The Conspiracy Skeptic

Your humble podcast host and author is interviewed by regular guest Dr. David D. Perlmutter about the process in creating his Conspiracy Skeptic's Book of Lists.

Your humble podcast host and author is interviewed by regular guest Dr. David D. Perlmutter about the process in creating his Skeptic Book of Lists series.

Matt Crowley made a big name for himself when he debunked the claims some Bigfoot casts had dermal ridges. He's on Conspiracy Skeptic to talk about that work and ruminate on why anyone would want to cover up the existence of Bigfoot.

I read from a Toronto Sun artcile I wrote back in January 2000 about Dec 31, 1999 and the events that did not follow.

Dr. Perlmutter and I review some of the key conspiracies that hit the net and airwaves in 2024 and what it says about where society is heading. Strap in.

Mega friend of the Monster Talk show comes on my podcast to talk about Graham Hancock and Ancient Apocalypse. Are archaeologist really scratching their heads wondering how civilizations emerged separately? No. Not at all.

Kyle Polich of the Data Skeptic Podcast comes on to talk about the so-called Dead Internet Theory. Is the Internet today Social Media AI serving up content for AI bots and humans are now out of the equation?

Journalist Carolyn Shuck returns to talk about Max Azzarello, the guy who lit himself on fire outside the Trump trial. Is the economy truly a giant Ponzi scheme like he claimed in his manifesto claims?

Dr. David D. Perlmutter, a professor of Media and Communication at Texas Tech, returns for a breaking emergency episode about the attempted assassination of Donald Trump and how conspiracy theories are literally playing themselves out, on both sides, right before our eyes. The title might be a little exaggerated but that's the way to get ears and eyeballs! Amiright?

New England author Eric Bickernicks is back with a sequel to his 2019 novel High Strangeness. It's naturally called Higher Strangeness. His first novel is stil a free Kindle download but do please consider buying this one.

Dr. Karen Stollznow comes on to discuss her new book Missed Conceptions. It's a book that looks at Karen's own journey to have a child as well as how history has treated women who are unable to have children. Missed Conceptions is a frank and honest work that anyone who is considering having a child should read.

Dr. Perlmutter and I review some of the key conspiracies that hit the net and airwaves this year and what it says about where society is heading.

If that voice sounds familiar it is because Darren McKee is the regular intro voice of Canada's long running and well regarded Reality Check podcast. When he's not podcasting, he is a policy advisor in Ottawa. Darren has recently published a very timely book on AI called Uncontrollable: The Threat of Artificial Superintelligence and the Race to Save the World (US Amazon link). We talk about his book and AI's past, present, and possible futures. Is AI like a more efficient tractor that will destroy some jobs but create more? Or is it something dot dot dot else?

Continuing in our Canadian trilogy, Antoine Delbast is a long time listener who comes on to talk about being secular celebrant who can marry people in Quebec 100 percent legal like. He talks about his journey from growing up in a secular French Canadian household to his life as a youthful believer in UFOs to his life as a skeptic.

Jeff Dupuis is a Canadian author, based in Toronto, who has written a series of mystery books called Creature X. His books (Roanoke Ridge, Lake Cresent, and Umboi Island) are not just whodunit novels but weave in cryptids and skepticism! He comes on the podcast to talk about his skeptical approach to writing and researching cryptids. Apologies: Jeff's family also comes from my hometown of Windsor so we chat a bit out that. As well, we're a couple Canadian lefties so we side track a bit there too. Canadian readers should check out his author page at Dundurn Press. American listeners, and points beyond, should find his books on Amazon.

It's finally show 100! Yeah. My very first official guest was Brian Thompson. Back then he was host of the Amateur Scientist podcast. Now he's host of the very funny, very meta Whatever Happened to Pizza at McDonald's. Brian comes on to talk about what he's been up to the last 14 years, the origins of his podcast, and how it mocks, among other things, conspiratorial thinking.

Cian Gill hosts an excellent podcast called Wide Atlantic Weird. It's skepticism meets Forteanism. Cian covers a wide range of topics but some of his best are when he brings on his brother Dr. Dónal Gill to talk about pro wrestling. No. Seriously. They come on my show to talk about one of the greatest pro westing conspiracies ever: the legendary Montreal screwjob.

Dr. David D. Perlmutter, a professor of Media and Communication at Texas Tech University, returns to talk about the the similarities between the true crime genre and conspiracy thinking.

Sean Ondes is cohost of the fantastic Wetwired podcast. You really need to add this to your feed! Sean comes on to talk about a nutso conspiracy theory about the hidden history of Tartaria, giants, phanon time, and why old buildings have high ceilings. Hint. It's for giants.

Eleven years ago Blake Smith came on to talk about his trip to visit the Georgia Guidestones. Someone blew them up July 6, 2022. Blake and I talk about what we've learned about "America's Stonehenge", who most likely paid for them to be built, and what this bombing says about the modern world of conspiracy cranking. We also spend some time looking how being a conspiracy skeptic, and a skeptic in general, has changed (not for the better) in the last 11 years.

Comic book artists and experts Celestia Ward (Squaring the Strange podcast) and F Andrew Taylor (Geek Shock Podcast) join me to talk about comic books, the comic book moral panic, and various conspiracy theories surrounding the early comic book industry.

Dr. Brian Regal is a history professor at Kean University in New Jersey. He has become the go-to guy for cryptid topics by the media. Before he started tucking into things with big feet, Dr. Regal was a Cold War warrior. I have him on to talk about his days on the front lines as a tank commander and his experiences as an 18-year old in West Germany staring down the barrel of an M60 tank at T72s.

Host of Saucer Life Aaron Gulyas has written a book on conspiracies. He returns to this podcast to talk about one of his chapters that delves into one of the weirdest pyrmaid schemes in history (the Omega Trust), a weird fantasy law called NESARA, and a massive conspiracy involving the space brothers and world wide revolution. Get his book new book Conspiracy and Triumph on Amazon. You can also listen to his Saucer Life podcast

Ivor Mectin is a pseudonym of a UK-based author who has written a guide to all manner of unhinged Covid conspiracies and crank ideas. He's come on to talk about writing his book and the many facets of Covid conspiracy thinking. Get his book on Amazon Covid-19: Ultimate Misinformation.

Geologist and legendary blogger Sharon Hill comes to discuss the ways aspects of geology is used to totally 100% prove the world is going to end. Not so much. Get her book Scientifical Americans: The Culture of Amateur Paranormal Researchers.

Tom Thumb, world traveler and author, talks about his latest book titled "Science for Hippies: An alternative guide to how we know anything at all". It's a brilliant, approachable book on how we know what we know. You can pick it up at a great price on Amazon in either Kindle or print on demand.

Dr. David D. Perlmutter, a professor of Media and Communication at Texas Tech University, returns to talk about Gamestop, conspiracies, and how major institutions are doing themselves no favors by playing into conspiracy perceptions

Biden is president, despite all predictions made my Qanon cranks. What can we expect in the future now that prophesy has failed? Your Conspiracy Skeptic gives his hot take on the group's future. We can look to apocalyptic cults of times past and see how they fractured. Qanon will probably break a similar way.

Happy American Thanksgiving. In what is an on and off again tradition, I try to release a podcast for my American friends for their Thanksgiving ultra long weekend. In this episode we look at several foundational works that have become core dogma in the world of UFOlogy and conspiracy thinking.

Aaron Gulyas hosts Saucer Life, a great history podcast about the early days of UFOs. Aaron comes on Conspiracy Skeptic to talk about how the UFO narrative went from kindly space brothres to shadowy conspiracies about aliens here to torture and mutilate us.

Monster Talk vet Jerry Drake returns to The Conspiracy Podcast to fulfill his promise to delve into a Civil War era secret society called The Knights of the Golden Circle.

Stephen Barnes is back to talk about his new expansion pack for his conspiracy themed trivia game called Conspiracy Theory: Trivia Board Game. A perfect gift for your skeptical pal or your Qanon thumping Uncle Frank. Stephen walks us through some choice, fun conspiracies found in his game.

Glen Kealey was something of an anti-government folk hero back in the late 80s. For some, an amusing footnote in 80s Canadian politics. He's the man who pressed private criminal charges on Brian Mulroney. Kealey has returned but with a different story, one independent investigator of all things bizarre and frequent Monster Talk guest Jerry Drake has come on to talk about. Or aboot.

Stephen Barnes has released a conspiracy themed trivia game called Conspiracy Theory: Trivia Board Game. It's an amazingly fun game and, if I can put in a plug, is a great Father's Day present for that hard-to-buy-for father. It's available on both Amazon and Amazon Canada. It's certainly a game True Believers can enjoy but Stephen has cleverly weaved in a helping of skepticism. On Conspiracy Skeptic we talk about the creation of the game, some of his favorite conspiracies, a few interesting Canadian conspiracies that made it into the game. And happy memorial day, American cousins.

Wes Brown is a fellow fan of the Monster Talk podcast. He comes on to make the point before 2016 conspiracy theories were just a kind of fun. They're not so fun anymore when people in power now base policy on them. We have a wide ranging discussion of conspiracy theories pre and post 2016 as well as we discuss Wes's semi sarcastic theory that MRA types are suffering from a kind of penis theft panic. Warning we do say "penis" quite a bit in this episode.

What if The Demon-Haunted World was written as madcap comedy novel? Eric Bickernicks, along with his covivant Jan Brady, has written a book about UFOs, conspiracy theories, Bigfoot, and pretty much everything else from a skeptical POV... all in the form of a comedic narrative. It's a fun read, a great idea, and currently available for free download at high-strangeness.net.

James Scott Berdahl is a geologist working in Vancouver and points between there and Whitehorse in the Yukon. While researching my eventual book on Canadian conspiracies, I ran across a 2008 MA thesis by Berdahl on a meteor that smacked into Canada's Yukon and some of the conspiracy thinking that emerged from the locals. I got Berdahl to dig back into his academic past and talk about the Tagish Lake Fireball on The Conspiracy Skeptic podcast.

Jeb Card is cohost of an amazing podcast called Archeological Fantasies. This podcast will change the way you think. If you spend a lot of time watching Ancient Aliens and go "what the actual fuck?", Archeological Fantasies is the perfect podcast for you. Jeb comes on Conspiracy Skeptic to talk about the podcast, the origins of Qanon, how archeologists don't actually hide skeletons of giants in the basement of the Smithsonian, and just about everything else.

Back from the dead. Sort of. This is an early July 4 Conspiracy Skeptic podcast for my American friends about to hit the road or airline security line. I've been working on a book about Canadian conspiracy theories, written specifically for an American audience. This is a sample chapter. I'm about 3 chapters into a book that covers at least 20 chapters. So. Don't except this to hit the shelves of B. Dalton Books anytime soon. Glen Kealey, Shelley Ann Clark, Simon Reisman, Brian Mulroney, and a whole lot more all conspire in the mid-1990s to convince Canada the USA is out to take our water! Oh yeah, it never happened.

Nigel St. Whitehall returns to lend his knowledge as a historian, loyal party member, and lawyer to discuss how hard it is to actually rig the US electoral system. He also reveals he's cohosting a new podcast.

Dr. Karen Stollznow, host of Monster Talk and one of the greatest all around skeptic working today, joins the Conspiracy Skeptic to talk about some surprising conspiracies people of the Land Down Under have cooked up in the last few decades.

Carrie Poppy from the Oh No Ross and Carrie podcast is on to talk about a supposed conspiracy of silence around the Black Dhalia Murder. As well we talk about her amazing podcast.

Dr. David D. Perlmutter is a professor at and Dean of the College of Media and Communication at Texas Tech University. He's on Conspiracy Skeptic to talk about how images are used and misused in history and politics.

Wesley Bonetti is co-host of the Atheist Nomads podcast. He's also a member of the Satanic Temple. He comes on the podcast to talk about what Satanists are really about. Spoiler: they're not kidnapping babies.

James K Lambert is a documentary film maker and he's recently released a documentary about JFK Conspiracy types call Conspiracy Theorists Lie. He stops in to this podcast to talk about his documentary, the JFK conspiracy theory, and ruminates on why conspiracy theorists think the way they think.

Rich Orman, formerly of Dogma Free American and now host of Supreme Court Briefing podcast, comes on Conspiracy Skeptic to talk about his experience as a DA prosecuting the 2012 Colorado mass shooting and the despicable conspiracy theories that formed after the killing.

Dr. Stu is back to talk about participating in the New Horizons mission to Pluto and various conspiracies.

A real, live Freemason, Blake Oates, turns up to clear things up about Freemasonry.

Kyle Polich of the Data Skeptic Podcast comes on to talk about The Bible Code.

James Foley, the Skeptical Vegan, joins Conspiracy Skeptic to talk about the Waco Siege and its implications

Dr. Stuart Robbins, "Stu" to just me, is back to talk about another end of the world prophesy. Do bad things happen when there are four blood moons in a row that fall on Jewish holidays?