Every December we step back and reflect on some favorite episodes from the year…today we're declassifying our best of 2025 picks. This episode actually happened because of listener requests, so please keep dropping suggestions in the Spotify comments and on social!

We’ll be back in January with brand-new episodes. Thanks again for an incredible 2025!

Keep up with Conspiracy Theories!

YouTube: ⁠⁠@ConspiracyTheoriesPodcast⁠⁠

Instagram: ⁠⁠@theconspiracypod⁠⁠

TikTok: ⁠⁠@conspiracy.pod

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

They say Roman Emperor Nero played his fiddle while watching his own empire burn. He neglected all leadership duties, and killed his own family. Then, he died by suicide. But some historians believe this is all the product of a two-thousand-year-old smear campaign, invented to cover up the fact that Nero was actually murdered.

Keep up with Conspiracy Theories!

YouTube: ⁠⁠@ConspiracyTheoriesPodcast⁠⁠

Instagram: ⁠⁠@theconspiracypod⁠⁠

TikTok: ⁠⁠@conspiracy.pod

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Manhattan’s Knoedler Gallery made about $80 million selling art by Mark Rothko, Jackson Pollock, Robert Motherwell, and other Abstract Expressionist icons. But in 2011, the truth came out: the paintings were forgeries. The buyers were scammed. Employees at the Knoedler claimed they, too, were victims. But were they actually in on the criminal conspiracy?

Keep up with Conspiracy Theories!

YouTube: ⁠⁠@ConspiracyTheoriesPodcast⁠⁠

Instagram: ⁠⁠@theconspiracypod⁠⁠

TikTok: ⁠⁠@conspiracy.pod

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Nikola Tesla patented over 300 inventions. When he died, the US government confiscated 80 trunks of his notes and blueprints… and only returned 60 to his heir. In his lifetime, Tesla tinkered with weather control machines, alien transmission readers, and a “death ray” that would revolutionize society. The missing trunks may be evidence that these inventions worked… and were covered up by the government.

Keep up with Conspiracy Theories!

YouTube: ⁠⁠@ConspiracyTheoriesPodcast⁠⁠

Instagram: ⁠⁠@theconspiracypod⁠⁠

TikTok: ⁠⁠@conspiracy.pod

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Several murders have been dubbed “the crime of the century," but the Lindbergh kidnapping case of 1932 might actually deserve the title. According to some, it shaped the culture of conspiracy theories in America. Was Bruno Richard Hauptmann really guilty, or was he framed? Did he have co-conspirators? Or was the crime perpetrated by the victim’s own father: the American icon with a dark side, Charles Lindbergh Sr.?

If you enjoy this episode, you might also like The Death of Ned Doheny—a case that revolves around a powerful family, and that remains a source of rumor and speculation.

Keep up with Conspiracy Theories!

YouTube: ⁠⁠@ConspiracyTheoriesPodcast⁠⁠

Instagram: ⁠⁠@theconspiracypod⁠⁠

TikTok: ⁠⁠@conspiracy.pod

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

November 5th, 2025 is the 50th anniversary of the events that inspired the 1993 film, Fire in the Sky. Seven lumberjacks saw a UFO… and one was pulled inside. Some say the men invented the story to dodge a work deadline. But the lumberjacks claim their chief debunker… is a government disinformation agent. ​
We mention Operation Mockingbird in today's episode. If you want the full story, check out Operation Mockingbird Pt. 1 and Operation Mockingbird Pt. 2!

Keep up with Conspiracy Theories!

YouTube: ⁠⁠@ConspiracyTheoriesPodcast⁠⁠

Instagram: ⁠⁠@theconspiracypod⁠⁠

TikTok: ⁠⁠@conspiracy.pod

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Supernaturally-high leaps. Glowing red eyes. Fire breath. This monster violently assaulted young women, and terrorized others across London. Was he a band of upper-class criminals? A ghost? Or a business plan? Historian Dr. Mike Dash joins us to uncover the truth.

For more from Mike Dash, check out: www.mikedashhistory.com and his AskHistorians archive: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/wiki/profiles/mikedash/. His book,  Spring Heeled Jack: Representation and Interpretation, A Multidisciplinary Approach releases next year.

Keep up with Conspiracy Theories!

YouTube: ⁠⁠@ConspiracyTheoriesPodcast⁠⁠

Instagram: ⁠⁠@theconspiracypod⁠⁠

TikTok: ⁠⁠@conspiracy.pod

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In July 2025, researchers discovered an interstellar object entering our solar system. It’s only the third we’ve detected – ever – and it’s been dubbed Comet 3I/ATLAS. NASA says it does not pose a threat to us.

But one Harvard scientist suggests 3I/ATLAS isn’t necessarily a comet – there are too many anomalies. He says, this object may not be natural…it might be alien technology.

Keep up with Conspiracy Theories!

YouTube: ⁠⁠@ConspiracyTheoriesPodcast⁠⁠

Instagram: ⁠⁠@theconspiracypod⁠⁠

TikTok: ⁠⁠@conspiracy.pod

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Shakespeare’s First Folio is an incredible historical treasure. It also might be an encrypted treasure map. According to the theories, the First Folio’s secret code reveals the “real” Shakespeare author, a royal cover-up, a Freemason conspiracy, and of course, a map to priceless buried treasure. Treasure that may still be out there.

Keep up with Conspiracy Theories!

YouTube: ⁠⁠@ConspiracyTheoriesPodcast⁠⁠

Instagram: ⁠⁠@theconspiracypod⁠⁠

TikTok: ⁠⁠@conspiracy.pod

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Candy Jones had an impressive résumé: Miss Atlantic City, Model of the Year, highest-paid cover model of the 1940s, entrepreneur, radio personality, author…and an unwitting undercover CIA agent, brainwashed by the government. Or, so she claimed. To find out more, we’re digging into Candy’s story and speaking with author and historian John Lisle. Check out his new book, Project Mind Control: Sidney Gottlieb, the CIA, and the Tragedy of MKULTRA, available now!

Keep up with Conspiracy Theories!

YouTube: ⁠⁠@ConspiracyTheoriesPodcast⁠⁠

Instagram: ⁠⁠@theconspiracypod⁠⁠

TikTok: ⁠⁠@conspiracy.pod

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As Germany conquered Europe in 1940, the UK desperately needed foreign reinforcements. When the American people hesitated to help, MI6 conspired to secretly change their minds. But how far did the influence go? Conspiracy theories suggest the US President may have conspired in the psy-op on his own people… and together with MI6, may have concealed tips to prevent Pearl Harbor.

Keep up with Conspiracy Theories!

YouTube: ⁠⁠@ConspiracyTheoriesPodcast⁠⁠

Instagram: ⁠⁠@theconspiracypod⁠⁠

TikTok: ⁠⁠@conspiracy.pod

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices