poltergeist https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2054842/Enfield-Poltergeist-The-amazing-story-11-year-old-North-London-girl-levitated-bed.html https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pvraq3KfP6w&t=6s https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poltergeist Voice Recordings: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p063w9vj https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p063w9py

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we look at one of the worst natural disasters of our lifetimes, the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami. Responsible for the death of at least 230,000 people, this massive wave gave no warning in most areas, and the level of destruction was unprecedented. Some native peoples in the area knew it was coming due to old folk lore their people followed for thousands of years (and turned out true), but for most, it was a day of horror. First off, before you even listed to this episode, you should make sure you watch some clips on YouTube. The terror of the black wave, the people swept away to nothing, cars filled with people as they get swept aside as if by the hands of giants. It is truly terrifying. The tsunami was spawned by an underwater earth quake that hit on December 26th, 2004. It was said to be the second strongest quake ever recorded and lasted a total of ten minutes of shaking in some areas. The wave was generating from the quake, and due to the holiday, tourists were vacationing everywhere from Indonesia to Sumatra and Thailand, the hardest hit areas of the tsunami. In some places, the tell-tale sign of the water receding and then rushing back saved lives. In others, that never happened, and there was no warning at all. On this episode, we talk about the power of the quake, the height of the waves, and tell stories of survivors who were there. What did they see? What did they do to survive? How many loved ones did they lose? Who thinks this was Satan punishing westerners for drinking wine? Who are the Moken people, and why did none of them die in the devastation? Listen, laugh, learn.     Visit Our Sources: https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/tsunami-devastates-indian-ocean-coast https://www.worldvision.org/disaster-relief-news-stories/2004-indian-ocean-earthquake-tsunami-facts https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-30537152 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Indian_Ocean_earthquake_and_tsunami https://www.cnn.com/2013/08/23/world/tsunami-of-2004-fast-facts/index.html https://www.history.com/news/deadliest-tsunami-2004-indian-ocean https://www.efe.com/efe/english/life/miracle-boat-saved-dozens-of-lives-during-2004-tsunami/50000263-3476804 https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2014/dec/10/indian-ocean-tsunami-moken-sea-nomads-thailand https://www.cbsnews.com/news/sea-gypsies-saw-signs-in-the-waves/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_ZIPrBm3V0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apung_1

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we indulge in some true crime and talk about one of the worst monsters we’ve run up against, Pee Wee Gaskins. Born Donald Gaskins, he was always small (hence the nickname). His childhood ticked all the boxes: absent father, step fathers who beat him, a mother who didn’t care, drinking kerosene, and never even learning his own name. By the age 11, he had dropped out of school and ran with the “Trouble Trio,” where he robbed and gang raped prostitutes. This behavior never stopped, and with a life in and out of prison for endless crimes, he finally found his true calling once he started to kill and discovered his “Bothersome Feeling.” Once Pee Wee was busted for the horrible things he did with the Trouble Trio, he was sent to a reform school. All he learned there was how to be gang raped, and he finally had to sell his sexual services to the “Big Boy” for protection. He finally escaped and joined a carnival, like you do, and eventually he was too old to serve his juvenile sentence. From there, his life was an endless revolving door in and out of prison. He’d rob someone, steal something, or hit someone with a hammer and go to jail. He’d serve time or escape and then be out. He tended to work in garages, tobacco plantations, and carnivals while his low level crime spree kept on spreeing. Eventually, while committing a murder, he discovered his Bothersome Feeling that was only alleviated by killing. Well, killing, raping, torturing, eating the flesh of victims, the whole deal. So how did he finally get busted? What mob boss did he get to know? How many times was he hired to kill? How many victims do experts think Pee Wee Gaskins killed? What happened with the baby, and why is it so utterly awful? Listen, laugh, learn.     Visit Our Sources: crimemuseum.org/crime-library/serial-killers/donald-pee-wee-gaskins/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Henry_Gaskins https://www.thoughtco.com/donald-pee-wee-gaskins-973165 https://sc.edu/about/offices_and_divisions/research/news_and_pubs/caravel/archive/2014/2014-caravel-pee-wee.php https://www.crimeandinvestigation.co.uk/crime-files/donald-pee-wee-gaskins https://murderpedia.org/male.G/g1/gaskins-donald-henry-photos.htm

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast we tell the story of Robert Durst. This is true crime at its best. Durst was born to a wealthy real estate family in New York, and after watching his mom fall from a roof and die, everything went sideways. He had a rivalry at work with his brother that made them keep lead pipes handy in case of fighting, and then the bodies started to pile up. Or, at least vanish. His ex-wife, his close friend, and a neighbor he met in Galveston. You know the place where he lived in disguise as a woman to escape officials? So, where did this all start? In New York. Durst was born to real estate investor Seymour Durst, and after a tumultuous childhood, he went to UCLA for college. While there, he did scream therapy with John Lennon and Yoko Ono, and moved back east to start a health food shop in the early 1970s. Eventually, he met his first wife there and finally went to work for the real estate business. His brother was put in charge, and a rivalry started that got bad enough that peed in his uncles trash can at work. Like you do. From there, he was let go, and a series of mayhem followed the guy. Kathie McCormack, his first wife went missing. Or, he killed her. She had bruises on her face a few weeks before the vanishing, and she showed up in sweat pants and out of sorts at a friend’s house the night before she vanished. Then, there was Susan Berman, the daughter of a mobster who used to run the Flamingo Hotel in Vegas. They were close friends, and a few days after Durst visited her, she was found dead in her house, bullet to the head. Police got a letter that had her name and address and simply said “Cadaver.” While on the run from this one, he killed a man named Morris Black. His body was found in bags floating in Galveston Bay. Durst finally got arrested for this one, and he got a relatively light sentence because it was ruled as self-defense (they couldn’t find a head to prove if it was). From there, he got extradited to LA, where he is still awaiting trial, delayed thanks to Covid. But that’s not all. The HBO documentary The Jinx covered the story and did interviews with Durst, even though his wife and lawyer said not to. In it, a lot of evidence comes to light that no legal team had assembled. In fact, some of the evidence was used in later trials. So what did handwriting experts say about the Cadaver letter? Why do they think he killed several other people on top of these three cases? What name did he go under as he dressed like a woman in Texas? Most importantly, what did he say on the documentary when he was in the bathroom, and his microphone was still hot? Why did it incriminate him even more? Listen, laugh, learn.     Visit Our Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Durst https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/01/us/robert-durst-jinx-murder-trial/index.html https://www.biography.com/news/robert-durst-biography-facts https://www.nytimes.com/article/robert-durst-trial.html https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/drumoorhouse/robert-durst-dogs-igor-murder-trial https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/04/robert-durst-murder-trial HBO Documentary: The Jinx.  

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we travel back in time and look at the first tech giant in American history, the one and only Thomas Edison. Edison was credited for almost 1100 patents in his life (400 of them from just a short 8 year period!). He is known for inventing the light bulb (it already existed, but he perfected it), and he rolled out the phonograph, motion pictures, car batteries, chemicals, medical devices and anything you could think of. He’s also famous for having a huge ego and for going to war with Nikola Tesla about electricity. He was born to a typical family in Ohio, and was a very smart child. He learned the best on his own, so he was home schooled, even though it kind of meant just sitting back and watching him learn. He read constantly and even did science experiments in his own house. When he was 12, he was was allowed to sell newspapers on the train route, but he was too clever for that. He got the scoop on what was happening from train passengers and telegraph operators and started printing his own newspaper, which was often more up to date than the city’s main paper. From there, his life as an idea man started. A 15 year old Thomas Edison saved a kid from being crushed by a train, and his parents befriended him and taught him to use Morse Code. Within the year, he was a telegraph operator. He traveled the county taking different jobs with the telegraph. He went back home to find his parents and family financially ruined, and he started working to make them money. He created an improved stock ticker which he sold for $40,000, and his career as an inventor was born. He built a telegraph machine that could send a signal down both sides of the wire, and it made him enough money to open his famous Menlo Park research facility. From there, he hit his stride and his own golden age of invention. He became rich, he became famous, and he changed the face of the nation and the world. HE battled other companies and was a bit of an egomaniac. He famously had a war between DC and AC electrical current between Nikola Tesla and Westinghouse. But aside from his inventions, what made him unique was his presence. The world would watch with baited breath as he would do another tech demo, the Steve Jobs of the steam age, the master of branding and building.     Visit Our Sources: https://www.biography.com/inventor/thomas-edison https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Edison https://www.history.com/topics/inventions/thomas-edison https://www.history.com/topics/inventions/thomas-edison https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/7-epic-fails-brought-to-you-by-the-genius-mind-of-thomas-edison-180947786/ https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/theymadeamerica/whomade/edison_lo.html https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/whatischemistry/landmarks/thomas-edison.html https://www.edisonmuckers.org/fun-facts-about-tom/ https://www.energy.gov/articles/top-8-things-you-didn-t-know-about-thomas-alva-edison https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexknapp/2012/05/18/nikola-tesla-wasnt-god-and-thomas-edison-wasnt-the-devil/?sh=570924f31a21

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we talk about one of the greatest failures and cons by any tech startup in Silicon Valley, the lies and deceit of Elizabeth Holmes. Holmes started the tech firm Theranos from Paulo Alto, California, home to all the tech giants. She idolized Steve Jobs so much, that she even wore his same black turtle neck and posed for photos that he himself had already been in. Her big idea was the Edison blood test, a test that would use the power of the internet to scan just a pinprick of blood live time instead of taking vials and sending them to a lab. But it didn’t exists. She was a liar and a fake who cost investors hundreds of millions of dollars and the suffering of patients. Elizabeth Holmes grew up in a wealthy family in Texas (son of an Enron exec) and eventually got accepted to Stanford. After a short time, she dropped out since they couldn’t teach her anything anymore, and she used her college fund to create her company, Theranos. Her goal was to make a world changing blood testing tool, and she brought a whole helluva lot of people along on her ride. Her first investor big was her boyfriend (soon to be number two at her company and nineteen years her elder), Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani. They got her set up with other investors and eventually had hundreds of millions of dollars from Rupert Murdoch, the Walton Family, The Devoss Family, and even the Mexican billionaire, Carlos Slim. She assembled a major board of directors including prominent members of the government. In no time, her company was valued in the billions, and she was a media darling. She was on the morning show circuit, doing Ted Talks, on the cover of Forbes, you name it. Problem is, her tech was a lie. She made deals with various hospitals, government organizations, and even Walgreens and Safe Way that were worth hundreds of millions of dollars. More lies. In fact, once a reporter named John Carreyrou scratched the surface based on a whistle blower, everything just fell apart. It turns out that their labs just used the same tech as everyone else, from other companies. Their miracles were frauds. So, how did she convince so many people to invest in her big idea? Is fake it till you make it really this powerful? Did Elizabeth Holmes actually think her inventions would someday work? What legal battles face her, and what is she worth now? Listen, laugh, learn.     Visit Our Sources: https://www.wsj.com/articles/theranos-has-struggled-with-blood-tests-1444881901 https://www.businessinsider.com/theranos-founder-ceo-elizabeth-holmes-life-story-bio-2018-4 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Holmes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87SWZ0Pna8k&list=PLLRsCVyaQ3o_17XMdxutVIJdPJvCk41Rl&index=5 https://www.forbes.com/profile/elizabeth-holmes/?sh=7c9da63447a7 https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2019/02/inside-elizabeth-holmess-final-months-at-theranos https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2019/02/inside-elizabeth-holmess-final-months-at-theranos https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theranos

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we look at a strange case of a missing child from Texas and the Frenchman who assumed his identity. This is the story of Frederic Bourdin. When this professional imposter was on the run from INTERPOL in Spain, he learned of a missing boy in Texas named Nicholas Barclay. Though he was much older, he took on the persona and moved in with the boy’s family. This story gets crazy and involves a TV crew, a private investigator who is on to him, and a possible case of murder! Even after this one gets cleared up, Bourdin takes on more personas, even passing himself as a 15 years old Jr. High student while he was 31 years old! Born to a single mother who wanted nothing to do with him, he was raised by his grandparents. There were claims of him being sexually molested by a neighbor, and he started acting up, drawing disturbing cartoons, lying to people, and stealing from neighbors. His bad behavior got him locked up as a child, and he moved from group home to group home. Eventually, he ran away and perfected how to become a “child in need” and get taken in by complete strangers. He’d be taken in by hospitals, foster homes, orphanages, families, it didn’t matter. Bourdin would con his way into a place where he’d find attention, hot meals, and maybe even love and then bail when the façade started to crumble. Eventually, he got busted by the media for acting like a mute adolescent, and he was now on the wrong side of the law. This was when he learned of Nicholas Barclay in Texas. But that wasn’t all. He also acted as Francisco Fernandez, victims of terrorist bombings, and any number of other identities. He claims over 500 false personas over the years. So, why does he do it? What happened in Texas that go him busted? How did he convince a Texan family that their blond haired blue eyed boy was a dark haired dark eyed Frenchman? Why do people think there was a murder in Texas? What is wrong with Australian 60 Minutes? Listen, laugh, learn.   Visit Our Sources: https://allthatsinteresting.com/nicholas-barclay-frederic-bourdin https://www.history101.com/disturbing-true-story-nicholas-barcla/ https://medium.com/@brenmar71/justice-for-nicholas-barclay-19ea332bd309 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pUiHjg_thc https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fr%C3%A9d%C3%A9ric_Bourdin https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2008/08/11/the-chameleon-annals-of-crime-david-grann

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we discuss the mystery of the Toynbee Tiles. Part art, part graffiti, part philosophy, part political statement, part crazy, these tiles have been appearing in the blacktop of Philadelphia (and eventually, many states and South America) since the 1980s. The classic tile reads "TOYNBEE IDEA IN MOViE `2001 RESURRECT DEAD ON PLANET JUPITER." The tiles express the creator's desire to terraform Jupiter and fill it with recreated molecular copies of all humans who ever died through the history of the earth. For starters. This American street art is as interesting as its creator is mysterious. Much of the research done on these tiles were done by Justin Duerr, an artist and the maker of the documentary called Resurrect Dead. He does a deep dive on the subject and comes to his own theories of who this person is and what the message means. Most people break the message down to be a statement that involves the great British historian Arnold Toynbee, and a connection to the story arc of Arthur C Clarke and Stanley Kubrick’s film 2001: A Space Odyssey, and maybe a connection to a Ray Bradbury story called “The Toynbee Convector.” Whatever it is, it is shrouded in mystery. Some people think a man calling himself James Morasco was behind the tiles due to a series of phone calls he’d make to late night radio shows that included the odd statements on the typical tile. Others think this is an alias for a man named Severino "Sevy" Verna. Whoever was behind them, there are now copy cats such as the more sexually explicit House of Hades who started to appear in 2006. So, what are the tiles made of? How were they placed in busy streets in major cities with nobody seeing them? How were they made to stick to the asphalt and last for years with traffic driving directly over them? What is their connection with South America? What does it all have to do with pirate radio and TV signals? Listen, laugh, learn.     Visit Our Sources: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/toynbee-tiles http://www.toynbeeidea.com/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toynbee_tiles https://www.wesa.fm/post/look-down-how-toynbee-tiles-invaded-and-disappeared-pittsburgh-streets https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6112129 https://gothamist.com/arts-entertainment/the-reappearance-of-the-toynbee-tiles-what-does-it-mean https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnold_J._Toynbee Film: Resurrect Dead: The Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we do a true crime dive and look at the case of a missing paper boy named John Gosch. This one starts a simple missing person case and then gets pretty strange, delving into child sex trafficking, a mysterious man named Sam Soda, and a possible connection to the infamous Franklin Child Prostitution Ring. It gets even more strange when an adult John Gosch shows up for a brief visit with his mother, all the while waiting for permission to speak from the man who accompanied him. The basics of this one are, well, basic, but the details added by his mother Noreen really make it a next level case. On September 5, 1982, twelve year old John Gosch got up early and started his paper route at 5:45 in the morning. He always went with his father, and asked his dad if he could go alone that morning, and he was told he could not. Either way, John woke up, got his trusty dachshund to go with him, and did the route solo. His father John Sr. and his mother Noreen were woken up to multiple phone calls from customers who never got their papers delivered. John’s dad walked the neighborhood and found his son’s wagon, full of papers and abandoned. They called the cops, who wouldn’t start it as a missing person case for 72 hours, and in the meantime clues rolled in. Neighbors and other paper boys saw a creepy man in a blue car talking to John and asking around for directions. The paperboys said John was scared of him and planned to go home. But he never made it. The family assembled a 20 person search team to look through the woods, but the police showed up and dispersed the crowd claiming there was no missing person. Cut to a couple of years later, and a private Detective named Sam Soda contacted Noreen. He said another paperboy was going to be abducted in August, and he was right. On August 12, Eugene Martin went missing on his paper route. Sam Soda also got a pedophile busted and fired from the local newspaper. And then there sighting of kinds in other cities claiming they were John Gosh, a dollar bill with his name written on it, and strange writing on a wall in Colorado. The case takes a strange turn years later, when Noreen claims a 27 year old adult John finally made his way home, talks to her for a while, and leaves to never see her again. Oh, and then there is Paul Bonacci who showed up and claimed he himself was an abducted child turned sex worker who knew John. He was the one who initiated the famous Franklin Child Abduction case involving a credit union and a sex ring. So, if you like true crime, mystery, and conspiracy, you’re in the right place! Welcome to the Sofa King Podcast!   Visit Our Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disappearance_of_Johnny_Gosch https://medium.com/the-true-crime-times/the-twisted-unsolved-tale-of-the-johnny-gosch-disappearance-part-1-a52496d1887f http://charleyproject.org/case/john-david-gosch https://owlcation.com/social-sciences/The-Tragedy-Of-Johnny-Gosch https://www.ranker.com/list/what-happened-to-johnny-gosch/anna-lindwasser https://www.upi.com/Archives/1984/10/16/Fired-newspaper-worker-They-said-dont-talk/6783466747200/  

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we look at the infamous Moscow theater hostage crisis. Also known as the Nord-Ost Siege, this horrible event saw a Russian rescue attempt become far more lethal than the terrorist hostage-takers. The terrorists were Chechnyan and were there to get Russia to cease hostilities in the war against their country. It was around 50 people, men holding assault rifles, women strapped down with body bombs. When Russian special forces arrived, the final assault involved a mystery gas that killed around 120 hostages and vast majority of terrorists. In the second act of a popular musical that was put on in a theater close to the Kremlin, a bus filled with Chechnyan terrorists parked and emptied. They ran into the theater firing guns and took the entire place hostage. Some actors escaped out the back window and called the cops, but the rest were there for the duration, roughly 850 of them. It was four crazy days. There were negotiations between the terrorists and media personalities as well as government officials. Some hostages were let go, mostly foreigners and pregnant women. A couple of times, big headed Russians snuck past the police barriers to either try to get the hostages to rebel or to look for relatives who were in the theater. Those didn’t end well. Eventually, the Spetznaz and local and federal Russian police decided to storm the building. But the choke point getting in was a murder zone, and the terrorists had explosives and booby traps. Someone decided the best way to assault was to first pump gas into the theater. A mystery gas was released (later discovered to be a more potent version of fentanyl), and people collapsed asleep (or dead) as the invasion took place. As the gunfight died down, the media and the world watched in horror as the bodies of the living and the dead were piled in the street and then crammed onto city busses to get them away from cameras. So, what was Putin’s reaction to this event? What did they get as end up being, and who found out? Who was to blame for the deaths of the hostages? How many hostages were killed by the Russian government instead of the terrorists? Why did so many die after the gas, during the evacuation? Listen, laugh, learn.   Visit Our Sources: https://www.gettyimages.com/photos/moscow-theater-hostage-crisis?mediatype=photography&phrase=moscow%20theater%20hostage%20crisis&sort=mostpopular https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moscow_theater_hostage_crisis https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/hostage-crisis-in-moscow-theater https://www.history.com/news/opioid-chemical-weapons-moscow-theater-hostage-crisis https://apnews.com/article/256605b7679d4a61bde9a8eac8906ea9 https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/yearbook-of-international-humanitarian-law/article/moscow-hostage-crisis-in-the-light-of-the-armed-conflict-in-chechnya1/3572BDBF09EC73BEDE4EBB8317625296 https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/10/the-dubrovka-theater-siege-in-moscow-a-decade-later/263931/

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we talk about the man named the greatest guitarist of all time by Rolling Stone magazine, the one and only Jimi Hendrix. Hendrix was a virtuoso by any measure. His first album almost toppled Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club from the charts, and his four studio albums forever changed rock and roll as well as thoughts on what you could do with a guitar. And this was all by the age of 27! Jimi was an interesting and complex man, a drug addict to be sure, and a violent drunk. But when he died due to drug use in 1970, he left the music industry a different place than he found it. Born to a 17 year old mom and a G.I. serving in WWII, Jimi had a rough upbringing. He was often raised by relatives and his grandmother, and when he was born, they had to lock his father up in the brig, so he wouldn’t go AWOL to try and get to the birth. His mom and dad eventually divorced, some saying his mom abandoned them. His father worked hard to put food on the table and eventually helped Jimi buy his first electric guitar. (This after he walked around his school with a broom, pretending it to be a guitar all year…) Once he got his guitars, he started obsessing and self-learning. He had small gigs almost immediately, but his music career was detoured by a (court mandated?) enlistment in the Army as a paratrooper. He was by all accounts a bad soldier known to sleep on duty and ignore orders. He was honorably discharged, but only after meeting Billy Cox, who would go on to play with him for years to come. Jimi toured the south in what was then called the Chitterlin’ Circuit, and he eventually started to get noticed. He toured with some bands and did studio work for everyone from Tina and Ike Turner to Little Richard, B.B. King, Sam Cooke and the Isley Brothers. But his showboating and tendency to take center stage made them not want to work with him. Eventually, he moved to New York and met Keith Richard’s girlfriend. From there, he made enough contacts to head to London and form his seminal band, The Jimmi Hendrix Experience. His first album was a runaway success in the UK, and eventually, he was a star in the US and globally. He infamously lit his guitar on fire at the Monterey Pop Music Festival, played the Star Spangled Banner in the rain at Woodstock, and was a pioneer of psychedelic music. He defined the 1960s in ways nobody else could. So, how exactly did he die? What did he do that made Paul McCartney think was the biggest honor of his life? What happened the time he got kidnapped? Why do they say he was a mean drunk? Was “excuse me while I kiss this guy” on purpose? Listen, laugh, learn.     Visit Our Sources: https://www.biography.com/musician/jimi-hendrix https://www.jimihendrix.com/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimi_Hendrix https://www.allmusic.com/artist/jimi-hendrix-mn0000354105 https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2020/09/how-jimi-hendrix-london-years-changed-music/616399/ https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/517664/10-fast-facts-about-jimi-hendrix https://www.celebritynetworth.com/articles/entertainment-articles/how-much-was-jimi-hendrix-worth-when-he-died/#:~:text=New%20recordings%20released%20over%20the,and%20died%2049%20years%20ago.

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we talk about the life, adventures, and death of one of the UK’s greatest explorers, Ernest Shackleton. Shackleton was on a quest to be the first person to reach the south pole starting as a teen ager. He made several of the dangerous, years-long expeditions down there until he was able to command his own ship, the expedition. What happened on that voyage is one for the record and history books. For over 497 days, he and his crew were at sea, either on their ship which was frozen in ice or on life rafts. The most amazing thing is that he managed to save all 22 crew members and then went on to serve in WWI and try to go back to Pole yet again! Ernest Shackleton was born in Ireland, and though his father wanted him to follow the family footsteps and become a physician, he didn’t. At age 16, his grades were good enough that he was able to be done with school and join the merchant marines. He skyrocket in rank due to his charisma, intelligence, and endurance. Eventually, he was placed on the ship called Discovery where he and Captain Scott traveled to the lowest latitude any human had reached. Shackleton fell ill, however, and the captain sent him home on a resupply ship, although his motivations for that are very much in question. After several years, Shackleton was able to fund his own ship, the Endurance. The South Pole had already been reached by another explorer, but Shackleton decided his new quest was to cross the land mass of Antarctica. When they got there, they had a hard time establishing a base and soon found their ship frozen in an ice floe that would keep them in their grips until the following spring. By the time spring came, however, the pressures on the hull were too great, and the ship started to sink. The men had to survive on life rafts and hopping from chunk of ice to chunk of ice for almost two years. Eventually, Shackleton was able to head out in a modified life raft and mount a rescue for everyone. He returned to England a hero, and immediately volunteered to join the Army to fight in WWI. He was sent as a diplomat instead and eventually found himself training British troops for war in Russia during the Russian Civil War. This man won every award an explorer could ever win and had a dedication to discovery that nobody could ever crush. If you want some inspiration, listen, laugh, learn. Visit Our sources: https://www.biography.com/explorer/ernest-shackleton https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Shackleton https://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/25/business/leadership-lessons-from-the-shackleton-expedition.html https://www.south-pole.com/p0000097.htm https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/shackleton/1914/timeline.html https://makingscience.royalsociety.org/s/rs/people/fst00000549 https://www.chimuadventures.com/blog/2016/04/top-ten-ernest-shackleton-facts/

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we take on some ancient Norse mythology and talk about Odin, the Allfather. The myths surrounding him are amazing; his impact on Viking culture was second to none; and his rapidly growing worship today ranges from heathens to white supremacists. This is a god of war, death, poetry, magic, and wisdom. People would sacrifice humans in his honor before battle, and he was always ready to do battle in the final war, Ragnarok, the Twilight of the Gods! Odin was born to a god and a giantess and became the king of a race of gods called the Aesir. This group (Thor, Loki, Baldur, Heimdall, Frigga, just to name a few) went to war with other gods call the Vanir and with the giants who would one day rise and end the world. Once mature, he and his brothers forged the earth out of the bones of a giant, and he was made king of the gods. But he wasn’t a normal god king, one who was worshipped by the masses of the Norse world. They saw him as the king of gods, but spent most of their time worshiping other gods. Instead, Odin preferred the elite, and that was who worshipped him—kings, warriors, scholar/poets, and sorcerers. Odin’s will would make or break a battle. Whichever side gave the best sacrifice would get the best results in the battle. And either way, Odin won. Because his shield maidens—the Valkyrie—would ride in and take all those slain in honorable combat. Half would go to him, and they would train for all eternity fighting and dying every night only to be reborn in the morning until Ragnarok. But Odin was also the god of knowledge. He gave up his eye for magical sight, and he hung himself in a tree as a sacrifice to learn the mystical runes. This Allfather of the gods was abandoned for Christianity around the year 1000, but he has recently made a comeback with religion of Asatru. It is a heathen worship of the old Norse gods, and it is the fastest growing religion in Iceland. However, it was co-opted by white supremacist groups who see the Vikings as pure white conquerors, and the real religion is now in a spiritual conquest against the skinheads to be the true worshippers of Odin.   Visit Our Sources: https://www.ancient.eu/odin/ https://norse-mythology.org/gods-and-creatures/the-aesir-gods-and-goddesses/odin/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odin https://mythopedia.com/norse-mythology/gods/odin/ https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asatru https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/11/asatru-heathenry-racism/543864/ https://icelandmag.is/article/11-things-know-about-present-day-practice-asatru-ancient-religion-vikings https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_theTA2kgM https://norse-mythology.org/tales/why-odin-is-one-eyed/ https://norse-mythology.org/tales/ragnarok/

On this True Crime episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we look at the infamous case of the serial killer known as the Boston Strangler. Between the years of 1962 and 1964, thirteen women were found killed and strangled in the Boston area. Most were over the age of 60, and no real suspects were being tracked by the police. Meanwhile, a man named Albert DeSalvo was on a spree of serial raping through the area, posing as a repair man or a man from a modeling agency. How do the two things tie together? Why does DNA evidence make officials think DeSalvo is the Boston Strangler, but many experts doubt he did it? Albert DeSalvo checks all the serial killer boxes. His father was a drunk who knocked every single one of his wife’s teeth out and bent all of her fingers back so far they broke. He’d sleep with hookers in their house and force his Albert to watch it. Needless to say, Albert grew up troubled. He tortured and killed animals and was first arrested for robbery and assault at the age of twelve. He was in and out of juvenile detention until he joined the army and things seemed to settle down for him. But, once he was an adult, he took on the persona of The Measuring Man and the Green Man. These were disguises and acts he’d put on to get into a woman’s house and sexually assault them. One source says he assaulted as many as 300 women this way. He did some jail time, got out, started again, and got arrested for it again. Meanwhile, the Boston Strangler started killing people. They were strangled with panties or silk stockings, and they were left on their beds to be discovered. The police had no reason to link DeSalvo to the murders, but in jail, he told another inmate all about it. This inmate, George Nassar, told his lawyer, and eventually DeSalvo confessed to all the crimes with a great degree of detail. However, there was no physical evidence, so he went to trial for the rapes and other charges. So, why do people think he was the Strangler if there is no actual evidence? What lead a member of Whitey Bulger’s Winter Hill gang to kill him in prison back in 1973? Why does an FBI profiler doubt he was the Strangler? Why do some think the Boston Strangler was Nassar, who DeSalvo first confessed to in prison? What did DNA evidence prove about the murders? Listen, laugh, learn.     Visit Our Sources: https://www.biography.com/crime-figure/albert-de-salvo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Strangler https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_DeSalvo https://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/12/us/dna-evidence-identified-in-boston-strangler-case.html https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jul/19/boston-stranger-dna-test-albert-desalvo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkCYM2bzBPc https://historydaily.org/boston-strangler-facts-stories-trivia

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we talk about the interesting history and massive success of the Japanese gaming giant Nintendo (and we might just look at little red plumber who jumps on psychedelic mushrooms and hides in pipes while we’re at it). Nintendo didn’t start like you think it did. Well, if you thought it started a hundred and twenty years ago by printing playing cards on tree bark for Yakuza gambling dens, then you thought right. From there, a maintenance man named Gunpei Yokoi was discovered to have created a toy to keep himself entertained at work, and the company president happened to see it. This became a massive success called the Ultra Hand and sold millions of units. Nintendo was officially in the toy biz. Yokoi developed several hit toys, including the hugely successful Game Watch, which was the engineering and spiritual successor to the Game Boy. But everything changed when a game designer named Shigeru Miyamoto created the game Donkey Kong with its popular hero Jumpman. Ultimately, renamed Mario, he went on to the best the star of the show for Nintendo, headlining every game system, creating a (horrible) 80s TV show, and becoming the first of many icons for Nintendo. Their systems ranged in ability and success from the Famicon (aka the Nintendo Entertainment System or NES) to the SNES, N64, Wii, Game Cube, and of the course different generations of the Game Boy, all culminating in the Switch. Nintendo found success by always doing exactly what other video game companies did not do. It even survived the video game crash of 1983 that destroyed world-leader Atari. They also clung to their intellectual property and used them very wisely: Mario, Luigi, Bowser, Donkey Kong, Princess Peach, Zelda, Link, Metroid, Mario Kart, Smash Brothers, Animal Crossing, and more. They all have been substantial successes for this little upstart card company from Japan.     Visit Our Sources https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsKyquWWl-s https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Corporate/Nintendo-History/Nintendo-History-625945.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Nintendo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/48606526 https://interestingengineering.com/the-extraordinary-and-surprising-history-of-nintendo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shigeru_Miyamoto

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we look at the murders of a man who the FBI says is one of the most prolific serial killers in American history, the little known Doctor Michael Swango. Swango killed patients under his care by poisoning them with either legit poison or prescription drugs they may have already been taking. He also poisoned landlords, girlfriends, co-workers…pretty much anyone he could. He was eventually arrested and convicted of four deaths, but some estimates place his killing as high as 60 people. This killing spree ran all over America, down to Zimbabwe, and would have landed in Saudi Arabia if he wasn’t finally arrested. So, he had a childhood that may not have had the typical serial killer abuse boxes to be ticked off. He had a loving mother, but there was no evidence of anything crazy. He had an alcoholic Vietnam Vet for a father, but who didn’t in the 70s? He was an excellent student, graduating valedictorian of his high school and getting into a college to study music. His girlfriend dumped him and broke his heart, and it seemed to utterly change the man. He quit playing music, dropped out of school, and joined the Marines. He served for a few years and finally found his way to medical school, where he almost didn’t graduate due to lying to the school. From there, he interned in a hospital where strange deaths were reported when he was on shift. Nurses knew and reported it, but they were ignored. Eventually, the deaths got bad enough that the hospital let him go, but nobody ever pursued him legally. He worked at an ambulance company where he poisoned his co-workers with evil doughnuts. They set a trap for him with a pitcher of tea, and he couldn’t help but poison it as well, and he was arrested. He did five years after the police found a treasure trove of poisons in his house. You would think that this back story would keep him from practicing medicine. But then there was the forgery. He forged papers about his prison time, his good behavior, and his standing in the medical community and got more jobs in medicine, often under false names. And he killed more people. Eventually, the American Medical Association caught on to him, and he was fired and had a permanent mark put on his record to every teaching school in the nation. So, he moved to Zimbabwe to kill more freely. Like you do. So, how many did he kill in Zimbabwe? What happened to his longtime girlfriend? How was he finally arrested, even though he fled the country? What was his sentence? How did end up in a super max prison? Listen, laugh, learn.   Visit Our Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Swango https://www.thoughtco.com/profile-of-joseph-michael-swango-973127 https://murderpedia.org/male.S/s/swango-michael.htm https://unsolvedmysteries.fandom.com/wiki/Michael_Swango https://www.oxygen.com/license-to-kill/crime-time/michael-joseph-swango-house-horrors-murder https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1118552/

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we talk about the life, awards, career, and films (lord, how many films!) of Steven Spielberg. And buckle up folks, this episode is a record-setting two hours long! With his very first movies being Jaws, Close Encounters, Raiders of the Lost Arc, and ET, you can see that this man was destined for greatness in Hollywood. Many of the stars and producers who met this young 20 something genius back in the 60s said the same thing. He was the youngest director to ever get a directing contract with a major studio (just 21 years old at the time), and he has won countless awards. His films have made over $10 billion dollars total, and I’d bet good money that if you sat down and made a top ten list of your favorite films, at least one of his is on your list. He was born in Cincinnati, Ohio to a concert pianist and a computer engineer, and though he moved around a lot, he had a love of film even at a young age. He won a merit badge in the Boy Scouts for a short film he directed (to get his still photograph badge). He started making films as a teen with an 8MM camera, and some of them even started to win local awards and make a tiny bit of money at the box office (well, a dollar, actually). After graduating high school, he moved to LA and tried to get into USC (along with film legends like George Lucas), but he was denied due to low grades. He got in to a different school, but ultimately dropped out because he was starting to get work. He started with an unpaid editing internship at Universal, and the gave him a chance to use their equipment to make a short film. He made Amblin’ (which his production company is called to this day), and it impressed studio execs enough to give him a contract directing TV episodes. In short order, this led to him impressing the likes of Rod Sterling and others. They gave him a chance at a first big budget film, a little thing about a shark. Jaws redefined what a block buster meant, and he followed it up with Close Encounters. If you look at the film list of Spielberg, it will astound you. It’s like every four or five films are what a typical director would be known for in their entire career. But then, there is another and another, and most of them are masterpieces. From Saving Private Ryan to Ready Player One, Amistad to Schindler’s List, and rounding it all out with Jurassic Park, his genius and ability to tell stories has not diminished. If you like film, then give this one a listen. If you don’t, then in the words of Conan the Barbarian: “The hell with you!”   Visit Our Sources: https://www.biography.com/filmmaker/steven-spielberg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Spielberg https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000229/ https://www.forbes.com/profile/steven-spielberg/#b58d2c3228a7 https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/steven_spielberg https://time.com/43618/george-lucas-steven-spielberg-star-wars-bet/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firelight_(1964_film)

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we travel back in time and examine the largest famine in human history, The Great Chinese Famine. Known to the Chinese government as “Three Years of Difficulties,” this famine is unique since it is blamed almost entirely on human governance, not on nature. How bad did it get? Estimates are that 45 million people died in only three years. Most of this was starvation, but much of it was people being killed to keep the famine a secret. This one gets ugly. People eating bark, people eating poisonous mud, parents eating kids, kids eating parents, some villages simply killing any travelers and eating them. So what was the cause of this horrible disaster? People blame Chairman Mao’s “Great Leap Forward.” Mao wanted to propel China forward to catch up with production levels of Britain and the US, so he shifted his focus from agriculture to the manufacture of steel and goods. He even went so far as to move people off of their farms and made almost everyone mine their own minerals and smelt them in ovens they built in the backyard. Never mind they had no idea what they were doing, and made crap metal that couldn’t be used for anything. And never mind that they were no longer producing food. But that wasn’t all that caused the famine. There was a lack of accurate information coming from scared local government leaders. There was a flood of the Yellow River. There was a drought (which the Chinese say was the main factor, but virtually every scholar says this didn’t make a dent). There was a campaign to kill sparrows which led to massive swarms of insects. And there was a cover up. Everyone who talked about the famine was disappeared by secret police. People who wrote letters to government were sent to labor camps or murdered after they were tracked down. In one instance, some teenage girls asked local governors for food, and they were dragged to a lonely mountain to die of starvation. A lot of the details of the Great Chinese Famine came to us recently from a very brave journalist named Yang Jisheng who secretly wrote the book Tombstone about this famine while working for the state news service. From government cover ups to cannibalism, dead sparrows to Communist leaders eating like kings while the peasants died by the millions, this one has it all.     Visit Our Sources https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1127087/ https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jan/01/china-great-famine-book-tombstone https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojOmUWLDG18 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Chinese_Famine https://www.npr.org/2012/11/10/164732497/a-grim-chronicle-of-chinas-great-famine https://www0.gsb.columbia.edu/faculty/pyared/papers/famines.pdf https://www.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/serials/files/cato-journal/2014/9/cj34n3-2.pdf

On this episode of The Sofa King Podcast, we put on our tinfoil hats and talk about what might be the most important alien abduction case of all time, the story of Barney and Betty Hill. This story, straight outta 1961, has everything you want in an abduction story. Missing time? Check. Lights in the sky? Check. UFO? Check. Project Bluebook Investigation? Check. Human experimentation? Check. “Gray” aliens? Check. Missing memories and hypnosis? Check. And most importantly, anal probes? You betcha! So, this story is the tale of Barney and Betty Hill. They were a rare mixed race couple in the early 1960s, and after a year and a half of marriage, they drove to Niagara Falls and Montreal for a late honeymoon. On their way back, their world changed forever. They were racing home to beat a storm coming in, and at one point that night, they stopped for gas and food. While there, they saw lights in the sky. They checked with binoculars and ruled out normal aircraft. They got back on the road, and suddenly, the lights started to follow their car. What happens then gets pretty crazy. They remember seeing a disk-shaped vehicle filled with people in strange uniforms. Barney grabbed his gun, they both thought they were going to be captured, and they drove as fast as they could. The disk stayed above their car, and suddenly they heard a strange buzzing and zapping sound hit their trunk. They heard it a second time, and realized hours had passed, and they were 35 miles away from where they thought they were. Missing time in full effect. After they got home, they were having trouble sleeping, were filled with anxiety, and suffered psychological trauma. They finally got help after a psychiatrist suggested they go through hypnosis. Nobody thought they were abducted by aliens, but the experts did think something happened to them that caused them trauma. They met a hypnotist named Simon realized they had very similar memories of the event. They spoke with NICAP (a UFO group), and though they wanted to avoid publicity, a story leaked out of Boston, and they were suddenly famous. So, what memories were uncovered through hypnosis? What did the Air Force say with their Project Bluebook investigation? What did the aliens look like? What is the Star Map, and why do people think it points to Zeta Reticuli? What physical examinations did Barney and Betty Hill go through and what hurt worse than the anal probe? Listen, laugh, learn.   Visit Our Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barney_and_Betty_Hill https://www.history.com/news/first-alien-abduction-account-barney-betty-hill https://www.library.unh.edu/find/archives/collections/betty-and-barney-hill-papers-1961-2006 https://astronomy.com/bonus/zeta https://science.howstuffworks.com/space/aliens-ufos/hill-abduction.htm

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we look at the life of the African-American drug kingpin Frank Matthews: The Black Caesar. Matthews went from stealing chickens to running a numbers game in the back of his barber shop to being the top non-Mafia drug importer in the nation, in just a couple of years. He organized small drug dealers to take on the Mob; he ran the control of cocaine and heroin to 21 states; he was the first person to tap into the South American drug cartels; he went to war with the Black Mafia. He disappeared at age 29, having already formed a drug empire that bested everyone from Al Capone to Pablo Escobar. He was born in North Carolina and raised by his aunt when his mother died. When he was only 14, he formed a gang to steal chickens from local farms and sell them locally. A farmer caught them one day, and Matthews beat him. With a brick. A year later, he was out of prison and started running numbers. Eventually, he moved to Philadelphia  and then New York and did his numbers racket out of the back of a barber shop. However, this wasn’t enough for the ambitious Frank Matthews. He wanted in on the drug trade. He tried to get friendly with some of the big Mafia families, but they all declined. So, he forged his own way. He befriended "Spanish Raymond" Márquez, who put him in touch with "El Padrino", Cuban Mafia godfather of New York. This contact allowed him to get the drugs directly from Corsica, the same supplier as the mob used. And Matthews was now an international player. He started to make so much money he would forget that he gave someone a million dollars, and he ran out of room to store his stacks of cash. He would fly to Vegas to have the casinos launder his money. He saw the potential to really move things, though, and he called a meeting in Atlanta with all big drug dealers cut out by the mob. They created a network, and the drug game changed for America thanks to Matthews. However, he got sloppy, and eventually there were federal and local warrants for his arrest. He was pinched in Vegas and extradited to New York where he silently slipped away on bail. He was never seen again. So where did Frank Matthews go? Why does one author thing this has to do with the CIA? Why did mob boss Carlo Gambino put a hit on him, and what made him retract it? Who was Major Coxson, and what did he have to do with the Black Mafia? Why was he so much more powerful than Jemeker Thompson, Crack Queen of LA? Listen, laugh, learn.   Visit Our Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Matthews_(drug_trafficker) https://themobmuseum.org/blog/did-frank-matthews-get-away-with-it/ https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/community/durham-news/dn-community/article10277654.html https://ganglandgazette.com/what-happened-to-drug-lord-frank-matthews https://www.ozy.com/true-and-stories/the-black-godfather-who-rose-fell-and-vanished/82420/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_Coxson

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we crack wise about the greatest comedy trio to have ever been put on film—The Three Stooges. Their short films were so popular that they single handedly saved the genre from dying for years and years. They poked fun at Hitler in the 1940s, and were so good at it that they made his personal death list. Though they started as a small vaudeville act in New York, they became the biggest game in comedy for multiple studios and for several decades. The keystone of the Stooges was one family—the Horowitz brothers. Shemp, Moe, and Jerome (aka Curley) Horowitz were all high school drop outs who had a love of acting and theater and quit school to pursue it. Shemp and Moe did various small roles, worked at the theaters and movie companies, and paid their dues. Curley hung out where they did, learned the business back stage, and did his own thing as well, such as studying dance. Eventually, a childhood friend named Ted Healy created a successful vaudeville show, and he needed stooges. He would play the straight man and try to sing and talk to the audience, but three bumbling stooges would come out and interrupt him. Though, it was a rotating cast, Shemp and Moe were the best at it. They hired a violin player named Larry Fine, and the rest was history. As they became more and more popular on stage and some small film roles, Shemp quit because he hated Healy. They added Curley to the act, and they blew up. Their films became so successful, that the movie companies could force theaters to take on B movies and stinkers they made or hold back the latest Three Stooges films. When they were at their peak, however, Curley had a series of health problems and strokes (that some think came from the beatings he took on set). He had to quit, and Shemp came back from a very successful solo act. It was a wild time in Hollywood. Healey was found dead, likely beaten to death by one of Lucky Luciano’s men. Larry at one point had to get paid more for fear that someone would bomb their stage acts. And their horrible producer screwed them out of millions of dollars by permanently convincing them that their movies weren’t making any money. When Shemp suddenly died of a heart attack, they considered quitting, but their evil producer held them to the final four films they had to make. So, how did this lead to fake Shemp? What was Joe, and who was Curley Joe, and why weren’t they the same person? Why did Larry live in a hotel until middle age? What were our personal experiences watching them as we grew up? Listen, laugh, and learn.   Visit Our Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Three_Stooges https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaudeville https://www.threestooges.com/ https://www.empireonline.com/movies/features/three-stooges/ https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/curly-howard-grandson-three-stooges-tells-all https://www.mentalfloss.com/view?id=three-stooges-facts-mm&src=facebook https://screencrush.com/didnt-know-about-three-stooges/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moe_Howard https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curly_Howard https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shemp_Howard https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Fine

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we look into the horrible history of Florida’s school for juveniles called the Arthur Dozier School. It opened in 1900 and ran until 2011. It was the subject of Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize winning book The Nickel Boys. The Dozier school was (in)famous for housing children who often did nothing worse than smoke a cigarette at school, be truant, or run away from home. But as punishment, they endured life in leg irons, torture, illegal restraints, beatings till they bled, rape, and even murder. Estimates are that there are a total of 98 bodies buried on the site, and one group alleges there is a cover up by the local and Florida investigation teams. So, based on a law in the late 1800s, this school found funding and opened a couple years later. It was a large 159 acre campus with several buildings. It was segregated, so half the facilities were for black inmates and half for white. It was renamed a few times, and it switched hands as far as what governmental agency ran it. It was built to house 104 boys, aged 13 to 21. But that expanded to as young as 9, and at the height of its population, there were over 500 crammed into this space. It as a place of tragedy and dark history. A fire killed several boys and staff. Almost a dozen died to the Spanish Flu. And in its first remodel, they built a structure that the boys called the White House. It was where they took you if you were going to be beaten. Or tortured. Or raped. Because apparently in the 1950s and 60s, the people who ran the place were sadistic. Hundreds of boys who call themselves the White House Boys came forward in the 2000s to report their bloody beatings (lashed hundreds of times till their underwear was interwoven in their flesh, and they passed out—at the hands of an ominous one armed man), their rape, and even dead boys they saw from time to time. The White House Boys tried to get restitution or legal justice, but the statute of limitation had run out on any abuse they suffered, so it was shot down. But there were hundreds of them, so word must have gotten out, right? It did. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement ran an investigation which said they could find no forensic proof of abuse and no witnesses who  would talk. The White House Boys think this might have been a cover up. And an article called “For Their Own Good” that came out of St. Petersburg kept it in the nation’s attention. Eventually, the Department of Justice and the and the University of South Florida each did their own investigations with rather different results. So, how many bodies did they find? What did the surviving boys recall of their tortures here? Why did nobody ever get in legal trouble? What finally got the victims a chance to legally exhume bodies of their relatives? Listen, laugh, learn.     Visit Our Sources: https://www.npr.org/2012/10/15/162941770/floridas-dozier-school-for-boys-a-true-horror-story https://www.tampabay.com/investigations/2019/08/18/they-went-to-the-dozier-school-for-boys-damaged-they-came-out-destroyed/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florida_School_for_Boys https://www.abandonedfl.com/arthur-g-dozier-school-for-boys/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2019/08/16/boys-were-beaten-abused-florida-reform-school-now-colson-whitehead-fictionalizes-that-history/ https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/apr/22/a-type-of-justice-florida-reform-school-yields-evidence-of-more-graves https://dartcenter.org/content/for-their-own-good-0

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we take a look at the very interesting life of a man named Roald Dahl. You may think you’ve never heard of him, but we promise that you have. For one, he was a world famous and beloved children’s author. He wrote Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, Matilda, and many other stories. What you don’t know is that he was an adventure-starved, globetrotting, WWII fighter pilot ace. He survived a crash, shot down enemy aircraft, and was eventually stationed to Washington where he met Ian Fleming and did work for the spy agency MI6. Roald Dahl was born in Wales in 1916 to Norwegian parents who were wealthy. His father died when he was young, but his mother opted to stay in the UK because that’s where the best schools were. So, he attended school there, getting kicked out of one or two and being beaten by a headmaster here and there. He was also behind the Great Mouse Plot of 1924 which involved a dead rodent and a jar of gobstoppers. He eventually got through school, and when his mom said she’d pay for him to attend Oxford and be anything he wanted, he declined. He’d rather see the world. And see the world he did. He hiked around for a while and then got a job for an oil company in the Middle east. While there, he was drafted by England to help round Germans up in the city of Dar-es-Salaam where he was stationed. After that, he joined the Royal Air Force, and soon, his country was at war. After extensive training, he was given a really bad and outdated aircraft. Once, while piloting on his own, he was given the wrong directions and crashed in the middle of the desert. He sustained major injuries and was temporarily blind, but the kept on. Eventually, he fought in several dog fights, including the Battle of Athens, but he had to quit flying because of the injuries from the crash. He was such as smooth talker, however, that he was sent to Washington DC to be a diplomat and try to get the US into the war. While there, he doubled as a spy, meeting people like Ian Fleming and doing tasks directly for MI6. During the war, his friends got him to start writing, and people loved his work. He began with short stories and a tale about his own air crash, but he soon drifted to the fantastical children’s stories he is so beloved for now. He wrote James and the Giant Peach first, and the rest was history. His books were hits. He wrote 19 in all, saw several get adapted to film, and he even wrote the scripts for Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and You Only Live Twice. There isn’t much bad to say about this man. He was a war hero. A national patriot. He is beloved by children all over the world. Even Queen Elizabeth considered him one of the most influential people in British culture. Oh, but he was an anti-Semite, so there is that. Listen, laugh, learn.     Visit Our Sources: https://www.biography.com/writer/roald-dahl https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roald_Dahl https://www.famousauthors.org/roald-dahl https://www.notablebiographies.com/Co-Da/Dahl-Roald.html#:~:text=Roald%20Dahl%20was%20born%20September,himself%20skilled%20at%20finding%20trouble. https://www.roalddahlfans.com/about-dahl/dahl-biography/ https://www.roalddahl.com/roald-dahl https://www.natgeokids.com/uk/kids-club/entertainment/books/roald-dahl-facts/ https://www.huffpost.com/entry/roald-dahl-words_n_57d74c2de4b09d7a687f6b35?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAANNqHUXwNhr2kYfOLAqioxTzln2hiR0gtJSVg8E4wN2pWc677atsmGGp1F8J7guUwxDTauiMAjzHnlH4LXX7bxhUvNaQ8cyS9rsGGMx1E3HNBukSFzUiJ4glE6iFdWmjl9ihTwuf3NTLV9tT-BCrbTFg7QHYxY_l3b01AEYw6XNG https://qz.com/779365/six-of-roald-dahls-made-up-words-have-been-added-to-the-oxford-english-dictionary-to-celebrate-his-centenary/  

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we take a look at an infamous case of Cannibalism, the crash of Uruguayan Flight 751. In October of 1972, a plane crashed carrying 40 passengers and 5 crew. As the plane bounced off the side of the mountain, it lost its wing, then it’s tail, then it’s other wing. All the while, people fill out and littered the snowy mountain side. Much like the Donner Party, after several weeks, they were out of food and lost on a glacier. Over two horrible months, they resorted to cannibalism and had no hope of rescue. The scene: October 13th, 1972. An amateur rugby club from Uruguay headed to Santiago, Chile to play a match. They rented an air force plane to take them there, and they had extra seats, so friends and family could come along. The co-pilot was put in charge of the flight, and he got lost in the fog and reported the wrong position. He crashed. While he was trying to pull up and avoid the mountain that suddenly emerged from the fog, it was too late. Uruguayan Flight 751 tore itself apart as it struck the summit of the mountain, until finally the fuselage slid down the mountain for over 2000 feet. They stacked the dead outside of the fuselage, and they sorted out the food. There was hardly any because it wasn’t a typical passenger plane, and the galley had broken off when the tail fell away. On day eleven, the search was called off. It was just them on a mountain with no vegetation or animal life. They were all starving, and people were dying every few days. There was a blizzard. An avalanche killed more of them. They finally made the horrible decision to eat human flesh even though most thought it was a sin. Eventually, Roberto Canessa and Antonio Vizintin decided to make the trek across the deadly mountain. They were hit by another blizzard and thought they weren’t going to make it. Eventually, after days of climbing and hiking with no snow gear or food, they found civilization. How many survived? How many refused to eat flesh and died of starvation? What is a muleskinner, and how did it help them get rescued? How long can one chocolate covered peanut last a man? Why didn’t they just radio for help? What did they discover the best way was to eat human flesh? Listen, laugh, learn. Visit Our Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uruguayan_Air_Force_Flight_571 https://historycollection.com/how-the-uruguayan-air-force-flight-571-crash-drove-a-rugby-team-to-cannibalism/ https://www.npr.org/2019/06/09/731044367/story-of-the-1972-andes-plane-crash-in-out-of-the-silence https://historydaily.org/uruguayan-air-force-flight-571-cannibals https://america.cgtn.com/2017/12/20/survivor-roberto-canessa-relives-1972-plane-crash-in-the-andes https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2016/04/160403-andes-uruguay-rugby-cannibal-plane-crash-canessa-ngbooktalk/

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we talk about the creation of South Park and the many movies, awards, and plays of Trey Parker and Matt Stone. From trying to show Mohamed on TV in spite of death threats (5 times…) to going in drag on acid to the Academy Awards, these two push every boundary they can. And somehow, they manage to make a show that has become a touchstone of global popular culture. In fact, they make the show in as little as four days, usually sending it over satellite the night it is due to air. Love them or hate them, their vulgar humor somehow manages to wow critics who credit them for their intuitive ability to say exactly what needs to be said in any given moment. The creators of South Park are Trey Parker and Matt Stone. They met in college at the University of Colorado, and though Trey had already pioneered his cut out animation style on previous projects, the two of them kept using it in small pieces they rolled out on VHS. In fact, one of these, called Jesus Vs. Santa, was one of the first truly viral videos on the internet. The two of them started a production company and produced a musical about a cannibal which was eventually bought by Troma Entertainment and rebranded as Cannibal! The Musical! This was the start of their entrance into Hollywood (and the start of their love for musicals). After a couple of failed pilots they pitched at Fox, they finally landed on South Park. It took them three months to film the pilot with crude cutouts and stop motion animation. Comedy Central picked it up, and it was an overnight success. South Park made Comedy Central go from being a small time network to a major television presence. Parker and Stone had a rough couple of seasons at the start of the show, and they were signed to do more if they agreed to make a movie. They did. It almost won an Oscar. They made more shows, and they made hundreds of millions of dollars in merchandising alone. Then, one time, they decided to write a musical play. They did. It won the Tony for best play as well as 8 others. They win Emmy after Emmy and a Peabody Award (somehow) using the most crass and often offensive comedy on all of television. If you want to know more about their background, what they did before South Park, their insane process of creating episodes, or just the truth about why Chef left the show (was it Scientology?!?), give this one a listen.   Visit Our Sources: 6 Days to Air Documentary https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trey_Parker https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Park https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Stone https://paleymatters.org/20-years-of-south-park-a-raunchy-retrospective-d15e555160b0 https://screenrant.com/south-park-facts-trivia/ https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/65262/10-things-you-might-not-know-about-south-park

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we go back in time to World War Two and look at the outstanding story of the 761st Tank Battalion. Known as the Black Panthers (no, not those Black Panthers), they were the first ever all black tank battalion. They met with racism and even a race riot during training the states, but they won a Medal of Honor, 11 Silver Stars, and just under 300 Purple Hearts. This group was created to help get more troops in tanks, but rules at the times said that African Americans couldn’t integrate with white troops. So, the 761st was created to be led by white officers but have no white soldiers serving on the front lines with them. They trained Louisiana where the baseball legend Jackie Robinson got in trouble for refusing to get to the back of a bus while he was in the battalion. Their training went so well, and they had such high marks that General Patton wanted them as part of his fighting force. He famously gave them a very inspiring speech about the need for African American troops and how important this was for their race, but then he also famously turned around and said that blacks were too slow witted to be good in a tank. But they excelled. They helped the troops of the 101st Airborne in the Battle of the Bulge. They liberated a concentration camp. They inflicted 130,000 German casualties. The 761st had epic soldiers and tank commanders in their crew from Ruben Rivers who won the medal of honor to John Long and Roy King who helped liberate a city. And the star of the show as a man named Wayne Crecy. He won the silver star for a particular day of combat, but the group historian estimates that he killed between 300-400 Germans in their push to Berlin. So if you want to learn what earned this man the title of “the baddest man of the 761st” or just have a love of World War Two, give this one a listen.   Visit Our Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/761st_Tank_Battalion_(United_States) https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/crecy-warren-gamaliel-harding https://www.warhistoryonline.com/instant-articles/warren-crecy-baddest-man.html https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/black-panthers-761st-tank-battalion https://www.benning.army.mil/armor/earmor/content/issues/2014/Oct_Dec/GunnersSeat.html https://www.tracesofwar.com/persons/41821/Crecy-Warren-Gamaliel-Harding.htm?c=aw http://www.blerdsonline.com/2017/02/black-captain-america-sgt-warren-gh.html  

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we discuss the comedy, drama, acting, drugs, life, and death of the one and only Robin Williams. He was said to be funny since childhood, and as he grew, so did his personality and laughs. He blew up with the once-in-a-lifetime hit Mork and Mindy in the late 1970s, and he moved on to a series of massive hit films. From Popeye to Dead Poet’s Society and Goodwill Hunting to Aladdin, his scope and range won him three Oscar nominations and endless awards. And don’t forget the standup. His insane half improved comedy routines were stuff of legend, and according to one story, they are the reason David Letterman got out of the stand-up business. He was born to an upper class family in Chicago, and his family moved around a lot. After an early retirement, they settled in Tiburon, California (where he still owned property when he died). He went to a couple of colleges to study acting, and eventually found himself at the world famous Juilliard School. After a few years, he was told he should leave the school because there was nothing left for them to teach him—not accents, not drama, not comedy, no methods. He was just that good. After college, he started doing standup in San Francisco and LA. He was discovered while on stage in LA and started doing small appearances on TV. Eventually, he was called in to play the alien Mork in a really bad episode of Happy Days, and he turned it into such comedy gold that he got his own show based on the character. It exploded as one of the most popular shows of the 70s and 80s and put him on the map. From there, he jumped to feature films with Popeye and spent decades doing amazing comedies and devastating dramas. All the while, he still did stand up and released comedy specials. Oh, and he did drugs. A lot. He quit and went back to them and quit again, but all the cocaine is said to have started his health decline later in life with heart problems. After four decades of hits, Robin Williams ended his own life on August 11, 2014. The common belief was that he battled from secret depression. His wife, however, revealed that he had Lewy Body Disease. The Lewy Body proteins in his brains were the worst his doctors had ever seen, and they made him miserable, paranoid, depressed, and anxious to the point where he could no longer function. After his death, he still released several films, so we like to think he’s actually alive and well and living on Tupac Island. Listen, laugh, learn. Visit Our Sources: https://www.biography.com/actor/robin-williams https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_Williams https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2018/05/robin-williams-death-biography-dave-itzkoff-excerpt https://n.neurology.org/content/87/13/1308 https://www.investopedia.com/articles/wealth-management/010516/look-robin-williams-net-worth-and-what-happened-his-estate.asp

On this episode  of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we talk some true crime and look at the life, murders, and death of Dean Corll. Called the Candyman or the Pied Piper, Corll had a reputation in Houston for giving candy to teenage boys from his family candy shop. He was loved by his community, and he didn’t seem to have anything in his background that was typical to trigger a serial killer. A divorce and some suppressed homosexuality were in his background, but none of the madness that usually forces one to kill. However, he became one of the most prolific killers, racking up at least 28 deaths in his time. Oh, and he had two teenage accomplices. Corll was raised by middle class parents and moved around a bit since his father was in the military. His folks divorced, remarried, divorced again. His mom eventually took the advice of a traveling pecan salesman (like you do) and started a candy company in her garage. A teenaged Corll worked there after school, and it eventually became big enough to move to a proper factory. Corll was drafted during Vietnam but served stateside as a radio repairman. He was discharged early on the grounds of family hardship since he needed to run the factory. Once home again, he put a pool table in the back of the factory and would often take batches of boys to the beach as a sort of “Scout Leader” persona. Eventually, the candy competition was too fierce, and the candy shop closed. Somehow in the year or so after this, he went from a model citizen to a maniacal sex crazed serial killer. He recruited two youths to help Dean Corll scout and bring him teenage boys for $200 a pop. They were David Brooks and Elmer Wayne Henley. They saw him as a father figure and thought that the sex that was happening with Corll and their recruits was consensual. At least at first. Eventually, the rape and murder started. And eventually, Henley and Brooks helped hide the bodies and got involved at every part of the killings. This one leaves a lot of unanswered questions. First off, what set Dean Corll off? He went from mild mannered to monster in merely months. Second, how did they get so many teenage boys to come over to the house? Why didn’t the police start to investigate this crazy wave of teenage murders? Was Corll part of a nation wide teenage sex trafficking ring? Why did Henley eventually shoot Corll? What pushed him too far and made him say “enough”? Where did they hide the bodies? What kind of sentences did Henley and Brooks get? Listen, laugh, learn.   Visit Our Sources: https://murderpedia.org/male.C/c/corll-dean.htm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dean_Corll https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elmer_Wayne_Henley https://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/the-lost-boys/ https://rare.us/rare-news/history/dean-corll-candy-houston-texas/ https://www.oxygen.com/candyman-killer-dean-corll-elmer-henley-real-killers-behind-netflix-mindhunter https://heavy.com/news/2018/01/pedophile-serial-killer-candyman-houston-sadist/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Owen_Brooks

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we look at one of the greatest maritime disasters in history, the wreck of the Batavia. I know what you’re thinking. It’s like the Titanic but back in time. No, not at all. This one involved mutiny, hanging a young girl off the side of the boat, a shipwreck, murder, sex slaves, more murder, and a war between the survivors on small islands in the East Indies. The Batavia was the newly build flagship of the Dutch East Indies Company (not to be confused with their rival the British East India Company). It set sail on its maiden voyage with a fleet loaded with silver and gold. Their job was to make it around the world on a very dangerous 8 month voyage to buy spices in Java. It was said that only one in four sailors would make it back from such a trip, but all would be sharing in a split of the riches if they did. This particular trip started off poorly. The skipper of the ship was named Ariaen Jacobsz. He had to take his order from the fleet commander Francisco Pelsaert. But, based on pervious encounters at sea, they hated each other’s guts. Toward the end of the journey, the animosity grew so much that Jacobsz and a merchant named Jeronimus Cornelisz planned for a mutiny. They had a poor woman named Lucretia Jansz get assaulted in the night on the ship. They knew the Commander would over react, and they could use this as an excuse to mutiny. Then, they could take the gold and silver and go start a new island nation, like you do. But the dumb asses ran ashore the next day in dangerous waters and wrecked the ship. 40 passengers died in the wreck, and the rest reached shore. The Commander got a ship and some of the heartiest of the men and headed out to find water. It took them 33 days to make it back due to a series of bad luck at island after island. In the meantime Cornelisz took over and lost his marbles. He started to orchestrate murders of the healthy and those who could stop him. He consolidated power, boats, and weapons and sent those loyal to the company off to “Find water,” so he had no competition. Throats were slit, people were pushed off boats, he even planned to poison a baby. There were sex slaves and starvation, and pretty much the worst depravity you could imagine. So, how did the banished soldiers end up fighting back? What type of inter-island war started between these groups? How did the soldiers survive the fights when they had no weapons? What became of the the Batavia's Commodore, and how was he able to return at the helm of a big new ship? What happened to the mutineers and murderers? Why do they think this wreck was the first time Europeans colonized Australia? Listen, laugh, learn.     Visit Our Sources: https://www.sea.museum/2016/06/04/barbarism-and-brutality-surviving-the-batavia-shipwreck https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2017/12/new-mass-grave-batavia-shipwreck-murder-australia-history/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batavia_(1628_ship) http://museum.wa.gov.au/research/research-areas/maritime-archaeology/batavia-cape-inscription/batavia https://www.nma.gov.au/defining-moments/resources/wreck-of-the-batavia https://listverse.com/2018/06/15/10-punishments-of-the-royal-navy-during-the-age-of-sail/#:~:text=By%20the%201800s%2C%20this%20was,death%20was%20slow%20and%20painful.    

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we talk about the devastation, death, deceit, and clean up surrounding the Haiti Earthquake from 2010. On January 12, 2010, a 7.0 earthquake hit Haiti, and the results were epic. Estimates are that 250,000 lives were lost and 1.5 million people were displaced. 80% of schools, 60% of government buildings, the majority of roads, the bulk of medical facilities all collapsed. In all, roughly a quarter of a million homes were destroyed. International aid gathered billions to help Haiti recover, but corrupt government and even more corrupt charities kept anything meaningful from happening to help this island that is still suffering ten years later. Before the quake hit, Haiti was one of the poorest countries in the world, with 70% of the population living under the poverty line. Most Haitians lived on about $1.25 a day, and they relied on small time agriculture which is constantly damaged due to tropical storms. To make things worse, the government has no sense of a plan for the urban centers such as Port-Au-Prince, and there are no regulations or building codes. If there is space to build a structure, you can pretty go for it and squat and throw up a house or building. All of this led to the perfect storm of devastation for Haiti. In the days after the quake, they were using dump trucks and earth movers to haul off the thousands of bodies lining the streets. Destroyed roads, docks, and airports made aid impossible to get into the island nation. But, in the aftermath, aid organizations, celebrity concerts, and social media gathered billions of dollars. However, as one group of journalists reported, the American Red Cross lost roughly $500 million in aid that never made it to the streets, and even some of the biggest celebrities who raised money were busted for graft and taking the money for themselves (we’re looking at you Wycliffe Jean). So, if you want to hear about the worst quake in modern memory, get ready to listen, laugh, learn. Visit Our Sources: https://www.npr.org/sections/pictureshow/2020/01/12/794939899/haiti-in-ruins-a-look-back-at-the-2010-earthquake https://www.worldvision.org/disaster-relief-news-stories/2010-haiti-earthquake-facts https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Haiti_earthquake https://theconversation.com/a-decade-after-the-earthquake-haiti-still-struggles-to-recover-129670 https://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/wayoflife/01/13/haiti.charity.scams/index.html https://reliefweb.int/report/haiti/independent-review-us-government-response-haiti-earthquake-final-report https://www.npr.org/2015/06/03/411524156/in-search-of-the-red-cross-500-million-in-haiti-relief https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1690716-lamika-factsheet-from-red-cross-website.html https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/wyclef-jean-faces-criminal-probe-over-haiti-charity-8209814.html https://www.lessonsfromhaiti.org/lessons-from-haiti/key-statistics/ https://www.cnn.com/2016/10/11/americas/haiti-dominican-republic-visual-explainer/index.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010s_Haiti_cholera_outbreak

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we study the king of the grotesque, everyone’s favorite Antichrist, Marilyn Manson. He was born as Brian Hugh Warner, and he had a love of music early in life. Once he started his band in college, he decided to name every member after one serial killer and one famous super model. And it worked. His grotesque imagery and crazy stage antics and unique, distorted sound made him rise up the charts in just a matter of year. Now, he’s still producing music, acting, has become an accomplished water color artist, and even met Anton LaVey who inducted him as minister in the Church of Satan. Brian Warner was born to two fairly religious parents. He attended Christian schools, and while they taught him everything he was not supposed to do, he took it the other way and used the ideas of sin and the demonic as what he WOULD do. After hearing The Doors for the first time, he knew he wanted to pursue music. Once in college, he started a couple of bands. First was Marilyn Manson and the Spooky Kids, Satan on Fire, and Mrs. Scabtree. It was the Manson persona that caught the eye of Nine Inch Nail’s Trent Reznor. Reznor signed him after convincing Jimmy Iovene he needed to, produced him, and took him on tour with him, helping to launch Manson’s career. From there, his career was an explosion of popular culture. His bizarre and shocking imagery and stage behavior made him an MTV darling (remember MTV?). He was also a permanent target of the religious and was even blamed for the Columbine shooting. So much so that it damaged his career and made record sales and concert attendance seriously dip. But, his intelligence, his ability to write and give eloquent interviews, and the truth won out, and his career got back on track. Some people see him as a clown, but his persona is very intentional and ingenious. He was poised at just the right time to do just the right amount of gross. He knew the music world needed a dark prince, and he provided one with his shock rock. So, why did Trent Reznor and him have a falling out, and what brought them back together? What type of paintings does he do? What crazy things has he done on stage? What did he do on stage to get arrested, and why did some many ex members of his band sue him and claim he screwed them out of money? And, oh, what’s the deal with him and Satan? Listen, laugh, learn. Visit Our Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marilyn_Manson https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/the-golden-age-of-grotesque-marilyn-mansons-most-shocking-moments-155971/ https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/columbine-whose-fault-is-it-232759/ https://www.nme.com/news/music/marilyn-manson-says-hes-finished-his-masterpiece-of-a-new-album-2656329 https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Marilyn_Manson https://deadline.com/2019/09/marilyn-manson-american-gods-casting-season-three-neil-gaiman-starz-1202737047/ https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/marilyn-manson-2262.php https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2015/02/06/marilyn-manson_n_6625118.html https://www.famousbirthsdeaths.com/marilyn-manson-bio-net-worth-facts/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Putesky https://www.ranker.com/list/trent-reznor-marilyn-manson-friendship/jacob-shelton https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/trent-reznor-says-marilyn-manson-has-become-a-dopey-clown-73520/ https://loudwire.com/marilyn-manson-trent-reznor-mended-ways/  

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we explore one of the strangest missing persons cases in America: the disappearance of Maura Murray. On the evening of February 9, 2004, she had a minor car crash, and by the time the police got there, she was missing. But her behavior leading to this moment is what makes it strange. She had packed up her entire dorm room, lied to her bosses that there was a death in the family (so she could get a week off), and she had a car full of clothes, directions to rentals to stay in, and even a lot of cash from an ATM. Her entire family had no idea she had done any of this. What makes this a weird one is that she was a great student. She went to West Point and then transferred to the University of Massachusetts. She was a good student, a local track star, and otherwise a girl in her early twenties doing things right. Murray had a run in on the wrong side of the law when she stole the credit card number someone and used it at restaurants, but was otherwise an upstanding citizen. There was some indication that she was having trouble with her boyfriend. There was plenty of evidence that she planned to leave. Her dorm was packed up in boxes, and she had made several net searches for vacation rentals and even called some to find out prices. So, with a packed car and apparently the intention to bail, she crashed her car into a tree. There was spilled wine found in the car, so she could have been drunk. A man drove by and asked if she needed help as she stood beside her car. She indicated she did not and pleaded that he not call the police. She said she’d already called AAA for a tow (she had AAA but never called them). The man drove and called for help since there was no cell phone reception in the area. By the time he came back, she was gone. Eventually, the police declared it a missing persons case and sent dogs on the trail. They followed it a little ways before it just vanished along the side of the road. This indicated she most likely got in someone’s car only a few minutes after the crash. Some say she was trying to head up to a nice vacation spot to kill herself. Some say she was escaping an abusive boyfriend. Others say she was pregnant in a scandalous three way love affair with a coach from her university. Another theory is that she headed to Canada where she lives to this day in order to escape some sort of danger. Alive or dead, murder or suicide, this case is still very active, and new clues keep coming up. Come to your own conclusion and give this one a listen.   Visit Our Sources: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSCpSXGo5K4 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disappearance_of_Maura_Murray https://medium.com/@kympasqualini/police-search-for-maura-murray-who-vanished-february-9-2004-f78e0f7d662a https://medium.com/the-true-crime-times/the-mysterious-maura-murray-disappearance-9ea0b581923f https://www.mauramurraymissing.org/ https://www.vizaca.com/maura-murray-disappearance/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CK_QYCBqV8U&feature=emb_logo https://www.boston25news.com/news/maura-murrays-38th-birthday-family-launches-new-website-missing-umass-student/JRQW77SCPFFW7J42W5BC2PRZ7A/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disappearance_of_Brianna_Maitland

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we talk about little known serial killer who did his thing during the reign of the Third Reich in Berlin. His name was Paul Ogorzow, and he was a Nazi serial killer. He started with sexual assault and rape, but like most serial killers he grew in desire and comfortability with his crimes. Eventually, he graduated to murder, and he had the perfect environment to do so. He committed his crimes during war-time black outs intended to keep bombing raids from finding targets. He also did it on a rail line that saw as many as 29 accidental deaths per month due to the dangers of the blackout. There isn’t a whole lot known about his childhood. He was born to a single mother who was a farm worker during World War One. He was eventually adopted by a farmer named Ogorzow and moved near Berlin. As a young man, he joined the Nazi Party and eventually became a member of the its paramilitary branch called the SA. For some reason, he never went off to war, but he was instead hired to help run the metro trains through Berlin called the S-Bahn. He excelled at his job, and he rose in ranks in the SA. He married and had two kids and was living the Nazi dream. But somewhere along the way, something broke in him. He started to use blackout conditions to scare and berate women who couldn’t identify him in the dark. Then he started to sexually assault them, and he eventually devolved to rape. With some of his rapes, he tried to kill either by bludgeon or knife or throwing them from moving trains. He left several victims for dead (which later caught up to him since they were eye witnesses). Eventually, he started to kill. He killed a total of eight women, most of them on or around the S-Bahn train line where he worked. Eventually, the head of Berlin’s homicide division (Wilhelm Lüdtke) started an investigation. But the blackouts made it hard as did media control. Goebbels wanted to keep morale high in Berlin. Therefore, the cops weren’t able to give any real info about the murders to people they questioned, and the media wasn’t allowed to print much of anything. This meant women traveled on the serial killer’s train line without fear. So, what measures did Lüdtke take to try and capture him? What finally got him caught? What was his life like with his wife and kids through all of this? What went down at the trial, and what was the time between arrest and execution? Listen, laugh, learn.   Visit Our Sources: https://killerpedia.com/serial-killers/paul-ogorzow/ https://www.ranker.com/list/paul-ogorzow-facts/cat-mcauliffe https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/a-serial-killer-in-nazi-berlin-the-chilling-true-story-of-the-s-bahn-murderer-b-y-scott-andrew-selby/2014/02/07/1fd0b510-69a6-11e3-ae56-22de072140a2_story.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Ogorzow https://www.macleans.ca/culture/books/a-serial-killer-in-nazi-berlin-the-chilling-true-story-of-the-s-bahn-murderer/ http://www.the13thfloor.tv/2016/07/18/the-horrific-true-story-of-nazi-germanys-s-bahn-killer/ Book: A Serial Killer in Berlin

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we travel back in time and look at the short life of the doomed ship, The RMS Titanic. The Titanic famously sank on April 15, 1912 and had a massive cultural impact, just like the Challenger or 9/11 did in more recent times. Of the 2240 people on board, only 706 survived, in spite of having three hours from the time of the iceberg collision to the total sinking of the vessel. The chaos and poor management during the crisis lead to a great many deaths, and the entire event lead to both Oscar winning films and tons of pretty cool conspiracy theories. The Titanic was built by the White Star Line, which was in a trade battle with the Cunard line. These two companies were the main passenger lines across the Atlantic, so building bigger, nice, and faster was sort of a corporate cold war at the time. The Cunard line had been winning for years, so the three Olympic class vessels built by White Star were supposed to win this war. The Titanic, obviously, was the first of these to launch. The ship was heralded for its beauty and size. Even the second class cabins were said to be nicer and bigger than first class cabins on any other ship. Third class, which was where the bulk of the passengers were (and where the bulk of the prophets were made) was also nicer than any other third class. So, the grandeur of the ship along with celebrities and tycoons such as John Jacob Astor IV and Benjamin Guggenheim made this THE ship to be on. So, packed with staff and passengers, it set out to cross to New York. The launch went smoothly (aside from a small coal fire), but after four days of smooth sailing, they were warned of ice bergs. They didn’t listen. They hit one. People died. The ship sank. You know the drill, but we’ll go over the time line and try to paint a vivid picture of what it would have been like on the ship or in the water. And it all points to conspiracy theories because, come on, what doesn’t? Why do they say that the ship sank because it secretly said “No Pope” on the side? What is this about a mummy’s curse? Did JP Morgan have the ship sunk to kill his rivals on the creation of the Federal Reserves? Was it actually the sister ship Olympic that sank and not the Titanic at all? Listen, laugh, learn.   Visit Our Sources: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/why-the-titanic-still-fascinates-us-98137822/ https://www.history.com/topics/early-20th-century-us/titanic https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Titanic https://www.nationalgeographic.org/education/titanic/ https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/17665970 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wreck_of_the_RMS_Titanic https://www.history.com/news/titanic-sinking-conspiracy-myths-jp-morgan-olympic https://www.businessinsider.com/titanic-sinking-conspiracy-theories-2018-4 https://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/infrastructure/a26533526/olympic-titanic-conspiracy-theory/ https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/james-cameron-my-titanic-obsession-304772.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wreck_of_the_Titan:_Or,_Futility https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmo_Duff-Gordon    

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we talk about the life, career, addiction, and rap battles of the one and only Eminem. Call him Marshal Mathers or Slim Shady, but he’s one of the biggest selling musical artists of all time and still has the bestselling rap album of all time. He was born poor to a father who ditched him and a mother who he claimed was abusive and strung on out on pills. This critical figure in the hip hop game went from the streets of 8 Mile to the top of the charts in spite of being a white drug addict and underage father. If he can do it, so can you (if, you know, you’re one of the best rappers to ever live…). Though Detroit is his spiritual home, Marshal Mathers was born in Missouri. He had a rough childhood with an absentee father and a mother who couldn’t land steady work. They traveled a lot trying to stay with family or get a job and ultimately landed in Detroit when he was very young. Marshal hated school, repeated the 9th grade 3 times before dropping out. The one thing he did love was the English language and word play, and he came to life after hearing his first rap songs. In a matter of no time, he was one of the best underground rappers in the brutal Detroit rap battle scene. This landed him a spot in at the 1997 Rap Olympics in LA. While there, he took second in the nation, and was able to get a copy of his Slim Shady EP into the hands of Jimmy Iovene who promptly gave the tape to Dr. Dre. They signed him immediately. His Slim Shady character appealed to the violent but socially conscious music background of Dr. Dre. They released his first major album in 1999, and the rest is history. His second album, the Marshal Mathers LP sold 22 million copies and broke records. Eminem started to land Grammy Awards and get the praise he deserved as a rapper and criticism he earned for his violent, sexist, homophobic lyrics. With success came the dangers of success. While he was working 16 hour days on the set of 8 Mile, he got addicted to prescription medication. Eventually, he almost died for doing enough methadone to equal 4 bags of heroin. He went to rehab, left, fell back to drugs, and went back a second time. With the help of Elton John. It’s a strange world. Eminem’s album, Revival was a failure both critically and financially, and it got him attacked by a new generation of rappers trying to take him down. However, a few months later, he released Kamikaze, which most people claimed had him win a rap beef against an entire generation of mumble rappers. You might love him, and you have grounds to. You might hate him, and you have grounds to. But you can’t deny the success and appeal of this once in a life time musician. Visit Our Sources: https://www.biography.com/musician/eminem http://www.eminem.net/biography/ https://www.nme.com/photos/50-things-you-didn-t-know-about-eminem-1428834 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eminem https://www.musicinminnesota.com/36-interesting-facts-eminem/ https://www.samaa.tv/culture/2017/10/happy-birthday-eminem-10-facts-you-should-know-about-the-rap-star/ https://www.thestreet.com/lifestyle/eminem-net-worth-15015963 https://www.aceshowbiz.com/celebrity/eminem/biography.html  

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we look at the infamous flight of NASA’s Apollo 13. Made famous for a new generation by the film of the same name, this was one of the most important moments in all of space flight. A critical error on the way to the moon led to the three astronauts cramped into a small lunar lander built for 2 passengers the whole way home. They were low on power, venting oxygen, couldn’t scrub the CO2 from the air, were starving (their food was frozen and dried), and one of them was sick with an infection. How did they survive? This was the 13th Apollo mission, and many said that is the number of bad luck. Well, maybe. The Apollo missions were created by John F Kenedy as a race to the moon to help win the Cold War, and after Apollo 11 landed on the moon (or didn’t, depending on your beliefs), there were still a bunch of Saturn V rockets left over. NASA used them for more missions to the moon, and Apollo 13 was to be the third mission that would land humans on the lunar surface. The crew was commanded by James Lovell and included the pilot of the lunar module Fred Haise, and pilot of the command module John Swigert. They were 200,000 miles out when they made a news broadcast for the folks back home. Nine minutes later, an alarm sounded related to a hydrogen tank. They went to mix the tank, so it wouldn’t freeze, and the ship suddenly buckled and shuttered. There had been an explosion. They lost two oxygen tanks and were venting a third, and they had to make quick, hard decisions to try and make it around the moon and back to Earth. Ground control came up with miraculous secondary uses of technology to keep them fed and breathing. But it was freezing cold since there wasn’t enough power to run a heater. They were losing weight due to lack of food and dehydration, and one of them caught a kidney infection due to lack of water (they needed to preserve the water for critical ship functions). So, how did they calculate the return burn of the engine to get them home after their equipment was destroyed? How did duct tape help save the day? What became of the astronauts? What happened to the Plutonium that was in the wreckage that made it back to earth? Why did one company require a towing bill for bringing part of the ship back from the moon? Listen, laugh, learn.   Visit Our Sources: https://www.space.com/17250-apollo-13-facts.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_13 https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/apollo/missions/apollo13.html https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/lunar/ap13acc.html https://astronomy.com/magazine/news/2020/04/jim-lovell-on-apollo-13 https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/apollo-13-at-50-years-looking-back-at-the-missions-lost-lunar-science/ https://www.rd.com/list/apollo-13-facts-you-didnt-know/ https://stargazersclubwa.com.au/13-facts-you-may-not-know-about-apollo-13/  

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we travel back in time and look at the life, loves, war, revolution, presidency and death of George Washington. Born to a middle class family, he rose in wealth and power, until by age 20, he was the wealthiest land owner in Virginia. His story is incredible. He joined the British to stop the French from spreading onto their land. His first fight there basically started a world war because he didn’t know what he was doing. This man was a passionate farmer and whiskey distiller, but he kept getting the call to serve his nation, as a warrior, a spymaster, a politician, and ultimately president. The Washington family had been in American for three generations before George was born. His parents were of an upper middle class and bought some land, which eventually became his famous home at Mt. Vernon. His father increased his fortune, died, left it all to George’s older brother Lawrence. Then Lawrence built up more fortune, died of tuberculosis, and left it all to George. He was the wealthiest man in the colony. But he didn’t sit around counting his gold. Instead, Washington learned how to work the farm and survive in the woods. He worked with the laborers and slaves, it is said, instead of sitting in the big house. He eventually joined a dangerous surveying party and came back as the official surveyor of the surrounding area. That involvement with government made him the selection to talk to some French who had encroached on “British” territory. He did; they politely said they wouldn’t leave. Washington came back with a small military force and attacked and killed the commander, basically kicking off an war between the British and the French. His time in the French Indian War gave him experience on the battlefield. Eventually, the war ended, and he returned to his farming life at Mt. Vernon. However, the Brits were gouging the colonists to make up for the money they spent in the war. Tax after tax led to things like the Boston Tea Party, and eventually, everyone wanted an end to British Rule. The revolution had begun. Again, though he didn’t want it, Washington’s experience, wealth, and prestige, landed him the top military role in the war. Here, he suffered major victories and massive losses. He endured harsh winters, did some legendary tactics, and even survived one battle with four bullet holes in his cloak and two dead horses underneath him. Eventually, the war was won, and Washington settled down once again. And once again, duty called. The new nation of states was falling apart, many of them enacting taxes tougher than the Brits did in order to pay back the war debts. So, the founding fathers called the Constitutional Congress, rewrote the constitution, and called upon George Washington to be the first president. His time in that office set the precedence for the president. He wasn’t a king but an official. So, how long did he last as president? Did he really have wooden teeth? What was up with him and slaves? Did he have a secret lover on the side? Did he really chop down that cherry tree? Listen, laugh, learn.   Visit Our Sources: https://www.biography.com/us-president/george-washington https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Washington https://www.whitehouse.gov/about-the-white-house/presidents/george-washington/ https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/george-washington-the-reluctant-president-49492/ https://www.historynet.com/george-washington https://www.si.edu/spotlight/highlights-george-washington-1732-1799 https://www.history.com/news/george-washington-little-known-facts https://www.bostonteapartyship.com/george-washington-facts https://www.britannica.com/event/Townshend-Acts  

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we look at the crazy case of a Cleveland man named John Demjanjuk, and the decades long court battle to prove he was the evil Ivan the Terrible. Ivan the Terrible was a guard at the gas chambers in the Treblenka concentration camp. He was notorious for stabbing the prisoners with a saber, cutting their ears off on their way to a work shift, rape, killing babies, and nailing people’s ears to the walls of the death chamber. If John Demjanjuk was truly Ivan the terrible, he deserved to pay for his crimes. But the battle in various international courts were a roller coaster of evidence. Was he Ivan the Terrible? What is known about Demjanjuk is that he was born in the Soviet Union in 1920 He survived the Holodomor famine, worked on a state-owned farm, and was finally drafted into the Soviet Army in 1940. While there, he fought in the horrible Battle of Kerch Peninsula where Soviet Casualties were above 570,000 in five months. He was captured and taken as a prisoner of war. However, the Germans used their Soviet POWs in some concentration camps. Many of the Soviet prisoners hated the Jews so much, that they would become complicit in the final solution. At the end of the war, he was bounced around a bit, got married, and settled in Ohio. He became an American citizen, had four children, and worked at a Ford Plant. The American Dream. But, in 1975, a reporter brought evidence to a US Senator, and the court saga was on! His American citizenship was stripped, and he was extradited to Israel to stand trial for crimes against humanity. Through a very emotional case filled with dozens of eyewitness horror stories, Demjanjuk was found guilty and given the death penalty. But, there was an appeal. And then an appeal to an appeal, and a crazy bunch of court madness that took him Israel back to the US and then Germany to stand a second trial. Janet Reno even got involved. Once the Soviet Union Collapsed, thousands of records that may pertain to his case were declassified as the KGB vanished. And that brought a whole new batch of evidence. So, what crimes was he finally convicted of by Germany? How did he only get five years jail time? How did he die before he could ever serve his sentence? What were the full crimes of the notorious Ivan the Terrible? How bad was Treblinka? Who else might have been Ivan the Terrible if it wasn’t Demjanjuk, and what ever happened to that guy? Visit Our Sources: https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/john-demjanjuk-prosecution-of-a-nazi-collaborator https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Demjanjuk https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2020-01-28/demjanjuk-sobibor-nazi-holocaust-death-camp https://www.jpost.com/international/john-demjanjuk-jr-new-pictures-are-not-proof-my-father-was-a-nazi-guard-616059 https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/tv/a29698588/devil-next-door-holocaust-killer-ivan-the-terrible-john-demjanjuk-true-story/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPq0HXWRf48 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Kerch_Peninsula https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_the_Terrible_(Treblinka_guard) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treblinka_extermination_camp https://www.history.co.uk/article/ivan-the-terrible-the-infamous-treblinka-guard http://www.jeffjacoby.com/5609/the-terrible-crimes-of-ivan  

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we celebrate our 500th episode! If you’re looking for a regular episode, this ain’t it! This is a star-studded (well, us three anyway) extravaganza. We walk down memory lane of the past 500 episodes. We share stories, drink whiskey and answer questions from our lovely SKult. What questions, you may be wondering? You guys have separated yourselves from all of the other conspiracy/true crime podcasts (at least in my opinion), what do you think you guys did to get away from others and make your own signature show and culture? What is the most memorable episode you have recorded? What was the worst podcast to research because it was overly sensitive topic or just not a lot out there about the subject? What would happen if Brad actually studied for a topic? I want to start by saying I love the show so there is no shade being thrown here but I wanna know Why is there such a lack of deep research done on a lot of the main individuals lives, specifically the serial killers and cult leaders? It feels almost like I’m just reading the Wikipedia for them...but then I’ll listen to Last Podcast On The Left, who does incredible in-depth research into these peoples parents, childhood, etc...at the end you get a pretty clear idea of where their psychologically at and the events that got them to that point...again I’m not talking shit or anything...just something I noticed that can make the show better than it already is. Are there any episodes that you regret doing and conversely are there any that really inspired you? When did people start sending you whiskey/whisky and why did they start, how did it become a thing? How does it feel when you don’t know someone but they know you because of the podcast and they are excited to meet/talk to you? I assume that this is the time for introspection, and I guess that I should say thanks. I don’t do social media, so the reason I became a Patron was to say thanks Aside from the great episodes I found the early bonus episodes inspiriting. The general attitude in the UK is wanting others to fail so it is refreshing to hear the opposite. In the last few years I have set up a business and generally accepted less bullshit and become a better person. I am sure you influenced that, so thanks. So, if you’re looking for a regular episode where we research and talk about things, skip ahead or skip back. This is a celebration of us making you endure our incessant blathering and dick jokes for the past several years. Cheers, salud, mazeltov, aloha, and à votre santé!

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we get all pandemic on you and talk about Polio. Famous for causing paralysis and death through the first half the century (most notably in the US and UK), this disease goes back to ancient Egypt. Two doctors created different vaccines for the disease in the 1950s and 60s and largely set the path toward the vaccine schedule that is used in modern medicine. However, with that came complications such as the Cutter Incident where the vaccine itself paralyzed kids. And what about the rumors of the vaccine causing cancer or even the new polio like disease spreading in America? Polio is a horrible disease caused by three different viruses. It spreads most notably through the brown highway, aka, the fecal-oral route. The virus does its thing in the intestines, so your poop is filled with Polio if you are infected, and if that somehow makes it into someone’s mouth, well there it is. Though it sounds gross, in areas with natural rivers as water sources, this would be a common spread. It can also spread oral to oral, but that is less likely. Polio is a trip because it can be asymptomatic to symptoms like a cold with bad body aches. Then, for the one percent, it can cause permanent paralysis of muscles and permanent muscle atrophy. It can even kill if it affects someone’s ability to breathe, swallow, or regulate mucus. But two vaccines came to the rescue. The first was invented by Jonas Salk, who created one based on dead Polio virus, and Albert Sabin who created one based on live virus that was mutated to, you know, not kill us. The Sabin style oral vaccine is what the WHO uses to this day, and it does have one side effect which is vaccine bleed. In fact, in recent years, naturally occurring polio has had fewer cases than polio caused by otherwise healthy people who bleed the Polio virus out of their bodies after they got the vaccine. There is also the case of the Cutter Incident, where one lab infected 200,000 Americans with a vaccine that gave them Polio. While Polio is often held up as the ideal disease that a vaccine can cure, many use things like the bleed and the Cutter Incident as a warning of what could go wrong with vaccines. Where do you fall? And is there any trough to the rumors that monkey cells in the early vaccine can cause cancer? Listen, laugh, learn.   Visit Our Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polio https://www.cdc.gov/polio/what-is-polio/index.htm https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/post-polio-syndrome/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1383764/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cutter_Laboratories#The_Cutter_incident https://sciencefeedback.co/claimreview/claim-that-virus-contaminating-polio-vaccine-between-1955-and-1963-is-cancer-causing-not-supported-by-science/ https://www.nationalacademies.org/news/2011/10/more-data-needed-to-determine-if-contaminated-polio-vaccine-from-1955-1963-causes-cancer-in-adults-today https://academic.oup.com/jnci/article/95/7/532/2520688 https://www.sciencehistory.org/historical-profile/jonas-salk-and-albert-bruce-sabin  

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we do some mobster-style true crime and talk about the kingpin of Boston, Whitey Bulger. In the 1970s and 80s, Bulger ran the Winter Hill Gang and was the head of the Irish Mob in the Boston area. This was a title he earned through several wars with the Irish, a deal with the Italians, and a whole lotta bodies. His story was so wild that Martin Scorsese based Jack Nicholson’s character from The Departed on him. Johnny Depp also played him in Black Mass. Whitey was part of MKUltra, supported the Irish Republican Army, and turned his job as an FBI informant on its ear, corrupting the local feds. He managed to escape capture by globe-trotting with his girlfriend for 16 years. Born to two immigrants from Canada, James “Whitey” Bulger was a typical Southie kid from Boston. His father was a longshoreman who lost his arm in an accident and could no longer work. While Whitey’s siblings all did well in school and walked the straight and narrow, he turned to the streets. He was in a gang called the Shamrocks by the age of 14, and in his time with them he was arrested for assault, forgery and armed robbery. Once out of jail, he spent some time in the military but spent as much time in the brig as he did serving his country. At 26 years old, he got arrested for armed robbery while jacking a truck. In prison, he volunteered for the MKUltra project once he found out he’d get paid to take drugs. It didn’t go so well as the LSD took its toll, but eventually he got out. Once free, he found himself in the middle of a war between Irish gangs. He killed the wrong guy, like you do, and escalated things until the Italian mob got involved and settled a peace. This was the birth of the Winter Hill Gang. From there, he raised in the ranks. He did it all. Extortion, theft, armed robbery, murder, anything you can think of that a mafia does, you can bet Whitey did it. Some say his mob was even responsible for the Gardner Museum Heist. Eventually, he became an FBI informant, though he prided himself on serving them weak information in return for favors. In time, he had his two FBI handlers accepting bribes and giving him tips and covering from every crime he committed. In fact, when the entire leadership of the Winter Hill Gang was arrested, Whitey was spared by the FBI and took control of the gang. He ran Boston with a strange code that he had, and he was racist, using terrorist tactics to try and stop desegregation of schools in the 1960s. Eventually, the DEA and local police figured out that the FBI was covering for him, so they build their own case. Whitey’s FBI guys tipped him off, however, and he went on the run for a whopping 16 years. At one point, he even beat Osama Bin Laden on the top 10 most wanted list. So, how did his girlfriend’s boob job help get them caught? Where were they living? How many murders did he get sentenced for? What brutal end did he face at the hands of other mobsters while an old man in jail? How did his own plans to die on the lamb lead to an abandoned mine shaft in Arizona? Listen, laugh, learn.     Visit Our Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitey_Bulger https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9j5I6h8Q-0 https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/30/obituaries/whitey-bulger-dead.html https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/interactive/us/bulger-timeline.html https://themobmuseum.org/notable_names/whitey-bulger/ https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/31/us/james-whitey-bulger/index.html https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/whitey-bulger-juror-regrets-conviction-after-receiving-dozens-letters-crime-n1137871

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we sift through the ashes of a pretty wicked cult that most people have near heard of: The Order of the Solar Temple. The OTS was a group that was loosely based on the beliefs of the Knights Templar with a heavy dash of the Rosicrucians, but after it met with some financial success and had a good base of followers, it was all about brain washing, sex, extortion, and transitioning to the Dog Star Sirius to escape the upcoming apocalypse. Oh, and then there was the time all of the members killed each other and themselves. That’s how you get to Sirius after all… The whole thing started in 1976 when Jo Di Mambro launched the Centre for the Preparation of the New Age. It was a small affair, but soon he had small groups coming to live with him and give him their money. He started a second franchise in Geneva, and a few years later, he met Luc Jouret. Di Mambro recognized that Jouret was even more charismatic than he was, and they partnered up. Di Mambro would be the shot caller behind the scenes, and Jouret would become the face man of the group. Eventually, the groups they had started merged to become The Order of the Solar Temple. They recruited more and more people and accrued more and more wealth. Their beliefs also grew more and more crazy. Eventually, Di Mambro became the reincarnation of Christ, and they were both forcing women to have sex with them as part of their rituals to appease the Jesus sun god. Their con game got more elaborate as they installed projectors, special effects, and holograms into their lodges to help show their miracles to the members of the different “clubs” of their cult. This went south, however. The guy who installed the devices and Di Mambro’s son told the cult about the false miracles. A lot of them bailed, but many stayed behind and doubled down in their belief. And this was when The Transit was born. The Transit was how they would use flame to cleanse their bodies and push their spirits to new reincarnations on a planet orbiting Sirius. They would live in paradise and start a new human race. This, of course, didn’t go so well. So, how many people died in their murder/suicide Transition to Sirius? What was the method of death? What happened to the three month old baby who they said was the antichrist? How man Transits were there for the Order of the Solar Temple? Listen, laugh, learn.   Visit Our Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_the_Solar_Temple https://torontosun.com/news/world/solar-temple-massacre-mystery-endures-25-years-later https://people.howstuffworks.com/10-infamous-cults6.htm https://infosect.freeshell.org/infocult/phenomene/English/HTML/doc0008.htm https://filmdaily.co/news/order-of-the-solar-temple/ https://www.ranker.com/list/order-of-the-solar-temple-cult/amandasedlakhevener https://www.voxspace.in/2018/09/12/order-of-the-solar-temple/  

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we explore the largest art heist in American history, the Gardner Museum Heist. In 1990, thirteen pieces of art were stolen from Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. The grade total? A whopping half $600 million dollars. Just one painting was worth half of that. The FBI thinks it was done by a group of local Irish mobsters, and though the statute of limitations is past, it is still an active case as the FBI hopes to retrieve the art back. The Gardner museum was troubled. The FBI discovered a plot for Whitey Bulger’s Irish mob to rob the place with a storm of smoke bombs. After this, the museum upgraded its security. However, the museum was on hard financial times, and they were limited by the wealthy (deceased) Gardner’s wishes. The museum had to stay as is, no renovations, no exceptions, so every upgrade of security was a breach of this agreement Eventually, some motion sensors and outdoor cameras were installed, but it wasn’t enough. Because on the night of March 18th, two robbers dressed as police men came to investigate “a disturbance” and handcuffed the two night guards to pipes in the basement with tape across their faces. The robbers took their time. They were in the museum for 81 minutes. They tripped motion sensors in two rooms, but somehow, they went back and forth without activating sensors. The FBI still can’t figure that one out. They stole painting from Rembrandt, Degas, and Vermeer. In fact, Vermeer’s painting, The Concert, is considered the most expensive single item ever stolen in the world. So, what happened when a reliable contact came forward wanting to give the paintings back to the Gardner Museum in 1994? How did the FBI learn the identities of the thieves, and why was there never an arrest? What is the connection to the Irish mob? What are the theories about where the art ended up? Why did the robbers take some stuff worth next to nothing but left the most expensive painting hanging up on the third floor? Why do people think the security guard named Rick Abath was involved? Listen, laugh, learn. Visit Our Sources: https://www.gardnermuseum.org/about/theft https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isabella_Stewart_Gardner_Museum_theft https://news.artnet.com/art-world/gardner-heist-suspect-released-prison-1703613 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAxZSdNej-I https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyNdZmrqNFE&list=PLfJ_d5dtb0oG_u6AwgAL8px7X4_LQO_Az&index=39 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyNdZmrqNFE&list=PLfJ_d5dtb0oG_u6AwgAL8px7X4_LQO_Az&index=39 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noX0jW9E6NU https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isabella_Stewart_Gardner https://news.artnet.com/art-world/isabella-stewart-gardner-heist-solved-283368  

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we explore one of the greatest mysteries of the human mind—dreaming. We all dream. Whether we remember it or not, our mind makes us dream several times a night when we get normal sleep. The average person is said to have five years of dreaming in their lifetime. But what are they, where do they come from, and what do dreams mean? Those are hard questions to answer. Experts can’t locate a specific center of the brain that is doing the dreaming. For example, parts of the brain that control imagination are entirely shut down during the dream. Also, the brain does amazing feats of recovery, such as flushing plaque off of neurons and letting the emotional center run wild while the parts that cause stress shut off. The question really becomes why do we do it? One sleep expert named Matthew Walker from Cal Berkeley, says dreams serve two major purposes. One is to give our daily experiences a place in the framework of our lives. By dreaming, our new memories are merged with who we are. Second, dreams take the emotional edge off of bad emotions or tragic events. In the morning, we can often face things with a clear mind and apply logic where only emotion was present the night before. He even talks about Lucid Dreaming (which we covered in our Parasomnia episode) and shows that is 100% a scientifically proven thing. But what about those common dreams we all have? Do your teeth fall out in your dreams? Are you chased by an animal or a person? Are you falling or perhaps flying? What about being naked at work or being late for a test? These are very common to many of us, and we talk about what the experts think these dreams archetypes mean. From recurring dreams to lucid dreams, this one has it all!   Visit Our Sources: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBby0RJw3Dc https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/dreaming https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dream https://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/dreaming-overview https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/55442/12-common-dreams-and-what-they-supposedly-mean https://www.verywellmind.com/understanding-your-dreams-2795935 https://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/why-do-we-dream-matthew-walker-explores-the-theories-behind-nocturnal-fantasias-a3799396.html https://www.foundmyfitness.com/episodes/selectively-remember-dreams https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/media-spotlight/201807/why-children-have-nightmares

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we polish our tiaras and talk about child beauty pageants. They of course made national news with the tragic death of Jonbenet Ramsey in 1996. But after that, they stayed in the forefront of popular culture. HBO’s influential documentary called Living Dolls lead to the TV show Toddlers in Tiaras and the flaming turd filled train wreck that was Honey Boo Boo. Each year, over 250,000 children participate in America alone. From underage prostitutes to 8 year olds getting motel Botox, this one has it all. You would think that beauty pageants for children came from the sick minds of the current generation, but there is in fact a long history. P.T. Barnum organized a kid’s beauty pageant in 1855 called the National Baby Show, and it gained 143 contestants and an audience of over 60,000. This spread to other similar ideas, mostly judging naked babies like cattle. By the 1920s, however, the modern adult beauty pageants was born in New Jersey (of course it was…). From there, the idea of a Little Miss America was spawned, and it hasn’t stopped since. While Jonbenet’s death may have put these horror shows on the map, they had been there all along. There are different types of pageants; some are Natural, where rules are in place about amounts of makeup and outlandish outfits. Others are a Glitz, which are the ones you’re thinking about. Fake teeth, caked makeup, hair like a televangelist prostitute, horrible dances, all the worst of the worst. To get through a big pageant, it’s gonna cost a parent at least $5000, but some may spend as much as $70,000 by the time designer dresses, makeup, travel, and all the rest is calculate. But there are large purses to be won, so it keeps on keeping on. Some say the pageants are a good thing. They breed self confidence and sportsmanship. Others argue they sexualize children and create problems ranging from body dismorphia to eating disorders and big time trust issues when every friend is a competitor likely to throw you under the bus. So, how many pageants are there a year? What types of events do they perform in order to win? How are more recent online pageants judged? What happened to the mom who was self injecting Botox in her own 8 year old daughter in the lobby of a hotel? Listen, laugh, learn.       Visit Our Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_beauty_pageant https://www.thelist.com/136545/the-untold-truth-of-childhood-beauty-pageants/ https://www.bustle.com/articles/183975-whats-the-history-of-child-pageants https://www.thecut.com/2012/11/child-pageant-star.html https://www.moms.com/pageant-child-reasons-should-against/ https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=8128371  

On this episode of The Sofa King Podcast, we travel back to castle times and look at one of the worst crimes the Catholic Church ever committed: The Inquisition. While the Spanish Inquisition is the most famous, there were inquisitions in Rome, Portugal, The New World and tons of colonies in Central and South America. The Inquisition was based on a series of edicts passed by the Catholic church and enforced by local kings and queens. The purpose? To eradicate heretics, supposedly. And who were heretics? Well, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Protestants, those who committed sodomy, families that couldn’t produce children, and many more. In some areas of the world, the Inquisition was pretty mild. The point of the Inquisition was to get heretics to confess, and a few lashes later they were free to go on about their business (as long as the converted to Catholicism or got the hell out of town). But in other areas such as Spain, it got medieval. People were tortured on The Rack, The Catherine Wheel, and the Strappado. They were burned and water boarded. They were imprisoned for years with no real trial, and they were often burned at the stake. Historians vary wildly from this being a pandemic of murder to being a mild case of murder, but death was the result. (Estimates we read were between 1250 and 300,000 deaths…) Spain had it the worst. For one thing, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella just ended a civil war and needed a legal way to get rid of their enemies. Heretics! Second, they needed money to fight a crusade where they would make more money. Heretics! The Inquisition is seen by many as a power grab and last gasp of the old monarchy and papal structure trying to hold on to power. As the world changed, fear of torture and death kept everyone avoiding the change. And for the record, I’m not going to make a “Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition” joke here.   Visit Our Sources: https://www.history.com/topics/religion/inquisition https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Inquisition https://history.howstuffworks.com/historical-figures/spanish-inquisition.htm https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-inquisition https://www.historyrevealed.com/eras/medieval/in-a-nutshell-spanish-inquisition/ https://www.catholiceducation.org/en/controversy/the-inquisition/the-truth-about-the-spanish-inquisition.html https://historycollection.co/snap-crackle-pop-torture-methods-of-the-spanish-inquisition/  

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we look at the stunts, injuries, films, practical jokes, and television shows of the one and only Johnny Knoxville. Knoxville was inspired as a child by Evil Knievel, Jack Kerouac, and Hunter S. Thompson, and he went on to live a life they all would have been proud of. He was the a producer and main performer in the wildly successful Jackass television show, which went on to spawn several films (with yet more in pre-production all the time). He’s been nominated for an academy award and has injured just about every part of his body that exists. Born Philip John Clapp in Knoxville, Tennessee, he was a very smart and sickly child. At one time he had the flu, bronchitis, and pneumonia all at once; on top of his asthma, it literally almost killed him. He got straight A’s in high school and earned a free ride to a drama school, but dropped out to do his own thing. He wanted to be an actor and stunt man, so he found a way. He started by writing articles for Big Brother, a skating magazine. One day, he wanted to write an article about him testing police devices such as pepper spray and tasers. His editor at the time was Jeff Tremaine (later a producer on Jackass). He told him if he was going to write the article, he may as well film it. The rest was history. With a cadre of skateboarders who were all friends, they launched Jackass. Once the pilot was filmed (where Knoxville broke his ankle), they turned to a friend named Spike Jonze (the academy award winning director) to sell the idea. He got them a deal on MTV. After three seasons, they did several movies, each one more dangerous and ludicrous than the last one. Half of the cast became household names, from Steve-O to Pontius and Wee Man to Bam Margera. They stuff cars up their butts, almost died with crazy explosive rockets, and did things nobody could believe. And then they’d come back for more. And more. And more. Eventually, Johnny Knoxville went on to star in regular movies like Walking Tall with The Rock and Men In Black II. He kept going as the head of his own production company, writes books, and is still doing stunts and getting hurt. What was his favorite prank of them all? What was his worst injury? How did he almost with an Oscar for Bad Grandpa? Who died and made the entire stunt crew slow down? Will there be a Jackass 4? Listen, laugh, learn. Visit Our Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Knoxville https://www.ladbible.com/entertainment/viral-celebrity-why-we-dont-see-much-of-johnny-knoxville-nowadays-20170310 https://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-celebrities/actors/johnny-knoxville-net-worth/#:~:text=Johnny%20Knoxville%20Net%20Worth%3A%20Johnny,net%20worth%20of%20%2475%20million. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsKXq8AQTZE https://www.digitalspy.com/tv/ustv/a31114432/jackass-bam-margera-johnny-knoxville-steve-o/ https://www.thetalko.com/johnny-knoxville-15-concealed-facts-about-his-life-and-what-hes-up-to-today/ https://glamourpath.com/johnny-knoxville https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/66347/13-dangerous-facts-about-jackass Pageant Joke: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=W9x0034PyD0&feature=emb_logo Terror Taxi: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaYgv8likRs

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we look at the ultimate merger of science and magic, the ancient art of Alchemy. Everyone knows that Alchemy was an attempt to turn lead into gold using something called the Philosopher’s Stone. But it was much more than that. At the heart of Alchemy was a philosophy or religion about how the world works and how it ties to the nature of mankind. For centuries, they were considered valid scientists, but eventually, a bunch of Alchemical conmen and religious fervor persecuted them. At this point, they went underground and hid their chemical experiments in symbols and crazy works of art that are just being understood by scholars today. Alchemy is an ancient pseudo-science that dates back thousands of years. It was everywhere from India to China to the Middle East and Europe. Some of the greatest minds in science such as Isaac Newton and Robert Boyle were convinced that much of Alchemy was accurate. And it was. For centuries, some of the greatest minds dedicated themselves to chemical experimentation. And yes, they wanted to create gold, but not to get rich. Their philosophy which guided their science was that everything in nature went from an infant or impure state to a more mature or enlightened state. This was the way with holy men, and it was also the way with gold. If they could figure out how to remove impurities and mature a low down metal such as lead, they’d end up with gold. This was spiritual. Because if they could transmute bland metal into gold, they could transmute their soul from sinner to divine. All of the world worked like this to the Alchemist. But, the problem was, it didn’t work like this. Lead isn’t an immature or corrupt version of gold, so their chemical experiments could only get them so far. After a while, everyone believed in it, though, and Alchemists started to promise gold to patrons. They’d get paid, skip town, and do it again. This gave them a bad name, and when real science hit the scene with advances in chemistry, the underlying philosophy of Alchemy was proven incorrect. But, there is a professor named Lawrence Principe who is doing Alchemy today. He has been translate to use old, obscure pictures of dragons eating roosters into chemical formulas. He’s made rocks glow and made golden trees sprout from the sand using these ancient recipes and old materials. So is there something to alchemy, or is it just a failed Neanderthal cousin to modern chemistry? Listen, laugh, learn.   Visit Our Sources https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alchemy https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/alchemy-may-not-been-pseudoscience-we-thought-it-was-180949430/ https://www.livescience.com/39314-alchemy.html https://www.rsc.org/periodic-table/alchemy/what-is-alchemy https://library.brown.edu/exhibit/exhibits/show/evolution-of-chemistry/the-language-of-chemistry/alchemical-symbols-as-secret-c https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2018/01/30/this-chemist-is-unlocking-the-secrets-of-alchemy/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosopher%27s_stone

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we look at the First Family of Wrestling, the Hart Family. Even if you’re not a fan of the WWE, this one has it all. Shocking in-ring death during a pay per view, a massive corporate screw over at a pay per view, a family of amazing wrestlers for several generations, and training in a horrible place called "The Dungeon." We focus mostly on Stu, Brett, and Owen Hart out of this crazy legacy of amazing superstars, but we touch on plenty of other wrestlers as well. The Hart legacy started with Stu Hart. He was born to humble beginnings but soon became a wrestling phenomenon. He performed for various territories until he got tired of bad writing that never saw him going anywhere. Eventually, he got married and took his own wresting territory called Stampede Wrestling, which controlled Western Canada and Montana. Stu Hart made enough money there to buy an infamous mansion. In the basement of the mansion was The Dungeon, one of the most world famous wresting gyms in the world. He trained Chris Jericho, Edge, Christian, Mark Henry, Chris Benoit, Junkyard Dog, British Bulldog, Roddy Piper, Nikolai Volkov, Gorilla Monsoon, and his own sons and daughters. His training philosophy? Pure pain. From that upbringing came Brett “The Hitman” Hart. He rose to fame in the WWF and became the biggest superstar in the world of professional wrestling. He was known as the “Best there is, best there was, and best there ever will be.” Most pro-wrestlers put him in the top three best wrestlers of all time due to his skills and ability to work the crowd. At the peak of his fame, however, WWF was being beaten in the ratings, and they could no longer afford his expensive contract. Vince McMahon convinced him to get a better deal at rival WCW, and he did. On his last night with the WWF, he experience the Montreal Screwjob which resulted in Brett Hart losing his title without his knowledge, him wrecking the joint in a rage, and him knocking Vince out in the locker room. This wasn’t the only horrible thing that happened to a Hart at pay per view. In fact, we’ll get into the tragic story of Owen Hart, Brett’s youngest brother. He had ups and downs in the ring and went through a couple of different territories, but eventually, he found a place in the WWF. When he was flying in on a stunt cable for a pay per view entrance, however, something went horribly wrong. He fell nearly 80 feet and landed in the ring. He was rushed to the hospital and declared dead within a few hours. This was met with lawsuits and controversy. Why did the stunt rigging fail? Why did WWF hire riggers who wouldn’t follow safety protocols? How much did Owen’s widow sue them for, and was she successful? Why did Vince decide to let the pay per view continue, even though it was technically a crime scene? Listen, laugh, learn. Visit Our Sources https://talksport.com/sport/wrestling/699850/bret-hart-vince-mcmahon-wwe-wcw-montreal-screwjob-shawn-michaels/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bret_Hart https://www.brethart.com/bio/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stu_Hart https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hart_wrestling_family https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Owen_Hart https://www.essentiallysports.com/wwe-news-the-mystery-and-controversies-behind-the-death-of-owen-hart/ https://www.cbssports.com/wwe/news/owen-harts-legacy-a-priority-as-martha-harts-wounds-have-healed-though-her-distaste-for-wwe-has-not/ https://www.si.com/wrestling/2019/05/23/wwe-owen-hart-death-20th-anniversary Film: Hitman Hart: Wrestling with Shadows

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we researched some true crime for you. We hit you with the case of Richard Chase—the Vampire of Sacramento. I know that title sounds lame, but this guy was as twisted as it gets. We’re talking making smoothies out of neighbor’s pets in a bloody blender. Injecting himself with rabbit’s blood. Obsession over Nazi UFOs. Several murders, cannibalism, and even drinking a baby’s own blood through a straw made of his own penis. Yeah. That kind of twisted. So, everyone says that Richard Chase was the picture perfect pre-serial killer. He checked all the boxes on a thing called the Macdonald Triad, which supposedly predicts your penchant to be a serial killer. He was an arsonist, he wet his bed late, he tortured and killed animals. He was also abused in a financially troubled household. He was very ill, mentally. As early as 18, his therapists said there was something deeply wrong with him. He would do things such as drop a dead cat at his mom’s feet and disembowel it to start drinking the blood. She, as you do, would just walk away. There was so much writing on so many walls. He was arrested for being naked and covered in blood and carrying organs. He told a neighbor he killed his pet and ate it. The guy was sick. Then, his murders started once pets weren’t big enough. He used a .22 for most of his victims, and would shoot them only to mangle them with knives and have sex with the corpses. He’d also take organs and blood back home to eat and drink and make smoothies with. After a horrible mass killing a mother, her son, her nephew, and a baby she was baby sitting, the manhunt was on. The FBI did a crazy accurate profile of him, and a former high school acquaintance gave a tip that finally got him arrested. His house, like his crime scenes, was a thing of pure horror. I’m not going to type it all here, so if you want more, give us a download and then listen, laugh, learn (and be repulsed…). Warning: This is a bad one.   Visit Our Sources: https://murderpedia.org/male.C/c/chase-richard.htm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Chase https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macdonald_triad https://www.crimemuseum.org/crime-library/serial-killers/richard-trenton-chase/ https://allthatsinteresting.com/richard-chase http://maamodt.asp.radford.edu/Psyc%20405/serial%20killers/Chase,%20Richard%20-%20fall,%202005.pdf

On this episode of the World Famous Sofa King Podcast, we look at the life, music, antics, and tv shows of the epic Ozzy Osbourne. Whether it be through his early time in the legendary Black Sabbath, through his amazing solo career, biting heads off bats (or doves), or his show The Osbournes, most people know the name Ozzy. His work in Black Sabbath created an entirely new type of metal rock and roll, and they crafted some of the greatest rock hits ever. Ozzy continued with hit after hit and drug after drug in his own solo career and lived a life worthy of discussion. He was born to a working class family in Birmingham. His birth name was John Michael Osbourne, but he took the nickname Ozzy as a child. He battled with learning disabilities and dyslexia, and he was sexually abused by other kids as a child, and this led him to hate school, rebel, and start doing drugs. After hearing the Beatles for the first time, he knew his path was going to be that of a musician. But he started in a short career in crime, getting busted for burglary and doing a brief stint in jail. When he got out, he met the other musicians that would set his destiny. He joined a band formed by bass player Terence “Geezer” Butler, guitarist Tony Iommi, and drummer Bill Ward. They called themselves Earth, but had to change the name. They settled, thankfully, on Black Sabbath. This group of musicians changed the face of rock and created the type of metal that ushered in everyone from Metallica to Guns N’ Roses. With hits like Paranoid, Iron Man, and War Pigs, they climbed the charts. And did so many drugs. Eventually, Ozzy was fired for being too wild and had to fly solo. Unlike many front men now without an act, Ozzy excelled. He kept churning out classics and hits. In this period he met Sharon and had his second batch of kids (he had a first wife and first set of kids but wasn’t ever there for them). They, of course, were chronicled in the TV show, The Osbournes. It was the highest rated show on MTV, back when MTV had high ratings. It won an Emmy, and it made a whole different generations and types of people come to love Ozzy. In fact, the show is sometimes credited for giving his darker music a more global audience since they were able to finally see him for the genius that he was after the show humanized him. So what type of drugs did Ozzie do? How many times did he quit music, and why did he always go back? How times did he quit drugs, and why did he always go back? What happened the time he tried to strangle Sharon? Did he really bite the head off a bat and a dove? What is the Ozzy Stare?Did he really dip his balls in a music executive’s champaigne glass? When was he diagnosted with Parkinsons? Is he still recording music? Listen, laugh, and learn.   Visit Our Sources: https://www.biography.com/musician/ozzy-osbourne https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/music/story/2020-02-12/ozzy-osbourne-parkinsons-disease-post-malone https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ozzy_Osbourne https://www.festivalsherpa.com/10-facts-ozzy-osbourne-will-make-jaws-drop/ https://www.factinate.com/people/42-wild-facts-ozzy-osbourne/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Osbournes https://www.pensandpatron.cm/lifestyle/osbourne-family/ Shot in the Dark Ozzy Stare (1:35ish into the video): https://www.facebook.com/RRROCKSTARS/videos/191770758145838/?v=191770758145838  

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we take a look back in time and explore the life, crimes, and assassination of Old West Outlaw, Jesse James. He was forged in the middle of the Civil War, and at the young age of 16, a brutal attack on his family farm made him join a confederate guerilla army along with his brother Frank. While there, they scalped, murdered, and mutilated the Northern forces. This gave them a very particular set of skills, skills which they turned to a life of crime. They joined or formed several of the most notorious gangs of the time, robbing banks, trains, and stagecoaches, murdering, warring with the Pinkertons, and living on the wrong side of the law. Jesse James was born to a wealthy preacher and plantation owner along with his brother Frank and a sister. They lived in a part of the border between North and South that was critical in the Civil War. Their county was rich with slaves, and when the war officially started, both sides committed horrible acts of savagery in this part of the nation. It was here that Frank and Jesse learned to shoot, ride, and be otherwise badass. When the days of the militia and the war wound down, they did not. They started to rob and kill everyone who was associated with the North. Northern trains and banks owned by the “enemy” were the targets. This and a very successful public relations campaign with the newspaper editor named John Newman Edwards gave Jesse James a massive reputation. He was seen by his community to be not a murderer and outlaw but a Robin Hood who was righting the wrongs of the war. But in spite of this public opinion, he did murder. He admitted to killing a little girl and shot people in the head or the back while robbing banks. Eventually, he married his cousin Zee and kept the crime train rolling. Eventually, Jesse and Frank formed the James-Younger Gang, and they became a national sensation. They became so famous that the founder of the Pinkerton Agency came after them directly. Eventually, they tried to retire, but Jesse kept going back to crime. Eventually, he formed a small gang with Charlie and Robert Ford. The Fords were offered a major bribe by the Governor to capture of kill Jesse James, and one day, Robert Ford shot Jesse in the back of the head, assassination style. So, what became of the Ford Brothers after this killing? How much money were they offered? Did Jesse know this was coming? What came of Frank James? How does the modern day car guy tie in to the Jesse James lineage? How did a bomb blow off Jesse James’s mother’s arm? Listen, laugh, learn.   Visit Our Sources: https://www.biography.com/crime-figure/jesse-james https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesse_James https://www.wbur.org/npr/212374395/what-drove-wild-wests-jesse-james-to-become-an-outlaw https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/james-jesse/ https://www.whizzpast.com/25-little-known-facts-about-the-outlaw-jesse-james/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesse_James_(customizer) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Capehart_O%27Kelley  

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we explore some true crime and hit you with the astounding tale of the Sun Gym Gang. This was a gang of bumbling criminals who did some awful stuff to people. It was made into a Michael Bay movie called Pain and Gain starring The Rock, but it was far more dark than that comedy seemed to make it all play out. This one involves a gang of people who met in a gym and their career of kidnapping, torture, drugging their hostages, murder, Medicare fraud, and dressing as ninjas. Yes. Ninjas. So where did it all start? In Florida. A man named John Meese owned the Sun Gym, a place for serious body builders. It was losing money, so he hired a conman named Daniel Lugo who immediately convinced Meese that he should be head manager. While there, Lugo looked for victims and found others who he’d trust to help with his upcoming crimes. People such as Noel Doorbal and Jorge Delgado. They eventually struck gold once they met Marc Shiller. Delgado had bought a scam Medicare billing business off of him and claimed he was owed hundreds of thousands of dollars. So, the gang decided to posse up and kidnapped Shiller. Over the course of several weeks, they tortured Schiller (in his own home) until they got him to sign over a one million dollar offshore account as well as other assets. They took his cars, furniture, computers, and brought them all home to use them. Once they were done with him, they got him drunk and put him at the wheel of a car, figuring he’d wreck and die. He wrecked. He didn’t die. So, like you do, they lit him on fire with gasoline to kill him. He didn’t die and got away. Next crime. Through a stripper contact, they found a guy named Frank Griga and his girlfriend Krisztina Furton. He was wort millions through phone sex. So they abducted both of them and planned to do the same thing. But it got violent, and Griga was killed in a struggle. Furton didn’t fare much better. She was given enough of a horse tranquilizer to kill several horses in an attempt to get her to tell them the security codes of the house. She died before she would. Meanwhile, Schiller recovered, and his story was so crazy that the cops didn’t believe him. He even hired a private eye, but it came to nothing since the cops didn’t help. But, once Griga went missing, and is Lamborghini was found, they took it seriously. The names of Lugo and Doorbal came up in this investigation, and it tied to the Schiller case, and then it all fell apart for the Sun Gym Gang. What evidence did the cops find at the gang member’s houses while putting together the case? How long did they live in house of their first victim? What type of sentences did they all get? How accurate is the movie to the real situation? Why did the first victim end up doing jail time after the trial of his kidnappers? What happened when they tried to decapitate Griga’s corpse with a chainsaw? Will Home Depot take a bloody murder chainsaw back if you have a receipt? Listen, laugh, learn   Visit Our Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_Gym_gang https://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/pain-and-gain-where-the-real-life-sun-gym-gang-characters-are-now-6391577 https://www.cbsnews.com/news/pain-and-gain-the-real-life-story-behind-miamis-murderous-sun-gym-gang/ https://www.historyvshollywood.com/reelfaces/pain-and-gain.php https://nypost.com/2014/04/21/pain-gain-film-subject-sues-for-alleged-misrepresentation/ https://slate.com/culture/2013/04/pain-gain-true-story-fact-and-fiction-in-the-new-movie-starring-mark-wahlberg-photos.html https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_3NjlNqQac https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSubCyUof0A

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we look at the wealthiest man on earth, Jeff Bezos. Originally, a seller of books, Bezos has become our overlord. Most people in America rely on him for everything from groceries and clothing to furniture and even television shows. He runs one of the largest space exploration companies on earth, Blue Origin, and the Amazon servers are one of the largest hosting backbones on earth (even serving the CIA). From the birth of the Internet to controversy about how his workers are treated, this one has it all. Bezos was born to parents who divorced right away, and he was raised by his step father, an immigrant named Bezos. He was a smart child and did very well at school, graduating with top honors from both his high school and Princeton. When he was a teen-ager, he even started a group that was dedicated to space exploration, something he’s still focusing on to this day. He started working for various startups and landed a great job at a financial firm in New York, but in a very ballsy move, he quit and headed to Seattle to start an online bookstore. He figured that the stock market would always be there, but the start of the internet would only happen once. So, he launched out of his garage, showing the website to a group of friends for support. His parents invested a few hundred thousand dollars, and he was off and running. Within three years, Amazon went public, and it slowly grew into the juggernaut it is today. He eventually branched out from selling books to selling CDs and movies, and then went on to streaming to take Netflix on. Eventually, Amazon started to sell almost everything, and by 2018, he had over 100,000,000 Prime members paying their annual dues for free two day shipping and any number of digital services. He started to spend hundreds of millions of his earnings from Amazon (eventually a billion a year) on Blue Origin, a project designed to keep humanity alive and get them to colonize other planets. Eventually, he bought the Washington Post newspaper. Many people think it was to help control his image because at the same time, he quit driving and old car and dressing casually and started to look like a James Bond villain instead. So what is his management style like? What do people say about his personality? Why do some people think he’ll become the first trillionaire? What are the controversies around how he treats his workers? What’s up with his fashion transformation, and how much will it cost for him to send you to space? Listen, laugh, learn   Visit Our Sources: https://www.biography.com/business-figure/jeff-bezos https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Bezos https://www.forbes.com/profile/jeff-bezos/#728b5bf1b238 https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2020/05/14/jeff-bezos-worlds-first-trillionaire-sparks-heated-debate/5189161002/ https://www.bloomberg.com/billionaires/profiles/jeffrey-p-bezos/ https://qz.com/1799608/amazon-ceo-jeff-bezos-finds-new-ways-to-spend-money/ https://www.entrepreneur.com/slideshow/333159 https://www.workandmoney.com/s/jeff-bezos-wealth-facts-1be9a1efeb8b467a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Amazon https://nypost.com/2019/07/13/inside-the-hellish-workday-of-an-amazon-warehouse-employee/  

On this episode of the world Famous Sofa King Podcast, we do a dive into the history of the video game and look at the rise and fall of Atari. The world of video games would not exist without the innovation of Atari. They started the video arcade with the invention of the coin operated video game, and just when that changed all of entertainment for millions of kids in the 70s and 80s, they created the at home video game console. Then there was the time they made the ET video game, considered by many to be the worst there ever was. It was so bad, they buried the unsold copies in a land fill instead of try to sell them. From rock star nerds at the birth of silicon valley to corporate sellouts, Atari had it all. The company was started by two visionaries named Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney. They were computer engineers who would visit campuses like the University of Utah and MIT just to play the video games that only computer engineers could play on the only five computers in America that could run them. Eventually, they realized that making video games end up like pinball machines, where you play for a quarter, they started their quest. Their first game was developed for a company called Nutting Associates. It was a confusing thing called Computer Space. It didn’t sell well and was hard to play. Within a few years, they developed and programmed Pong, and it was a wild hit. It spread through bars and pizza parlors and arcades and made Atari some real money. As processors got cheaper, they made arcade games like Asteroids, Tempest, Missile Command, Centipede, and Paper Boy. But as they drove around collected quarters (yes, they got 50% of the take, so they had to collect in the early days), there were other computer innovations that made home computing cheap enough to afford. Thus, they created the Atari 2600. This console is still considered the most successful gaming console ever. It sold the Atari games, but more importantly, it licensed home version of games made by other companies, like the epic Space Invaders. In fact, Taito’s Space Invaders made Atari sell more sets than any of their own games The other great thing about Atari was that it revenge of the nerds. The engineers and computer programmers in the early days partied like rock stars. There was booze on site, a brigade that voted on marijuana quality, hot tub parties, women coming and going, and even Steven Spielberg wanted them. This was what led to the disaster that was ET, right during the first video game winter. Atari crashed and burned once they were purchased by Warner, but they struggled to stay relevant. Though they still exist, they are shadow of their previous greatness. If you are over 40, you remember them fondly, and if you aren’t, you should do some retro gaming and learn yourself something, young’un!   Visit Our Sources: https://www.ign.com/articles/2014/03/20/ign-presents-the-history-of-atari https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari https://americanhistory.si.edu/blog/2012/04/pong-atari-and-the-origins-of-the-home-video-game.html https://www.npr.org/2017/05/31/530235165/total-failure-the-worlds-worst-video-game https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_video_game_burial https://www.computerhistory.org/revolution/computer-games/16/185 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari,_Inc. https://www.thoughtco.com/history-of-atari-1991225 https://backtothegaming.com/2018/05/11/the-history-of-atari/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqMicrUywSY

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we look at one of the greatest military leaders in human history, Alexander the Great. Alexander was born in the Greek kingdom of Macedonia in 356 B.C. He was the son of a powerful king and queen, and after Game of Thrones type ups and downs, he took Macedonia as king after his father was assassinated. From there, Alexander conquered Greece and moved to India, Egypt, and even Persia (the Middle East). By the time he was 32, he was considered "King of Babylon, King of Asia, King of the Four Quarters of the World." Alexander was born to King Philip II and Queen Olympia. While he was a boy, his father had him trained in everything from music to military, swordsmanship to horsemanship, and even philosophy (at the hands of the one and only Aristotle). By the time he was 16, he formed a cavalry and defeated an until then undefeatable group called the Sacred Band of Thebes. At the age of 19, his father was murdered by his own body guard, and after a brief struggle for power, Alexander was declared king of Macedonia. However, his father’s biggest legacy was a body of joined states called the Corinthian League, and they didn’t bow down to Alexander. Until he made them. One by one, the Greek states fell to Alexander’s army, and even the mighty Spartans joined this new League with Alexander as its head. Once Greece was his, Alexander set his sights at the biggest military target there was—Persia. It was said to be impossible to defeat their massive army, but in just a few years, Alexander had their king Darius III on the run. He next took Egypt and India, and all of Persia, becoming the king of the known world. He established over 70 cities named Alexandria (some of which still exist today with the same name). After his 13 year run of zero defeats in battle, what finally made his army say enough and want to head back? What was his reaction when is enemy Darius III was killed by his own army? What was the story with his mighty horse Bucephalus? Was Alexander the Great truly bisexual? Was he truly a drunk? How did he undo the famed Gordian Knot? Did he conquer more than Genghis Khan did? Listen, laugh, learn.     Visit Our Sources: https://www.biography.com/political-figure/alexander-the-great https://www.history.com/topics/ancient-history/alexander-the-great https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_the_Great https://www.historyhit.com/facts-about-alexander-the-great/ https://www.ancienthistorylists.com/greek-history/top-10-amazing-facts-about-alexander-the-great/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/League_of_Corinth https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellenistic_period  

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we discuss a cult leader (or commune founder?) and spiritual love guru named Father Yod. Yod (pronounced like “load”) was originally named James Edward Baker. James Baker was a very interesting man, if you believe the tales about his past. He was a World War II Marine who allegedly won the Silver Star at the battle Guadalcanal. He killed a man, twice, after the war. He was friends with Jack Lalane and the guy who founded Dr. Brag’s amino acid and vinegar company. All this lead to him being one of the most influential people in Los Angeles in the 1960s and 1970s and a cult called The Source Family. James Baker left his family to move to LA and become a stunt man. It didn’t work, and he found himself hanging out with hippies and beatniks. Allegedly, he robbed two banks and made the money to open a restaurant called The Source. The Source was the first vegetarian/health food restaurant to ever open in LA. It was a massive success ($10,000 a day) and attracted movie stars and film producers. Many say it set the course of LA cuisine and made it the healthy, kale loving city it is today. Baker had studied yoga under the famous Yogi Bhajan. He started to teach at his restaurant and attracted a following of his own. Next thing you know, he’s renamed Father Yod. He starts to recruit young girls, and he makes so much money in his restaurants that he buys a mansion and starts a love commune. Or a cult. Hard to say. A documentary of footage from their own cameras paints a picture of a commune that shares and doesn’t have the typical heavy-handed cult leader. But, the group had influence on the film, so it could just be propaganda? There was sex, multiple wives, crazy beliefs, indoctrination, underage brides, and all the stuff you expect from a cult, but it never got cult dark. Whatever this thing was, Father Yod left a major impression on LA, and to this day his people love him and keep their crazy cult names.   Visit Our Sources: https://filmdaily.co/obsessions/true-crime/the-source-family/ https://gizmodo.com/how-the-source-family-turned-sex-drugs-and-rock-n-ro-1563127606 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Father_Yod https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Source_Family https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/xd4wv7/source-family-rises-again https://www.ranker.com/list/source-family-cult-facts/drew-grant https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/wtf/the-truly-bizarre-story-of-father-yods-cult/news-story/95e5136dd4cd65b2417064a082987c39 https://laist.com/2019/11/29/source_family_restaurant_vegetarian_dinner_gratitude_kitchen_dec_5.php http://venetic.co/ImGonna.html https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8MsHfReCQc  

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we travel back in time and look at a little known cult slash political revolt known as the Münster Rebellion. Back in Castle Times, the German city of Munster became home to a group of three men (Bernhard Rothman, Jan Matthys, and John of Leiden) who staged a coup against royalty and the Roman Catholic Church in 1535. They threw out the Bishop and the city council, and they replaced the town with their own communist, pacifists, polygamist sect known as the Anabaptists. This devolved quickly, and involved orgies, a brutal siege that lead to a siege, starvation, cannibalism, torture and beheadings. So many beheadings. The backdrop to this madness was a time in European history known as the Protestant Reformation. It was when the stranglehold of the Catholic church was broken by people like Henry VIII and Martin Luther. Once there were religious power vacuums, new ideas spread like wildfire. In fact, many historians liken the Anabaptist religion to a hydra with heads springing up everywhere. The first head belonged to a guy named Melchior Hoffmann, who advocated communal living (a huge no-no to the landed aristocracy) and religious freedom (a huge no-no to the Catholic Church). He was arrested for his crazy thoughts, but his ideas had already taken root in the fertile soil of chaos that was Europe. Cut to Münster. Here, the priest Bernhard Rothman basically took over the city by replacing everyone in power with a friendly Anabaptist. Even the Prince Bishop had to leave. In this power vacuum, a man named Jan Matthys took control. He moved to Münster because he had heard there were religious freedoms there. He quickly took over with his charisma. He banned private property, established a communal living situation, and wen tot war with the banished Bishop who put the city under siege. Now, Matthys had himself a vision that on Easter Sunday, his Lord God would make everything right, so he and a couple dozen men stormed the army waiting outside of town. They were captured, and he was beheaded and had his testicles nailed to the city gate. In this new power void a man named John of Leiden took over. He went buck wild. He forced all women to marry (which lead to polygamy since they outnumbered men three to one). He forced people to become Anabaptist or starve and get none of the communal pot. He cut heads off for laughing at him, not converting, and even killed one of his sixteen wives for telling him she didn’t want the stolen jewelry John gave her. The city starved while John and his boys partied, until eventually, the Bishop stormed the city and took it back. What horrible fate did John meet (trust me, it was worse than genitals nailed to a door)? How long did this siege last? How did the Bishop afford an army and a lengthy siege? What happened to the Anabaptists after this Munster Rebellion? Why to people compare the Muster Rebellion to formation of the Islamic State today? Listen, laugh, learn.   Visit Our Sources: https://www.thelocal.de/20180503/muenster-theocracy-history-anabaptists https://www.thelocal.de/20140328/16th-century-mayhem-in-muenster-with-jan-van-leiden-expat-dispatches-the-local-germany https://www.danceshistoricalmiscellany.com/munster-rebellion-creation-16th-century-theocracy/ https://medium.com/interesting-histories/interesting-histories-munster-rebellion-85513768fd5c https://www.huffpost.com/entry/the-islamic-state-the-mue_b_6748368 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%BCnster_rebellion https://www.history.com/topics/reformation/reformation  

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we look at Woodstock. Not only was it the most important music festival ever, it set the tone and soundtrack of an entire generation. It helped the nation stop thinking of hippies in so bad a light, and it created the careers of several of the largest musical acts of the era. What started as a music festival that was supposed to make people a lot of money and attract upwards of 50,000 people, became a free hippie love fest of a half a million people that bankrupted the concert planners. When four guys in the music industry decided to have a music festival in New York state, they named their new group after an area where musicians like Bob Dylan would play—an area known as Woodstock. They started looked for large areas of open land that could house their enormous dream, and they settled on Howard Mills Industrial Park in Wallkill, New York. The people of the town, however, voted against the dirty hippies and shut it down with only 6 weeks left to plan. The guys instead found a 600 acre dairy farm owned by Max Yasgur. The crew scrambled to get things ready. They decided they either had time to build a stage and a lighting tower or build a fence and ticket counters. They decided on the stage, which was a good thing. Soon, before the festival even stared, 50,000 people stormed the gates, and made Woodstock a free festival. Within days, a ten mile stretch of highway was filled with abandoned cars. The entire city nearby was shut down as half a million hippies flocked to the show. An estimated half a million more went the other way and headed back home when they encountered the traffic jam to beat all traffic jams. The acts had to be flown in by the national guard. Janis Joplin, Joan Baez, Santana, The Grateful Dead, Credence Clearwater Revival, Sly and the Family Stone, The Who, Jefferson Airplane, Joe Cocker, and Jimi Hendrix just to name a few! But it wasn’t the dream concert some people make it out to be. Raw sewage merged with rain water and the floor around the stage was a dung filled mud pit. It took an hour to get to the bathroom. There was hardly any food because no regular food vender would work there, and two of the three original food stalls got burned to the ground in anger when they raised hot dog prices. Security was mostly comprised of a guy named Wavy Gravy and his workers from a hog farm co-op. They enforced the law by throwing pies at people and hitting them squirts of seltzer water. Like you do. Everything was laced with drugs, and people were roofied left and right. There was dope, sex, acid, music, sex, skinny dipping, more dope, more sex, music, and mud and sex and music. If you want to get nostalgic for the 60s, turn on, tune in, drop out, listen, laugh, and learn.   Visit Our Sources: https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2019/08/woodstock-50-photos-1969/596107/ https://www.woodstock.com/ https://www.history.com/topics/1960s/woodstock https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodstock https://www.aier.org/article/woodstock-occurred-in-the-middle-of-a-pandemic/ https://allthatsinteresting.com/woodstock-festival-1969 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAGVGNWQ2Hc  

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we explore a little known mass hallucination event in a small town in France. It was August 15, 1951, in the small town of Pont-Saint-Esprit in southern France. Roughly 300 people fell ill, including 50 people sent to insane asylums and 7 deaths. Theories range from ergot poisoning to tainted bleached bread, but the best of all links it to the CIA’s MK Ultra mind control program and the use of LSD. So, what happened in Pont-Saint-Esprit? The morning of August 15, people started to fall ill, and the waiting rooms at all doctor offices were at capacity. At first, the symptoms were basic stuff like nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. Then the symptoms got strange—mass insomnia, and people started to smell like dead mice. Then? The whole village went plumb crazy. Journalists on the scene recorded a staggering amount of hallucinations. For example, one man shouted to his room-mates “I’m dead! My head is made of copper and I have snakes in my stomach!” A girl thought she was being attacked by tigers, and a man nearly died after jumping in a river to drown his belly full of snakes. Another guy was being chased by bandits with donkey ears. You get the picture. So, how did this happen? The French Government investigated and came up with a lot of theories such as poisoning by the ergot fungus (known in history to have caused mass hysteria such as the Salem Witch Trials). They also pointed to a chemical called Panogen used to clean wheat containers and even a tainted water supply. Interestingly, the government failed to consider the source of the grain itself, which is the first conspiracy. You see, the French government controlled the supply of grain, so they didn’t want to blame themselves. More recently, a scholar named Steven Kaplan wrote a book and concluded it was due to illegal chemical bleach poisoning by the baker who tried to make the flour as white as possible. However, the big doozy is from journalist Hank P. Albarelli Jr. He started to study the suicide of the CIA’s Doctor Frank Olson. This led him down a rabbit hole of MKULTRA and something called MKNAOMI, both of which involved the creators of LSD, a major chemical factory near the town, and typical CIA tomfoolery. If you like a good CIA cover up, this is the episode for you. Visit Our Sources: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-10996838 http://www.tootlafrance.ie/features/the-idyllic-french-village-that-went-insane https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/558020/pont-saint-esprit-france-1951-bread-poisoning-mass-hallucinations https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1951_Pont-Saint-Esprit_mass_poisoning https://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/24/arts/24iht-blume.1.14718462.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_MKNAOMI https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/qbw8vv/the-great-french-acid-trip-1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidney_Gottlieb  

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we look at the life, laughs, and legacy of one of the greatest comedians of all time—George Carlin. Carlin was made most famous for his “7 Dirty Words” set. It got him arrested and made him fight the FCC all the way to the supreme court. He took on the mantle of the vulgar prophet, a man who would cut society and humanity to the quick but do it with a laugh. From cocaine heart attacks to Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, George Carlin had a hell of a run. He was born in New York to a mother who left his drunken father to raise two boys by herself. He did well in school due to his sharp intellect but was kicked out due his bad attitude, and eventually dropped out before he could graduate. After a stint in the Air Force (where he was courts-martialed three times!), he took to work at the local radio station. He teamed up with Jack Burns, and they started a funny radio hour which was successful enough for them to get picked up by a bigger station in LA. From there, they made an album together, and Carlin started to hone his stand-up routine. He played a more traditional role, wearing a suit and staying clean, until he was discovered by the first shock comedian, Lenny Bruce. Bruce helped mentor Carlin, and they even got arrested together for Bruce’s vulgarity on stage. Eventually, Carlin changed his act. Instead of a suit and standard material, he wore jeans and a tee shirt with a beard and long hair. This was the 60s after all. His manager warned that he’d lose 90% of his business, and he did, but eventually he rebounded even better as his true, cut throat self. He performed the epic “7 Dirty Words” bit that go him arrested. A radio station played the bit from his record, and they had to fight all the way to the supreme court as a result. In his comedy, George Carlin was known to be anti-government, anti-religion, anti-corporation, anti-humanity, pro critical thought, pro-independence, and pro cocaine. His bits are still some of the funniest, most shocking and honest assessments of all of the human condition, and if you haven’t listened to him much, you need to do so. Right after you download this episode and listen to it first, that is… Visit Our Sources: Your Rights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gkjWxCl6zE https://www.biography.com/performer/george-carlin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Carlin https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/george-carlins-shocking-prescience-on-the-nights-before-911 https://www.motherjones.com/media/1997/03/george-carlin/ https://georgecarlin.com/ https://www.npr.org/transcripts/120502583 https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/George_Carlin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_dirty_words

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we take a look at a very unique crime lord, the so-called Queen Pin of crack cocaine, Jemeker Thompson. She was overlooked by the competition and the feds since women didn’t deal drugs on that scale, but she is said to have been in control of virtually all crack coming in to South Central LA in the 1980s during their crack epidemic. Jemeker was born to a poor, single mother in South Central. She had five siblings. One fateful day, they all came home to find they had been evicted from their apartment. She looked at all her worldly possession sitting on the lawn and had no place to live. This lack of money and control set her on a path of greed and cunning. By high school, she was a talented enough runner to be training for the 1984 Olympics. At her meets she met a low end pot dealer named Anthony "Daff" Mosley. They fell in love, and she started to sell his pot in her high school. Eventually, she got addicted to the money and thrill and told Duff they needed to switch to cocaine. He refused. She didn’t. And the Queen Pin was born. She eventually learned how to make crack cocaine and shifted their business to this new drug. The first day, she sold half a key from her mother’s window. The next day, a full key. Within a week, she was selling multiple kilograms a day. They got rich fast. I’m talking, they moved into Michael Jackson’s neighborhood rich. (But only after Duff cheated on Jemeker, and she shot at him. It was an apology house.). It reached a point where everyone knew that they were the key to crack in LA and eventually most parts of the nation. Someone decided to shut them down by murdering Duff at a craps game. But he wasn’t in charge, and the empire just grew. What did Jemeker do to launder her money? How come her laundering business became successful enough for her to get out of the drug game (though she didn’t)? What happened with a courier was busted with 30 keys of coke on the way to Vegas? Did the CIA help her from getting arrested? What finally brought her down, and how did she go from the queen of crack and hair extensions to a minister? Listen, laugh, learn. Visit Our Sources: https://www.biography.com/crime-figure/jemeker-thompson https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jemeker_Thompson https://www.sunsigns.org/famousbirthdays/d/profile/jemeker-thompson/ https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F3/126/1032/497938/ https://listverse.com/2014/09/12/10-of-the-richest-and-most-powerful-female-crime-lords-ever/

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we take a look at some true crime and investigate the disappearance of Madeline McCann. Madeline was a three year old British girl who was with her family on vacation in Portugal in 2007. While she slept alongside her two year old twin brother and sister, her parents ate tapas and partied at a restaurant on the other side of the pool. Several hours later, when the parents came to check on them, Madeline was famously missing. So, what happened? There is a lot of speculation about that. What is known is that the three children were asleep with the parents, Kate and Gerry McCann went to dinner and drinks. They checked on the sleeping kids from time to time. At one point, the father found them to be asleep but noticed their bedroom door wasn’t where it was when he last checked. At another point, a friend checked on them but didn’t bother going as far as the bedroom to actually look at the kids. Eventually, at 10:20 PM, Kate went in and found Madeline missing. She sounded the alarm, and the entire resort staff started searching and calling her name. The police came, and then some other ones came, and they did an investigation. But, the investigation was botched. The crime scene was left open and therefore corrupted, and basic things like locking down the town or doing a door to door search happened hours or days too late. There was a sighting called the Tanner Sighting which pointed police in a direction (which proved to be the wrong direction). What are the theories of missing Madeline? One biggie that the Portuguese police pursued was that the parents did it. They either gave Madeline a sedative to sleep through their party, and gave her too much, or they left her alone she met some accident in the apartment. They hid the body and covered it up. But then there are other disturbing theories—pedophiles took her and killed her; she was sold into slavery; or she woke up and wandered off and died. Either way, the family spent a ton of money keeping their daughter’s name and face in the press, and the investigation is still going. If you want to know what we think happened, you’ll have to download and dig it! Visit Our Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disappearance_of_Madeleine_McCann https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/madeleine-mccann-disappearance-latest-what-happened-scenarios-a8632886.html https://www.biography.com/crime-figure/madeleine-mccann https://allthatsinteresting.com/madeleine-mccann https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/madeleine-mccann-suspect-martin-ney-paedophile-police-investigation-a8900256.html