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Now I'm Intrigued

Now I'm Intrigued

SwagFam Network

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1 Creator

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5.0

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A storytelling podcast about humans who changed history with grand ideas and corrupt methods. Do you ever hear just a piece of a story and immediately can't help but search for more info? Do you like to know the WHOLE story with all the juicy details? If that’s you, then you're in the right place. If you enjoy context and historic details and the full story, this is the podcast for you. If you prefer a quick synopsis, then we might not be the best fit. We’re more like a bingeable season on Netflix than a lone full-feature film. We dive deep into nearly unbelievable (but actually true) intriguing life stories.
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Top 10 Now I'm Intrigued Episodes

Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Now I'm Intrigued episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Now I'm Intrigued for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Now I'm Intrigued episode by adding your comments to the episode page.

Now I'm Intrigued - Jolly West vs. Scientology
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03/01/22 • 44 min

In 1969, when UCLA recruited him to head up the department, the West family packed up their life in Oklahoma and traveled to their namesake. They went West to Los Angeles, he and K and all three of their kids in tow. Los Angeles would change Jolly and cement his legacy. This is where he became a celebrity and it’s where he was able to solidify those words his mother had spoken over him, “you will do great things.”
He was enthralled with celebrities except for one aspect. There was a darker side of Hollywood that Jolly didn’t jive with. He became enemy #1 of the Church of Scientology WAY before anyone else ever publicly spoke out against them. In this episode, we explore the war between Dr. Jolly West and the Church of Scientology.
Dr. Jolly West's death is just as controversial as the incredibly complex and vibrant life he lived.
For the full story, please go purchase John West’s "The Last Goodnights, Assisting My Parents With Their Suicides." It’s available on Amazon.com.
Show Notes

Suppport the Show → https://www.patreon.com/swagfampodcastnetwork

Sources

https://www.latimes.com/local/la-scientology062990x-story.html

https://youtu.be/Z8scMW9H1F0

https://youtu.be/7PUfSlYvKLA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPMacCIf11kWest, John. The Last Goodnights, Catapult.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Kevorkian

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Now I'm Intrigued - Setting The Stage For Georgia Tann
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03/22/22 • 28 min

If you’ve never heard of Georgia Tann, you are in for a wild ride. Her story is one of those that you can’t quite believe was allowed to happen. It’s one of those that makes you wonder just HOW some people gain power and then are able to stay in that power and use it and use it without consequence. Honestly, we usually see men in these types of power plays so that’s what makes this story even more fascinating. How did she become a woman so comfortable in her own skin and bold in her actions to take over an entire industry and make it something new, something sinister, something manipulative and diseased? That’s the thing I so wanted to understand and uncover. Today, we’re going to look at Georgia’s beginnings. Who and what shaped her into the complex, corrupt and strange woman she became?
Suppport the Show → https://www.patreon.com/swagfampodcastnetwork

SOURCES

Raymond, Barbara Bisantz. The Baby Thief . Hachette Books.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orphan_Train

Yellow Fever - the plague of Memphis

'Orphan Trains' Brought Homeless NYC Children to Work On Farms Out West - HISTORY

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Now I'm Intrigued - Baby Farmers, Orphanages & Adoption
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03/29/22 • 25 min

In this episode, I’m going to show you that Georgia Tann, though a monster, accomplished something incredible. She made undesirable children... well, desirable. When Georgia was growing up, people would not adopt children because of a huge belief in eugenics. I’ll explain what that is in a minute. But, just picture the mass immigration to the United States, the exorbitant amount of children in poverty and orphaned little ones in the streets of New York and Boston. Then, the Orphan Trains we talked about last episode. The crazy thing is that orphans were undesirable, unwanted, tainted by their poor, unfortunate parents and nobody wanted them unless it was to use them for labor.
Suppport the Show → https://www.patreon.com/swagfampodcastnetwork

SOURCES

Raymond, Barbara Bisantz. The Baby Thief. Hachette Books.

Baby Farming - Adoption History

Baby Farming | Encyclopedia.com

Eugenics - Adoption History

Baby farming - Wikipedia

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Now I'm Intrigued - Jolly in Lackland

Jolly in Lackland

Now I'm Intrigued

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01/18/22 • 44 min

Jolly and K make a big move to San Antonio, Texas where Jolly, now a full-fledged doctor, serves as Lieutenant to Major in the U.S. Air Force where he is Chief of Psychiatric Service. Jolly’s time at Lackland is his debut in the field of brainwashing and will also start him on a path with the US government that will link him to conspiracy theorists for the rest of his life and beyond.

In the 1950s, West was appointed to a panel to discover why 36 of 59 airmen captured in the Korean War had confessed or co-operated in Korean allegations of war crimes committed by the United States. These POWs had “falsely” confessed to germ warfare. His experiences with these men sparked a lifelong interest in helping victims of imprisonment, torture, and coercive persuasion otherwise known as "brainwashing".

It’s super important to understand at this point in the story how pivotal to our history. If the communists could control minds, then they could control interrogations, memories, the actions of leaders, and more. And guess what? The US had not even started to think scientifically about how this might be achieved yet. It meant we were behind, it meant we were vulnerable, it meant we were losing a war we didn’t even know had started.
P.S. I apologize in advance for how much I talk about bugs in this episode. It's super detailed. I promise it's important for this episode and our next episode that includes the story of CIA Scientist Frank Olson and his infamous death.
SHOW NOTES

Support the Show →https://www.patreon.com/swagfampodcastnetwork

SOURCES

https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c84j0hcd/entire_text/

https://theintercept.com/2019/11/24/cia-mkultra-louis-jolyon-west/

https://military.wikia.org/wiki/Louis_Jolyon_West

https://koreanwarlegacy.org/chapters/the-pow-experience/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPMacCIf11k

https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/first/e/endicott-biological.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegations_of_biological_warfare_in_the_Korean_War

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Schwable

https://www.history.com/topics/korea/korean-war

https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/99/06/27/reviews/990627.27reg.html

https://www.amazon.com/BIOLOGY-DOOM-Americas-Warfare-Project/dp/080505765X

https://www.nytimes.com/1999/01/09/us/louis-j-west-74-psychiatrist-who-studied-extremes-dies.html

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Now I'm Intrigued - MK Ultra & The CIA

MK Ultra & The CIA

Now I'm Intrigued

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01/25/22 • 35 min

In episode 3 of our Season One on Dr. Jolly West, we explore Jolly's involvement with the CIA and their controversial MK-Ultra program.
Project MK-Ultra was the code name given for illegal experiments on actual humans done by the CIA. This was an actual thing that happened in US history, it’s not just a theory. These experiments were supposed to develop procedures and figure out what drugs (like LSD) could be used in interrogations to weaken humans and force them to confess by using brainwashing and psychological torture.
We explore Dr. West's involvement with the notorious CIA chemist Sidney Gottlieb who was nicknamed the “Black Sorcerer” for developing crazy ways to drug unknowing people up with LSD - high potency stink bombs, swizzle sticks laced with drugs, poisoned toothpaste, handkerchiefs, cigars. Anything for mind control experiments.
Finally, this episode tells the tragic story of three-year-old Chere Jo Horton's horrific murder on the Lackland Airforce base, Jimmy Shaver's arrest and Dr. West's involvement. Was Jimmy Shaver an unknowing participant in the MK Ultra mind control experiments?
SHOW NOTES

Support the Show →https://www.patreon.com/swagfampodcastnetwork

SOURCES
Sources

O'Neill, Tom. Chaos. Little, Brown and Company.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_MKUltra

http://wla.1-s.es/barclays-tax-avoidance-scm-censored-guardian-2009/AT-june07-Price-PT1.pdf

https://www.history.com/mkultra-operation-midnight-climax-cia-lsd-experiments

https://www.baltimoresun.com/maryland/bs-md-frank-olson-lawsuit-20121208-story.html

https://theintercept.com/2019/11/24/cia-mkultra-louis-jolyon-west/

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Now I'm Intrigued - The Complex Legacy of Georgia Tann
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03/08/22 • 3 min

What do you do when you are poor and have nothing and are worried for your sick child? Do you let this woman who says she'll pay for his medical care take your child? The thing is, it doesn’t really matter because once she has a target in mind, she’ll find a way to take that baby anyway.

This season we look at the intriguing life of the woman responsible for completely changing how adoption was viewed...for making adoption socially acceptable, even desirable. But her methods... they were vicious and cruel.

THIS season we tell the story of Georgia Tann. I’m your host Brigetta Schwaiger and this is Now I’m Intrigued.
Support the Show--> https://www.patreon.com/swagfampodcastnetwork

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Now I'm Intrigued - The Insanity of Jack Ruby

The Insanity of Jack Ruby

Now I'm Intrigued

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02/08/22 • 23 min

On April 26, 1964, West hopped on a flight to Dallas, scheduled to examine Jack Ruby in the county jail that afternoon. The Dallas papers reported it in their final editions that evening: West emerged from Ruby’s cell to announce that the previously sane inmate had undergone “an acute psychotic break” sometime during the preceding “forty-eight hours.” Whatever transpired between West and Ruby in that cell, only the two of them could say; there were no witnesses. West proclaimed that Ruby “was now positively insane.” The condition appeared to be “unshakable” and “fixed.
Why in the world did Ruby seem sane when Jolly went in but insane forevermore after he came out of that cell?
SHOW NOTES

Support The Show --> https://www.patreon.com/swagfampodcastnetwork
SOURCES
Tikkanen, Amy. "Jack Ruby". Encyclopedia Britannica , 1 Jan. 2021, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jack-Ruby. Accessed 22 September 2021.

https://emuseum.jfk.org/objects/21745/t25-report-of-psychiatric-examination-of-jack-ruby-by-dr-lo?ctx=57fbc0eb-e3dc-43b1-bb6f-3d8c888017fc&idx=3

https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/jfk-in-history/november-22-1963-death-of-the-president

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Ruby

O'Neill, Tom. Chaos. Little, Brown and Company. Kindle Edition.

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Now I'm Intrigued - Adoption Marketing Machine
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05/03/22 • 18 min

Georgia Tann, even with her limp, her small frame and grandmotherly appearance, had a ridiculous amount of energy. And most of it was concentrated on her work - her absolute tyrannical goal to become the foremost leader in adoption work.

She could sell babies when other people couldn’t give them away. She worked long hours in her office, visited local businessmen to ask for donations to her cause and gave speeches about the great things about adoption. She would tell them... this not only helps the children, but it also helps taxpayers who won’t have to pay for the upkeep of orphanages. This was one of her refrains and in the 1930s she told everyone that she’d save the people of Memphis $218,000 by arranging over 2,000 adoptions.

Suppport the Show → https://www.patreon.com/swagfampodcastnetwork

SOURCES

Georgia Tann: The Mastermind of a Black Market Baby Ring That Lasted for Three Decades | by Robyn Kagan Harrington | Exploring History | Medium

https://ideapod.com/georgia-tann-the-baby-thief-kidnapped-5000-babies-and-sold-them-all

Raymond, Barbara Bisantz. The Baby Thief . Hachette Books.

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Now I'm Intrigued - Patty Hearst + Dr. Jolly West
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02/22/22 • 41 min

So imagine you are a nineteen-year-old college student, hanging out at your apartment with your boyfriend and you step into the hall. A group of people grabs you and neighbors watch as they take you out of the building and throw you into a vehicle. The reason the neighbors don’t help... these people are shooting at them just so they can take YOU.

This is the setting of our story today. The story of Patty Hearst, an American Heiress who was kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army, a small, armed revolutionary group with an incoherent ideology and unclear goals, birthed out of the crazy 1970s bombing extravaganza. Patty Hearst, who proceeded to brandish a weapon and rob a bank and was apprehended by the FBI instead of being rescued. The story of how Jolly West became one of the psychiatrists who evaluated her, wrote over 300 pages about her brainwashed condition and his impact on her trial.

SHOW NOTES

Suppport the Show → https://www.patreon.com/swagfampodcastnetwork

SOURCE MATERIAL

EVERY SECRET THING Patricia Campbell Hearst with Alvin Moscow Doubleday & Company Inc. NY 1982

https://www.npr.org/2016/08/03/488373982/whose-side-was-she-on-american-heiress-revisits-patty-hearst-s-kidnapping

https://www.biography.com/crime-figure/patty-hearst

https://nybooks.com/articles/1976/06/24/no-charge/

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/patty-hearst-kidnapped

https://nybooks.com/articles/1976/04/29/the-people-v-patty-hearst/

https://www.nytimes.com/1976/02/27/archives/psychiatrist-says-he-believes-miss-hearst-on-role-in-bank-robbery.htmlhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPMacCIf11k

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Now I'm Intrigued - Haight Ashbury, Jolly & The Hippie Culture
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02/15/22 • 26 min

Today’s story puts us in an office in Haight - Ashbury in the 1960s. Haight- Ashbury is a district in San Francisco, California named for the intersection of those two streets. It’s a name synonymous with the Hippie and counterculture of the 1960s.
Into this environment in 1966, enter Dr. Jolly West on the precipice of the Summer of Love. He was supposedly there to study hippies and LSD. He felt he just had to witness what was happening in Haight-Ashbury first hand. So... he did what researchers do. He secured a grant and took a yearlong sabbatical from the University of Oklahoma saying he was pursuing a fellowship at Stanford. But... he was setting up a fake Hippie Crash Pad, a place both comical and creepy.
SHOW NOTES

Suppport the Show → https://www.patreon.com/swagfampodcastnetwork

SOURCE MATERIAL

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/haight-ashbury-in-the-1960s_n_1967664

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haight-Ashbury

http://www.rockument.com/blog/haight-ashbury-in-the-sixties/

https://allthatsinteresting.com/haight-ashbury-1967

https://journalnow.com/opinion/columnists/david-smith-charles-manson-was-nightmare-from-the-summer-of-love/article_4f8b8eb8-ce35-11e7-b07f-179fd09fb8c2.html

O'Neill, Tom. Chaos. Little, Brown and Company.

iHeart Radio, Project Midnight Climax Podcast

https://www.history.com/mkultra-operation-midnight-climax-cia-lsd-experiments

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FAQ

How many episodes does Now I'm Intrigued have?

Now I'm Intrigued currently has 19 episodes available.

What topics does Now I'm Intrigued cover?

The podcast is about Society & Culture, True Crime and Podcasts.

What is the most popular episode on Now I'm Intrigued?

The episode title 'MK Ultra & The CIA' is the most popular.

What is the average episode length on Now I'm Intrigued?

The average episode length on Now I'm Intrigued is 25 minutes.

How often are episodes of Now I'm Intrigued released?

Episodes of Now I'm Intrigued are typically released every 7 days.

When was the first episode of Now I'm Intrigued?

The first episode of Now I'm Intrigued was released on Oct 10, 2021.

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