421 - The Yakuza: Japan's Notorious & Inked Up Gangsters

On the evening of October 30th, 1938, the CBS Radio Network broadcasted Orson Welles's live adaptation of the 1897 HG Wells classic, groundbreaking sci-fi novel, The War of the Worlds, all across America. And those who paid close attention knew it was fiction. But thousands and thousands of others who didn't... literally thought the US was currently being invaded and attacked by hostile, killer aliens from Mars and fellow citizens were dying in droves. They panicked and true pandemonium ensued! For Merch and everything else Bad Magic related, head to: https://www.badmagicproductions.com

Who are the Yakuza? How similar are they to the Mafia? What's up with all the tattoos they have? And why are so many of them missing one of their pinkie fingers? Digging into Japanese organized crime today. I learned a lot and hope you do, too! Merch and more: www.badmagicproductions.com Timesuck Discord! https://discord.gg/tqzH89vWant to join the Cult of the Curious PrivateFacebook Group? Go directly to Facebook and search for "Cult of the Curious" to locate whatever happens to be our most current page :)For all merch-related questions/problems: [email protected] (copy and paste)Please rate and subscribe on Apple Podcasts and elsewhere and follow the suck on social media!! @timesuckpodcast on IG and http://www.facebook.com/timesuckpodcastWanna become a Space Lizard? Click here: https://www.patreon.com/timesuckpodcast.Sign up through Patreon, and for $5 a month, you get access to the entire Secret Suck catalog (295 episodes) PLUS the entire catalog of Timesuck, AD FREE. You'll also get 20% off of all regular Timesuck merch PLUS access to exclusive Space Lizard merch. And you get the download link for my secret standup album, Feel the Heat.

In honor of the 420 episode, I decided to smoke a nice strong joint for this one while recording. And the topic pairs perfectly with weed: a philosophical discussion on the nature of life. Why are we here and what is the point of life? We'll summarize Friedrich Nietzsche's thoughts on nihilism, Albert Camus's musings on absurdism, and Jean-Paul Sartre's views on existentialism. Is there any real point to our lives? Does that matter? If there's no higher power watching over us or judging us, why even bother to try and be decent people? Why care at all about our fates? Getting deep today! And very, very high. Hail Nimrod! Merch and more: www.badmagicproductions.com Timesuck Discord! https://discord.gg/tqzH89vWant to join the Cult of the Curious PrivateFacebook Group? Go directly to Facebook and search for "Cult of the Curious" to locate whatever happens to be our most current page :)For all merch-related questions/problems: [email protected] (copy and paste)Please rate and subscribe on Apple Podcasts and elsewhere and follow the suck on social media!! @timesuckpodcast on IG and http://www.facebook.com/timesuckpodcastWanna become a Space Lizard? Click here: https://www.patreon.com/timesuckpodcast.Sign up through Patreon, and for $5 a month, you get access to the entire Secret Suck catalog (295 episodes) PLUS the entire catalog of Timesuck, AD FREE. You'll also get 20% off of all regular Timesuck merch PLUS access to exclusive Space Lizard merch. And you get the download link for my secret standup album, Feel the Heat.

On March 31st, 1922, on a cold, snowy, and quiet night in Germany, at a small unassuming farm roughly an hour’s drive north of Munich, six gruesome axe murders were committed after various people in the home had been hearing strange noises coming from the attic for months. Who was in the attic? Who killed the entire Gruber family? For Merch and everything else Bad Magic related, head to: https://www.badmagicproductions.com

Do you remember when seventeen-year-old Amy Fisher shot the wife of her thirty-five-year-old lover, Joey Buttafuoco, in the face in May of 1992? At the time, I was too young to really give this story any attention, but what a wild story it is! Today, we get a little tabloid-esque, but also share the history of the cringey term "Lolita" and discuss the recent history of "age of consent" laws in this cautionary tale. Merch and more: www.badmagicproductions.com Timesuck Discord! https://discord.gg/tqzH89vWant to join the Cult of the Curious PrivateFacebook Group? Go directly to Facebook and search for "Cult of the Curious" to locate whatever happens to be our most current page :)For all merch-related questions/problems: [email protected] (copy and paste)Please rate and subscribe on Apple Podcasts and elsewhere and follow the suck on social media!! @timesuckpodcast on IG and http://www.facebook.com/timesuckpodcastWanna become a Space Lizard? Click here: https://www.patreon.com/timesuckpodcast.Sign up through Patreon, and for $5 a month, you get access to the entire Secret Suck catalog (295 episodes) PLUS the entire catalog of Timesuck, AD FREE. You'll also get 20% off of all regular Timesuck merch PLUS access to exclusive Space Lizard merch. And you get the download link for my secret standup album, Feel the Heat.

When did we meatsacks start torturing one another? How did we do it? How have torture methods changed over the years, and what are some of the worst torture methods of all time? Where does the "music" of Yoko Ono fit into all this? Covering so much strange information today.Merch and more: www.badmagicproductions.com Timesuck Discord! https://discord.gg/tqzH89vWant to join the Cult of the Curious PrivateFacebook Group? Go directly to Facebook and search for "Cult of the Curious" to locate whatever happens to be our most current page :)For all merch-related questions/problems: [email protected] (copy and paste)Please rate and subscribe on Apple Podcasts and elsewhere and follow the suck on social media!! @timesuckpodcast on IG and http://www.facebook.com/timesuckpodcastWanna become a Space Lizard? Click here: https://www.patreon.com/timesuckpodcast.Sign up through Patreon, and for $5 a month, you get access to the entire Secret Suck catalog (295 episodes) PLUS the entire catalog of Timesuck, AD FREE. You'll also get 20% off of all regular Timesuck merch PLUS access to exclusive Space Lizard merch. And you get the download link for my secret standup album, Feel the Heat.

This one is a doozy! John Edward Robinson may be the most intelligent serial killer I've ever come across. This guy fooled so, so many people with over 40 years of brazen crimes. Doctors, psychiatrists, detectives, and so, so many victims. In addition to being a serial killer, this BDSM-obsessed dirtbag, scammed hundreds if not thousands of people for four decades. Merch and more: www.badmagicproductions.com Timesuck Discord! https://discord.gg/tqzH89vWant to join the Cult of the Curious PrivateFacebook Group? Go directly to Facebook and search for "Cult of the Curious" to locate whatever happens to be our most current page :)For all merch-related questions/problems: [email protected] (copy and paste)Please rate and subscribe on Apple Podcasts and elsewhere and follow the suck on social media!! @timesuckpodcast on IG and http://www.facebook.com/timesuckpodcastWanna become a Space Lizard? Click here: https://www.patreon.com/timesuckpodcast.Sign up through Patreon, and for $5 a month, you get access to the entire Secret Suck catalog (295 episodes) PLUS the entire catalog of Timesuck, AD FREE. You'll also get 20% off of all regular Timesuck merch PLUS access to exclusive Space Lizard merch. And you get the download link for my secret standup album, Feel the Heat.

Have you ever heard of "clinical vampirism," more commonly known today as Renfield's Syndrome? One review of psychiatric literature claims that over 50,000 people addicted to drinking blood have appeared in case studies from 1892 to 2010. But does that mean that any of them are actually, at least medically speaking, vampires? For Merch and everything else Bad Magic related, head to: https://www.badmagicproductions.com

An in-depth look at the Founding Father behind the hit musical Hamilton. How did Alexander contribute to the founding of the United States? And how did he end up dying in a duel with fellow politician Aaron Burr?Merch and more: www.badmagicproductions.com Timesuck Discord! https://discord.gg/tqzH89vWant to join the Cult of the Curious PrivateFacebook Group? Go directly to Facebook and search for "Cult of the Curious" to locate whatever happens to be our most current page :)For all merch-related questions/problems: [email protected] (copy and paste)Please rate and subscribe on Apple Podcasts and elsewhere and follow the suck on social media!! @timesuckpodcast on IG and http://www.facebook.com/timesuckpodcastWanna become a Space Lizard? Click here: https://www.patreon.com/timesuckpodcast.Sign up through Patreon, and for $5 a month, you get access to the entire Secret Suck catalog (295 episodes) PLUS the entire catalog of Timesuck, AD FREE. You'll also get 20% off of all regular Timesuck merch PLUS access to exclusive Space Lizard merch. And you get the download link for my secret standup album, Feel the Heat.

Back in 2011, Wales would be shocked to learn that for the previous 14 years, an actual cause for Satanic Panic had existed in the quaint little town of Kidwelly. A cult based on the occult teachings of Aleister Crowley had hidden in plain sight, and their occult rituals too often involved having sex with children....Merch and more: www.badmagicproductions.com Timesuck Discord! https://discord.gg/tqzH89vWant to join the Cult of the Curious PrivateFacebook Group? Go directly to Facebook and search for "Cult of the Curious" to locate whatever happens to be our most current page :)For all merch-related questions/problems: [email protected] (copy and paste)Please rate and subscribe on Apple Podcasts and elsewhere and follow the suck on social media!! @timesuckpodcast on IG and http://www.facebook.com/timesuckpodcastWanna become a Space Lizard? Click here: https://www.patreon.com/timesuckpodcast.Sign up through Patreon, and for $5 a month, you get access to the entire Secret Suck catalog (295 episodes) PLUS the entire catalog of Timesuck, AD FREE. You'll also get 20% off of all regular Timesuck merch PLUS access to exclusive Space Lizard merch. And you get the download link for my secret standup album, Feel the Heat.