Viral

This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AIThis episode includes AI-generated content.

A family restrains their daughter for over thirty hours, denying food and water while performing violent exorcism techniques learned from YouTube videos with millions of views. She dies from dehydration and trauma—her family believed they were saving her soul from demons, not torturing her to death. This episode examines how YouTube's algorithm created radicalization pipelines from spiritual content to deadly deliverance practices, how charismatic online exorcists taught families to interpret mental illness as demon possession, and how viral religious content convinced ordinary people that schizophrenia required exorcism instead of treatment. From underground deliverance channels monetizing spiritual warfare to families choosing YouTube tutorials over psychiatric care, the episode reveals how algorithmic amplification of extremist religious content transforms sincere faith into fatal fanaticism, leaving mentally ill victims dead and believing families prosecuted for murder they committed in God's name.Click here to browse handpicked Amazon finds inspired by this podcast series!https://amzn.to/42YoQGIThis content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AIThis episode includes AI-generated content.

Miranda and Elytte Barbour met on a Satanic worship website, bonded over murder fantasies, and used Craigslist casual encounters to find victims who would never be missed. Troy LaFerrara responded to an ad thinking he'd arranged a hookup—instead, he was strangled and stabbed to death by the newlywed couple who claimed they'd killed over twenty people. This episode examines how Craigslist's complete anonymity transformed fantasy roleplay into actual predation, how online disinhibition allows people to cross boundaries they'd never cross face-to-face, and how vulnerable people seeking anonymous encounters became perfect victims. From the "Craigslist Killer" Philip Markoff to Richard Beasley's fake job listings luring desperate men to their deaths, the episode reveals how platforms designed for connection became distribution engines for murder.Click here to browse handpicked Amazon finds inspired by this podcast series!https://amzn.to/42YoQGIThis content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AIThis episode includes AI-generated content.

Two twelve-year-old girls lured their best friend into the woods and stabbed her nineteen times, believing they had to sacrifice her to Slender Man—a fictional internet character created on a Photoshop forum. Morgan Geyser and Anissa Weier became so immersed in creepypasta mythology that fantasy became indistinguishable from reality. This episode traces Slender Man's origins on Something Awful forums through his viral spread across YouTube and wiki sites, examining how collaborative internet fiction can create belief powerful enough to justify murder. From Morgan's undiagnosed schizophrenia to the girls' shared psychotic disorder, from their months of detailed planning to interrogation tapes where they matter-of-factly explained killing for an entity that never existed, the episode reveals how internet-native psychology, parasocial relationships with fictional characters, and algorithmic amplification transformed creepypasta into religious delusion that nearly killed Payton Leutner.Click here to browse handpicked Amazon finds inspired by this podcast series!https://amzn.to/42YoQGIThis content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AIThis episode includes AI-generated content.