Dawn of Mantis: True Crime, Mysteries and More

Episode 344 is about the Lawson Family Massacre. On Christmas Day of 1929, an Iowa tobacco farmer named Charlie Lawson grabbed a shotgun and killed his wife, six of their seven children, and finally-…

Episode 343 is about the unsolved death of Jordan Grider. Jordan was a New Mexico native who enjoyed living off the grid. However, after traveling to northern Minnesota in October of 2018, he vanishe…

In episode 342, we cover the disturbing case of Joe Clark, aka the "Baraboo Bone Breaker". Clark was responsible for the kidnapping and torture of two young boys in Baraboo, Wisconsin, back in the mi…

In this episode, we discuss the horrific tale of Sawney Bean, who raised a family of cannibals who terrorized a section of Scotland's west coast for decades. 

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Barbara Daly Baekeland was a wealthy socialite with everything anyone could ever want. Or at least that's how it appeared from the outside. But in reality, her perfect marriage was a sham, she was su…

In this episode we cover the life and tragic death of David "Stringbean" Akeman, an icon of both the Grand Ole Opry and classic television show Hee-Haw.

In our first podcast about something other than Jim Jones in 3 1/2 months, we attempt to cleanse your and our palate with a light hearted episode about HOAs and some crazy stories involving them. 

This episode is the FINAL part of our series on Jim Jones and the Peoples Temple. We cover Leo Ryan's volatile visit to Jonestown, his attempts to help several defectors escape, and the terrible trag…

In this 13th part of our series on Jim Jones and the Peoples Temple. We discuss Jim's continued legal battles, his attempts to repair Jonestown's damaged public image, and finally, the dreaded visit …

In the 12th part of our series on Jim Jones and the Peoples Temple. We cover the continued downfall of Jim's empire, his out of control drug use, and the legal and media firestorm that would eventual…

In this 11th part of our series on Jim Jones and the Peoples Temple.  We cover Jim's harsh reign over Jonestown, the difficult assimilation of the new wave of settlers, the custody battle with Grace …

In episodes 309 through 311, we did a three part series on the unsolved murder of Ruby Stapleton. A huge part of the information in that series came from the book "The Washeteria Mystery: Who Killed …

In this tenth part of our series on Jim Jones and the Peoples Temple, we cover Jim’s seduction of San Francisco’s political elite, some major defections that severely impacted his mental state, and t…

In part 9 of our series on Jim Jones and the Peoples Temple. We talk about Jim's continued sexual deviancy,  the beginning of the construction of Jonestown, and Jim's earliest hints that he may some …

In part eight of our series on Jim Jones, we cover the retaliation of the recently defected "Gang of Eight", and the extreme paranoia it created in Jim, which resulted in harsh punishments for the re…

In part seven of our series on Jim Jones and the Peoples Temple, we cover the Temple’s most prosperous period, Jim Jones’ deteriorating mental state and the bizarre behaviors it manifested, the churc…

In part 6 of our series on Jim Jones and the Peoples Temple, we cover the Temple’s complicated assimilation into Ukiah, the eventual growth of the Temple, Jim’s spiraling mental state, growing parano…

In this episode, we cover Jim's increasing nuclear paranoia, his search for a new home for the Peoples Temple, and their move to California. 

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 In this episode,  we introduce you to "Father Divine," the holy man who significantly influenced Jones. We'll also continue covering the expansion of Jim's own family as well as the Peoples Temple e…

In part three of our series, we cover Jim's departure from the Methodist church, his foray into evangelism and faith healing, his rise in influence in the city of Indianapolis, and the origins of the…