Van Meegeren's Vermeers

In January 2019, ‘Empire’ actor Jussie Smollett was the victim of a racial and homophobic hate crime perpetrated in Chicago that shocked the nation and sparked an outcry from seemingly Hollywood’s entire A-list. But it didn’t take long for cracks in his story to emerge. In our season 1 finale, we explore the logic holes, inconsistencies, and downright bizarre twists in this years-long saga involving race, sexuality, police brutality and celebrity. Plus, a lot of tangents. SOURCES The Truth About Jussie Smollett? (Netflix) https://www.biography.com/actor/jussie-smollett https://www.out.com/entertainment/2016/1/28/exclusive-jussie-smollett-being-black-and-gay-hollywood https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/feb/03/im-the-gay-tupac-jussie-smollett https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/jussie-smollett-video-shows-brothers-red-hat-ski-mask/ https://time.com/5560430/jussie-smollett-donald-trump-fbi/ https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/chicago-police-chief-eddie-johnson-fired-after-series-ethical-lapses-n1094301 https://www.chicagotribune.com/2021/12/02/jussie-smolletts-legal-team-begins-defense-at-actors-trial-for-allegedly-staging-and-reporting-a-phony-hate-crime/ https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/samuel-l-jackson-offered-support-for-smollett-in-letter-read-at-sentencing https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/nov/21/jussie-smollett-conviction-overturned https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/may/25/jussie-smollett-chicago-charities-settle-lawsuit https://www.wbez.org/shows/wbez-news/prosecutor-kim-foxx-defends-jussie-smollett-decision-in-wbez-interview/ddc80843-d6ee-4c25-a635-02ad49c325e6 https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-47317701 https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/national-international/jussie-smollett-2007-dui-arrest/4508/ https://www.businessinsider.com/jussie-smollett-2007-false-information-case-2019-2 https://variety.com/2025/film/news/jussie-smollett-hate-crime-netflix-documentary-comeback-1236487316/ https://www.citybureau.org/black-caucus-timeline https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/chicago-police-department-routinely-violated-people-s-rights-feds-say-n706586 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A landlord claimed that his daughter was haunted, by the deceased wife of a former tenant. Most shocking of all, this ghost was accusing her husband of murder. Ghosts aren't real (most of the time, sorry), but murders plots can be very, very real. But who is the real murderer here? SOURCES: Gentlemen’s Magazine archives (by Samuel Johnson) “Ghostly Hands and Ghostly Agency,” Jennifer Bann “Missionaries, Methodists, and a Ghost,” Travis Glasson “We See a Ghost: Hogarth’s Satire on Methodists and Connoisseurs,” Bernd Krysmanski “Samuel Johnson and Spectral Media,” Rachael Scarborough King Elizabeth [called the Cock Lane Ghost], Oxford Dictionary of National Biography See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

From 1998 to 2001, a man claiming to be visiting our "world-line" on a mission from the year 2036 enthralled a corner of the nascent internet with his explanations of time travel, the world of the future, and the wars to come. While few of his "predictions" came true, his story remains haunting -- who was this enigmatic early forum poster? Why did he claim time ended in 2564? How did he know so much about early computers? And where, or when, did he go? SOURCES https://rileyraccoon.substack.com/p/time-travel-tales https://vimeo.com/11661023 https://web.archive.org/web/20170622161305/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/11945420/Who-was-John-Titor-the-time-traveller-who-came-from-2036-to-warn-us-of-a-nuclear-war.html https://www.discoveryuk.com/mysteries/john-titor-the-internets-most-mysterious-time-traveller/ https://web.archive.org/web/20260102173511/https://www.postbulletin.com/rochester-magazine/john-titor-who-was-the-time-traveler-that-visited-rochester https://www.thrillist.com/entertainment/nation/john-titor-time-traveler-predictions-story https://johntitorresearch.wordpress.com/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Anastasia Romanov inspired a play, an Academy Award-winning movie, and a Dana-and-Lizzie-loving animated feature. But the legend of the missing princess is stranger and more involved than a movie with a talking bat might have led you to believe. SOURCES: https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/february-6/anastasia-arrives-in-the-united-states https://phys.org/news/2018-07-fresh-dna-authenticate-bones-russia.html https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=888&dat=19600212&id=tuUlAAAAIBAJ&sjid=EncDAAAAIBAJ&pg=7046,629353&hl=en https://www.nytimes.com/1958/08/24/archives/anastasia-grand-duchess-or-grand-hoax-the-last-act-in-the-drama-of.html https://web.archive.org/web/20250331152750/http://www.readthehook.net/86004/cover-jack-amp-anna-remembering-czar-charlottesville-eccentricshttps://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/68616 https://blog.newspapers.com/anna-anastasia-anderson/ https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/grondahl-anastasia-or-imposter-local-author-12950650.php See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In one of the most famous and widely-reported UFO sightings of all time, a Florida man witnessed, photographed and even interacted with alien beings from another planet several times over the course of many months, sparking a frenzy of speculation and excitement. Then again...a Florida man... SOURCES: War of the Words by Craig R Meyers https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2026/02/16/congress-uap-obama-aliens-real-podcast/88699039007/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ufo-files-released-scientists-trump/ https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2025/09/10/ufo-hearing-video-hellfire-missile/86073340007/ Professor Andrew Fraknoi See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.