Dawn is joined by Kat Perkins, one of her best friends (and the voice of the HILF theme song!) for a dive into the dark history of cults. From the strangest real-life rituals, to the made-up cults - and why it's important to know the difference. 

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🎟️ Get tickets and HILF LIVE! : First Thursdays at Flappers Comedy Club - Burbank, CA

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SILFS (Sources I'd Like to F*ck): 

• BOOK: The Penquin Book of Cults, collected by Joseph P Laycock.
• Heavens Gate HBO Documentary: Heaven's Gate the Cult of Cults
• Heaven's Gate 'Exit Interviews' (WARNING: These are not violent or graphic, but they are  the last words of people about to take their lives and should be watched while girded emotionally... Hold a dog or something.)
• Rick Allen Ross - Cult 'deprogrammer' who I think is among the most frightening figures I met in this research.

LILF's (Link's I'd Like to F*ck):

• See Dawn on THE HISTORY CHANNEL - Histories Greatest Mysteries (multiple seasons)
• See Dawn on THE HISTORY CHANNEL - Crazy Rich Ancients
• Check out HILF MERCH now available on Redbubble! Stickers, t-shirts, bags and more!
• HILF is now on Patreon!
• Buy Me a Coffee

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HILF original music by Kat Perkins @katperkinsmusic

King Philip is simultaneously a real historic figure, and an object of early American fantasy. Join Dawn and a live audience at Flappers Comedy Club (in beautiful Burbank, California) to hear the tale of how history reports... and distorts... just like the present does. 

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✅ Follow HILF on TikTok! 

🎟️ HILF Public School - the live, interactive version of HILF: First Thursdays at Flappers Comedy Club - Burbank, CA

🤑 HILF is now on Patreon!

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LILF's (Link's I'd Like to F*ck) 

• See Dawn on THE HISTORY CHANNEL - Histories Greatest Mysteries (multiple seasons)
• See Dawn on THE HISTORY CHANNEL - Crazy Rich Ancients
• Check out HILF MERCH now available on Redbubble! Stickers, t-shirts, bags and more!
• Buy Me a Coffee

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WANNA TALK? 

Find us on Instagram or email us [email protected]

Theme song: Composed and performed by Kat Perkins

The journey isn't over, it's only just reached the underworld.  Rejoin Dawn and guest Sam Cowan as they link arms to follow Odysseus all the way home.  Whether you're preparing for Christopher Nolan's upcoming blockbuster movie, revisiting an old favorite, or experiencing The Odyssey for the first time, this episode explores why Odysseus' long road home remains one of the most thrilling—and profoundly human—stories ever told.

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🎟️ Get tickets and HILF LIVE! : First Thursdays at Flappers Comedy Club - Burbank, CA

🎫 Visit Theatricum Botanicum - Sam performs in Treasure Island, June - October, 2026

✅ Checkout Sam's work as a Personal Trainer!

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SILFS (Sources I'd Like to F*ck): 

• BOOK: One of many free, online versions of The Odyssey
• THE LECTURE: The Learning Company presents Dr. Elizabeth Vandiver. (Hoopla and Libby often have audio versions available FOR FREE!)

LILF's (Link's I'd Like to F*ck):

• See Dawn on THE HISTORY CHANNEL - Histories Greatest Mysteries (multiple seasons)
• See Dawn on THE HISTORY CHANNEL - Crazy Rich Ancients
• Check out HILF MERCH now available on Redbubble! Stickers, t-shirts, bags and more!
• HILF is now on Patreon!
• Buy Me a Coffee

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HILF original music by Kat Perkins @katperkinsmusic

As Christopher Nolan brings The Odyssey to the big screen, Dawn is taking listeners back to the source. Join Dawn and guest Sam Cowan as they get down and dirty with Homer, unpacking the gods, mortals, monsters, and misadventures that made The Odyssey one of the most enduring stories ever told. By the end, you'll be walking into your local cineplex HILF'd and loaded.

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🎟️ Get tickets and HILF LIVE! : First Thursdays at Flappers Comedy Club - Burbank, CA

🎫 Visit Theatricum Botanicum - Sam performs in Treasure Island, June - October, 2026

✅ Checkout Sam's work as a Personal Trainer!

---

SILFS (Sources I'd Like to F*ck): 

• BOOK: One of many free, online versions of The Odyssey
• THE LECTURE: The Learning Company presents Dr. Elizabeth Vandiver. (Hoopla and Libby often have audio versions available FOR FREE!)

LILF's (Link's I'd Like to F*ck):

• See Dawn on THE HISTORY CHANNEL - Histories Greatest Mysteries (multiple seasons)
• See Dawn on THE HISTORY CHANNEL - Crazy Rich Ancients
• Check out HILF MERCH now available on Redbubble! Stickers, t-shirts, bags and more!
• HILF is now on Patreon!
• Buy Me a Coffee

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HILF original music by Kat Perkins @katperkinsmusic

You're back in the cockpit with Dawn and guest, Heather Cowan, for part two of this little-known chapter of World War II history. Re-join these badass fliers through more of their spine-tingling adventures (and misadventures) all the way to victory and beyond. 

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🎧 HILF EP39 - NAZI KILLERS with Michelle Mosher

🎧 HILF EP60 - AMELIA EARHART with Fallon Morey

🎟️ Get tickets and HILF LIVE! : First Thursdays at Flappers Comedy Club - Burbank, CA

✅ Checkout Heather's work in Personal Development: Body of Work 

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SILFS (Sources I'd Like to F*ck): 

• BOOK: The Night Witches by Bruce Myles (1981)
• More about OPERATION BARBAROSSA from the Imperial War Musuem
• One of the only videos I found with interviews of some of the surviving pilots.

LILF's (Link's I'd Like to F*ck):

• See Dawn on THE HISTORY CHANNEL - Histories Greatest Mysteries (multiple seasons)
• See Dawn on THE HISTORY CHANNEL - Crazy Rich Ancients
• Check out HILF MERCH now available on Redbubble! Stickers, t-shirts, bags and more!
• HILF is now on Patreon!
• Buy Me a Coffee

---

HILF original music by Kat Perkins @katperkinsmusic

Climb into the cockpit with Dawn and guest, Heather Cowan, as they get to know some of the baddest-asses from this little-known chapter of World War II history. 

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🎧 HILF EP39 - NAZI KILLERS with Michelle Mosher

🎧 HILF EP60 - AMELIA EARHART with Fallon Morey

🎟️ Get tickets and HILF LIVE! : First Thursdays at Flappers Comedy Club - Burbank, CA

✅ Checkout Heather's work in Personal Development: Body of Work 

---

SILFS (Sources I'd Like to F*ck): 

• BOOK: The Night Witches by Bruce Myles (1981)
• More about OPERATION BARBAROSSA from the Imperial War Musuem
• One of the only videos I found with interviews of some of the surviving pilots.

LILF's (Link's I'd Like to F*ck):

• See Dawn on THE HISTORY CHANNEL - Histories Greatest Mysteries (multiple seasons)
• See Dawn on THE HISTORY CHANNEL - Crazy Rich Ancients
• Check out HILF MERCH now available on Redbubble! Stickers, t-shirts, bags and more!
• HILF is now on Patreon!
• Buy Me a Coffee

---

HILF original music by Kat Perkins @katperkinsmusic

Dawn and guest, Kelly Vrooman, go down the rabbit hole with neither the first nor the last "disgraced" American president.  Join them as they review the unlikely rise and spectacular fall or Richard Nixon. Hear about the founding of the EPA, the Watergate burglars, and the insane story of Martha Mitchell. 

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✅ Follow HILF on TikTok! 

🎟️ HILF Public School - the live, interactive version of HILF: First Thursdays at Flappers Comedy Club - Burbank, CA

🤑 HILF is now on Patreon!

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LILF's (Link's I'd Like to F*ck) 

• Listen to Dawn and Kelly HILF Catherine the Great Part 1 and Part 2. 
• See Dawn on THE HISTORY CHANNEL - Histories Greatest Mysteries (multiple seasons)
• See Dawn on THE HISTORY CHANNEL - Crazy Rich Ancients
• Check out HILF MERCH now available on Redbubble! Stickers, t-shirts, bags and more!
• Buy Me a Coffee

---

WANNA TALK? 

Find us on Instagram or email us [email protected]

Theme song: Composed and performed by Kat Perkins

Podcast art: Designed by Joe Dressel 

Welcome back to book club! Whether you’re a book worm who is always looking for new nerdy stuff to read - or you only like history when it’s funny - this is for you! Return with Dawn and her classmate, Stacey Hovhannisyan, to discuss ALL the books they read over the last semester in school and which ones you - yes you - will want to read!

🎟️ Get tickets to HILF Public School - the live, interactive version of HILF: First Thursdays at Flappers Comedy Club - Burbank, CA

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BOOK LIST: 

• A Scratch of The Pen: 1763 and the Transformation of North America by Colin G Calloway
• Saltwater Slavery: A Middle Passage from Africa to American Diaspora by Stephanie E. Smallwood
• Tacky’s Revolt The Story of an Atlantic Slave War by Vincent Brown
• Plantation Enterprise in Colonial South Carolina by S. Max Edelson
• The Elusive West and the Contest for Empire 1713-1763 by Paul W. Mapp
• The Name of War: King Philip's War and the Origins of American Identity by Jill Lepore

LILF's (Link's I'd Like to F*ck) 

• See Dawn on THE HISTORY CHANNEL - Histories Greatest Mysteries (multiple seasons)
• See Dawn on THE HISTORY CHANNEL - Crazy Rich Ancients
• Check out HILF MERCH now available on Redbubble! Stickers, t-shirts, bags and more!
• HILF is now on Patreon!
• Buy Me a Coffee

---

HILF original music by Kat Perkins @katperkinsmusic

Whether you’re a book worm who is always looking for new nerdy stuff to read - or you only like history when it’s funny - this is for you! Dawn sits down with her classmate, Stacey Hovhannisyan, to discuss ALL the books they read over the last semester in school and which ones you - yes you - will want to read!

🎟️ Get tickets to HILF Public School - the live, interactive version of HILF: First Thursdays at Flappers Comedy Club - Burbank, CA

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BOOK LIST: 

• Devil in the Shape of A Woman by Carol F Karlsen
• The Saltwater Frontier by Andrew Lipman
• Mirroring the Past by On-cho Ng and Q. Edward Wang
• The Native Ground by Kathleen Du Val
• Chronicles by Chris given-Wilson
• The Invention of Comfort by John E. Crowley
• The Barber of Damascus by Dana Sajdi

LILF's (Link's I'd Like to F*ck) 

• See Dawn on THE HISTORY CHANNEL - Histories Greatest Mysteries (multiple seasons)
• See Dawn on THE HISTORY CHANNEL - Crazy Rich Ancients
• Check out HILF MERCH now available on Redbubble! Stickers, t-shirts, bags and more!
• HILF is now on Patreon!
• Buy Me a Coffee

---

HILF original music by Kat Perkins @katperkinsmusic

Join host, Dawn Brodey, and a LIVE audience to hear this most-titillating chapter from The Golden Age of Piracy, the tale of Mary Read and Anne Bonny. Born in very different circumstances and on opposite sides of the Atlantic, their worlds would collide and eventually combine in the most swash-buckingly way. 

Hear pirate trivia with comedian, Becca Melkonian.

Test your knowledge against comedian, Meryl Klemow.

Get to know my classmate, and future history professor, Stacey Hovhannisyan. 

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✅ Follow HILF on TikTok! 

🎟️ HILF Public School - the live, interactive version of HILF: First Thursdays at Flappers Comedy Club - Burbank, CA

🤑 HILF is now on Patreon!

---

LILF's (Link's I'd Like to F*ck) 

• See Dawn on THE HISTORY CHANNEL - Histories Greatest Mysteries (multiple seasons)
• See Dawn on THE HISTORY CHANNEL - Crazy Rich Ancients
• Check out HILF MERCH now available on Redbubble! Stickers, t-shirts, bags and more!
• Buy Me a Coffee

---

WANNA TALK? 

Find us on Instagram or email us [email protected]

Theme song: Composed and performed by Kat Perkins

Podcast art: Designed by Joe Dressel 

Join Dawn and a LIVE audience to hear what John Wayne Gacy and a plane crash have to do with her birthday. You'll also get to know the fabulous Sam Hale, Horror Nerd, and learn all about her grandpa... and his bulge.

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✅ Follow HILF on TikTok! 

🎥. See Sam's one-hour special!

🎙️ Come see Dawn in Horror Nerd at The Hollywood Improv, April 17th, 2026

🎟️ HILF Public School - the live, interactive version of HILF: First Thursdays at Flappers Comedy Club - Burbank, CA

🤑 HILF is now on Patreon!

---

LILF's (Link's I'd Like to F*ck) 

• See Dawn on THE HISTORY CHANNEL - Histories Greatest Mysteries (multiple seasons)
• See Dawn on THE HISTORY CHANNEL - Crazy Rich Ancients
• Check out HILF MERCH now available on Redbubble! Stickers, t-shirts, bags and more!
• Buy Me a Coffee

---

WANNA TALK? 

Find us on Instagram or email us [email protected]

Theme song: Composed and performed by Kat Perkins

Podcast art: Designed by Joe Dressel