Human F*ckery

You said you wanted an episode on serial killers, and after months of absolutely heinous research (Kim cried), recording, and editing, it’s finally here: The Season Two Finale, “Forgotten Serial Killers,” featuring the stars of Netflix’s MINDHUNTER series.Teams Kimberly and Edward endeavored to find tales of true “multiple murderers” not already discussed to death by other podcasts and documentaries…and our guest judges, both well-versed professionally in retelling the stories of mad killers, agreed they pulled it off.Team Edward presents the blood-chilling history of The Red Ripper, a prolific monster hidden for decades by Soviet censorship and the first-ever Russian criminal to be caught in part by employing psychological profiling.Team Kimberly transports listeners to the antebellum frontier, where a family of mysteriously antisocial colonists led by a charismatic daughter terrorized travelers riding the Osage Mission Trail, earning themselves the terrible moniker The Bloody Benders.Our hosts were joined by MINDHUNTER headliners Holt McCallany (Fight Club, Alien 3, Blue Bloods, Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning) and Michael Cerveris (Broadway’s Sweeney Todd and Assassins; TV’s Fringe and The Gilded Age), two guys who have made careers out of either playing killers, or playing the people who catch killers. In addition to the serial killer talk, they give us insight into working with cinematic masters like David Fincher; befriending Charles Mansonite Bobby Boselie; and learning from FBI profilers.If you’d like to learn more about The Bloody Benders yourself, check out one of our sources for this episode: Hell's Half-Acre: The Untold Story of the Benders, a Serial Killer Family on the American FrontierIf you’d like to read the book MINDHUNTER was based on, you can find that here:Mindhunter: Inside the FBI's Elite Serial Crime Unit Support the show

If you’re not already familiar with The Toybox Killer case, you’re about to be….and head’s up that it’s from the deepest, darkest, stankest part of history’s colon. You may need a fresh baptism afterwards just from listening.If you’ve ever wondered why there’s such a loud movement to shut down social media accounts teaching misogyny, and backlash to violent pornography, this story is a great example. It’s also further argument AGAINST smacking kids around, and/or letting them be exposed to violent and emotionally unfit parents, because while the Toybox Killer may have been born with a screw loose, his upbringing only made things worse.It all goes down in a bleak and dusty stretch of desert just outside Truth or Consequences, New Mexico.Support the show

This episode was written as an epic Pride Season gift to our beloved Patreon subscribers, but given recent Supreme Court rulings and the fresh wave of anti-LGBTQ+ mouth diarrhea that SCOTUS fuckery spawned, it seemed an important story to release into the wild. Because while it might sound like a joke, few things are more epic, gayer, AND more prescient in these polarized times than the largely forgotten sliver of wildly queer pro wrestling history called “The Goldust Era,” which officially began on October 15, 1995. There’s even a hero in this salacious tale of WWE executives exploiting homophobia for profit: Dustin Runnels, veteran pro wrestling superstar and outspoken advocate for LGBTQ folk. Runnels’ arc from a wounded little boy to Southern American hero, to the most hated man in wrestling, to redeemed role model and father of a trans kid is equal parts heartwarming and unhinged and is compelling even if you’ve never once watched a body slam live on Pay Per View. It’s also a major thread in pro wrestling’s long history of selling the gayest heat imaginable to audiences that, by and large, see themselves as heterosexual patriots with no ties to the LGBTQ community, despite participating in one of the most homoerotic art forms on the planet. Heads Up: There’s hate speech and LGBTQ slurs in this episode, and not because we condone it. (People really said some wildshit on TV in the 90s.)Support the show

We may ALL be struggling to survive the surrealist nightmare which is “post-Pandemic” 2023, but there’s still stuff to be grateful for. Not dying slowly of scurvy in the frozen Arctic, or roasting like a pair of hot nuts under a relentless Sahara sun, for starters. We’re also collectively blessed with an uncanny ability to adapt, overcome, and experience “Post Traumatic Growth,” which you gotta admit doesn’t suck. This month Teams Edward & Kimberly kick off summer—and seasonal travel—with a pair of swan dives into tales of human resilience in the face of our O.G. adversary, Nature. Kimberly unearths the story of Ada Blackjack, a 23-year-old Inuit girl coerced into a disastrous Arctic expedition with a bunch of inexperienced white boys and a housecat. Edward pulls out the harrowing journey of Mauro Prosperi, an ultramarathoner whose persistence in the face of adversity landed him in a desert cave drinking his own urine like a champ. The gang is joined by special guest judge TR Hendricks, a veteran Army intelligence officer and author of the fantastic new survivor thriller “The Instructor,” about a former marine using SERE school techniques to take on a surprise threat hidden in the Adirondacks. (It’s one of the best summer reads you’ll blow through this year, so grab a copy en route to the beach or pool.)Buy TR's Book!: https://shorturl.at/xGIV8Support the show

Full disclosure: When Edward proposed this interview back in March, Kimberly’s immediate response was “Why the fuck would we talk to Joe Exotic?” (She’s a delicate flower like that.) And it’s a fair question. While Tiger King was a savagely addictive and jaw-dropping series, it was also rife with animal abuse, unchecked misogyny, predatory sexual behavior, and Adults Behaving Like Children—all things neither of our hosts are fans of.As our resident philosopher, Edward quickly pointed out how prison has palpably changed the manic antihero the world first met back in 2020. Once singularly focused on self-promotion, the Joe Exotic of 2023 has been campaigning heavily for prison reform over the last 18 months…something Human Fuckery can very much get behind. Mr. Exotic was placed in solitary confinement “for his own protection” under suspicious circumstances and held for roughly 18 months in an Atlanta-based federal penitentiary now under investigation for human rights violations, including breaches of the 6th (right to effective legal counsel) and 8th (freedom from cruel and unusual punishment) constitutional amendments.Edward’s also a passionate advocate for the idea that people fundamentally NEED a “path to redemption” in order for life to be worth living and that giving each other the opportunity to express remorse and grow is part of “doing the work.” Since HF’s ultimate goal is to guide people toward more human decency, conversing with a man learning to advocate for others at age 60 to see how he’s grown seemed a potentially good learning experience.So Gary set up a call to Butler Federal Medical Center, a prison for inmates with complex health issues, in North Carolina, where Joe Exotic is being evaluated for his second cancer diagnosis in as many years while serving his 21-year sentence.Love him or hate him, there’s no question that Joe’s one of the breakout storytellers and characters of the last decade. Whether he’s achieved a full redemption arc yet is up to you to decide for yourself.Support the show

He was hailed as “The Painter of Light,” a titan of pastoral landscapes which glowed whimsically from the windows of malls and Disney stores across America in the 1990s. But inside Thomas Kinkade, the famed born-again Christian artist behind one of the most commercially successful art entities ever created, lurked a darkness even he couldn’t cover with layers of shining lacquer. His tragic story of worker exploitation, belligerent self-destruction, and nostalgia gone awry was carefully hidden behind a wall of corporate money for decades but emerged from the shadows after Kinkade’s sudden and unexpected death back in 2012. It’s a piece of forgotten American art history so bent Teams Edward and Kimberly had to drop their monthly storytelling competition and join forces to share it with y'all correctly. If you’ve ever felt disillusioned with The American Dream, skeptical about so-called “Christian artists,” or creeped out by those relentlessly-cheery Christmas villages glowing in Hallmark stores every winter, hit play and listen as the veneer dissolves into truth far stranger than fiction. Featuring original music by Sergio Gonzalez Pagan.Support the show

We’re all capable of royally screwing up a romance, but some guys are so good at it we still talk about them 100 years after their relationships tank. In this month’s battle of storytelling, Team Edward flies into Key West, Florida, to unearth the story of Carl Tanzer and his extremely unhinged relationship with a beautiful, dead Cuban tuberculosis patient half his age. Team Kimberly punches back with the mad entanglement of painter Oskar Kokoschka and his legendary muse, curvacious composer Alma Mahler…who got immortalized the wrong way. Soulful rock star Mia Borders and commanding music educator Kate Duncan, both of the podcast “Great Question with Mia and Kate,” step in as special guest judges to declare which true story submission is the winner, and all parties confess some of the most cringe crap they’ve ever pulled while in the throes of maladaptive love. Mia also plays out the episode, appropriately, with her breakup song for the ages, “Plastic Love."You can support this podcast here: www.patreon.com/humanfuckeryYou can find more of Mia and Kate at their podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/pt/podcast/great-question-with-mia-kate/id1618114613You can hear more of Mia’s music here: https://www.miaborders.com/bioSupport the show

Terrible things happen when we put professions on pedestals. Over the last two centuries, “Medicine” has improved so significantly the human lifespan increased dramatically. Unfortunately, medical science and medical ETHICS are two different things—and they aren’t always practiced together, even today. This episode dives into two of the most horrific cases of human experimentation and iatrogenic injury perpetrated in the 20th century. Team Kimberly fondles the questionable choices Dr. Leo Stanley made with prisoners’ testicles during the San Quentin Prison Experiments, which spanned decades here in the United States. Team Edward teleports us back to WWII, directly into the secret Japanese facility known as Unit 731, a research laboratory which rivaled (if not exceeded) the egregious work of Nazi scientists in Germany. Special guests include public health experts and ethical superheroes Dr. Lucas Trautman, a psychiatrist and addiction specialist who randomly was mentored by Dr. Death Christopher Duntsch; and Dr. Elizabeth Nicholson, a heavily tattooed doctor of emergency medicine and bold COVID frontline survivor.Support the show

Ho, Ho, Holy shit.It takes a special kind of dick hole to be jealous of a kid's affection for Santa Claus. But when you take into consideration that Paul Schäfer was a Nazi, pedophile, and notorious cult leader, his disdain for jolly old St. Nick starts to make a bit more sense. After all, how could he afford to make space for the children of his commune to love and celebrate anyone more than him? To secure their affection, it was all too appropriate for Paul to shit in the eggnog and bless these kiddos with a Christmas gift that would keep on giving: devastating emotional trauma.This month, as a special holiday stick of dynamite, Team HF takes you deep into the heart of Chile, to a heavily guarded hellscape known as "Colonia Dignidad." It's there we'll turn the lens to an isolated colony of Germans established in post-World War II which, under the leadership of German preacher Paul Schäfer, became notorious for the internment, torture, and murder of dissidents during the military dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet in the 1970s. Support the show

It’s that time again, folks—our monthly, pithy recap of the previous month’s most mentionable public human fuckery, plus a few honorable decency mentions for everyone’s sanity.Several weeks of October 2022 in the United States were dominated by surprise anti-semitism being spewed by billionaire rappers, resulting in one of the more entertaining graduations from “F*** Around and Find Out” University. A deadly batch of drugs dispatched by some guy named Brian from New Jersey ended up flattening hundreds of unsuspecting narcotics enthusiasts in New York City, and Florida police came across what may have been Lord Voldemort’s most recent victim. Fortunately, a heroic and exceptionally pregnant firefighter did some heroic pregnant firefighter stuff, while a team of of Italian surgeons pulled off the first ever brain surgery on a guy playing saxophone DURING his brain surgery.Click play, get the rundown, and be sure to tag us in whatever colorful examples of fuckery/decency you come across this month. With midterm elections coming to a close, we’re pretty sure next month’s recap is gonna be a doozy.Support the show

It’s that time of year again folks! The veil is thinning, and the rate of spooky fuckery is on the rise. Last season, our Halloween stories were thematically in sync, as we brought you tales of two haunted homes on opposite sides of the world. But this year, the hosts were left with a lot more space to explore Satan's grundle. The assignment: "scare me." Team Kimberly brings us the story of a terrifying exorcism that trumps the movie it inspired, and Team Edward shares the story of 'Cropsey', a boogeyman and urban legend brought to life. Our guests this month are Justin Welborn (star of oodles of horror films), and resident scaredy cat, Lori Kramer.Support the show

What a time to be alive! Deadly weather events, dickheads holding office, adult toddlers running around doing adult toddler shit—it’s too much to keep up with. So we’re helping out. Now that our amazing new subscribers Denise and “J” have tipped us over into the 30+ paying patrons mark, we’re able to make this monthly roundup of human fuckery just for y’all. (More patrons mean more, and better, content more frequently, so consider gifting a subscription to a friend or shilling for us online, it works.)The Fuckerrecap is not comprehensive, but it IS entertaining and will, ideally anyway, keep you abreast of some of the modern, daily fuckery rattling the human experience in real time.If you see any news stories in the month of October that make you go uuuuuum, please do tag us in them or send the links our way. We’ll do our best to get them, along with credit to you, worked into future recaps.On this month’s agenda:Brett Farve’s Reverse Robin HoodingMarjorie Taylor Green being Marjorie Taylor Green"Sleepy Chicken”Needless Raccoon ArrestsCoolio’s Super Manly Beef-Squashing SkillsSupport the show

Thirty years ago, alien talk was mostly restricted to trashy daytime talk shows or weird sitcom fodder. (RE: “ALF?”) But with the very recent declassification of hundreds of pages of United States military case files on UFOs, plus an ever-expanding Internet cache of compelling videos and eyewitness reports, alien encounters are no longer taboo…and seem less sci-fi than ever before. Award-winning “Somewhere in the Skies” author and podcaster Ryan Sprague, a UFO researcher tapped for shows like “Ancient Aliens,” gets hauled onto the show to judge our teams’ deep dives into extraterrestrials. Team Edward returns to the land down under, spotlighting a trio of bizarre Australian arial events with no explanation. Team Kimberly skips the flying saucers and digs into the story of a California model whose life came undone after she was abducted—maybe—from the love nest she shared with her boyfriend. Who will be declared victorious? And are aliens more a part of the human experience than we were taught? You know what to do to find out.Link to Ryan’s Podcast: https://play.acast.com/s/somewhere-in-the-skiesLink to Ryan’s web site: https://somewhereintheskies.com/Link to our Twitter: twitter.com/humanfuckerypodLink to our IG: instagram.com/humanfuckerypodcastSupport the show

Pontius Pilate may have been the one who condemned Jesus of Nazareth to death, but the name reviled most today is “Judas.” And that’s because treacherous backstabbers—men like Ephialtes of Trachis and Benedict Arnold—who betray friends, lovers, or countrymen for personal gain are so shameful we put them on display forever, a collective reminder of who NOT to be. Dark history nerds will especially love this month’s special guest judge: “History on Fire” host & historian Daniele Bolelli, dragged into the lair for our monthly battle of wits and storytelling. Team Kimberly digs up the truth on disgraced Arizona Sheriff Paul Babeu, one half of a jaw-dropping political breakup. Team Edward resurrects The Coward Robert Ford, whose choices were so cringy he went viral a century before social media existed. The scalding-hot historic tea is ready to be served.  Link to Daniele’s Show: http://historyonfirepodcast.com/Link to Daniele’s Web Site: http://www.danielebolelli.com/Link to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/humanfuckeryLink to our IG: https://www.instagram.com/humanfuckerypodcast/Support the show

Internet shamans, TV hucksters, wellness grifters, slimy CryptoBros—humanity is bombarded by successful scam artists using the internet for evil, and we wanna make sure they’re LESS successful. Branding guru Alyssa Bonanno, and Fyre Festival crew survivor Will Desena, join Teams Kimberly and Edward to help listeners ID scammers before they get into our wallets, and also declare one host “The Winner.” Team Kimberly covers the true story of Shaman Durek, an Instagram-based spiritual advisor with a massive following, very shady backstory, and European princess on his arm. Team Edward counters with the tale of vintage infomercial king Don Lapre, who dominated late-night television as a salesman for sketchy products before face-planting into rock bottom. Also covered are a few other famous faces worth avoiding, including Anthony “The Medical Medium” Williams; business bro Tai Lopez; pop-psychologist Jordan Peterson; and Fyre Fest mastermind Billy McFarland.Alyssa Bonanno IG: @comic.sansWill Desena IG: @williamdesenaHuman Fuckery IG and Twitter: @humanfuckerypodcast, @humanfuckerypodLinks to our Patreon: www.patreon.com/humanfuckerySupport the show

So what happens when two broke Jews-turned-Christian-Evangelicals fall in love, then decide to grift a bunch of poor people out of money using The Bible as leverage? SPOILER ALERT: It’s…uh, yeah, it’s not great. It involves a lot of gaslighting, hypocrisy, some sexual assault, and a prodigious amount of abuse. But in the case of The Alamos, it also involves gay demons, alien angels, laser beams, and piles of karma, so the story is as entertaining as it is infuriating.If you’ve not already listened to PART ONE (published June 19 on Patreon), you’ll want to go back and start there. If you’ve already been schooled on the humble beginnings of “Grandma Susie and Papa Tony,” pop those earbuds in, hit play, and be prepared to be appalled by these two total assholes.Support the show

A young body found dead, without a single mark or sign of struggle on it. Strangled animals appearing mysteriously in yards. Playtimes that turn from harmless to violent in the blink of an eye.   Nature lays the foundation. But nurturing—or worse, lack of it—builds the rest of the person. And when children are denied affection, stability, consistency, love, and care, psychopathy can assemble itself…with devastating results. Team Kimberly and Team Edward yank open the history books and the DSM-V for a glimpse into the real-life consequences of bringing innocent lives into unstable families. Kimberly leads with the shocking case of Mary Flora Bell, a British schoolgirl with a strangulation fascination. Edward counters with Carroll “Eddie” Cole, a predator whose hunting started in grade school and never stopped. Master of Special Education and proud dad of non-psychopaths (so far anyway) Jared Loper declares only on of these tales “the winner.”Support the show

SEASON 2 PREMIERE! Doctor of clinical psychology, Edward Simon and recovering journalist Kimberly Kaye are finally back to spelunking in human history’s colon for their friendly competition to see who can enthrall listeners most. This month, Team Edward dredges up the true story of the Château de Montsegur, site of a massive religious martyr killing, infamous religious relics, and apparently even some UFOs. Team Kimberly counterpunches with a trip to St. Petersburg, that city built by a sociopathic torturer and home of a waterway which allegedly lures onlookers to their death via hypnosis. Whose piece of true dark history will win? Paranormal Investigator Amanda Paulson (@prettyfnspooky) and Religious Ritual Researcher/Tarot Reader Celeste Mott (@celestemott) slide into the guest judge seat to weigh in.  Vote for Team Edward or Team Kimberly at Instagram @humanfuckerypodcast or Twitter @humanfuckerypod.Support the show

Happy Pride month fellow LGBTQ+ nerds! Who wants to hear about queer people rioting against police brutality, runway walk-offs, and dead bodies?! Human F*ckery celebrates queer history 12 months a year, but we do love a month where re-sharing the shadiest stories from under the rainbow is extra appropriate. This “Secret Story Time” episode debuted in January via our Patreon and featured Mother Dorian Corey, one of the great queens of the ballroom scene. The shocking secret she had stashed in her New York City closet made headlines for months, but there’s a lot about Corey—and the world she lived in—that never made it into the salacious newspaper reports. When you're done, give some snaps to https://www.patreon.com/humanfuckery Support the show

Another banter-free installment from our subscribers only Secret Story Time series!So, the holidays have been a bit strange this year. A global pandemic, money problems, crushing existential dread. Some folks can’t get close enough to their families, others can’t escape them. It’s easy in times like these to romanticize; to look back through a rosy portal at the past, time filtering out the imperfections, and long for the way Thanksgiving “used to be.”During such delicate, emotionally triggering times, it’s our professional duty to remind you all: Thanksgiving is a shit show. Seriously. Always has been. The “first Thanksgiving” was, at best, an anxious and unsatisfying day. (At worst it was an utter fabrication used to manipulate people into making hand turkeys every November). The pressure of the holidays has been making people crazy for generations, and there’s a legacy of police reports to prove it.This Secret Story Time is for anyone feeling a little low or isolated during the holidays. It may make you thankful for a little extra time alone. And if you like what you hear, there's a whole backlog of episodes you can stream at: https://www.patreon.com/humanfuckery Support the show