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PODCAST · history
[indistinct chatter]
by Aliza Hollister
you know that friend who always has the most random info and somehow makes it the most interesting thing you've heard all week? hi, that's me. i'm aliza and indistinct chatter is where i break down the news, spiral into history and conspiracies, talk pop culture, and somehow tie it all together. no fluff, no lectures. just the scoop! new episode every tuesday. love ya!
Episodes
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Screams for Sale: The Dark History of Haunted Houses
Why do we pay money to be scared? This week I’m digging into the history of haunted houses, from Madame Tussaud’s wax figures and ghost shows in Paris and London to a steam-powered haunted cottage from 1915 that you can still visit today. Then to America with Depression-era basement haunts,...
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Boomers vs Millennials: Which Generation Is Which?
Who decides what generation you belong to, and why does everyone keep mixing up Boomers, Millennials, and Gen Z? I break down every generation from the Lost Generation to Gen Beta, with birth years, name origins, and what each group is known for. My mom's question about a Baby Boomer…
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Cheyenne Mountain: What’s Really Inside the Bunker?
What's actually inside Cheyenne Mountain? My parents camped up there and I couldn't stop thinking about it, so we're going down the rabbit hole of Cheyenne Mountain, the conspiracy theories, the Indigenous legends of Thirst, the Cold War bunker, false alarms that almost triggered nuclear war, the...
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The Autumn Equinox & Mabon: Ancient Tradition or Modern Creation?
Is Mabon actually an ancient Pagan holiday? And what does Mabon have to do with the Autumn Equinox? We're going down the rabbit hole of Mabon, the Wheel of the Year, ancient harvest traditions, Samhain, Halloween, and the surprisingly complicated history behind the fall traditions we know today....
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The Dead Internet Theory: 57.5% Bots, 42.5% Humans
Does the internet feel boring lately? Like you're seeing the same content over and over, just different faces saying the same exact things… in the same exact voice?! Welcome to the Dead Internet Theory. In 2025, Merriam-Webster, Macquarie Dictionary, and the American Dialect Society all named one...
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Beanie Babies: Brilliance, Betrayal, and Bankruptcy
Beanie Babies ruined America! Or did they? There's this guy named Ty Warner who made billions selling you plush toys with heart-shaped tags. But things are messy. The women who actually built his empire got pushed out, erased, and replaced. One of them was literally denied a raise after inventing...
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UVB-76: Russia's Doomsday Radio Has A New Message
What is UVB-76, Russia's mysterious radio station that's been broadcasting for nearly 50 years? On August 27, 2026, it transmitted 25 coded messages in a single day! Just two days after the CIA director made a rare, unannounced visit to Moscow. Coincidence? Who knows? But in a world where...
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Wild Horses: 6,331 Sold to Slaughter While BLM Denies It
Our wild horses are disappearing and the government is helping. In 2026, the Bureau of Land Management sold 6,331 wild horses in just 19 months. That’s more than five times their historical average. Most were shipped to Canada for slaughter, in direct violation of a 1971 law created to protect...
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Did We Actually Land on the Moon? A Deep Dive into the Conspiracy
Did we actually land on the moon, or is it the greatest hoax of all time? Bill Kaysing thought he had proof. In 1976, he self-published a book claiming NASA faked the Apollo landings to win the Space Race… and for decades, people believed him. But here's the thing about conspiracy theories: they...
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To Catch a Predator: The Dark Lore Behind A24's Primetime
What really happened behind the scenes of To Catch a Predator? With A24's Primetime starring Robert Pattinson as Chris Hansen hitting theaters September 25, I'm taking you through the entire wild history of the Dateline NBC series before the movie does. I'm covering how a volunteer group of...
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Why Can't We Let Go of Charles Manson?
Why can't we let go of Charles Manson? This week I watched My Grandfather Charles Manson on Hulu, a documentary where a DNA test reveals to a family that their father/grandfather is one of the most infamous men in American history, and it sent me down a rabbit hole I was, to be honest, a little...
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Who Actually Owns Your Food? Conspiracy Theories That Were Real
I Googled the same theory twice, from two different accounts, and got two different answers back. That sent me down a spiral that ended at a 1998 seed patent co-owned by the USDA, a unanimous Supreme Court ruling about whether you're allowed to save seeds, and a public library that got a letter...
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Something Is Outside the Tent: Survival Folklore & Missing 411
Have you ever been alone in a tent, listening to something huge breathe on the other side of the thin fabric? Because I have, as of last week, and I need to talk about it. ⛺ This week I'm telling you the full story of my camping trip gone sideways, and then digging into what you're actually...
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I Didn't Want to Get Involved: The Bystander Effect
Would you step in, or would you assume someone else already has? This week, one video sent me down a rabbit hole I just had to bring you into. 🐰 A family paddleboarding on a Florida river heard yelling in the distance, paddled toward it, and got a stranded teenager to safety. Their video went...
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Why We Blame the Sky: Heatwave Homicides, Hollywood Werewolves, and Cosmic Typos
Why does a light in the sky get blamed for everything from crime waves to chaotic ER shifts? 🌕 I trace the full moon effect back through centuries of "lunar lunacy," reveal that the werewolf's moon connection is a 20th-century Hollywood invention, and dig into the real research behind whether...
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Witches, Asylums, and Eve: The History and Psychology of Male Panic
Why does female leadership trigger institutional panic? From brutal bonobo coalitions in the Congo to the architectural legacy of Minoan Crete and the Iroquois Clan Mothers, historical and biological matriarchies prove female power anchors societal stability, not chaos. In this episode of...
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Are Algorithms Killing Our Voices? The Death of Regional Accents and Corporate "Blanding"
The Supreme Court is currently deciding the massive Trump v. Barbara birthright citizenship case, and not enough people are talking about it. A legendary painter passed away peacefully at 88, while a dissident Russian artist was assassinated in broad daylight after mocking Vladimir Putin. And the...
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The Fight for Visibility: Understanding Pride Beyond the Parade
Pride Month is here 🏳️🌈, and a lot of people don't actually understand what it is. I'm not saying that to be condescending... I'm saying it because even allies get it wrong. In this week’s episode I'm breaking down what Pride actually means, where it came from (spoiler: it started as a riot…
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Stars, Stripes, and Secrets: The Real History of America's Flags
Flag day is June 14th, and America turns 250 next month! So it felt like the right time to get into something I didn't know that much about: our flags. All of them. I'm talking the full history of the American Flag (it changed 27 times… did you know that?), the Grand Union Flag we flew before the...
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Ticks, Lyme Disease, and... We Might Be Aliens
Okay, so this week I'm doing something a little different. No news recap because I recorded this one ahead of vacation. But don't worry! I still have plenty of chaos for you. I’m starting with a conspiracy: Some people genuinely believe humans didn't originate on Earth. Like, we might be the...
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AI Data Centers: Eminent Domain, the Jobs Myth, and Why Graduates Are Booing
A shooting outside the White House. A trillion dollar bill. A woman arrested for a Facebook post about brown water. And graduates booing billionaires off their own stages. What a week in the news... Then the booing. Graduates at universities across the country booed commencement speakers off…
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Vancouver, Vancouver, This Is It: Mount Saint Helens and the 169 Volcanoes in Your Backyard
We almost launched airstrikes on Iran. Shakira got $70 million back from Spain. And the DOJ was all sneaky sneaky and created a billion-dollar fund that nobody voted on. Just a normal week, right? Yesterday was the 46th anniversary of Mount St. Helens and there's this photo that was taken 13…
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UFO Files Dropped, Scientists Are Missing, and Finals Got Hacked
There's a virus on a cruise ship, the abortion pill is back in legal limbo, the government just dropped 162 UFO files on a website called war.gov/UFO, and hackers took down THEE school app right before finals. Just your average week in 2026. But what I’m really here to discuss is the 13…
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Met Gala Explained: The History Behind Fashion's Biggest Night
Last night was the Met Gala, so today I’ve got a little history lesson for ya (and the news). Spirit Airlines is gone, 17,000 people lost their jobs overnight, and the abortion pill drama is back in the courts. Also, a woman just made history at the Kentucky Derby, and California billionaires are...
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Walpurgis Night: Halloween's Witchier, Older Sister You Never Knew About
This week I found out Halloween has a sister. 🧙♀️ A twin depending on how you look at it. She's been here the whoooole time. She just lives in April instead of October. But first, I break down some of the news. Elon got summoned to Paris and didn't show up. Apple and Google are running ads for...
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The Chainsaw Was Invented for Childbirth (And Other Things You Didn't Know)
This week I’m keeping it light. Well. Mostly. Tim Cook is out at Apple, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame dropped its 2026 class, and 1,000 activists showed up to a Wisconsin beagle research facility and got met with tear gas and rubber bullets. Also, the Midwest got absolutely hammered by tornadoes...
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193 Million Acres, One Big Problem: What's Happening to the US Forest Service
You probably saw the headlines. "Trump Moving Forest Service Headquarters to Utah." Maybe you scrolled past. Maybe you sent a panicked text. Either way, here's what's actually going on, why it matters, and why it affects you even if you've never touched a hiking trail in your life. This week…
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Chemtrails, Bunkers, and Big Pharma: The Conspiracy Theories Taking Over Right Now
This week on [indistinct chatter], I'm kicking things off with the news: Trump's Easter posts about Iran (yes, really), the Strait of Hormuz and what the "oil running out" panic actually means, the Supreme Court's conversion therapy ruling and why it's scarier than it sounds, the pattern I'm...
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Women Built Horror: From Mary Shelley to Modern Feminist Horror (And Why It Still Matters)
Today’s episode of [indistinct chatter] is a little different. We’re closing out Women’s History Month, and instead of doing a general recap, I wanted to take a deep dive into something specific… and honestly, something I love: horror. Because women didn’t just contribute to horror… they built…
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Coverture, the Pink Tax, & the Laws That Still Control Women
This week on [indistinct chatter], we're still in Women's History Month and I'm diving into something that has genuinely been making me angry the more I researched it... the laws that have historically applied to women and not men, and the ones that still do today. I start with the news…
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She Invented It, He Got Credit
This week on [indistinct chatter], I'm starting with the news you might have missed. The Iran war is still escalating and while everyone's covering the big strikes, I'm talking about the "black rain" falling over Tehran that's barely getting any attention. I also get into the NIH funding…
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The Matilda Effect: Rosalind Franklin, Katherine Johnson, Virginia Hall, and the Women History Forgot
This week on [indistinct chatter], I’m starting with a few stories that might not have made it into your algorithm. I talk about the escalating conflict involving the U.S., Israel, and Iran, what it could mean for global energy markets, and why you might have noticed gas and utility prices…
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AI Cults Are Real: From a Google Engineer's Church to the Thought Experiment That Got Elon Musk a Girlfriend
This week on [indistinct chatter] I'm kicking things off with the 32nd Annual Actor Awards (formerly the SAGs) hosted by Kristen Bell at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. We talk red carpets, the new wave of correspondents making interviews fun again, and the night's biggest winners: Sinners,...
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Smokey Bear: The WWII Origins, Real-Life Rescue Bear, and Complicated Legacy of America's Most Famous Mascot
This week on [indistinct chatter], I’m diving into the full, complicated, surprisingly dramatic history of Smokey Bear. You know him... the shirtless bear in a ranger hat who’s been holding Americans accountable for their campfire habits since 1944? Yeah, that guy! But this isn’t just a cute…
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Red Flag Warnings, Fire Weather, and Why Colorado's Biggest Wildfires Are Usually Our Fault
This week on [indistinct chatter], Aliza tries to pull you out of the chaos surrounding the Epstein files and somehow leads straight to the weather. Yeah, I know, it's usually boring, but this isn't your regular small-talk weather convo. With the Front Range sitting in a snow drought…
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Government Conspiracies That Were Actually Real: MKUltra, COINTELPRO, and the Programs They Denied Until They Couldn't
In this episode of [indistinct chatter], host Aliza dives into the unsettling world of conspiracy theories that weren’t theories at all. They were real, documented, and denied until the evidence became impossible to ignore. After a quick recap of Super Bowl LX (from record-breaking viewership and...
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Super Bowl LX Predictions, Groundhog Day Lore, and the 2026 Grammys Biggest Moments
Winter is dragging, but the vibes? Improving. On today’s episode of [indistinct chatter], Aliza's talking Groundhog Day, longer days, seasonal depression finally loosening its grip, and why Punxsutawney Phil (despite his confidence) is still wrong most of the time. A quick dive into the history…
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What Radicalized Me? Labor Strikes, Empathy, and Why Questioning Authority Isn't Actually That Radical
In this episode of [indistinct chatter], Aliza unpacks a heavy week in America. She talks about Ye’s apology and public accountability, the viral “what radicalized you” trend, and what that word really means in today’s culture. From there, she explores how music, family, and church shaped her...
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The History of Income Taxes: From Ancient Egypt to the IRS and Why You Still File Your Own Return
It’s tax season, baby! Join Aliza, as she dives into the fascinating (and occasionally frustrating) world of income taxes. From ancient grain payments in Egypt to labor taxes in medieval Europe, and all the way to the modern US system we navigate every January through April. We’ve got it covered....
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The Golden Globes Just Recognized Podcasts - And Here's Why That's a Bigger Deal Than You Think
The Golden Globes made podcast history by introducing their first-ever award for Best Podcast!!! And it turns out this moment matters way more than it seems. In this episode of [indistinct chatter], Aliza breaks down why podcasts being recognized by the Golden Globes is a huge cultural shit. Not...
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2026 Predictions: AI, Travel, Hustle Culture, and What's Actually Coming
Happy New Year, and welcome to 2026! In this episode of [indistinct chatter], Aliza kicks off the new year by talking about predicted trends for 2026... not resolutions, not goals, just the patterns that seem to be emerging as we all collectively ask: is this actually serving us? From AI being...
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Toodles to 2025: The Wildest, Saddest, and Weirdest Year in Recent Memory
It’s the end of 2025 and somehow, we all survived it. In this year-end episode of [indistinct chatter], Aliza takes you on a month-by-month journey through one of the most chaotic, heartbreaking, historic, absurd, and oddly hopeful years in recent memory. From devastating disasters and global...
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The Great Eggnog Riot of 1826: The Night West Point Cadets (Including Jefferson Davis) Lost Their Minds
Welcome back to [indistinct chatter]! Host Aliza serves up a wild Christmas story: the Great Eggnog Riot of 1826. West Point cadets, fed up with strict military life under Superintendent Sylvanus Thayer, smuggled whiskey onto campus for a Christmas Eve party. What started as innocent eggnog…
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How Cold Cases Are Being Solved by Students, Reddit, and DNA - The New Era of Citizen Investigation
Welcome back to [indistinct chatter]! Host Aliza stumbles across a story that stopped her mid-scroll: college students at the University of Texas at Arlington just solved a 34-year-old murder. Their class project led to an arrest in a case that had stumped detectives since 1991. But this isn't…
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The Satanic Panic: How Dungeons & Dragons, Heavy Metal, and Daycare Centers Got Blamed for the Devil
Welcome back to [indistinct chatter]! Host Aliza dives into the Satanic panic that gripped America in the 1980s and 90s—and yes, it connects to Stranger Things. Remember in season 4 when the whole town wanted to hunt down Eddie for leading a "Satanic cult"? That was based on a very real (and very...
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The Montauk Project: The Real Conspiracy Theory That Inspired Stranger Things
Welcome back to [indistinct chatter]! Host Aliza is still recovering from her Thanksgiving sugar hangover (unconditionally toxic relationship alert!) before diving into the conspiracy theory that inspired Stranger Things. Spoiler: the show was almost called Montauk, and the rabbit hole goes DEEP....
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Thanksgiving: The Real History They Didn’t Teach You (Myths, Massacres & Modern Traditions)
Welcome back to [indistinct chatter]. I start by getting personal about my Thanksgiving traditions — from crab legs instead of turkey to bingeing Stranger Things on Thanksgiving Eve, and everything that makes the holiday feel cozy or chaotic. Then I dig into the history most of us weren’t taught…
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What Is Infantilization? Signs, Examples & Why It’s More Dangerous Than You Think
I’m back with another episode of [indistinct chatter], and we’re starting off exactly how you might expect (or not)... some reality TV thoughts (yes, The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives is still that girl) and a mini rant about why watching the NFL now basically requires a second mortgage. But then…
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What Veterans Day Really Means: History, Controversy, and the Reality Veterans Face
Welcome back to [indistinct chatter]. This episode started with me talking about podcasting again. Recording in a blanket fort, redoing takes over and over, and still trying to get out of my own head long enough to just hit publish. So if you’re also stuck in that perfectionism loop… same. But…
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Perfectionism Is Holding You Back: How I Finally Launched My Podcast (+ The Guy Fawkes Conspiracy)
Welcome to the first full episode of [indistinct chatter]! And yeah… I almost didn’t post this. In this episode, I’m talking about what it actually took for me to finally start this podcast, from perfectionism spirals to imposter syndrome to recording (and deleting) the same thing more times than…
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
you know that friend who always has the most random info and somehow makes it the most interesting thing you've heard all week? hi, that's me. i'm aliza and indistinct chatter is where i break down the news, spiral into history and conspiracies, talk pop culture, and somehow tie it all together. no fluff, no lectures. just the scoop! new episode every tuesday. love ya!
HOSTED BY
Aliza Hollister
CATEGORIES
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does [indistinct chatter] have?
[indistinct chatter] currently has 51 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is [indistinct chatter] about?
you know that friend who always has the most random info and somehow makes it the most interesting thing you've heard all week? hi, that's me. i'm aliza and indistinct chatter is where i break down the news, spiral into history and conspiracies, talk pop culture, and somehow tie it all together. no...
How often does [indistinct chatter] release new episodes?
[indistinct chatter] has 51 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to [indistinct chatter]?
You can listen to [indistinct chatter] on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts [indistinct chatter]?
[indistinct chatter] is created and hosted by Aliza Hollister.
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