Conspiracy Theories, Cults, & Crimes

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Conspiracy Theories, Cults, and Crimes explores true stories of belief taken too far: murderous cults, criminal cover-ups, mass manipulation, and the conspiracies that still won't die. Hosted by Vanessa Richardson, three weekly episodes dig into cases like Jonestown, Heaven's Gate, CIA mind control experiments, and presidential assassinations. This is true crime at the intersection of faith, fear and manipulation.Conspiracy Theories, Cults, and Crimes is a Crime House Original, powered by PAVE Studios. Follow us on YouTube or listen wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe to @crimehousestudios on YouTube and follow us @crimehouse on Instagram.

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  1. Sep 16 • Crime House+ Early Access

    CULT: The Thule Society: The Secret Group That Birthed the Nazi Party

    In the aftermath of World War I, a secretive occult group emerged in Germany called the Thule Society, blending Norse mythology, racial mysticism, and extreme nationalism into a dangerous new ideology. Its members believed in a master race descended from a mythical northern homeland, and their obsession with ancestry and bloodline would seep directly into the beliefs of the fledgling Nazi Party. Though the society itself faded, its ideas and several of its members helped shape one of history's darkest movements. In this episode of Conspiracy Theories, Cults, & Crimes, Vanessa Richardson explores the Thule Society, the toxic fusion of myth and extremism that gave it life, and the chilling way an obscure occult club helped plant the seeds of Nazi ideology. Head over to our YouTube channel to WATCH our video episodes: https://www.youtube.com/@crimehousestudios  If you’re new here, don’t forget to follow Conspiracy Theories, Cults, and Crimes to never miss a case! To hear episodes ad-free and released a day early, subscribe to Crime House+. Join at crimehouseplus.com or if you’re listening on Apple Podcasts, tap “Try Free” at the top of this show’s page. Conspiracy Theories, Cults, and Crimes is a Crime House Original Podcast, powered by PAVE Studios. 🎧 Need More to Binge?  Listen to other Crime House Originals Clues, Crimes Of Reddit, Serial Killers & Murderous Minds, Crime House 24/7, Murder True Crime Stories and more wherever you get your podcasts! Follow me on Social * Instagram: @Crimehouse * TikTok: @Crimehouse * Facebook: @crimehousestudios * X: @crimehousemedia * YouTube: @crimehousestudios

  2. 1d ago

    CONSPIRACY: What Is Denver Airport Hiding?

    Since it opened in 1995, Denver International Airport has been the subject of some of the most enduring conspiracy theories in America. Built years behind schedule and wildly over budget, the airport is famous for its unsettling apocalyptic murals, a towering demonic horse statue with glowing red eyes, cryptic dedication plaques, and a sprawling network of underground tunnels. To believers, these details point to secret bunkers for the elite, headquarters for shadowy organizations, or something even stranger hidden beneath the runways. Officials insist the tunnels are mundane and the art is simply misunderstood, but the speculation has only grown over the decades, embraced even by the airport itself. In this episode of Conspiracy Theories, Cults, & Crimes, Vanessa Richardson explores the many theories surrounding Denver International Airport, the strange design choices that started it all, and the question of why one airport became a magnet for suspicion about hidden power and secret agendas. Head over to our YouTube channel to WATCH our video episodes: https://www.youtube.com/@crimehousestudios  If you’re new here, don’t forget to follow Conspiracy Theories, Cults, and Crimes to never miss a case! To hear episodes ad-free and released a day early, subscribe to Crime House+. Join at crimehouseplus.com or if you’re listening on Apple Podcasts, tap “Try Free” at the top of this show’s page. Conspiracy Theories, Cults, and Crimes is a Crime House Original Podcast, powered by PAVE Studios. 🎧 Need More to Binge?  Listen to other Crime House Originals Clues, Crimes Of Reddit, Serial Killers & Murderous Minds, Crime House 24/7, Murder True Crime Stories and more wherever you get your podcasts! Follow me on Social Instagram: @CrimehouseTikTok: @CrimehouseFacebook: @crimehousestudiosX: @crimehousemediaYouTube: @crimehousestudios

  3. 2d ago ·  Bonus

    Introducing History’s Greatest Mysteries, a new podcast from Rewind Studios and The History Channel

    A History Channel original podcast brought to you by Rewind Studios, History's Greatest Mysteries examines the top theories surrounding the world's most enigmatic unsolved mysteries. If you love Conspiracy Theories, Cults, and Crimes, then you’re gonna love History’s Greatest Mysteries. Each episode unpacks these puzzles with contributions from top historians, authors, scientists, and researchers. From unsolved crimes to lost and buried treasures, and the deaths and disappearances of famous figures, History's Greatest Mysteries explores possible explanations to some of the world's most confounding events. Follow the show for a new episode every Wednesday: https://pod.link/6801242598

    Introducing History’s Greatest Mysteries, a new podcast from Rewind Studios and The History Channel

  4. 4d ago

    CRIME: Who Killed JonBenét?

    In December 1996, 6-year-old beauty queen JonBenét Ramsey was found murdered in the basement of her family's home in the quiet mountain town of Boulder, Colorado, in a case that would become one of the most controversial in American history. A bizarre ransom note, a badly mishandled crime scene, and a swirl of suspicion around her own family turned a private tragedy into a national spectacle, with the media declaring the Ramseys guilty long before any evidence could. Nearly three decades later, despite endless theories and renewed DNA testing, no one has ever been charged, and the truth remains buried beneath decades of speculation. In this episode of Conspiracy Theories, Cults, & Crimes, Vanessa Richardson revisits the JonBenét Ramsey case, the investigative failures that doomed it from the start, and the way a shocking murder shattered the illusion of safety in one seemingly perfect Colorado town. Head over to our YouTube channel to WATCH our video episodes: https://www.youtube.com/@crimehousestudios  If you’re new here, don’t forget to follow Conspiracy Theories, Cults, and Crimes to never miss a case! To hear episodes ad-free and released a day early, subscribe to Crime House+. Join at crimehouseplus.com or if you’re listening on Apple Podcasts, tap “Try Free” at the top of this show’s page. Conspiracy Theories, Cults, and Crimes is a Crime House Original Podcast, powered by PAVE Studios. 🎧 Need More to Binge?  Listen to other Crime House Originals Clues, Crimes Of Reddit, Serial Killers & Murderous Minds, Crime House 24/7, Murder True Crime Stories and more wherever you get your podcasts! Follow me on Social Instagram: @CrimehouseTikTok: @CrimehouseFacebook: @crimehousestudiosX: @crimehousemediaYouTube: @crimehousestudios

  5. 6d ago

    CULT: Power in the Woods: Bohemian Grove

    Deep in the redwood forests of Northern California lies Bohemian Grove, a private retreat where some of the most powerful men in the world, presidents, business titans, and political power brokers, have gathered in secret for more than a century. Each summer, members of the exclusive Bohemian Club convene for two weeks of camping, revelry, and a strange opening ritual called the "Cremation of Care," performed before a towering stone owl. That secrecy has fueled decades of speculation, from rumors of occult worship to theories that world-shaping decisions are quietly made around its campfires. In this episode of Conspiracy Theories, Cults, & Crimes, Vanessa Richardson explores the mysteries of Bohemian Grove, the rituals and rumors that have made it a fixture of conspiracy lore, and the question of what really happens when the world's elite disappear into the woods with no cameras allowed. Head over to our YouTube channel to WATCH our video episodes: https://www.youtube.com/@crimehousestudios  If you’re new here, don’t forget to follow Conspiracy Theories, Cults, and Crimes to never miss a case! To hear episodes ad-free and released a day early, subscribe to Crime House+. Join at crimehouseplus.com or if you’re listening on Apple Podcasts, tap “Try Free” at the top of this show’s page. Conspiracy Theories, Cults, and Crimes is a Crime House Original Podcast, powered by PAVE Studios. 🎧 Need More to Binge?  Listen to other Crime House Originals Clues, Crimes Of Reddit, Serial Killers & Murderous Minds, Crime House 24/7, Murder True Crime Stories and more wherever you get your podcasts! Follow me on Social Instagram: @CrimehouseTikTok: @CrimehouseFacebook: @crimehousestudiosX: @crimehousemediaYouTube: @crimehousestudios

  6. Sep 7

    CONSPIRACY THEORY: Did the CIA Invent Modern Art?

    During the Cold War, the CIA quietly turned modern art into a weapon. Convinced that America needed to prove its cultural superiority over the Soviet Union, the agency secretly promoted abstract expressionist painters like Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, and Willem de Kooning as symbols of American freedom. Through a front group called the Congress for Cultural Freedom and a network of fake foundations, the CIA funneled millions of dollars into touring exhibitions across Europe, partnering with the Museum of Modern Art, all without the artists ever knowing who was funding their success. The irony was staggering: many of the painters were anarchists and former communists, President Truman thought their work was garbage, and Congress called it un-American, yet the CIA bankrolled it anyway. In this episode of Conspiracy Theories, Cults, & Crimes, Vanessa Richardson examines the declassified operation that transformed paint splatters into propaganda, the strange alliance between spies and the art world, and the unsettling question of whether some of the most celebrated art of the 20th century rose on merit, or because a spy agency decided it was useful. Head over to our YouTube channel to WATCH our video episodes: https://www.youtube.com/@crimehousestudios  If you’re new here, don’t forget to follow Conspiracy Theories, Cults, and Crimes to never miss a case! To hear episodes ad-free and released a day early, subscribe to Crime House+. Join at crimehouseplus.com or if you’re listening on Apple Podcasts, tap “Try Free” at the top of this show’s page. Conspiracy Theories, Cults, and Crimes is a Crime House Original Podcast, powered by PAVE Studios. 🎧 Need More to Binge?  Listen to other Crime House Originals Clues, Crimes Of Reddit, Serial Killers & Murderous Minds, Crime House 24/7, Murder True Crime Stories and more wherever you get your podcasts! Follow me on Social Instagram: @CrimehouseTikTok: @CrimehouseFacebook: @crimehousestudiosX: @crimehousemediaYouTube: @crimehousestudios

  7. Sep 4

    CRIME: LSD & Mind Control: Operation Midnight Climax

    In the 1950s and 60s, at the height of the Cold War, the CIA launched a secret program called Operation Midnight Climax as part of its notorious MKUltra mind-control research. Operating out of safehouses in San Francisco and New York, agents used sex workers to lure unwitting men, then dosed them with LSD without their knowledge and observed the results through one-way mirrors. The goal was to study whether psychedelics could be weaponized for interrogation, coercion, and control. What unfolded was a chilling abuse of government power, hidden from the public for decades until investigations finally exposed it. In this episode of Conspiracy Theories, Cults, & Crimes, Vanessa Richardson investigates Operation Midnight Climax, the Cold War paranoia that drove the CIA to experiment on its own citizens, and the disturbing legacy of a program that treated unsuspecting people as test subjects in the search for a mind-control weapon. Head over to our YouTube channel to WATCH our video episodes: https://www.youtube.com/@crimehousestudios  If you’re new here, don’t forget to follow Conspiracy Theories, Cults, and Crimes to never miss a case! To hear episodes ad-free and released a day early, subscribe to Crime House+. Join at crimehouseplus.com or if you’re listening on Apple Podcasts, tap “Try Free” at the top of this show’s page. Conspiracy Theories, Cults, and Crimes is a Crime House Original Podcast, powered by PAVE Studios. 🎧 Need More to Binge?  Listen to other Crime House Originals Clues, Crimes Of Reddit, Serial Killers & Murderous Minds, Crime House 24/7, Murder True Crime Stories and more wherever you get your podcasts! Follow me on Social Instagram: @CrimehouseTikTok: @CrimehouseFacebook: @crimehousestudiosX: @crimehousemediaYouTube: @crimehousestudios

  8. Sep 2

    CULT: God's Drug Empire: The Brotherhood of Eternal Love

    In the late 1960s, a group of California idealists calling themselves the Brotherhood of Eternal Love set out to change the world through psychedelics, believing that LSD could bring about spiritual awakening and universal peace. Inspired by figures like Timothy Leary, the Brotherhood started as a hippie collective but soon became one of the largest drug-smuggling operations in the country, trafficking massive quantities of LSD and hashish across the globe. What began as a utopian dream drifted steadily into a criminal empire, drawing the attention of federal authorities and culminating in a sweeping prosecution. In this episode of Conspiracy Theories, Cults, & Crimes, Vanessa Richardson explores the rise and fall of the Brotherhood of Eternal Love, the collision between counterculture idealism and organized crime, and the question of whether their mission was ever really about enlightenment, or just about the drugs. Head over to our YouTube channel to WATCH our video episodes: https://www.youtube.com/@crimehousestudios  If you’re new here, don’t forget to follow Conspiracy Theories, Cults, and Crimes to never miss a case! To hear episodes ad-free and released a day early, subscribe to Crime House+. Join at crimehouseplus.com or if you’re listening on Apple Podcasts, tap “Try Free” at the top of this show’s page. Conspiracy Theories, Cults, and Crimes is a Crime House Original Podcast, powered by PAVE Studios. 🎧 Need More to Binge?  Listen to other Crime House Originals Clues, Crimes Of Reddit, Serial Killers & Murderous Minds, Crime House 24/7, Murder True Crime Stories and more wherever you get your podcasts! Follow me on Social Instagram: @CrimehouseTikTok: @CrimehouseFacebook: @crimehousestudiosX: @crimehousemediaYouTube: @crimehousestudios

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Conspiracy Theories, Cults, and Crimes explores true stories of belief taken too far: murderous cults, criminal cover-ups, mass manipulation, and the conspiracies that still won't die. Hosted by Vanessa Richardson, three weekly episodes dig into cases like Jonestown, Heaven's Gate, CIA mind control experiments, and presidential assassinations. This is true crime at the intersection of faith, fear and manipulation.Conspiracy Theories, Cults, and Crimes is a Crime House Original, powered by PAVE Studios. Follow us on YouTube or listen wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe to @crimehousestudios on YouTube and follow us @crimehouse on Instagram.

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