In the 1970s, several people came forward to claim that they had been high-ranking members of a Satanic cabal - the Illuminati. These stories would become wide-spread, and extremely influential. But was there anything to them, or were these just the lies of scammers and con men looking to make a buck and get famous?…

In September of 1983, when the world was one mistake away from complete and utter nuclear devastation, a Korean airliner was headed towards Soviet airspace, and towards disaster. But why did it happen? The answer, as you would no doubt expect at this point, is complicated...By Kuhnle, Papayanis, Radke

In the late 1960s, a Soviet nuclear missile submarine went missing in the Pacific Ocean. The American government wanted those missiles. But how could they possibly grab a massive submarine from the bottom of the ocean without the Soviets finding out? The answer, as you probably would suspect by now, is complicated and a little ridiculous...…

You have something extremely valuable that powerful people are trying to gain access to - your mind. On this episode, Nathan and Lee discuss the nature and dangers of social media manipulation, and Lee interviews an expert on disinformation.By Kuhnle, Papayanis, Radke

Nathan has a quick announcement for everyone...By Kuhnle, Papayanis, Radke

Satan is showing up in more and more conspiracy theories these days, and so Nathan decided it was time for some old-fashioned Bible study. On this episode, special guest pod person Professor Jon Zeyl drops in for a discussion of three books from the Old Testament, and how maybe things are a bit more confusing and complicated than we think (as alway…

How do reality and fiction influence each other? On this episode, Lee and Nathan get philosophical as they discuss the importance of stories and the differences between real life and imagination, then they get irritated and angry while talking about the ways in which scammers try to blur fiction and reality in order to rip off vulnerable people.…

Time to clean out the junk drawer... this time, Lee picks out a story of an American president using an astrologer to make important decisions during a very dangerous time in history, and Nathan discusses the international scandal of the F-104 Starfighter (aka the "Widowmaker").By Kuhnle, Papayanis, Radke

In 2022, an attempt was made by a secret group to overthrow the German government and replace it with a new version of the old monarchy. On this episode, Lee examines this event and its implications.By Kuhnle, Papayanis, Radke

The French Revolution was a violent and shocking rearrangement of an ancient society. Was it the hand of the Illuminati that was pulling the lever of the guillotine? The answer (as you would almost certainly guess) is sort of complicated. Also, it involves a very fancy and expensive necklace. And a volcano.…

In 1776, a secret society was formed in Bavaria. They had plans to infiltrate positions of power, and take over the world. On this episode, Lee and Nathan look at the goals and methods of the Illuminati. Also, they make fun of college professors, which is surprisingly relevant to this story...By Kuhnle, Papayanis, Radke

A tall gaunt man with a long beard and flowing robes stares into a crystal ball to try to communicate with supernatural beings in order to understand the nature of the cosmos. What does he find? Well, it gets dangerous, weird and more than a little awkward...By Kuhnle, Papayanis, Radke

It's been over a decade since Lee and Nathan started studying conspiracies and conspiracy theories - have they learned anything? As always, the best way to find something like that out is to stage a game show trivia shootout...By Kuhnle, Papayanis, Radke

In 1961, the CIA launched a false flag attack on the island nation of Cuba. On this episode, Nathan and Lee discuss how spectacularly flawed the plan was, and how the resulting disaster set the stage for a crisis that almost ended the world.By Kuhnle, Papayanis, Radke

On this episode, Lee looks at the American dollar bill, and sees some pretty weird images and symbols. Is this evidence that America is actually run by the Freemasons? The answer, as you might expect by now, is complicated...By Kuhnle, Papayanis, Radke

On this episode, Nathan and Lee discuss top secret plans to send the tiniest soldiers into battle during the Cold War: fleas and mosquitos. It's a more alarming idea than it might sound...By Kuhnle, Papayanis, Radke

On this episode, Nathan and special guest pod person Professor Jon Zeyl look at the history of the Holy Grail, and then investigate a little French town with a big secret...By Kuhnle, Papayanis, Radke

On this episode, Lee dives headfirst into distant history to try to put together the puzzle of the Knights Templar. Did they really disappear, or did they take their great wealth and go underground to try to manipulate the world's events from behind the scenes?For more information on the Knights Templar, check out Helen J Nichols' "The Knights Temp…

On this episode, Lee and Nathan begin examining the concept of the secret cabal, by looking at a real example (Skull and Bones) and a lie that was used to manipulate a population (the Committee of 300). Also, Nathan tries to pronounce German names, and Lee reminisces about being at a fancy dinner party.…

On this "Junk Drawer" episode, Lee and Nathan talk about a mob hit from the 1960s that's even shadier and more disturbing than you might think, a scheme to kidnap people and force them to try to scam you over the phone, and the strange story of the brilliant author Philip K. Dick, who maybe tipped a little too far into suspicion and landed in the w…

In Utah there's an alleged hotbed of supernatural and extraterrestrial activity named "Skinwalker Ranch". As it turns out, the location might well be the centre of a legitimate conspiracy, but not necessarily the one that people claim...By Kuhnle, Papayanis, Radke

In October of 2023, a rumour started to spread on social media that a signal was going to be broadcast over everyone's cell phones that would activate a virus or a microchip in the vaccinated population that would turn them all into... zombies. Did this happen? No. But like all media-driven panics we can still learn something from it...…

On this episode, Lee looks at the claims made by Preston Nichols that he was part of a top secret American government project involving time travel, teleportation, mind control, aliens, and meeting God at the centre of the Galaxy.By Kuhnle, Papayanis, Radke

Disinformation is widespread in our current media ecosystem, and even if we don't fall for it it can still be hazardous to our health. To find out why this is the case, Lee and Nathan talk to Evan Thornburg: bioethicist, expert in disinformation and public health, and TikTok-facing intellectual.You can find Evan's work on TikTok at "EVN the (Bio) E…

In 1997, dozens of people died by their own hands in a group called "Heaven's Gate" On this episode, Lee and Nathan try to make sense of the specific belief system that led to this disaster and examine the idea of the "cult" in general.By Kuhnle, Papayanis, Radke

Lee and Nathan examine the season 3 episode "Jose Chung's From Outer Space" of the classic conspiracy TV show "The X-Files", and use the show to springboard off into a conversation about truth, aliens, hypnosis, abductions, hoaxes, government cover-ups, gorilla suits, and flying saucers. We recommend watching the X-Files episode before listening to…

What if there was a secret conspiracy to conceal the fact that the American government was making deals with aliens to allow them to abduct people for genetic research? And what if that conspiracy was nothing but a smoke screen to cover up the real conspiracy of a secret cabal working to depopulate the world? This is the story of Bill Cooper, and h…

We've covered an awful lot of UFO material this year as we've worked from the 1940s up to the 1980s, and we thought a bit of review might be useful before we get to the 1990s. So here's a quick summary of what we've covered so far, as well as a bit of new content about the Maury Island UFO crash in 1947.…

In summer of 2023, a former intelligence official named David Grusch testified under oath in a Congressional hearing. In his testimony, he claimed that the American government has recovered crashed extraterrestrial craft, and even has some alien bodies in the freezer. What are we to make of these claims? Lee and Nathan dive into the murky waters to…

In July 0f 2023, there was a Congressional hearing on UAPs (aka UFOs). Two of the witnesses were Navy pilots who had first-hand encounters with flying objects. Is this the moment we've been waiting for? Is the American government finally taking UFOs seriously? Nathan and Lee examine the testimony and the footage, and look back at the troubling hist…

We hear dozens of conspiracy theories every week - a few have some truth to them, some are accidental nonsense, and some are deliberate and dangerous lies. How can we sort through all of them? On this episode, Lee and Nathan talk about some of the red flags that they encounter on the regular that make them suspicious that a conspiracy theory might …

Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin was the first person to escape the Earth's atmosphere into space. In 1968, he was killed in a tragic and suspicious plane crash. Why would the Soviet government have wanted Gagarin dead? And were they somehow responsible for the crash? Lee and Nathan also discuss the tragic Soyuz 1 incident, in case listeners weren't a…

In 1961, the USSR placed a man named Yuri Gagarin into a tiny capsule on the tip of a massive rocket and shot him into space. This is the story of that moment, and Lee spends the episode teetering back and forth between being inspired by the humanity of the story and being discouraged by the systems and structures the humans are stuck in.For more i…

In 1983, the entire world was on the brink of disaster. The slightest mistake or miscalculation could have resulted in a nuclear armageddon that would have wiped entire countries off the map. And in the middle of all of that, some ominous blips showed up on an early warning system. Were we all killed? Listen to find out...…

Many claims are made about the advanced technology developed by Germany during WWII. Is any of it accurate? Nathan and Lee go back to the 1940s to look at some of the so-called "Wunderwaffen", and Lee has to spend another episode listening to Nathan talk about airplanes. Then, near the end of the episode, there's an alarming revelation about pumpki…

On this episode, Lee and Nathan open up the junk drawer and pull out segments on an urban legend about Phil Collins* from the 1980s, a recent example of the use of hiphop tracks for state propaganda, and the evil dangers that lurk in Lee's childhood toys.* not the drummer from The PoliceBy Kuhnle, Papayanis, Radke

On this episode, Lee takes a close look at a British documentary from the 1970s that claimed that there was a secret Soviet/American space program to sneak people off the Earth to try to colonize Mars.By Kuhnle, Papayanis, Radke

To Lee's dismay, Nathan has managed to trick him into doing an entire episode about Cold War aircraft. However, the story turns out to be much stranger and more interesting than Lee was expecting, as it features honeypot spies, top secret Air Force programs, bizarre nuclear projects, and at least one person gets thrown off a train.…

In the 1980s, some documents started circulating that appeared to be a top secret memo regarding a massive cover up of a UFO crash. On this episode, Lee looks into the story and things get predictably weird and complicated.By Kuhnle, Papayanis, Radke

In the 1970s, ranchers in multiple states found some of their cows dead on the ground, seemingly drained of blood and with strange surgical incisions on the bodies. Who was doing this, and why? Nathan and Lee investigate, come up with a reasonable explanation, and then stumble across a wildly unreasonable truth...…

We think things are pretty dicey politically these days, but how dicey did they used to be? On this episode Lee argues that it was quite dicey indeed in the 1700s, when the British were plotting to assassinate George Washington. Were they successful? Obviously no. But there are lessons to be learned from the story...…

What happened to Betty and Barney Hill in the two missing hours between when they left Montreal and when they arrived at home? The story of the Hills is one of the all-time UFO encounter classics, and there are some extremely important lessons to be learned from it. Also, it's interesting.By Kuhnle, Papayanis, Radke

In the 1950s, lots of people came forward claiming that they had met with aliens, and that those aliens had an important message for us Earthlings. On this episode, Lee and Nathan look at three examples of alleged alien contactees to try to figure out what it all means (hint: it's something to do with nuclear annihilation).…

The battlefield is a terrible place. How can we make it an even more terrible place? Drugs and robot suits. On this episode, Lee and Nathan examine the use of meth in WWII and Vietnam, and then examine a DARPA plan to build exoskeletons. Also, telepathy and mind control.By Kuhnle, Papayanis, Radke

How did this happen? 100 episodes of The Uncover Up!?! To get to the bottom of this, Lee and Nathan investigate their own origin stories - young Lee as a seeker looking for spiritual meaning, and young Nathan lost and aimless in an absurd world without any meaning. Also, Nathan gets a tattoo, and a nuclear physicist pops in to say hello.…

On this episode, Lee and Nathan look into the motivations behind the concept of building a "super soldier", and examine some historical examples involving hashish, booze, hallucinogens, and terrifying ape/human hybrid experiments.By Kuhnle, Papayanis, Radke

Who are the mysterious Men in Black that intimidate and frighten people who come forward with stories of UFOs? Lee and Nathan investigate the investigators, and as usual crash into a Gordion Knot of disinformation, cover ups, and lies coming from all directions. Also, Nathan reads a short poem.By Kuhnle, Papayanis, Radke

On this episode, Nathan begins by going off to scenic Paris, Ontario to hunt for a monster, and (in a Twilight Zone-esque twist) he and Lee learn that the real monster is... human beings.By Kuhnle, Papayanis, Radke

On this episode, Lee and Nathan attempt to leave behind this world (with all its hassles and irritations) and find a lost island civilization instead. However, things take a dark turn, as they learn a lesson about the dangers of myth making...By Kuhnle, Papayanis, Radke

On this episode, Lee and Nathan examine the relationship that exists between conspiracy communities and scammers who try to take financial advantage of them. Coincidentally, while they are recording the episode someone is trying to scam Nathan over the phone. Also, Nathan talks about shrimp.By Kuhnle, Papayanis, Radke