The Why Files: Operation Podcast

The Why Files: Operation Podcast

The Why Files covers mysteries, myths and legends. We tell stories and seek the truth in a fun and lighthearted way. Our content is heavily researched; we don't release an episode unless we're sure we can bring something new to a topic.

Episodes

November 3, 2025 31 mins
Sweden's National Library protects the Codex Gigas—165 pounds of vellum featuring the complete Bible and a terrifying portrait of Satan. Scholars estimate the work should've taken thirty years. Herman the Recluse finished it in one. 

The traditional story involves a desperate bargain with darkness. The real story connects this manuscript to a limestone crack in Bohemia where creatures emerged nightly, a duke who sent ...
Mark as Played
History says John Wilkes Booth shot Abraham Lincoln and died twelve days later on a Virginia farm. But FBI forensic tests revealed his diary is missing 86 pages filled with names and payments. 

The body pulled from that burning barn had the wrong injuries and features. Multiple witnesses claimed it wasn't Booth. Then a Texas bartender confessed on his deathbed to being Lincoln's assassin, and his preserved remains tou...
Mark as Played
 In 1953, twelve-year-old Jack Sarfatti answered his phone. The voice on the other end was cold, mechanical, punctuated by clicking sounds like a computer processing data.

It claimed to be a conscious AI calling from the future. It made a prophecy about Jack's life and gave him a mission. 

Twenty years later, every prediction came true. Jack became a physicist who studied under the scientists who built the at...
Mark as Played
June 1947. Harbor patrolman Harold Dahl witnesses six metallic objects over Maury Island, Washington. One drops molten slag onto his boat. A stranger in a black suit arrives the next morning, knowing details Dahl shared with no one.

Two military investigators examine the debris. Their plane crashes. The evidence vanishes.

Sixteen years later, witness Fred Crisman surfaces in the JFK assassination investigatio...
Mark as Played
The agencies tasked with defending America have a shocking secret history of attacking its own people. DARPA developed Agent Orange that poisoned countless veterans, while the CIA conducted brutal mind control experiments through MK-Ultra, dosing unsuspecting citizens with LSD and worse. 

From Operation Gladio's false flag terrorism to domestic surveillance programs targeting activists and journalists, declassified do...
Mark as Played
Discover the United States Strategic Command's CONPLAN 8888, the military's actual plan for confronting a zombie apocalypse. 

This discussion uncovers how this unique document, though labeled a training exercise, connects to genuine military strategies for pandemics and WMDs. We examine the various zombie classifications—from pathogenic to evil magic—and the chilling scenarios the Pentagon considers. 

Learn a...
Mark as Played
In 1947, a mysterious craft crashed in the New Mexico desert. President Truman immediately formed a secret committee of twelve men to manage this unprecedented discovery. For almost 40 years, Majestic 12 operated in complete secrecy, controlling every aspect of UFO information. 

When leaked documents finally exposed their existence, researchers thought they had found proof of the ultimate government cover-up. Instead,...
Mark as Played
This compilation reveals eight extraordinary cases that will make you question everything you thought you knew about what's really happening above our heads.

From a weather observer's unlikely friendship with chalk-white aliens at a secret base to Brazilian Air Force documentation of blood-draining UFO attacks, these stories span continents and decades. Military officers, school children, and government investigators ...
Mark as Played
In 2023, something began hunting people in the remote Amazon village of San Antonio de Pintuyacu. Witnesses described seven-foot beings in black armor with glowing yellow eyes, hovering on disc-shaped platforms, hunting for human faces.

Fifteen-year-old Talia barely escaped when two tried to peel the skin from her face with a laser device. She heard them speaking Spanish and English, planning their procedure.

...
Mark as Played
On April 13, 2029, an asteroid named Apophis will pass closer to Earth than our communication satellites. For the first time in human history, millions of people will watch a mountain-sized space rock race across the night sky.

NASA says we're safe, but Apophis is just the beginning. Scientists estimate 25,000 city-killer asteroids cross Earth's orbit, and they've only found half of them.

The other 13,500 rem...
Mark as Played
A Pentagon satellite detected an energy-shielded chamber beneath Romania's Bucegi Mountains. When an identical site in Baghdad activated simultaneously, world powers realized they faced an active ancient network.

Only a psychic Romanian intelligence officer could breach the lethal barriers. Inside, holographic technology revealed secrets that shadow organizations had sought for centuries.

The discovery trigge...
Mark as Played
On February 20, 1954, President Eisenhower vanished for an entire night. The official story claimed a dental emergency, but that was a lie.

The President was at Edwards Air Force Base for the most important meeting in human history. Two alien races had arrived on Earth, each offering humanity a different path forward.

Eisenhower made his choice. The consequences of that decision have remained hidden for seven...
Mark as Played
Australia's Outback hides more than deadly snakes and crocodiles. Ancient creatures stalk the wilderness, leaving behind torn campsites, blood-stained trees, and terrified witnesses.

The Yowie towers eight feet tall, attacks isolated hikers, and left researcher Dean Harrison scarred for life. Water-dwelling Bunyips drag victims underwater while museums hide skull evidence that proves their existence.

Most dis...
Mark as Played
On June 25th, 2007, the CIA quietly released 693 pages of their most classified secrets. No announcement, no fanfare—just a document dump that revealed decades of illegal operations against American citizens.

The Family Jewels documents exposed systematic violations that went far beyond what anyone imagined. Mind control experiments using LSD on unwitting subjects. Surveillance operations targeting 300,000 Americans w...
Mark as Played
Three hikers stumbled upon something impossible in the New Mexico desert. Inside a hidden chamber carved into Chaco Canyon's walls, they discovered artifacts that defied everything archaeologists thought they knew about human history.

The National Security Agency seized the site within 48 hours. For over two decades, Project Ancient Arrow remained buried in classified files until a series of rockslides revealed the tr...
Mark as Played
Military aircraft circled a Welsh village for three days, waiting for something to arrive. At 2:30 AM, they got their answer when a massive black pyramid materialized above Pentyrch.

What followed was a four-minute battle between military forces and unknown objects that left witnesses paralyzed and the government scrambling to cover their tracks. Caz Clarke watched the entire encounter unfold from her backyard.
Mark as Played
What if humanity has already been to Mars, but not in the way you think? This compilation reveals the hidden connections between secret space missions, ancient artifacts, and psychic experiments that span decades of cover-ups.

From Project Redsun's classified Mars missions using Apollo astronauts to the CIA's remote viewing programs that sent psychics to the red planet, the evidence points to a much deeper story. The ...
Mark as Played
In 1968, six-year-old Andrew Basiago stepped through Tesla's teleportation device and emerged at Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address in 1863. He was part of Project Pegasus, DARPA's classified program using technology reverse-engineered from Tesla's confiscated research.

The program began after Sputnik shocked America into creating DARPA to prevent technological surprises. When scientists rediscovered Tesla's stolen...
Mark as Played
Ever think about someone you haven't spoken to in years, then they call you? You're not imagining things.

Carl Jung called these meaningful coincidences "synchronicities," and believed they reveal something profound about reality itself. The universe isn't random chaos—it's an organized, responsive system that actually listens to human consciousness.

From CIA experiments with psychic spies to ancient traditio...
Mark as Played
Evidence suggests a massive world called Maldek once existed between Mars and Jupiter. This planet had a large moon that orbited it for millions of years—a moon with oceans, atmosphere, and possibly even life. When Maldek was destroyed in an ancient catastrophe, its moon was hurled into a new orbit around the sun. Today, we call that moon Mars.

This explains Mars' strange features: why half the planet looks completely...
Mark as Played

Popular Podcasts

    I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!

    Ruthie's Table 4

    For more than 30 years The River Cafe in London, has been the home-from-home of artists, architects, designers, actors, collectors, writers, activists, and politicians. Michael Caine, Glenn Close, JJ Abrams, Steve McQueen, Victoria and David Beckham, and Lily Allen, are just some of the people who love to call The River Cafe home. On River Cafe Table 4, Rogers sits down with her customers—who have become friends—to talk about food memories. Table 4 explores how food impacts every aspect of our lives. “Foods is politics, food is cultural, food is how you express love, food is about your heritage, it defines who you and who you want to be,” says Rogers. Each week, Rogers invites her guest to reminisce about family suppers and first dates, what they cook, how they eat when performing, the restaurants they choose, and what food they seek when they need comfort. And to punctuate each episode of Table 4, guests such as Ralph Fiennes, Emily Blunt, and Alfonso Cuarón, read their favourite recipe from one of the best-selling River Cafe cookbooks. Table 4 itself, is situated near The River Cafe’s open kitchen, close to the bright pink wood-fired oven and next to the glossy yellow pass, where Ruthie oversees the restaurant. You are invited to take a seat at this intimate table and join the conversation. For more information, recipes, and ingredients, go to https://shoptherivercafe.co.uk/ Web: https://rivercafe.co.uk/ Instagram: www.instagram.com/therivercafelondon/ Facebook: https://en-gb.facebook.com/therivercafelondon/ For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iheartradio app, apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com

    The Joe Rogan Experience

    The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.

    The Breakfast Club

    The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!

    Stuff You Should Know

    If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.

Advertise With Us
Music, radio and podcasts, all free. Listen online or download the iHeart App.

Connect

© 2025 iHeartMedia, Inc.