S1 Ep12: Eric Harris & Dylan Klebold – The Columbine Shootings
Release Date: 07/31/2025
S2 Ep12: Jim Jones
Cosmic Crimes
In November 1978, the remote settlement of Jonestown in Guyana became the site of one of the deadliest mass deaths in modern history. Jim Jones, the charismatic leader of the Peoples Temple, had spent years cultivating loyalty, control and fear among his followers before leading more than 900 people to their deaths in a coordinated act of murder and coercion. What began as a movement built on promises of equality and community gradually transformed into an environment of isolation, paranoia, and absolute obedience. In this episiode, we trace Jones's rise from preacher to authoritarian figure,...
info_outline
S2 Ep11: Albert Fish
Cosmic Crimes
In the early decades of the 20th century, a series of disappearances and deeply disturbing crimes slowly converged around one man hiding behind the appearance of a frail, elderly drifter. Albert Fish targeted society’s most vulnerable, moving through boarding houses, neighborhoods, and families with calculated patience while leaving devastation in his wake. His arrest revealed a pattern of extreme sadism, long-standing compulsions, and violence that spanned decades, shocking even seasoned investigators. In this episode, we trace Fish’s progression from his early life marked by...
info_outline
S2 Ep10: Israel Keyes
Cosmic Crimes
In the early 2010s, investigators uncovered a serial killer whose crimes defied traditional patterns and challenged the limits of criminal profiling. Israel Keyes operated across the United States for years, carefully planning abductions, sexual assaults, and murders while leaving behind almost no forensic trail. He buried “kill kits” years in advance, selected victims at random, and avoided familiarity that might connect one crime to another. In this episode, we trace Keyes’s methodical escalation, the chance encounter that led to his arrest, and the unsettling interviews that followed,...
info_outline
S2 Ep9: Dean Corll - The Candy Man
Cosmic Crimes
In the early 1970s, Houston became the setting for one of the most disturbing serial murder cases in American history. Dean Corll, known locally as the "Candy Man", used his access to teenage boys and the trust of their families to conceal a prolonged pattern of abduction, assualt, and murder. With the help of two teenage accomplices, Corll lured dozens of victims to his home and other locations, where the violence escalated unchecked for years. The case only came to light after one of those accomplices turned on him, exposing a scale of brutality that shocked investigators and the public...
info_outline
S2 Ep8: Ed Kemper - The Co-Ed Killer
Cosmic Crimes
In the early 1970s, California was shaken by a series of abductions and murders that would later be traced to Ed Kemper, an intelligent, articulate man whose calm demeanor masked escalating violence. Kemper targeted young women he picked up while hitchhiking, committing six murders before turning his rage toward his mother and her friend in a final act that stunned investigators. When he ultimately called police to confess, his cooperation and unsettling composure challenged traditional ideas about remorse, motive, and control. In this episode, we examine the path from his turbulent family...
info_outline
S2 Ep7: H.H. Holmes – The Devil in the White City
Cosmic Crimes
In the 1890s, Chicago’s booming South Side became the backdrop for one of the most infamous criminal legends in American history. H. H. Holmes, born Herman Webster Mudgett, cultivated the persona of a polite, educated businessman while quietly engineering a web of fraud, manipulation, and murder. Though newspapers later sensationalized his so-called “Murder Castle,” the truth is more unsettling. Holmes exploited trust, opportunity, and the anonymity of a growing city to carry out his crimes. In this episode, we trace his rise from medical student to accomplished con man, follow the...
info_outline
S2 Ep6: Robert Hansen – The Butcher Baker
Cosmic Crimes
In the 1970s and early 1980s, Anchorage, Alaska, was stalked by a predator hiding in plain sight. Robert Hansen, a quiet baker, devoted father, and seemingly ordinary member of the community, was secretly hunting women in the wilderness, kidnapping them, assaulting them, and releasing them into the remote woods before tracking them like game. For years, his crimes went unnoticed, protected by his reputation and the harsh, isolated landscape he knew better than anyone. In this episode, we follow the investigation that finally exposed the Butcher Baker, the survivors who helped break the case,...
info_outline
S2 Ep5: Ted Bundy
Cosmic Crimes
In the 1970s, a wave of disappearances swept through the Pacific Northwest as Ted Bundy, seemingly intelligent, ambitious, and disarmingly charming, lived a double life that concealed one of the most prolific serial killers in American history. To friends and colleagues, he was a law student with political aspirations; to investigators, he became the elusive predator responsible for a multistate trail of abductions, murders, and brazen escapes. In this episode, we chart Bundy’s progression from his early crimes in Washington to the brutal attacks at Florida State University’s Chi Omega...
info_outline
S2 Ep4: Paul Michael Merhige – The 2009 Thanksgiving Murders
Cosmic Crimes
In 2009, a Florida family gathered for what should have been a warm, ordinary Thanksgiving, until the night erupted into one of the most devastating family massacres in modern true-crime history. Paul Michael Merhige, long described as the “golden child” with a quiet brilliance and a history of untreated mental illness, arrived at his relatives’ home in Jupiter with a calculated plan he had concealed for years. Before the night was over, four family members were dead. In this episode, we trace the years of decline that led to that holiday tragedy, the red flags, and the chilling callous...
info_outline
S2 Ep3: Ed Gein – The Ghoul of Plainfield
Cosmic Crimes
In the winter of 1957, the rural town of Plainfield, Wisconsin, was thrust into national horror when investigators stepped inside the farmhouse of Ed Gein, only to uncover a nightmarish collection of human remains turned into masks, clothing, and household décor. Gein, a reclusive handyman shaped by an obsessive devotion to his mother and a lifetime of isolation, blurred the line between grief, delusion, and ritual. His crimes would go on to birth some of the most iconic monsters in American film, but the reality was far stranger than fiction. In this episode, we trace the path from Gein’s...
info_outlineOn April 20, 1999, two teenage boys unleashed unimaginable violence at Columbine High School, leaving 13 victims dead and the country in shock. But behind the trench coats and violence were two very different minds. Eric Harris, an Aries Sun with a Scorpio Rising and Cancer Moon, was volatile, vengeful, and dangerously charismatic. Dylan Klebold, born under a Virgo Sun, Pisces Rising, and Aquarius Moon, was deeply conflicted, isolated, and quietly unraveling. In this episode, we unpack the psychological spiral, the overlooked red flags, and how their charts expose the inner chaos that erupted into one of the darkest days in American history.
SHOW NOTES:
Connect with us across streaming platforms and social media, and explore ways to support our work through our Linktree.
Cosmic Crimes Podcast Linktree
If you are new to astrology and/or are getting lost or confused during the episodes, we created a free guide of all-things-astrology on Substack for you to reference so you can listen along with ease. Click the link below!
SOURCES:
Cullen, Dave. Columbine. Twelve, 2009.
Federal Bureau of Investigation. The School Shooter: A Threat Assessment Perspective. FBI Behavioral Analysis Unit, 2000.
Klebold, Sue. A Mother’s Reckoning: Living in the Aftermath of Tragedy. Crown, 2016.
Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office. The Columbine High School Shootings: Sheriff’s Final Report. May 2000.
Langman, Peter. Why Kids Kill: Inside the Minds of School Shooters. Palgrave Macmillan, 2009.
Lysiak, Matt. The First to Die at Columbine: Rachel Joy Scott's Faith and Courage. Barbour Books, 2019.
Mauser, Tom. Walking in Daniel’s Shoes: A Father’s Journey Through the Columbine Tragedy. Fulcrum Publishing, 2010.
PBS Frontline. "Gunmen at Columbine High: Interviews & Analysis." PBS, 2000, www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/columbine/.
“Columbine Killers’ Basement Tapes Remain Sealed.” CNN, 26 Apr. 2006, www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/04/26/columbine.tapes/.
Willard, Nancy. Cyberbullying and Cyberthreats: Responding to the Challenge of Online Social Aggression. Research Press, 2007.
Time Magazine Staff. “The Columbine Tapes.” Time, 20 Dec. 1999, content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,992873,00.html.
Sullum, Jacob. “Eric Harris Was a Psychopath, Not a Victim.” Reason, 17 Apr. 2009, reason.com/2009/04/17/eric-harris-was-a-psychopath/.
“Columbine Massacre: Timeline of Events.” The Denver Post, 16 Apr. 2019, www.denverpost.com/2019/04/16/columbine-shooting-timeline/.
“Columbine Memorial.” Jeffco Public Schools, columbinememorial.org.