This is the conclusion to a two part saga involving the organized abduction and abuse of children and ritualistic murders by satanic cults allegedly headed by the top levels of government at a mysterious all-male retreat known as Bohemian Grove. We tell the tale of what has become to be known as The Franklin Coverup and follow the trail of young Johnny Gosch and several other youngsters who were persecuted by the very system that was supposed to protect them, all for sharing their nightmare with us. Witness intimidation kept this story under wraps, but some individuals took the fall while countless others probably got away with outright murder.
BOOKS
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VIDEOS
SOURCES
- Alex Merklinger’s Mysteries of the Mind Radio Show
- Franklin Coverup at HiddenMysteries.org
- Gary Caradori’s leads list
March 28, 2014
This is the craziest story I ever heard, and what’s sick is it’s probably still going on. And this kid, now a man, is still out there, still living the horror, and probably perpetuating horrors, as well; a really severe Stockholm Syndrome, like Bonacci.
Oh, and the guy hit by the car? My new fav person, too. Imagine just kicking it with him!
December 15, 2014
If her son had come home, why did she not try to keep him from his captors? It seems like she let him go back to them. It’s all very strange and horrific.
March 24, 2015
I was wondering the same thing! This was almost unbelievable to me. Totally baffled.
March 27, 2015
I mean it seems to me that if he made it his way home, he wouldn’t be in grave danger, but at a prime opportunity to report a crime, and clearly had already escaped. She also does not elaborate on how she is supposed to help. Also, why did she not report it to the police that night and how was it so easy for him just to slip into the night without even saying he will be back or how to reach him or that he will reach back out to her? Just another disappearance? I mean.. is he really still “missing” if he came back and chose to leave again?
My next questin is, how do we know that those photos of him are authentic and why were they sent to her? I can’t imagine that if they were trying to run a sex ring they would even care to send her photos of him. It seems that someone would send photos of her son if they were trying to taunt her, trying to be caught or asking for some sort of ransom or something. Doesn’t make sense.
July 7, 2015
I was completely baffled by that claim as well. If we are to believe that he came back home after years of being snatched off the street how was he allowed to leave? I want to believe her, I wish there was more information as to how this specific event went down. A picture, a signature, a letter, a trip to the local media outlet (nowadays your YouTube account) would lend a lot more credibility. Again, her account is heart wrenching and believable, but this single claim of him coming home years later simply boggled my mind.
August 5, 2015
This part of the story –when he returns for a moment after 32 years– is kind of fishy and, sadly, delegitimizes many of her other claims that I want to empathize with. I read in wiki that the photos sent to her were fake, and one featured a scene in the1960s of some magicians pulling off an escape trick, but could have easily been misinterpreted (especially in this sensitive case) as a scene of real life bondage.
April 24, 2016
There was another interview I watched that had more to the story. Supposedly a while before the night visit someone in Milwaukee contacted her saying that Johnny (didn’t know who he was at the time) had come home with their “runaway” son for a few days before going to places unknown. The father had then seen his case on a TV show and contacted her. Someone should contact that guy and see if there’s anything to his story, because night visit or not that could prove at least that he was alive, and probably no longer in captivity when he allegedly visited.
The police really seem to have had no interest in this case though, repeatedly not following leads or interviewing persons of interest.
May 7, 2015
I’m not sure how I feel about this episode. This is an EXTREMELY hard pill to swallow. The implications are so totally beyond anything that I can honestly accept. Did anyone else feel like the mom was a little kooky?
May 27, 2015
This is the strangest story I’ve ever heard. It sound slike something out of a movie. The biggest evidence of truth in this story to me is the trail of dead bodies.
August 2, 2016
too many deaths for this to be all lies
July 7, 2015
I just watched a YouTube video that appears to be “a conspiracy of silence” and I can whole heartedly say I am still completely enthralled/appalled by this story. A few quick Wikipedia searches and YouTube searches basically leave me where I left off. By watching the video I was left with one major question -> Where does this story stand now? By that I mean all these questions: Has anyone tracked down Larry king? Is he out of jail? What about the girl who Is serving 20+ years for perjury? Is she out? Has she recanted? Have there been any more deaths linked to the case? What does decamp say about this today?
My last comment is that this whole story reminded me of a similar ring of decrepit and abhorrent behavior that was allegedly committed by members of parliament in the UK.
I just don’t get it at all – I hope that I never can because this is some of the worst stuff I’ve ever heard humans do to each other.
July 14, 2015
The Last Podcast on the Left did a 3 parter on the Franklin Cover up. It’s rough.
July 10, 2016
Larry King works as a used car salesman in Virginia now. Alicia Owens, the girl serving 20 years was kept in solitary for all 5 years she served and is now out of prison. She never recanted her story. Not much about Decamp today.
August 5, 2015
So many questions….
What happened with the Dad and the look-alike replacement wife? I read that Larry King got 10 years for embezzlement. Anything ever come of his involvement with the sex ring?
November 9, 2015
how did adnan’s case on serial get so much press and this story remain unheard of?
April 29, 2016
Because the stuff in Adnan’s case actually happened and wasn’t just the narrative of a crazy lady?
This case is hardly not famous. Johnny Gosch was one of the first kids on a milk carton. A lot has been written about him. It’s just a much older story.
January 6, 2016
This story has left me with the sad realisation of the world we live in. I think about it every day and it breaks my heart. Those poor kids.
February 27, 2016
I’m pretty sure my neighbor was killed because she knew too much about this. A couple months before I heard the podcasts I had watched “Conspiracy of Silence”. I was very little when all this happened but I remember my parents talking about it an hearing it on the news, most likely because of what happened to my neighbor. This story rocks me to my core. My neighbor adopted children who were rescued from the satanic cults. There could be a podcast for every kid with the horrific past they came from.
February 28, 2016
Can someone give an update on the story?
February 28, 2016
Keep listening…
February 28, 2016
Also, did I miss something about why/how the boys dad was involved with the coverup.
March 21, 2016
Is anything being done about this right now? Is this being investigated? I did some research but could not find anything recent, and find it a bit weird that it has not been brought up again and turned into a Netflix documentary or has it’s own podcast
July 10, 2016
I know. All the relatively mundane cases get netflix series, but crazy things like this aren’t even touched. The second season of True Detective has a conspiracy kinda like this though.
August 2, 2016
the whole thing could be an awesome True Detective season ..just saying
March 22, 2016
woah! Need a trigger warning for that picture!
March 30, 2016
I know that the horse story seems improbable, but I often ride my horse in a public park and have often experienced otherwise sane-appearing parents requesting to put their children on the horse to pose/to ride the horse with me/ to ride the horse on their own, etc. IQ drops about 30 points around ponies (ps – parents: horses are REALLY dangerous, and complete strangers can be too. Why combine the two?)
April 2, 2016
Long post warning!
First off – I really love your show. I just recently discovered it and am devouring all the eps.
This story is the stuff of nightmares. I had read a lot about it before, but you did a great job of connecting the dots. And there’s a lot of crazy dots.
Two things I feel certain about:
1. Johnny Gosch is long dead.
2. Noreen Gosch is off her rocker. And has been for a long time. Maybe there was insanity festering there already and her son’s abduction/disappearance/murder pushed her over the edge, but she is bonkers.
This is just another take of the Satanic Panic. An extraordinary conspiracy full of nightmarish anecdotes, but no actual evidence.
One thing on this whole saga that’s always bugged me – Noreen is the sole source of her version of her son’s disappearance (and alleged return, and pretty much everything else).
All the incredible eyewitness accounts come from her. She constantly refers to neighbors and private investigators and stonewalling cops (whose dialogue seems to come straight out of a bad movie) – but who are they? Where are they? Can anyone back her account up? Like the gang of newspaper boys, the neighbor who saw the van, the search party that got called off? Where is everybody? All we have is her tale where she’s the underdog hero of her battle against a massive global cabal of child rapers, which includes George Bush and her ex-husband.
And we have a slippery-sounding conspiracy theorist peddling a book (he’s worried about being killed by “them”, but wrote a book anyway), and the piece of work that is Paul Bonacci.
When one kooky-sounding woman (whose flat, composed voice seemingly reading a script doesn’t add credibility) is the main source of an outrageous story, maybe it’s easier to believe Johnny was killed by a run-of-the-mill human monster instead of an evil consortium.
April 24, 2016
I have some friends who have been through (much more minor) legal battles, and Noreen’s personality/way of speaking remind me of them. They’ve gone over it so many times over the years that they sound a bit robotic and off.
As for Noreen being the only witness, she’s named so many names that I find it hard to say that all the eyewitness accounts are from her. What about the P.I. at the auction, the neighbors, and other instances not mentioned here like her boss overhearing FBI agents making offensive comments, and the hit put out on her that supposedly put a man in jail?
I agree it’s an incredible story, but it makes sense that most of it comes from her, as it’s her son and every single witness can’t be dragged out for each interview, podcast, or TV show. I think it should be looked into, things like actual court documents, police records, actual interviews, etc. There should be some sort of paper trail and statements by other people.
As for Satanic Panic, I agree most of it was complete bunk, but if you WERE abducting and brainwashing children, and wanted to make them look completely unbelievable and insane should they ever escape a few fake rituals would probably do it. Look up Colleen Stan and her absolutely bizarre story of being brainwashed to believe The Company was watching her- and she was an adult!
April 29, 2016
Stan’s story is the craziest, saddest horror show.
Yeah, I’m just curious as to what really happened the day Johnny disappeared. For example, Noreen basically says the police dept was in on it from the beginning, and called off the search. That’s nuts and doesn’t even make sense – if you wanted to hide your involvement with a vast, powerful, undiscovered network of pedophiles, wouldn’t suddenly calling off a search actually make you look more suspicious?
I’m really doubtful of her version of events, especially when it leads to George Bush and her husband being part of the conspiracy. I think she’s just a crazy lady who suffered a tragedy.
August 11, 2016
A+ use of Twin Peaks music at minute 53.