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Send us Fan Mail It’s one of the most fascinating interviews we’ve ever done, and the whole episode is dripping with Y2K-era cult goo! This week, Teams Edward and Kimberly square off with two bizarre but largely forgotten tales of doomsday cults, religious extremism, and cult psychology. Edward opens fire with The Order of the Solar Temple, the notorious 1990s doomsday cult led by Joseph Di Mambro and Luc Jouret—a secretive society of high-achievers that eventually descended into ritual murder and mass suicide. Kimberly shoots back with the kinder, gentler Chen Tao, the Taiwanese UFO cult best known for alien worship, an apocalyptic prophecy, and spectacularly embarrassing itself in front of the international press on a suburban Texas lawn. But the real draw this episode is Special Guest Judge Celeste Mott, who shares the story of her decade-long youthful involvement with an online vampire cult during the early days of the Internet—and yes, there were indeed digital “Lestat and Armand” encounters. It’s a wild ride through doomsday cults, internet subcultures, groupthink, belief, and belonging—and what happens when even the smartest, most rational people go looking for a community to call their own. Follow Celeste at: Web: https://www.celestemott.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/celestemott Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tarotbyceleste/ Support the show

Send us Fan Mail A dessert so delicious it sent a regent to an early grave. A royal banquet heinously serving underage eliticide as its entree. It’s the SEASON THREE PREMIERE (this time for real!!), and Teams Edward and Kimberly are throwing history’s most lethal meals on the table for your vote!  With stops at King Adolf Frederick of Sweden’s tragic lobster and caviar banquet, the smoky castle hall which hosted Scotland’s infamous Black Dinner, and a random Italian province for an aside about a sinister delicacy known as “maggot cheese”, it’s a bizarre tasting menu sure to satisfy history, food, and true crime nerds equally.  Special guest judge Chef David Kaye weighs in on which story left him most satisfied, while the party picks apart how human behavior, psychology, and our dinner tables are forever baked together, no matter where in the world we hail from. Which story wins? Only ye, the public, can decide. Support the show

Send us Fan Mail A whole episode about cults that make things EXTRA weird by "keeping it in the family?" Don't blame us — it's what listeners asked for. Back in the pandemic era, you voted, and incest cults won. Democratically. That happened. In this returning Season 1 Finale, Team Edward introduces The Colt Family, who took the "rewilding" concept and turned it into an orgiastic, multi-generational freak show. Team Kimberly serves up hardcore Christianity with a side order of vampires, breaking down The Wesson Family's nightmarish life as dictated by "frustrated cult leader" and aspiring vampyr dad, Marcus Wesson. Beloved New Orleans singer-chanteuse Debbie Davis is joined by Hollywood film industry survivor Garrison Paz on the judging panel — two actual parents with clean criminal records, brought in specifically because this topic required adult supervision. This one's been locked in the Human F*****y vault for half a decade. It deserved another run. Fair warning: sexual abuse of minors is discussed, handled with as much care as a subject this heinous allows. A puppy named Charlie was also present during the original recording. His comments remain edited out, at the advice of our lawyers. Some things don't change. Support the show

Send us Fan Mail  We've got updates on Kimberly's recovery and the road to Season 3 — but while we claw our way back to regularly scheduled programming, we're pulling a lost episode out of the vault. This one hasn't been available anywhere since 2022, and it's a good one. Dolls may not be the holiday hot item they were during Tickle Me Elmo's reign, but put a dead guy's spirit inside one and fans of the macabre just can't get enough. Horror aficionados love big screen scares from poppets like Chucky and Annabelle; eBay is an online hub for hundreds of sellers looking to offload possessed toys; and markets in Africa ship haunted figurines around the world. Hosts Kimberly and Edward square off with haunting stories from Japan and Mexico, bringing to life the true tales of Okiku the Doll and Don Julian's Island of the Dolls. Special guest judges Jeffry Denman (Broadway's White Christmas; DDC's The Donner Party) and Jennifer Johnson (New Orleans history nerd and costumer) join the episode to ponder Florida's Robert the Doll, Las Vegas' Peggy the Doll, and whether horcruxes are real.  Support the show

Send us Fan Mail As the days shorten and winter’s breath creeps in, Kim and Edward drag you back through humanity’s oldest fear: the season that tried to kill us first. From ancient harvest rituals to the fiery nightmare of the Wicker Man, this episode explores the panic, desperation, and creative f*****y our ancestors unleashed in their attempts to bargain with the cold. Joining us is Chris West, regenerative farmer, bassist for the heavy metal band Medicine Horse, and a man who literally lives inside the seasonal cycles our species keeps trying (and failing) to outsmart. We talk soil, death, music, and the thin line between feeding the land and feeding it people. Support the show

Send us Fan Mail After two long years in the shadows… Human F*****y is back! Hosts Kim and Dr. Edward return to the mic for a brand-new season of chaos, curiosity, and true-life nightmares — starting with one of the most haunting tragedies ever to hit an amusement park: The Six Flags Haunted Castle Fire of 1984. Eight teens went in for fun. None made it out. With attorney Jacey Winn joining us to untangle the legal fallout, we dive into a story where illusion met negligence — and the line between entertainment and accountability went up in smoke. We missed you, spooky nerds. Let’s get weird again. Support the show

Send us Fan Mail Ghosts proposing marriage. Dead presidents playing the violin. Séances hosted by First Lady Lincoln in the Crimson Room—the White House is so much more paranormal than your high school history teacher ever let on. Originally recorded in 2021, this previously lost episode is now available. Hosts Kimberly and Edward join forces once again to explore one of America’s most haunted mansions. From Abraham Lincoln and John Wilkes Booth’s shared obsession with the occult to the telltale signs that a medium might be full of @*#$, this is one presidential haunting you won’t forget. Support the show

Send us Fan Mail We’re back, baby. Season 3 of Human F*ckery kicks off next month with a fantastic Halloween special that’ll crawl right under your skin and stay there. But before we drop the main event, we’re opening the vault and unleashing stories that have never hit our main feed. First up? The one, the only, the absolutely ridiculous: The Great Emu War of Australia. Yes, it really happened. Yes, the humans lost. And yes, you need to hear it to believe it. This is just the beginning of what’s waiting for you this season - dark, hilarious, bizarre, and very, very human. Subscribe, buckle up, and prepare yourself. Season 3 countdown of Human F*ckery starts now. Support the show

Send us Fan Mail You said you wanted an episode on serial killers, and after months of absolutely heinous research (Kim cried), recording, and editing, it’s finally here: The Season Two Finale, “Forgotten Serial Killers,” featuring the stars of Netflix’s MINDHUNTER series. Teams Kimberly and Edward endeavored to find tales of true “multiple murderers” not already discussed to death by other podcasts and documentaries…and our guest judges, both well-versed professionally in retelling the stories of mad killers, agreed they pulled it off. Team Edward presents the blood-chilling history of The Red Ripper, a prolific monster hidden for decades by Soviet censorship and the first-ever Russian criminal to be caught in part by employing psychological profiling. Team Kimberly transports listeners to the antebellum frontier, where a family of mysteriously antisocial colonists led by a charismatic daughter terrorized travelers riding the Osage Mission Trail, earning themselves the terrible moniker The Bloody Benders. Our hosts were joined by MINDHUNTER headliners Holt McCallany (Fight Club, Alien 3, Blue Bloods, Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning) and Michael Cerveris (Broadway’s Sweeney Todd and Assassins; TV’s Fringe and The Gilded Age), two guys who have made careers out of either playing killers, or playing the people who catch killers. In addition to the serial killer talk, they give us insight into working with cinematic masters like David Fincher; befriending Charles Mansonite Bobby Boselie; and learning from FBI profilers. If you’d like to learn more about The Bloody Benders yourself, check out one of our sources for this episode:  Hell's Half-Acre: The Untold Story of the Benders, a Serial Killer Family on the American Frontier If you’d like to read the book MINDHUNTER was based on, you can find that here: Mindhunter: Inside the FBI's Elite Serial Crime Unit  Support the show

Send us Fan Mail If you’re not already familiar with The Toybox Killer case, you’re about to be….and head’s up that it’s from the deepest, darkest, stankest part of history’s colon. You may need a fresh baptism afterwards just from listening. If you’ve ever wondered why there’s such a loud movement to shut down social media accounts teaching misogyny, and backlash to violent pornography, this story is a great example. It’s also further argument AGAINST smacking kids around, and/or letting them be exposed to violent and emotionally unfit parents, because while the Toybox Killer may have been born with a screw loose, his upbringing only made things worse. It all goes down in a bleak and dusty stretch of desert just outside Truth or Consequences, New Mexico. Support the show

Send us Fan Mail This episode was written as an epic Pride Season gift to our beloved Patreon subscribers, but given recent Supreme Court rulings and the fresh wave of anti-LGBTQ+ mouth diarrhea that SCOTUS f*****y spawned, it seemed an important story to release into the wild.  Because while it might sound like a joke, few things are more epic, gayer, AND more prescient in these polarized times than the largely forgotten sliver of wildly queer pro wrestling history called “The Goldust Era,” which officially began on October 15, 1995.  There’s even a hero in this salacious tale of WWE executives exploiting homophobia for profit: Dustin Runnels, veteran pro wrestling superstar and outspoken advocate for LGBTQ folk. Runnels’ arc from a wounded little boy to Southern American hero, to the most hated man in wrestling, to redeemed role model and father of a trans kid is equal parts heartwarming and unhinged and is compelling even if you’ve never once watched a body slam live on Pay Per View. It’s also a major thread in pro wrestling’s long history of selling the gayest heat imaginable to audiences that, by and large, see themselves as heterosexual patriots with no ties to the LGBTQ community, despite participating in one of the most homoerotic art forms on the planet.  Heads Up: There’s hate speech and LGBTQ slurs in this episode, and not because we condone it. (People really said some wild shit on TV in the 90s.) Support the show

Send us Fan Mail We may ALL be struggling to survive the surrealist nightmare which is “post-Pandemic” 2023, but there’s still stuff to be grateful for. Not dying slowly of scurvy in the frozen Arctic, or roasting like a pair of hot nuts under a relentless Sahara sun, for starters. We’re also collectively blessed with an uncanny ability to adapt, overcome, and experience “Post Traumatic Growth,” which you gotta admit doesn’t suck.  This month Teams Edward & Kimberly kick off summer—and seasonal travel—with a pair of swan dives into tales of human resilience in the face of our O.G. adversary, Nature. Kimberly unearths the story of Ada Blackjack, a 23-year-old Inuit girl coerced into a disastrous Arctic expedition with a bunch of inexperienced white boys and a housecat. Edward pulls out the harrowing journey of Mauro Prosperi, an ultramarathoner whose persistence in the face of adversity landed him in a desert cave drinking his own urine like a champ.  The gang is joined by special guest judge TR Hendricks, a veteran Army intelligence officer and author of the fantastic new survivor thriller “The Instructor,” about a former marine using SERE school techniques to take on a surprise threat hidden in the Adirondacks. (It’s one of the best summer reads you’ll blow through this year, so grab a copy en route to the beach or pool.) Buy TR's Book!: https://shorturl.at/xGIV8 Support the show

Send us Fan Mail Full disclosure: When Edward proposed this interview back in March, Kimberly’s immediate response was “Why the f**k would we talk to Joe Exotic?” (She’s a delicate flower like that.) And it’s a fair question. While Tiger King was a savagely addictive and jaw-dropping series, it was also rife with animal abuse, unchecked misogyny, predatory sexual behavior, and Adults Behaving Like Children—all things neither of our hosts are fans of. As our resident philosopher, Edward quickly pointed out how prison has palpably changed the manic antihero the world first met back in 2020. Once singularly focused on self-promotion, the Joe Exotic of 2023 has been campaigning heavily for prison reform over the last 18 months…something Human F*****y can very much get behind. Mr. Exotic was placed in solitary confinement “for his own protection” under suspicious circumstances and held for roughly 18 months in an Atlanta-based federal penitentiary now under investigation for human rights violations, including breaches of the 6th (right to effective legal counsel) and 8th (freedom from cruel and unusual punishment) constitutional amendments. Edward’s also a passionate advocate for the idea that people fundamentally NEED a “path to redemption” in order for life to be worth living and that giving each other the opportunity to express remorse and grow is part of “doing the work.” Since HF’s ultimate goal is to guide people toward more human decency, conversing with a man learning to advocate for others at age 60 to see how he’s grown seemed a potentially good learning experience. So Gary set up a call to Butler Federal Medical Center, a prison for inmates with complex health issues, in North Carolina, where Joe Exotic is being evaluated for his second cancer diagnosis in as many years while serving his 21-year sentence. Love him or hate him, there’s no question that Joe’s one of the breakout storytellers and characters of the last decade. Whether he’s achieved a full redemption arc yet is up to you to decide for yourself. Support the show

Send us Fan Mail He was hailed as “The Painter of Light,” a titan of pastoral landscapes which glowed whimsically from the windows of malls and Disney stores across America in the 1990s. But inside Thomas Kinkade, the famed born-again Christian artist behind one of the most commercially successful art entities ever created, lurked a darkness even he couldn’t cover with layers of shining lacquer. His tragic story of worker exploitation, belligerent self-destruction, and nostalgia gone awry was carefully hidden behind a wall of corporate money for decades but emerged from the shadows after Kinkade’s sudden and unexpected death back in 2012. It’s a piece of forgotten American art history so bent Teams Edward and Kimberly had to drop their monthly storytelling competition and join forces to share it with y'all correctly. If you’ve ever felt disillusioned with The American Dream, skeptical about so-called “Christian artists,” or creeped out by those relentlessly-cheery Christmas villages glowing in Hallmark stores every winter, hit play and listen as the veneer dissolves into truth far stranger than fiction. Featuring original music by Sergio Gonzalez Pagan. Support the show

Send us Fan Mail We’re all capable of royally screwing up a romance, but some guys are so good at it we still talk about them 100 years after their relationships tank. In this month’s battle of storytelling, Team Edward flies into Key West, Florida, to unearth the story of Carl Tanzer and his extremely unhinged relationship with a beautiful, dead Cuban tuberculosis patient half his age. Team Kimberly punches back with the mad entanglement of painter Oskar Kokoschka and his legendary muse, curvacious composer Alma Mahler…who got immortalized the wrong way. Soulful rock star Mia Borders and commanding music educator Kate Duncan, both of the podcast “Great Question with Mia and Kate,” step in as special guest judges to declare which true story submission is the winner, and all parties confess some of the most cringe crap they’ve ever pulled while in the throes of maladaptive love. Mia also plays out the episode, appropriately, with her breakup song for the ages, “Plastic Love." You can support this podcast here: www.patreon.com/humanfuckery You can find more of Mia and Kate at their podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/pt/podcast/great-question-with-mia-kate/id1618114613 You can hear more of Mia’s music here: https://www.miaborders.com/bio Support the show