ComedySociety & CultureEducationExplicit

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!)

Play

Open in

30 episodes
Avg 2 hr 9 min
English

Episodes 30

Newest Oldest Longest

All20 Unplayed20 In progress0 Played0

Counted on this page — what you have heard stays on this device, so it is not something the list can be paged by.

Monday · 3 hr 18 min
525 - The Franklin Conspiracy: Satanic Panic or a Real Cover-Up?
When a massive financial scandal erupted in Omaha in the late 1980s, allegations soon followed that politically connected power players were involved in something far darker: an interstate child sex-trafficking ring filled with ritual abuse, blackmail, and murder. Were the most horrifying claims surrounding the Franklin scandal products of Satanic Panic—or did investigators stumble onto a very real conspiracy that powerful people desperately wanted buried?
September 14 · 2 hr 18 min
524 - Bible John: Glasgow's Dancing Killer
In late 1960s Glasgow, three women went out dancing at the legendary Barrowland Ballroom.... and never made it home alive. Their murders were linked to a mysterious stranger who became known as Bible John. Decades later, his identity remains one of Scotland’s most haunting unsolved mysteries, surrounded by disputed suspects, questionable police work, and allegations that the truth may have been buried on purpose...
September 11 · 51 min
Short Suck 65: The Lady With the Lamp: Florence Nightingale’s War on Death
Florence Nightingale didn’t just become the world’s most famous nurse - she helped revolutionize modern medicine, battling horrific hospital conditions, deadly disease, entrenched sexism, and staggering institutional incompetence along the way. From the blood-soaked hospitals of the Crimean War to her groundbreaking work in sanitation and statistics, discover how the legendary “Lady with the Lamp” waged a lifelong war on preventable death.
September 7 · 2 hr 36 min
523 - The Immortality Industry: Silicon Valley’s War on Death
What if aging isn’t inevitable...and death is a problem science might someday solve? From groundbreaking longevity research to Silicon Valley billionaires, rogue biohackers, young-blood transfusions, and multimillion-dollar anti-aging regimens, we explore the increasingly bizarre Immortality Industry and ask the ultimate question: could humans actually learn how to cheat death?
August 31 · 2 hr 52 min
522 - The Mary Kay Opportunity! The Dark Truth About MLMs
Mary Kay Ash turned a $5,000 investment into a cosmetics empire that promised generations of women financial independence, recognition, and—if they climbed high enough—that famous pink Cadillac. But.... behind the makeup parties and “girl power” sales pitch, DID Mary Kay create a revolutionary path to female empowerment? Or did she prey on her own sales force and help perfect the highly manipulative and exploitative multi-level marketing machine that would leave countless aspiring entrepreneurs
August 28 · 59 min
Short Suck 64: The Skunk Ape
Today we journey deep into the swamps of Florida to investigate the legend of the Skunk Ape, Bigfoot’s smaller, stinkier, swamp-dwelling cousin. From centuries-old sightings and bizarre eyewitness encounters to cryptid hunter Dave Shealy’s controversial "evidence," we’ll dig into the history, folklore, and possible explanations behind one of America’s strangest regional monsters. Is something really hairy and stinky (but not human) hiding in the Everglades?
August 24 · 2 hr 53 min
521 - The Serpent: Serial Killer Charles Sobhraj
Long before Catch Me If You Can made Frank Abagnale famous, another master con man was crisscrossing the globe under countless stolen identities and leaving a trail of bodies behind him. Charles Sobhraj, “The Serpent,” was a charismatic thief, fraudster, prison escape artist, and serial killer who preyed on travelers across Asia while repeatedly slipping through the fingers of law enforcement. His story is so crazy it feels less like real life, and more like a movie.
August 17 · 2 hr 32 min
520 - Mother of Frankenstein: Mary Shelley
Mary Shelley didn't just create Frankenstein - she helped invent modern science fiction while forever changing the landscape of horror. This episode, we explore her remarkable life: her radical parents, scandalous romance with Percy Shelley, the personal tragedies that shaped her, and the stormy night that gave birth to one of literature's greatest monsters.
August 14 · 59 min
Short Suck 63: The Children's Crusade: Faith, Folly, and 30,000 Kids
In 1212, thousands of children set out across Europe believing God would part the Mediterranean and lead them peacefully to Jerusalem. (Spoiler alert: God didn't.) Their impossible journey became one of the strangest and most hotly debated events of the Middle Ages, blurring the line between history, myth, religious fervor, and mass delusion. It's also wildly entertaining.
August 10 · 2 hr 14 min
519 - Death Before Divorce: The Kouri Richins Case
When Utah realtor and children's author Kouri Richins reported her husband dead after what appeared to be a tragic medical emergency, investigators eventually uncovered allegations of a massive amount of secret debt, an affair, financial deception, a fatal dose of fentanyl and more. This week we look into the investigation and trial of one of America's most shocking recent murder cases—and explore how the person you trust most can sometimes be the one you should fear most.
August 3 · 2 hr 37 min
518 - San Ysidro McDonald's Massacre
From the troubled life of James Huberty to the horrifying events inside a San Ysidro McDonald's on July 18th, 1984, we explore how one of America's first modern mass shootings - still the deadliest mass shooting on California soil and the deadliest one in US history at the time - forever changed America's understanding of public violence.
July 27 · 2 hr 49 min
517 - The Buffalo River Cult: Murder, Prophecy, and... a Ghost Girl??
In 1978, a fanatical doomsday cult disappeared into the Arkansas Ozarks believing the end of the world was arriving fast... which it did (for them), after they were arrested for the brutal murder of a three-year-old girl. More than twenty years later, six-year-old Haley Zega survived three days lost in that same wilderness, later claiming she was guided to safety by an "imaginary friend." How do these two seemingly unrelated stories relate to one another? Listen and find out!
July 24 · 1 hr 7 min
Short Suck 62: From Mom-and-Pop to Mega-Corporations: The Transformation of America’s Food Industry
How did a nation built on local farms and family businesses become dependent on a handful of massive corporations for most of its (now mostly processed) food? In this week's Short Suck, we investigate the surprising evolution of the American food industry over the past century, from mom-and-pop markets to mega-distributors, exploring how convenience, consolidation, and ultra-processed foods quietly transformed what ends up on all of our plates.
July 20 · 2 hr 21 min
516 - Murder at 100 MPH: The Mackenzie Shirilla Case
A quiet Ohio suburb is shattered when a 17-year-old girl, Mackenzie Shirilla, drives nearly 100 miles per hour into a brick wall, killing her boyfriend and a close friend while somehow surviving herself. Was it a tragic accident, a medical emergency, or a carefully calculated act of murder? This week, we examine the evidence, the trial, the toxic relationship at the center of it all, and the questions that continue to divide people over the case.
July 13 · 2 hr 31 min
515 - Fort Hood: Murders, Mysteries, and Silence
For years, Fort Hood has been plagued by an unsettling string of murders, disappearances, suspicious deaths, and allegations of institutional failure that have left grieving families searching for answers. This week, we dive into the history of one of America's largest military installations, explore the cases that brought it under national scrutiny, and examine the competing theories—from leadership failures and violent crime to cartel rumors and even whispers of something more sinister. What's
July 10 · 1 hr 5 min
Short Suck 61: Why Are Nordic People So.... Happy?
For over a decade, Finland, Denmark, Norway, Iceland, and Sweden have consistently ranked among the happiest nations on Earth—but why? We dig into the research behind the World Happiness Report, separate fact from political myth, and explore whether strong social safety nets, low governmental corruption, public trust, and the Nordic model of government really do create happier lives. Along the way, we also examine the decades of propaganda, misconceptions, and ideological battles that have shape
July 6 · 2 hr 58 min
514 - Carl Tanzler: Romantic... Necrophiliac?
In Key West, Florida during the Great Depression, an obsessed German radiology technician, Carl Tanzler, became convinced that a dying young woman named Elena de Hoyos was his supernatural soulmate. After her death, his delusion led him to commit one of the most bizarre and disturbing acts of grave robbery in American history. We explore the strange intersection of obsession, tuberculosis, embalming, mental illness, and necrophilia in yet another dark, weird, and fascinating episode.
June 29 · 2 hr 26 min
513 - The Dark Strangler: Serial Killer Earle Nelson
For at least sixteen months in the 1920s, Earle Nelson terrorized North America, murdering at least twenty-two women while drifting from city to city under false identities. Known as the Gorilla Man and the Dark Strangler, Nelson was a deeply disturbed sexual predator whose life was marked by childhood tragedy, mental illness, brain injury, prison sentences, and multiple escapes from psychiatric institutions. This is an especially wild one.
June 24 · 1 hr
Short Suck 60: The Mystery of the Yuba County Five
In February of 1978, five friends left a college basketball game in Northern California and seemingly vanished into thin air. Months later, four of them were found dead deep in the wilderness, miles from their abandoned car, while the fifth remained missing. Nearly fifty years later, the Yuba County Five remains one of America's strangest unsolved mysteries—a baffling case filled with unexplained decisions, bizarre clues, and theories ranging from tragic misadventure to murder and conspiracy.
June 22 · 2 hr 41 min
512 - The Stonewall Riots
On June 28th, 1969, New York City police expected another routine raid on a gay bar. Instead, they found a community that had finally had enough. This week, we explore the long history of anti-LGBTQ+ persecution in America, the explosive events of the Stonewall Riots, and how a few nights of resistance helped ignite the modern fight for queer liberation.

Showing 1–20 of 30 episodes