Things I Want To Know
Ever wonder what really happened — not the rumors, not the Netflix version, but the truth buried in forgotten police files? We did too. We don’t chase conspiracy theories or ghost stories. We chase facts. Through FOIA requests, interviews, and case files scattered across America, we dig through what’s left behind to find what still doesn’t make sense. Along the way, you’ll hear the real conversations between us — the questions, the theories, and the quiet frustration that comes when justice fades. Each episode takes you inside a case that time tried to erase — the voices left behind, the investigators who never quit, and the clues that still echo decades later. We don’t claim to solve them. We just refuse to let them be forgotten. Join us as we search for the truth, one mystery at a time.
Episodes
Paul G and Andrea trace the violent trail of James “Red” Hall across wartime Arkansas, where a hellfire upbringing and a childhood head injury twisted a drifter into a man who turned small moments into real-life dead ends. A .38 revolver ties the bodies together. The chaos of World War II gives him cover. And Arkansas rushes him from confession to Old Sparky before most people even know who he is.
They follow the disap...
In 1992, seventeen year old Kelly Wilson vanished in Gilmer, Texas. A short walk from a video store to her car became one of the most debated missing person cases in Texas history. What should have been a focused, evidence driven investigation was quickly consumed by the national Satanic Panic that overtook the early nineties. Gilmer followed the same pattern seen in McMartin, Kern County, and the West Memphis Three. ...
In this Episode we dive into the case of Michael Ronning, a convicted murderer who spent years bragging about killings no court ever proved. His life stretched from Michigan to Arkansas to Florida, and everywhere he went the same pattern followed: a missing girl, an unexplained death, and a story he couldn’t resist inserting himself into.
Was Ronning a forgotten serial killer, or a drifter who loved the attention that ...
A police lieutenant turns the key, presses the brake, and his truck erupts. He lives. The case almost disappears. We set out to learn why a 1972 Springdale, Arkansas bombing barely made the paper and what the town didn’t (or wouldn’t) say out loud. Along the way we sketch the real backdrop: a rural region on the cusp of change, where Walmart and Tyson were still rising, Sundays went quiet, and a hard-edged meth trade ...
A nameless girl lay in a Florida forest for decades, filed under Judy Doe and lost to a noisy era of serial predators and thin evidence. Forty years later, genetic genealogy restores her identity—Rebecca Sue Hill, a teenager from Arkansas—and forces us to confront how a single misidentification can bury a case and mute a family’s questions for a generation.
We walk through the case from both ends: an Arkansas...
The story starts on a quiet May evening in 1991 and never really stops echoing. A nine-year-old sets out to sell costume jewelry in a tiny Arkansas town where people wave from porches and the fields hold the day’s last light. By week’s end, she’s found in a ditch four miles away, and everything residents believe about safety, trust, and “being home before dark” begins to crack.
We walk you through what happen...
A simple errand, a stamped receipt at 3:17 p.m., and a car left on US 71 with the keys still in the ignition. We walk through the last verified hours of 18-year-old Dana Stidham and sort what’s true from what’s been repeated for decades. No theatrics—just timestamps, locations, and choices that still demand answers: the unfixed flat, the Omni facing the wrong way, and a seven-week silence broken by a hunter who waited...
Ever wondered what dark secrets lurk beneath the surface of America's quiet small towns? In this episode, Paul and Andrea pull back the curtain on two shocking criminal cases from Northwest Arkansas that time has nearly forgotten.
The conversation begins with a puzzling 1972 case where Lieutenant Carl Martins, a young Springdale police officer, survived when a bomb detonated under his car right at the po...
Buried in declassified government archives lies a chilling reminder of how fragile democracy can be from within. Operation Northwoods represents one of the most disturbing chapters in American military planning – a moment when the nation's top generals unanimously approved a scheme to attack their own citizens as a pretext for war.
The story begins in 1962, with the United States still reeling from the B...
Nuclear weapons vanish without a trace. Soviet submarines prepare to launch. False alarms flash across screens in Moscow bunkers. The Cold War was more dangerous than most of us ever realized.
We reveal the shocking truth that at least six American nuclear weapons have been lost since the 1950s and never recovered. These aren't training devices or empty shells—they are fully operational thermonuclear bom...
In 1927, a “modern cure” for ringworm left a boy’s skull collapsed. He wore a hat for 80 years to hide the truth.
In a rural Black farming town in Indiana, 1927, a group of schoolchildren were told they’d receive a modern medical treatment for ringworm. It was free, it was fast, and it was promised safe. What followed was one of the most chilling medical betrayals of the 20th century.
This is the true story ...
Karen Silkwood's final drive down Highway 74 on November 13, 1974, ended in a crash that silenced a whistleblower and disappeared a folder of evidence that could have shaken America's nuclear industry to its core. This haunting story begins with an ordinary woman who took a job at Kerr-McGee's Cimarron nuclear fuel plant in Oklahoma, hoping for a fresh start after her marriage dissolved. Instead, she di...
November 1983, Washington DC. A bomb rips through the Republican cloakroom of the United States Capitol, shattering the illusion of security at America's seat of power. No casualties, just destruction - a pattern that would repeat again and again as federal buildings fell target to a series of precisely placed explosives.
Through a dramatized narrative following fictional FBI Special Agent Jack Connors, ...
The moon has always been humanity's silent companion, but few know how close we came to scarring it forever. During the darkest days of the Cold War, American military officials developed a classified plan that pushes the boundaries of imagination – Project A119, a serious initiative to detonate a nuclear weapon on the lunar surface.
Following the Soviet Union's launch of Sputnik in 1958, panic grip...
Alexander Fleming's discovery of penicillin changed the course of human history, but few understand the deeply personal journey that led to this breakthrough. This episode takes you to the blood-soaked trenches of World War I where a young doctor named Alex watches helplessly as infection claims soldier after soldier, including Private James Calloway. The invisible enemy – bacteria – proves more lethal than bulle...
A witness flips. A town loses its innocence.
When a key witness recants in a high-profile murder case, the whole foundation of justice starts to crack. In this episode of Things I Wanna Know with Andrea S., we dive into the chilling 2018 murder of Christopher Alvord—and his dog—in the quiet, storybook town of Eureka Springs, Arkansas. A place known for its Victorian charm and artistic spirit suddenly became the backdro...
Join us as we sit down with Nancy Purpole, to peel back the layers of divorce law and the importance of client engagement. Nancy's journey from the courtroom offers a unique vantage point, as she discusses the subtle nuances of family law and the emotional toll it can take. We delve into how one's past can shape communication in relationships, the shifting sands of legal acceptance for LGBTQ+ individuals, an...
As we wade through the waters of historical intrigue and cultural legacy, Denise Parkinson joins us to share the stirring story of Helen Spence, an emblematic figure from the Arkansas Delta of the 1930s. Amidst the ebb and flow of the White River, we uncover the essence of the houseboat communities, reflecting on the robust and resilient spirit that has weathered through displacement, government intervention, and the ...
Join hosts Paul G from "Paul G's Corner" and Andrea, co-host of "Things I Want To Know," as they embark on a captivating interview with Michaell Magrutsche—an Austrian-California multimedia artist, creativity-awareness educator, speaker, author, and coach. Explore the profound journey of self-discovery through artistic exploration as Michaell unveils the power of art in fostering self-awarenes...
Step into the captivating world of "Things I Want To Know," a thought-provoking podcast hosted by Andrea and Paul G. In each episode, they bring you stories that unravel the depths of the human experience.
In this dramatic installment, they embark on an extraordinary journey with Fay Land, a courageous woman who escaped the confines of a Chassidic Jewish cult. Join Andrea and Paul G as they peel back the laye...
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