Conspiracy Clearinghouse

Derek DeWitt

A rather skeptical look at conspiracies and mysteries. Each episode will examine conspiracy theories, most of which are not true, a few of which might be a little bit true and even a couple that turned out, in fact, to be true. This is the podcast that dares to look behind the curtain that’s behind the curtain. Episodes every other Wednesday.

  1. 3d ago

    Walk Like a Panther: The Palantir 22-Point Manifesto

    EPISODE 164 | Walk Like a Panther: The Palantir 22-Point Manifesto A company many have heard mentioned but don’t know much about caused a stir in the interwebs when its CEO dropped a 22-point manifesto of sorts. Many felt the whole thing smacked of some sort of comic book supervillain’s shopping list, while others nodded their heads at the sage wisdom of the post of X (formerly Twitter). Palantir is the company and the poster was Alex Karp. But just what is Palantir and who is this Karp guy? Review us here or on IMDb. And seriously, subscribe, will ya? Like, just do it.  SECTIONS Five Guys - Nathan Gettings, Stephen Cohen, Alex Karp, Jon Lonsdale, Peter Thiel (the 130th richest country in the world) More Things in Heaven and Earth - Peter Thiel: a Randian Objectivist, a plutocratic reactionary, militarist techno-libertarian, or libertarian authoritarian; post-democracy, liquid democracy; Thiel's views and actions Know Your Product - What Palantir does and what they're worth, Gotham, Foundry, AIP, TITAN, MetaConstellation and MOSAIC, Skykits, Metropolis, ELITE; who uses this stuff, JP Morgan spies on employees  Manifesto - Alex Karp's 22-point summary of The Technological Republic: Hard Power, Soft Belief, and the Future of the West Music by Fanette Ronjat Follow us on social: Facebook X (Twitter) Other Podcasts by Derek DeWitt DIGITAL SIGNAGE DONE RIGHT - Winner of a Gold Quill Award, Gold MarCom Award, AVA Digital Award Gold, Silver Davey Award, and Communicator Award of Excellence, and on numerous top 10 podcast lists.  PRAGUE TIMES - A city is more than just a location - it’s a kaleidoscope of history, places, people and trends. This podcast looks at Prague, in the center of Europe, from a number of perspectives, including what it is now, what is has been and where it’s going. It’s Prague THEN, Prague NOW, Prague LATER

    56 min

  2. May 20

    Vanishing Point: Missing Scientists & the Erosion of Certainty

    EPISODE 163 | Vanishing Point: Missing Scientists & the Erosion of Certainty Someone recently wrote that, these days, a conspiracy theory is sort of a political position. It sure does seem that way sometimes, and new conspiracy theories continue to evolve in this disinfo-rich soil we’ve scattered about the internet like so much incontinence. Plus, those in power seem to have figure out that they way to many a voter’s heart is by encouraging conspiracy thinking, tapping into whatever it is that drives people to invest so much in them.  In an attention economy, there’s no such thing as good or bad attention.  So, we look at a brand new conspiracy theory that showed up earlier this year, the Missing Scientists Conspiracy Theory, and then dabble in some of the ways conspiracy thinking has infected and infiltrated the highest levels of American government. Maybe this is a cautionary tale, but it also might be an alarm bell. Review us here or on IMDb. And seriously, subscribe, will ya? Like, just do it.  SECTIONS Feeling Gravity's Pull - Monica Jacinto Reza and Amy Eskridge  Propulsion Overdrive - Michael Hicks, Frank Maiwald, Anthony Chavez, Melissa Casias, Steven Garcia, Jason Thomas, Nuno Loureiro, Carl Grillmair, William Neil McCasland, Joshua LeBlanc Supersonic Rocket Ship - A new conspiracy theory is born, parallels are drawn, Chinese scientists, the White House gets involved - Trump, Kash Patel, James Comer, Eric Burlison; Tim Burchett loves David Wilcox How Greene Was My Valley - Marjorie Taylor Greene Foggy Mountain Breakdown - J.D. Vance Music by Fanette Ronjat Follow us on social: Facebook X (Twitter) Other Podcasts by Derek DeWitt DIGITAL SIGNAGE DONE RIGHT - Winner of a Gold Quill Award, Gold MarCom Award, AVA Digital Award Gold, Silver Davey Award, and Communicator Award of Excellence, and on numerous top 10 podcast lists.  PRAGUE TIMES - A city is more than just a location - it’s a kaleidoscope of history, places, people and trends. This podcast looks at Prague, in the center of Europe, from a number of perspectives, including what it is now, what is has been and where it’s going. It’s Prague THEN, Prague NOW, Prague LATER

    52 min

  3. May 6

    In Pursuit of D.B. Cooper

    EPISODE 162 | In Pursuit of D.B. Cooper One of the great unsolved cases in FBI history is the tale of D.B. Cooper, who hijacked a commercial jet and then jumped out the door with a parachute and a bag full of cash. The story has been written about, films have been made, numerous “Mysteries of…” shows have had episodes about it, and there even a few songs that reference the famous gentleman thief of the Pacific Northwest. Review us here or on IMDb. And seriously, subscribe, will ya? Like, just do it.  SECTIONS 01:36 - Leaving on a Jet Plane - Dan Cooper hijacks a plane 10:38 - Jet Airliner - Notable hijackings, tracking Cooper (money, hair, fingerprints, sketches, DNA, Canadian comics and more) 25:19 - Come Fly with Me - Suspects: Duane Weber, Kenneth Christiansen, Paul Le Clair, Barbara Dayton, William Smith, Lyne Doyle Cooper,  36:41 - Fly Away - More suspects: Ted Braden, Robert Rackstraw, Bryant Coffelt, Richard McCoy Jr,  44:46 - Somewhere in the Sky - Ha Ha Ha, Cooper fans, "we know the middle", copycat Martin McNally, Raymond Sidney Russell, videos, cocktails and more Music by Fanette Ronjat Follow us on social: Facebook X (Twitter) Other Podcasts by Derek DeWitt DIGITAL SIGNAGE DONE RIGHT - Winner of a Gold Quill Award, Gold MarCom Award, AVA Digital Award Gold, Silver Davey Award, and Communicator Award of Excellence, and on numerous top 10 podcast lists.  PRAGUE TIMES - A city is more than just a location - it’s a kaleidoscope of history, places, people and trends. This podcast looks at Prague, in the center of Europe, from a number of perspectives, including what it is now, what is has been and where it’s going. It’s Prague THEN, Prague NOW, Prague LATER

    52 min

  4. Apr 22

    Vroom Broom: Witches & Witch Hunts

    EPISODE 161 | Vroom Broom: Witches & Witch Hunts Hundreds, perhaps thousands, or women were burned alive in Salem, MA, at the end of the 17th century. Their crime? Being witches. That’s what many of us think, anyway. But just how much truth is there in all that? And what, exactly, is a witch? Are there any still around today?  This episode comes in time for this year’s Walpurgis Night, which happens in Central Europe on April 30. Bonfires are made, effigies of witches are burned or thrown into rivers, and there is much feasting and, well, a lot of drinking.  So, let’s talk witches, separating fact from fiction. Review us here or on IMDb. And seriously, subscribe, will ya? Like, just do it.  SECTIONS 01:40 - Salem Is a Spooky Massachusetts Witch City - The Salem Witch Trials 18:13 - Burn the Witch - A history of witch hunting, the Hammer of Witches, the Great Hunt, notable witch trials, swimming a witch  27:27 - The Devils of Loudon 32:32 - The Spanish Inquisition 35:35 - Waking the Witch - Belief in witches, the witch-cult hypothesis, new Paganism and Wicca 43:47 - Miss Macbeth - Broomsticks, black cats, witches as marginalized people Music by Fanette Ronjat Related Episode Mass Hysteria & Shared Delusions (The World Is Weird 2) Follow us on social: Facebook X (Twitter) Other Podcasts by Derek DeWitt DIGITAL SIGNAGE DONE RIGHT - Winner of a Gold Quill Award, Gold MarCom Award, AVA Digital Award Gold, Silver Davey Award, and Communicator Award of Excellence, and on numerous top 10 podcast lists.  PRAGUE TIMES - A city is more than just a location - it’s a kaleidoscope of history, places, people and trends. This podcast looks at Prague, in the center of Europe, from a number of perspectives, including what it is now, what is has been and where it’s going. It’s Prague THEN, Prague NOW, Prague LATER

    49 min

  5. Apr 8

    A Real Collusion

    EPISODE 160 | A Real Collusion Two political parties hardly seems sufficient for a nation of 342 million, and yet that's exactly the situation in the United States. How did that come to be, and why does it persist? Author Stu Strumwasser explores those ideas with his new novel A Real Collusion as well as in this conversation.  Review us here or on IMDb. And seriously, subscribe, will ya? Like, just do it.  Music by Fanette Ronjat Links A Real Collusion website Stu Strumwasser website   Follow us on social: Facebook X (Twitter) Other Podcasts by Derek DeWitt DIGITAL SIGNAGE DONE RIGHT - Winner of a Gold Quill Award, Gold MarCom Award, AVA Digital Award Gold, Silver Davey Award, and Communicator Award of Excellence, and on numerous top 10 podcast lists.  PRAGUE TIMES - A city is more than just a location - it’s a kaleidoscope of history, places, people and trends. This podcast looks at Prague, in the center of Europe, from a number of perspectives, including what it is now, what is has been and where it’s going. It’s Prague THEN, Prague NOW, Prague LATER

    53 min

  6. Mar 25

    Maritime Mysteries

    EPISODE 159 | Maritime Mysteries It’s time to shiver yer timbers and batten down the hatches as we dive into a bucketful of mysteries at sea that have been hard to fathom in the past - the Flannan Isles Lighthouse, the Mary Celeste, and the Flying Dutchman.  Review us here or on IMDb. And seriously, subscribe, will ya? Like, just do it.  SECTIONS 01:20 - The Flannan Isles Lighthouse - Three men vanish and inspire lots of stories 06:31 - The Mary Celeste - The ship is found, speculations aplenty, Frederick Solly-Flood is a stubborn idiot, more theories, misinformation becomes legend, woo-woo enters the picture, 1968 disappearances, the ship is cursed, Gilman Parker hatches a scam, two recent theories 31:13 - The Flying Dutchman - The legend begins, the legend spreads, the Wandering Jew, Prince George of Wales sees it, Fata Morgana, looming, St. Elmo's Fire, other ghost ships Music by Fannete Ronjat Follow us on social: Facebook X (Twitter) Other Podcasts by Derek DeWitt DIGITAL SIGNAGE DONE RIGHT - Winner of a Gold Quill Award, Gold MarCom Award, AVA Digital Award Gold, Silver Davey Award, and Communicator Award of Excellence, and on numerous top 10 podcast lists.  PRAGUE TIMES - A city is more than just a location - it’s a kaleidoscope of history, places, people and trends. This podcast looks at Prague, in the center of Europe, from a number of perspectives, including what it is now, what is has been and where it’s going. It’s Prague THEN, Prague NOW, Prague LATER

    46 min

  7. Mar 11

    Nasty NASA: The Challenger and Other Spacespiracies

    EPISODE 158 | Nasty NASA: The Challenger and Other Spacespiracies At 11:38 am  on January 28, 1986, the Space Shuttle Challenger lifted off from Florida’s Cape Canaveral on its 10th mission and 73 seconds later exploded, killing everyone on board. This was seen live on television by millions of people because a civilian teacher was one of the crew.  At first, it was thought an external fuel tank had exploded. But after a thorough investigation, the real culprit turned out to be a faulty O-ring. Over the years, more digging would uncover behind the scenes drama, some of which may have led to the disaster. And for some folks, conspiracy narratives started to circulate that the whole thing was fake, the crew was still alive, that it was aliens, that they slipped into a parallel dimension and so on. Plus, NASA is often the target of conspironauts who think they know what’s “really” going on. Review us here or on IMDb. And seriously, subscribe, will ya? Like, just do it.  SECTIONS 01:54 - A Space Boy Dream - What happened with the Challenger explosion 17:07 - Drops of Jupiter (Tell Me) - O-rings, organizational malfeasance, the CT that no one really died, a planned mass trauma, other CTs 32:18 - We Are All Made of Stars - The Untold Story of the Challenger Explosion: A Journey Through Time, Conspiracy, and Alternate Realities by David Moore, NASAHoax CTs: alien tech, Nibiru, Saturn Death Stars, the Mars Hoax, a hexagon on Saturn, straight lines in nature,  43:27 - Space Junk - Skylab comes back down, the Skylab astronaut strike, general belief in science, we aren't all that bright Music by Fanette Ronjat Follow us on social: Facebook X (Twitter) Other Podcasts by Derek DeWitt DIGITAL SIGNAGE DONE RIGHT - Winner of a Gold Quill Award, Gold MarCom Award, AVA Digital Award Gold, Silver Davey Award, and Communicator Award of Excellence, and on numerous top 10 podcast lists.  PRAGUE TIMES - A city is more than just a location - it’s a kaleidoscope of history, places, people and trends. This podcast looks at Prague, in the center of Europe, from a number of perspectives, including what it is now, what is has been and where it’s going. It’s Prague THEN, Prague NOW, Prague LATER

    55 min

  8. Feb 25

    Bohemian Books: Gigas, Voynich & Soyga

    EPISODE 157 | Bohemian Books: Gigas, Voynich & Soyga Some very old books have an air of mystery and intrigue about them. Partly, that’s because they are literally hundreds of years old, and partly because of the weird things they contain.  Today, we’ll take a look at three, all of which have a connection to the Czech Republic and Prague: the biggest book in the world, the Codex Gigas (also known as the Devil’s Bible and which features heavily [no pun intended] in Dan Brown’s latest schlock fest), the utterly baffling Voynich Manuscript, which is not written in any recognizable language; and the mysterious Book of Soyga, which disappeared for nearly 400 years, and some say that if you can decipher the final puzzles in the book, you will die. Like what we do? Then buy us a beer or three via our page on Buy Me a Coffee.  Review us here or on IMDb. And seriously, subscribe, will ya? Like, just do it.  SECTIONS 02:11 - The Codex Gigas - That's a big book, contents, legend of origin, Sweden gets it, defenestrations, the Sedlec Bone Church, The Secret of Secrets 11:00 - The Voynich Manuscript - WTF is this thing?, ownership relay, who maybe wrote it, what maybe it says, aspects of Voynichese, obscure languages, steganography, glossolalia, outsider art, a hoax, radiocarbon dating, those who have claimed decipherment, ciphers, people see what they want to, goropism, the Sun Language Theory, recent videos about Alphafold and protein folding, maybe a work of proto-fiction 43:32 - The Book of Soyga - John Dee, Edward Kelley, cryptic puzzles, 400 years lost, found in 1994 Music by Fanette Ronjat More Info The Codex Gigas – Devil's Bible on the National Library of Sweden website The Devil’s Bible: My Deep Dive into the Weirdest Book I’ve Ever Seen Devil's Bible: Codex Gigas in Klementinum on Prague.net from 2007 loan Inside the ‘Devil’s Bible,’ the Largest Medieval Manuscript Ever Made on ArtNet EPISODE 109 | What's in a Name? The Shakespeare Authorship Debate with Scott Jackson EPISODE 135 | On Shakey Ground: More Shakespeare Authorship with Scott Jackson What Shakespeare Can Teach Us About Communicating with Jennifer King on the Digital Signage Done Right podcast Yale Library webpage on the Voynich Manuscript, with images The riddle of the Voynich Manuscript on the BBC Unsolved Mystery: The Voynich Manuscript An entire website about the Voynich Manuscript The Voynich Manuscript revealed: five things you probably didn't know about the Medieval masterpiece on The Art Newspaper THE VOYNICH MANUSCRIPT - "The Most Mysterious Manuscript in the World" - NSA report (PDF) Another NSA report on titled The Voynich Manuscript: An Elegant Enigma written in 1978 (PDF) A PDF of the actual Voynich Manuscript Headcanon: The Voynich Manuscript actually doesn’t contain any cohesive text and is just a prank done by someone in the past on r/medieval A Scholar Has Cracked the Mystery of the Voynich Manuscript, the Encrypted Medieval Artwork That Defeated Codebreakers for Years on ArtNet Article on the Voynich manuscript on Brazilian website Revista Pesquisa Fapesp The Voynich Wiki How an Emperor Trapped a Con Man - blog on Edward kelley Magic and Mystery: Decoding the Secrets of the Book of Soyga on Discovery The Book of Soyga translated by Jane Kupin (PDF) Decoding the Book of Soyga: A Living Project of Esoteric Discovery The Book of Soyga | Literary History on House of Cadmus Soyga: the book that kills on Blog of Wonders Holy Conversations: The Impact of the Mysterious Book of Soyga on Ancient Origins Book of Soyga on the Voynich Wiki Follow us on social: Facebook X (Twitter) Other Podcasts by Derek DeWitt DIGITAL SIGNAGE DONE RIGHT - Winner of a Gold Quill Award, Gold MarCom Award, AVA Digital Award Gold, Silver Davey Award, and Communicator Award of Excellence, and on numerous top 10 podcast lists.  PRAGUE TIMES - A city is more than just a location - it’s a kaleidoscope of history, places, people and trends. This podcast looks at Prague, in the center of Europe, from a number of perspectives, including what it is now, what is has been and where it’s going. It’s Prague THEN, Prague NOW, Prague LATER

    50 min
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4.9
out of 5
21 Ratings

About

A rather skeptical look at conspiracies and mysteries. Each episode will examine conspiracy theories, most of which are not true, a few of which might be a little bit true and even a couple that turned out, in fact, to be true. This is the podcast that dares to look behind the curtain that’s behind the curtain. Episodes every other Wednesday.

Information

  • Creator
    Derek DeWitt
  • Years Active
    2020 - 2026
  • Episodes
    100
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2021-2023 All rights reserved.
  • Show Website
    Conspiracy Clearinghouse

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