Episode 367 - MKUltra - Part 1: Cold War of the Mind

Of the 83 men who had raped Gisèle Pelicot, she recognised only two faces. One was a neighbour – and the other was her beloved husband of over 50 years. Dominique Pelicot had been using a chatroom to invite total strangers over to assault his wife, without her knowledge, for almost a decade. And she had had no idea.We peel back every layer of this unfathomable case: the shockwaves it sent though France and the Pelicot family; the rapists’ jaw-dropping attitudes to their crimes; Gisèle’s astonishing bravery in speaking up in her 2024 trial; and even evidence linking Dominique Pelicot to two cold cases – one a brutal murder. It’s time to meet the Monster of Avignon.Exclusive bonus content:Wondery - Ad-free & ShortHandPatreon - Ad-free & Bonus EpisodesFollow us on social media:YouTubeTikTokInstagramXVisit our website:WebsiteSources available on redhandedpodcast.comSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week, we continue our spooky tradition of swapping stories on All Hallows Eve, with two chilling cases of betrayal and deceit. From a death in the dorms to a long-buried family secret that changed a Midwestern teenager’s life forever, we’ll have you looking at your inner circle with a healthy dose of suspicion: how much can we really trust those closest to us? Happy Halloween!Exclusive bonus content:Wondery - Ad-free & ShortHandPatreon - Ad-free & Bonus EpisodesFollow us on social media:YouTubeTikTokInstagramXVisit our website:WebsiteSources available on redhandedpodcast.comSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The winter solstice is almost here – the time when the threshold between the living and the dead is at its weakest. And here at RedHanded towers, that only means one thing: spooky story swap time!Hannah and Suru have once again searched high and low for the spookiest, most bone-chilling cases they can find, to tell each other for the first time. For the first of our two story-swaps this year, Hannah takes us through the gates of the monstrous (and monstrously haunted) Pennhurst Asylum, and Suru tells the tale of a mummified savant, lying in a house on the North Yorkshire moors – and her two siblings, who reeked of death…Exclusive bonus content:Wondery - Ad-free & ShortHandPatreon - Ad-free & Bonus EpisodesFollow us on social media:YouTubeTikTokInstagramXVisit our website:WebsiteSources available on redhandedpodcast.comSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Incest runs in the family – and Eddie Lee Sexton’s depravity knew no bounds. From his own  teenage daughters right down to the children he had fathered with his own kin – nobody was safe from him, or the sons he’d raised in his image. With the authorities breathing down his neck, Sexton fled with his miserable menagerie in tow. By the time the law caught up to them, at least two people had been murdered in cold blood. Terrifyingly, Eddie Lee Sexton’s grip over his family was so strong that a conviction was far from certain. This is the story of how the fate of one of America’s vilest men hung on the testimony of a humble librarian.Exclusive bonus content:Wondery - Ad-free & ShortHandPatreon - Ad-free & Bonus EpisodesFollow us on social media:YouTubeTikTokInstagramXVisit our website:WebsiteSources available on redhandedpodcast.comSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

We're digging deeper than ever into the dark recesses of the RedHanded vault – seven years to be exact – to bring you our first EVER Halloween special from 2017...For Halloween, the girls bring you the most disturbing cases they could find for their very own treehouse of horror, filled with kidnapping, a Buffalo Bill copy cat and shivers for days. Get cosy and grab the dog as Hannah & Suruthi take you through 2 harrowing cases, told to each other for the first time. Exclusive bonus content:Wondery - Ad-free & ShortHandPatreon - Ad-free & Bonus EpisodesFollow us on social media:YouTubeTikTokInstagramXVisit our website:WebsiteSources available on redhandedpodcast.comSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Neglect has a smell – and it clung to the walls of 1849 Caroline Street, Stark County, Ohio. As a litany of horrors unfurled, the stench was dwarfed only by the darkness emanating from its owner – Eddie Lee Sexton.Over the next two episodes, we reveal a multi-generational secret; one that haunted Sexton’s 12 children for the rest of their days. The DHS, the Police and the Sheriff’s department all had their suspicions for years. But in 1991, a tip came in and the race was on to get those children out of that house.Exclusive bonus content:Wondery - Ad-free & ShortHandPatreon - Ad-free & Bonus EpisodesFollow us on social media:YouTubeTikTokInstagramXVisit our website:WebsiteSources available on redhandedpodcast.comSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

At first, police thought they were only looking for a double murderer. Nicknamed the ‘Bedsit Killer’ in the press, the suspect’s reputation for savage violence already loomed large in the town of Tunbridge Wells in the late 80s. But it was only when they caught David Fuller – more than 30 years later – that they learnt the blood-curdling truth: that for years, the mortuary worker had been acting out his sick fantasies with the bodies of the dead. These exploits were so shocking, and so extensive, that Fuller earnt his second nickname: the Monster in the Morgue.Exclusive bonus content:Wondery - Ad-free & ShortHandPatreon - Ad-free & Bonus EpisodesFollow us on social media:YouTubeTikTokInstagramXVisit our website:WebsiteSources available on redhandedpodcast.comSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

We now know that the CIA quietly tested mind-bending psychedelics on unwitting American citizens. But how do we know?In Part 2 of our series on MK-Ultra, we're going to tell you the story of how one of the CIA's many dirty secrets was revealed to the world, and how they were forced not only to hand over damaging information about their mind-bending escapades but also to inadvertently help promote the book that followed.More importantly, what does any of this have to do with Fidel Castro's beard?Exclusive bonus content:Wondery - Ad-free & ShortHandPatreon - Ad-free & Bonus EpisodesFollow us on social media:YouTubeTikTokInstagramXVisit our website:WebsiteSources available on redhandedpodcast.comSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

ShortHand is available exclusively for Amazon Music and Wondery+ subscribers.Rumours about NASA scientists trying to teach dolphins to talk and getting frisky in the process have long been internet lore. But what really happened when Margaret Howe took on the task of training a sexed-up sea mammal to speak? And how on earth did they get it funded?See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In the wake of an Allied victory, the threat of a communist New World Order loomed over the West. Desperate to beat the Soviets at their own game, the USA gave the secret service all the money and drugs they needed to create a real-life Manchurian Candidate.Left with their minds in tatters and their relationships all but destroyed, the subjects of the CIA program ‘MKUltra’ were unwitting lab rats in the USA’s never-ending search for a truth serum.Exclusive bonus content:Wondery - Ad-free & ShortHandPatreon - Ad-free & Bonus EpisodesFollow us on social media:YouTubeTikTokInstagramXVisit our website:WebsiteSources available on redhandedpodcast.comSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.