House of Mystery Radio on NBC

In the early 1930s, Velvalee Dickinson moved to New York City where she opened her own exclusive doll shop. She built her reputation as an expert in rare, antique, and foreign dolls. She traveled extensively around the country lecturing and exhibiting her dolls while building a wealthy clientele.Due to her husband’s poor health and her failing business, she accepted the role as a spy for the Imperial Japanese Government. By hiding coded messages in her correspondence about dolls, she was able to pass on to her Japanese contacts critical military information about the US warships.The FBI arrested her and charged her with espionage and violation of censorship laws. She became the first American woman to face the death penalty on charges of spying for a wartime enemy. Eventually the espionage charge was dropped, and she was sentenced to 10 years at Alderson Correctional Facility and a $10,000 fine. Four years into her stay at Alderson, Eunice Kennedy took a special interest in Velvalee and helped her find employment once she left Alderson. Later, Velvalee would become Eunice’s private secretary.Velvalee Dickinson reached out to Eunice one last time when she was in her 70s, asking for her assistance in getting a job at the New York World’s Fair. She eventually disappeared, having lived her life after prison in anonymity.Velvalee Dickinson: The “Doll Woman” Spy is a carefully researched glimpse into the “Doll Woman’s” life as a collector of dolls, and as the highest paid American woman who spied for the Imperial Japanese Government during World War II.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/houseofmysteryradio. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

An epic battle that involved 156,000 men, 7,000 ships and 20,000 armoured vehicles, D-Day was, above all, a tale of individual heroics – of men who were driven to keep fighting until the German defences were smashed and the precarious beachheads secured. This authentic human story – Allied, German, French – has never fully been told.Giles Milton’s bold new history narrates the events of June 6th, 1944 through the tales of survivors from all sides: the teenage Allied conscript, the crack German defender, the French resistance fighter. From the military architects at Supreme Headquarters to the young schoolboy in the Wehrmacht’s bunkers, Soldier, Sailor, Frogman, Spy, Airman, Gangster, Kill or Die lays bare the absolute terror of those trapped in the front line of Operation Overlord. It also gives voice to those who have hitherto remained unheard – the French butcher’s daughter, the Panzer Commander’s wife, the chauffeur to the General Staff.This vast canvas of human bravado reveals “the longest day” as never before – less as a masterpiece of strategic planning than a day on which thousands of scared young men found themselves staring death in the face. It is drawn in its entirety from the raw, unvarnished experiences of those who were there.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/houseofmysteryradio. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When the alarm went off forty thousand feet above the moon's surface, both astronauts looked down at the computer to see 1202 flashing on the readout. Neither of them knew what it meant, and time was running out...ON JULY 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to walk on the moon. One of the world's greatest technological achievements-and a triumph of American spirit and ingenuity-the Apollo 11 mission was a mammoth undertaking involving more than 410,000 men and women dedicated to winning the space race against the Soviets. Set amid the tensions of the Cold War and the upheavals of the sixties, and filled with first-person, behind-the-scenes details, Shoot for theMoon is a gripping account of the dangers, the challenges, and the sheer determination that defined not only Apollo 11, but also the Mercury and Gemini missions that came before it. From the shock of Sputnik and the heart-stopping final minutes of John Glenn's Mercury flight to the deadly whirligig of Gemini 8, the doomed Apollo 1 mission, and that perilous landing on the Sea of Tranquility-when the entire world held its breath while Armstrong and Aldrin battled computer alarms, low fuel, and other problems- James Donovan tells the whole story.Both sweeping and intimate, Shoot for the Moon is "a powerfully written and irresistible celebration" (Booklist, starred review) of one of humankind's most extraordinary feats of exploration.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/houseofmysteryradio. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Early in the morning of April 26, 1986, Reactor Number Four of the Chernobyl Atomic Energy Station exploded, triggering history’s worst nuclear disaster. In the thirty years since then, Chernobyl has become lodged in the collective nightmares of the world: shorthand for the spectral horrors of radiation poisoning, for a dangerous technology slipping its leash, for ecological fragility, and for what can happen when a dishonest and careless state endangers its citizens and the entire world. But the real story of the accident, clouded from the beginning by secrecy, propaganda, and misinformation, has long remained in dispute.Drawing on hundreds of hours of interviews conducted over the course of more than ten years, as well as letters, unpublished memoirs, and documents from recently-declassified archives, Adam Higginbotham has written a harrowing and compelling narrative which brings the disaster to life through the eyes of the men and women who witnessed it firsthand. The result is a masterful nonfiction thriller, and the definitive account of an event that changed history: a story that is more complex, more human, and more terrifying than the Soviet myth.Midnight in Chernobyl is an indelible portrait of one of the great disasters of the twentieth century, of human resilience and ingenuity, and the lessons learned when mankind seeks to bend the natural world to his will—lessons which, in the face of climate change and other threats, remain not just vital but necessary.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/houseofmysteryradio. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Earth is flat, the World Trade Center collapse was a controlled demolition, planes are spraying poison to control the weather, and actors faked the Sandy Hook massacre…. All these claims are bunk: falsehoods, mistakes, and in some cases, outright lies. But many people passionately believe one or more of these conspiracy theories. They consume countless books and videos, join like-minded online communities, try to convert those around them, and even, on occasion, alienate their own friends and family. Why is this, and how can you help people, especially those closest to you, break free from the downward spiral of conspiracy thinking? In Escaping the Rabbit Hole, author Mick West shares over a decade’s worth of knowledge and experience investigating and debunking false conspiracy theories through his forum, MetaBunk.org, and sets forth a practical guide to helping friends and loved ones recognize these theories for what they really are. Perhaps counter-intuitively, the most successful approaches to helping individuals escape a rabbit hole aren’t comprised of simply explaining why they are wrong; rather, West’s tried-and-tested approach emphasizes clear communication based on mutual respect, honesty, openness, and patience. West puts his debunking techniques and best practices to the test with four of the most popular false conspiracy theories today (Chemtrails, 9/11 Controlled Demolition, False Flags, and Flat Earth) — providing road maps to help you to understand your friend and help them escape the rabbit hole. These are accompanied by real-life case studies of individuals who, with help, were able to break free from conspiracism.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/houseofmysteryradio. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A high school dropout at 15, and deported from Canada at 17, John Barbour is recognized as "the godfather of reality TV" for his role as the creator, producer, co-host, and writer of the trendsetting hit Real People. He won the first of his five Emmys as the original host of AM LA in 1970, where he interviewed controversial anti-war guests like Mohammed Ali, Cesar Chavez, and Jane Fonda. He was the first in America to do film reviews on the news, winning three more consecutive Emmys as KNBC’s Critic-At-Large. He spent ten years as Los Angeles Magazine’s most widely read and quoted critic and early in his career, he made stand-up comedy appearances on The Dean Martin Show, The Tonight Show, and others. In 1992 he wrote and directed the award-winning The Garrison Tapes, which Director Oliver Stone heralded as "the perfect companion piece to my movie, JFK." In 2017 he wrote and directed part two: The American Media and the Second Assassination of President John F. Kennedy, which was applauded as "the definitive film on JFK and the rise of Fake News." In this highly entertaining, deeply informative autobiography, readers will discover what a multifaceted storyteller Barbour is. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/houseofmysteryradio. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In October 2014, after Chris Regan failed to arrive at his new job, his ex-girlfriend filed a missing-person report. Something was off. It was not like Chris, a devoted father, avid hiker, and all-around great guy, not to show up. When local Michigan police chief Laura Frizzo learned Chris was having an affair with Kelly Cochran, a married co-worker, suspicion fell on her husband, Jason. After a search warrant on their house revealed several suspicious items, the Cochrans abruptly moved to Indiana. As questions swirled around the case, the whereabouts of Chris Regan remained unknown.Sixteen months later Jason Cochran died from a drug overdose. Friends and family rallied around the grieving and distraught Kelly. But when the coroner ruled Jason’s death a homicide, no one reacted more bizarrely than his widow. For months detectives tried to put Kelly’s past into focus, but the truth was buried under a patchwork of lies, contradictions, and brutally horrific revelations. As Kelly Cochran, a Purdue graduate and psychology major, played “catch me if you can,” a mesmerizing story emerged that rivals today’s bestselling fiction in its drama and fascination. In the hands of veteran investigative journalist M. William Phelps, her staggering saga of murder, revenge, and payback surpasses anything that could go wrong in a season of Fargo.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/houseofmysteryradio. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In Hate Crime Hoax, Professor Wilfred Reilly examines over one hundred widely publicized incidents of so-called hate crimes that never actually happened. With a critical eye and attention to detail, Reilly debunks these fabricated incidents—many of them alleged to have happened on college campuses—and explores why so many Americans are driven to fake hate crimes. We're not experiencing an epidemic of hate crimes, Reilly concludes—but we might be experiencing an unprecented epidemic of hate crime hoaxes.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/houseofmysteryradio. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Documented Evidence of the Trump-Russia ConspiracyInvestigative reporter Scott Stedman has made waves worldwide with his hard-hitting investigative journalism, going as far as anyone has to uncover the deep roots of the Trump-Russia Conspiracy. His research has been cited by the Washington Post, BBC, Reuters, CNN, McClatchy, the Daily Mail, the Guardian, and Vice, and has even helped guide Congress’s investigations.Real News collects, for the first time in print, Stedman’s eye-opening research into and evidence of every level of the Trump-Russia Conspiracy, from the 2016 Trump Tower Meetings to the dirty-money deal for Trump Tower Moscow, from the “coffee boy” George Papadopoulos and his mysterious wife to Russian infiltration of the National Rifle Association, from Cambridge Analytica’s sketchy business deals and influence operations to the battle for true journalism that will combat cries of “Fake News!”Full of real, exclusive evidence including ownership records, flight logs, banking information and statements, meeting transcripts, maps, quotes, stats and figures, cease and desist letters, and more, Real News not only enables readers to see and evaluate the arguments for the existence of the Trump-Russia Conspiracy for themselves, it also fully explains how Stedman went about his investigations to discover the truth.Anyone who is interested in the evidence—the real news about the Trump-Russia Conspiracy—needs to read this book.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/houseofmysteryradio. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If there ever was a time to build an American hemp industry, the time is now.In Jesse Ventura’s Marijuana Manifesto, former Minnesota Governor teamed up with Jen Hobbs to explain why it’s time to fully legalize cannabis and end the War on Drugs. Through their research, it became clear that hemp needed its own manifesto. Jen Hobbs takes up this torch in American Hemp.December of 2018 marked a largely unprecedented victory for cannabis. The 2018 Farm Bill passed and with it hemp became legal. What the federal government listed for decades as a schedule 1 narcotic was finally classified as an agricultural crop, giving great promise to the rise of a new American hemp industry. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/houseofmysteryradio. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.