In the 1980s and 90s, Satan and his followers were accused of brainwashing children, sacrificing babies, and infiltrating North American society on a massive scale — yet these thousands of alleged Satanists were nowhere to be found. Even so, the narrative became embedded in our cultural memory, warping everything it touched — including the lives of innocent people… And it never quite died out.
In a new 8-part series, Sarah Marshall (You’re Wrong About) explores the tangled web of the Satanic Panic, in a journey that will take you everywhere from Victoria, B.C. to rural Kentucky to San Antonio, Texas. This is a show about the people who experienced the Satanic Panic in real-time — the believers, the skeptics, the bystanders, and the wrongfully-convicted. What was it like to be a psychologist told to look for Satanists in every case; a mother slowly recovering memories of supposed Satanic abuse; a teenager accused of conspiracy to murder? The stories of these eyewitnesses point us toward the real underlying problems — individual and societal — that the Panic was a response to. The fault, as ever, was not with Satanists, but in ourselves.
You can find more episodes of The Devil You Know wherever you get your podcasts, and here: https://link.mgln.ai/TDYKxHW
A murder victim with multiple identities. A criminal on the run from his past. Dirtbag Climber from Uncover is a five-part podcast series investigating the unsolved homicide of “Jesse James,” a “dirtbag” rock climber found dead in Squamish, British Columbia, Canada. Local reporter Steven Chua dives into the case, determined to find answers. Along the twisted way, he tracks a stranger-than-fiction story that criss-crosses North America, unveiling a stunning portrait of an enigmatic con artist — a troubling victim whose twisted life story foreshadowed the darkest digital undercurrents of our time. More episodes of Dirtbag Climber are available at: https://link.mgln.ai/dc-hw
What does a reporter do when they receive a cold call from one of the most horrific serial killers in Canadian history?
The killer: Clifford Olson, who murdered at least eleven children in the 1980s. The reporter: Arlene Bynon, who recorded her jailhouse calls with Olson for years.
Alongside legendary journalist Peter Worthington, Arlene spent hundreds of hours on the phone with Olson. It was kept secret from his prison guards; he wasn't allowed to speak to the media.
In Calls From a Killer, from CBC’s Uncover, Arlene unearths secrets that have been buried for decades.
More episodes of Calls from a Killer are available at: https://link.mgln.ai/dTCt1x
Gareth’s whole life has been defined by a relationship he had 35 years ago when, as a 14-year-old schoolboy, he fell in love with an attractive young teacher at his school. He spent most afternoons in her bedroom and thought he was the luckiest boy in the world. But when she walked out of his life everything started to unravel.
Lucky Boy is a new four-part series from Tortoise Media in which Chloe Hadjimatheou asks who gets to be a perpetrator and a victim. Click here to listen to the rest of the series or search for Lucky Boy wherever you listen to podcasts.