Lou Pearlman helped launch two of the biggest boy bands of the 1990s, the Backstreet Boys and NSYNC, while secretly building a massive empire of lies, exploitation, and financial fraud. This story is crazy. From his bizarre obsession with blimps to his outrageous spending, allegations of sexual misconduct, and a Ponzi scheme that literally stole hundreds of millions of dollars, discover how one of pop music’s most influential kingmakers became one of world's biggest con men.

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Sign up through Patreon, and for $5 a month, you get access to the entire Secret Suck catalog (295 episodes) PLUS the entire catalog of Timesuck, AD FREE. You'll also get 20% off of all regular Timesuck merch PLUS access to exclusive Space Lizard merch.

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As the Atlanta Child Murders continue, investigators finally begin uncovering physical evidence that could lead them to the person responsible—and a mysterious splash beneath a bridge puts a young Atlanta man named directly in their sights. But will he ultimately prove to be the monster who had been hunting Atlanta’s children, or will his arrest leave some of the case’s biggest questions unanswered?

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Timesuck Discord! https://discord.gg/tqzH89v

Want to join the Cult of the Curious PrivateFacebook Group? Go directly to Facebook and search for "Cult of the Curious" to locate whatever happens to be our most current page :)

For all merch-related questions/problems: [email protected] (copy and paste)

Please rate and subscribe on Apple Podcasts and elsewhere and follow the suck on social media!! @timesuckpodcast on IG and http://www.facebook.com/timesuckpodcast

Wanna become a Space Lizard? Click here: https://www.patreon.com/timesuckpodcast.

Sign up through Patreon, and for $5 a month, you get access to the entire Secret Suck catalog (295 episodes) PLUS the entire catalog of Timesuck, AD FREE. You'll also get 20% off of all regular Timesuck merch PLUS access to exclusive Space Lizard merch.

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Just last week, on September 30th, 2026, Tennessee tried to execute convicted murderer Christa Pike—twice—and somehow, she survived. This Short Suck, before deciding whether Pike deserves sympathy for what happened inside that execution chamber, we’re going back to 1995 to examine the extraordinarily brutal murder of nineteen-year-old Colleen Slemmer that put her there.

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Between 1979 and 1981, thirty Black children, teenagers, and young adults all disappeared from the streets of Atlanta, triggering one of the largest and most terrifying serial murder investigations in American history. Sadly, nearly everyone who had went missing would be found, but not found alive.  In this first of two episodes, we explore the killings that shocked not just the city of Atlanta, but the nation. 

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Timesuck Discord! https://discord.gg/tqzH89v

Want to join the Cult of the Curious PrivateFacebook Group? Go directly to Facebook and search for "Cult of the Curious" to locate whatever happens to be our most current page :)

For all merch-related questions/problems: [email protected] (copy and paste)

Please rate and subscribe on Apple Podcasts and elsewhere and follow the suck on social media!! @timesuckpodcast on IG and http://www.facebook.com/timesuckpodcast

Wanna become a Space Lizard? Click here: https://www.patreon.com/timesuckpodcast.

Sign up through Patreon, and for $5 a month, you get access to the entire Secret Suck catalog (295 episodes) PLUS the entire catalog of Timesuck, AD FREE. You'll also get 20% off of all regular Timesuck merch PLUS access to exclusive Space Lizard merch.

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Anthony Bourdain went from a heroin-addicted line cook bouncing between chaotic New York kitchens to a bestselling author and beloved world traveler who changed the way millions of people thought about food, culture, and the people who connect the two. Today, we explore the wild, restless life of a man who seemed hungry for everything—adventure, knowledge, danger, love, connection, and whatever might be waiting around the next corner—and the complicated final years that ended with his shocking death.

Merch and more: www.badmagicproductions.com 

Timesuck Discord! https://discord.gg/tqzH89v

Want to join the Cult of the Curious PrivateFacebook Group? Go directly to Facebook and search for "Cult of the Curious" to locate whatever happens to be our most current page :)

For all merch-related questions/problems: [email protected] (copy and paste)

Please rate and subscribe on Apple Podcasts and elsewhere and follow the suck on social media!! @timesuckpodcast on IG and http://www.facebook.com/timesuckpodcast

Wanna become a Space Lizard? Click here: https://www.patreon.com/timesuckpodcast.

Sign up through Patreon, and for $5 a month, you get access to the entire Secret Suck catalog (295 episodes) PLUS the entire catalog of Timesuck, AD FREE. You'll also get 20% off of all regular Timesuck merch PLUS access to exclusive Space Lizard merch.

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Long before forensic science could expose a killer, poison was one of ancient Rome’s deadliest—and hardest to detect—weapons, and few were said to wield it better than the mysterious Locusta of Gaul. Was this infamous poisoner truly the world’s first documented serial killer, or was she something else entirely: an assassin, weapons maker, and deadly tool of some of Rome’s most ruthless rulers?

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When a massive financial scandal erupted in Omaha in the late 1980s, allegations soon followed that politically connected power players were involved in something far darker: an interstate child sex-trafficking ring filled with ritual abuse, blackmail, and murder. Were the most horrifying claims surrounding the Franklin scandal products of Satanic Panic—or did investigators stumble onto a very real conspiracy that powerful people desperately wanted buried? 

Merch and more: www.badmagicproductions.com 

Timesuck Discord! https://discord.gg/tqzH89v

Want to join the Cult of the Curious PrivateFacebook Group? Go directly to Facebook and search for "Cult of the Curious" to locate whatever happens to be our most current page :)

For all merch-related questions/problems: [email protected] (copy and paste)

Please rate and subscribe on Apple Podcasts and elsewhere and follow the suck on social media!! @timesuckpodcast on IG and http://www.facebook.com/timesuckpodcast

Wanna become a Space Lizard? Click here: https://www.patreon.com/timesuckpodcast.

Sign up through Patreon, and for $5 a month, you get access to the entire Secret Suck catalog (295 episodes) PLUS the entire catalog of Timesuck, AD FREE. You'll also get 20% off of all regular Timesuck merch PLUS access to exclusive Space Lizard merch.

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In late 1960s Glasgow, three women went out dancing at the legendary Barrowland Ballroom.... and never made it home alive. Their murders were linked to a mysterious stranger who became known as Bible John. Decades later, his identity remains one of Scotland’s most haunting unsolved mysteries, surrounded by disputed suspects, questionable police work, and allegations that the truth may have been buried on purpose...

Merch and more: www.badmagicproductions.com 

Timesuck Discord! https://discord.gg/tqzH89v

Want to join the Cult of the Curious PrivateFacebook Group? Go directly to Facebook and search for "Cult of the Curious" to locate whatever happens to be our most current page :)

For all merch-related questions/problems: [email protected] (copy and paste)

Please rate and subscribe on Apple Podcasts and elsewhere and follow the suck on social media!! @timesuckpodcast on IG and http://www.facebook.com/timesuckpodcast

Wanna become a Space Lizard? Click here: https://www.patreon.com/timesuckpodcast.

Sign up through Patreon, and for $5 a month, you get access to the entire Secret Suck catalog (295 episodes) PLUS the entire catalog of Timesuck, AD FREE. You'll also get 20% off of all regular Timesuck merch PLUS access to exclusive Space Lizard merch.

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Florence Nightingale didn’t just become the world’s most famous nurse - she helped revolutionize modern medicine, battling horrific hospital conditions, deadly disease, entrenched sexism, and staggering institutional incompetence along the way. From the blood-soaked hospitals of the Crimean War to her groundbreaking work in sanitation and statistics, discover how the legendary “Lady with the Lamp” waged a lifelong war on preventable death.

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What if aging isn’t inevitable...and death is a problem science might someday solve? From groundbreaking longevity research to Silicon Valley billionaires, rogue biohackers, young-blood transfusions, and multimillion-dollar anti-aging regimens, we explore the increasingly bizarre Immortality Industry and ask the ultimate question: could humans actually learn how to cheat death?

Merch and more: www.badmagicproductions.com 

Timesuck Discord! https://discord.gg/tqzH89v

Want to join the Cult of the Curious PrivateFacebook Group? Go directly to Facebook and search for "Cult of the Curious" to locate whatever happens to be our most current page :)

For all merch-related questions/problems: [email protected] (copy and paste)

Please rate and subscribe on Apple Podcasts and elsewhere and follow the suck on social media!! @timesuckpodcast on IG and http://www.facebook.com/timesuckpodcast

Wanna become a Space Lizard? Click here: https://www.patreon.com/timesuckpodcast.

Sign up through Patreon, and for $5 a month, you get access to the entire Secret Suck catalog (295 episodes) PLUS the entire catalog of Timesuck, AD FREE. You'll also get 20% off of all regular Timesuck merch PLUS access to exclusive Space Lizard merch.

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Mary Kay Ash turned a $5,000 investment into a cosmetics empire that promised generations of women financial independence, recognition, and—if they climbed high enough—that famous pink Cadillac. But.... behind the makeup parties and “girl power” sales pitch, DID Mary Kay create a revolutionary path to female empowerment? Or did she prey on her own sales force and help perfect the highly manipulative and exploitative multi-level marketing machine that would leave countless aspiring entrepreneurs buried in unsold inventory and broken promises?

Merch and more: www.badmagicproductions.com 

Timesuck Discord! https://discord.gg/tqzH89v

Want to join the Cult of the Curious PrivateFacebook Group? Go directly to Facebook and search for "Cult of the Curious" to locate whatever happens to be our most current page :)

For all merch-related questions/problems: [email protected] (copy and paste)

Please rate and subscribe on Apple Podcasts and elsewhere and follow the suck on social media!! @timesuckpodcast on IG and http://www.facebook.com/timesuckpodcast

Wanna become a Space Lizard? Click here: https://www.patreon.com/timesuckpodcast.

Sign up through Patreon, and for $5 a month, you get access to the entire Secret Suck catalog (295 episodes) PLUS the entire catalog of Timesuck, AD FREE. You'll also get 20% off of all regular Timesuck merch PLUS access to exclusive Space Lizard merch.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.