

Timesuck with Dan Cummins
Dan Cummins
Jump down new rabbit holes with Timesuck, the weekly podcast that takes you on a fascinating and bizarre journey through history’s darkest corners, most shocking conspiracies, and wildest true stories. Hosted by acclaimed standup comedian and storyteller Dan Cummins, each episode blends dark humor with deep research to uncover hidden truths about infamous historical figures, unsolved mysteries, notorious serial killers, and more. If you crave the weird, the wild, and the unexpected, Timesuck is your next obsession!
And check out the Short Sucks, a new series of 40-60 minute episodes two Fridays a month. These bite-sized stories are perfect for when you want a quick dose of Timesuck (or need more addictive content to consume while you’re waiting for your next Timesuck!)
And check out the Short Sucks, a new series of 40-60 minute episodes two Fridays a month. These bite-sized stories are perfect for when you want a quick dose of Timesuck (or need more addictive content to consume while you’re waiting for your next Timesuck!)
Episodes
Mentioned books

Jul 12, 2021 • 2h 48min
252 - Aliens, Sexual Abuse, Disco, Racism, and ... Egyptians? The Nuwaubian Nation of Moors Cult
So much WTF!?! coming at you today. Wow. Dwight York is a maniac. And a terrible writer. And only a good disco/r&b vocalist if you compare him to other cult leaders who also have dabbled in music. But somehow this two-bit con man strung together around two hundred pamphlets full of his very confusing and constantly changing theology, or "factology" as he'd call it. The only message that remained the same as Dwight shifted his teachings from being based in Islam to Christianity to American Indian mythology to extraterrestrial, conspiratorial, Heaven's Gate-ish teachings, to Egyptian lore - was a consistent focus on black supremacy. And the only action of Dwight's that remained constant over the course of two plus decades of running his cult, was the sexual abuse of his followers. Dwight York, now incarcerated in Colorado's ADX Florence "supermax" prison, was a sexual predator who preyed on victims as young as four. He somehow convinced a few hundred followers to build a massive Egyptian-themed cult compound for him in Georgia, the third compound he'd build after the first in Brooklyn and the second in upstate New York. Today's tale is a wild one. Cult! Cult! Cult!
Thank you Space Lizards for helping us give $14,400 to https://supportsurfside.org/ - a hardship fund just established by the Miami Heat basketball team to help those impacted by the devastating building collapse in Surfside, Florida.
Watch the Suck on YouTube: https://youtu.be/1yKKB6-sSt8Merch - https://badmagicmerch.com/ Discord! https://discord.gg/tqzH89v
Want to join the Cult of the Curious private Facebook Group? Go directly to Facebook and search for "Cult of the Curious" in order to locate whatever current page hasn't been put in FB Jail :)
For all merch related questions/problems: store@badmagicproductions.com (copy and paste)
Please rate and subscribe on iTunes and elsewhere and follow the suck on social media!! @timesuckpodcast on IG and http://www.facebook.com/timesuckpodcast
Wanna become a Space Lizard? We're over 10,000 strong! Click here: https://www.patreon.com/timesuckpodcast
Sign up through Patreon and for $5 a month you get to listen to the Secret Suck, which will drop Thursdays at Noon, PST. You'll also get 20% off of all regular Timesuck merch PLUS access to exclusive Space Lizard merch. You get to vote on two Monday topics each month via the app. And you get the download link for my new comedy album, Feel the Heat. Check the Patreon posts to find out how to download the new album and take advantage of other benefits. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Jul 5, 2021 • 2h 16min
251 - The Real Inglorious Basterds: Operation Greenup
Operation Greenup was a covert OSS operation carried out by a special group of men many have called the “real life Inglorious Basterds,” a reference to the 2009 Quentin Tarantino film in which a group of US Jewish soldiers plot to assassinate high-up Nazi leaders. Two Jewish refugees living in Brooklyn - Frederick Mayer and Hans Wynberg, and Franz Weber, a Wehrmacht lieutenant and Allied POW who has belatedly come to his senses about the tyrannical, antisemitic, sociopathic nature of Adolf Hitler - parachute behind enemy lines to, amongst other intel objectives, gather intelligence regarding a mythical alpine fortress the Nazis may have built to extend WW2 by six months. Today's story reads like a movie - but all this bravery and espionage really happened. Hail Nimrod!
Thank you Space Lizards for helping us give over $14,000 - I’ll know the exact figure next week - to https://supportsurfside.org/ - a hardship fund just established by the Miami Heat basketball team to help those impacted by the devastating building collapse in Surfside, Florida.
Watch the Suck on YouTube: https://youtu.be/RLZKjQmei3EMerch - https://badmagicmerch.com/ Discord! https://discord.gg/tqzH89v
Want to join the Cult of the Curious private Facebook Group? Go directly to Facebook and search for "Cult of the Curious" in order to locate whatever current page hasn't been put in FB Jail :)
For all merch related questions/problems: store@badmagicproductions.com (copy and paste)
Please rate and subscribe on iTunes and elsewhere and follow the suck on social media!! @timesuckpodcast on IG and http://www.facebook.com/timesuckpodcast
Wanna become a Space Lizard? We're over 10,000 strong! Click here: https://www.patreon.com/timesuckpodcast
Sign up through Patreon and for $5 a month you get to listen to the Secret Suck, which will drop Thursdays at Noon, PST. You'll also get 20% off of all regular Timesuck merch PLUS access to exclusive Space Lizard merch. You get to vote on two Monday topics each month via the app. And you get the download link for my new comedy album, Feel the Heat. Check the Patreon posts to find out how to download the new album and take advantage of other benefits. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Jun 28, 2021 • 2h 29min
250 - Serial Killing Sex-Crazed Couple: Fred and Rose West
My God. This story is so over-the-top, it's hard to accept as true. But sadly, it did happen. For roughly two decades, Fred and Rose West were the patriarch and matriarch of torture, sadism, incest, and death at their horrific British home at 25 Cromwell Street in Gloucester, England. Both Fred and Rose were raised in preposterously incestuous homes where sexual abuse was normalized. They also both grew up in households of regular physical violence. This, plus some head injuries and a whole bunch of bad choices would lead to both becoming sex-crazed, abusive parents themselves. Together, as a couple, they seemed to push each other's violent and sexually experimental natures further than either ever would have ventured alone. Their strange pairing led to a true house of horrors in Gloucester in the 70s, 80s, and early 90s. This one has to be heard to be believed. The first Bad Magic Productions June charity we are proud to donate $7,050 towards is Trinity Stables. They run a specialty program in Georgia called Stable Moments, a weekly mentorship program that utilizes equine-assisted learning to achieve life skills that better prepare foster and adopted kids for healthy transitions into adulthood. To find out more, please visit: https://www.trinitystables.net/The second Bad Magic Productions June charity we are proud to donate $7,050 towards is Vintage Pet Rescue, a Rhode Island-based nonprofit committed to rescuing “vintage” aka senior pets from shelters and assisting their owners who can no longer care for their vintage pets. To find out more, please visit: https://www.vintagepetrescue.org/
Watch the Suck on YouTube: https://youtu.be/47dqR0tllM4Merch - https://badmagicmerch.com/ Discord! https://discord.gg/tqzH89v
Want to join the Cult of the Curious private Facebook Group? Go directly to Facebook and search for "Cult of the Curious" in order to locate whatever current page hasn't been put in FB Jail :)
For all merch related questions/problems: store@badmagicproductions.com (copy and paste)
Please rate and subscribe on iTunes and elsewhere and follow the suck on social media!! @timesuckpodcast on IG and http://www.facebook.com/timesuckpodcast
Wanna become a Space Lizard? We're over 10,000 strong! Click here: https://www.patreon.com/timesuckpodcast
Sign up through Patreon and for $5 a month you get to listen to the Secret Suck, which will drop Thursdays at Noon, PST. You'll also get 20% off of all regular Timesuck merch PLUS access to exclusive Space Lizard merch. You get to vote on two Monday topics each month via the app. And you get the download link for my new comedy album, Feel the Heat. Check the Patreon posts to find out how to download the new album and take advantage of other benefits. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Jun 21, 2021 • 2h 27min
249 - H.P. Lovecraft, the Cthulhu Mythos, and the Horror You Love Today
H.P. Lovecraft, a cornerstone of horror literature, profoundly shaped the genre with his cosmic monsters and eerie tales. In this discussion, the guest illuminates Lovecraft's influence on modern classics like 'Stranger Things' and Stephen King's works. The conversation dives into Lovecraft's troubled life, his unique fear-based storytelling, and the enduring Cthulhu mythos. It also addresses the tension between his genius and personal controversies, prompting reflection on how we engage with his legacy today.

Jun 14, 2021 • 2h 27min
248 - P.T. Barnum and His "Human Curiosities"
Big episode for a big, complex topic today. PT Barnum has been called the The Greatest Showman on Earth. And he certainly was the most famous promoter of the 19th century. He brought entertainment to millions, and millions loved him for it. He also stirred up a fair amount of controversy and many in the modern day have not looked back kindly on him. He often lied to his audience about the nature of his acts - and his acts were often people with physical abnormalities or deformities. Did he exploit them for profit? Yes. Without a doubt. But did he also provide for them a means to make life-changing and empowering income? He did. Does that justify the exploitation? That's up to you to decide. PT Barnum continues to entertain (and probably offend) today, on Timesuck. Hail Nimrod! The first Bad Magic Productions June charity we are proud to donate $7,050 towards is Trinity Stables. They run a speciality program in Georgia called Stable Moments, a weekly mentorship program that utilizes equine-assisted learning to achieve life skills that better prepare foster and adopted kids for healthy transitions into adulthood. To find out more, please visit: https://www.trinitystables.net/The second Bad Magic Productions June charity we are proud to donate $7,050 towards is Vintage Pet Rescue, a Rhode Island-based nonprofit committed to rescuing “vintage” aka senior pets from shelters and assisting their owners who can no longer care for their vintage pets. To find out more, please visit: https://www.vintagepetrescue.org/
Watch the Suck on YouTube: https://youtu.be/oRomYgWK-dgMerch - https://badmagicmerch.com/ Discord! https://discord.gg/tqzH89v
Want to join the Cult of the Curious private Facebook Group? Go directly to Facebook and search for "Cult of the Curious" in order to locate whatever current page hasn't been put in FB Jail :)
For all merch related questions/problems: store@badmagicproductions.com (copy and paste)
Please rate and subscribe on iTunes and elsewhere and follow the suck on social media!! @timesuckpodcast on IG and http://www.facebook.com/timesuckpodcast
Wanna become a Space Lizard? We're over 10,000 strong! Click here: https://www.patreon.com/timesuckpodcast
Sign up through Patreon and for $5 a month you get to listen to the Secret Suck, which will drop Thursdays at Noon, PST. You'll also get 20% off of all regular Timesuck merch PLUS access to exclusive Space Lizard merch. You get to vote on two Monday topics each month via the app. And you get the download link for my new comedy album, Feel the Heat. Check the Patreon posts to find out how to download the new album and take advantage of other benefits. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Jun 7, 2021 • 2h 29min
247 - The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World
A tour of the ancient Seven Wonders and the debates around them. Deep dives into the Great Pyramid, Lighthouse of Alexandria, Colossus of Rhodes, Temple of Artemis, Statue of Zeus, Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, and the Hanging Gardens. Also covers modern New7Wonders, natural wonders like Victoria Falls and the Great Barrier Reef, and bizarre roadside oddities. Lots of wild internet theories get roasted along the way.

12 snips
May 31, 2021 • 2h 32min
246 - Trail of Tears
When the 1830s began, nearly 125,000 various tribal members lived on millions of acres of land in Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, North Carolina and Florida - land where their ancestors had lived for centuries. By the end of that decade, only a handful of indigenous Americans would remain in the southeastern United States. The federal government had forced them to leave their homelands and walk hundreds of miles to a specially designated “Indian territory” across the Mississippi River - present day Oklahoma. And this difficult and deadly journey - thousands would die along the way - would be known as the Trail of Tears. As new waves of European settlers kept pouring into America, farming land along the coasts was quickly taken up. Farming land for growing cotton in Georgia, Alabama, North Carolina, Florida, and Tennessee was especially coveted. New settlers wanted that land and they would do almost anything to get it - including taking it from tribe members who yes, had lost their battles against the US government, but also - could’ve been treated far more fairly in the aftermath. Rather than work to assimilate the tribes into American culture - the US federal government under President Andrew Jackson and his Indian Removal Act, passed by Congress in 1830, chose to banish them to less desirable land. Though the entire process of Indian Removal that lasted from 1831 to 1877 would come to be known as the Trail of Tears, one march in particular would become emblematic of the entire misguided and heartless venture - the 2,200 mile 1838 journey of seventeen Cherokee detachments. Historians estimate that between 1/4 and 1/3 of what remained of the Cherokee population died during that journey. We look at this journey and other tribe's journey's today, talk about what led up to them, examine the history of European contact with the Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Seminole, and Chickasaw, and go over so much more in this jam-packed-with-historical-information episode, let's learn from our mistakes so we don't repeat them edition, of Timesuck. Thanks for helping Bad Magic Productions donate $13,800 this month to The Ocular Melanoma Foundation, in honor of Timesucker Alex Roach.
To find out more, go to http://www.ocularmelanoma.org/
Watch the Suck on YouTube:https://youtu.be/KXsOxewvna8
Merch - https://badmagicmerch.com/ Discord! https://discord.gg/tqzH89v
Want to join the Cult of the Curious private Facebook Group? Go directly to Facebook and search for "Cult of the Curious" in order to locate whatever current page hasn't been put in FB Jail :)
For all merch related questions/problems: store@badmagicproductions.com (copy and paste)
Please rate and subscribe on iTunes and elsewhere and follow the suck on social media!! @timesuckpodcast on IG and http://www.facebook.com/timesuckpodcast
Wanna become a Space Lizard? We're over 10,000 strong! Click here: https://www.patreon.com/timesuckpodcast
Sign up through Patreon and for $5 a month you get to listen to the Secret Suck, which will drop Thursdays at Noon, PST. You'll also get 20% off of all regular Timesuck merch PLUS access to exclusive Space Lizard merch. You get to vote on two Monday topics each month via the app. And you get the download link for my new comedy album, Feel the Heat. Check the Patreon posts to find out how to download the new album and take advantage of other benefits. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

May 24, 2021 • 2h 2min
245 - Karl Denke, the Cannibal of Ziębice
Heard of this guy before? If you haven't, I'm with you. I hadn't either. And then once I got into this story, I wondered HOW had I never heard of him? This story is insane. Karl Denke killed, it seems, at least 30 people in Ziębice, Poland (formerly Münsterberg, Weimar Republic aka Germany). And he ate them. And he sold some of their meat to others. Probably many, MANY others. And he made suspenders out of their skin and shoelaces out of their hair and on and on and on. And he did that out of his apartment, surrounded by neighbors, for over two decades. How? Partially - due to hyperinflation. Yes, hyperinflation in the Weimar Republic led to so much economic chaos that people were a lot more worried about surviving than they were about what their neighbors were up to. And why haven't more of us heard about Karl? Because of another killer operating nearby at the same time who was even more disturbing - Fritz Haarmann. We'll go over some of his crimes as well. True crime, the economic chaos of German's Interwar Years and more on an outlandish edition of Timesuck.
Thanks for helping Bad Magic Productions donate $13,800 this month to The Ocular Melanoma Foundation, in honor of Timesucker Alex Roach.
To find out more, go to http://www.ocularmelanoma.org/
Watch the Suck on YouTube: https://youtu.be/oIvZy2JwlHs
Merch - https://badmagicmerch.com/ Discord! https://discord.gg/tqzH89v
Want to join the Cult of the Curious private Facebook Group? Go directly to Facebook and search for "Cult of the Curious" in order to locate whatever current page hasn't been put in FB Jail :)
For all merch related questions/problems: store@badmagicproductions.com (copy and paste)
Please rate and subscribe on iTunes and elsewhere and follow the suck on social media!! @timesuckpodcast on IG and http://www.facebook.com/timesuckpodcast
Wanna become a Space Lizard? We're over 10,000 strong! Click here: https://www.patreon.com/timesuckpodcast
Sign up through Patreon and for $5 a month you get to listen to the Secret Suck, which will drop Thursdays at Noon, PST. You'll also get 20% off of all regular Timesuck merch PLUS access to exclusive Space Lizard merch. You get to vote on two Monday topics each month via the app. And you get the download link for my new comedy album, Feel the Heat. Check the Patreon posts to find out how to download the new album and take advantage of other benefits. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

May 17, 2021 • 2h 15min
244 - Crazy US Laws!
Today we take a fun and sometimes concerning tour around the United States looking at laws that are still on the books that either definitely shouldn't be, shouldn't have ever been, are sadly necessary, or are just plain... odd. Did you know that in Indiana it's illegal to have a "a covered clearly erect penis" at a city park? Or that it's illegal to use a ferret to help you hunt in West Virginia? It's also illegal to sell dog hair in New York. And if you've ever been in a "duel with deadly weapons" in Kentucky you can't become a state attorney. In Idaho, cannibalism carries a special punishment. Anal, oral, and premarital sex are illegal in Idaho. As is adultery. So many outdated laws that should've never existed in the first place. And so many WTF laws. It's just a misdemeanor to barter a baby in Pennsylvania. But having sex with your first cousin in Utah is a felony. Also, it's illegal to own seven or more dildos in Texas. And on and on and on. We go over actual state, county, and city legal codes for so, so, SO much legislative strangeness today. Hail Nimrod and I hope you get some laughs out of this madness.Thanks for helping Bad Magic Productions donate this month to The Ocular Melanoma Foundation, in honor of Alex Roach, a Timesucker who was taken from his family at the tender age of just 33 (amount to be announced next week). The Ocular Melanoma Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, and is one of the leading research and patient support organizations focused on ocular melanoma-eye cancer.
To find out more, go to http://www.ocularmelanoma.org/
Watch the Suck on YouTube: https://youtu.be/m1LVfkBh5x0
Merch - https://badmagicmerch.com/ Discord! https://discord.gg/tqzH89v
Want to join the Cult of the Curious private Facebook Group? Go directly to Facebook and search for "Cult of the Curious" in order to locate whatever current page hasn't been put in FB Jail :)
For all merch related questions/problems: store@badmagicproductions.com (copy and paste)
Please rate and subscribe on iTunes and elsewhere and follow the suck on social media!! @timesuckpodcast on IG and http://www.facebook.com/timesuckpodcast
Wanna become a Space Lizard? We're over 10,000 strong! Click here: https://www.patreon.com/timesuckpodcast
Sign up through Patreon and for $5 a month you get to listen to the Secret Suck, which will drop Thursdays at Noon, PST. You'll also get 20% off of all regular Timesuck merch PLUS access to exclusive Space Lizard merch. You get to vote on two Monday topics each month via the app. And you get the download link for my new comedy album, Feel the Heat. Check the Patreon posts to find out how to download the new album and take advantage of other benefits.Stock music provided by four_track, from Pond5 Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

May 10, 2021 • 2h 12min
243 - The Angel's Landing Cult
Cult! Cult! Cult! We're back to sucking on a cult - a small and relatively unknown one which is surprising considering how crazy this story is. For well over a decade, conman Daniel Perez convinced a small band of followers into thinking he was possessed by three mostly evil angels, or maybe was an angel, and that he had the keys to heaven, or maybe reincarnation? And that he could make it rain, or maybe bring animals back from the dead? He was way better at talking followers into dying so he could get their life insurance money than he was at keeping his nonsensical claims straight. For years, he and his small band of followers lived on a compound called Angel's Landing just outside of Wichita, Kansas, messing around with ATVs, driving fast cars, playing with model airplanes, and getting drunk at weekend parties while everyone conveniently ignored the fact that he was doing stuff like sharing his bed with an eleven-year-old. This ridiculous pervert has been in prison for years now where he will thankfully die. Find out how he got there on this week's super strange tale. Thanks for helping Bad Magic Productions donate this month to The Ocular Melanoma Foundation, in honor of Alex Roach, a Timesucker who was taken from his family at the tender age of just 33 (amount to be announced next week). The Ocular Melanoma Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, and is one of the leading research and patient support organizations focused on ocular melanoma-eye cancer.
To find out more, go to http://www.ocularmelanoma.org/
Watch the Suck on YouTube: https://youtu.be/QT_eonHvS4s
Merch - https://badmagicmerch.com/ Discord! https://discord.gg/tqzH89v
Want to join the Cult of the Curious private Facebook Group? Go directly to Facebook and search for "Cult of the Curious" in order to locate whatever current page hasn't been put in FB Jail :)
For all merch related questions/problems: store@badmagicproductions.com (copy and paste)
Please rate and subscribe on iTunes and elsewhere and follow the suck on social media!! @timesuckpodcast on IG and http://www.facebook.com/timesuckpodcast
Wanna become a Space Lizard? We're over 10,000 strong! Click here: https://www.patreon.com/timesuckpodcast
Sign up through Patreon and for $5 a month you get to listen to the Secret Suck, which will drop Thursdays at Noon, PST. You'll also get 20% off of all regular Timesuck merch PLUS access to exclusive Space Lizard merch. You get to vote on two Monday topics each month via the app. And you get the download link for my new comedy album, Feel the Heat. Check the Patreon posts to find out how to download the new album and take advantage of other benefits. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.


