Episodi

  • The Jars in Building Two: Unclaimed Organs and Willowbrook's Hidden Experiments

    The Jars in Building Two: Unclaimed Organs and Willowbrook's Hidden Experiments
    Oct 17 2026
    The Jars in Building Two: Unclaimed Organs and Willowbrook's Hidden Experiments

    Dozens of sealed jars containing what appeared to be human organs were found on shelves alongside crystals of picric acid - explosive on contact - when the bomb squad entered Building Two, yet no one ever explained whose organs they were. Who decided to keep those jars, and why did retired detective Paul Ragonese say the incident was largely covered up by local officials?

    In this episode, we lay out the events described in the transcript: the discovery in 1991, the decades of overcrowding and hepatitis outbreaks at Willowbrook State School, the human experimentation by researchers Saul Krugman and Robert W. McCollum, and the public revelations sparked by an undercover reporter. What connects the unclaimed jars in Building Two to the larger story of institutional neglect and ethically fraught research?

    Person: Paul Ragonese
    Date: 1991
    Location: Building Two, Willowbrook State School, Staten Island
    Topic: hepatitis experiments and institutional conditions
    Researchers: Saul Krugman; Robert W. McCollum

    - Dozens of sealed jars containing apparent human organs were on shelves in Building Two when the bomb squad entered in 1991.
    - Crystals of picric acid, described as explosive on contact and unstable with age, sat beside the jars in Building Two.
    - From 1956, Krugman and McCollum conducted hepatitis transmission studies at Willowbrook that included feeding live hepatitis virus from fecal samples to 60 healthy children, all of whom became ill.
    - By 1965, Willowbrook housed 6,000 residents in a facility designed for 4,000, making it the largest state-run institution for people with intellectual disabilities in the United States.
    - In October 1947, New York State opened Willowbrook State School under the Department of Mental Hygiene on land converted from Halloran General Hospital after World War II.

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    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    20 min
  • Fell from Room 1018A: The CIA, LSD and a Man Who Vanished

    Fell from Room 1018A: The CIA, LSD and a Man Who Vanished
    Oct 16 2026
    Fell from Room 1018A: The CIA, LSD and a Man Who Vanished

    Fear cuts sharp: a government scientist ran across a dark hotel room in his underwear, dove through a closed window thirteen floors up, and for 22 years the United States government called it a suicide - but nine days earlier his colleagues had slipped LSD into his drink. How did a bacteriologist, a CIA program that "did not officially exist," and a physician who wasn't supposed to know his patient converge in Room 1018A?

    In this episode, we tell the facts of Frank Olson’s life, work and death, from his doctorate in bacteriology to his role at Fort Detrick, his attendance at a CIA retreat where he was dosed with LSD, and the unexplained fall from the Hotel Statler that left him dead on November 28, 1953. What really happened in Room 1018A and why has the case refused to settle?

    Person: Frank Rudolf Emmanuel Olson
    Date of death: November 28, 1953
    Location: Hotel Statler, Room 1018A, New York City
    Event: Dosed with LSD at Deep Creek Lake retreat nine days before death
    Program: MKUltra (operation active roughly seven months at time)

    - Olson fell through a closed window thirteen floors above a New York City sidewalk.
    - The night manager reported Olson ran across a dark hotel room in his underwear and dove through the window.
    - For twenty-two years the United States government called Olson’s death a suicide.
    - Nine days before his death, Sidney Gottlieb and Robert Lashbrook slipped LSD into drinks at a Deep Creek Lake retreat.
    - Frank Olson was born July 17, 1910, and earned a doctorate in bacteriology in 1938.

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    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    23 min
  • He Fed the Sick and Was Branded a Madman: The Pellagra Files

    He Fed the Sick and Was Branded a Madman: The Pellagra Files
    Oct 15 2026
    He Fed the Sick and Was Branded a Madman: The Pellagra Files

    Pellagra was killing up to forty percent of the people it touched and entire wards filled with the lame, the mad, and the dying - yet one federal physician cured one hundred and seventy-two sick children in weeks with groceries, not medicine. How did Joseph Goldberger prove diet, not contagion, caused pellagra and still fail to convince his country?

    In this episode, we follow Joseph Goldberger from his immigrant childhood to his work for the U.S. Public Health Service and his 1914 experiments in Mississippi. The episode covers his observations in orphanages and asylums, the prevailing germ theory, and the central question of why a demonstrated dietary cure was rejected.

    Person: Joseph Goldberger
    Date: spring of 1914
    Location: Jackson, Mississippi orphanages
    Topic: pellagra; dietary cause vs. contagion
    Event: recovery of 172 sick children after dietary intervention

    - Goldberger counted 172 sick children in two Mississippi orphanages in the spring of 1914.
    - Nearly every one of those 172 children had recovered within weeks after changing their diets.
    - By 1912 South Carolina recorded 30,000 cases of pellagra in a single year.
    - Pellagra had killed up to 40% of everyone it touched according to the transcript.
    - Goldberger was born on July 16, 1874 in Girált, Sáros County (now Giraltovce) and emigrated to the Lower East Side in 1883.

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    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    20 min
  • A tombstone accused him by name - carved in stone before he was even caught

    A tombstone accused him by name - carved in stone before he was even caught
    Oct 14 2026
    A tombstone accused him by name - carved in stone before he was even caught

    The marker in Boone County read "Poisoned by his wife and Dr. Cream," carved by neighbors while the named man continued to practice medicine and kill for nearly a decade-how can a community's certainty be so absolute when the law failed to hold him? What happened between that stone and his freedom would send him back across the Atlantic and into a fate tied to his own compulsion.

    In this episode, you will hear the life and crimes of Thomas Neill Cream, from his Glasgow birth and McGill medical degree to a string of suspicious deaths in Canada, Chicago, and Illinois, and the extraordinary sequence that led to his commuted sentence and departure for England-what detail in the final third makes the whole story feel inevitable?

    Person: Thomas Neill Cream
    Date of birth: May 27, 1850
    Location of prison release: Joliet Penitentiary, July 1891
    Event: Exhumation revealing strychnine in Daniel Stott
    Sentence served: 10 years of a life sentence

    - The grave marker in Boone County explicitly named "Dr. Cream" and accused him of poisoning before his conviction.
    - Cream received his medical degree from McGill University in 1876 at age 25.
    - Flora Brooks married Cream and he left for London the morning after their wedding in 1876; she died in 1877.
    - Between August and December 1880, two women (Mary Anne Faulkner and "Miss Stack") died in connection with his abortion practice in Chicago.
    - Governor Joseph Fifer commuted Cream's life sentence in July 1891 after Cream had served ten years, and Cream sailed to Liverpool on October 1, 1891.

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    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    22 min
  • The $15 Revolver That Didn't Kill Garfield - The Doctors Did

    The $15 Revolver That Didn't Kill Garfield - The Doctors Did
    Oct 13 2026
    The $15 Revolver That Didn't Kill Garfield - The Doctors Did

    The President was shot with a $15 revolver and an ivory grip that cost $1 more was left unfixed - but James A. Garfield did not die from the bullet; he died after 79 days of medical care that worsened his condition. Who really killed Garfield: the lone shooter or the physicians who treated him?

    In this episode, we chart the 79-day timeline from the July 2, 1881 shooting at the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad Station through the autopsy that finally traced the bullet’s path, and we lay out how medical decisions, political context, and simple chance shaped the tragedy. What parts of Garfield’s decline were caused by the wound itself, and what parts were caused by the attempts to save him?

    Person: James A. Garfield
    Date: July 2, 1881
    Location: Baltimore and Potomac Railroad Station
    Duration: 79 days
    Shooter: Charles Guiteau

    - The revolver Guiteau bought cost $15 and the ivory grip he wanted cost $1 more.
    - Garfield was shot on July 2, 1881 and died 79 days later after prolonged suffering.
    - Garfield was inaugurated on March 4, 1881 at age 49, two months short of 50.
    - Guiteau arrived in Washington on March 5, 1881 and dropped a revised campaign speech at the White House on March 8, 1881.
    - Garfield served 17 years in Congress and was nominated on the 36th ballot at the 1880 Republican convention.

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    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    23 min
  • They Buried Our Babies-Then Hid Their Hearts for Years

    They Buried Our Babies-Then Hid Their Hearts for Years
    Oct 12 2026
    They Buried Our Babies-Then Hid Their Hearts for Years

    A mother opened a medical file and found a letter revealing her daughter's heart had been retained after burial - and that discovery led to the unearthing of thousands of preserved organs from unnamed children. More than a thousand children, mostly foetuses under 28 weeks, were eventually buried at Allerton Cemetery in a series of funerals that stretched from August 5, 2004 until January 2010. How did one hospital accumulate so many unrecorded specimens, and who was responsible?

    In this episode, we lay out the timeline from a 1992 paediatric death to the 1996 finding of a retained heart, the formation of parent action groups, and the 1999 revelation that shifted an inquiry to Alder Hey. We follow how a single pathologist’s orders produced storage rooms of sealed containers and what families only discovered years later.

    Person: Helen Rickard
    Date: August 5, 2004
    Location: Allerton Cemetery, Liverpool
    Person: Dick van Velzen
    Event: Final burial completed January 2010

    - Samantha Rickard died in 1992 after open-heart surgery and her mother requested records in 1996.
    - A letter in Samantha’s file stated the pathologist had retained her heart and was addressed to her surgeon.
    - In September 1999 a medical witness mentioned a large number of hearts at Alder Hey, prompting investigators to enter the hospital.
    - Investigators found thousands of sealed containers and pots with incomplete, falsified, or missing patient records.
    - More than a thousand children, most foetuses under 28 weeks and unnamed in surviving records, were buried at Allerton between 2004 and January 2010.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    19 min
  • A white pill sold as morning sickness relief. No pregnancy safety test was ever run

    A white pill sold as morning sickness relief. No pregnancy safety test was ever run
    Oct 11 2026
    A white pill sold as morning sickness relief. No pregnancy safety test was ever run

    A single white pill sold in forty-six countries became a silent experiment on pregnant women - and between ten thousand and twenty thousand children were born with devastating limb defects because no one had ever asked whether it was safe in pregnancy. How did a drug prescribed for morning sickness slip through every safety net and rewrite thousands of bodies before anyone connected the dots?

    In this episode, we tell the story of that drug and the institutions around it, following how a sedative launched in 1957 moved from pharmacy shelves to prescriptions for pregnant women, the flawed investigation that blamed mothers, and the one country that rejected the drug outright - so what turned a marketable tranquilizer into the largest anthropogenic medical disaster in recorded history?

    Person: Franz Büchner
    Company: Chemie Grünenthal
    Brand: Contergan
    Date: 1957
    Affected births: 10,000-20,000

    - The drug was first synthesized in 1953 by Ciba and abandoned in 1954 before Grünenthal acquired it.
    - Contergan was launched in West Germany in 1957 and by the early 1960s was distributed in forty-six countries.
    - The critical window of fetal vulnerability lasted roughly eight days (approximately day 20 to day 28 of gestation).
    - Approximately 40% of thalidomide-affected births died at or shortly after birth.
    - East Germany reviewed the compound and rejected it, and no thalidomide-related limb defects are known to have been recorded there.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    23 min
  • Thirty-two criminal charges. Five-thousand-dollar fine. Eight thousand dead

    Thirty-two criminal charges. Five-thousand-dollar fine. Eight thousand dead
    Oct 10 2026
    Thirty-two criminal charges. Five-thousand-dollar fine. Eight thousand dead

    Trust betrayed: the Canadian blood system that had run since the 1940s presided over delays that allowed HIV screening to lag by about eight months and hepatitis C screening to lag by four years, resulting in thousands infected-so how did a trusted institution choose those delays and avoid prison?

    In this episode, we set out the documented timeline of decisions, delayed tests, refused recalls, and government settlements that followed the public health disaster, and we ask how the system allowed preventable harm to spread so widely and for so long.

    Person: Canadian Red Cross Society
    Event: Delayed implementation of HIV and hepatitis C screening
    Date: HIV screening implemented November 1985; hepatitis C test implemented 1990
    Case: National commission of inquiry findings
    Status: One guilty plea and a five-thousand-dollar fine

    - 8 months: approximate delay between when surrogate HIV testing became viable in the U.S. and when Canada implemented direct HIV screening
    - 133: Canadians infected with HIV through blood products during that eight-month window
    - 4 years: delay between availability of a hepatitis C test (1986) and its use in Canada (1990)
    - 30,000+: Canadians infected with hepatitis C through blood products during the four-year delay
    - 1,250: approximate number of Canadians known to be HIV-positive from blood products by December 1989

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    21 min