The Paranoid Strain

Yeah, there's still a little sex-trafficking teaser at the beginning of this one, but it also inaugurates our next topic. That is--how did the apocalyptic year-2000 obsessions of the 90s seed the ground for the eschatological focus of the Qanon cult? Over a few episodes, we plan to answer that question, and in the process, we plan to revisit some of the best cultural touchstones of our youth. Yes, I'm basically talking about the X-files. But that show as great! Anyway, we're definitely on the downward slope of this series, and we hope you enjoy the ride. See you in a couple of weeks.

We said last episode was our final Satanic Panic episode, and we meant it! At least, mostly--we still have to wrap up the surprising and awful story of how our interviewee, Justin Sledge, found himself caught up in a late-breaking satanic panic as a 1990s teenager. Plus--Debbie Nathan helps us see what forest we're missing for the sex trafficking panic trees. That makes more sense after you listen. See you in a couple of weeks, when we actually, really get to a totally new topic. Seriously. I promise.

The Paranoid Strain? They still do episodes of that show? Will wonders never cease.Sorry we're late. I promise, we weren't being neglectful. We just got caught up in a combination of holiday obligations, ongoing research, and a mountain of work for an upcoming project so ridiculously grandiose, we can't believe it ourselves (and it was our idea). That's coming soon. How soon? Who knows. But for now, enjoy the last part of our coverage of the satanic panic proper--this time, focusing on the story of a deputy sheriff with a very active imagination, who essentially imagined himself into a satanic plot that came from his own fertile mind. As you would expect, nothing good came of this. We're back on schedule, so we'll see you with some real-world post-satanic panic followup in a couple of weeks.