Show Notes
In May 1993, three eight-year-old boys vanished in West Memphis, Arkansas. Their bodies were found the next day in a drainage ditch at Robin Hood Hills—naked, bound with their own shoelaces. Within days, a town already steeped in Satanic Panic turned away from careful investigation and toward a story it already believed: that three local teens who liked metal, black clothes, and occult books must have carried out a ritual killing. This Time and Tales dark history episode walks through how Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin, and Jessie Misskelley Jr. became the West Memphis Three: from a contaminated crime scene and a coerced confession to “occult experts,” trials built on vibes instead of evidence, and the 2011 Alford pleas that freed them without clearing their names. It’s a case study about what moral panic does to policing, courts, and anyone who looks like an easy villain. ................................................................. Special Guest Host: Horror author Tristan Zelden Shop his books Raid his Substack Follow him on IG ................................................................. Sources: – Encyclopedia of Arkansas, “West Memphis Three” (case overview, key dates, legal outcomes) – UMKC “Famous Trials” archive on the West Memphis Three (trial materials, testimony excerpts, legal chronology) – Mara Leveritt – Devil’s Knot and related feature writing on the case and prosecution strategy – 1990 Census of Population and Housing profile for West Memphis, Arkansas (poverty data) – NCES Digest of Education Statistics – NAEP reading results, early 1990s (Arkansas/Tennessee vs. U.S. baseline)
More from Time & Tales Podcast
In part two of our deep dive into Purdue Pharma, we examine the legal and financial fallout of the opioid crisis. Despite a 2007 guilty plea for misbranding OxyContin, Purdue continued operations while the Sackler family transferred billions of dollars into private accounts. We break down the 2024 Supreme Court ruling in Harrington v. Purdue Pharma, the subsequent $7.4 billion national settlement, the restructuring of Purdue into Noah Pharma, and the activist campaigns that successfully scrubbed the Sackler name from global museums. ................................................. Support Time & Tales: Our new dark history and folklore eBooks launch October 31st for $13. Grab them at lmriviere.com/anthologies, Or join our Patreon for ad-free & bonus episodes, articles, and other goodies. ............................................ Sources: Barry, Meier. Pain Killer: An Empire of Deceit and the Origin of America’s Opioid Epidemic. 2nd ed., Random House, 2018. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Understanding the Opioid Overdose Epidemic.” CDC, 2024. General Accounting Office. Prescription Drugs: OxyContin Abuse and Diversion and Efforts to Address the Problem. GAO-04-110, U.S. Government Accountability Office, 2003. Harrington v. Purdue Pharma L.P. 603 U.S. ___, Supreme Court of the United States, 2024. Keefe, Patrick Radden. Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty. Doubleday, 2021. Macy, Beth. Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company That Addicted America. Little, Brown and Company, 2018. Meier, Barry. “Origins of an Epidemic: Purdue Pharma Knew Its Opioids Were Widely Abused.” The New York Times, 2018. Purdue Frederick Company, Inc. “The Purdue Frederick Company, Inc. and Top Executives Plead Guilty to Misbranding OxyContin; Will Pay Over $600 Million.” U.S. Department of Justice, 10 May 2007. United States v. Purdue Pharma L.P. U.S. Department of Justice, Criminal Division, 2026. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. “Timeline of Selected FDA Activities and Significant Events Addressing Substance Use and Overdose Prevention.” FDA. U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Reform. “The Role of Purdue Pharma and the Sackler Family in the Opioid Epidemic.” 2020. UCSF-Johns Hopkins University. Opioid Industry Documents Archive. University of California, San Francisco, and Johns Hopkins University, 2021.
In this episode, we cover the Sackler family, Purdue Pharma, OxyContin, and the start of America’s opioid crisis. The story begins with medical advertising, museum prestige, and the doctor-focused marketing that helped turn a Brooklyn family of physicians into one of the most powerful names in pharmaceuticals. We trace OxyContin’s 1995 approval, Purdue’s push into chronic pain treatment, the misleading claim that addiction was rare, and the early warnings from Appalachia. The trail leads to the 2007 federal guilty plea for misbranding OxyContin and a drug campaign that turned pain into profit. ..................................................... Links: Website: timeandtalespodcast.com Email: [email protected] Dark History Books: https://www.lmriviere.com/anthologies ...................................................... Sources: Barry, Meier. Pain Killer: An Empire of Deceit and the Origin of America’s Opioid Epidemic. 2nd ed., Random House, 2018. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Understanding the Opioid Overdose Epidemic.” CDC, 2024. General Accounting Office. Prescription Drugs: OxyContin Abuse and Diversion and Efforts to Address the Problem. GAO-04-110, U.S. Government Accountability Office, 2003. Harrington v. Purdue Pharma L.P. 603 U.S. ___, Supreme Court of the United States, 2024. Keefe, Patrick Radden. Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty. Doubleday, 2021. Macy, Beth. Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company That Addicted America. Little, Brown and Company, 2018. Meier, Barry. “Origins of an Epidemic: Purdue Pharma Knew Its Opioids Were Widely Abused.” The New York Times, 2018. Purdue Frederick Company, Inc. “The Purdue Frederick Company, Inc. and Top Executives Plead Guilty to Misbranding OxyContin; Will Pay Over $600 Million.” U.S. Department of Justice, 10 May 2007. United States v. Purdue Pharma L.P. U.S. Department of Justice, Criminal Division, 2026. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. “Timeline of Selected FDA Activities and Significant Events Addressing Substance Use and Overdose Prevention.” FDA. U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Reform. “The Role of Purdue Pharma and the Sackler Family in the Opioid Epidemic.” 2020. UCSF-Johns Hopkins University. Opioid Industry Documents Archive. University of California, San Francisco, and Johns Hopkins University, 2021. Van Zee, Art. “The Promotion and Marketing of OxyContin: Commercial Triumph, Public Health Tragedy.” American Journal of Public Health, vol. 99, no. 2, 2009, pp. 221–227.
In this episode, we cover the Erfurt Latrine Disaster of 1184, a medieval catastrophe that brought the politics of the Holy Roman Empire crashing into a literal cesspit. King Henry VI had gathered nobles, bishops, and rival factions in Erfurt to settle a feud between Louis III of Thuringia and Archbishop Conrad of Mainz, but the monastery hall beneath them was already under strain. What followed was one of the most grotesque accidents in European history. Rotten beams, overloaded floors, heavy armor, and failing medieval sanitation sent dozens of powerful men into the latrine below, reshaping central German politics in the most humiliating way imaginable.
This Time and Tales episode explores the Alaska Triangle, the remote region between Anchorage, Juneau, and Utqiagvik where missing people, lost aircraft, glaciers, storms, forests, and empty miles of wilderness have fed one of Alaska’s strangest mysteries. We look at real Alaska missing-person cases, including the high number of unresolved Indigenous disappearances and the search challenges created by weather, distance, jurisdiction, and terrain. Then we turn to Alaska folklore, from the Kushtaka and the Nantinaq of Portlock to the Iliamna Lake monster and the Japan Airlines Flight 1628 UFO encounter.
Why do people, planes, and search teams keep disappearing in the Alaskan Triangle? We follow the lost C-54 military transport, the Hale Boggs and Nick Begich plane disappearance, Erin Marie Gilbert, Mount Marathon runner Michael LeMaitre, and George Smith Sr., whose remains were identified after 17 years. We also break down the science behind the Alaska Triangle mystery, from sudden weather shifts and whiteouts to cold-water shock, glacier crevasses, failed emergency beacons, geomagnetic storms, and the long distances that can keep help out of reach. ................................................ Links: Dark History Anthologies: https://www.lmriviere.com/the-disenchanted-world Email: [email protected] .............................................. EMERGENCY CONTACTS FOR ALASKA If you are facing an emergency or immediate danger in Alaska, dial 911. For non-emergency dispatch, the Alaska State Troopers can be reached at 907-451-5100 for the Interior and Western regions; 907-352-5401 for the Mat-Su and Copper Valley; and 907-262-4453 for the Kenai Peninsula and Southeast Alaska. In Anchorage, dial 311 for police dispatch, and in Juneau, call 907-586-0600. For a missing child, contact local authorities immediately, then call 1-800-THE-LOST. ............................................... Sources: