As Thanksgiving quickly approaches, chances are you are going to be spending more time with your family and loved ones. There's never been a better time to introduce your family to five of our favorite family-centric Obsessed Network podcast episodes! Read on for five of our top episodes dedicated to families – some with more drama than others.
Photo: Isis Aquarian Archives via Boston Globe
Welcome to the 1970s! Here, you'll meet a group known as the Source Family. And by group, we mean cult. This was most definitely a cult. Led by Jim Baker – known to his group as Father Yod – the Source Family was steeped in traditions of Western mysticism. They attracted fellow believers in different streams of mysticism, eventually housing 150 members in a home in Los Feliz, California. We can only predict that family dinners were... crowded. Listen to Patrick Hinds and Gillian Pensavalle break down the bananas cult that is the Source Family, right now wherever you listen to podcasts.
Roxanne Paltauf vanished in 2006, at only 18 years old, and has been missing ever since. However, Roxanne's family has never stopped searching and continues the fight for answers to this day. In an interview with Ellyn Marsh and Patrick Hinds on Obsessed with Disappeared, Roxanne's sister, Rosalynn Schultz, shared how she and her family are still working to finally uncover the truth regarding this devastating cold case. Listen to the full interview and case coverage wherever you access podcasts.
When the Broaddus family bought the house of their dreams in Westfield, New Jersey, they breathed a sigh of relief. They could finally rest at home. Their bliss, however, was short-lived. In June 2014, only days after closing on their house, Derek and Maria Broaddus received the first of a string of creepy, fear-inducing letters from an entity claiming to be "the watcher" over their home. One nightmarish letter read, "Do you know what lies within the walls of 657 Boulevard? Why are you here? I will find out." And trust us, the letters – and veiled threats – only get more more terrifying with time. Click the link above to hear host Daisy Eagan try and make sense of the Watcher House.
Immortalized by pop culture and legend, the name Ma Barker has become synonymous with an image of a gun-wielding mob boss. The truth, as is often the case, is not as spine-chilling. Yes, Ma Barker was the mother of several criminals who made up the Karpis/Barker Gang during the Great Depression in the United States. Ma Barker's inclusion in the gang's lore, however, may be more fiction than fact. Hear reporter and host Amber Hunt break down what really took place between Ma Barker and the Karpis/Barker Gang during the Prohibition Era.
If you want to learn about the craziest family of all, you need to check out this show by film director Skye Borgman and Obsessed Network's own Patrick Hinds. They crafted this limited series entirely dedicated to the Netflix documentary film, Abducted in Plain Sight. In this show, you learn about 12 year-old Jan Broberg who was kidnapped by her neighbor and family friend, Bob Berchtold. But once you find out that she was taken not once but TWICE by Berchtold, you may start to have more questions for the family than you originally anticipated. Listen to the pilot episode of this limited podcast series about one of Netflix's most renowned documentaries.