How did leading man Richard Gere become the subject of one of the most enduring and absurd rumors of all time? Investigative journalist takes a deep and twisted dive into how and why this story spread before the internet existed?

Follow Pop Mystery Pod on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok @popmysterypod

Pop Mystery Pod is written and produced by Tess Barker @tesstifybarker. Produced by Tyler Hill.

Theme song by Rick Wood @Rickw00d.

Support independent pop journalism and join us on Patreon at Pop Mystery Pod. Get access to ad free episodes, bonus content, and polls about upcoming topics. patreon.com/PopMysteryPod

Follow Tess’s other podcasts Lady to Lady and Toxic wherever you get your pods.

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There’s something so unsettling about hearing a melody you can’t quite place. Thankfully, the internet is full of “lost media” detectives who sometimes have amazing success at identifying unknown fragments of visual and audio art. Josh Chapdelaine (@JoshChapdelaine) joins host Tess Barker to discuss the mystery at the heart of his documentary podcast “Everyone Knows That: The Search for Ulterior Motives.”

Follow Pop Mystery Pod on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok @popmysterypod

Pop Mystery Pod is written and produced by Tess Barker @tesstifybarker. Produced by Tyler Hill.

Theme song by Rick Wood @Rickw00d.

Support independent pop journalism and join us on Patreon at Pop Mystery Pod. Get access to ad free episodes, bonus content, and polls about upcoming topics. patreon.com/PopMysteryPod

Follow Tess’s other podcasts Lady to Lady and Toxic: The Britney Spears Story wherever you get your pods.

Make sure to leave us a review! And tell a friend about the show!

Avril Lavigne is a grunge pop icon. Or is she? For years, a conspiracy theory has been circulating that the real Avril died shortly after becoming famous, and was replaced by a body double. Joining Tess Barker in this rabbit hole is podcaster Cristen Conger host of “Conspiracy, She Wrote,” and “Unladylike.”

Follow Pop Mystery Pod on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok @popmysterypod

Pop Mystery Pod is written and produced by Tess Barker @tesstifybarker. Produced by Tyler Hill.

Theme song by Rick Wood @Rickw00d.

Support independent pop journalism and join us on Patreon at Pop Mystery Pod. Get access to ad free episodes, bonus content, and polls about upcoming topics. patreon.com/PopMysteryPod

Follow Tess’s other podcasts Lady to Lady and Toxic: The Britney Spears Story wherever you get your pods.

Make sure to leave us a review! And tell a friend about the show!

Ten years ago, Buffalo’s beloved NFL cheerleading squad disbanded abruptly. The dismantling of the Buffalo Jills has left this die-hard sports community pointing fingers. Who is really to blame for the disappearance of the Bill’s cheer squad, and why has it still not returned to Buffalo?

Tess interviews former Jills cheerleaders Erin Oliver and Lonna Rich (@glitteryhippie) about the unexpected history of the Buffalo Jills’ fight for fair working conditions.

Follow Pop Mystery Pod on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok @popmysterypod

Pop Mystery Pod is written and produced by Tess Barker @tesstifybarker. Produced by Tyler Hill.

Theme song by Rick Wood @Rickw00d.

Support independent pop journalism and join us on Patreon at Pop Mystery Pod. Get access to ad free episodes, bonus content, and polls about upcoming topics. patreon.com/PopMysteryPod

Follow Tess’s other podcasts Lady to Lady and Toxic wherever you get your pods.

Make sure to leave us a review! And tell a friend about the show!

Backstreet Boys. Nsync. It’s hard to overstate how larger than life these groups were in the late ‘90s and ‘00s. While millions of girls screamed over these boy bands, though, the guys in the groups were getting royally screwed by the guy who built them: Lou Pearlman. The fraud goes so deep, and gets so weird. Writer and podcaster Dave Holmes @daveholmes of the Homophilia, Who Killed the Video Star, and Waiting for Impact podcasts joins journalist and pop culture junkie Tess Barker for a dive into this strange and shocking story.

Looking for video docs about Lou Pearlman? Check out “The Boy Band Con” and “Dirty Pop.”

Follow Pop Mystery Pod on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok @popmysterypod

Pop Mystery Pod is written and produced by Tess Barker @tesstifybarker. Produced by Tyler Hill.

Theme song by Rick Wood @Rickw00d.

Support independent pop journalism and join us on Patreon at Pop Mystery Pod. Get access to ad free episodes, bonus content, and polls about upcoming topics. patreon.com/PopMysteryPod

Follow Tess’s other podcasts Lady to Lady and Toxic: The Britney Spears Story wherever you get your pods.

Make sure to leave us a review! And tell a friend about the show!

For better or (more likely) worse, “The Jerry Springer Show” changed television as we know it. Were the guests on this trainwreck real? Or fakers? Investigative journalists Tess Barker parses through Jerry Springer’s improbable life for clues as to how genuine the guests on his show were.

Tess is joined by comics Doug Stanhope @dougstanhope and Terrence Newman @mayorofechopark, who have wild first-hand insights into the veracity of this iconic show.

Follow Pop Mystery Pod on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok @popmysterypod

Pop Mystery Pod is written and produced by Tess Barker @tesstifybarker. Produced by Tyler Hill.

Theme song by Rick Wood @Rickw00d.

Support independent pop journalism and join us on Patreon at Pop Mystery Pod. Get access to ad free episodes, bonus content, and polls about upcoming topics. patreon.com/PopMysteryPod

Follow Tess’s other podcasts Lady to Lady and Toxic wherever you get your pods.

Make sure to leave us a review! And tell a friend about the show!

Darlings, it’s a Vanderpump mystery! Lisa Vanderpump is an OG Housewife and the ruler of her own Bravo empire. She’s also been the victim of many, many fires. Fashion designer and VPR expert Haley Solar @HaleySolar joins investigative journalist and pop culture junkie Tess Barker to chat through the house of smoke and mirrors that is Lisa Vanderpump’s restaurants.

Follow Pop Mystery Pod on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok @popmysterypod

Pop Mystery Pod is written and produced by Tess Barker @tesstifybarker. Produced by Tyler Hill.

Theme song by Rick Wood @Rickw00d.

Support independent pop journalism and join us on Patreon at Pop Mystery Pod. Get access to ad free episodes, bonus content, and polls about upcoming topics. patreon.com/PopMysteryPod

Follow Tess’s other podcasts Lady to Lady and Toxic: The Britney Spears Story wherever you get your pods.

Make sure to leave us a review! And tell a friend about the show!

There’s something unsettling about those “Pass It On” billboards that feature celebrities like Dolly Parton, Whoopi Goldberg, and William Shatner. These ads don’t seem to be selling anything except abstractly positive concepts like perseverance and resilience. But what’s really going on here? Investigative journalist and pop culture junkie uncovers the dark truth behind these seemingly banal signs.

Featuring Judd Legum of the Popular Information newsletter.

Follow Pop Mystery Pod on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok @popmysterypod

Pop Mystery Pod is written and produced by Tess Barker @tesstifybarker. Produced by Tyler Hill.

Theme song by Rick Wood @Rickw00d.

Support independent pop journalism and join us on Patreon at Pop Mystery Pod. Get access to ad free episodes, bonus content, and polls about upcoming topics. patreon.com/PopMysteryPod

Follow Tess’s other podcasts Lady to Lady and Toxic wherever you get your pods.

Make sure to leave us a review! And tell a friend about the show!