Just the Gist

On August 4th, 1986, it was discovered that the most expensive painting in Australia, 'The Weeping Woman’ by Pablo Picasso, was missing from the National Gallery of Victoria's collection. Turned out it had been abducted by a cheeky new organisation no-one had ever heard of: the "Australian Cultural Terrorists” (the A.C.T) who were holding the painting ransom. Their demands? Increase funding to the arts, or the painting would be incinerated. Was this really a crime? Or was it more of an act of protest? Or a piece of performance art? Whatever the ACT intended it to be viewed as, it’s hilariously funny. Jacob shares the story with long time friend of the podcast and guest host Stuart Semple. Follow Stuart on Instagram @stuartsemple Skip straight to the story: approx 13:21 We give you Just The Gist, but if you want more, there's this: Watch the fantastic documentary “Framed” https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/program/framed Read this article from the day after the painting was found t...

In 1692, in the small colonial village of Salem, Massachusetts, two young girls started experiencing bizarre, convulsive fits. The doctor’s diagnosis? Witchcraft. Over the course of a few months, as more villagers experienced similar strange symptoms, people started accusing their friends and neighbours of practicing black magic. Paranoia spread throughout Salem, and over the following 15 months of mass hysteria more than 200 people were accused, 20 people were executed and 5 people died in prison. Jacob shares the story with guest host Abbie Chatfield. Follow Abbie on Instagram @abbiechatfield We love Abbie's podcast 'It's A Lot'. New episodes are out every Tuesday & the infamous Nightmare Fuel episodes are out every Friday Skip straight to the story: approx 27:19 We give you Just The Gist, but if you want more, there's this: Listen to the History Extra podcast’s 9 part series https://open.spotify.com/episode/1NsSdyDu9cqaQHFoMURJ4k ReadThe Salem Witch Trials : A Day-By-Day Chroni...

In August 1990, in the badlands of South Dakota, recreational fossil hunter Susan Hendrickson stumbled across some huge fossilised bones lodged into the side of a cliff. While they spent 17 days digging the fossils out of the rock, Susan and her team of fossil hunters realised they'd unearthed the world's largest and most complete T-Rex skeleton. They named the specimen Sue, and soon a decade-long battle began over who owned the bones: the people who discovered Sue? The landowner whose property Sue was found on? The Native American tribe who were the traditional land owners? Or the American government? Jacob shares the story with guest host Linda Marigliano. Follow Linda on Instagram @lindamarigliano We recommend listening to Linda's podcast 'Tough Love'. Start from the first episode: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/finding-peace-just-a-little-bit/id1546324192?i=1000519900961 Linda's new music podcast 'The Spin' comes out on the LiSTNR app every Friday Skip straight to the sto...

The right to a safe abortion has been taken away from millions of people in the United States. In light of Roe v Wade being overturned last week, we wanted to share the story of Rosie's abortions. Solidarity protests are happening around Australia this week. Find one here: https://www.pedestrian.tv/news/roe-v-wade-australia-protest/ These article include links to places you can donate: https://jezebel.com/where-to-donate-abortion-access-roe-v-wade-1849053167 https://www.businessinsider.com/organizations-seeking-donations-after-overturning-of-roe-v-wade-2022-6 From Rosie: Every woman should have an unequivocal right to make decisions about her own body. It’s that simple.On the other side of the world, I felt so defeated by this news. Just… overwhelmed by a sense of helplessness. But one thing I’m good at is telling stories, so I figure I can at least use that skill to contribute in a way I know how. I’m one of millions of women who have made this choice about my own body, and I’...

In March 2008, young couple Julian Buchwald & Carolynne Watson went on a picnic in the Victorian bush and didn't come home. They spent the next week battling exhaustion and exposure to try and find their way out of the bush with only a sleeping bag and a jar of peanut butter to keep them going. When they stumbled out of the bush a week later with a wild story of hostage and kidnapping, it didn't take police to figure out who was behind it. Jacob shares the story with guest host Zara McDonald. Follow Zara on Instagram @zamcdonald and @shamelesspodcast Listen to her podcast 'Shameless Presents: The Books That Changed My Life'. We recommend you start with their episode with comedian Wil Anderson: https://www.listnr.com/podcasts/shameless-presents-the-books-that-changed-my-life/how-wil-anderson-overcomes-regret Skip straight to the story: approx 8:11 We give you Just The Gist, but if you want more, there's this: You can read all the details of the investigation process and the trial by ...

On a summer afternoon in 2003, a man named Brian Wells walked into a bank in Pennsylvania with a bomb strapped to his neck & calmly demanded $250,000. Within the hour, the bomb exploded, Brian was dead, and investigators spent the next decade trying to figure out who was responsible. The investigation revealed a frozen body in a freezer, an impossible-to-solve scavenger hunt, and a convoluted web of co-conspirators who all died before revealing the truth of what really happened. Jacob shares the story with guest host Symon Lovett. Follow Symon on Instagram @symonlovett and @adamandsymonshow and listen to his podcast The Adam & Symon Show. We recommend you start with their episode 'Seven Apples and Two Lasagnes'. Skip straight to the story: approx 10:00 We give you Just The Gist, but if you want more, there's this: Watch the Netflix doco Evil Genius to see Marjorie talk on camera and how the documentarian Trey helped crack the case https://www.netflix.com/search?q=EVIL%20GENIUS&jbv=8...

The story of Bhagwan Rajneesh, the Indian guru who established a movement/sex cult that tried to take over the state of Oregon, USA in the 1980s. Bhagwan, his right hand woman Sheela, and their thousands of followers descended on a quiet rural community & proceeded to build their own city-sized commune, complete with its own roads, airport and enough space to house the cult's loyal followers (mostly white, middle class, Western hippies).The group were so determined to build & protect their commune (dedicated to peace and free love) they resorted to rigging elections, plotting murders, & committing the largest bio-terror attack of the century. Skip straight to the story: approx 6:30 We give you Just The Gist, but if you want more, there's this: Watch Wild Wild Country on Netflixhttps://www.netflix.com/search?q=wild%20wild%20&jbv=80145240 Watch the follow up doco about Sheela, also on Netflixhttps://www.netflix.com/search?q=wild%20wild%20&jbv=81211264 Read Russell King’s new book, Ra...

In 1964, a Welsh teenager named Brian Robson found himself working a job he hated in a country he hated even more: Australia. He couldn't afford the plane ticket home, so he first tried smuggling himself out of the country by boat, & when that didn’t work, he had himself sealed inside a wooden crate and sent as cargo from Melbourne to the UK. What he thought would be an easy 48-hour journey turned into a five day ordeal which almost killed him. Jacob shares the story with guest host Jan Fran. Follow Jan on Instagram & Twitter @jan__fran and hear her on the podcasts 'The Briefing' and 'A Rational Fear'. Skip straight to the story: approx 6:30 We give you Just The Gist, but if you want more, there's this: Read Brian’s memoir The Crate Escape, released in 2021https://books.google.com.au/books/about/The_Crate_Escape.html?id=9ylozgEACAAJ&source=kp_book_description&redir_esc=yWatch one of Brian’s appearances on morning TV in the UK to promote his bookhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RD...

Jacob shares with Caleb the unbelievable story of the de Védrines family: an aristocratic French family who were convinced by a local social climber, Thierry Tilly, that their lives were at risk by Freemasons who were not only trying to kill them, but destroy the entire world order. The only way to save themselves? Follow the absurd instructions of Tilly. What started as an innocuous friendship between one de Védrines and Tilly turned into more than a decade worth of manipulation that saw the de Védrines sacrifice their money, autonomy and eventually turn on each other. Follow turkey print co-owner, petunia cop and infamous 'young fogey', Caleb Bond on Instagram @calebbond and Twitter @TheCalebBond Skip straight to the story: approx 14:21 We give you Just The Gist, but if you want more, there’s this: Read Christine’s book We Were Not Armed https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25203347-we-were-not-armed Watch the YouTube doco series The Cult of Thierry Tilly https://www.youtube.c...

Presenting one of our most frequently sugGISTed stories: the 17-year-old German teenager who survived a plane crash & an 11 day trek through the jungle. On Christmas Eve, 1971, Juliane Koepcke was on a plane flying over the Amazon. Half-way into the one hour flight, the plane flew into a tropical storm, was struck by lightning and split in half. Juliane was sucked out of the plane and fell more than 3km back to earth, landing alone in the rainforest…alive and barely injured. Juliane then survived the 11 day hike back tocivilisationthanks to a combination ofherextensive knowledge of the jungle and incredibly good luck. Jacob shares the wild ride with guest host Sean Szeps (@seanszeps) Hear more from Sean is his podcast ‘Come Out Wherever You Are’ where he speaks with members of the LGBTQIA+ community about coming out for the first time…and every time after that. We’d recommend his episode with our very own dulcet toned Adonis, Jacob Stanley. Skip straight to the story: approx 5:...