4 Mind-blowing, but little-known stories told perfectly through podcast

Have you ever read a story, watched a movie or listened to podcast and thought to yourself “How have I never heard about this?”. In a world where we seem to have real-time access to every event, no matter how mundane, it’s refreshing to be surprised and enthralled by an incredible tale that slid under your radar. Here is a couple of my favourites.

Chameleon

A Hollywood tale ripe for Hollywood, but largely unknown until now, Chameleon explores a scam that has been targeting the workers at the fringe of the world’s most glamorous industry. For more than 6 years, someone has been impersonating a host of powerful female entertainment executives, enticing contractors to travel to Jakarta on their own dime on the promise of lucrative feature film engagements.

Long-time journalists and Campside Media co-founders Josh Dean and Vanessa Grigoriadis set the scene perfectly through the first-hand account of Eddie, an aspiring film trainer who provides important context and a greater understanding of why so many have been deceived, but so few have spoken out. For most of us, our exposure to working in Hollywood is high profile actors, directors, writers and producers, but we pay little attention to the rest of the names on the rolling credits. In reality, a vast majority of the workforce lives form project to project, relying on their networks, reputation and peer recommendation, so the opportunity to connect with powerful people can drive a desire to believe that far outweighs rational thought and scepticism.

Perhaps the most compelling aspect of this highly engaging podcast is the real-time pursuit of the perpetrator and an honest sense that the investigation attached to it will ultimately help solve this complicated and sometimes bewildering con.

California City

Having spent years living in the US, including a stint in Los Angeles, I was surprised that I had never heard of California City, a sprawling, a half-completed town located deep in the Mohave Desert, around 2 hours inland from LA. While the town has an impressive name and proximity to one of the world’s most famous cities, it also carries a sordid history of exploitation, deception and greed.

Journalist Emily Guerin explores the selling of the American dream in a get rich quick scheme that saw thousands invest their savings in near-worthless plots of land. Enticed to the Silver Saddle Ranch with an offer of a free weekend escape, the victims, many new immigrants, were regaled with the prospect of jumping in on the ground floor of the next Las Vegas and achieving generational wealth.

Told through a combination of Emily’s narrative and first-person accounts, the story is not a unique one, but will have you marvelling at the length and scale of the scam, which stretches back to 1958 and has extracted more than $30 million from its victims. How this has been allowed to continue for so long and impact so many people is a compelling narrative on the lack of legal power held by immigrants and those from low socio-economic backgrounds. Emily has a personal connection to the story and her passion and for the investigation and empathy for the victims shines through, despite her laid back style.

Cool Mules

Working in the music business in the 90s, VICE magazine was often my yardstick for cool and the legendary parties that accompanied it were not to be missed. So I watched with interest as this independent publisher blossomed into a $1 billion media empire. So I was astonished when I stumbled across Cool Mules and the story of VICE editor Slava P, who coerced junior members of the team into smuggling $20 million worth of cocaine into my homeland of Australia.

Canada-land journalist Kasia Mychajlowycz crafts this incredible story around the first hand “accounts” of the very unlikeable Slava, as he exaggerates, boasts, self aggrandises and flat-out lies about his involvement in the crimes. A bit player in the industry, who has somehow painted himself as a hipster pioneer and muse to the stars, Slava frames himself as a victim and is deluded enough to think he can avoid going to prison for a very long time.

The six-part series does a great job of uncovering a culture that trades on cool and proximity to fame while normalising some very dangerous behaviour. Perhaps its because they don’t have the same train-wreck appeal, but the real victims, the junior journalists facing hefty jail terms are not given the airtime they deserve and while the story is captivating enough to keep you engaged, it may leave you feeling slightly unsatisfied at the outcomes.

Rabbit Hole

What if I told you that the YouTube algorithm is the single greatest influence on social discourse, the rise of neo-fascism and the decay of democracy? In this compelling and utterly terrifying eight-part series, The Times tech journalist Kevin Roose makes a persuasive argument that it may very well be.

In the series opener, we meet Caleb, a 26-year-old who agrees to share his entire digital history to demonstrate the influence that YouTube recommendations have had on his path towards right-wing extremist views. As Caleb consumes video after video, he finds himself not only following a narrowing path to the far right but surrounds himself in a content bubble that peddles conspiracy theories and increasingly racist and violent rhetoric.

It’s not hard to see the parallel between highly curated content consumption and extremist views with a never-ending supply of content available on any subject. This thought-provoking series will have you questioning your own media habits and wondering how we break the cycle for our children as they absorb more and more of their information online.

If these stories were new to you, as they were for me, I hope they also bought you the same joy and intrigue. Happy listening.