True Weird Stuff

True Weird Stuff

True Weird Stuff is the award-winning podcast hosted by Sheri Lynch.  Surprising, odd, bizarre - and sometimes insane. Always true. Let us tell you a story…

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True Weird Stuff
Revisiting Beavers On The Moon

Today's True Weird Stuff - Revisiting Beavers On The Moon

 

Claims that the Apollo 11 moon landing was a hoax have existed for decades. Meet the grandaddy of moon landing conspiracy theories, Bill Kaysing. He believed the Apollo Moon landings between 1969 and 1972 were faked. However, this isn't the only lunar conspiracy...The Great Moon Hoax of 1835 went as far as to trick people into believing that animals lived on the moon.

01:11:28
Apr 24, 2026 11:0 PM
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True Weird Stuff
Amelia's SOS
 

Today's True Weird Stuff - Amelia's SOS

 

In 1937, the world was told that Amelia Earhart simply vanished — swallowed whole by the Pacific, leaving nothing behind but silence. But what if there wasn’t silence? What if, in the days after her disappearance, faint and frantic distress calls crackled through the static? Amateur radio operators claimed they heard her pleading for help. A warship reported similar transmissions. And yet, history brushed them aside as hoaxes.

01:37:54
Apr 18, 2026 5:36 AM
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True Weird Stuff
Revisiting Tripping Johns

Today's True Weird Stuff - Revisiting Tripping Johns

 

One of our first episodes of True Weird Stuff was about the CIA dosing unsuspecting men with LSD and luring them to surveillance brothels. We're doing something a little different in this episode; we're providing live commentary as we listen back to "Tripping Johns."
 
00:44:00
Apr 11, 2026 12:36 AM
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True Weird Stuff
Revisiting Talking To Heaven

Today's True Weird Stuff - Revisiting Talking To Heaven

 
What happens when we die? Are you a person who believes that we flicker into and out of existence like earthbound fireflies, here and then gone? Or maybe you believe in an eternal soul that recycles itself lifetime after lifetime? What if you could know, what if you did know what happens when we die? In this episode, you’ll hear from internationally acclaimed spiritual medium James Van Praagh.
 
00:54:01
Apr 3, 2026 11:0 PM
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True Weird Stuff
Killer Ouija Board

Today's True Weird Stuff - Killer Ouija Board

 

Some say the Ouija board is just a game. A toy. A harmless way to pass the time. But in 1933, Dorothea Turley—once celebrated as America’s ideal of beauty—found herself trapped in a life she no longer wanted. Isolated, restless, and searching for answers, she turned to a Ouija board. What she got back was a sinister command: kill your husband.

01:24:09
Mar 28, 2026 4:9 AM
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True Weird Stuff
Cursed Bread

Today's True Weird Stuff - Cursed Bread

 

In 1951, a quiet French village descended into chaos after people began hallucinating, screaming about monsters, and even jumping from windows—all after eating bread. Officially blamed on contaminated grain, the case took a darker turn when connections to CIA LSD experiments and the mysterious death of a government scientist surfaced. Was this a tragic accident… or a secret test on an entire town?
 
01:41:31
Mar 21, 2026 9:58 PM
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True Weird Stuff
The Jumper

Today's True Weird Stuff - The Jumper

 

On November 28, 1953, a man crashed through a tenth-floor window at New York City’s Hotel Statler. His name was Frank Olson — a scientist working on some of the most disturbing top-secret programs of the Cold War. Days earlier, the CIA had secretly dosed him with LSD. The official story? A troubled man had a breakdown and jumped. But decades later, new evidence raised a terrifying possibility: Frank Olson didn’t jump...he was thrown.
 
01:11:12
Mar 14, 2026 3:49 AM
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True Weird Stuff
Open Wide

Today's True Weird Stuff - Open Wide

 

In the early 1900s, psychiatrist Dr. Henry Cotton claimed he could cure mental illness by removing hidden infections in the body. His theory led to a shocking medical practice at the New Jersey State Hospital for the Insane in Trenton—patients had all of their teeth pulled, tonsils removed, and even parts of their intestines surgically removed in an attempt to eliminate bacteria believed to cause insanity.  What started as a revolutionary medical theory quickly spiraled into one of the most disturbing chapters in psychiatric history.

01:34:09
Mar 7, 2026 12:0 AM
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True Weird Stuff
Scarlett Sisters

Today's True Weird Stuff - Scarlett Sisters

 
Born into Southern privilege, sisters Ada and Minna Simms escaped violent marriages, stumbled into show business, and eventually pivoted into running what became the most luxurious brothel in America. The Everleigh Club catered exclusively to millionaires, politicians, gangsters, and royalty. Ada and Minna transformed prostitution into an elite, curated luxury experience that also brought controversy to their front door.
 
01:29:38
Feb 28, 2026 6:21 AM
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True Weird Stuff
Jeffrey Epstein, Vampire

Today's True Weird Stuff - Jeffrey Epstein, Vampire

 

How do you build a conspiracy theory? Start with a villain. Add power. Stir in mystery. True Weird Stuff examines the internet's bizarre claim that Jeffrey Epstein is an immortal vampire who once lived as President Andrew Jackson. We trace the ingredients: the suspicious timing of press releases, strange digital footprints after Epstein’s death, the uncanny resemblance to the face on the $20 bill — and society's refusal to accept an unsatisfying ending.

01:29:58
Feb 21, 2026 4:58 AM
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True Weird Stuff
Swing Your Partner

Today's True Weird Stuff - Swing Your Partner

 

From 17th-century folk traditions to 20th-century propaganda, the square dance traveled a long road before landing in your elementary school gym. What looks like homespun Americana hides a secret: a powerful man’s fear that jazz was a threat to white America. Sometimes the most wholesome traditions carry the darkest fingerprints.
 
01:28:10
Feb 15, 2026 12:43 AM
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True Weird Stuff
Chronovision

Today's True Weird Stuff - Chronovision

 

In 1972, a Vatican priest claimed he built a machine that could watch past events like a television...everything from ancient Rome to the crucifixion of Christ. Father Pellegrino Ernetti called his invention the Chronovisor, and Ernetti claimed the Vatican saw the machine, feared it, and hid it away forever. The Chronovisor promised answers that no religion or government could survive. Was it the greatest secret ever buried, or a warning about wanting proof too badly?

01:22:40
Feb 7, 2026 12:0 AM
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True Weird Stuff
Internal Sunshine

Today's True Weird Stuff - Internal Sunshine

 

William J.A. Bailey wasn’t a doctor, but he convinced the public to trust him anyway—selling radium-laced water as a cure for nearly everything. One of those believers was Eben Byers, a wealthy athlete who drank more than a thousand doses, slowly poisoning himself until his jaw disintegrated and his skull began to rot before his death. The death of Eben Byers forced the world to finally confront the cost of pseudoscience that goes unchecked.
 
01:28:18
Jan 31, 2026 12:0 AM
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True Weird Stuff
The Perfect Baby

Today's True Weird Stuff - The Perfect Baby

 

In 1919, a toddler known as one of America’s “Perfect Babies” vanished from his New Jersey home. Searchers scoured the woods. Accusations spread. Theories multiplied. When his remains were found deep in the swamp, they answered nothing. The disappearance and death of 2-year-old Billy Dansey spun a web of fear, superstition, prejudice, and failed justice.

01:23:59
Jan 24, 2026 12:0 AM
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True Weird Stuff
Lynnewood Hall

Today's True Werid Stuff - Lynnewood Hall

 

Lynnewood Hall was built as a monument to wealth, power, and permanence—an American Versailles, commissioned by the Widener family, meant to last for generations. But tragedy struck the Widener family at the height of their fortune, tying the mansion forever to the sinking of the Titanic and a grief no amount of money could undo. As decades passed, the house was stripped, sold, misused, and left to decay, becoming a silent witness to hubris, loss, and the slow collapse of a gilded dream.

01:15:36
Jan 17, 2026 12:0 AM
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True Weird Stuff
Tiny Pedro

Today's True Weird Stuff - Tiny Pedro

 

In 1932, a prospector blasting for gold in Wyoming uncovered something no one expected: a tiny mummified human seated upright in a cave. Scientists examined it. Crowds paid to see it. And then—like so many pieces of ancient history—it disappeared. Join us as we uncover the legend of Tiny Pedro.

01:09:13
Jan 10, 2026 12:0 AM
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True Weird Stuff
The Award Winning "Doomsday Clock"

Today's True Weird Stuff - The Award Winning "Doomsday Clock"

 

True Weird Stuff is currently on hiatus, but Sheri and Max will be back with a brand new episode next week. Until then, we present to you another one of their award winning episodes. Winner of two Signal Awards for best history episode and best editing, "Doomsday Clock" explores the origins of the clock, and its lingering flirtation with striking midnight.

01:31:08
Jan 3, 2026 12:0 AM
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True Weird Stuff
The Award Winning "Once Upon A Shroom"

The Award Winning "Once Upon A Shroom"

 

Sheri and Max have placed True Weird Stuff on hiatus through the holiday season. Today, we present to you another one of their award winning episodes. Winner of a W3 Award for best history episode, Once Upon A Shroom dives into the story of the man who popularized shrooms in America.

01:20:27
Dec 27, 2025 12:0 AM
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True Weird Stuff
The Phantom Killer

Today's True Weird Stuff - The Phantom Killer

 

In 1946, the twin cities of Texarkana were gripped by terror; an unknown person began attacking couples in the night, murdering five people over the course of weeks. As the murders mounted, fear and paranoia consumed the community. Despite an exhaustive investigation fueled by endless false tips, bogus confessions, and hundreds of possible suspects, the actual perpetrator was never found. They'd vanished without a trace and will forever be known as the Phantom Killer.

01:35:46
Dec 13, 2025 12:0 AM
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True Weird Stuff
Road Zoo

Today's True Weird Stuff - Road Zoo

 

As cars and family road trips exploded across America in the early 20th century, hundreds of mom-and-pop zoos sprang up along the highways, promising exotic animals, cheap thrills, and quick profits. But behind the quirky billboards and hand-painted signs, many of these zoos operated with little to no oversight. Lax regulations opened the door for questionable practices: cramped cages, animal mistreatment, and even the smuggling of dangerous species that sometimes resulted in serious injuries—or worse.
 
 
01:25:27
Nov 22, 2025 12:0 AM
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True Weird Stuff
The Fall of Fatty

Today's True Weird Stuff - The Fall of Fatty

 

In 1921, Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle was one of Hollywood’s biggest stars—beloved, bankable, and untouchable. But a wild party at San Francisco’s St. Francis Hotel changed everything. When young actress Virginia Rappe fell mysteriously ill and later died, Arbuckle was accused of murdering her, igniting one of the first major celebrity scandals in American history. The tabloids turned the tragedy into a feeding frenzy, but the truth of what really happened that night remains murky over a century later.
 
01:34:51
Nov 15, 2025 12:0 AM
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True Weird Stuff
Gorillas in the Myth

Today's True Weird Stuff - Gorillas in the Myth

 

Long before Bigfoot roamed through modern folklore, there was another giant said to haunt the jungles. For centuries, explorers called it a monster, a savage man-beast that couldn’t possibly exist. Then one day, proof was uncovered. From cryptid legend to reality, this is the tale of the gorilla and its emergence from the mythical shadows.

01:14:21
Nov 8, 2025 3:12 AM
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